'Excuse me,' said Tariq, as he appeared at the door with a cup of tea for Ruth and a coffee for Harry, before seeing their faces and realising that yet again that he had disturbed them at the wrong moment.
Ruth who had been looking at Harry with a gentle acceptance in her eyes, but so far had said nothing, finally found her voice.
'What do we do Harry?' she said.
'We,' he said very pointedly but smiling at her, 'we sort this out, now drink your tea.'
Out on the grid Ros was barking orders as she set them tasks. Malcolm and Tariq were huddled round Tariq's computer and re running the footage from the moment that Ros, Lucas and Connie had entered the tube station up until an hour after they had exited. They were looking at CCTV at nearby stations because as far as they knew, Connie was on foot and bearing in mind that had been tired, she wouldn't have got far. Next on their list was to look at the routes that she might have taken above ground, more importantly those where she would have been able to avoid cameras. Away from the main thoroughfares, London was a warren of small side streets and by now she could be anywhere.
Dimitri and Beth had gone down to the archives and were working their way through a huge number of files, starting from the time when both Harry and Connie had been in Northern Ireland. It was a laborious task and scarily reminiscent of the short time ago when Ben had been searching for similar information and Connie had murdered him without a thought.
Ros headed back into the meeting room to appraise Harry as to what was going on and to see what if anything he and Ruth had discussed. The minute she arrived, Ruth jumped to her feet and announced that she needed to go back to the grid, there was work to do and she needed to keep busy.
Not usually known for her tact although far less brusque since they had lost Adam, Ros realised that the situation that she now found herself in was more than unusual and perhaps just for once she needed to be careful about what she said.
'Ruth's scared Harry and so are you, especially in view of what happened before. No matter what you tell me, your concern for Ruth will cloud your judgement, believe me I know. That's fine I fully understand, so I need you to stay on the grid and not go running about all over London. Connie didn't plan whatever this is on her own, she got help from somewhere and until we find out who that is, I don't want either you or Ruth taking any chances.'
She watched Harry as he pinched the bridge of his nose, a sure sign that he was upset. Only recently they had sat side by side in a bar the evening after Adam had been murdered, after what had been yet another betrayal.
'Not that I can actually run anymore, but assuming that I have your permission to go out today, I'll go and see Alec White. Providing he's sober, he could be just the extra help that we need. Oh and by the way thank you, from both of us.' He added.
Fifteen minutes later he was heading towards the pods having first spoken to Ruth who was at her desk looking through current chatter. Malcolm had promised to keep an eye on her whilst Harry was out and make sure she ate something when lunchtime came around. Ros had been adamant that he had a bodyguard and after another brief discussion, he had relented.
Alec White had been an excellent operative in his time, but following the breakup of his marriage, a series of poorly chosen relationships and an addition to alcohol, he had eventually been dismissal from the service. None then less, Harry had some sympathy with the man, he could so easily followed the same path. They had worked well together in the past and if you needed someone to think laterally and get into the mind of a traitor, then Alec was the best. Harry found him much as he had expected, living in what was not much better than a squat. Empty vodka bottles were strewn across the floor and the air was full of cigarette smoke and heaven knows what else. As for Alec's appearance it looked as though it would take more than a few cups of coffee to sober him up.
'Christ almighty you must be desperate,' slurred Alec as he let Harry in.
'Three months wages,' offered Harry 'and get yourself smartened up, I trust that you can still find your way to Thames House?'
Despite all their efforts, the day ended with no further clue to where Connie had gone or why, other than to escape what had started as house arrest and was now a life in prison.
Ros had demanded that they all go home and get a good night's sleep but Harry and Ruth were still on the grid. This needs to be sorted she thought as she wandered over to Ruth's desk and sat down.
'I don't do diplomacy as you know, so this is what is going to happen. My first priority is to keep you safe. I got it wrong the last time and having Harry kill me if I mess up again is not high on my wish list. Safe houses aren't an option, so you either come home with me or go and stay with Harry. It's an easy choice from where I'm sitting so go and tell him and get yourselves home.'
John, Harry's driver had first driven them to Ruth's house so that she could collect a few things which of course included Fidget. John hadn't made any comment it wasn't his place to do so, besides which he had got himself into trouble once before where these two were concerned and his boss had been very generous and had given him a second chance. Added to which, he liked Miss Evershed, she cared about everyone, but none the less this was a very strange situation. Having arrived at Harry's house he unloaded her case and carried it to the door and then waited until they were both safely inside.