SHADOWS OF TRUTH
by Melissa Rivers
missy@lexicon.net

Disclaimer: The characters that you recognise from Water Rats are the property of Southern Star and Hal McElroy and to the actors who so marvellously portray them. More than likely Channel 9 has some say in them too {G}

MAJOR Spoilers for Season 5 and in particular, Family Values and True Believer. If you have not seen the eppys and do not want to be spoiled for them, do not read this story as it gives away the plot line fully. I have made small changes when I have felt that the writer's explanation of events hasn't quite held true.

Many thanks to my patient and consistently supportive editor, Clotho, who edits my Rat stories for me even though she doesn't watch the show.

Commenced: 14th November, 2000
Finish Date: Well, if you can tell me this, then we'll both know {vbg}

Part 1/?

Alex laughed. Her brother asked so innocently who Charlie was, so innocuous in fact that he assumed Charlie was male. It was an easy mistake to make to the uninitiated, but Charlie had become such a large part of her life over the past few days that she had forgotten how Charlie had been quite insignificant in her own life only a month ago. Prior to that, Charlie had been just another murderer, out on bail awaiting a trial, in Alex's mind. That had not been the case with Jack. Lights from an approaching vehicle lit up the inside of her brother's BMW sedan. She only had a moment to reflect upon Jack's obsession with the criminal mastermind when the windscreen before her shattered.

Instinctively, Alex pulled back as the glass cracked and fractured in irregular fissures, small shards of glass flying towards her face. Within seconds, she felt a searing pain at her left temple and Alex let out a cry of pain as her vision exploded in darting flashes of colour before disappearing into a blank void.

Her foot jammed on the accelerator and the car sped forward, straight as a runaway train, failing to follow the curve of the road. James swore as he felt the car surge forth and head directly for the row of parked cars. A quick glance sideways at Alex and he realised that whatever had come through the windscreen had left her unconscious. Instinct had him reaching to release his seat-belt; to try and get Alex's foot off the accelerator and swing the steering wheel to avoid a collision. He fumbled with the belt mechanism, the release catch sticking as had become habit with a lot of things with his old car. Looking up, he realised there was no time to do anything but brace himself for the collision with the stationary cars lining the curving road.

The car crumpled under the impact into the side of an old cream Holden Commodore station wagon. James felt his body thrown forward as the seat belt release catch finally gave up its dogged held on him. James felt himself being thrown forward into the dashboard, the millisecond before everything went blank.

The kinetic thrust of energy from the BMW propelled the station wagon sideways and forwards into the next stationary vehicle. Metal screeched and tore apart violently as it hit the stationary car. Glass exploded upon impact, small diamond-like chips raining down upon the two unconscious victims. The noise was horrendous as metal versus metal twisted and turned in a fight to the death.

In the cool night air, the BMWs engine raced, seeking further revenge on its metal warrior which held it firmly in place. Inside the car there was only the sound of the engine; the ravages of the war between the vehicles had taken its toll. Neither Alex nor James moved, their faces serene in the midst of the twisted wreck. Only the presence of blood on their faces told the truth.

*** In the distance, Alex could hear a moan. She tried to ignore it, distancing herself from the sound which only brought an intense flash of pain through her head. The sound repeated itself and she groggily opened her eyes. Darkness surrounded her and she felt a heavy weight pressing upon her. The moan came again and she realised that the deep-throated groan was her own.

The side of her head throbbed and she could feel something sticky trickling down her arm. Bringing her hand up to her temple, she gently probed the area and winced at the stinging arrows of pain that it caused. Pulling her hand away, she distantly noted that she was bleeding. Sluggishly, Alex wondered about the heavy weight on her shoulder. Looking sideways, she saw her brother's head resting there, his eyes closed peacefully.

Alex panicked when she realised that he had also been injured.. His head was badly lacerated by glass. She shook his shoulder and anxiously called out his name. There wasn't even a flicker of a response. Fear filled her as she noticed a thick stream of blood running down the left side of his face from a deep jagged cut above his left eye. Alex tried to open her door, her shaking fingers grasping the old-fashioned door handle. It wouldn't open.

She dropped her head back against the headrest and let out a groan of frustration. Alex wondered how long it would be before someone would notice the accident. While it wasn't the quietest of roads, it also wasn't a busy road either.

"Where are your brains, Alex?" she muttered to herself. Moving James' head gently down to rest in her lap, she reached into her left pocket of her black suit jacket. Alex was grateful that she wasn't one to use handbags and tended to carry her mobile phone, identification and wallet on her person.

Flipping the mobile phone open, she dialed emergency services, reporting the accident and requesting both police and ambulances to attend. Alex was reluctant to hang up and break her connection with the outside world. Shutting the phone with a click, she looked down at her brother, running a hand through his short, blonde hair. The silence in the vehicle was oppressive; the quiet stillness of her jovial brother flooding her with fear.

