Dirty Break (18+)

In Which Dreams Can Come True

Lydia finally made it out of the prison twenty minutes later and with a promise to officer Lewis that they would have the afore-mentioned drink on the following Saturday. For some reason she felt emotionally drained and so she simply stood for a minute, revelling in the weak sunshine. Strangeways always felt a little claustrophobic - a side effect of its nature, no doubt, but today particularly so. Perhaps it was in bad taste considering what she had just been doing, but she was happy just to be out in nature, to be free. Buoyed by the feeling she made her way to the bus stop, unable to justify another Uber when all she had waiting at home for her were stone cold pancakes and a mountain of work. The screeching of tyres as she rounded the corner barely registered; living in a metropolitan city like Manchester inured you to the myriad crashes, bangs and shouts that you heard throughout the day. The strong arms hooking around her waist and hoisting her up were a completely different matter. For too long she was so surprised that she didn't even scream, and by the time it struck her that she should make some sort of noise at least she had been bundled into the waiting car, bag ripped from her arm and they were screeching off again.

She'd landed awkwardly whilst been chucked into the car and at first fear kept her from moving. Her brain was trying to figure out whether she needed a flight or fight response and disregarding the fact that neither was possible right now. Her first thoughts were that someone had found out about Leon's appeal date and had taken her in the hopes of getting information. But of course somebody had found out about the appeal, hadn't they - she'd told them herself. Pushing herself up, she confirmed her fears as Conor O'Grady grinned back at her from the front passenger seat.

"Afternoon, Lydia. Lovely day, isn't it?"

Ignoring him in favour of considering the situation, she found there to be two other people in the car with them, including the driver. A swift dive at the unoccupied side to her right revealed that the handle had been removed from the inside of the door - and a laugh started by Conor and echoed by the others showed her that her actions had not gone unnoticed. Flight was out, then; fight it was.

"What the fuck are you doing? You used my friends welfare as a bargaining chip to get information you needed - that's the extent of my involvement in this. You need to let me the fuck go."

The oddly jovial air vanished suddenly, Lydia's breath with it.

"I don't actually have to do anything, in fact. I have two armed men and a car you can't get out of. How about you do the smart thing for once and just do as you're told, eh?"

The logical response to that would have been nothing. Let the bad guy think he had won the war and then wait for him to let his guard down at some point. So what she actually did was throw herself so hard between the front seats that the driver swerved and had to hastily correct before they were hit by oncoming traffic. Conor's eyes, when they considered her once they had straightened up, were ice cold. He muttered something to the driver and they pulled over, idling in an otherwise abandoned car park.

"I thought you valued your life a little more than that. I certainly value mine; one more move like that and I'll put you in the boot. I think I'd remember to take you out before we set fire to the car but I can't be completely certain."

"What do you need me for? I've given you all the information I had! I just want to go home and forget I ever decided to make this fucking TV show."

"That's exactly the problem, Lydia. I know you media types; always wanting your five minutes of fame and your bit of fortune. I can't have you running off and telling anyone that you ever met me, never mind revealing some of the conversations we've had. It'll look suspicious, of course, that you disappeared at the same time as Leon, but they can't question you if they can't find you."