Chapter 19
It had all happened so fast for Carla. One minute she was whisking Lisa away on a romantic weekend in Paris and the next it had been cut short with some kind of cyber crisis over in the UK.
She still didn’t understand why Lisa had to leave. Why her sabbatical had to come to an abrupt end. In truth, Carla maybe thought she was being selfish and perhaps a little naive. It had crossed her mind once or twice that maybe one day, Lisa would have to return to work, but the more serious their feelings seemed to get for each other, the less Carla thought about it and then all of a sudden the feeling of love was on the cards and the thought of Lisa ever leaving had completely slipped away.
Carla knew that Lisa was a detective, she knew she was on sabbatical, but she’d never really thought about what that meant. That it might have meant that Lisa left Devon one day, that it might have meant that Lisa had a job and a life to return to, but she certainly never thought of what it might have meant for their relationship. Surely Lisa had a plan, surely she was never just going to walk away from Carla, go back to her detective life and leave it all behind in Devon?
Carla’s heart sank at the thought. She was torturing herself.
She thought back to their previous conversation. Lisa had promised her when this was all over, things would be different. Carla held on to that thought.
As she spent time away from Lisa though, her heart had been well and truly looked after whilst she was gone, though it hurt like hell.
Lisa had spoken to Felipe to make sure that Carla was looked after, cared for, checked in on everyday. Lisa had made sure that Carla had all her meals at the hotel, breakfast, lunch and dinner would be provided if Carla didn’t feel like going out anywhere and she had an unlimited amount of room service, a freshly cleaned and tidied suite, fresh towels and a re-stocked mini bar everyday.
The fact that Lisa had put her need before her own, just made her want and miss Lisa more than she ever thought possible.
— —
The next 72 hours were a blur to Lisa.
Lisa had known that lives were at stake, but all she could think of was Carla. The weight of all the responsibility laid heavily on her shoulders, but once this was all over, she knew what she had to do.
The second day away from Carla, she felt slightly stronger. Their conversation last night had given her the drive and determination she needed. The teams had come back with findings that were off the scale, and it gave her hope that they were actually getting somewhere with this investigation.
Team A had figured that the initial attacks were likely made to distract the larger, coordinated attacks that took place next. Which lead to Team B identifying that the attacks on the transport networks had been organised to fall at peak travel times, maximising disruption. It was only as day two was drawing to a close, that Team C had stumbled across a dark web page that held a ransom demand. It had been posted almost 48 hours ago demanding £20 million in untraceable cryptocurrency. Failure to comply would result in the attacks spreading overseas, starting in Europe.
Lisa’s heart sank. How had they missed this? For 48 hours this ransom demand had sat out there on the dark web leaving them with only 24 hours to act before this countrywide crisis became a worldwide crisis. Individual countries would be hit one by one, just the same as the UK had been.
With not much time to think, Lisa had made the decision that the £20 million in cryptocurrency was to be paid to the hackers, but only as a means to trace their activity and ultimately apprehend them. It carried a huge risk, even bigger than her career itself. It carried the risk of safety to lives, including that of her own.
Feeling the weight of the situation, she took a moment to reach out to Carla. With her hands shaking, she composed a message to send.
Hey you,
The last 24 hours have felt like a life sentence not being able to hear your voice again.
I promise you that within the next 24 hours this should all be over. But I just need you to know how much I appreciate you and how special you’ve made me feel since the day we met.
In case anything happens to me, I’m sending you my daughter Betsy’s number in another message. I know you two have never met, but please reach out to her if something happens to me Carla. She deserves to know that I found someone after the loss of her mum; she deserves to know how happy you made me and that I was able to fall in love again.
I love you Carla, I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to tell you. But if we make it through this, I promise I’ll prove to you everyday for the rest of my life, how much I love you.
I’ll be forever yours, L 😘
It broke Lisa’s heart to send that message. Next, it was Betsy.
Hey sweetheart,
I’m so sorry I haven’t been in touch. I know I’ve been a shitty parent, some thing don’t change, do they? I read all your messages, voicemails and updates though. I do cherish our relationship and I love to see you growing into this wonderful young woman.
There’s someone I’d like you to meet. She’s called Carla. You really would love her Betsy, if you’d just give her a chance. I hope that would be easier for you now you’re older and I’d hope to have your blessing.
I miss you, you’ll always be my little girl.
Love Mum xxx
It had only been a matter of minutes since Lisa had tried to send both messages, but the phone networks had crashed, leaving both messages undelivered.
-FUCK-
Lisa cursed. The thought of not seeing Carla or her daughter again was unbearable, but the fact that she reached out and it was too late, just made every fibre of her being, hurt.
— —
The final 24 hours before the ransom deadline had been a whirlwind.
The ransom demand had been paid from a secure digital wallet specifically set up for this sting operation, minimising any risk of the hackers knowing they were being watched, and could be traced.
