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Repetitions of the Future	By : gallygaskins Category: 1 through F > Ashes to Ashes Views: 1464 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Ashes to Ashes and I do not earn any money from this fanfiction.

Chapter List
- 6
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Chapter 7 – Layton does it again!

The dark blackened brickwork of the ‘Queens Head’ public house sullenly invited Arthur Layton to walk through its eggshell blue double doors and seek the warmth within. He didn’t often frequent such establishments, wine bars were more his thing when he was dressed in his favourite light grey suit, but they had all agreed that this would be the safest place to meet to discuss their plans for the foreseeable future, and in his black jeans, David Bowie t-shirt and Dr Marten’s boots, he fitted right in.

He slowly scoured the lounge area for his cohorts, finding them in the furthest corner sitting at one of the alcove tables. Ordering a drink at the bar he continued on his journey to the table taking a seat next to Markham so that he was able to watch the door.

“Did she tell you anything?” Markham asked.

“Noffing of any consequence, Markham;” Layton lied, “not yet anyway. I’ll need to … work on her a bit more.”

“God, why don’t you just jump her bones and have done with it. That’s what I’d have done had I had the chance on that damn boat.”

“And that’s why you’re putting cocaine up your nose, eh, Markham? ‘Cause you couldn’t get a decent bird to pump you one if you tried, you’d need a prossie every time!”

Markham lent back in his seat and folded his arms over his chest, the anger all too evident on his face as he tried to hide his emotion. He knew this wasn’t the right time to make an issue out of it, that would come soon enough after he’d added his own take on Layton’s plan. Then the bastard would get what was coming to him.

Layton swigged his drink, “So, Lacey, think this is gonna go off later? Or is Hunt goin’ to wait 'til tomorra!”

“It’ll be tomorra now, Arfa! He wants to get ya red handed, so to speak. ‘E’ll wait 'til ‘e knows that Bolly bird of ‘is is on board, like.”

“Good, good. So you guys know what ya doin’?” Layton asked the two men, they nodded their agreement. “Right, I’ll be off then,” he finished his pint, “see you both ‘bout 5!”

Markham watched him walk back through the doors and out into the street. He settled back visibly relaxing, “Ian, you are with me on this one, aren’t you? You can see how advantageous it would be to get rid of him out of the equation.” Ian Lacey nodded his head. “Good, so you know what you’re doing?”

“Yep, Eddie, it’s all crystal to me!”

“See you tomorrow then,” Markham said, before getting up from his seat and making his own way out of the pub.

Ian finished his pint before he too got up and left, knowing that tomorrow was going to be his biggest day to date so far!

************

Gene felt good and the look on his face as he peered at himself in the mirror gave him the same result. This afternoon was going to be good; he could feel it in his bones and his ever instinctual gut. This afternoon was the time he was finally going to get Alex back and he was going to tell her how he felt about her, when he eventually got her on her own that was. He’d also decided … he wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer, not this time from her anyway.

He walked into the main office and perched himself on the edge of Alex’s desk, feeling more comfortable with the situation than he had done for the last few days, he’d even had a decent nights kip. “Right, ladies, listen up. Thanks to DC Lacey’s intelligence we ‘ave it on good authority that Layton and Markham are due t’ meet up at the boat ‘bout 5 pm this evening. Raymondo, Christopher, you’re both with me, I want the rest of you down there to back us up, got it?” The room was awash with an array of nodding heads and a chorus of “Yes, Guv’!”

“Good! Let’s see if we can bag a couple a bad guys and find my DI in one piece then shall we!” He stood up, put on his black leather driving gloves, squared his shoulders and smoothed down the arms of his black coat. He left the office shouting for Ray and Chris to follow, the length of his open coat and belt flapping around his legs as he strode off to his waiting car.

They arrived at the site without any delay and set themselves up in an abandoned warehouse. Ray looked through his binoculars surveying the scene, Chris watched around their backs making sure they had not been set up. Gene hunted and spied his officers. “You know you two, sometimes I wonder why I ever invited you t’ come ‘ere with me; but then there’s times like this when I realise why I did.”

“Bit of philosophy, eh, Guv?” Ray said keeping his eyes on the target.