Pressing the numbers for the programmed menu of numbers, Alex selected one she had very rarely used. She waited, her hand gently stroking her brother's face as the phone rang several times before being answered.

"Jeff Hawker," said the gruff voice on the other end of the phone.

"It's Alex, Jeff. There's... there's been an accident." Alex struggled to put the words together, her voice shaky as she fought control of her emotions.

"When? What happened?" His questions were sharp and to the point.

"Just now. I don't know what happened." Alex voice was vague.

"Alex, are you all right?" concern flooded Jeff's voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but..." Alex swallowed back the lump of fear that had formed in her throat. She continued, "But James is hurt. He's unconscious." Tears threatened as she was overwhelmed by her inadequacy to help her brother. She could do nothing for her brother, but sit here and stroke his head. What if he died?

"Have you called the paramedics? And the police?" Jeff interrupted her thoughts, trying to assess Alex's state of mind while talking to her. He also didn't trust her ability to assess her injuries. There were previous instances where she had been injured in the line of duty - injuries that would put most people in bed for the day - yet, Alex had soldiered on.

"Yeah, I did that before calling you." Alex's voice was distant; tired.

"Okay. That's good." Jeff was relieved to hear that Alex had taken appropriate action.

The accident had not impaired Alex's judgement, but the fading tone in her voice worried him. "Where are you?"

"Craig Drive, just past the overpass."

"I'm coming right now. It'll be okay, Alex," he reassured her as he hung up his phone.

The dialtone of a disconnected call beeped for a while. Alex looked at the small oblong phone in her hand, a feeling of dislocation from her surroundings filling her. Multiple sirens filled the air, the rise and fall of their wail getting closer as the sound took over the silence.

Red and blue lights filled the street in a flurry of activity. Tyres screeched to a halt and car doors slammed. Feet hit the asphalt in a staccato beat. Within moments, faces appeared at each side of the car. The voices seemed to start all at once, a barrage of questions tripping over one another. Alex didn't know which way to look or which question to answer first, the sudden onslaught overwhelming.

Her driver's side door was rattled and pulled at before it gave a final groan as the distorted metal released its tight hold. Alex could hear them calling out for the jaws of life and fear consumed her again.

"Please help my brother," she called out desperately.

"Hi, I'm Sean. What's your name?" A tall paramedic asked as he bent down beside her, placing his kit down on the ground beside him.

"Alex. Alex St. Clare," she answered. "Please - my brother is hurt. He's unconscious. He must have hit his head; there's a cut on his forehead. His leg seems to be caught under the dashboard. Please, please help him." The words tumbled out of her mouth in a rush.

"It's alright, Alex. I'll take a look at him while we're waiting for them to get him out. But I want you to keep still until I check you out as well." His voice was reassuring as he slipped on latex gloves over his broad hands before he went about doing the ABCs on James.

"Mitch, can you give me a hand getting on a c-collar?" Sean called out to his partner.

"Be right there," Mitch yelled back.

"Oh god, his spine. I moved him. I shouldn't have moved him," Alex's voice was strained, hints of hysteria edging the words.

"Alex, it's standard procedure," Sean calmly reassured her. "They will stabalise him and move him before we get you out of the car. We will get him out soon. I need to take a look at you. I want you to take some deep breaths and calm down."

Alex nodded and concentrated on taking slow, deep breaths. She watched as a cervical collar was secured around his neck and a non-rebreather mask slipped over his nose and mouth. Alex paid more attention to what was happening with James than to what Sean was doing to her. A sharp stinging sensation on her forearm drew her attention away from James momentarily. Sean was syringing a jagged cut on her arm before wrapping it in a crepe bandage. A fireman worked underneath the dashboard of the passenger side of the car. Alex was glad that it didn't take them long to remove the dashboard, releasing James's leg from its vice-like snare.

As soon as the fireman moved out of the way, the paramedics from the second ambulance had James firmly strapped onto a backboard and transferred from the car onto a nearby gurney. The movements of the paramedics were synchronised, a well-tuned partnership in which each individual became a part of a well-oiled machine.

"Alex." A hand shook her arm, drawing her attention.

She turned her head back towards Sean. "Yeah?"

"You phased out on me for a moment there."

"Did I?"

"You say you lost consciousness. Do you know for how long?" Sean flicked his penlight across each of Alex's eyes, individually, checking for their response.

"I don't know. Not long, I don't think."

Sean was concerned by the sluggishness of her right pupil to react to his penlight. "Mitch, can you bring the gurney over?"

"No, I can walk." Before Sean had a chance to argue, Alex was on her feet and heading towards the ambulance nearest her brother's destroyed car.

