Chapter Text
Frankie pulled Annie West into a hold. It is an illegal move but it is her only chance at communicating with her. "What is going to happen to you tonight if you lose this match?"
Annie recoiled back into the ropes behind her. She is looking wildly about the club. People are shouting and the lights are pointed at them. Annie is looking disoriented. Frankie is treating her as gingerly as anyone possibly can in a boxing ring.
At the end of the round, Frankie is in the corner with Jake. "We can't let her lose and walk out of here. Something horrible is going to happen to her."
Jake can't move away from ringside to tell Miller or Hawley to get to Annie first. At the same time, it is essential that Frankie win in order to get closer to a match with Moira Banks.
Best do it quickly so they have a shot at getting her out of this club themselves. Annie West is knocked out next round. Frankie and Jake try to get to their men to make sure they track Annie. They turn around. She's already gone!
Hawley runs outside to see a car drive off. Whitman is waiting nearby..."did you see the way they went? Follow them!"
Frankie and Jake still inside, playing their role in the rush of excitement that comes with a win. Both Frankie and Jake get slaps on the shoulders. Payoffs are happening in the background. Punters are recapping the highlights of the match and talking about who else might put on a good show.
Grimes and Banks approach.
"I do hope that you will be introducing me to some talent fairly soon. My patience is wearing thin." Frankie says as she meets Moira's face. It was a gamble assuming that she was the decision maker between the two. "If I'm going to go through all the trouble to dress up for one of these events, I'd like the opportunity to break a sweat. Know what I mean?"
"If it's just a sweat you are looking for, I'm sure we can accommodate you now," leered Grimes.
"While I appreciate the offer, Mr, Grimes, I'm fairly certain that us women can work this out." Frankie dismissed him before returning to Moira with her full attention.
Grimes made a move to step in but Moira stopped him with her eyes.
Instead, Moira stepped into Frankie. Frankie matched her movement. Their lips just inches from each other.
"You look bored, Moira Banks. Why don't we do something about that?"
"Tomorrow."
"Where."
"Come here at 2pm. You'll get directions."
"Can't wait."
Moira turned to walk away. Frankie lifted her eyes toward Grimes and twinkled her fingers at him. Jake made a show of looking unconcerned throughout that communication. Though, it was most definitely a show.
Moira and Grimes went back into the office. Robert Sharp was standing next to the office door looking at them with interest before he, too, went into the office.
"Let's go."
Frankie and Jake went back to the safe house. She was pacing back and forth. He was leaning against the wall. Neither of them was comfortable doing nothing. Most importantly, they wanted to find Annie. And Bess, who had not been seen since the afternoon.
"Lin! Let's go back to see Lin. He might know something."
Jack hated this idea.
"C'mon Jake. If we are lucky, I'll also get the chance to introduce you to his communist, fighter bride, Camellia. Its her family in the trade so she might be the one who is more useful."
Frankie and Jake changed into suitable outfits for a night out at one of many disreputable dancing establishments located in Chinatown. If they were followed, they could easily improvise to make their plans suit their attire.
Camellia brought them into the back room where they could have some privacy, where her husband joined them soon thereafter. Lin was openly gazing at in his ex-lover in a way that was demonstrated he would welcome a rekindling of her amorous affection. Jack/Jake was working to put away his "over my dead body" face. In the meantime, Camellia and Phryne/Frankie had greeted each other warmly and were getting on with the business at hand. True to Lin's word, they were quickly working to get out of the trade. The newly married couple still had several warehouses but kept the ones for silk separate from the ones for less...legal...goods. Camellia shared the location of several suspect warehouses that her family was not involved with and that she had heard rumors about.
Suddenly, Dunnett shows up in the room. "We need to go, now." They meet at the safe house, where Mikey, Hawley and Whitman are waiting. Mikey was covered in cuts and bruises.
Frankie's nursing instincts from the war has been drilled into her. Before she even thinks about it, she gets a bowl of warm water, a washcloth and first aid gear and starts tending to Mikey's wounds. None of them need stitches but some will look ugly for a while.
Hawley starts to inform the duo: "Both Bess and Annie were at the warehouse, along with several other women and a few men. They set up these fights so that the last man standing gets to walk away. The other one..." Hawley looked at Mikey, who was looking quite green.