Gene looked over to him, “No, Ray, ‘cause it’s at times like these when you know ‘oo your friends are.” He went back to looking around the site. “You two, ‘part from Bolly and Shaz, are the only two people I bloody trust on god’s earth. I have a feelin’ that things aren’t goin’ t’ go as planned.”

“Why, boss?” Chris asked.

“’Cause there’s somethin’ not quite right, everythin’ is too rigid, time constraints, this site, everythin’. We’re gonna wait, we’ll get one of ‘em in custody before we hunt down the other, got it?” Ray and Chris nodded.

Chris reached into his pocket retrieving the radio that was in it, “do you want me to let the other’s know?”

“No,” Gene shouted, hurling himself over to Chris grabbing the radio from his hand. “No, you div. I think we’ve got a mole in our crew, last thing we need is ‘em knowin’ what we’re up to!”

“Sorry, Guv’!” Chris went back to his surveillance.

“Guv? Looks like they’re here.”

Ray passed the binoculars over to Gene, “Aye, this is it then lads. We’ll grab one of ‘em when they come back off the boat, then we’ll grab the other one. Follow me.” He gave the binoculars back to Ray, found the route he’d decided upon earlier and took it, Ray and Chris close behind. He’d managed to get them extremely close to the boat and from their position, behind some large packing cases, they were all able to get a good picture of what was going on. Two cars had arrived and the driver’s of each got out of them. Both Layton and Markham were in sight but it was too risky dropping them both from where Gene and his boys stood, if they did have a mole or moles then it could turn sour. Taking Layton and Markham separately would give them the element of surprise they needed. At least that was what Gene hoped.

They looked on as the pair seemingly had some argument on the deck of the ‘Prince Eddie’, then Layton disappeared inside the boat as Markham thrashed back up the gangplank to dry land. “Go lads, let’s get Markham first!” The three sprinted down to the quay as Markham tried to get to his car. Chris managed to catch up with him and tackled him to the ground, kneeling on his back as he cuffed him, Markham’s screams and shouting muffled by the ground that he had been spread out upon. With one down, Gene asked DC’s Lacey and Partridge to take Markham to the police station and book him, they went on their way.

Slowly Gene, Ray and Chris quietly walked the gangplank and once on the boat Gene motioned for Chris to stay on top making sure that Layton would have no escape. He and Ray then proceeded to enter the boats hull and search it. Gene decided to go aft toward the stern sending Ray up to the bow, as boats went there wasn’t that many places that someone could hide, but after searching through the rooms Gene couldn’t find a single soul.

Every door Ray came upon he opened and searched each room beyond, ‘where the hell could Layton or Drake be,’ he thought. Reaching the last door he realised it was locked. “Guv,” he called out whispering. Realising that Gene was on his way up to him, Ray waited for his boss to get to him.

“What’s up, Ray?” Gene asked.

“Door’s locked. Shall I?”

“Be my guest!” Ray knew instinctively that it wouldn’t take much to get the door open; he positioned his right foot over the lock and booted it, sending the door flying backwards into the seemingly empty room. “Jesus,” Ray exclaimed, cupping his hand over his mouth as the stench from within invaded his senses. He took a few steps in, letting his eyes get used to the light. “Guv’, look, over there, is that her?”

Gene looked in the direction that Ray was pointing to see the hunched up body of a woman, her clothing was torn and tattered, her face was black and her hair matted to her head from a blood stained wound. Her usually pristine white leather jacket was also covered in her blood, it was definitely Alex. Gene briefly stood transfixed to the spot not knowing what to do, but then his heart took over his head and he moved toward her, kneeling down over her limp body. “Alex,” he said, trying to rouse her by stroking her forehead, “Alex?” But nothing, she didn’t respond. He felt for a pulse, she had one but it was weak. Bringing her head up to his he gently breathed a kiss over her mouth. “I love you, Alex,” he whispered, “please don’t leave me!”

In the meantime, Ray had been surveying the room. He may not have liked the woman very much ‘but,’ he decided, ‘no-one deserved to be holed up in a place like this.’ Following Gene into the room slightly he stood in the centre looking at the top of the table. “Guv? There’s something on this table, like drugs or someat.”

