disclaimer not mine

Sunshine?

Ruth looked around the Grid. The atmosphere was almost palpable. Harry had spent most of the morning in briefings and various meetings as he tried to get 'those bloody pen pushers who didn't have a clue off my back.'. He knew if Lucas and the others were ever going to pull off a Black-Op under the noses of the Powers-that-be he had to make sure that everything appeared to be as it should. He knew that the section was being watched more than ever. The aftermath of the explosion meant they were under the spotlight, and in the words of Richard Dalby the vultures were circling. Harry knew the other Section Heads and the JIC had to be kept in the dark. As such Ruth hadn't seen much of him since the morning, as she busied herself with going over almost every piece of paperwork Adam and Zaf had left, avoiding requests from Special Branch and researching everything around the still mysterious Nightingale. Malcolm had gone to the hospital as Ros had regained consciousness and was once again threatening to discharge herself against medical advice.. Although how anyone could do that with two IVI's and a catheter in situ was beyond Malcolm's grasp. Still, it showed Ros would be ok, she still had the fight they all loved her for.

Ruth sighed as she watched Lucas jog through the Pods, his eyes had lingered on Ros' abandoned desk long enough for Ruth to see the flash of pain that crossed his face. She knew the Section Chief and the Senior Case Officer were close but now she was beginning to see how close they were. Lucas was devastated by Ros' injuries and her enforced stay in hospital.

"Lucas." She smiled slightly as he walked towards her. The file he had pulled from the Registry still in his hand.

"There has to be something that links Nightingale to all this. Something we haven't found yet." He sat in Ros' empty chair. Ruth sighed as he stared at the paper work in the Eyes Only file. She nodded once.

"If it's there, whatever it is we'll find it."

"Yeah." He sighed as Malcolm placed a large black coffee in front of him. "Thanks."

" We will find something, we will" Malcolm stated, as a matter of fact. "It will just take time." Suddenly the Pod doors whooshed open to reveal a bedraggled Harry emerging from the Pods.

"Ruth, Lucas, Malcolm, Tariq! Briefing room NOW!"

Harry's tone left no room for argument as the four bone weary spooks rose from their stations.

"Lucas, ever noticed how he always calls Ruth's name first" Tariq smiled and shook his head. Lucas smiled ignorance of youth eh?

"Tariq, with Harry, Ruth always comes first". Lucas stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world as each of them took their alloted seats in the Briefing Room. Ruth next to Lucas with Malcolm and Tariq opposite. Ruth noticed that Harry remained standing and that for once she was the only female officer fit for duty. How on earth am I going to cope with all this testosterone? Ruth pondered as Harry began pacing the room.

"Right, I've been to the hospital. Before you ask, Ros is a lot better. Still on a lot of medication, but healing. Says we should find those responsible for this-before she does. She said to say thanks for the flowers, Ruth. I also spoke with Andrew Lawrence. We have permission to do this, but the government retain total and I mean total deniability. If we fail, if anything goes wrong the will be no back up. CO 19 will not come to the rescue. We are on our own."

He continued pacing but stole a look at Ruth, who looked worried.

"If this goes wrong. If we don't get the outcome we want I will no longer be Head of Section D. I will no longer be a member of MI 5. I have been left in no uncertain terms on that score."

Ruth closed her eyes momentarily as Harry spoke. It seemed unthinkable to have a Section D without Harry at the helm. For the first time since she returned she wondered how much more she could take. Harry stopped pacing and looked at her as she opened her eyes. For a moment it seemed there was no one else in the room. It was only when Malcolm discretely coughed that they realised the others were still there..

"Ok Lucas, what have we got?"

Lucas at least looked contrite.

"Not much, we know that Nightingale has an operation in South America. We have heard talk of a British man - well believed to be Welsh actually meeting known Nightingale operatives in the area. Something about a young asian man escaping-we can presume that's Zafar Younis. I'm going to talk to some contacts but I can only think the best way to find these missing agents is to get to South America."

Lucas paused as he looked around the table and saw the faces of Ruth, Malcolm and Harry visibly pale. Ruth mouthed a silent "oh no" while Harry looked fit to explode. He punched the table causing the papers Ruth had brought with her to fall to the floor.

