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Intersection of Coventry and Wardour Streets
Georgia had decided on a specific patisserie, lauding the French pastries there, and Kate had agreed... once she had determined that they made good coffee, that is. It had taken them a bit longer than expected to get out of the building, as some sort of celebratory party was coming in and the limousines parked out front were causing a bit of a cluster-fuck around the entrance. They managed, finally, to squeeze through, and the walk down Coventry Street had been filled with pleasant enough chit chat, mostly about photography, in general, and the pros and cons of film versus digital. Kate enjoyed being on the hot seat for a while, letting Georgia ask her questions about how she captured and processed images when working. Kate kept her responses to unclassified material, so to speak, and her answers seemed to be more than satisfying to the other woman. There will be plenty of time for my interrogation when we get some chocolate in her, Kate thought to herself.
They slowed at the corner, and Georgia took a moment to look around, mumbling something about the quickest route meaning they needed to take a left here. Kate glanced around, her eyes stopping as she noticed a disturbance in the crowd across the street from them. The reason for the disturbance manifested seconds later as the crowd parted, and a large man broke free, stumbling into the street and nearly colliding with a taxi that had pulled to a stop.
Kate recognized the man as her “savior” from earlier, but whatever he was running for, or from, he was sweating and straining now to be free of it. The who was answered as Kate saw Marshall emerge from the crowd in pursuit. His face was contorted with fury, a vast difference from the boyish face she had seen in the photograph of him from his file. Her eyes quickly flicked down to his hand, and the taser in it.
Distracted as she was by the oncoming men, she barely stepped back in time to avoid Boskovic running into her, a move that would have leveled her for sure even if he hadn’t been running full-tilt. He barreled past her, but Marshall was gaining on him, the advantage of having less crowd obstructing his way when he had reached Wardour Street. Kate heard a yelp somewhere behind her, and fleetingly wondered if Georgia was alright, but before she could turn to look for her, she saw it.
Marshall had the taser up, and Boskovic was shaking at the other end of the lines. His had been the yelp she heard, and now Kate looked to his form on the ground, still shaking with the effects of the shock that had hit him. Marshall was breathing heavily as he sauntered toward Boskovic. He stopped over the man’s prone body... and reloaded the taser.
Oh my God, he’s gonna kill him, Kate thought, and she could feel her body tensing as she prepared to literally jump in and try to save this man... When suddenly a strong arm and the scent of a familiar cologne enveloped her, pulling her close while the other arm came up, gun leveled at Marshall.
“Back off, Marshall... Now!” Pierce’s breaths were measured, and his muscles, though tense, exuded a certain calm, which most would have found unsettling, but Kate found quite comforting. She took a moment to turn and look for Georgia in the people gathered nearby, expecting her to be gone.
Georgia, however, was still there, and just then her attention was focused on the scene in front of her... and on Marshall. She was ghost pale, and the look of absolute terror on her face was overwhelmed in Kate’s eyes by something else... recognition. Georgia recognized him, Kate could see it in her eyes, and Georgia was afraid, not of what was going on, but of him... of Marshall. That’s interesting...
Marshall, however, was not experiencing any of those feelings. Instead, he was standing over Boskovic’s form, the taser aimed directly at the man’s chest. He appeared to be in the zone, totally focused on the prone man before him, his jaw clenching and unclenching as if he was speaking without saying anything. His finger twitched on the trigger, and Pierce suddenly went tense, his own finger pressing very slightly on the trigger of the gun in his hand. Kate felt herself tense for the sound that the gun would make, and so close to her head and ears, it would be very loud.
“Marshall!” warned Pierce, his voice raising to a shout. “Put down the weapon, or I will have to shoot.” Marshall didn’t respond, his gaze fixed on Boskovic, his finger ready on the taser trigger.
Kate saw a flash of blue out of the corner of her eye, and turned her head in time to see Hagen emerge from his BMW. Owens was steps behind him as the older detective made a beeline for the scene.
