Costa Crew: One More Shot

Chapter 15 - You Mess With One Of Us

"TED!" yelled Becky as the bullet stuck him in the chest. Or it can be assumed that she shouted Ted's name, for nobody could actually make out what she said through the tape.

"Don't move," barked Charlotte, her gun now on Anthony as she grabbed her radio. "Ted's down. Fatal injury. Requesting urgent assistance. I repeat, get your asses up here."

"Hello, Paul," said Amelia dryly as he handcuffed her and read her her rights. Never before had Paul made an arrest where the list of crimes was longer than the list of rights.

As Paul called for backup, Charlotte went over to Anthony and Hannah ran into the room.

"Is Ted okay? I saw what happened!" she cried. Then she saw Ted on the ground and screamed.

"Hey, Hannah," Ted panted. "Long time no see."

"Don't give up on us, Ted," whispered Hannah, grabbing his hand. "Just hang on in there. You're going to make it."

"Hannah," muttered Amelia. Then she scowled. "Wait a minute, it's all of you!"

"That's right," said Paul smugly. "All the nerds. We're a package deal, you should know this by now. You come for one of us, you get all of us."

Hannah quickly untied Becky, who rushed to Ted's side. "You saved my life," she sobbed. "You're not dying on us now. You're going to pull through this, okay? I just found you after two years. I'm not losing you again."

She looked up at Hannah. "We have to keep talking to him."

"Remember Costa?" Hannah asked desperately. "High school Costa trips? Remember the laughs we had?"

Ted nodded and Becky rushed to keep this going. "We took BuzzFeed quizzes, yeah? What kind of onion were you?"

A smile crept across Ted's face. "Spring onion."

Greg, Samantha, Will and Jane rushed in followed by a team of paramedics. Ted was quickly placed on a stretcher and rushed to the ambulance. "Are you all right, ma'am?" Greg asked Becky.

"Take her out too, she's in shock," shouted one of the paramedics.

"I'll do that, you five take these two outside and prepare them for transport," said Paul. Him and Hannah rushed Becky downstairs and out of the house, where a blanket was draped around Becky's shoulders. "Eventually I will need you to give a statement on what happened at your house. DI Drake was out cold when Goodman went there. He's not getting a promotion after that."

Becky didn't say anything, just nodded. Paul turned to Hannah. "Not dead then."

Hannah shook her head. Neither of them said anything, just watched as Charlotte emerged. Behind her were Greg and Jane, Amelia handcuffed and walking calmly between them, followed by Samantha and Will who were escorting a defeated Anthony.

As the group passed Paul and Hannah, Amelia turned her head to them and smirked. "Why doesn't she look worried?" whispered Hannah.

Paul frowned. "She must have some trick up her sleeve. Here's hoping Becky picked it up on her recording device."

"We can check that later," said a voice behind them. John Goodman stood there smiling, an abashed DI Drake beside him. "Congratulations to all of you. The Godfather at last. Agent Perkins, a word."

Hannah followed John a few metres away from where everybody was standing. "This isn't over yet," he whispered. "You and Agent Hidgens need some time off. Take the rest of the week, but I need to see you both first thing on Monday morning."

Hannah nodded and returned to where Paul stood speaking to Drake.

"What the hell happened there?" he said furiously. "If it hadn't been for Ted then Becky would have DIED."

"I'm sorry sir," said Drake. "I was drugged, I promise you."

"He was," said Hannah. "Anthony and I were in Becky's house hours before they came in. I was supposed to pretend to be Becky and say that I'd forgotten my keys. Obviously the other agents knew me so they buzzed us in. But DI Drake couldn't have prevented this. I could have, though. It's my fault that Ted got shot."

"HANNAH PERKINS!" cried Charlotte, hugging her friend tightly. "I thought… I thought you were dead."

They pulled away and Becky saw tears running down both girls' faces. "DI Drake and I should escort the prisoners back to the station. Are you two okay to keep an eye on Becky?" asked Paul.

Charlotte and Hannah nodded. They sat down on either side of Becky and each put an arm over her shoulder. "You saved my life," murmured Becky.

Charlotte smiled. "All part of the job."

Hannah nodded. "Plus I owe you a favour after you threw up on that creep Anthony. He wouldn't stop trying to chat me up."

Becky pulled a face. "He was engaged to Amelia. We nearly became the diamonds on their wedding rings."

"That's just sick," said Charlotte, horrified. "Everything about that is… ew."

"Just be glad it didn't happen," said Becky darkly. "Anyway, Hannah and I could have died but we didn't. We're fine. I'm just praying that Ted will be okay."

Hannah averted her gaze. "I could have stopped this," she sobbed. "I should have taken Anthony out before we had a chance at taking Becky."

"This isn't your fault," murmured Becky. "Ted took that bullet for me. I owe him my life. But Amelia is to blame here, and she's going to prison for it."

Hannah hesitated. "About that," she said. "When Amelia was being taken to the van…"

"She turned and smirked at you and Paul," said Becky casually. "Yeah. Lisa Beck is the local prosecutor and Lisa Kleinman is Amelia's lawyer. She told me. She also told this bug."

Becky removed one of the lenses from her glasses. "We could have just put it in my pocket. Those careless kidnappers didn't think to search for one."

Hannah laughed. "It's almost as if they wanted Amelia to get arrested."