Title: Intimidation
Chapter: 2 - Recantation
Fandom: The Doctor Blake Mysteries
Author: Ceindreadh
Type of Story: Multi-part
Characters: Matthew Lawson
Rating: 15
Spoilers: Seasons 3
Summary: Lawson is being forced to recant his statement against Munro, but will he be able to escape his captors before the damage is done?
Word count: ~ 3,200
Disclaimer. I don't own the characters, I'm only borrowing them, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Previously: Lawson was abducted by men working for 'Froggy' Morgan. Morgan wanted Lawson to write a retraction to his accusations against Munro. It took threats against both Charlie and Blake to force him to comply.

Lawson knew his own life was most likely forfeit anyway. Morgan wasn't fool enough to take the chance that he would recant the retraction. "No," thought Lawson, "as soon as Munro is safely off the hook, I'm a dead man. But if I refuse, then I'm a dead man *now*." He took a deep shuddering breath and tried to calm himself. Finally, he spoke in a voice barely audible. "Okay. I...I'll do it..."

Morgan had planned it to the last detail thought Lawson. He'd supplied a cheap notepad, one that could be purchased in any half decent paper shop, together with an equally cheap pen for Lawson to write with. He'd also produced a statement for Lawson to copy which detailed exactly how circumstances had been misinterpreted and had led to his mistaken accusation. It was all dressed up in police parlance, so much so that even if Lawson hadn't recognized Munro's handwriting, he could have guessed that a police officer had drafted it.

An empty crate was placed in front of Lawson to give him a flat writing surface and the ropes around his wrists were cut. Lawson flexed his hands, wincing at the raw spots from where he'd struggled against the ropes. He briefly considered the possibility of fighting his way free, but whatever about the pen being mightier than the sword, he was pretty certain it wasn't mightier than the gun with which Scott was covering him.
"Make sure it's nice and legible," said Morgan, placing the sheets of paper in front of him. "We don't want it being rejected because they can't read your writing."

"Maybe you should have thought of that before your men tied the ropes so tightly," snapped Lawson. He picked up the pen, grimacing slightly and started to write.

"Pick up the pace," ordered Morgan, as Lawson finished the first paragraph. "I haven't got all night."

"You said you wanted it legible," said Lawson, with studied patience. "Make up your bloody mind." He returned to his writing, but if anything, slowed his pace a bit more. It wasn't that he was deliberately trying to piss off Morgan – although that was an added bonus, as angry people tended to slip up – but Lawson was dragging things out simply to give himself more time to think of a plan to get out of the hole he was in.
Unfortunately, such a plan didn't seem to be forthcoming. Lawson didn't know whether it was his general exhaustion or just one too many punches, but it was taking all his efforts just to concentrate on getting the words down correctly. Having Morgan practically breathing down his neck as he wrote wasn't helping either.

Lawson finished another page which was immediately picked up by Morgan and examined for mistakes. He took the opportunity to put the pen down and flex his hand which was starting to cramp up from all the writing.
"Who said you could stop writing," snapped Eddie, "You've plenty more pages to go."

"Easy Eddie," said Morgan, looking up from the page he was reading. "The Inspector will get a move on. I'm sure he wouldn't want us to encourage him by maybe breaking a few fingers on the hand he's not writing with."

"Just say the word, Boss," said Eddie, an eager tone in his voice.

"Not yet," said Morgan. "He's doing okay so far."

Lawson took the hint and picked up the pen again. He lost track of time as he wrote, but finally the last page was finished. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for his plan which at the moment, consisted mainly of waiting for Morgan to leave and then taking his chances with just Scott and Eddie. Lawson had reasoned that Morgan would head straight back to Melbourne as soon as he had the finished document in his hands. Partly to make sure that it was in the hands of the committee as soon as possible, but also to give himself an alibi if necessary for when the author of said document turned up dead. And Lawson was even surer now that Morgan wasn't going to just let him go once the committee had made his ruling. "No," he thought as he waited for Morgan to finish reading. "He won't take the chance that I'd spill the beans and kick up a fuss. He wants Munro to come out of this smelling of roses."

