"He's pretty bruised and battered," the doctor informed Nick.

"He'll be more than that when I'm through with him," Nick fumed under his breath. When the call had come in that a police officer had been found handcuffed and unconscious in an alley in some small town, Nick had feared for Charlie, until they said it was a man. What had come next had disappointed, then infuriated Nick.

"His wrist is broken, his nose is swollen, but that's pretty mild to his other injury," the doctor was telling him. "The injury to his eye is extensive and it's likely he'll lose the eye," he said. "We'll know more once we've operated on him."

"Is he up to questioning first?"

"No," replied the doctor. "His blood results came back positive for stimulants which could impair his judgement, not to mention that he's been sedated for the pain."

"Too bad, because I'm talking to him," Nick informed the doctor and held up his hand to ward off any protest. "I'm family," he said. "Angelo is my brother-in-law and my wife is worried about him." Not a lie. Lucinda was worried about her brother, both for his health and for his future, which would include jail time if Nick had anything to do with it.

"Well, if you're family," the doctor hesitantly said. "Just don't get him too upset and don't be too long. I won't have you delaying his surgery."

Nick nodded, then glared into the room the moment the doctor was gone.

"This is the man you trusted to bring in my witness and your officer?" Robertson snidely said when he joined Nick. Right at that moment, Nick wished Graves was here so he wouldn't have to deal directly with Robertson, but she was still out there, hopefully picking up Charlie's trail.

"Angelo was a mistake I won't be making again," he replied.

"Your officer made a bit of a mess of him."

"It wasn't just Charlie who did this to him," Nick said. "It was your bloody witness," he said. "Who the fuck is she?"

"Why don't we ask our would-be assassin, since he probably knows more about what is going on than we currently do."

Nick was still having a hard time dealing with Angelo being dirty, but he'd all but admitted to it in his own words. Sure, he'd been out of it when he'd rambled in his semi-conscious state to a couple of officers and ambos at the scene, but given his state at the time, they'd be unable to use it against him in court. The rest they could use though. The crime scene, once it was processed, would tell them more, as did the non police issue illegal bulletproof vest he was wearing, not to mention the other firearms they'd found in the boot of his car. All unregistered, illegal weapons that could only have come from the black market. Then there were the drugs. Word was, the Braxtons didn't like their employees sampling the goods, only peddling it, but the Pirovics weren't so fussy. How long had Angelo been doing drugs? There were times when undercover cops had to prove themselves by taking drugs under the watchful eye of others, but Nick didn't think that was the case here. Angelo was a pill popper.

"Damn you boy," he said. He'd sent Angelo because as family, he believed he was the only one he could trust. He wouldn't make that mistake again. Family or not, Angelo had betrayed the uniform and Nick wanted answers as to why and he wanted them now.

With the town and Angelo now well into the distance behind them, Joey pulled into the next servo they came to. She wasn't too worried about stopping, as long as they didn't stick around for too long. There'd been nothing on the news about a manhunt for two women, despite Angelo being found and hospitalised. Nor had there been anything said about Angelo being dirty. Joey assumed the cops were trying to keep it all hush hush as much as possible, which definitely played in their favour. The last thing they needed was to have their photos all across the media, because their best chance of getting through this was by staying under the radar. How long that would last, especially after what they did to Angelo, she didn't know, but she was determined to make the most of it while it lasted.

She glanced across the car to her passenger. Charlie had been largely silent since their encounter with Angelo and she knew the other woman had questions. Who wouldn't after what had happened tonight. She just wasn't sure if she could answer them. Or more to the point, if she wanted to answer them. There were some things Charlie was just better off not knowing.

"There's a diner across the road that still looks like it's open," Joey said. "You want to go order us some food while I fill up the tank?"

"Sure," Charlie murmured.

"I'll meet you over there when I'm done."

"I hope Rosetta becomes more cooperative when he realises just how deep the shit he's in," Robertson said after Angelo had refused to talk and had asked for a lawyer.

"I'm sure he's fully aware of that," Nick said. He'd momentarily been tempted to ignore his request for a lawyer, but the last thing this investigation needed, was a senior cop ignoring procedure. He'd done enough of that already.

"Did you know?"

"Know what?"

In reply, Robertson handed Nick a bunch of photos. "We printed these from Rosetta's phone," Robertson told him.

