For those of you still with me....here's another part. Thanks as always for the reviews.


Sydenham - 1545 Sunday 15th January

Adam felt as though the world was moving in slow motion. He watched as the phone tumbled from the grasp of the young boy who stood motionless in the middle of the room, frozen in fear like his friend amid the debris that littered the floor of the room.

Slowly Adam lowered the gun and strode towards them; his eyes locked on the two young boys.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The two boys stood, mute in fear, neither one able to find his voice.

"I asked you a question," Adam barked as he holstered his gun and closed the ground between himself and the boy who had been holding the phone.

"Who are you?"

Wh....what's it to you?" the boy finally stammered.

Adam grabbed hold of the boy's jacket with both hands and pushed him against the side of the building.

"Where did you get the phone?"

Despite the grip Adam had on him, the boy managed to shrug his shoulders. "We just found it."

"Found it where exactly?"

"Just lying around."

The boy tried to push Adam away but Adam only pushed the boy back harder, ignoring the yell he let out as his back slammed into the stone wall.

"I'll only ask you one more time," Adam growled. "Where did you get the phone?"

"Adam," Zaf warned in a low voice; concerned that his colleague was getting too rough with the boy.

"It's fine," Adam reassured. "He wants to be a man; he should expect to be treated like one." He turned his attention back to the boy. "You're fine, aren't you? Tell my friend just how fine you are."

"I... I'm..."

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"I'm fine," the boy finally stammered.

"Hear that?" Adam told Zaf with a smile. "He says that he's fine." He turned back to the boy and pulled him away from the wall, spinning him around he pushed him back across the room. The boy attempted to regain his balance but failed and collided with his friend, sending the pair of them tumbling to the floor. Adam moved to stand over them.

"I came here hoping to find a friend of mine. Imagine my disappointment finding you here instead."

"I only found the phone," the first boy protested.

"Right now; somewhere...I don't know exactly where, someone could be causing a friend of mine a lot of pain...a lot of discomfort. But rather than helping them, I'm here...with you, listening to you bleat on about how you 'only found the phone'. Well I want to know where you found it. I want to know exactly where you found it and I want to know everything else you found as well...Am I making myself clear?"

"Yeah...yeah. Whatever you say."

"Well then, I suggest you get to your feet and you show me exactly where you found it."

The two young friends glanced at each other nervously.

"We didn't steal it," the second boy finally found his voice and spoke up. "We just found it...in this van."

Zaf placed a restraining hand on Adam's arm.

"Show us where the van is," he told the boys calmly. "Take us there and then you can go."

The two boys exchanged nervous glances before the second boy nodded.


Sydenham - 1600 Sunday 15th January

Zaf watched as the two boys sped off into the undergrowth; they had barely spoken on the short walk through the field, too fearful to say anything much in case Adam took offence to it. Zaf risked a quick glance in his colleague's direction. Adam was now circling the vehicle, looking for any traces of anything that might have been left behind.

"I'll get someone from forensics down here," Zaf suggested. "I know there's not much chance of getting anything useful from the van, but it's worth trying."

Adam kicked out at one of the rear tyres of the white van and then turned away in disgust.

"I really thought we were onto something."

"Maybe we are," Zaf tried to reassure him. 'The boys didn't find the van till this morning...they said they were in the area yesterday morning and it wasn't here."

"They say it wasn't here."

"And you've scared them so much I doubt they'll ever lie to anyone again. So, if the van wasn't here yesterday, it looks as though it was hastily dumped this morning." Zaf watched as a small smile lit up Adam's face. "They have to still be in the area."

Adam walked stepped away from the van and took a few steps down the muddy track. "How many houses would you say there were around here?"

Zaf shrugged his shoulders. "Not my neck of the woods I'm afraid."

"But if you were looking to keep someone out of sight; you'd want an out of the way place. Call Malcolm; get him to look into property in the area; see if anything looks suitable."

"And what will you be doing?"

Adam pulled a face. "Breaking the news to Harry."


Thames House - 1610 Sunday 15th January

Harry returned the receiver to its cradle and stared out at those who were still working away in the office. He'd tried to remain impassive as Adam had reported in, stating that he and Zaf had located the building where the phone signal had been transmitting from, but there had been a sense of expectation in the pit of his stomach, a sense that the whole situation would soon be resolved and that Ruth would be returning back to the grid.

That little feeling of hopeful expectation had now been crushed. It had been unrealistic to expect that the first piece of information would lead them directly to the right door; in fact it was grasping at straws to imagine that they would find either of them alive after this amount of time.

He buried the thought almost as soon as it surfaced. Nothing was proved, nothing was over. Maybe Malcolm had made a valid point. There were times when it was worth sticking your head above the parapet. Mace had known something about al-Hassan. Maybe it was time to shake the tree a little harder.


