Charlie groaned and slowly opened her eyes. She squinted at the early morning sunlight streaming through the car window. Well, she assumed it was early morning, because time was a little hazy for her.

"Oh god," she muttered. Her head hurt like anything. Whatever those drugs Watson had slipped into her drink were, they sure packed a hell of a side effect. How the hell had she allowed that to happen? To be drugged and seduced by some wanna be gangster. "Oh god," she said a little louder and attracted the attention of her driver.

"Nice to see you rejoin the land of the living," Joey greeted her cheerfully.

"What happened?"

"You passed out not long after I got you into the car," Joey told her.

"I don't remember getting to the car."

"Not surprised, you were just about out on your feet and I pretty much had to carry you to the car."

Charlie finally noticed the differences to their surroundings. "This isn't the car assigned to us."

"Of course it's not," Joey said. "I had no idea if that car was tagged or not, but either way, it would have been the first thing they'd be on the lookout for once the news hit."

"Then whose car is this?"

"It belonged to some nice person who was kind enough to have left it right where we needed it."

It took a moment to realise what she'd meant at first, then Charlie stared at her in shock.

"You stole it!"

"I borrowed it."

"You stole it."

"I prefer the term, borrowed," Joey said. "It sounds so much better."

"You stole it," repeated Charlie.

"Oh very well, if you're going to persist with it, then yeah, I stole it."

"I can't believe you stole a car," Charlie muttered.

"Didn't really have many options," reasoned Joey.

"It's a crime."

"So is trying to kill us," said Joey. She glanced sideways. "Do your partners always try to kill you and the people they're meant to protect?"

"Of course not," snapped Charlie.

"Just thought I'd ask," Joey casually said. "No need to be snippy."

"Snippy?" said Charlie.

"Precious?"

"How about taking this seriously," muttered Charlie.

"I am, hence the car and putting as much distance between us and what happened back there."

"What did happen back there?" asked Charlie. "What did you do with Georgie?"

"You don't remember that either?"

"Not really," Charlie murmured. "I vaguely remember you braining Georgie, then pulling a gun on me." She glared at Joey. "You pulled a fucking gun on me!" she shrilled.

"That, you remember?"

"Guns in faces are a little hard to forget," she muttered. "I know, because it happened to me twice," Charlie said. "And you still haven't answered my question. What did you do with Georgie?"

Nicole knocked on the door. "Housekeeping," she called out. When she didn't hear a reply, she unlocked the door and walked in. She let out an inadvertent scream at the sight that greeted her eyes.

"Good morning," Watson said and grinned to the maid, not in the least bit self conscious about her current predicament. While she'd been out of it, she had been undressed and handcuffed to the bed in exactly the same way she'd had Charlie, so she must have been quite a sight for the poor young woman who'd just walked in. "Hey, sorry you had to see me like this, but my girlfriend thought it would be funny to leave me here while she stepped out for a bit, only now I really gotta go to the loo, so could you please be a darling and get the handcuff key and let me out?" Watson said with her most charming smile. "The key is in the inside pocket of my jacket on the back of the chair there." She always carried spares, along with spare cuffs in her line of work, she had just never expected to need it like this.

The woman still appeared in a shocked daze as she did as instructed.

"Thank you darlin'," Watson said the moment she was free. The maid jumped a little when Watson flew off the bed. Standing completely naked in front of the maid, Watson smiled disarmingly at her, then laid a gentle kiss on the startled woman's lips. "You're a life saver." Without a hint of embarrassment, she started to dress while the dumbfounded woman watched on. Reaching into her pants pocket, Watson stood once more in front of the maid. Nicole flinched when the woman's hand suddenly came up at her, then she relaxed when she saw the folded up $50 in her fingers. "Thanks again darlin' for the rescue."

"You're welcome," Nicole murmured. A 50 just for unlocking someone from cuffs nearly made up for the previous room.

"You want to give me a few minutes before you start in here?" Watson said.

"Oh, yeah right," mumbled Nicole. She was still a little out of it. Of all the things she'd walked into in this place, finding a naked woman cuffed to a bed was a first. As was being kissed by a woman. It had kind of felt nice, though, those lips so soft and sensual. She pushed that thought aside. She wasn't gay. "I'll go onto the next room, then come back," she hastily said to Watson.

