Chapter Two Hundred and Six

Charlie was about to set out on patrol when her colleague, Avery approached.

"Intel cracked the code in the kid's toy," he said, getting straight to the point.

Charlie took the sheet of paper from him and studied the line of numbers written on it.

"What is this meant to be?" she asked.

"They think it's the number of a shipping container," Avery explained.

Charlie showed the paper to Watson as she quizzed Avery as to where the shipping container could be located.

"Well, the closest estate is Port Heron," Avery said.

Taking the piece of paper back, Charlie decided to go and check it out.

"Shouldn't someone go with you?" Watson asked worriedly.

"We don't have the staff," Charlie called back over her shoulder. "I'll be in touch."

With that, she dashed out of the station and towards her car.


"What kind of trouble?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know," Xavier said awkwardly. "It's like I can't quite piece it together but... something's wrong."

He sighed heavily. Ruby put her arm around him and momentarily felt the same affection for him that she always had.

"Why don't you talk to him about it?" she suggested.

"I can't," Xavier revealed. "He's gone."

"Gone?"

"Left town," he explained. "Left the country for all we know."


Hugo stood, facing Suzy, his every hope of escaping the life he had built himself, was dashed.

"You weren't thinking of walking out on me, were you?" his wife asked, placing her hands on her hips and looking him directly in the eye.

"Yes," he said honestly. "I don't want to be part of this anymore, Suzy. I want to move on."

"Fine," she replied.

He stared at her, a little shocked.

"But you're going to have a death on your conscience."

Hugo licked his lips and swallowed uncertainly.

"We've all got enough of those on our conscience," he replied.

"Oh, I mean Martha," Suzy said, turning to walk back to her car.

In panic, Hugo chased after her, spinning her round to face him.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded.

"If you don't come back to Indonesia with me and finish what you started then your precious Martha won't see the light of day again," she told him.

Hugo watched her climb demurely back into her car and drive off. Shaking, Hugo jumped back into his own car and turned back in the direction of Summer Bay.


In the car, grateful for hands-free technology, Charlie called Joey, who picked up after the third ring.

"Charlie?" the younger woman said. "Are you on your way back already?"

"Afraid not," Charlie said. "I've got to drive out to Port Heron to follow a lead."

"Oh."

Charlie hated the disappointment in her partner's voice.

"I'm still hoping to be back by midnight," she said optimistically.

She could almost hear Joey smile.

"I hope so too," she said. "I'll have a glass of champagne waiting for you."

"Thanks," Charlie said. "Listen, if I don't manage to..."

"You will," Joey said certainly.

"But if I don't..."

"Then you can apologise to me next year," Joey said. "Don't start saying Happy New Year and all that stuff as if you're never coming back."

Charlie giggled and promised to do her best to return to the party in time.

"I love you," she said before she hung up.

"I love you too," Joey replied.


Angelo was frantic. Derrick and an unknown man had knocked on Martha's door and bundled her into the boot of their car before he'd had the chance to do anything. He ducked as they sped back out of the farm and then started his engine. He paused when he spotted Hugo pulling up and panicked, running into the house, shouting Martha's name. Angelo hesitated over whether to follow Martha or get Hugo to help. Opting for the former, Angelo charged out of the farm, hoping to save Martha's life. Everything seemed to have gone rapidly out of control. They weren't supposed to break Derrick out for a few more days but things had escalated and it hadn't even been him that made the call. With his suspension, his crew had gone ahead without him and only let him know the situation when he had already been on his way to check on Martha. Everything had suddenly grown very complicated.


After a fair amount of coercion, Ruby had convinced Xavier to come and dance with her, Joey, Geoff, Leah and Hazem.

"Where's Charlie?" he asked, immediately noticing her absence.

"She got called into work," Joey said glumly.

"Something about that Derrick guy escaping," Ruby put in.

Geoff and Xavier both froze but for different reasons. Geoff had first hand experience of how frightening Derrick could be. And it only furthered Xavier's anxiety that something terrible was going to happen to Hugo, especially as Derrick had once attacked them both.

"Look, don't worry," Ruby said cheerfully. "Everything will be fine. And if anyone is in trouble then you know Charlie will sort it out. That's what she does."


Having found the farm empty, Hugo sat in his car in the dark, wondering what the hell he was meant to do now. He wondered if she might be at the party at the Surf Club. He'd upset her a lot earlier in the day by saying that he was still leaving, even though they had briefly reconnected. Not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to the potentially tragic situation, Hugo wondered whether he ought to call his mother or brother to find out where Martha was. Sighing heavily, and knowing Suzy had won, he phoned her instead.


As Charlie parked her car, she wondered if she had made a mistake by not bringing someone with her. The industrial estate was dark, empty and more than a little unnerving. Opening her glove compartment, Charlie pulled out a torch and then made sure that her weapon was loaded, just in case she ran into some kind of trouble. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of her car and braced herself to do her job.


