It was late in the day by the time Kim got back to him and he had spent most of that time pacing around his office, thinking about how the operation could pan out. She would be a fool not to see the wisdom of what he was planning, not to recognise the kudos that could come from it, and Kim Reid was no fool, he realised that.

"I've spoken with Mr Conway and Mr Brownlow," she said, leaning back in her chair. "You can have your operation, Frank…"

"Brilliant!"

"…but not quite as you intended."

He looked at her. "Ma'am?"

"Your plan was very well thought out, I'll give you that, but the resources and expense that would be required vastly exceed what we can justify at the moment. So, I've taken the view, in conjunction with the Chief Super, that this should be a joint operation with the Vice Squad."

"What?"

"You can have Viv, Tosh and Mike and Inspector Monroe has agreed to release a number of uniformed officers so June, Tony and Dave will be joining you, along with whoever Vice put up at their end. Christina and Jim are to remain on the fraud enquiry. I've taken the liberty of contacting my counterpart at Vice, DCI Paul Andrews, and he's in agreement with me. He was very pleasantly surprised to hear about the information, if a tad put out that Vice weren't alerted to it first."

He could feel the entire operation slipping away. "But Ma'am, this is supposed to be a Sun Hill operation! We're the ones with history with Patterson and we're the ones who should nick him!"

She regarded him carefully. "This wouldn't be a revenge operation, would it?"

"No, of course not," he checked himself. "But I'd be lying if I said there wasn't something more in it for us than just getting Patterson off the streets, and if that's what we're doing, then Christina should be involved."

Kim shook her head, "No, she stays on the fraud enquiry."

"But…"

"No buts, Frank. I won't speculate as to your real reason for wanting her on board as I think we both know very well what that is. I think that Christina will infinitely benefit from her time focussing on this one case."

"Why don't you just say what's on your mind, Ma'am?" he asked, anger flaring inside him at the suggestion that he couldn't, or wouldn't, be professional, even in the face of all that had gone before.

"All right…I think that Christina has a lot of potential…"

"As do I."

"…so long as it's channelled in the right direction."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning, she needs the appropriate opportunities to showcase her abilities. You know as well as I do, Frank, that women are still disproportionately concentrated at the lower ranks in the Met. As much as it might pain you, we do need to encourage female officers to reach their full potential, something I've been trying to stress to Christina for some time. It might do some good if you were to understand and appreciate that."

"I do understand and appreciate that," he retorted. "I'm well aware of how talented an officer she is. I'd encourage her to take the sergeants exam again if she showed an interest and I would never do anything to hold her back."

Kim raised her eyebrows, "You don't think you've done that already? She clearly lives in your shadow."

Anger flared again, this time not for himself. "I think that's an unfair comment, Ma'am. I'm her DI. I'm in charge. She does what I ask her to do, but I don't see how anyone could say that means her living in my shadow anymore than anyone else in that department."

"She wants to impress you, that's natural, but when there's already been a crossing of boundaries…"

"I thought we'd all moved past this?"

"We have. All I'm saying is that I want to see her reach her potential and this fraud investigation will do her good as far as that's concerned. It might also be of some benefit to Jim too. Now, I've told you what's been agreed to so far as the Patterson operation goes. Vice are going to be here in the next hour for a briefing. Does that give you enough time to assemble the troops?"

"Yes Ma'am," he replied sourly. "I'm sure that'll be plenty time."

"Good. Right, I'll see you at the briefing then."

It was a clear dismissal and, as he made his way back to his own office, he felt the resentment start to choke him. It was bad enough having to kowtow to her, but her taking his own operations away from him…well, that was something else.

"Right, you three!" he barked towards Mike, Tosh and Viv. "Get in here now." Obediently, they filed in, but he didn't miss the glances shared between them. "In the next hour, Vice are going to be descending on us. We're going to be running a joint operation targeting one Rod Patterson, who some of you may remember."

"Isn't that the bloke that ran the club Chris went undercover in?" Viv asked.

"Yes Viv, it is. We have information that he's involved in the trafficking of foreign females over to the UK to use in his clubs for the purposes of sex work. Now, I can't say much more right now but, suffice to say, we're going to be on surveillance from tomorrow night and hoping to make arrests. I'm sure I don't have to remind you that some of us want nothing more than to see Patterson in cuffs."

"Does Chris get to be in on this?" Mike asked, glancing behind him. "I mean, you'd think she'd want to be."