The next step was just a waiting game. Watching on from a distance. Alerts were set up for any transfers from the digital wallet in the hopes that the police would be able to dive straight in.
For what felt like days but was actually only hours, the money started to move. In small amounts at first, slowly converting the cryptocurrency to cash. As the hackers obviously became more confident, larger sums began to be converted and Lisa knew it was now or never.
The location the hackers were collecting the converted cryptocurrency from had been located. It was all a set up of course. There really was no money to collect, just armed response hiding in the shadows waiting to close in on them. When the moment arrived, armed response jumped in, catching the hackers off guard. The operation had been a swift success and within minutes the perpetrators were pulled into custody.
— —
After the dust had settled, Lisa felt a mixture of emotions as her DI had called her into his temporary office in the Met building. Even though the operation had been a huge success, the risks it had carried had been too high for Lisa and she’d decided that she couldn’t put her life on the line like that anymore. She had thought she’d learnt the hard way, having loved and then lost Becky, the only woman she’d ever loved. Until that is, she met Carla and then Lisa had gone on to put her own life in danger, cursing herself at her poor decisions, clearly not learning from the trauma of her own past.
“Well done Swain. You’ve more than proved yourself, you know. To come back like you did, fighting, after such a long time away, just proves I was right about you. You really are the best in the country.” Her DI sung her praises.
“Thank you, sir. There’s um, something I need to talk to you about actually.” Lisa said.
“Well, there’s something I actually want to talk to you about too. I’m retiring Swain.”
“Oh, wow. Well, thank you sir for letting me know. I appreciate it, and thank you for everything you’ve ever taught me. You really will be missed. I know I can speak on behalf of the whole team when I say that.” Lisa’s voice was laced with a genuine warmth.
“I believe you, I do. The team you know, they respect you Swain. They look up to you. They value you and that brings me to my point actually. The position is yours, you take my reigns of Detective Inspector. Especially after your performance over the last 72 hours. You’ve more than proved yourself, you’ve gone above and beyond. You’ll be expected back in Manchester Monday morning, 9am sharp.”
Lisa was speechless. Prior to meeting Carla, all she’d ever dreamed of was to work her way up the ranks. She’d always worked hard, always got her head down to prove herself. Always put her job above anything else.
There. That was it. That was the problem.
Always put her job above anything else.
Lisa swallowed hard, carefully orchestrating what she was about to say in her head. She’d never planned for this to happen, but she’d never planned to fall in love with Carla Connor.
“I’m touched sir, I really am. I can’t thank you enough for the opportunity but I can’t accept it, I’m sorry.” Lisa said, matter of fact as she held out the white envelope she had been clutching ever so tightly in her hands.
He raised his eyebrow at her, speechless now himself.
“My resignation, sir. I can work my six months notice if needs be, but I’d rather leave now on this high of what we’ve achieved. After all, I was never officially back. This was supposed to be a favour. I was never truly ready to come back.” She raised her eyebrow at him. He knew what she meant.
“Have you thought about this Lisa, really thought about this? What does Betsy have to say?” He asked, concern etched all over his face. He’d called her by her first name, so she knew this conversation was different.
“You know as well as I do that Betsy has no idea, but she’d be over the moon. Come on! How many times did you have to pull us back together and keep us grounded when we lost Becky? You’ve looked after her more than I did over the last six years, but I have you to thank that she still calls me Mum. She hated my job, hated that I put my life on the line everyday and hated me for it even more when I wouldn’t give it up after we lost Bex.” Lisa smiled sadly at her boss.
He knew how much it affected the both of them when Rebecca Swain was killed in the line of duty. Lisa’s boss had grown up with Lisa’s father and after her family had kicked her out for falling in love with a woman, he had become more of a father figure to Lisa during her time in the force.
He always supported every decision she ever made, although no one in the workplace would ever know it. He was there when Lisa had met Becky, he was there when they’d married, he was there when Becky had given birth to Betsy and he was of course, Betsy’s Godfather.
Then he was there when he had to be the one to knock on the door that fateful day, dressed all in black with another officer, police hat cradled in his hands as a mark of respect. Lisa had known as soon as she opened the front door. She’d delivered enough tragic loss of life to family members during her career, she just never imagined she would ever be the one receiving it.
“I’ve met someone.” Lisa said softly, unable to read his expression, even after all these years.
He gave her time to continue.
“I was spending my time on sabbatical in Devon, as you’ll know, and I met someone. She’s called Carla. I think you’d really like her.” Lisa smiled as she spoke about Carla.
He could see the glow in her face when Lisa told him. The love in her eyes and the blush that crept into her cheeks. He hadn’t seen Lisa like this since Rebecca.
“And it’s love, is it?” He asked delicately.
“It certainly is.” Lisa beamed back.