Littleton Farm - 1615 Sunday 15th January

"Look more carefully next time...I don't think the local ramblers are really going to pose much of a threat,"

Ruth listened to Nash's scathing remarks to Flynn as she was pushed down the corridor towards the small windowless room where the sessions with Azhar always took place. She staggered as Nash's hand pushed her squarely in the back and she reached out for the wall, her palms scraping painfully against the rough stone.

"Come on," Nash grumbled impatiently, pushing again. Ruth felt her right leg give out from under her. She stumbled and crashed into the cold stone of the wall, her right leg feeling as though it was on fire. She'd asked on several occasions for some form of first aid kit, but the request had always been met with nothing but silence.

She heard Nash swear; his patience with her was fading fast. He didn't trust her and she had the feeling that he would much rather be rid of her and replace her with someone else...someone who would simply ask the questions that he demanded.


Thames House - 2000 Sunday 15th January

Adam threw his coat onto the back of the chair before sitting down and glaring at the screen in front of him.

He sighed heavily. "I really thought we had something."

"You found the van," Jo tried to keep an encouraging tone to her voice, but Adam waved the comment away.

"There won't be anything to find there. The thing will have so many fingerprints on it that it'll take weeks to work out who's been using it."

"We gave it a quick once over," Zaf told Jo as he perched on the edge of her desk. "The thing had been stripped clean." He thought about telling her about the bloodstains that they'd found on the floor and walls of the vehicle but decided against it. That was news that he and Adam were going to keep to themselves for the time being.

Adam screwed up the map that Malcolm had printed out earlier and threw it in the direction of the bin. "The whole afternoon...wasted."

"I wouldn't say that," Malcolm spoke up from his own desk. "I've been running a few searches and the discovery of the van has helped me narrow those search patterns down."

"What have you got so far?" Adam asked as he pushed himself out of his chair and made his way over to where Malcolm was sitting.

"I think I may have found something very interesting," Malcolm announced as he clicked on an icon in the dock at the bottom of the screen. A map of the area around Tetsworth appeared on the screen.

"From what we've been able to determine about the crash, some sort of hand-held jamming device was used to block mobile signals; the fact that it also blocked the tracers was probably by accident rather than design. There is also evidence of a short range EM pulse generator being used…"

"This is all very interesting," Adam broke into Malcolm's explanation, wishing not for the first time that Malcolm would spare him the summary and get straight to the point. "But what have you found out?"

"If we're narrowing our search parameters down to the area around where the van was found... I may have a location for you." He highlighted an area of the map and enlarged it.

"How?"

Malcolm sniffed, "I was trying to explain." He brought up another screen. "Our team seem to have a very definite interest in gadgetry. There are a number of places where such material can be purchased. Far and away the easiest is the net; where there seems to be a proliferation of websites claiming to offer 'Spy Gadgets' to the masses."

Adam suppressed a smile at the note of distain in Malcolm's voice and watched as Malcolm took him through the online catalogue of one of the websites.

"These companies are selling fairly basic jammers and shielding devices and so on - at a very profitable mark up I have to say - but these devices seem to appeal to the discerning, would-be agitator." Malcolm turned in his chair to look up at Adam. "If you're buying two items and they offer you a third free, you're likely to go for it. And what better to help you hide away from prying eyes than a signal dampener?"

Adam shrugged his shoulders, still not really understanding where Malcolm was going with his explanation.

"I suppose it makes sense," he finally agreed.

"There is one crucial thing that people tend to forget," Malcolm said knowingly. "You place a signal dampener around your property and it stands out like a beacon when the area is scanned for communication signals. They also forget that, despite the promises of the obviously highly reputable online vendor, these cheap shielding devices are not as accurate as they claim to be."

"What exactly are you telling me Malcolm?"

A small smile crossed Malcolm's face. "I thought it prudent to look into the calls made to various customer service departments from mobile phone users in the Tetsworth area. It appears that the owners of Latchford Farm are having a great deal of trouble with their mobile reception at the moment. For some reason, the usually strong signal from the local base station has almost completely vanished."

Adam broke into a grin and clapped Malcolm on the shoulder. "How many properties are there that could contain a signal dampener?"

"Given the range of these rather limited devices, I'd say only two."

"Malcolm, you're a genius," Adam called over his shoulder as he headed back towards Harry's office. "When you go, they should put a blue plaque on the wall commemorating your work here."

"They should dedicate the plaque to Colin," Malcolm told him honestly as he set about sending the information to Adam's mobile.


Littleton Farm - 2100 Sunday 15th January

Ruth was sitting in a deckchair and soaking up the warmth of the sun. The sky was a cloudless cornflower blue, and the sand was warm between her toes as she dug her feet into the fine, almost power-like top layer. She felt at absolute peace with the world and wished that she could capture the moment and hold it forever in her mind.

The slamming of a hand on the table next to her shattered the image and she was thrust back into the nightmare she'd been trying to avoid.

