I DO NOT OWN SPOOKS OR ANY OF THE ASSOCIATED CHARACTERS – NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.
SERIOUS SPOILERS FOR SERIES 9.8 based upon Press release.
Set in 9.8 – My take based upon the trailer.
Ruth sat cross legged upon the unevenly gravelled roof top above Thames House. This place had always been one of sanctuary before, where Harry and she had come to share snatched moments together away from the chaos below. But now the chaos had risen upwards and swept her away from him.
Lucas sat facing her, expression wild and his sharp features haggard with fatigue. Loaded weapons were clenched tightly in both hands. His hands shook slightly, but their grip was strong as he maintained their aim at Ruth's forehead. The woman she had been introduced to as Maya, sat next to him, huddled into a ball, frightened and shivering in the biting wind which danced across the roof top and swirled down onto the streets below.
Footsteps crunched into the gravel behind her. Ruth squeezed her eyes tight shut and prayed that it would not be Harry. She had distanced herself from him in the hope that when this situation arose (which she always knew that it would) that he could easily make the right choice. Country above all else. The logic behind the mathematical equation of her life against the greater good would make his decision easier. Except it didn't. Mathematics could not quantify the strength of his devotion to her, or of her devotion to him. Life wasn't all about numbers. It was never that easy.
The footsteps crunched closer and Harry cautiously approached the tense tableaux. Lucas unceremoniously grabbed Ruth's collar, hauling her upright and pressing the cold steel of a hand gun to her temple. Ruth struggled but Lucas increased his grip, choking the breath from her lungs. Ruth's eyes locked with Harry's. She tried to be brave, to maintain a steely gaze that would not betray the depths of emotion which lay behind. She failed. Blue eyes met brown and everything was understood. She knew what he was about to say.
Harry's voice rang out across the roof top.
"I have the Albany file. The helicopter is on the way to pick you and Maya up. Malcolm has created new identities for both of you. Let Ruth go now. I will honour my agreement with you. You can still leave. Just let Ruth go. "
Ruth stared in half in disbelief and half in profound relief. Harry would never betray his country, why? The little voice in her head screamed the answer. Ruth could not let Harry throw his career and life away. Too important. She could not bear the thought that he would have to bear the label of traitor.
Lucas snorted. "I doubt you will honour any agreement, unless I keep Ruth with me. She has always been your Achilles heel, hasn't she?"
"Harry!" Ruth cried "Let me go! Keep Albany safe!" Lucas interrupted her with a blow to the stomach, knocking all the air from her lungs. She sank to the ground, wheezing. Then she felt the cold steel press against the back of her forehead and the torturously slow clack of the safety catch being removed. Harry stood paralysed with fear. He had underestimated Lucas. Badly.
"Please, Harry." She half choked, half sobbed. "Keep the other agents safe. I am nothing. I am nothing.." She repeated those words like a mantra, in the hope that the repetition would make them true.
"You are everything, Ruth." Harry's voice was roughened with emotion. "Always have been. Always will be"
"Touching. Really" She almost felt the sneer in Lucas's voice as he demanded the file again and pushed the metal harder into the back of her skull. The faint beat of the helicopters blades could be heard in the distance. Time seemed to slow. Harry stared at Ruth and tried to put all the things that had never been said into a look. She nodded and tears began to stain her cheeks. She tried to do the same back. The saddest smile she had ever seen played upon Harry's lips.
Her hair whipped around her face, temporarily blinding her, as the helicopter hovered above them like a cold steel bird looking for its prey. Dust and grit clogged her lungs and she coughed violently.
"The FILE!" Lucas screamed above the noise. Harry stepped forward and handed a memory stick to Lucas. Lucas backed towards the helicopter, roughly shoving Maya with one hand and dragging Ruth with another. In a violent movement she twisted free of his grasp and launched herself towards Harry. It seemed to Harry that all of creation had stopped for this moment. Lucas spun around, anger contorting his face. Lucas raised his firearm. Harry pulled his. A shot rang out. Silence fell.
Dmitri leaped from the helicopter, hearing the shot. Ruth lay face down in Harry's arms. Lucas lay twisted upon the floor. Limbs at unnatural angles, his pale face ashen and pressed to the floor. Maya screamed. Over and over.
Slowly, Ruth's world came back into focus. Daylight and the wind brought her back to the present. She mentally checked herself over, clasping her right arm, which was beginning to turn crimson. Gently, as though she was a china doll, Harry helped her upright and began to apply pressure to the wound.
"I am so sorry…" he began.
"Don't be. We are both okay." He raised his eyebrows at her. "Well, apart from this" She motioned to her arm. "It's just a graze."
She fixed him with her most serious stare. "We need to talk…I have something to ask"
I have another Chapter, if people would like to read! Please review! Thank you for all your kind reviews of Gospels and the Rain and thank you to ddagent for encouraging me to post this!