SUN HILL POLICE STATION - 5:10 PM

Sergeant Ackland was going through car license plates when she heard the male voice over the radio. As Sergeant Cryer entered the room, she looked him straight in the eye, and listened intently.

They sat there for a good five minutes, listening in despair as he once again attacked Polly. Sighing out of gratefulness as Polly managed to stop him hurting the child; she turned back to Cryer, who had been joined by Liz, Rod, Andrew Monroe, Debbie and Luke.

Following the ceasing of radio communication, the room went silent. Luke, and Debbie were clutching each other in agony, as Bob held tightly to Liz's hand, Andrew and Rod seemed to be just hanging in there.

Andrew decided to break the silence. Turning sadly to the small group, he tried one last time to calm them all down.

"I have to say that in all my years in this job, I've never come close to a situation quite like this one. However, we know that all previous victims have survived this ordeal, and at this point in time, we have a lead that will take a while to sort out. We've got officers from Barton Street on the plates as well, and we estimate we'll track the location down within the next day. Until then, we have to survive ourselves." He stopped and took a deep breath, trying to control his emotions.

"We're not going to be of any good to Polly or Lisa if we're falling apart here. Now, Luke, you and Debbie, as well as Dave and Tony, are dismissed for the shift. We have to focus on the task at hand, and emotions don't get results. There are two crisis counselors just arrived to help anyone who needs it, but now it's just a matter of time," he concluded, and ushered Debbie and Luke from the room.

Turning back to June, he swallowed and asked how she was.

"It's getting tougher, Andrew. Everyone gradually losing control. I'm worried about Luke and Dave particularly." June brushed tears off her cheeks and turned back to the plates list.

"We've reduced the list to just over one hundred at this stage. Not all owners have been contacted yet. If only we knew a colour or something." June sighed.

"It's sounds as if this child's done extremely well under the circumstances. We should be grateful for that at least." Andrew tried to see some good in this, but it was getting harder and harder.

June tried to think of what else had to be done, suddenly realising that nobody had remembered to inform Polly's family of the situation. She quickly conveyed this to Andrew, who sighed and responded.

"Right. June, I think it would be a good idea for you to accompany me on this one. Bob, radio us at the first sign of any new development," he ordered.

June passed the partially crossed off list of license plates to Bob, and followed Andrew towards the front entrance, after stopping off at his office to retrieve Mr and Mrs Page's address. Checking with Sam on the front counter, they learnt that Luke and Debbie were in with the counsellors, and that Tony had taken Dave home, promising to stay with him.

"Right, well, we're going to see Polly's parents, Sergeant Cryer is co-ordinating things until our return." They had never seen Sam in such a glum mood.

"Yes, sir," he murmured softly.

DRIVING TOWARDS PAGE RESIDENCE

"Andrew, how much do we tell them?" June stumbled, as she looked over at him.

"She and Lisa have been abducted by a known serial rapist, and we've received radio confirmation from them, resulting in us obtaining a registration plate." He didn't see any point in giving them the horrific accounts of the two assaults they'd heard.

"Shouldn't we tell them what we heard?" June asked.

"Would you really want to know that over fifty officers heard your daughter's screams as she was being violently gang-raped?" Andrew looked at her sternly, as he pulled up outside the house.

"You've got a point there. " June took a deep breath as she exited the vehicle.

Knocking on the front door, they waited as the noise died down and a man in his mid thirties opened the door.

"We were all wondering when you guys would bother to show up," he spoke angrily as they entered the house, only to be greeted by an overexcited five year old girl who announced proudly to another little boy:

"See! A policewoman!" She and the boy were immediately escorted into a bedroom by their mother, who then returned to sit in the lounge with the other three.

"May I ask where Mr and Mrs Page are?" Andrew thought it strange that Polly's parents were obviously nowhere to be seen and that this man had reacted so strongly to their arrival.

"Where do you think? At the station. You've just missed them," Alex spoke with frustration.

"And you are?" Andrew was finding this extremely confusing, how did they know anything was wrong?

"Alexander Page, Polly's older brother. Mum at least expected she'd hear about all this before the rest of London did!" He was livid, getting louder which each word.