Hawley continues "Annie and Bess were against each other and Annie won. Bess might be dead. It looked like they killed her but they didn't leave a body."
Whitman added "Joey was one of two people that hauled Annie away. He's gotta know where she was taken but I don't know how to find him. We weren't able to get his back up in time for this evening."
"Who else was there?"
"All of them - Grimes, Mad Moira, Melinda Grieg, Robert Stack. Hey, Mikey - you said that you saw Hedgeson there, too." Mikey nodded.
"Mikey, what happened to your face?"
"A guy decided he didn't like me. It didn't seem like the place to turn the other cheek so when his hand met my face, I returned the favor. Might be 'cause I found this." It was a photo of Grimes and a very healthy looking Bess.
"Did you happen to see Grimes reaction when Annie and Bess were fighting?" Mikey shook his head.
"Dunnett, when is the last time you got sleep?"
"I'm not bad, boss. Maybe 12 hours ago."
"Mikey - you aren't going anywhere. Whitman?"
"I'm good."
"You two, go find Joey. There are 2 warehouses here and here (he points to a map) that we didn't know about earlier. Annie might be there. We need to get to her quickly. If you find her, take her directly to a hospital and put her under guard. Also get Collins and Miller - we need to have both of you on back-up here. We might have gotten some people a little upset this evening. I don't think they suspect but we need to be cautious."
"Mikey, we have to assume that someone caught onto you. I can't let you go back to the boarding house while this is open - it might risk lives of others. You'll stay here. Even if we were followed, there are 3 of us here and will have 2 back-ups soon."
Whitman and Dunnett went on their way.
Jake got Mikey set up in the room that was his just last night. Mikey walked past Frankie's room then into Jake's room and looked at his boss in disbelief.
"Boss, you really slept in this room when..." he tilted his head over to Frankie's room. He got a warning glance. "Are you crazy? Look at her! Man, we all thought you were..."
"Mikey" The constable shook to attention. "We are on duty."
"Yes, sir." Then in a quieter voice, Mikey added, clearly not knowing when to shut up around his superiors "You are a stronger man than I am. And, I'm not even the one turning her head!"
Jake looks at him incredulously before picking up his night clothes and a few essentials out of the room.
"Get to sleep, Mikey. You look like hell."
"Good Night, sir."
Jake used the bathroom to get dressed for bed. Then he came out into the main living area. He made his mind up to sleep on the couch this evening.
Frankie was in the kitchen putting the kettle on. She had already put on her nightgown and robe to get ready for bed.
"I'm guessing you'd want a cup of tea?" He stopped and blinked at her. "Don't worry...I'm just putting water on. I think you should take over from here."
Jake got the teapot out and poured some hot water in it. Swirled it around and dumped it into the cups to warm them up.
Then took out the tea and a teaspoon.
"One spoon for the pot and one for each cup you are making." he said as he scooped the tea into the pot. She walked around and peaked in. She bit her lips and looked up at him, thinking that she had easily put in 6 or 7 times that amount.
Then he added water half-way up the pot - just enough for two.
"It sits for 4 minutes"
She continued to stand there looking at the pot as if it was going to do a trick. He poured the tea, added some milk and handed her a cup. She thanked him with her eyes.
"What do we do now?" He walked over to the couch and she joined him.
"We should get to sleep so that we'll be rested for tomorrow. If we tried to chase anyone down and anyone caught on to what we were doing, the match between you and Moira at risk. I suspect that whatever happens then will be the keystone to being able to take down Grimes."
"I don't feel right just doing nothing."
"Then, let's do something." He was thinking of the nights he spent here protecting people in the other room. Some of them were witnesses. Some of them were criminals who struck deals for reduced sentences - usually to avoid hanging. How many evenings of draughts did he spend here?
He looked over to the bookshelf.
"Chess...Cards...Backgammon...Draughts..."
"I *do* owe you a dare, Inspector."
He was silent for a moment before speaking. "Yes, you do. I was saving that up until I was off duty."
"Does that mean you know what you will ask me to do?" Her eyes flashed at him, totally disregarding the fact that he said he was on duty.
He blushed. She loved it when she made him blush.
