Leaning back in what until recently had been Harry's chair, Ros closed eyes in what was a desperate attempt to make some sense out of what was going on. Did it ever stop, seemingly not? What had Harry once said about lying? Not to each other. For years she'd managed to avoid taking work home, even in her head and she'd never touched a drop of whisky. But in this current situation with so little progress, she was rapidly heading towards both, as her new office with its dark red walls and constant interruptions became claustrophobic and uninviting, whilst her appreciation of Harry's worth increased tenfold.

With the sole purpose of keeping Connie and whoever else might be involved, out of the loop, she'd instructed what remained of her core staff, eager and fresh faced as babies, to behave as though whatever they were doing was inconsequential and boring, when it fact it was far from it.

'Leave Connie to me,' she'd told them, with less confidence than she'd been feeling.

If she was involved in whatever was being planned, then sooner rather than later they needed her to make a mistake, so between them, she and Jo had devised a plan to draw her out.

Her phone rang, when did it not, disturbing her train of disjointed thoughts.

'Ben,' she said, knowing that she needed to sound positive and hopeful.

'I'm right behind her,' he told her, 'you have less than five minutes before Connie will be walking back onto the grid.'

Having followed her from work the previous evening, she'd gone straight home, he'd spent the night in his car watching the house and now this morning she'd taken him on a circuitous route to a dental practice just off the Kings Road.

'Has she seen you at any time?'

'I really don't know Ros,' was his honest assessment.

'Meeting room now,' she barked, and she didn't mean after they'd finished the latest cup of coffee that they were enjoying.

The ancillary staff kept their heads down, as the core staff did as they'd been ordered by appearing to be suitably chastised.

'Right we don't have long,' she told them, going on to explain what Ben had said, and that before she'd come onto the grid she'd been to the Home Office to see Nicholas Blake.

'Until I tell him otherwise, he's agreed to tell anyone who enquires about Harry's whereabouts, that he's still in custody.'

'Can we trust him?' Jo asked her,

'God knows, but we have to for the moment,'

'And what about Ruth, did you mention her?' asked Malcolm.

'Remember everything that I tell you stays within these four walls, but no, for the moment I intend keeping Ruth where she is. She's safe, whereas if we bring her back onto the grid and something happens, then I don't think I need to spell out the consequences.'

'Sorry I'm late have I missed anything?' Connie asked them, bundling through the door with all the appearances of having had dental treatment.

'Well personally I'd like to continue searching for Harry, but seemingly we've got more important things to do,' said a disgruntled Malcolm, as Jo put her hand on his arm and suggested he should leave it, before he dug an even bigger hole.

One out of the four pairs of eyes that were looking at him believed him, or at least they hoped she did.

Half an hour later during which time they'd returned to their desks, Tariq headed in the direction of Ros's office on the pretext of having uncovered some intel that needed further investigation. It required someone going to meet a one - time asset of Harrys and by sending Connie they would be allowing her freedom away from the grid.

'I'd go myself but with such an inexperienced staff I really need to stay here,' Ros told her, handing her the details and the location.


With Connie now heaven know where and a tired Ben, she hoped keeping up with her without being discovered, she turned her attention to her new section chief.

'Go and see them and find a way to talk to Ruth alone. I hate having to side line Harry like this, but you know what the doctor said. Tell her that I want her to look into Connie's past and see what she can dig up, and if she asks to see her personal file then here, give it to her.'

'But surely that's against the rules?'

'Who's to know and it's not as though we have time, just do it Jo?'

'And what if I can't side line Harry as you put it?'

'Then use your persuasive powers and get Ruth to do it.'

Easier said than done she thought, as she climbed the short flight of steps to the double fronted doors and punched in the key code that allowed her access. Whatever she'd expected it wasn't this, as she walked down the carpet covered corridor in the direction of flat three. Garden flat said her instructions, turn left. As far as she was concerned Harry was still the boss, whereas she was a young field officer who'd been plummeted up the ranks into a position which up until now she'd felt comfortable with. With the file in question clutched tightly inside her jacket, she glanced left and right and then rang the bell.

'Joanne,' said the man that she hadn't seen for the best part of two weeks, stepping to one side and letting her in, then ushering her into the sitting room and telling her to take a seat. While he called Ruth, Jo took a moment to take in the surroundings. In the years that she'd known Harry, she'd never seen him other than in a work situation or on an occasional trip to the George and never in casual clothes. Yet here he was, supposedly at home with his wife, dressed in casual trousers and a pale green sweater. Add that to the fact that he appeared to be totally relaxed, just wasn't Harry. Suffering from accumulated trauma, she'd imagined him to be quiet, morose even, but he was far from it. Maybe this wasn't going to be as difficult as she'd expected?