"Alright, calm down. What have you heard?" Andrew suddenly realised that the press must have got their hands on this.

"That my baby sister's been abducted and raped, while looking for a child taken by a serial rapist, all by herself!" His wife gently took his hand. "Come on, deny it. Watch them get out of this one, Karina!" He stood up and walked across the room to the window.

June looked over at Andrew who motioned for her to deal with it.

"Alex. None of us are finding this easy to deal with, and I assure you we had no idea the press even knew about it. The young girl whom Polly is with was able to radio us and give us a partial registration plate which is being looked into by about forty officers, and not only by Sun Hill." She waited for a response.

Slowly turning back to them, Alex returned to the sofa and sat down next to his wife. "I was at work, on a lunch break. The group of us were just laughing, jokaying, watching TV. All of a sudden, her picture was on the screen, and they were just talking. Talking as if it was something typical. Nothing to worry about. I came over here as soon as it finished. Mum and Karina had both seen it. Mum was hysterical. Dad had been outside listening to the radio when it came across. We waited for you guys to ring, but Mum just had to know what was going on." Alex had managed to calm down somewhat.

"What was said?" June was furious. Succeeding in hiding her anger, she looked sympathetically over at the couple.

Alex just stood up and went to the bedroom to be with the children. Karina sighed and bit her lip and she spoke.

"I was at home with the kids. I was washing the lunch dishes when Alison came out screaming that Aunt Polly was on the TV. I rushed in and heard them saying - " She stopped and drew a breath, June encouraging her to continue.

"They said she'd been by herself looking for a lost child whom you knew had been taken by a serial rapist. That she'd made a frantic radio call back, but that she'd been abducted by a group of men along with the little girl," Karina paused, thinking how it could have been any child, it could have been her daughter.

"What else?" June spoke soothingly, Andrew watching on quietly.

"That you'd somehow received another radio message from the girl, and that in the background....in the background, you could... hear her screaming." Karina started crying desperately.

Slowly moving next to her, June put her arms around the woman and cried with her inside.

BACK AT SUN HILL - 6:00 PM

Sam was miserably sitting behind the front desk. Fortunately it had been a very quiet day, until an older couple came bursting through the front doors.

"May I help you?" Sam asked slowly. He could see that the woman was unable to speak, and looked to the man questioningly.

"Our daughter, Polly. We need to talk to someone," he stuttered, through tears.

Sam didn't realise what had happened. The last thing he knew, June and Andrew had left to visit them.

"I'll just organise someone," he spoke gently as picked up the phone. "Sergeant Cryer, Poll's parents are in the foyer. Sergeant Ackland and Inspector Monroe must have missed them." Placing the phone back down, he watched as Sergeant Cryer came out and took the couple to his office, instructing Sam to radio June.

"48 from 416 receiving?" He waited, then suddenly realised that not only would they have most likely turned their radios off, they'd had them on the initial frequency, and wouldn't hear him.

PAGE RESIDENCE

"All I can do is assure you that we're doing everything we can. Everyone was close to Polly, so I promise you, this situation has taken absolute priority." June had managed to calm both Karina and Alex, who had returned a few minutes later, down.

"We'd really better get back to the station, see if any progress has been made." Andrew stood up and gestured for June to leave.

"I promise you, we'll notify you as soon as we hear anything." She sympathised and followed Andrew out.

Getting into the car, June sighed. "How the press find out about it? Who would have been that insensitive?" June couldn't think of one officer foolish enough to leak something like this.

"Reg Hollis," Monroe sighed as he headed back for the station.

SUN HILL POLICE STATION

"I assure you, we're doing everything we can. I sincerely apologise for the news broadcast. I'll get to the bottom of that leak though," Sergeant Cryer concluded his conversation with Polly's parents just as June and Inspector Monroe entered the room.

"Oh, Sergeant June Ackland, Inspector Andrew Monroe," Sergeant Cryer spoke, introducing the two officers.

"Thank you for all your help. We'd better get back to the family, please keep us informed though," Mr Page thanked the officers, and carefully helped his wife out.

After they left, Sergeant Cryer quickly turned his radio back on and headed out the door, stopped by June.