"You're blushing."
"I am not blushing. The room is dark."
"You are blushing!"
"I don't blush"
"You are blushing right now."
He can't tell her what he wants. He wants to but he can't. He cleared his throat and shook his head.
"I want to know so badly" as she gets on her hands to crawl closer to where he is on the couch "what you are going to ask me to do."
His heart is beating so hard that he can't stand to be his own skin right now. Nor can he stop himself from smiling.
"I can't"
"You can"
He lowered his eyelids and looked down into his now empty cup of tea. He placed it on the side table.
"That thing you did the other night." looking anywhere but in her eyes.
She knew exactly what he meant. It was just a quick flick of her tongue. It took less than a second. So, he's got a thing for ears.
She got closer to him. "Ask me"
He looked down and to the side of the room.
She leaned in closer. "Ask. me." she whispered.
He raised his eyelids to meet her gaze.
"I dare you..." he paused "to do that again."
"I accept."
She purposefully went to the wrong ear and brought her mouth close to it. She rubbed her nose along the hard fold of the concha, whose ridge ended in the very middle of his ear. She inhaled slowly then and drew her tongue up around the soft outer fold of the helix.
He exhaled softly. "Are you sure that is what you did yesterday?"
"I'm not sure at all. I'm trying to remember. Just bear with me a moment."
Then she ran the tip of her tongue under the crux of the helix at the top of his ear before lightly capturing it with her lips. "Was this it, inspector?"
His chest was visibly rising and falling. "No, I don't think so"
She nibbled back down along the crest and took his lobe in her teeth, gently. "How 'bout this?"
"It really wasn't that long ago. Can't you remember?"
She lightly snaked her tongue inside the very edge of his ear canal. She withdrew her tongue and blew lightly. "Maybe I did this?"
His jaw slack. "Quite frankly, this isn't how I remembered it at all."
She licked along the inside ridge of his ear before starting to pulse her tongue in and out, in and out matching the speed of his heartbeat. She sucked on his tragus, that little flap of flesh that stands up to separate his hear from the rest of his handsome face. She murmured "Am I getting warmer?"
He drops his head backwards. He can feel the affects of her attention all the way down to his toes. "It isn't even the correct ear," he mumbled.
She slung one leg over his lap so that she was straddling him. "Oh, dear me. How could I forget something as important as that? You *will* give me the chance to fix this won't you?" she whispered in his other ear.
He swallowed a groan.
She started kissing his neck, then his jaw and over to his ear. She brushed her lips over the width of his fossa. He could feel her every inhale, her every exhale. She inhaled his ear lobe into her mouth, sucking on it to underscore the ebb and flow of blood rushing through him.
"No, no - not right at all. If..." His eyes were totally unfocused. "If you haven't done it yet, maybe you don't remember at all. I dare say that this means you still owe me a dare. Do you agree?"
"That depends...are you going to ask me to do this again?"
"Definitely."
"Then, as long as I haven't performed the dare to your satisfaction, I would say that it is only fair that I still owe you a dare."
"I am so glad to hear that."
He raised his head. She did the same. Their mutual gaze found each other, the space between them contracted. They each lowered their eyes to each others lips as they moved together slowly. He mouthed at her lips. He felt her open her mouth to him. They latched on to each other to deepen their kiss.
They pulled apart and looked at each other, inspecting each other, detecting the emotions flitting over the others face. If they only knew their faces said the same thing: "I want this...do you as well?" Not daring to hope they could really see this in each other, they waited a moment more until ...
...the door knocked.
Tension departed with forced expiration. They sat forehead-to-forehead for a moment more. She got up to get dressed in her room. He wrapped the blanket around himself.
Then, he answered the door.
It was Joey.
Whitman had caught up with him. They found Annie and took her to the hospital, where there is a guard at the door. Whitman hoped that it will look like she was able to escape on her own but he can't be sure of this.
Frankie came out of her room wearing street clothes and joined in their discussion.
Joey confirmed that Collins and Miller were outside as back-up.
The next day, the DI would meet with his superiors to get resources to plan a raid tomorrow night. They needed a substantial number of uniforms around the perimeter in order to bring in the large group of people that were involved in this activity. Grimes and Banks might be leading this group but it will be the people who are there that will share evidence to help the two top criminals hang.
