Spooks: 'Hero' by DD Agent
Chapter TwoIt's taken a long time to write, but eventually the second chapter is going up. Although I wrote most of it ages ago (and probably posted it on johnsto), I decided to finish it in anticipation of writing the third and final part soon.
Shout out to everyone on spooks. especially Molly who knows how hard it is to write Ruth-coming-back-conspiracy-theory-and-god-knows-what-else stories.
Harry had gotten drunk last night after hearing Tom's voice. Whiskey, Scotch, Brandy, and the lone bottle of Rum from the back of his cupboard. When all else had failed, he had gotten out the large bottle of vodka from his study draw. However, a noise downstairs woke him out of a restless sleep. It was 5 a.m. and someone was rattling around downstairs.
Grabbing the .9 revolver that Ros had given him, he made his way down the threadbare stairs. Going through the kitchen door, he saw a young girl around nineteen sitting in a chair with fidget in her lap. The eyes and cheekbones reminded him of someone he knew from long ago. As the thoughts clicked, he realised who he was looking at.
"Isabelle Mace, I presume?" Harry asked, his speech slightly slurred. Looking her up and down, he noticed that she was wearing the latest trainers and had on clean clothes. Not the typical fare for a teenager supposed to be on the run.
"He's a little sweetie, isn't he?" Isabelle replied, scratching the cat behind the ears.
"I'm calling the police," Harry threatened, the gun feeling heavy against his side.
But Isabelle called his bluff.
"You won't do that. If I get arrested, then the information I possess goes. You won't risk me getting captured by 6," she stated, her hand running through fidgets fur.
"I'm calling 5," Harry turned around, reaching across for the nearby mobile phone.
"She still loves you, you know. She doesn't talk about you in front of Tom, but she can't stop speaking about you when it's just me and her,"
Harry froze, and turned back towards Isabelle Mace. She was wearing a necklace that was so typically Ruth. The shirt was middle eastern, and the jeans were not your standard pair. The high cheekbones gave her an air of Oliver, but that was about it. The eyes were the only things that could stop her passing for Ruth's daughter.
"How many ex- agents of mine are helping you?" Harry asked the teenager. Fidget jumped out of her lamp and started to entangle its self between Harry's legs.
"A few. The files. My father is a nasty piece of work, I've known that all my life. He's ruined too many lives in his position,"
"What do you want?" Harry asked, picking up the cat.
"My price is my own. Tom thinks that we're pulling off a coup. So does Zoë. Sam thinks we're helping Ruth. Will leaves us alone to plot and scheme," Isabelle mumbled off a name of his old agents without any thought of what they might mean to them.
"And Ruth? What does she think you're doing?" Harry asked, letting the cat go before he squeezed flesh to bone.
Isabelle gave him a file, with the words Rigor Mortis on the front. He didn't open it, Harry just stared at her.
"And this would be?"
"My father's little plan went well past having Ruth framed in an effort for you to join his little boy's club. I'm going to give you three bits of information now. Use all of them. I have more info in my arsenal Harry Pearce. The name of the agent who was at the meeting, and the undoctored video tape,"
"Your father never saw you coming, did he?" Harry replied. She was so like Oliver, but in a good way. He was impressed.
"Not once. Listen up and pay attention…" but Isabelle never finished the rest of her sentence.
Harry had crossed over the kitchen floor and rammed the teenager up against the wall with his forearm.
"No, junior, you listen here. You are playing a very dangerous game. You are messing with the security services, the British government. This is not a game you can hope to win," he released her, and she stood back, gasping for air.
"I don't want to win. I want you, and your staff to win. There is the annual government party next week. That is when I want the information revealed. ALL of it. The video tape, the undercover agent, everything,"
"So, what is the information I need?"
"My father, Oliver Mace, is becoming the new head of MI6. He has powerful friends, and they've got him back in. They're announcing it next week at the party.
Two, Ros Myers is tipped to be the new head of the JIC. She'll be asked tomorrow. You can't let her say yes. Because if she does, then the Spook who screwed over you and Ruth will be put in her place.
Three, Ruth and Tom are sleeping together. Have been for about a year,"
Harry had nodded at every bit of information until that last one. He looked shocked as he gripped the counter for supporter. He wanted to speak, but no words would come out.