"Bob, what's this about the press finding out?" she said miserably.

"I have no idea. But I've got one way of finding out." He tightened his jaw and left the room.

"You unbelievably idiotic man!" Bob Cryer yelled as he threw Reg Hollis up against the lockers.

"Sarge, what's going on?" he asked innocently.

Sergeant Cryer stepped back, and let Reg go. It wasn't worth it. Shaking his head, he didn't believe deep down that Reg would be that thoughtless.

Instead he took a deep breath and calmly spoke, "There has been a news broadcast. The whole of London knows about this. Area Press Office haven't been informed yet, so it's down to someone in this station. I want you to get to the bottom of it." Bob turned and headed back to the briefing room, leaving a very stunned Reg Hollis.

CID OFFICE - 6:20 PM

Liz and Rod were going through the previous attacks for what felt like the fiftieth time. The only thing they had to go on was that all the abductions took place and remained in Sun Hill.

"Okay, so where were the two women who were taken to the same place taken to?" Liz called out as she grabbed yet another coffee.

"You mean Mary and Melissa? To the Meyer estate. Jeez!" Rod came to that conclusion only by verbalising what they already knew. No one had seen the connection.

Liz dumped her coffee on the nearest desk and ran over.

"And the other women?" She ran through the list. They'd all been taken to estates starting with the same letter as their first names.

"How did we miss that!?" she announced excitedly.

"Because they were all split up, not listed, of course." Rod had checked the list again. None of the women abducted had names beginning with 'P'. Grabbing the closest list of all estates within the Sun Hill area, there were two that matched: The Parkmead, and Precinct Estates. Rod and Liz took for the stairs with the estates details as they caught up with June and Andrew.

"June! We've got it. There's a connection as to the whereabouts of the abduction victims. He takes them to estates beginning with the first letter of their names. Parkmead and Precinct," Liz exclaimed as she thrust the estate details into June's hands.

"Lisa said they had blue doors," June remembered as they rushed into the briefing room and grabbed her radio, passing it to Andrew.

"All units from Inspector Monroe. Get to the Parkmead Estate. There's a good chance Polly's there. We have no idea as to which apartment, so go quietly. You all know what he looks like. Ambulance are on their way." He ended the transmission and turned back to the group.

"Okay, June. You go and contact her family with the update, I'll relay things here."

7:50 PM

"Thanks, mate. I'll handle it." Davidson shoved his mobile back into his pocket.

"They're onto us. Vince said they're raiding this place any moment. We don't have long," he informed the three other guys standing near him.

"Where do we go from here?" Steve, the youngest asked worriedly.

"I dunno. To tell you the truth, I'd rather get rid of 'em now. Cops tend to pull their socks up when it's one of their own," Davidson spoke as he began collecting Polly's radio and utility belt.

"Sure. Better to be safe than sorry," Gareth put in.

"This little one will be no trouble, might have to sedate the other one." He raised his eyebrows conveying the innuendo.

"Mind if I take that one?" Travis spoke as he headed for the bedroom, pounding his fist into his hand with intent.

"Be my guest," Davidson smiled wryly. Lisa had been sitting on the couch fiddling with a cushion, as the men talked.

"Where are we going?" she whispered looking up at Davidson.

"Back home. You'd like that, wouldn't you?" he spoke as he sat down next to the little girl.

"Yes," she replied with a small voice.

"See, I told you you'd enjoy playing our game in the end." He carefully tried to win this girl's affection.

Lisa started crying. She hadn't enjoyed it. He'd lied to her all along. She just wanted to help Polly, and go home to her mother.

"Don't cry. Your mother wouldn't want you to cry," he whispered, trying to calm the girl down.

She stopped crying and continued listening to him.

"I'm your friend, aren't I?" He had to do this very carefully.

"But you hurt her," Lisa whined.

"No I didn't. It was an adult game, where you pretend to cry." This girl was too clever, he was getting frustrated.

"Okay," she sighed and realised that the sooner she agreed with him, the sooner they'd get to go home.

"You're not angry at me, are you?" he asked, softly.

"No," she answered brightly.

He took her hand and led her out to the car, while the other men took care of Polly.