She didn't have long to wait as Ruth appeared almost immediately.

'Before you tell me why you're here and before you ask,' Ruth said to her questioning face, 'Harry and I are fine, so let's just get on shall we.'

Jo wanted her to elaborate but she had a job to do and having brought them both a cup of coffee, Harry had disappeared into the tiny garden.

Having never met Connie, Ruth knew that she needed to keep an open mind, but as she and Jo went through her file together, she began to realise what an intertwined working relationship she and Harry had once shared. It indicated a lifetime of joint missions in Ireland, Cologne and Berlin, that had in most cases run into weeks. As far as their ages were concerned they were within years of each other and as that thought lingered, the same old uncertainties that had raised their head when Juliet Shaw had marched onto the grid, started to grow. If it was Connie that they were looking for, could it be that this was revenge built on rejection, rather than something far greater? She needed to talk to Harry and said so, her concerns evident by her expression.

'Ros says that it's up to you how you play this, but you have to remember what the doctor said about Harry's frame of mind,' a disbelieving Jo told her, wondering how on earth, Ruth who was looking at a photograph of Connie, could possibly imagine Harry ever fancying her. She was old fashioned whereas Harry wasn't.

In all truth she probably didn't, as she got back to business and told Jo that Harry had agreed to sit this one out and let her get on with it.

So they'd had that discussion, which gave her the opportunity to metaphorically open the can.

'For what it's worth Ruth I've worked with Connie for nearly two years and believe you me she really isn't Harry's type. She's brittle and spikey and not a bit like you,' was her setting herself up for a Ruth type tongue lashing which came with real fire in Ruth's eyes.

'And Juliet Shaw, how would you have described her?' brought more images to Jo's mind, non of which she wanted to linger, so she settled on what she hoped sounded like humour which Ruth might agree with.

'A conniving self - centred bitch?' she suggested, which brought the semblance of a smile to Ruth's face. But this conversation was becoming counter - productive and she needed to get Ruth to refocus and back on track.

'Hear me out,' she told her, 'and then if you still want to have this ridiculous conversation with Harry or bite my head off, I won't try and stop you.'

Ruth nodded.

'We've all missed you Ruth, but none more than Harry and I know it's not my place to say this, but we're more than colleagues Ruth, we're friends aren't we?' brought another nod and a look of acknowledgement from Ruth's now softening blue eyes. 'You know as well as I do Ruth that Harry's in love with you, he always was, so let's get back to the here and now shall we and treat Connie as a suspect?'

Predictably she got the non - reply that she was expecting as Ruth went back into work mode, but she'd said her piece, she'd laid the foundation for a similar conversation at another time.

'So what are we looking for?' Ruth asked her.

By lunchtime they'd pulled Connie's life apart but were no further forward to connecting her to any current plot. When Ros called to say that she'd returned to the grid complaining that the asset hadn't turned up and she could have been better employed at her desk, all but Ruth were wavering. Putting the personal to one side, spies like Connie didn't just sit back, Harry was testament to that.

'Ruth,' came from nowhere making them both jump, as the subject of their earlier conversation appeared behind them.

'We need to concentrate Harry,' came from Ruth,

'Yes but you also need to eat, it's lunchtime, so come on both of you, take a break,' was said in a voice that really cared, which Jo acknowledged.


By the time that they'd reached the table the atmosphere had lightened and Jo was trying hard not to smile. She'd seen Harry's hand ghost its way across Ruth's back and then quickly withdraw, presumably for her benefit, when he'd lent past her to pick up the plate of sandwiches that they were now enjoying. It was rare that she found time to stop for lunch and seldom away from the grid, but with Ros's permission to stay there for the rest of the day to help Ruth, she was making the most of the opportunity to feel normal for a change. Despite Ruth's reluctance to say anything, she was sure that something had happened between them, but whether it was monumental enough to warrant the front pages she had no idea. It seemed unlikely knowing them, but they'd survived a heart breaking separation and to keep them both safe, had been forced to live together. Surely someone in their line of work deserved to survive for long enough to be happy, so why not them?