"He thinks she's pregnant,"
He threw up at that point, in the kitchen sink. Too much booze and grief had been a little too much for his stomach to handle. Isabelle passed him a glass of water.
"But, all you said…" Harry was confused. Tears were appearing in the corners of his blotchy face.
"She isn't. He thinks she is, but she isn't. Ruth lost the child, and she hasn't had the heart to tell him,"
"Get out,"
Isabelle did so without question, leaving the vital information in the file that he was still holding. Walking out the front door, she came across a sight that she didn't really want to see.
Their large black land rover was parked outside Harry's house. Ruth, Sam, Zoë and Will were inside the car. Tom was outside with a face like fury.
"Izzy? Izzy, what have you done? IZZY?" Tom yelled.
Isabelle started to run, her feet picking up off the ground. Tom went after her, and so did Will. Zoë jumped out of the car and gave chase. In her mind, she replayed what she had said to Harry Pearce. All the truth she had spoken, and all the lies. A police car cut her off.
Circling the other way, she ducked past Tom. By the land rover was three more. Ruth and Sam were both in handcuffs. Her father was standing beside them with some of his cronies. Another car drew up to the left. Out came several people that Isabelle only knew from pictures.
Ros Myers. Malcolm Wynn- Jones. Zafar Younis. Jo Portman.
Police flooded the area. Will was quickly taken down. Tom too. Zoë gave one hell of a good fight before she was cuffed. Harry, clean and dressed came out of his house to watch the debacle.
"Well, who do we have here, hmm? Tom Quinn, decommissioned agent. Zoë Reynolds supposed to be in prison. Sam Bruxton, another ex- agent. Ruth Evershed, supposedly dead," Oliver stated loudly, directing the prisoners into the police cars.
Isabelle just stared on. Tom was baled into a police car. Sam was too, although a little more gently. Zoë went in one with Will. Everyone stared at Ruth as she was pressed into one of the police cars. But, just as she was going, she locked eyes with Harry. She looked good. A little thinner than the last time he saw her, but otherwise as perfect as she always was.
She had stolen a miniature bottle of vodka. Ol' Pearce was a heavy drinker these days, and he had plenty of the airplane sized ones around. Watching the scene unfold, she ripped off a piece of her shirt and stuffed it in. Flicking her lighter, she slowly rolled the Molotov cocktail under her father's car.
Boom.
The metal was engulfed in minutes, chaos arriving. She then made a break for it. Turning on her heel, Isabelle ran. Looking behind her, no one was chasing after her.
Back at the scene of the small explosion, Harry had rushed to Ruth. Slightly dishevelled, She collapsed in his arms.
"What did Izzy give you?" All business as usual.
"Just a file. Nothing important," He couldn't believe he was talking to her after all these years of, well nothing.
"It has to be important. Isabelle Mace is exactly like her father. She doesn't do things by half measures. There has to be a reason why she broke into your house in the middle of the early morning and gave you that," Ruth exclaimed, stroking his face.
He went to kiss her, but she pressed a finger against his lips.
"Not yet. Not yet, Harry," He brought her in close, enjoying the smell of her that he had been denied for so long.
"Ruth…"
"Isabelle is the key. That file is the key. Set me free, Harry. Please," were the last words she spoke in her glorious voice, before she was bundled into the back of a police car.
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Ros had gone to the police station. The others had returned to Thames House. He, after being thoroughly talked to, was now on the brisk stretch of dock that him and Ruth had first kissed.
Opening the file, he saw a blank sheet of paper with the words: Underneath.
After cursing Isabelle Mace's name to oblivion, he realised what she meant. Looking under the dock, he saw a waterproof case. Pulling it out, the manila file seemed so harmless. Inside, there were pictures and reports and witness statements that meant nothing to him. It was a file on Oliver Mace cheating on his wife. Why would Isabelle want him to see this?
Towards the back, he found a thicker feeling picture. It was a photo of Oliver and his daughter in happier times. Turning it over, he saw a message written in marker pen.
Reporters. You can't trust them.
Harry looked puzzled at the back of the photo and then everything clicked. Looking back at the snapshots taken in the file, he could see two women. One was a skinny red head, a complete and utter tart. The other was thin, blonde, and sneaky. The other was Jo Portman.