"DCI's orders are that she and Carver have to stay with their fraud enquiry, more's the pity. But I'd like to think that we can get a result for her, and all the other women Patterson's abused in the past. Right, that's it for now." He watched as they filed out again, as Viv spoke in quiet tones with Christina, who glanced into his office and made a rueful face at him. It wasn't right that she didn't get to be involved. She deserved to be, more than anyone else on the team. "Stuff Reid," he muttered to himself, the germ of an idea already growing.

XXXX

"I can't believe we've missing out," Jim moaned for the third or fourth time since the others had disappeared off to the briefing. "I mean, anything's got to be better than shifting through all this paperwork."

Christina sighed inwardly and tried to stay calm. Much to her surprise, she was actually enjoying looking at all the documentation for the case and though she would have liked to have been in on the Patterson operation, she didn't feel quite as devastated as Jim clearly did at being excluded. "Think of the payoff Jim."

"What payoff?"

"If we're able to nail these bastards, they'll be looking at some serious jail time. Probably more than Patterson is ever going to get."

"Yeah, well…" he sighed and got to his feet. "I need a coffee. Do you want anything?"

"No, I'm all right, thanks," she replied, grateful for the peace when he had left the room. His constant whining was starting to grate on her and had there not been another operation on the go, she would have seriously contemplated asking Kim for someone else to partner up with.

"Where's Jim?"

She jumped at the sound of Frank's voice behind her and turned to face him. "Oh, he's gone to get a coffee. Can't take the excitement of this investigation."

"I don't blame him." He came and looked over her shoulder at the myriad of pages spread out before her. "Make sense, does it?"

"Some of it."

"Listen, what time are you due to clock off tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow…five, why?"

"Right, when you're done, get yourselves down to the breaker's yard on Monkton Street. We've just had our briefing with Vice and that's where the lorry is going to be bringing the girls to be transferred into the van to be delivered to Patterson. Orders are to follow and then hopefully nick Patterson, and anyone else we can, when he receives them."

"But the DCI said…"

"I don't give a monkeys what the DCI said, do you? Anyway, she's not coming along for the ride this time, more important business at Area apparently. This is Rod Patterson, Chris. When are we going to get another shot at him? Don't you want to be in on it?"

"Yes of course…"

"So, what's your problem?"

She put her hands on her hips, frustrated by the casual way he dismissed her protests. "My problem, Guv, is that I've been specifically tasked to deal with the fraud enquiry. Jim and I aren't part of your operation."

"If you're clocking off at five, no-one needs ever know you were part of my operation."

"Right, until something happens, or I nick someone, or I have to give a statement about something…" she shook her head. "Anyone who's there will know. What if someone from Vice happens to mention something to the DCI? I can't take part and then hide."

"You're being ridiculous…"

"No, you're being ridiculous!" she sighed. "I know why you're suggesting it, and I'm grateful for it. There's nothing I'd like more than to stick the cuffs on Patterson, but I can't."

"I get it. The DCI's opinion is of more value to you than seeing a dangerous bloke taken off the streets."

"That's not fair. We talked about this after that business with Whelan. You can't put me in these kinds of positions, Frank, just because of what we mean to each other. You wouldn't ask any other officer to deliberately disobey the DCI now, would you?"

"I might, if I thought it was for their own good!" he sighed. "Fine, you do what you like. We'll be at the breaker's yard if you change your mind." He paused. "She's got big plans for you, you know."

"Who?"

"Reid. I reckon she sees you as out of the same mould as herself, destined for great things."

Although part of her felt pleased by what he was saying, another part could recognise that, deep down, he wasn't meaning it in a complimentary way. "And that bothers you, does it?"

"That you're apparently destined for great things? Of course not."

"So, it's just the fact that it's Reid that's saying it that bothers you."

He leaned back against Viv's desk and regarded her carefully. "I saw something in you a long time before she even crossed this threshold."

"Yeah, I know you did."

"I don't mean that. You might think that I only pay attention to you because of how I feel about you personally, but I've always recognised your professional potential. I've no doubt you'll climb the ladder in the Met, Chris, I'm just not convinced you need Miss Reid to help you do it."

"You think I'm better off being backed by you."

"In a nutshell, yes. She might have AC Renshaw and DAC Hicks in her back pocket, but that counts for nothing on the streets. You should know that."

"I do know that."

"Good, I'm glad. Cases like this are all very well, but you need to be at the sharp end if you want to get noticed, the real sharp end. Anyway, mind how you go. I'd hate to see you get a paper cut from that lot."

She watched as he made his way back into his office, his words going around and around inside her head, and she felt torn. Torn between her love for and loyalty to him and what being aligned with Reid could do for her, professionally. The nineteen nineties were underway now, policing was changing, and she couldn't help but feel that the bully boy tactics of the seventies and eighties were well on their way to being extinct.