Gene looked over his shoulder just as he saw a form come from out of the shadows, a form he could only assume to be Layton. Layton jumped Ray from behind hitting Ray on the head with the grip of his hand gun; Ray fell limp to the floor. “Shit!”

“You could say that Hunt,” Layton jeered, cocking his gun and pointing it toward Gene’s head, “Now I’ve got you both right where I want you.

“So what exactly are you gonna do to do both of us?” Gene asked, feeling Alex coming too in his arms, he only hoped that Ray would follow suit. He turned his head around to see Ray slowly coming around as well.

“What I really want to do is kill you both, Alex for knowing too much about me and you for bringing down my empire.”

“Layton, if it hadn’t been me it’d ‘ave been someone else.”

“Maybe that’s true, but all I really want to do is get you out of the picture, with you gone …”

Gene cut him off dead, “with me gone, what exactly? You’ll be able to run London the way you want with as many police in your pocket as you can ‘andle. And then what, ‘ave Alex to yourself without me about to ward you off!” Gene looked Layton in the eye, “I’m tellin’ you know that’ll never ‘appen, this woman needs help and I’m goin’ to get her to it. You got a problem with that, you’ll have to shoot me in the back!” And without a second thought Gene had swept Alex up into his arms readying himself to walk out of that room with her and off the boat.

Layton panicked, he’d lost control, he took aim but his legs were taken from under him by a now conscious Ray, he pressed his finger on the trigger and the gun went off.

Alex’s eyes shot open at the sound of the firing gun, she sought the face she wanted to see and he smiled at her. She smiled back reaching around his neck with her arms, feeling very comfortable in his. Suddenly she felt herself free falling back to the floor as Gene’s body buckled, she didn’t understand what was going on. His body fell on top of hers, now a dead weight and she struggled to breathe. She pushed her hands under his chest moving him over slightly so that she could at least sit up. She tried to see what had caused him to fall, nothing. She moved her hands over his back and felt a wet patch soaking his coat; her fingers circled the area feeling for something that would give her an indication of what had happened. Fabric fibres were warm to the touch as she edged her fingers further on. It was then she felt the hole. He’d been shot. She began screaming, “noooooooooooooooooooo!”

Ray soon had Layton restrained, much as Chris had done with Markham earlier, all the while Layton sneering and jibing. It was too much, Ray picked Layton up and hurled him at the wall. Layton hit it with a force that his body couldn’t comprehend. He fell to the floor in a heap, unconscious. Ray turned his attention to the now screaming Alex; he rushed over, falling over one of Gene’s legs as he went. “Christ alive!” Ray pulled on Gene’s shoulder just enough to let Alex escape from underneath him, then he was there with some pieces of sheet scrunching them up and applying them to Gene’s wound.

Chris had heard the shot and ran from the deck into the boat, easily finding his way to the commotion. Stunned at what little he could see of the scene before him he found his pocket torch and put it on. He flashed the light around the room, searching it for four people. He stopped when he got to Ray nursing his boss. Ray turned around, “get two ambulances here now, Chris!” He shouted, “and then get that piece o’ shit outta here!” Pointing in the direction of the unmoving Layton.

Chris did as he was told, finally ushering Layton from the scene with the help of a colleague. He went back on board to see if there was anything he could do. He looked to Alex first; she was crying and pleading for Gene to stay with her as she held onto his hand tightly. Then he looked to Ray, he still had the fabric wad held fast to Gene’s wound, crimson red seeping into it continuously.

Ray looked up at Chris and signalled for him to come over; he whispered that he wanted him to change positions with him so that Ray could get Alex away and seen to. Chris took over as he was told to, changing the wad of material as he did so. Ray stood over Alex, “come on, luv. He’ll do better if he knows you’ve been seen to.”

She looked up to him, “I’m not going anywhere, I’m staying with him.”

“Drake, you can’t. Your leg needs t’ be seen to. He won’t thank me if that leg don’t set straight ‘cause I didn’t get ya t’ ‘ospital when I should’ve.”

“I can’t leave him,” she blubbered. “He needs me!”

