Chapter 1

"Wait a sec, pull in here."

Jules rolled her eyes.

"We'll be late," she complained half-heartedly, glancing at the man sat in the passenger seat. "We check in at 9:30."

He smiled at her.

"Trust me. We've still got time." She looked at his short dark hair, warm eyes and his lean, muscular figure and felt herself slowly giving in. Sean flashed a stunning smile at her and the outcome was inevitable. Jules checked her watch and conceded, pulling up at the side of the road. Sean opened the door and she followed suit, wondering exactly what he had in mind. He led her across the street by the hand, towards a shop with the words 'T. H. Morgan' emblazoned across the front. They went inside.

Gold sparkled from every side, hundreds of tiny facets winking at expensive jeweller's was not a place she frequented. Sean walked boldly up to the counter and gave his name. The balding man behind the desk disappeared into a back room. Jules shot a questioning glance at Sean who just smiled mysteriously again. She looked around. Glass cabinets lined one wall of the shop, full of earrings and bracelets whose price tags she didn't dare to read. The counter itself was glass too, displaying a variety of delicate statues and watches. The man returned with a black box in his hands.

"Here you are, sir." Sean thanked him, taking the box. He turned to Jules, who eyed him suspiciously as he opened it.

"Jewels for Jules," he said, grinning. Inside the box glistened a silver chain,with a smallcluster of diamondssuspended from it.A tiny gasp escaped Jules' lips as she reached out a finger to touch it.

"You don't like it then?"

"It's stunning," she half-whispered. Sean laughed.

"Then I guess we better keep it." He lifted it from the box and unclipped the fastening. Jules turned round and he did it up for her; sweeping her brown hair out of the way, he paused to kiss her lightly on the neck.

"Thank you." The words didn't sound adequate to Jules' ears, but Sean didn't seem to care.

"My pleasure. I have to spoil you as often as possible, it's in the job description."

The man behind the counter was watching them quietly with a soft smile on his face. The smile slowly faded as a bell jangled merrily through the shop. Jules didn't look round until Sean suddenly poked her hard in the ribs.

"Ouch!" she turned to poke him back, then stopped. A dark figure stood in the doorway, the bright sunshine outside obscuring the features of the hooded face. But it did not obscure the silhouette of the revolver held in the figure's right hand.

Sergeant Greg Parker straightened up.

"Now remember guys, Jules is on vacation for the next two weeks."

"Typical woman, slacking off whenever she feels like it," grinned Spike. Greg smiled.

"I think you'll find Jules works just as hard as the rest of us, Spike," said Sam, sharply.

"Enough, Sam. Now while she's away, Donna will be covering for her." Donna raised her hand in acknowledgement.

"You mean you big, butch men can't take care of yourselves?" Leah laughed.

As Greg held his hands up to stem the flow of conversation, Sydney's voice called across to the team.

"Team One, we got a call out to a jeweller's on Montague Street. Robbery in progress: armed subject, multiple hostages. Hot call."

Greg stood up.

"Ok, people. Let's keep the peace."

The SUVs rumbled out of the stationand headed for the highway as Greg briefed his team over the intercom.

"Right, we've got one subject armed with a revolver. He's got multiple hostages, but no shots have been fired."

"Who called it in?" asked Ed.

"A dog-walker in the street saw the subject's gun. There's at least one member of staff in there, and two customers. Wordy, I need you to contact the walker, see what else she can tell us. Leah, ask around, there may be other witnesses."

"Copy."

"Spike, we need eyes on this one, and track down the blueprints for the store. Ed and Donna you're alpha team, lethal solution. Sam you're on bravo with Leah, less lethal."

The subject walked forward, pointing the gun at each of them in turn. Jules felt her heart racing, scared not only for herself but for Sean took a deep breath to calm herself down, trying to decide the best way of keeping him safe. Should she try to negotiate her way out of this? Or would it be better to keep her head down? She didn't want the subject to spook and pull the trigger.

Acting through instinct, she and Sean backed away as the figure came towards them. Jules caught the glimpse of a woman's face below the hood. The subject aimed the gun at them and thrust a rucksack into the trembling arms of the shopkeeper. The old man hurriedlypulled several keys out of his pocket, his fingers fumbling as he struggled to find the right one. His hands were shaking so badly he could barely unlock the cash register. The drawer flew open and he hastily grabbed fistfuls of coins and stuffed them into the bag. Watching the shopkeeper intently, the woman's arm was slowly lowering, the weapon now limp in her hand. Jules heard Sean start to say something and elbowed him sharply in the stomach, but the subject had heard him too. The gun swung up instantly, aiming straight into Sean's face. Jules wanted to look at him, to check he wasn't going to do anything stupid, but she knew she needed to focus her attention on the one holding the weapon. Tentatively, she spoke.

"You know, guns never help in situations like this."

"Shut it!" The woman turned both her attention and her gun on Jules, who swallowed. She was now staring straight down the dark barrel of a revolver. Her memory flashed back to a rooftop: she remembered the sudden white-hot pain as the bullet tore through her side. She remembered the agonising minutes lying there, blinded by the fear that her team wouldn't reach her in time. She tried not to panic as she realised that she had no way to reach her team now. No one was coming to her rescue.

"What would you know about any of this?"

"You're right. I don't know anything about this. Why don't you tell me what it's all about?"

"I'm not going to tell you anything you don't need to know." The subject turned angrily to the shopkeeper, who had been staring at the two women. "Hurry up! You've got one minute to fill that bag, or your day's gonna get a lot worse."