"Don't forget the signature," said Morgan as he handed back the document. "We want everybody to know that this is all your work."

Lawson signed the pages one by one. His hand clenched on the pen as he realised he could well be signing his own death warrant.

"I'll take those," said Eddie, picking up the pages. "Not so cocky now, are we 'Inspector'?"
It was the sneer that did it. Lawson had told himself to be patient, to ignore all of Eddie's jibes and sly comments. He could tell that the man was a bully, delighted to have somebody at his mercy to torment, and Lawson had held his temper, knowing that he was outnumbered and any attempts to retaliate would be punished severely. It wasn't as if it was the first time he'd had to deal with it. And then Eddie had sneered at him, and for a second, Lawson was back behind the bicycle shed with McAvoy and his mates, sneering at him for being a copper's son.
"Not so cocky now, are we 'Splashy'?"

With a growl, Lawson lunged forward and stabbed the pen forcefully into the back of Eddie's hand. He felt a small measure of satisfaction at the scream the other man let out, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. "It's now or never," thought Lawson as he grabbed the makeshift table, using it as leverage to push himself to his feet before grabbing it and swinging it like a club towards Scott, knocking the gun out of his hand. The next swing was aimed at Scott's head, but he ducked out of the way and then charged forward catching Lawson in the chest and taking them both to the ground. Lawson managed to punch Scott in the ribs, shoving him off of him and rolling to one side and then he spotted the gun on the ground and with a mighty effort he lunged for it. Lawson had barely managed to get his left hand to it when a foot stamped down on it, making him cry out in pain. He looked up to see a pale looking Eddie glaring down at him before raising his foot and drawing it back as if he was about to take a free kick using Lawson's head as the ball.

"Eddie, I think that the Inspector has learned his lesson." Morgan's voice cut through the silence.

"But Boss!" Eddie's voice was indignant, "You saw what he did to me!"

"Yes, and while it was certainly ill advised on his part, I can't say it was entirely unexpected. Pick him up and we can conclude our business."

Eddie didn't look too happy about it, thought Lawson with a trace of satisfaction, but he obeyed. Lawson couldn't stop a cry of pain as was hauled to his feet none too gently and then frogmarched to the back wall of the building. Eddie and Scott held him pinned against the wall as Morgan approached.

"Now, Inspector Lawson," said Morgan, "I am going to take my leave of you and put this document in the hands of the appropriate authorities." He carefully folded the pages and put them in his inside pocket. "Scott and Eddie will keep you safe until the committee have made their recommendations. After that, well, what you do will be no concern of mine. Good night, Inspector. I doubt we'll meet again."

"If we do, you'll be in handcuffs," said Lawson, "That's a promise." He glared defiantly at Morgan.

"I would advise you not to antagonize my men any further," said Morgan. "Safe does not have to mean in good health. Scott, a word, please." Scott followed him to the door, and listened as Morgan whispered in his ear. Lawson couldn't hear what was being said, but from the way Scott glanced in his direction, he was pretty sure it wasn't a request to keep him in good health.

"Morgan must trust you guys a lot," said Lawson some time later. His watch had been broken when Eddie had stamped on him, but he figured it had been less than an hour since Morgan had left. He shifted uncomfortably on the floor where he was sitting, his injured hand cradled gently in the other. "Assault on a police officer, abduction of a police officer...those are pretty serious offences. Most criminals, especially at Morgan's level, try to avoid antagonizing the police force unnecessarily."

Scott didn't react, but Eddie brightened up a bit. "Too right he trusts us," he said, almost beaming with pride.

"Trusts you to keep your mouth shut afterwards," said Lawson, adding with deceptive casualness, "Or maybe he figures he won't have to worry about it once all this is over." Now he had Scott's attention as well.

"What are you saying?"

Lawson shrugged, "Nothing. Just thinking that if I was in his position, with a few of my men after committing some serious crimes against a senior member of the police force, well, I might want to make sure that they wouldn't have a crisis of conscience later on..." He let the words hang in the air.

Eddie looked nervously at Scott, "What's he talking about? Mr. Morgan, he knows he can trust us, right?"