Watson watched the maid leave.

"Mmm, nice," she murmured appreciatively at the fine figure. If she had the time, she might have given the woman a proper thank you, but she couldn't afford to let her prey get too far ahead of her. As it was, her stupidity in allowing for Charlie to delay and distract her from Joey had already set her back.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," she murmured at herself. It had been very unprofessional and so unlike her to have let someone get the drop on her. First things first though, and that was to report this in. Since this place wasn't crawling with cops by now, then it seemed unlikely that Charlie had called it in, so there was a very good chance her cover was still in place. Only one way to find out if that really was the case.

"This is stupid and reckless," Charlie said once Joey had filled her in about Watson. "If she gets free, she'll likely just come after us," she said. "I need to call Sgt Parish about this."

"No you don't."

"He needs to know about Georgie Watson being dirty."

"What makes you think he didn't already know that when he assigned her?"

The implication was shocking to Charlie.

"No way," she said. "Nick Parish is one of the most honourable coppers I've ever had the privilege to work with." She shook her head and immediately regretted it with her headache pounding even more. "There is just no way he's involved," she mumbled. "He's not dirty."

"Just like you never considered Georgie could be dirty until she pulled that gun on you, right?"

"That's different," said Charlie. "I've known Nick for years, her, I've barely known a few days."

"Then explain this to me Charlie," said Joey. "How did one of Braxton's dirty cops get assigned to this detail?" she asked her. "Or do you think it was just purely coincidental that your usual partner just happened to become conveniently unavailable and then yet another coincidence that his replacement was a corrupt cop, who also by coincidence, happened to work for the very people you're meant to be protecting me from?" she said, before sarcastically adding. "Man, that's a lot of coincidences, either that, or we just have shit luck to have ended up sharing a room with one of Braxton's goons."

"I'd trust Nick Parish with my life," Charlie told her.

"Are you really willing to test that out?"

Yesterday, Charlie wouldn't have hesitated in saying yes, but as much as she hated to admit it, her confidence in her fellow officers had taken a massive hit. She'd always prided herself on her ability to read people and situations, yet she'd failed utterly here, which given the recent corruption rumours, was even more unforgivable. She should never have been so quick to trust Watson, but trusting in your partner was like second nature to her and she'd also trusted in Nick and his judgement in assigning her new partner. She'd trusted Nick, just as she always had. She sighed. Charlie didn't even want to consider the worst about Nick, but Joey did have a point about Jack's sudden unavailability due to personal reasons. Sure, she'd noticed he hadn't been himself lately and was clearly distracted by his personal problems at times, yet he'd remained on the job, until now, when the timing of his removal allowed for Watson to step in.

"You're getting paranoid," she told herself. She hadn't really objected to Jack's removal as Nick had made a great point about his behaviour, so perhaps she was just over analysing everything and looking for the worst in light of Watson's actions. But could she really afford to ignore the possibility that Watson isn't the only one she could no longer trust? God she hated this situation. Charlie sighed and turned to Joey. "If we're not calling in the cops, then where are we going?"

"No idea," Joey flippantly replied.

"Oh that's just great," muttered Charlie. The smirk on the other woman's face just infuriated Charlie further.

"Think of it this way," said Joey. "If I don't know where we're going, then neither does Watson and anyone else who may come after us."

Charlie refused to concede that she had a point and went to rub her throbbing head with her hand, but found that her hand barely made it off her lap. God, that drug really had knocked the shit out her, so much so, she hadn't noticed her hand was cuffed to the door.

"Why am I cuffed?" Again. The novelty really had worn off on her after last night.

"I'm still not sure whether I can trust you or not."

"Georgie tried to kill me last night or did that escape your notice?"

"Well, she sure took her sweet time about getting around to it, what with all that talking you and she were doing."

"Just be grateful she did take her time to talk or she'd have killed me, then you, before you even had a chance to get out of the bath."

"I wouldn't have been that easy," Joey said and Charlie flushed red at the reminder.

Charlie liked to believe last night was all the drugs fault and that she wouldn't have succumbed to Watson's advances without help, yet it wouldn't be completely true. She had been attracted by the flirtiness and body of her former partner and if not for their current job, she'd likely have made Watson another of her conquests. Now knowing what sort of person that bitch was, it made her feel nauseous that she'd had her lips all over her.

