"Greta, where are you?" Tom Mathias called out in the darkness of the secret wooded garden orchard.

"Here...In here..." came an echo of a woman's voice. Tom hurried towards the voice in the darkness. He discovered Greta Pritchard alive kept prisoner and hostage in an old well.

"It's going to be all right. I'm here to help you. Ok? Don't worry!" Tom reassured her. Then suddenly Greta screamed and Tom was attacked from behind. His body was struck with a heavy iron piece of equipment turned weapon. He struggled. He focused to discover the obvious assailant-Arwyn Parry. He was continually beaten. Whilst trying to fend off Arwyn and apprehend him, Tom was strangled. He felt the life slowly drain from him. A clanging of a weapon was heard. Arwyn was struck blindly and collapsed onto Tom. He was thrown aside by DI Mared Rhys! She hovered over Tom quickly trying to help him breathe again.

"Tom! Tom!" She cried. Her hands began a chest compression. Tom choked and wheezed...breathing out after a loud cough.

"Oh, God. Tom!" Mared spoke relieved. His face was bloodied and his body battered.

He opened his eyes and had never been happier to see Mared's lovely face.

He kept breathing with exhaustion.

Mared gently embraced him as he lay on the ground, though she probably shouldn't have, not knowing the true condition of his body in the darkness, but she did so out of pure relief for his life and because of her adrenaline. An ambulance was on its way. She then stopped and took the liberty of examining his body. Witnessing part of the attack, she thought he may have broken ribs and hoped there was no internal bleeding. Using her flashlight to guide her, she pulled his shirt up to reveal his ribs. The bruising was quickly there. Tom stayed silent. His breathing calmed. She ran a consoling hand across the side of his forehead.

"Mared," he whispered.

"You are going to be fine. Shhh. The ambulance will be here soon." She spoke softly.

"Ma'am?...Sir?" DI Lloyd Ellis approached Mared and Tom, shining his light in their direction and seeing her body knelt over his injured Boss. She turned her face to the light, and answered, "We're here Lloyd." Backup arrived. "I'll let you know his condition. I'm going with him to the hospital." Lloyd then turned his focus to detaining Arwyn Parry, before the evil man became conscious again.

The medics arrived and began tending to Tom as Mared's eyes sparkled with sympathy and pain at seeing Tom hurt.

...