Nick shook his head as he perused a series of explicit selfies. The same two people were in each photo and there was no mistaking what they were doing or how much both were obviously enjoying it.

"So, did you know he was gay?" Robertson asked.

"He's bi, has been since he was in High School," Nick said.

"You do know who the other man is, don't you?"

"Yeah, unfortunately I do," Nick said with a sigh.

"Hammer, aka, Harmon Pirovic and your boy definitely looks very into him," Robertson said and Nick scowled at the double meaning. "I realise that in order to fit in, undercover officers sometime have to partake in drugs and even seduction if necessary, but these photos suggest it's a little more than Rosetta just playing a part."

"Fuck," Nick muttered.

"Your boy was turned, as to how long ago it happened, who knows, but any information he's fed the Drug Squad during his time undercover is going to have to come under renewed scrutiny."

"I honestly had no idea," Nick said.

"You're not the only one with egg on your face over his betrayal," Robertson told him. "You trusted family, I guess I can't really fault you on that, but his handler at the DS on the other hand, will have some explaining to do as to why he didn't pick this up earlier. Now, I'm not suggesting he is in on it with Rosetta, because Rosetta is hardly the first undercover to decide that he likes the other side better, but under the current circumstances, suspicion is going to be quick to fall on anyone at the slightest hint of impropriety."

"This is going to get a whole lot messier," Nick murmured.

"Undoubtedly," said Robertson. "Watson, now Rosetta, it's already looking bad for the Force, especially if they're just the tip of the iceberg," he said. "As it is, it's more than likely Watson had help from someone higher up to get her assigned to this particular detail."

"Have you spoken to Joyce yet?"

Robertson nodded. "He claims to have never met or even heard of Watson until her file came across his desk, along with the recommendation to replace Holden on the detail."

"Who made the recommendation?"

"Joyce thought it was Sgt Peter Baker, but on speaking to him, he no idea how that file got to Joyce."

"It had to be someone in a position to do so," Nick pointed out.

"And Joyce and Baker could still be that person, since I only have their word that it wasn't them," said Robertson. "Either way, there's going to have to be a full internal investigation and pretty much every officer who has spoken to or worked with Watson or Rosetta, will be interviewed."

"That's going to be hard to keep quiet."

"It's inevitable that this will all come out, but hopefully, we'll have your officer and my witness back by then," Robertson confidently stated. "It's actually a good thing Graves was already on her way to the rendezvous point before Rosetta was taken down, because with any luck, she is now in the best position to pick up their trail."

"Assuming Watson and anyone else who might be out there don't put two and two together and realise that an injured cop in the middle of bloody nowhere might just be connected to our wayward duo," Nick said. They'd done their best to keep the full truth of Angelo's involvement out of the press, but it had been impossible to have a complete media blackout on an injured officer, especially when reporters had already turned up to the scene before word had gotten through to him about Angelo. As it was, they'd been lucky there had been an on the ball Snr Constable present, who had quickly realised that something more was going on when Angelo had started rambling, and so had limited the number of people within hearing distance of him. "And what if they were already in the area when the news came on, then they could be well ahead of your partner."

"My, you're full of cheer today," Robertson drolly said.

"I just want this over with and without anyone else getting hurt."

"That's something we can agree on."

"Well, it was a trap," Charlie said when Joey finally joined her in the diner. She was feeling guilty. They'd lost hours with her foolish decision to meet with Nick's man and it had nearly cost them their lives. "Now you can say 'I told you so'," she grumbled to Joey.

"I'm sorry, Charlie," Joey said. "I know how much you wanted to be able to trust Nick Parish."

They weren't the words Charlie had been expecting and she stared at Joey. The woman appeared genuine.

"You look surprised," Joey said with some bemusement. "Charlie, if I'd wanted to say 'I told you so', don't you think I'd have said it when we were in the car."

Charlie sighed and shrugged her shoulders. Once more, her trust had been betrayed, but at least now she knew with 100% clarity, that Nick couldn't be trusted, in fact, no one in the Force could. So where did that leave her? Abandoned, adrift and alone with a woman who was proving to be as dangerous as anyone on their trail. And after what she saw tonight, she was glad she hadn't tried to overpower Joey the other day, because as competent as her own skills were, she doubted she could have bested Joey.