Ray sighed, “well, I’ve asked nicely.” Scooping her up was easy, what he hadn’t bargained for was the torrent that she pounded him with.

“Ray, what are you doing, let me go. I’m warning you.” She spat out, as she kicked and punched him. But for all her efforts, he never let his grip go, he held fast.

He squared up to her still holding her up off the ground, “I’m sorry Alex, but this is just the way it’s got to be. ‘Ate me if you like, I’m not bothered, but I need t’ get you out of here!”

Alex knew it was no good as Ray carried her from the boat, one ambulance crew passing them on the way. She screamed out, she wept and finally she hugged Ray sobbing into his neck as he finally put her down next to her waiting ambulance. As soon as he’d set her down she was being seen to, strapped to the gurney and being taken to the local hospital. The crew had told him where they were taking her and he vowed to get to her as soon as he could, he wanted to see how the Guv’ was first, and he knew Alex wouldn’t settle if he went back to her with no answers. Finally, the doors were closed and she was being taken to A & E. He turned his attention back to Gene.

As Ray turned to go back to the boat, he could see that they were moving Gene up toward his waiting ambulance. He scooted over, showing his badge and asking questions of the crew. “He’s lost a lot of blood but with all your efforts we stand a better chance of him recovering. Time really is of the essence now.”

***********

Ray stood over the sleeping body of his boss in the ICU, a drip was in his arm and various machines were helping him live, his heart monitor beeped steadily. What the hell was he going to tell Alex? And whatever he did tell her would probably send her over the edge, he knew they’d been getting close but not to the extent he’d witnessed on the boat earlier on.

Once more, he mulled over what the doctor told him, the stray bullet from Layton’s gun had punctured Gene’s lung. Surgery had been able to remove the bullet and they’d been able to make him comfortable. His coma was as a result of emergency services not being able to get to him sooner but they believed that he was in no real danger; it would just be a matter of time waiting for him to come out of his sleep.

Ray sighed; he’d done a lot of that since the events of the afternoon had all gone awry. “Well, s’pose I’d better go do it sooner than later, I’ll see you in a bit, Guv’. Just goin’ to tell your lady the news.”

*************

Gene Hunt came too, finding himself on a barge, alone. He picked himself up and dusted himself down walking out onto the deck of a pleasure barge. There must have been an odd expression on his face as he walked through the crowd of drinking and dancing party goers as they seemed to be looking at him as if he actually had two heads.

He looked around him, if this was a posh event then most of the women were dressed a little casually, most were in skinny jeans. A waiter passed by with a tray full of champagne, “got any whiskey?” The waiter nodded over to the bar. He found his way through the throng and asked again.

“What kind? We’ve got scotch, irish, bourbon, rye?” Asked the petite blonde with an accent he couldn’t quite fathom. If he’d remembered correctly, from when the wife had been around watching ‘The Sullivans’, it sounded Australian.

“Scotch.”

“Single malt, grain or blended?”

“What? Single Malt.”

“Ice?”

“No, as it comes!”

“That’ll be £3.00 please,”

“I’ve ordered a shot of whiskey, luv! Not a bottle!”

“That is for a shot, sir!” Astounded, Gene walked away from the bar and back to the waiter. He took several glasses from the tray and downed them. Making his way to the side of the barge he saw that it sat along the quayside, he made his way on to dry land. He walked up the embankment and sat down on the nearest bench. From his position he noticed a structure on the opposite side of the river that he had never seen before. “What the blazes …?”

A couple stood in front of him, taking in the view, “so that’s the eye?” The man said, “it’s quite an amazing piece of engineering really.” They walked off, leaving his view uninterrupted. “The eye?” He questioned, “where the bloody hell have I landed?”

He heard the call of a newspaper seller, so decided to get himself a copy. Maybe that would give him a clue as to where he had woken up. After paying his 50p, ‘rip off’ he thought, he retook the seat he had vacated and opened it up. He read the date, 4^th March 2007.

“Jesus, she were right. I must be in a coma in 1981. Well, best go find the 2007 Alex, and then maybe I can get back ‘ome!”
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Repetitions of the Future