Angelo followed Martha's captors to a house in the middle of nowhere, wondering what on earth he was meant to do next, especially without backup. The last time he had been in a situation as dangerous as this, he had a shot a man... he had shot a friend. He had killed him. And then his life had spun desperately out of control. And he wasn't even meant to be here now. He'd got himself suspended. He had no badge, no weapon and no uniform. And if he hadn't come up with the idea of breaking Derrick out in order to catch him in the midst of his illegal behaviour then none of this would be happening now. Pondering calling Charlie, he resisted, wanting to find a way to handle things on his own.


Back at the party, Xavier was still struggling to concentrate. Thanking Ruby for including him, he ducked out of the dancing circle and went to sit on a chair. Before long, Romeo came to sit beside him, wondering if he was okay.

"Yeah," Xavier lied. "Just... It's complicated."

Romeo nodded. He too didn't look like he was enjoying the party. He hadn't been the same since Annie had left for Japan and although they kept in touch, Romeo's hope for a happy reunion was fast beginning to dwindle.

"Ten minutes to midnight, everyone!" Alf called out across the room.

Still dancing with Ruby and her friends, Joey's heart sank.


As Charlie cautiously made her way through the seemingly endless rows of shipping containers, she glanced at her watch. Realising that she only had ten minutes until midnight, she said a silent sorry to Joey for not being with her at the turn of the year. Returning her concentration to the numbers on the shipping containers, her heart pounded as she realised that she was close.


Hugo tore through the roads, out of Summer Bay and towards Port Heron, as directed by Suzy. Desperate to save Martha, who he had been informed was being 'looked after' by Hugo's colleagues, he had agreed to follow every instruction to the letter. He could escape again once Martha was safe but after already breaking her heart, Hugo knew he had to do whatever it took to save her.


Ruby crept up beside Joey, who was optimistically holding two glasses of champagne. She put her arms around her.

"I'm sure she'll make it up to you," she said.

Joey smiled.

"I know," she said. "I feel bad for her more than anything else. She was really looking forward to the party and now she's having to work."

"She'll cope," Ruby promised. "And she'd want you to join in with a Happy New Year so, come on."

Guiding Joey by the elbow, Ruby led her back to their circle of friends.


Charlie was in the middle of trying to break the lock on the door of the shipping container when her phone rang. She jumped at the shrill sound in the deathly silent warehouse. Annoyed with herself when she realised she was trembling.

"Hello?" she said.

It was Avery, reporting that they had a mobile phone number from inside Bambang's toy.

"Okay, text it to me," Charlie said.

Hanging up, the Senior Constable continued to work on the lock while she waited for the message to come through.


Hugo paused when he heard noises in the otherwise silent warehouse. First there had been a ring tone, then a voice and now some sort of banging sound. Pulling out his illegal firearm, Hugo moved stealthily toward the noise. He paused when his own phone rang.


Charlie succeeded in breaking the lock. Before opening the door, Avery's text came through so she called the number. As it rang in her ear, she heard a distinct ring tone call out among the shipping containers. She paused, pulling the phone away from her ear and looking around. The only things she could see were shadows. Hanging up, Charlie shoved her phone back into her pocket, pulled out her weapon and hauled open the door of the container. Once her eyes adjusted to the gloom, bile rose in her throat. Huddled together in the tiny cell, were a dozen, malnourished, barely breathing illegal immigrants.


"Ten... nine... eight..."

The whole of the Surf Club chanted the countdown. Xavier sat beside Romeo, both of them forcing cheer. Ruby held Geoff's hand, elated to be celebrating with him and looking forward to the year ahead and all that they might do together. Alf stepped out from behind the bar, ready to lift his own glass in celebration. Liam clutched a soft drink, trying not to feel too sorry for himself. Leah smiled affectionately at Hazem, who blushed. Gina and John gazed lovingly at each other.

"Seven..."

Inside an unfamiliar house, Martha demanded to know what was going on and what they thought they were doing with her – and why. Both men ignored her as if she hadn't spoken.

"Six..."

Angelo waited outside, fretting over what to do and how to do it. Saving Martha's life was suddenly the most important thing in the world.

"Five... four..."

Sitting on the beach in the dark, having finally made their way home, and having finally decided to start communicating, Aden leant in and kissed Nicole.

"Three..."

Further down the beach, Miles sat, drunk, alone and miserable.

"Two..."

Joey pictured her beloved Charlie, wishing that she was with her.

"One!"

In the shipping container, Hugo crept up behind Charlie and hit her over the head with his gun. She hit the ground, just about recognising him before she passed out.

"Happy New Year!


Next time... Hugo kidnaps Charlie, Angelo and Martha save each other and Watson joins Joey, Alf, Xavier and Romeo's rescue mission...