As Polly was laid down next to her on the back seat, Lisa carefully bent over and whispered: "It's okay, Polly. We're going home."

SUN HILL - 15 MINUTES LATER

June ran her hands through her hair as Andrew Monroe scrunched up the apartment details violently.

"Uniform reported no sign whatsoever. They searched every apartment from top to bottom," he informed Sergeant Cryer as he entered the room.

"Damn it, what now?' Liz responded furiously.

"That's it, I'm afraid. I suppose all we've got to follow up are those plates." Andrew spoke in defeat.

"That's a long shot," Rod put in. June merely looked up at him, her face combining an expression of desperation and anger.

SUN HILL - 8:30 PM

Bob Cryer managed to track down Reg in the canteen. "You asked around?" Bob spoke demandingly.

"Yeah, somebody by the name of P.C. Michael Edwards, Barton Street," Reg supplied the information willingly.

"Did he say why he leaked it?" Cryer asked, furiously.

"He swore all he told them was that a female officer had been abducted by a known serial rapist while looking for a missing child. He claims he never gave her name, or said anything about the attack, except that the child had managed to make radio contact with the station," Reg informed Sergeant Cryer.

"You believe him?" Bob spoke.

"I do, as a matter of fact. He was horrified to hear what was said on the report," Reg continued.

"It is possible that the news station edited his version of events a little, but how would they've discovered her name?" Cryer muttered confused.

"I've been thinking about all that, Sarge. It is possible that's there's a non-uniformed leak around here. I mean, nobody's been quiet about this, yelling, screaming and crying up and down corridors. Nobody's been very alert either. It is possible that Davidson could have someone working with him on the inside." Reg was getting more spooked out by this as he spoke, frantically looking around the canteen for anyone that didn't belong.

"You mean any old person snooping around the station undetected?" Cryer spoke, half in disbelief the other half in shock.

"That's my theory. Also, it's a bit of a coincidence that nothing was found at the Parkmead. If someone was in on it, they wouldn't have had any trouble hearing about our raid," Reg concluded, watching Sergeant Cryer's face take on a look of serious consideration.

"Reg, I want you to gather up anyone you can, and start searching. Anyone you don't think belongs here, let me know." He stood up and made his way to the briefing room.

8:35 PM

Lisa rolled over sleepily and realised she was no longer in the car. Quickly sitting up, she looked around. They were back in that alley. Polly was lying next to her, but she wasn't moving. There was no sign of the men anywhere, but the radio and utility belt were lying next to them. Gently crawling across to Polly, she shook her arm and begged:

"Polly, they've gone, please wake up, please!" Lisa was in tears. Polly had always been there for her. Noticing the radio lying next to her, Lisa picked it up, she had to talk to June.

SUN HILL POLICE STATION

Everyone was losing hope by this stage. Liz and Rod were at their wits ends, trying to figure out either why Davidson hadn't stuck to his pattern, or how he found out about the raid.

June was trying to get her mind back onto some other cases, and Sergeant Cryer was madly running around Sun Hill with Reg. They'd approached Sam in the front office, who claimed that he'd seen a middle aged man come in on several occasions, change his mind and leave again, without ever talking to him. Going through all the surveillance tapes from that afternoon, they'd spotted the same man in the corridor, just calmly pouring himself a coffee, and again in the canteen, munching on hot chips!

"How in the world did he get in here unnoticed?" Reg asked, completely stunned.

"Well, nobody's been on full alert today, I don't suppose it would have been all that difficult." They continued through tapes until they found one of the front drive; there the man was again, making a mobile phone call. Bob checked the time: 7:48 PM. Just after they'd organised the raid.

"Right, I want this guy identified and picked up. Get whoever you can ready in case you're required, I'll alert CID," he commanded, picking up the phone.

June had just looked up to see Sergeant Cryer enter the room, when she heard Lisa's voice over the radio.

"June? Are you there?" She could tell the girl was crying.

"I'm right here, Lisa. Are you all right?" June motioned for Bob to alert CID.

"They let us go. We're back in the alley." Lisa continued shaking Polly to wake up as she spoke.

"The men have gone?" June asked unbelievably. She looked brightly around the room as it filled up, Bob radioing for all units and two ambulances to get to the scene.