They only have to wait until 2pm to confirm the location.
In the meantime, Hawley gets confirmation that Robert Sharp isn't planning on this being a straight fight. There is talk to capture both Frankie and Jake upon arrival. If this is the case, the only people they will have on the inside watching them would be Miller, Hawley and Joey. They have to prepare for any one of the 3 of them sending the signal to start the raid.
Get word to everyone that they need to be very careful and thorough in the capture and tagging of evidence. We can't risk any technicalities.
In the meantime, Jake and Frankie run through scenarios to mitigate different kinds attacks that could be planned for their arrival. Since this is meant to be a match - even a dirty one - the chances are that the two of them will be disabled until the matches start. But not killed.
Even if Grimes and his group are very outnumbered by the police, there is a very real possibility that one or both of them will get injured. Or worse.
This is certainly not the scenario they had planned on over the past few weeks. Jack ponders on whether the raid happen without sending her in. It is too dangerous.
"You aren't going in alone, Jack" she used the seriousness of the moment to call him by his given name. "We are going in together and we are coming out together. Let's just keep reviewing our options and coming up with ways we can communicate if we can't speak. Alright?"
6 more hours until they get the address. There was always so much waiting for a raid. Why doesn't someone tell his brain that it can wait as well. But it is racing. The waiting brings the nerves. He never gets used to this.
Frankie and Jake sat on the couch together, floating in and out of discussion. "What about...", "Don't forget..."
Whitman brought in food for them at lunch.
At 2pm, Frankie and Jake met Robert Sharp to get the address. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. Without everyone in place getting information, he never would have suspected the set-up coming their way.
In the early afternoon, they go through their routine. Stretching. Light workout. Then they get to the docks and the appointed place and in the appointed hour. Just before they walk through, Jake grabs Frankie's hand and gives it a squeeze.
The place feels dirty. Jake and Frankie stick to each other's side as they go in. Miller is near the ring. Hawley in the back taking bets from punters. Joey standing next to his "boss", who has him do routes to and from the opium dens.
They get ready to start the match. Moira is already in the ring. Jake helps Frankie with her gloves before she gets in the ring as well. They thought something would have happened to one of them by now.
Then it does.
Miller puts a choke on Jake and holds him at gunpoint. Grimes explains that Frankie will be working for them now. The kind of work she will be doing will depend on how she fights.
Jake gives the signal that he knows Miller is posturing. This was one of the scenarios they planned for.
The fight starts with Moira. At first, she fights fair. Frankie uses every second of defensive training she learned over the past several weeks. Moira is getting in better punches but she is also wearing herself out. Work the long game, Frankie, she tells herself.
There was no break for the round. No rounds, no stops. Another thing they planned for. As Moira gets tired, she gets more erratic. Then, she starts playing dirty.
Frankie thinks she sees a needle. She is not about to play by the rules if her opponent doesn't. Her judo skills kick-in to use Moira's strength against her. Moira is on the ground and Frankie steps on the needle.
Why hasn't someone called the signal to start the raid?
She can't look around the warehouse. She needs to stay totally focused on Moira, who is now running straight for her. She wishes she weren't wearing these gloves. Since she *is*, she steps into Moira and delivers and uppercut then a left hook. Moira delivers a string of hard punches across Frankie's ribs and stomach. Frankie focuses on blocking her face and head. Keep your mind clear! She thinks.
Where is the damn signal?
Finally, the warehouse is rushed.
Frankie uses the distraction to get her weight behind Moira's knee and take her down. Jack is behind her in a second and clamps Moira's hands.
Cover thrown, Phryne and Jack survey the area to track where the players are. Moira is here, with them. Miller has Robert Stark. Joey has Grieg. Whitman has the accountant. Dunes has Hedgeson. Where is Grimes?
There he is.
He's been shot.
By George Sanderson???
"I didn't realize he'd be here, Jack."
"Neither did I." He said. "Good thing, though - he's always one who has taken down vice." Jack was left with a niggling feeling that something wasn't quite right about his presence. As this was the only gun fire, he was also worried about the use of deadly force. He looked down again. Grimes had no gun. It would be a question for another day.