"This is ridiculous," Charlie muttered as she tugged on her cuffs. "I'm not a threat to you."

"Don't take it personally Charlie, but I'm just all out of trust where cops are concerned."

"How can I not take it personally when you have me cuffed to the fucking car door?" said Charlie. "Oh and let's not forget that you pulled a fucking gun on me last night."

"Oh, are we back on that again?"

"Why did you pull that gun on me?"

"I'd have thought that was obvious," she said. "It was to stop you from getting us killed by calling in the wrong people." Joey shrugged. "After what happened, you can hardly blame me for wanting to play it safe and that includes not trusting anyone, starting with you."

"If you don't even trust me, why keep me around?"

"Insurance," she simply stated.

"Insurance for what?" queried Charlie and she took a long hard look at her car companion. She got Joey's point about not trusting and could see why she chose to run, instead of calling it in, yet there was something else about her, something not quite right. Then she realised. It was her confidence. The way she'd taken down Watson, to the way she had held the gun steady in her hand, to thinking nothing about stealing a car and justifying it and was now chatting to her as if they were going for a leisurely drive. There was definitely more to this woman than met the eye.

"Who are you?" Charlie asked. "I mean, who are you really?"

Joey just smiled in reply.

Watson touched her hand to her head as she walked over to the room phone. There was a lump there and dried blood. "Shit," she muttered. No wonder she had a headache when she woke. She ignored it as she picked up the phone. She paused a moment, closed her eyes and drew on her inner actress, before dialling.

"Parish," was the gruff response.

"Sgt Parish, this is Const. Georgina Watson, they're gone," she informed him in a frantic voice.

"What do you mean they're gone?" he demanded.

"It was Charlie," she shakily said. "She overpowered me and locked me up and now they're gone."

"Are you trying to tell me that Charlie ran off with my witness?"

"Yes sir," she replied in a hesitant voice while she was secretly rejoicing on the inside. His responses had reassured her that Charlie hadn't called him and so her cover was safe, at least for the time being. "I think she plans on taking her to the Braxtons."

"Shit," he said. "Did she leave anything behind, a clue, anything?"

"No sir, she took all their gear, everything," she replied. "I guess she didn't want to risk leaving anything behind that might lead back to where she was taking Joey."

"Jesus," he muttered. "Watson, report into the Station immediately."

"But sir, I think I can catch up to them if I leave now," she said.

"Don't be a fool."

"Sir, I need a chance to fix this and I am the closest to them at this moment," Watson tried to reason with him. "And if I don't go now, we might lose them for good."

"Fine, but if you see them, call it in," he said. "Under no circumstances are you to take on Charlie Buckton on your own."

"I wouldn't dream of it sir," she assured him with a knowing smirk to herself.

"I doubt they'd be dumb enough to have Joey taken to a known Braxton location, but I'll assign officers to keep watch on all the ones we know about, just in case," he informed her. "Watson, I want you to keep me up to date from your end and Watson," he said. "Don't talk to anyone about this. I don't want it out there that we had a witness and we lost her."

"My lips are sealed."

Smirking at her success, she put the phone down. That would have them looking in the wrong direction for a bit and the longer she could avoid facing too many questions, the better. Hopefully it would be long enough for her to track them down. Watson gathered up her stuff, then glanced down at the carpet near the side of the bed furthest from the front door. "Damn," she murmured. She didn't think the maid had noticed the lamp on the floor or the spot of blood on it or on the carpet and the pillow, but best to play it safe and do a quick clean up before she left. The maid may have bought her earlier explanation for being cuffed to the bed, but she didn't want to risk raising her suspicions or concerns by having her find the blood. She certainly didn't want anyone snooping around this room and trying to work out what really happened last night or for word to get back to Parish that she'd been injured. He'd likely remove her from the case and she couldn't afford that. She needed the freedom to complete her job and if she got to Charlie and Joey first and silenced them forever, then she may yet keep her cover and usefulness to Braxton.

"Ok, this shouldn't take long and then the hunt can begin," she chuckled and the thrill of the chase excited her almost as much as sex with a beautiful woman did.