"Yes, but she won't wake up. Please, help her, please." Lisa wailed, terrified.

"You'll hear sirens very soon, Lisa. I need you to do something for me though." June was worried. Was Polly even still alive?

"What?" the girl cried back.

"Put your hand just above Polly's mouth and tell me if you can feel air."

June held her breath nervously, as did everyone else in the room.

"I can, but she won't wake up, and she's bleeding everywhere!" Lisa slowly crawled around and rested Polly's head in her lap.

"It's okay, Lisa. She'll be all right. I promise." June prayed that she would be.

"I can hear the sirens June," Lisa spoke relieved.

"Good. They're police officers. They'll help you." June had, by that time reached the panda with Sergeant Cryer, and was heading off for the alley.

"Okay," Lisa responded.

"I'll see you very soon Lisa," June ended, as Cryer put the pedal to the floor.

ALLEY OFF NELFIELD STREET - 8:50 PM

Lisa's eyes brightened as the two policewomen ran up to her, followed by ambulance officers.

"Lisa? I'm Vicky, this is Jamila. Are you hurt?" Vicky was more concerned about Polly at that stage though.

"I'm okay. Please help Polly though." Lisa carefully stood up as the ambulance officers wrapped Polly in a hypothermic blanket and lifted her onto the stretcher. Grabbing the side of it, Lisa followed them back to the ambulance.

"Lisa, we need to take you to the hospital." Vicky tried to lead her to the other ambulance, but she wouldn't budge.

"I wanna go with Polly," she pleaded through tears.

Looking at Jamila for support, she figured it probably wouldn't do any harm, and forcing the girl to leave would only traumatise her more.

"That's all right." Vicky radioed back to Sun Hill and got them to arrange for Lisa's parents to meet them at St Hugh's.

8:55 PM

Sergeant Ackland arrived just as the stretcher was being loaded into the ambulance. She quickly climbed on board and was soon accompanied by Dave. Lisa clutched closer to Polly when she saw him; not going undetected by June.

"Dave, I think it would be better if you meet us at the hospital. For Lisa's sake."

Dave wasn't too happy about this idea, but was overridden by Tony, who dragged him back to the car.

June quietly watched the little girl keep vigil at Polly's side as the ambulance took off. Once they had begun driving, June could see that the officers wanted to start working.

"Lisa?" June beckoned the reluctant child over.

"Are you June?" Lisa whispered, as she hugged her tightly.

"Yes. Thank you for all your help," she comforted the distressed child.

After Lisa had calmed down, June thought she'd better make sure she was okay. "Lisa, did the men hurt you?" she asked softly.

"He hit me, but it doesn't hurt much," Lisa gently lifted up her fringe to show June the dark bruise.

"Anything else?" June continued.

"No, Polly stopped him." She began crying again. "Is she going to be okay?"

June looked up questioningly at the ambulance officers. She received a positive nod. "Yes Lisa, she will be." The girl relaxed somewhat, and just sat there for the next few minutes.

June wasn't sure what to say next, but didn't get the opportunity, as she heard a gasp, followed by sobbing as Polly came to.

Lisa was by her side instantly, Polly clutching her hand.

"Polly, it's okay, we're going to the hospital," Lisa informed her softly.

June carefully bent over, by Lisa's side. "Polly, you're on the way to St Hugh's," June whispered, her eyes filling up with tears as she looked at Polly's face. Her nose was bruised and swollen, her forehead bleeding, and her lip had been split quite badly.

"June, I..." Polly let it all out, crying like she never had before. Feeling relieved, angry, hurt, and miserable all in one action.

9:00 PM

They turned into the emergency entrance, and June took Lisa's hand as they lifted Polly out of the ambulance hurriedly.

From then on in it was complete and utter chaos. Dave had joined up with the stretcher, Polly was crying, Lisa's parents had seen her, Lisa continued by Polly's side, almost as if she didn't recognise her own mother, and most of Sun Hill was at June's side.

Sergeant Cryer spoke first, worriedly. "How is she, June?" He feared the reply.

June turned and looked at him painfully through tears.