Despite his promise to Ruth, Harry had convinced himself that being kept in the dark was equally stressful. He'd also been thinking. For Ros to have deemed it important enough to bring Ruth back, surely there must be a far bigger motive that went beyond rescuing him? Ruth was brilliant with a mind second to none, but when it came to sharing the moment when she realised that she'd solved a problem, he couldn't quite get past the fact that he'd be the one that she'd want to share it with. To achieve what he wanted, which was to stop twiddling his thumbs and be allowed to work alongside Ruth, Ros was the one that he needed to convince, so what would he be doing if he was in her position? He'd go back to the beginning. Maybe she had but it was worth asking the question, and with the end of the afternoon approaching and Jo surely set to go back to the grid, it felt like a good time.

'I know what I said Ruth, but I've been thinking,' followed her, 'What are you doing in here Harry?' When he interrupted what she and Jo were discussing by sitting down next to her.

'I'm not expecting you to tell me what this is all about,' had seen her closing down her computer screen, 'but if it was up to me, I'd pay a surprise visit to Kettlemere,'

got her attention.

'Why?'

'Because it's a starting point and you might find the link to whatever you're searching for.'

Ruth had stopped looking exasperated and was staring at him, acknowledging that he might be right, as Jo pulled out her phone and left the room.

Ros would be with them at seven she told her, and she'd bring the wine.


So for the second time in as many days, Jo found herself opening a door to a tired looking Ros. There could be no takeaway delivery this time, anonymity was crucial, and as Ros disappeared into the sitting room to talk to Harry, she headed into the kitchen to help Ruth prepare whatever it was they were going to eat. It almost felt normal, like a bunch of friends getting back together after a long time, but it wasn't and she was back to feeling like the underling.

'Dinner's nearly ready,' from Ruth, was followed by the inevitable 'it's so good to have you back,' from Ros, as she and Jo were sitting at the table. She was ravenous having not eaten since breakfast, so before they got down to business, she really needed to eat. Idling the time away while she waited, the first thing she noticed was that Ruth was still wearing her wedding ring. She and Harry weren't putting on a performance, there wasn't an audience to play too, and after only a few days together they looked totally at ease, pottering around in the kitchen as though they owned it. Two years they'd been separated, she envied them their resilience and their apparent certainty, but with it came the terrifying realisation that being the boss, it rested on her shoulders to keep them safe.

'I can't take Jo with me as much as I'd like to,' she told Harry, when they'd gone back through to the sitting room and left Ruth and Jo clearing the plates from the table at the end of their meal. He'd told her that she'd need to be careful when they made an impromptu visit to Kettlemere and as Jo was her section chief, which he approved of by the way, that she was the obvious choice.

'Well Connie then,' was his predictable response, to which Ros lied and said she had her tied up on something else.

Malcolm was out of the question for obvious reasons and Harry couldn't argue with Ros's assessment, that because Ben had been out on surveillance for the past two nights, he wouldn't be at his best. Quite who he'd been watching Ros hadn't elaborated and that had him wondering, although he didn't say so. That only left Tariq which wasn't ideal, but short of going to another section and asking for help which neither of them wanted, it was him that they settled on.

'Find a suit before tomorrow morning,' were Ros's instructions down the phone.


With two taxis ordered, Ruth was saying her final goodbyes in the hall with Harry already on his way to bed.

'We can't keep lying to him,' she told Ros in a hushed voice, 'you know Harry, he'll go ballistic when he finds out and besides I don't want to.'

'Then tell him,' she told her, with a knowing nod that had Ruth realising that it was pointless her pretending that her relationship with Harry didn't extend beyond work. It just left her with the dilemma as to how to do it, without Harry descending into meltdown.

Closing and bolting the door behind her, she abandoned any idea of returning to the kitchen to wash up. Until Ros had been to Kettlemere tomorrow, any other investigation was pretty much on hold, so she could do it then. Walking quietly down the hall in the direction of the bathroom, she'd made up her mind to talk to Harry tomorrow morning when they would both be less tired, until the bathroom door opened and Harry appeared with a large question mark in his eyes.

'When are you going to explain to me what's really going on?' he asked her, halting her progress to bed and every sensible answer to his question.

Everything she had ever been taught was telling her that this should wait until the morning, but his eyes were holding hers to the point that she couldn't move. Trauma or not, whatever she said could go one of two ways and more importantly define their future. She hadn't personally lied to him, the others had, but this was Harry and she wasn't quite sure that he'd see it like that.

'I need to,' she said, nodding towards the bathroom that he had just exited.

'I'll see you in a minute then,' he told her, opening the door to his bedroom and disappearing inside.