Index: Of Line Of Duty

Detective Sergeant Kate Rainer found the file on a dead man’s laptop.

The index was open. Now the line of duty would cut both ways.

“Run,” Marcus said.

The file she found wasn’t a case file. It was an index. Index Of Line Of Duty

The victim was DS Carl Hudson—a serving anti-corruption officer. His body had been found in a lock-up garage in Birmingham, hands cuffed behind his back, a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. No forced entry. No witnesses. The local force called it a “botched robbery.” Kate, newly transferred to AC-12’s regional unit, knew better.

Kate began reading at 2 a.m., coffee cold beside her.

Kate dialed a number she’d sworn never to use. Detective Sergeant Kate Rainer found the file on

Kate’s phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number:

Her stomach turned. Carl hadn’t been investigating criminals. He’d been investigating the investigators.

Row twelve: LOD-012. SUBJECT: Ch. Supt. Robert Hargreaves (AC-12 liaison). ACTION TAKEN: Leaked raid times to OCG. OUTCOME: Two witnesses killed. Hargreaves received £50k. No charges. “Run,” Marcus said

Kate grabbed the laptop and bolted through the kitchen exit, sirens already wailing in the distance—but not coming to save her. Coming to finish the index.

She looked up. Across the diner, a man in a black coat was rising from his booth, hand moving toward his jacket. Marcus saw it too.