Lisa's parents rushed up to Sergeant Cryer hysterically.

"Where did she go! She wouldn't come to us! What's going on?" Mrs George demanded distressfully.

Managing to slip away from the crowd, he sat down with her parents. "What have you been told?" Bob figured it would be wiser to extend on what they already knew, rather than overwhelming them.

"That our baby was abducted along with a police officer by a gang of rapists!" Mr George exclaimed furiously.

"That's pretty much what happened. Now your daughter radioed us about ten minutes ago to say that the men had left them back in the alley from which they were originally taken." He paused for a moment as the collected Sergeant Ackland joined him.

"I'm June Ackland. I handled all you daughter's radio communications, and rode here with her. She's not been hurt, apart from a nasty bruise to the forehead." June watched as the parents hugged each other in relief.

"One on your officers implied she may have witnessed a rape?" Mrs George spoke delicately.

June and Bob exchanged glances.

"Look, there's no easy way around this. The first time she radioed us, we could hear an attack taking place, and she was concerned for Poll-, P.C. Page, now she obviously knew something wasn't right. The second time, she was in the midst of giving us a license plate registration that she could see from the window. She was interrupted, and we heard our officer attacked again. My guess is that she was certainly in the room, possibly hidden under a bed or something. We don't know for sure." June was surprised that she was able to detach herself from this as much as she could.

"Why didn't she come to me?" Mrs George had felt deeply hurt, she knew her daughter had seen her.

"I think I can shed some light on that one. When children are involved in a traumatic experience, everything changes. They look for safety and security. Lisa knows that Polly kept her safe. It'll take her a little while to realise she's not in danger anymore, but I'll go and see her now if you like." June smiled comfortingly, and proceeded up the corridor.

As she turned to her left, she saw Lisa sitting quietly outside on a chair. Approaching her, June sat down next to her and took her hand.

"They wouldn't let me stay with her," she spoke as her jaw trembled.

"I know. Lisa, I promise you Polly is safe now. Would you like to see your parents?" June looked the girl in the eye.

"The men are gone for good?" Lisa asked, slowly gaining some trust in June.

"Yes Lisa, they're gone." June motioned for the child to walk back to the general waiting room with her. Pointing her mother out to her, she let go of Lisa's hand and watched as the child carefully took in everyone around her before walking slowly towards her mum.

Heading back towards the examination room, June waited for a doctor to emerge. Standing up as a middle aged woman exited, she stopped her for an update. The two women sat down on the hard, plastic chairs.

"Sergeant Ackland, I'm Doctor Katherine Hampton. It's looks as if we're going to have to take her to theatre for a bit of re-constructive surgery. She's in a pretty bad way, must have been knocked around something shocking to mess her face up like that: Broken nose, bruising, she'll need stitches to the lip and forehead. There is also a fair bit of internal tearing and bleeding. I couldn't do much of an internal exam due to the extent of the injuries." Dr Hampton muttered grimly.

"This guy his a history of this..." June mumbled under her breath.

"Determination never helps though. I see lots of rape victims, and it's always shown that's it works out better if they don't put up so much of a fight."

June looked up at her awkwardly. "You've never been a victim of a violent crime, have you?" June retorted furiously and proceeded into the room, trying to forget the women's naïve words.

June wasn't sure what she expected it to be like when she walked in, but whatever it was, she was stunned. Polly was lying quietly on the examination bed, Deb holding her hand and whispering softly. Liz, who had just arrived at the hospital, was called in, while June crossed the room to sit opposite Debbie.

There was an awkward silence, as June realised everyone was expecting her to instigate things. Taking Polly's other hand, she spoke softly.

"Polly, I know you know all this, but Liz needs to talk with you." June sighed as she waited for a response.

Polly blinked a few times and tears left her eyes again. "Yes, Sarge." She squeezed June's hand reassuringly.

Liz put on a brave face and tried to remain detached. "Polly, there's no easy way around this. Can you tell us what happened?"