6 July

The night air was warm, too warm to be sitting cooped up in cars watching a breaker's yard, but Frank was damned if he was going to let anything get in the way of nailing Patterson. DCI Andrews was a fairly aimable fellow, happy to share both the responsibility and the limelight and his troops seemed capable enough. Frank had made it clear to him, however, that when the cuffs went on, it would be Sun Hill who would be in charge, and he had seemed happy to acquiesce. Not that he wished Reid hadn't stuck her nose in and organised a joint operation in the first place.

So far, there had been no sightings of anyone, though there were two vans parked in the yard that they had been unable to trace to either the breakers or any other immediate local business. In short, the opinion was that those vans would be used to transport the women once they were unloaded from the lorry. Andrews already had officers positioned watching Patterson's clubs.

"You sure it's tonight, Guv?" Viv asked from her position in the passenger seat. "I mean, we've been here for two hours already."

"Patience Viv. They'll be here. Patterson's too arrogant to think that anyone might squeal on him."

"What if he's got someone else on the inside? What if someone from Vice is as bent as that Ryan bloke was?"

"Then we'd all be pretty bloody unlucky, wouldn't we?" he looked at her. "Perhaps a little confidence might not go amiss right now."

The radio suddenly crackled. "Burnside from Dashwood, over."

"Go ahead Michael."

"Nothing yet on the lorry, but Tosh and I have had an unexpected visitor enter our car."

He frowned, "You what?"

"Let's just say a flame-haired female operative has joined our ranks."

"What, Chris?" Viv said, glancing at him. "I thought she was supposed to be working on that fraud case?"

"Received Michael. Tell her welcome aboard and keep your eyes on that entrance road." He tossed the radio onto the dashboard, a feeling of vindication racing through him. "I knew she'd come."

"She told me Reid had said she wasn't to be in on this."

"Yeah well, she wants to see Patterson nicked, doesn't she? Can hardly blame her for that."

"Yeah, but if Reid finds out Guv…"

"Well, she won't, will she? Not if you and the others don't tell her. I'm assuming your loyalty lies with your immediate colleague, Martella."

"Well, we all know where Chris's loyalty lies," Viv muttered.

"You want to explain that?"

"Oh, come on Guv! I'm not blind. She'd walk over hot coals for you, and you know it. Not to mention allow herself to get into serious trouble just to please you. I suppose that's the curse of being in love with someone in authority."

He bit his tongue, unwilling to take up her challenge, yet storing her cheek away for another time. The operation was too important to get involved in petty squabbles but the fact that first Tosh and now Viv appeared qualified to comment on the situation between himself and Christina irked him considerably.

"I'm sorry," Viv said in the ensuing silence. "I know it's none of my business, but she is my friend. I care about her."

"Yeah? I care about her too."

"Then you shouldn't want to see her get in trouble the way she's going to if Reid finds out she was in on this. You're the DI, but she's only a WDC. You'll get a rap on the knuckles for getting one over on Reid, but Chris is likely to end up with worse than that."

He paused, Viv's words running around in his head, words that had at least a grain of truth about them. Reid's face when…if…she found out Christina had been involved in Patterson's arrest would be something worth seeing. Maybe she would finally realise who was actually in charge of the department. But he was also reminded about what Christina had said before about there being a conflict of interest and he knew he had exploited it.

He lifted the radio again, "Burnside to Dashwood."

"Receiving Guv."

"Tell the flame-haired female operative to leave the vehicle."

"What?"

"Tell her to go home."

There was silence, then a crackle, before Christina's voice came over the line. "But I'm here now Guv."

"Yeah, and you shouldn't be. Go home."

"But…"

"Go home!"

"Burnside from Andrews, over."

He cursed inwardly at the sound of the Vice leader. "Receiving, over."

"What's going on over there?"

"Nothing for you to worry about. Over."

"It's a bit late for all this now," Viv said.

"Do you have anything useful to add?" he turned to look at her as the radio crackled again.

"Burnside from Dashwood. Lorry approaching the yard."

"Shit…" he muttered. "All right everyone, look lively. This could be it."

Over the course of the next few moments he sat, breath held, as the lorry slowly made its way into the yard before stopping. Two people climbed out of the cab and moved towards the rear, opening the heavy doors and then standing back as a number of figures came out into the yard. From the distance, he could tell that they were female and one by one, they were separated and directed towards the vans. Moments later, the two men climbed into a van each and began making their way towards the entrance to the yard.

