Here is one of my ideas on how Series 9 opens. Thanks for the reviews for "Status Quo" - they are much appreciated!
Ruth watched the TV on the Grid in horror as a second explosion rocked the hotel. It had been only about ten minutes since she had talked to Harry on the phone, but it had seemed much longer than that. Tariq kept looking at her anxiously as they both tried to raise someone, anyone, on the phone and find out what the hell had happened. The longer they waited, the harder it was to stay calm and keep on the job. She tried not to think of Harry in particular and rationalized with herself that there were a thousand reasons why he couldn't answer his mobile that instant.
"Lucas!" Tariq shouted down his headset.
Ruth patched herself in to the conversation. Lucas was concise, but the emotion behind his words was almost overwhelming.
"Lucas, this is Ruth. Listen to me – you need to take care of yourself now…I mean it. I'm off to the hospital. If there's anything new, you can let the Grid know. I've got a small army of analysts here to go through what we have at the moment." It was a small lie, but there was no way she wasn't going to the hospital, and there was equally no way she was letting Tariq go through all this new information on his own. She would commandeer anyone she could on her way out, and deal with the question of whether or not she had the authority to do so later.
Tariq just sat there with his head in his hands. Ruth put a hand to his shoulder.
"I'll be OK…you should go." She reluctantly left him, hoping to God they'd get more time later to grieve.
She had rounded up some help for Tariq, got a pool car, and made it to the hospital in what must have been record time. She had absolutely no memory of the drive through London – she could only hope she hadn't killed anyone on the way. Her mind was reeling with what was just happened. It was the second explosion that did it. It was a tactic growing popular amongst terrorists – detonate a bomb, and then a second one a few minutes later to maximize casualties. All the people who rushed to help the victims of the first blast become the victims of the second.
The emergency ward was chaos. Ruth was desperately searching for a face she knew amongst the crowd. There was a lot of blood, and cries of pain. She managed to get a nurse and flash her ID in what she hoped was an authoritative manner. Someone, a doctor maybe, witnessed the exchange and grabbed Ruth's arm.
"Are you Ruth Evershed by any chance?"
"Yes." It took all of Ruth's willpower to try not to throttle this guy. Or faint.
"Come with me."
Down a long corridor and the chaos subsided the tiniest bit. She was lead to a doorway. The doctor put his hand on the doorknob and turned to Ruth.
"Sir Harry is in here."
"How is he?"
"Not too bad considering. He got some broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a nasty concussion, and some stitches to his scalp. Bled like a stuck pig." Ruth's face went white.
"Sorry…He's asked for you. We've given him some pretty heavy painkillers, but if you could try to keep him calm and still until we can get him sedated, that would be doing us a huge favor. As you can see, we've got our hands full at the moment."
"Of course. I'll do what I can."
Ruth felt like her heart had turned over when she entered that hospital room.
More to come - hopefully in the next day or two. Reviews appreciated!