Polly thought for a moment, and then retraced her steps. "I was on beat twelve, when I met up with CID detectives to look for a missing six year old. We split up, and I continued down Nelfield Street. After about five minutes, she just came up to me. At first I couldn't believe it. Then she went on about a sick puppy or something, I tried to radio back, but she took off down the alley. I ran after her, but halfway down she just stopped. Then Davidson was there. Someone grabbed me from behind. I called for assistance, but they ripped the radio out of my hand. It all happened so fast. He must have hit me, because I remember falling to the pavement." Polly swallowed again and continued.

"I woke up on a bed. I was blindfolded and my hands were tied. Lisa was next to me. He took her outside, and then he, he..." she stopped and continued in tears. June squeezed her hand as Liz encouraged her to continue.

"He took off my jacket and shirt, and started unzipping my trousers. I must have kicked him, because all of a sudden I untied my hands and got the blindfold off. I saw him briefly, before all the rest of them came in and put it back on. Two of them grabbed my arms and held me down. They all.. they all..took it in turns." She finished crying desperately in June's arms. June was finding this near to impossible, and by the expression on Deb's face, she wasn't far behind.

"All the while, the only thing going through my head was, at least Lisa's okay. Can you believe it! I actually had the thought, 'Well if they're all on me, they can't be hurting her!' " After a few minutes, June calmed Polly down enough to continue.

"From what I've seen over the years, these guys weren't amateurs at this either. Well rehearsed, down to the damn photo camera!" Polly lost it again, this time Debbie excusing herself in tears.`

"They left me after that, and he brought Lisa back in. I don't remember much; we just lay there for awhile. It must have been hours later when he returned. Lisa managed to get the radio back, and he'd caught her reading a registration plate. He started hitting her, I had to stop him. Anything was better than him hurting Lisa. It's different the second time. It's meaningless. I didn't care what he did to me, as long as she was safe. I knew I'd be able to get over it." June tightened her jaw. She was reminded once again of everything she'd heard.

"He then realised she was on the floor. He picked her up by the shirt, and went to attack her again, but I told him what he wanted to hear, and he left, taking her with him. Later on, one of the other men came in, he said that there'd been a problem and that they were taking us back. I thought he was going to... but he just hit me across the head and I woke up in the ambulance." Polly finished, letting her eyes fall closed, and waited for Liz to continue.

At that moment, Dr Hampton entered the room. "Polly, theatre's ready. We won't be in there long. Just a few stitches and I'll finish the internal while you're under. We'll also put a plaster on your nose. You'll feel a lot better when you wake up." She spoke gently, as two other nurses helped Polly onto a theatre trolley, and got her to sign the relevant documents.

They were just about ready to get going, when Polly realised that Dave would be frantic. Looking worriedly at June, she asked:

"Is Dave out there?"

"Sure, you want me to get him?" June asked surprised, she didn't think Polly was up to it. Upon receiving a definite nod, she quickly dashed out into the waiting room and brought him, nervous and crying, back in.

Polly swallowed as she saw him through the door talking with June. As the two of them entered, she burst into tears just seeing him. Dave quickly approached her, and took her hands, whispering softly in her ear.

"It's gonna be okay, Poll, trust me." He instinctively wrapped him arm around her back as she cried into his shoulder. Finally letting her go, he watched in agony as they wheeled her towards the theatre doors. Debbie quickly took his arm.

"Dave, she's through the worst," Deb whispered soothingly.

"How was it?" he asked, not really wanting to know.

"Pretty horrible. The positive thing was that Poll got through it. She's not put up any great walls, so she'll get through this quicker," she continued as they made their way back to the main waiting room.

The crowd had significantly died down, and now consisted of Sergeant Cryer, Liz, Tony, Luke, and a group of about four people talking to Cryer, whom Dave could only assume were Poll's family.

Approaching Sergeant Cryer, he received some odd looks.

"Dave, how's it going?" Sergeant Cryer asked curiously.

"She's just gone into theatre. Shouldn't be too long." He stood there next to Deb feeling thoroughly out of place.

"Dave, this is Mr and Mrs Page." He introduced them to each other not thinking that they wouldn't have a clue why they were meeting.

"Sorry, Dave Quinnan. Poll and I started seeing each other about two weeks ago." He tried to put on a bright face, but failed miserably.

He quickly found Tony again and they sat down for the duration, Tony asking a few questions here and there.

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