The arrests were completed. In the secondary raids on the opium dens, 10 missing women and 3 missing men were found.
Bess has not been found. Neither has Clara. They are officially listed as missing persons of interest.
Detective Inspector Jack Robinson meets with the team who participated in the undercover operation. They reviewed the structure of the organization and how the team came to have power in City South. The process was given an initial review to discuss what worked, what didn't. The brief was summarized with a reminder on the importance of being meticulous in paperwork. The exciting work had been done but it is the next part of the police work that would ensure that the right people hang.
Questions?
There didn't appear to be questions but before the group dispersed, Mikey couldn't resist giving Miller a hard time for getting overwhelmed in a boxing ring by a woman - that is, by Frankie, herself.
Phryne couldn't resist: "a gentleman wouldn't say it but he was making me look good."
Miller replied "I may have tried playing to your strengths, Miss Fisher but you deserved that win fair and square." He continued. " You know, my missus will go out on the town with her girlfriends of an evening when I'm working late. I'd feel better if I knew she could pack a wallop like you. Would you consider giving her lessons."
Miss Fisher snapped shut the file she had been reading. She ran her eyes up and down Miller in naked appraisal. "As much as I'd like to help you out...Constable...I'm going to suggest - and I mean this from experience - that she might savor the experience more if you tended to her lessons, *personally*." With that, she fanned herself with the file, gave him a sly smile and let her gaze float over to the DI.
Jack is looking at her sternly. He tries to ignore the cat calls around the room directed at Miller.
The group is dismissed, happy to head home to their families and their own beds. Fond farewells are given to Miss Fisher. She had become really quite fond of them over this experience. She wondered if anything of them might be up for sparing some time soon. When she was bored. Perhaps.
The one person who wouldn't get to go home was Detective Inspector Jack Robinson. He had quite a lot of paperwork that he needed to complete - in triplicate - before the Commissioner arrived at 8am.
"Miss Fisher, before you leave may I see you in my office for a moment?"
"Of course, Jack!"
He shut the door behind him and leaned against his desk.
"There is the small matter of an unanswered question that needs dealing with."
"What's that, Jack?"
"You never answered...truth or dare?" Phryne bit her lip and smiled.
"Dare, of course."
This time he met her gaze straight on. "Do you remember that thing you did the other night?"
Phryne looked puzzled.
"When we met Grimes."
"Hmmm...did it involve your ear? and my tongue? I *might* remember something about it, yes."
"I dare you..." he puts his hands on the table behind him and waits for recognition. He gets it "...to do that again."
She walks over to him so that her toes are lined up with his toes. She deliberately leans over to the wrong ear. She mumbled so that her lips would brush up against his skin when she spoke "I'm not exactly sure what I did. Bear with me, will you?"
She licked the back of his ear lobe to capture it into her mouth. She sucked on it and let it pull out of her mouth with a snap. Then she nibbled on his tragus. She rubbed her nose along his cheek before giving him little kisses at the top of his neck.
"It wasn't quite like this, Jack. Was it?"
"No, not quite. It isn't the correct ear, for a start."
The door knocked. "Uh...Detective Inspector? One of the suspects needs to speak with you."
Jack pulled his lips back under his teeth. And took a breath in before he smiled at Phryne.
He got up to peek out the door - not enough to show his ears, mind you - and told Constable Collins to bring the suspect to the interview room, where he will join them in five minutes.
He closed the door and walked back over to Phryne.
"There was actually one other unanswered question. If you remember correctly, it was your call to see Lin that allowed us to make plans around the right set of warehouses."
She looked quite surprised.
"Oh. Well, I'd better ask you then. Truth or dare?"
"Truth, as always"
She had no idea what to ask him. Then she thought for a moment.
"You never answered my question about my boxing costume. What did you think of it?"
It was such a trivial question, he almost answered it. "I can't possibly answer that, Miss Fisher. I'm afraid I'll have to forfeit."
"Really? Of all the things..."
"Really. I refuse."
"So that means..."
"That means of course that I owe you dinner tomorrow night. I remember you saying that it has been quite some time since you had cheese and onion pie."
Oh, he's cooking for her!
"Forfeit anytime you like, Inspector. I'll be there." she left the room, looking back over her shoulder.