"Why don't you take a quick look around outside, Eddie," said Scott, calmly. "Make sure there's nobody about." He waited until Eddie was out of earshot before going over to Lawson and crouching down in front of him. "I know what you're up to," he said quietly. "Trying to get us to turn on Morgan. But it won't work. We're going to do what we were told to do, go home, and that's all there is to it."

"You're a fool if you think that's the end of it. You really think Morgan will take the chance that you too will keep your mouths shut?" snapped Lawson, "Eddie might think that you're going to let me go once all this is over, but you and I know better than that." By the look on Scott's face, Lawson could see that he'd guessed correctly. "Look, it's not too late to put a stop to this. You bring me back to Ballarat station, make a statement against Morgan and I'll see to it that you get a fair hearing in court."

For a few seconds it looked like Scott was wavering, and then his gun was in his hand and pointing straight at Lawson's face. "I think that you should stop talking now," said Scott. "You're making Eddie nervous, and when he gets nervous, well, accidents can happen."

"You mean he might kill me before you get a chance to? What difference will it make to me?" Lawson spoke with a bravado he didn't feel, but inwardly his heart was pounding as he looked down the barrel of the gun.

"We have a certain amount of leeway with regard to your 'demise', Inspector," said Scott. "It can be quick and painless." He touched the barrel of the gun to Lawson's forehead, "Or it can be slow and painful." He moved the barrel of the gun to Lawson's leg. "Bleeding to death can be a nasty way to go."

Lawson swallowed hard as Scott stood and walked away, but he had seen something that Scott had missed, namely Eddie looking in the through one of the glassless windows and watching the conversation.

It felt like another hour had passed before Lawson had a chance to make his next move. Scott had gone outside a few minutes earlier, muttering something about draining the lizard.

Lawson shifted uncomfortably on the cold floor and groaned loudly as he flexed his injured hand. While it was throbbing painfully, it was by no means as badly injured as he'd made it out to be earlier, playing up the injury in order to convince Scott that he should be left untied. "I can't even move it properly," he'd said through gritted teeth. He must have been convincing enough because his hands had been left free.

"Serves you right, copper," snapped Eddie. He had a bloodstained handkerchief wrapped around his own hand and as Lawson watched, he took out a hipflask and took a drink from it.

"Don't suppose you could spare a bit?" asked Lawson, a hopeful note in his voice.

Eddie walked over to him, held the flask out to Lawson but just as he was about to reach for it, Eddie pulled it away and put it to his own lips, taking a long deep swallow. "Ah, that hits the spot," he said before turning away and going back to his own corner.

Lawson dropped his head to hide a smile. Eddie had been sneaking a nip on his flask at every opportunity since Morgan had left and while he was by no means drunk, Lawson was hoping that it would slow Eddie's reactions enough to improve the odds when he made his move. In between drinks, Eddie had also been casting suspicious glances at Scott ever since he'd returned from his brief trip outside.

"He doesn't trust you, you know that," said Lawson.

"I already told you, Mister Morgan *does* trust us," said Eddie.

"I wasn't talking about him," said Lawson. "Didn't you wonder what Morgan said to Scott before he left?" He saw a worried look flash across Eddie's face, "What do you think Morgan had to say to him that he didn't want to say in front of you? You think he was praising him for a job well done?" Lawson scoffed, "Or maybe he was reminding him of the rest of the job. You do know what's going to happen?" Lawson shook his head in mock disbelief. "Of course you don't. Scott probably told you that this was just going to be a kidnapping and that you'd be letting me go when it was over. Makes sense I guess. Reckon if you're planning on making somebody a patsy to a murder, last thing you want is them to get cold feet part way through."

"Shut up!" snapped Eddie, "You're lying...they wouldn't do that to me." He had his gun out and pointed it at Lawson with an unsteady hand. "You just shut the hell up right now!"

