Thursday was spent in the office not doing more than he absolutely had to. Thursday night he packed a bag with enough clothes to see him through till Monday morning; he'd looked at the train times so many times he almost knew them by heart. The good thing was that he gained an hour travelling home, which meant he could stay until about 7 am and still be in the office on time. He was jumping ahead of himself and of events, he knew that, but he needed this little indulgence.

His excuse for leaving early on a Friday would be a dentist appointment, and just to make sure that he didn't get caught he'd booked time for one close to Waterloo station at 4.30 pm. That way he could ask his driver to drop him off at the station and the carry on by foot and be at the Eurostar terminal in time. The dentist would have to drill on someone else, he thought smiling to himself, because he was off to Paris.

He'd left his bag in the car and not said anything to the driver. They didn't need to know all of Harry's business, he'd decided a long time ago, when he caught one of them telling other members of his team about the dinner with Ruth. So much for having secrets as a career…

"… street, please John," Harry said as he got into the car.

"Which one, sir? The one in Kensington or the one by Waterloo Station?" his trusted driver replied without hesitation.

That guy is like a human A-Z Harry thought to himself.

"The one by Waterloo. Actually just drop me at the station entrance," Harry answered and looked at his bag. "I might as well get my ticket while I can speak. You never know what happens once they've tried to drill you teeth away."

"You're as right as ever," John said with a smile. "Going away for the weekend?"

"Yes, I'm visiting my sister," Harry said without hesitation.

Once at the station Harry aimed straight for a coffee. He needed something to get his nerves to relax. He still had a good 30 minutes before the train left, but he had to go through check-in soon. He took his papers out and looked over them once more. John Smith, DOB 261255. There was at least another 8.800 John Smiths in the world and he'd been happy to join them when he decided on the name a few months before.

It was really second nature to him to pretend to be someone else. After all his name wasn't Harry Pearce either. After Ruth had been forced to leave, and the manner in which it had all happened, he'd decided he needed and exit strategy. He didn't know when or if he'd ever use it, but he knew he'd feel better for having the means to escape or disappear. So he created John Smith and made sure all the needed documents, credit cards etc. were made and sent to him directly.

He'd booked his trip to Paris in the name of John Smith. Not because he wasn't going to come back from it, but because he needed to know if everything worked as planned. Of course he knew it would. He'd done it so many times in the past and his officers still did it on an almost daily basis. But there was a part of him that just wanted to see if he still had it in him; to act as an agent on an assignment. Despite the fact that this particular assignment was of a somewhat personal nature.

Everything went smoothly through check-in and security. Harry was pleased to be walking along the concourse looking for his carriage. Normally he'd travel first class, because he would always travel with work, but this time he was paying himself, and he didn't feel like more than doubling the expenses. He also wanted to avoid meeting anybody familiar, and most of the people he knew who would go on the Eurostar would travel first class. So he'd opted for tourist class.