"Look Charlie, I get it, I really do," Joey said. "You had a lot of respect for the guy and you wanted to trust him and I can hardly blame you for wanting that, even if I didn't agree with it."

"Why did you come with me to the meet?" Charlie asked her. "You could have just scampered away at any time."

"Then you'd be dead," Joey pointed out, which didn't really answer her question as to why she'd come in the first place, Charlie thought.

"You're making a habit of saving my life," Charlie said. "First at the motel, then tonight."

"You also saved my arse tonight, so I'd say we make a pretty good team."

"Yeah, if tonight did prove anything, it would be that I'd likely be dead by now if I'd gone this alone," Charlie said. "And I'm the one who kept wanting to turn ourselves in."

"Charlie, you need to stop beating yourself up over this," Joey told her. "You're a cop, you're used to trusting your fellow officers every time you're on duty, so of course you wanted to trust them this time as well," she said. "It's not your fault you may be the only honest cop worth trusting."

"Does that mean you trust me now?"

"I wouldn't go that far," Joey said with a grin and Charlie found herself smiling back. "Saving my life does earn you brownie points though."

"What do we do now Joey?"

"We keep to the plan," replied Joey. "We'll take a few circular paths for another day or so and hopefully lose anyone else following us, then we head straight to our destination."

"Do you think it safe to stay in one place too long?"

"Probably not, but we can't just keep driving around aimlessly," she said. "I say, once we get there, we stay a few days so we can at least have time to formulate a more permanent plan."

Charlie had a feeling that permanent for Joey, meant disappearing for good and while she couldn't blame Joey for wanting to do that, she wasn't yet ready to turn her back on her entire life forever.

"And in the meantime, what happens if our faces and names end up on the news, what then?" Charlie asked.

"We'll deal with that if it comes to it," Joey confidently said. She felt on much safer ground now after her earlier fuck up. She still couldn't believe she'd made such a simple, yet dangerous mistake in getting separated from Charlie, but she was determined not to make the same mistake twice, not now that her head was back in the game. "How are your hands?" she asked when she noticed Charlie was rubbing one with her other hand. "You landed pretty heavily on them earlier."

"No skin off the palms, thankfully, they're just a bit itchy," she replied. "And the pain in my wrists has subsided into little more than a dull ache now."

"That's good."

"Unlike Angelo's wrist," she pointedly said. "That looked painful."

"Good."

"Though he probably didn't notice, on account of you sticking a pen in his eye," Charlie said and her tone had Joey looking Charlie in the eye. She'd wondered how long it would take for Charlie to get to here.

"My life was in danger, I reacted," Joey said as casually as she could. "Hey, we should probably get back on the road as soon as possible."

"Who are you Joey?" Charlie suddenly asked. "Because there is a lot more to you than I ever expected," she said. "Like how you can handle yourself in a fight and the way you grouped those shots, that was done just like a pro."

"Not here," Joey hissed and Charlie looked around. There were a few other customers, but none within hearing distance.

"I need to know Joey," Charlie hissed back. "And we're not leaving this diner until I get some answers."

Watson smiled as she switched off the news. So, it seemed the dynamic duo had taken down Parish's man, but it was more about what wasn't being said over the radio, that interested Watson. There was no mention of the two women, but she knew it had to be them, nor why Angelo Rosetta had been there at that time of night, which told her that Parish and co were still trying to keep a lid on things. That was good news, at least for the moment. While her cover was blown with Parish, she hadn't heard from Heath or the others, which she took to mean that her cover was still in place with them at least, and until her duplicity was more publically known, then she still had a chance to do what needed to be done, as long as she was careful to avoid fellow officers from now on. It was why she'd completely bypassed the town where Rosetta had been attacked, since that place would have been crawling with cops and reporters, making it far too risky to go anywhere near, so she'd driven right past it and kept on going.

Watson chuckled at that and sent a silent thank you to Nick. She had no idea how he'd managed to arrange it, but by delaying Charlie and Joey with that meeting, it had given her the perfect opportunity to shorten the gap between her and her quarry and going by the time of the incident with Rosetta, she wasn't far behind them now. If her luck kept up like this, Joey and Charlie would land on her lap in no time.

Her eyes lit up at the sight of the diner and her stomach grumbled in anticipation when she saw that it was still open. It wouldn't hurt to stop to eat and get a coffee fix, she decided as she pulled into the nearest parking bay.