"Or what?" said Lawson, "You shoot me now; you're just playing right into their hands. Hell, Scott won't even have to fake up any evidence to frame you." Lawson slowly pushed himself to his feet, not taking his eyes off the gun. "Scott as much as said I wasn't getting out of here alive, and he doesn't strike me as the type to leave loose ends around." Lawson was so focused on Eddie and his gun that he didn't realise they were no longer alone.

"I told you to stop talking to Eddie."

Eddie started at the sound of Scott's voice and half turned around. "Is it true?" he asked, "All this stuff he's been saying about you going to kill him and pin it on me. Is it true?"

Scott's gun was aimed squarely at Lawson and he barely gave Eddie a glance as he replied, "You don't want to believe anything he says. We're here to do a job and then go home, that's all you need to know."

"Mister Morgan never said anything about killing a copper," said Eddie, "They hang you for that!"

With both guns turned on him, Lawson knew his chances of survival were dropping sharply unless he could think of something, "You won't need to worry about being hanged, Eddie. They can't hang a dead man."

"I told you to shut up," snapped Scott, but Lawson's words had hit a nerve with Eddie and he turned his attention and his gun towards his partner.

"Why would you do that?" said Eddie, "I thought we were friends?"

Scott glanced away from Lawson and saw the gun pointed at him, "Eddie, don't be an idiot, put the gun away. We'll deal with him and then we'll leave...both of us."

Eddie shook his head, "I don't believe you...you put *your* gun down."

"Okay," said Scott, "I'll put my gun down..." He made as if to lay the gun down on the ground but before either of the other men could react, he suddenly whirled around towards Eddie and pulled the trigger.

Lawson heard a second shot even as he dove to the ground out of the crossfire. As the echoes of the shots died away, he looked up to see Scott clutch at his stomach where a small bloodstain was growing steadily larger. With a loud groan, he collapsed to the ground in a heap. Eddie was still standing, but a hole in the wall behind him showed Lawson just how close Scott's shot had come. Eddie's face was white as a sheet and his hand was shaking. "I...I've killed him...oh God, I've killed him..." He turned to where Lawson was crouched, "I...I never shot anybody before..."

"It was self-defence," said Lawson, his voice as reassuring as he could make it. "He was going to kill you. You didn't have a choice. And I'll swear to it in a court of law," He stood, slowly. "But I need you to give me your gun..."

Eddie shook his head, "I can't do that...Mister Morgan..." He swallowed hard, "I've got to finish the job...maybe, maybe I can tell him that you did it." His fear seemed to be fading as he thought things through, "Yes, I can tell him that you killed Scott and I had to shoot you...yeah, he'll believe that...maybe even give me Scott's job."

"You don't want to do that Eddie," said Lawson, backing away. "Even if Morgan believed you, he still won't take any chances. You go back to him you're a dead man. Turn yourself in... it's the only way..."

"I think I'll take my chances with Morgan," said Eddie.

Lawson had backed himself up against the wall and his mouth was dry as Eddie took a step towards him, moving past Scott's prone body. And then Scott's hand shot out, weakly grabbing Eddie's ankle. "Help...me..." gasped Scott.

Eddie cried out in shock and swung around, firing at Scott over and over. Wild eyed he turned back to Lawson, pulling the trigger again...only for the firing pin to click on an empty chamber. Both Eddie and Lawson stared at the gun in disbelief for a few seconds, but Lawson was the first one to react, lunging forward to try and tackle Eddie who immediately turned and ran. Lawson tried to give chase, but stumbled on the uneven floor and nearly fell. By the time he'd regained his footing and reached the door, all he could see were the rear lights of the car as it sped off down the track.

Lawson swore under his breath as he slumped against the doorframe. And then the implications of what had just happened hit him. "If there'd been another bullet in that clip..." The realisation sent a cold chill down his spine and his legs gave way beneath him.

It could have been minutes or even an hour before Lawson's senses returned. He glanced at his watch before remembering it was broken. It took all of his effort to force himself to his feet, when all he wanted was to just curl up in a corner and rest, but the night wasn't over yet. He forced himself to walk over to Scott's body, just to make sure the man was dead and to make his weapon safe.

"It's going to be a long walk back to Ballarat," Lawson told himself as he finally stepped out into the night.

To be continued