What pretence at patience there had once been from the men around her had now vanished. She had heard the argument outside the door earlier. One voice raised loudly, declaring in no uncertain terms that they were wasting their time and that they were better off cutting their losses, dumping the bodies and getting out of there. She had simply closed her eyes and willed the voices to go away. She just didn't have the strength to deal with the situation anymore.

The door to the small dank room had opened however and the routine had begun yet again. She no longer had any sense of time. The sessions were sporadic and she wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed since that Friday night on the road. It felt like an eternity, but in all probability had only been a couple of days.

"Ask him again." The words were spat in her face and she struggled not to raise a hand to push Nash away. She dutifully intoned the words; not looking in Azhar's direction; no longer wanting to see the expression on his face.

The hand slammed down on the table again and she heard the sound of raised voices. She automatically began to ask the same question again but Nash grabbed her jaw and forced her to look in his direction.

"I need you to tell me what he's saying," he told her through gritted teeth.

She closed her eyes. Had Azhar said anything? She wasn't certain that she'd actually heard him speak.

There was now a punishment for getting things wrong... and she stoically waited for that punishment to be meted out.


Tetsworth - 2300 Sunday 15th January

Adam narrowed his eyes and adjusted the focus on the binoculars. Down below in the valley was a rambling old farm house. It was shrouded in shadows, no lights visible from any of the shuttered windows. This was the second of the addresses on Malcolm's list. The first had turned out to be little more than a shell of a building, certainly not the kind of place where anyone could be hiding out.

He scanned across the building again, hoping to spot a chink of light but there was nothing. The place appeared to be deserted.

Adam shivered as the cold night air worked its way through the layers of clothing he was wearing. There were times that he hated surveillance work; it was frustrating to do nothing but sit and watch, but that had been the order from Harry.

He let out a slow breath and checked the building again.


Ros's House - 0005 Monday 16th January

"This is going to get very boring, very quickly," Ros remarked as she pushed open the door to her living room.

"Well if you were able to follow orders, the home visits wouldn't be necessary." The officer from 6 rose to his feet and straightened his tie. "You don't seem surprised to see me."

"I recognised the smell from the end of the road," she told him as she dropped her car keys down on the glass-topped table that was placed in the middle of the sparsely furnished room.

The officer thought about pushing the issue further but decided against it.

"I thought I told you to steer clear of Peter Henderson."

"You did... I decided not to."

"That could land you in a lot of trouble."

"When I was a teenager my mother told me to steer clear of boys with motorbikes and pierced ears; she told me that they would only get me in trouble...Do you know she was right...but I had much more fun finding that out for myself."

"This isn't a game," the man warned her, moving to stand by the window; the light from the streetlight shining in through the slatted blinds.

"Then I suggest you stop appearing out of the shadows like something from a cheap B-movie," Ros replied calmly, unscrewing the lid from the bottle of whisky on the shelf and pouring herself a generous measure.

There was a moment of silence as the officer appraised the situation.

"What did Henderson tell you?"

Ros took a mouthful from the glass, savouring the flavour of the amber liquid.

"Why are you so interested? I thought you had him taped?"

"Did he tell you anything about the al-Hassan contract?"

Ros paused and took in the information before she lowered her glass.

"So you're admitting that there was a contract now? Why the sudden change of heart? Not that I'm not relieved that you've dispensed with the rather childish cloak and dagger routine."

"Henderson was hired to get rid of al-Hassan,"

"Why?"

The man shook his head. "I'm not at liberty to tell you that."

"Then why bother coming here? Why bother sneaking in here if all you are going to do is spew forth cryptic little messages about leaving things alone?"

Ros glared at the man for a few moments, beginning to think that she had finally overstepped the mark.

"Azhar al-Hassan is, as you are well aware, a non-person. In a past life he was a very influential figure; always in the background, always untouchable."

"What does he want now?"

The man gestured towards the whisky that Ros was nursing. "Do you mind? It has been something of a long day."

Ros relented and placed her own glass down on the table before turning and pouring an equally generous measure for her guest.

She watched as the man took the glass from her and took a healthy swig of the liquid.


Littleton Farm - 0400 Monday 16th January

Ruth sat huddled against the wall, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, trying desperately to keep warm. She was shivering uncontrollably and the temperature in the room felt as though it was dropping further. There was no way out, she realised that now. If anyone had been coming, they would have reached her by now. Her thoughts drifted towards Danny. She'd always tried not to think of how he must have felt in those last hours, but now it was almost comforting to imagine him there; imagine him having the strength to stand up to those who had threatened him. She wasn't brave; she'd always known that and she'd never really believed that she would end up in this sort of situation.

Being a spy wasn't all that she had imagined it would be. She had been naive... naive and stupid to imagine that this sort of life was anything other than dangerous. She had been safe at GCHQ; safe and bored beyond belief...what she wouldn't give for a chance at that sort of boredom again.

She closed her eyes and prayed that sleep would come.