Breakthrough

Jan glared. She couldn't remember being as furious as she was at that moment. She had always prided herself with never asking her officers to do something she wouldn't do herself. Now she knew the meaning behind the phrase pride before a fall. She tried to quell the anger; forcing herself to remain calm, to think straight. Smythe was clearly only doing as Jean Daniel wanted. She smirked, not believing the man had the intelligence to think this whole scenario through alone. Glaring at the wall opposite she knew Bethan would have raised the alarm; but with Jean Daniel's vendetta against three of her officers she knew trapping her was bait. She was the cheese in the trap and somehow she had to get herself out of it before Ros, Beckett and Ed got themselves killed.

Xxxxxx

"Smythe has been the prison governor there for six years." Bethan stated as she handed Beckett a computer print out. "Before that he was a civil servant. Spent some time in the Army but never saw active duty."

"How?" Beckett read the printout, remembering his own time in the Royal Navy. He had lived it but had seen more than most young men his age could have imagined.

"Money? Influence or just a coward with a way of talking his way out of anything and everything." Alex joined the conversation. She was furious that Jean Daniel was still a problem. The man had destroyed so much but still seemed to hover in the shadows like a spectre of doom.

"Either way, Jean Daniel has a hold over him. Bethan? Find out what it is. Money? Blackmail? Is he up to his old tricks again." Beckett paused as Bethan nodded.

"He's divorced. Very messy by all accounts." Bethan answered. "His ex Dianne didn't play nicely."

"Find her." Ed decided. "Any kids?" He looked over to where Megan slept in her car seat. The baby was less than twenty four hours old and she was already dragged into their world. He shook his head as Ros folded her arms.

"Ok. Jan last got in contact when?"

"Four hours ago." Alex stated. "Her tracker went off line three hours ago. She never takes her tracker off. It's state of the art. My friend Tariq helped me adapt it so that it doesn't lose signal."

"Tariq Masood?" Beckett asked as she nodded. "Section D's genius."

"Well, Ros was on maternity leave." She shrugged. Ros rolled her eyes. She knew the boy; had taught him in basic training and wasn't the least bit surprised how well he was doing with domestic anti-terrorism.

"Well, I'm here now." She pulled her chair away from the desk and sat down. "Don't look at me like that. I had a baby not a lobotomy."

"Ok." Beckett paused. "Ed; cmon." He ushered his friend out of the room knowing that there was no way they would talk Ros out of helping to find Jan. Ed fell into step beside him as they headed out of the office.

Xxxxxx

Jan remained still. She knew she had time against her, the sealed room appeared to be airtight. The thought of running out of oxygen made her stomach churn, but she reasoned if Jean Daniel really was pulling the strings and Smythe was as useless as she had always believed then she was more use to them alive. Glancing around the room she surmised that it wouldn't be long before she had some visitors. She just had to work out what to do when they arrived.

Xxxxx

Beckett ran a hand over his face as he sat in the driver's seat of his car. Ed paused, watching his friend for a moment.

"You ok?"

"When is this gonna end? I mean, how much more can we take from him? He killed Rebecca's mother, tried to kill me and you more than once. Look what cyberax did to Ros. It's more than just us now. You've got Rebecca to think about and we've got Megan."

"Then." Ed paused. "I think it's time we drew this farce to an end."

Beckett nodded once. He knew what Ed was hinting at but he didn't know if they would ever be able to.

Xxx