It had been nearly five minutes since Ros and Lucas had run out of the tube station and still the bomb hadn't gone off.
'She's played us,' said Harry, looking to Ruth as they continued to watch the link that had been set up on Tariq's computer. 'Get back here now,' he demanded as he watched their two colleagues, presumably debating which if either of them should go back to where they had left Connie. It wasn't long ago that they had lost Adam and the thought that he might lose another member of the team in what had already been a dreadful year was not something he could justify, no matter what the cost.
'I'll make some tea,' offered Tariq, well aware that Harry's temper was rising as Ruth followed him back into his office. Dimitri and Beth, who had joined the team after the loss of Adam, were pouring over their computers and trying to chase any leads as to where Connie might currently be.
Beth, who was currently living with Ruth albeit as a temporary measure, had one eye on what was going on in Harry's office. As usual when Ruth was in there, Harry seemed a lot calmer or at least he was by the time she came out again as opposed to his quite often volatile temper, that scared the hell out of her if she were to be honest. She knew that Harry or Ruth called each other almost every evening and she was certain that their chats as she called them had little if anything to do with work. Both she and Dimitri had heard rumours that at some time in the past Ruth had had to leave the section, so maybe their relationship had been going on for years, because a relationship it certainly was.
Once Ros and Lucas arrived back, Harry called them into the meeting room. Ruth and Tariq had already been in touch with the port authorities, the airports and those responsible for the channel tunnel, so there was no possible way that Connie could get out of the country.
'I need to tell the Home Secretary,' said Harry 'we've got one of our own with who knows what on her mind, apparently working with the Russians.'
'Not yet Harry.' said Ros, 'Connie knows that she can't get away so we need to work out what it is that's so important to her that she would go to all this trouble. She tried and failed to set you up, she hissed in your face when we dragged her off, so my suggestion would be that it's some sort of personal revenge that she has in mind.'
All eyes turned to Harry, watching his mind ticking over. He had known Connie for more than twenty five years which made it a hard pill to swallow, but he needed to forget this and remember that she wasn't the Connie of the early days when they had been in Northern Ireland together. Their most recent non work related conversation had been when Ruth was still away and he had opened the letter from the Palace. No lady Pearce, she had said to him with a knowing look as she had offered to accompany him. She could well have noticed his reaction and it wouldn't have taken much effort for her to check recent records. Had she done so, she would have found out that Ruth had sacrificed herself for him and that he had attempted to save her by attacking Oliver Mace. Getting herself through the doors at six would have been a piece of cake in fact he wouldn't put it past her to have been in touch with Mace as well, wherever the bastard was. Ruth was back now and as much as they had tried to hide their growing closeness, Lucas and Ros certainly knew as quite probably did everyone else. If her plan was to hurt him, especially if Mace was involved, then Ruth would be the obvious target and he had to answer Ros's question, whether Ruth liked it or not.
He started by telling them that he and Connie had first worked together in Northern Ireland when she had been an agent there. There were too many ops to mention, but because the climate had been so volatile it had been almost second nature to go off piste from time to time and form relationships with people that you wouldn't normally associate. He had done many things that he had come to regret and maybe she had met someone there that he had inadvertently hurt.
'One thing is certain,' he said, if Connie's motives are directed at me, then the surest way to hurt me is to go after Catherine my daughter, but more likely Ruth.'
There was an uncomfortable silence during which time Ruth who had been watching him intently, looked down in what was an impossible attempt to disappear. It was Ros who rescued the situation by suggesting that they should all take a break. They could speculate for ages, but if they were going to find Connie then they needed to get their heads down and if needs be dig into every aspect of the last 30 years of her life.
'Come back in an hour's time,' she said to their retreating backs, as they filed out leaving Harry and Ruth on their own.
'I'm sorry but I had to tell them, not that they don't know anyway,' he said 'but we need help here and I had to answer Ros's question.'
'Is there a We?' she asked, looking him straight in the eye.
'Don't be so bloody stubborn,' he said not for the first time as he leant towards her, 'you know that there is and I'm not going to make the mistakes that I made the last time, because if I lose you again I can tell you now, I won't survive.'
It was brutally honest and totally heartfelt answer and if it had taken the very real fear that he would lose her again to declare how he felt, though not ideal, he had said it.