"BLOODY DANNY! I told him not to tell Will where Zoe was! I BLOODY told him he wasn't to be trusted!"

Malcolm went on to quickly explain the Zoe/Will saga and Danny's part in it. It did now seem that Zaf had escaped his captors and somehow emerged in South America. Zoe it seemed was still in Chile and it also seemed that while it was possible that other Welsh men could be in Chile, not many would be married to an English former MI 5 agent in hiding. Ruth wanted to cry. It seemed that if Will had been meeting operatives from Nightingale in South America Zoe and her daughter Emma were in as much danger as Adam and Zaf. While there seemed to be at least some hope of Zaf being alive, Adam's fate was less certain. For some unknown reason Ruth felt so guilty about Zoe and Emma. The children that got caught up in such messes never seemed to fair well. Thoughts of Nico and Wes crept into her mind and the tears nearly fell.

"Um, would now be an opportune moment to mention some intel I came across last week?" Malcolm looked at Harry before staring at his papers in front of him. Harry frowned slightly before nodding.

"Please enlighten us.".

"Um. Well. When we first heard that Zaf was possibly not dead and we were dealing with the threat that was posed to the Remembrance Day service last year Adam decided he had to go after Zaf. That is why I told him to keep driving the car when you told him to abandon it. We wanted to use the explosion to cover his tracks."

"I remember. I also remember sanctioning no such thing!" Harry stared at his old friend. When the bomb had gone off Harry really had believed his friend was dead-it was only Malcolm reassuring him later, before he went to see Wes that Harry knew about the elaborate rescue bid Adam had launched.

"Yes, quite" Malcolm pushed on. " Anyway for the first few weeks I heard from Adam quite regularly. He was worried about Nightingale. The Russians seemed to know about it, as did the Americans. But the UK were ignorant - then I heard nothing. I had no way of contacting him to establish his safety. That's why I retired. I'd failed too many people. Adam, Zaf, you Ruth. Anyway, last week I got an email. Just a bunch of co-ordinates really. A grid reference for Chile, with the words the "bird has flown the cage". Since looking up the co-ordinates and finding they are indeed Chile I believe he was referring to Zoe and Emma having gone into hiding. I think-no I believe Nightingale is bigger than we ever thought. I also think Adam, Zaf, Zoe and the girl are together. That Adam has been undercover and the moron Zoe married has sold them out."

The team sat in silence. So much of this was new to them all. Lucas knew his interrogator in Russia had wanted to know about Nightingale. He'd told Harry about it before, but Harry hadn't seemed to know what he was talking about. But now there seemed to be a real chance that Adam and the others could return.

"Malcolm, when do you next expect to hear from Adam?" Tariq was obviously thinking along the same lines as Lucas.

"Um I don't. But in the past it's always been a Tuesday."

"Send him a message. Tell him to come home. We have operatives in North America. Tell them sod the op and get home. Zoe's sentence has to be due to end. Harry, there has to be a way we can do this?" Ruth's voice broke slightly, but she would not cry. Tariq stared at the desk, unsure what to say.

Harry nodded, his eyes locked with Ruth's for a moment before he turned to Lucas and Tariq.

"We have reason to believe three MI-5 officers are alive and in danger, as is a four year old child. All British nationals. I think we can be justified in bringing them home. But remember if this fails, if there is no chance of finding them or returning to the UK this meeting never happened nd you will have Dolby in charge until my replacement is found."

"Ok." Tariq stared at the heavily polished desk. "I am due some leave. I have family in Karachi, we can say I'm there. Lucas is still supposed to be on the sick, and unfit for duty. That can explain us going off radar for a while."

"Tariq." Lucas turned to the younger man. "You've never gone dark before."

"You're going to need a techie out there. And there's a first time for everything." Harry smiled slightly, proud that the baby of the team was willing to step up and be counted, despite never having met the officers he was volunteering to save. Lucas glanced at Ruth.

"How soon can we be on a flight to Chile?"

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A/N More soon.