“Rick! Stand down!” Pierce hesitated only a second, then lowered the gun. He kept his arm around Kate, kept her pulled tightly against him in a protective gesture, although why she would need protecting from anything, she wasn’t sure.
Marshall was starting to shake a bit, perhaps the force of Hagen’s voice intruding onto the situation enough to break his concentration. That had just upped the danger level, though, because now he was off balance and truly anything could happen. Kate hoped that an ambulance was on its way, because there was an extremely high chance that they would need a defibrillator in a matter of minutes.
“Marshall!” Hagen’s voice powered over the sounds of the bus stopped at the intersection. Most of the vehicles had stopped, or been moved on, and Kate noticed a few marked police vehicles had joined the mix, their uniformed officers out of the cars and taking up positions around the periphery...
“God knows why,” Pierce spoke low, the deep tones almost a growl.
“Huh?” Kate replied, her own voice softer than she expected, and she hoped he could hear her. He did.
“The PCs... Nice to have back-up, but they can’t do anything.” Pierce sighed with irritation, his muscles in his gun arm flexing.
“Hey!” Pierce and Kate stopped whispering, Pierce’s arm protectively pulling her even closer. Marshall’s focus had changed, his eyes fixed on them instead of Boskovic. Kate fought the urge to look for Hagen, and hoped that the Superintendent had seen the change in attention and was planning to act accordingly.
“You two, and your whispering, can stop!” Marshall’s hand shook, and the trajectory of his aim shifted ever so slightly away from Boskovic’s chest. C’mon, Hagen, Kate thought, watching the taser weave and wobble more and more... Just tackle this asshole and end this! Her peripheral vision was superb, and because of it she saw Hagen preparing to make his move soon. Not soon enough, though, because Marshall was beginning to look back to Boskovic, and if he did he would see Hagen before Hagen could take him down.
“No.” Kate felt Pierce startle as soon as she said the words. Marshall’s attention shifted back to her. That’s it... keep looking at me...
“What did you say?” Marshall was a bit more upset than Kate had anticipated.
“You told us to stop whispering... I said no.” She raised her chin, tapping into ever little defiant bone in her body, because it was working... Hagen was within a distance that a good lunge would reach Marshall. Kate wasn’t sure how fit the detective was, but when she noticed Owens in similar position a few paces away...
The sounds of the approaching ambulance’s siren suddenly intruded upon the scene. Marshall turned back just as Hagen lunged for him. Marshall turned the taser, prepared to fire it at Hagen, when Owens hit him from the side. Hagen collided with him at almost the same time, and the three all fell to the ground in a heap. Pierce quickly released Kate from his grasp, holstering his weapon as he rushed to assist the two men with Marshall. Hagen pried the taser from Marshall’s fingers, handing it to Pierce when he arrived.
“Well done, all of you!” Hagen raised his hand, signaling to the other officers that the situation was at an end. Immediately, PCs rushed in to assist in getting Marshall, his hands now restrained behind him with plastic handcuffs, back to his feet.
“Miss Gardener,” Hagen began, a smile on his face. “Fancy running into you here.”
“He did almost literally.” Kate jerked her head in the direction of Boskovic. Now on a cart, which was being loaded into the back of the ambulance, the Bosnian was starting to come around, and Kate could hear him speaking, though she couldn’t understand the words. Pierce obviously could, however, and the tension in his jaw was extreme. He watched them close the ambulance doors, then fire up the siren to part the crowd so the vehicle could get back out.
“Well,” Hagen continued. “I appreciate your efforts back there... The distraction helped.”
Kate grinned. “You’re very welcome.” She debated whether to tell them why she had been there, her thoughts drifting back to Georgia Bradshaw and wondering if she’d ever be able to find her again after this mess. She decided not, though, and thankfully no one asked. She said her goodbyes to the detectives, graciously declining the offer of a lift home, and made her way past the squad cars toward the Tube Station in Piccadilly. She had to pass the car that Marshall was now secured in, and she couldn’t suppress a shiver as her eyes met his.
That saying, ‘if looks could kill’? Well, they weren’t kidding, ‘cause Marshall’s gaze was truly lethal.