"Burnside to all units. Tony, once the vans are gone and we're in pursuit, arrest the lorry driver and take him straight down the nick."

"Received Guv," Tony's voice came back across the radio.

Tossing the radio to Viv, he started the engine and began slowly making his way around the edge of the yard to where he would meet the main road. "Get on the radio and tell Michael to follow the second van. We'll take the first one and Vice can decide amongst themselves who comes with who."

"Yes Guv." She quickly relayed the message as they fell in behind the first van, making sure to keep a safe distance behind to avoid arousing suspicion. "You think they'll go to the Red Club?"

"Possibly, but we know Patterson's got more than one. Poor cows…no idea what they've got coming." He continued to follow as the van made a familiar journey. "Yeah, I reckon it's the Red Club. Get on the radio and ask Michael where their van's heading."

"We're on the same route you are, Guv," Mike's voice came back. "Looks like both vans are going to the same place. We'll just need to watch that the driver of our van doesn't clock that you're following his mate."

"How far from the club are we?" Viv asked.

"About two minutes, give or take."

"Place you frequent often, Guv?"

"Just the once. Not really my kind of establishment." The van in front slowed and he did the same as it took a right, then left then another right and slowly crawled past the front entrance of the Red Club before disappearing around the back. So as not to alert the other van driver, he drove past towards the end of the street, pulling up at the kerb in time to see the second van follow the first. "They're both going into the club. All units from Burnside, do we have eyes on at the back of the club?"

"Both vans have pulled up at the back entrance," one of the Vice officers came across the airways. "Unloading now."

"Right, let's go." Getting out of the car, he started making his way along the street, followed closely by Viv. The second car had pulled up on the opposite side of the street and, as he watched, Mike, Tosh and Christina climbed out. "Tosh, I want you to go inside, make out like you're a punter, just in case someone tries to do a runner out the front door."

Tosh rolled his eyes, "Right Guv."

"The rest of you, with me." He glanced at Christina, at the uncertainty and anticipation on her face, and wished once again that she hadn't bothered turning up. "You really should go," he said, in a last-ditch attempt to make her see sense.

"I'm here now," she replied, "just like you suggested."

"Yeah…" he tried not to think about the repercussions of what was about to happen and lifted the radio, "Any sign yet of Patterson?"

"Negative. Still unloading."

"How long does it take to get some women out of a van?" Mike asked.

"Shut up Michael. Let's move further round the back." Like cat burglars, they slowly made their way along the side of the building and around towards the back entrance.

"Eyes on Patterson," the voice came across the radio again. "He's at the back entrance talking to one of the blokes from the van."

He held his breath.

"Now he's moving over to the women…looks like he's checking them…. yep, he's waving them inside."

"Right, all units go, go!"

As one, everyone rushed in together, shouts of 'police' mingled with the screams of terrified women and the shouts of irate men, most of whom tried to put up some kind of fight but were quickly overpowered. Out of the corner of his eye, Frank saw Patterson, looking fairly bemused as Christina rushed up to him.

"Rodney Patterson, I'm arresting you on suspicion of trafficking and facilitating prostitution. You do not have to say anything unless you wish to do so, but anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?"

"What is this?" Patterson demanded as she took hold of him and roughly turned him around in order to handcuff him. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I hope you've got documentation for these women," Frank said. "Doesn't look like they speak much English to me." Patterson opened his mouth, but he put up his hand. "Save it for the tape, Rodney." As one of the Vice officers pulled Patterson towards a waiting car, he turned to look at Christina. "Well, did that feel good, or did that feel good?"

"It felt very good," she replied, her face flushed and her eyes bright in a way that made him want to grab her and kiss her. "Let's hope we can make it all stick."

"Oh, I bet we will. This lot are never going to go down for Patterson. They'll be singing like canaries by dawn. You should get yourself home now though."

"Don't be daft, I'm the arresting officer. You'll need me down the nick for processing, not to mention interviews."

"Yeah, but we can handle it."

"You're not taking all the credit for this," she said, her expression darkening. "I slapped the cuffs on him."

"I'm not disputing that, but if anything gets made official…"

"Oh, it's getting made official all right." She looked at him squarely. "You were the one who told me I should be in on this, and I am, so I'm not backing out now. I want to look that oily bastard in the face when we put all the evidence to him. I'll see you back at Sun Hill."

"Chris…" he took hold of her arm as she turned away. "The DCI…"

"I can handle the DCI, Frank." She nodded. "You were right."

"Yeah," he muttered, as she walked off. "That's what I was afraid of."