Sean kept an even pace beside her. He wanted to ensure that she didn't succumb to any sudden bout of dizziness.

******** Jeff slowed his current model blue Ford Fairmont, his own portable blue light flashing on the roof of his car, as he followed the curve of Craig Drive. He could already see the area well lit with alternating flashing lights of blue and red from a fire engine, a couple of ambulances and several police cars.

Pulling his car to a stop behind the row of police cars, he surveyed the scene. His eyes sought out Alex in the mix of people surrounding the crash site and he couldn't find her. While Alex had reassured him over the phone that she was okay, he wouldn't be happy until he could see it for himself and get an honest medical opinion.

He noted the damage to the front end of the BMW, the way the metal was torn and twisted told of the force of the impact. Jeff quickened his step as the paramedics were about to close the rear door of one of the ambulances. Alex wasn't inside.

Catching sight of the sergeant obviously directing the accident scene, Jeff approached him, "Sergeant. Chief Inspector Hawker; the girl is with us. What's the story?"

"I don't know yet, Sir," the light-haired Sergeant replied. He pointed up to the overpass above the roadway. "Looks like some yahoo has chucked a rock or something. Got the boys up there looking for traces of it right now." The officer went to move off to speak with one of his constables. He turned back, informing Jeff, "Accident Investigation is on their way."

Jeff nodded, looking up at the overpass. There had been several deaths as a result of rocks being thrown from overpasses, the kids not realising the deadly nature of their games. The sirens of the retreating ambulance reminded him that there still could be a deadly end to some kid's fun.

Walking down towards the other ambulance, parked beside the wrecked car, he heard a familiar voice. Relief flooded through him, to hear her speaking clearly with a pitiful whine in her voice. She was sitting on the back step of the ambulance, a blanket draped over her shoulder as she tried to convince the paramedic that she was all right. The paramedic flicked a penlight in each of her eyes, checking her focal responses.

"I really feel okay. I wish you'd just stop fussing. I'm fine." Alex pushed away at the paramedics hands, anxious to know about James.

"Alex." Jeff touched her on the shoulder, drawing her attention. "Alex. Are you okay?" He noted the superficial abrasions to her face, the blood now dried on her skin.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied pushing the blanket off her shoulders. She wasn't used to all this cosseting and she didn't care for it. Not when her brother remained unconscious and was travelling to hospital.

"No. You're in shock." Jeff could pick up on the underlying nervousness and shakiness that accompanied shock. He had seen it enough times with his officers and he had experienced it himself in the aftermath of violent investigations. Jeff noted the white bandage surrounding her forearm. There was no blood seeping through the bandage, but he was unsure how deep the laceration was.

"No, I'm fine. Honestly." She gave a sigh of frustration.

Jeff turned to the paramedic and asked, "Are you treating her for shock?"

In that short moment, Alex side-stepped the two of them and headed up the road.

"Alex!" Jeff chased her, trying to deal with the common sense detective that he was used to handling at work.

"No, Jeff, I really need to see how bad James is. Please?" She pleaded with him over her shoulder as she continued to take long steps up the road.

"Alex!" Jeff tried to cut through her mild hysteria. There was a trill to her voice, an edge that he had dealt with only once before. When her former partner had been killed and she'd lost control. Lost control so badly that she'd pulled a gun on a fellow officer. He didn't want to see her take a dive out of reality like that again.

Moving towards a group of three officers talking in the middle of the road, she sought their help. "Can someone take me to the hospital please? Could one of you guys..." She turned in a small circle as the officers all walked away, not knowing who to turn to next.

"Alex. Alex. Alex!" Jeff caught up with her, careful not to push her too much since she was in shock.

"I really want to go to the hospital." Her voice was high-pitched in desperation, reaching out to anybody to get her to her brother's side.

"Alex. Alex, you should really go in the ambulance." Jeff said logically, trying to curb her frenzied run.

"No!" she replied adamantly. If she went to the hospital in the ambulance, she would be detained in the emergency department while they ran their tests. She would not be able to see James for possibly hours. She had been driving the car and now he was in hospital. No matter what the cause, she was responsible.

"Okay, alright. Okay, come with me, come in the car." Jeff relented, realising that the easiest way to get Alex to the hospital would be to take her there himself. She would be able to see James and Jeff hoped that he would be able to get her facial cuts attended to and have her properly checked out.

He guided her towards the car and a young constable held up a heavy chunk of concrete. "Lump of concrete, that's what it was. You're lucky to be alive, Detective."

The piece of rubble was large, half the size of a soccer ball. Alex and Jeff both eyed the lump, realising that the outcome could have been very different; both Alex and James could have been killed.

End Part 1/?