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"What the Hell do you want?" Harry glared at the olive skinned man who smirked back at him. The temperature in the room dropped by a few degrees as the other man almost froze under the ice in Harry's glare.
"Is this any way to greet a friend?"
"Mani." Harry stepped back into the room.
"You are being double crossed."
"What are you talking about?" Harry buttoned his shirt, suddenly terrified that something had happened to Ruth. It seemed that he had a sixth sense when it came to the Intel Analyst these days. Glaring at the younger man he finished buttoning his shirt wishing he had worn a bullet proof vest.
"The fat american with the body odour issue."
"Dunno what you are talking about." Harry lied. He had known he was right not to trust Jack. He just didn't know why.
"He ordered the lady with you. The pretty girl with the brown hair to be taken from you."
"What?" Harry stepped closer to him. "You better start talking and you better be telling me the truth."
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Ruth closed her eyes as the car hit yet another pot hole. She knew it was pointless to try to work out where the car was headed. She didn't know the terrain well enough to find her way back on memory alone. Instead she concentrated on trying to work out why she had been taken.
"You know she's a liability." One voice stated as she recieved a kick to the ribs. Ruth tried to lay still and feign unconsciousness.
"Yeah but the English are gonna want her back."
"Nah, if she is a spy this will be a black op. No one gonna admit they even know her. Just turn her over and let her be another Brit statistic. Her hubby aint never gonna pay the ransom. And it wont distract him long enough to loose the merchandise anyway."
'Hubby?" Ruth began running various scenarios through her head. She still had no idea why they hadn't tied her up. 'They have to mean Harry. If they know terminology like black op then they are CIA or something along those lines. Shit, Ruth think. Think! You are the woman that saved Adam Carter from death with a treebranch. You talked Angela Wells down. There is no way you die here. Not today.'
Carefully she slipped the abandoned steering lock in her hand as the car lurched to the side. She had to get back to Harry, she didn't care how.
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"Jack is a traitor." Mani sat on the edge of the bed as Harry raised an eyebrow. "There is a reason he wants to help you get rid of the merchandise."
"Is there?" Harry glared at him.
"You have to believe me."
"I have to do nothing. Where is my colleague."
"You share a bed with all your colleagues?"
"Stop being smart with me and tell me where she is."
"I honestly do not know." Mani got to his feet as Harry glared at him.
"Tell me what you do know." He held his gaze as Mani ran a hand over his face.
"This war. This terrible war that has killed so many people, it was started because Saddam Hussein is supposed to have hid many many weapons of mass destruction."
"Among other reasons."
"None have been found." Mani started pacing. "Because there are none to be found. There are people who find this very distressing. They need the weapons to be found."
"Go on."
"The only weapon of mass destructions here are the sand and fear. If sand gets blown in your face it can blind you. As can fear. Fear may blind a man as to what is really happening."
"Very poetic Mani."
"I try."
"Try harder." Harry stepped menacingly close. He didn't want to be the small room with the former Israeli intelligence officer. He knew the man changed allegience as often as Jo changed her make up.
"Jack is planning on stealing the uranium but he wont pass it to you so you can make it safe. He will steal it and sell it on. To the American government. Then all the big news agencies will find out that Bush and his friends in the UK were correct. That the war was justified."
"It was about more than weapons. You know that."
"Umm, money and oil too if you ask me but we are not here to discuss the politics."
"Why are you even in Baghdad?"
"Money." Mani smiled slightly. "My employer pays well and she wants me to find the uranium, which I have done."
"Now what?"
"She wishes to sell it to the UK goverment so that your people can look good with this war. Same reason you want it."
"It is far from the reason I want to stop the uranium falling into the wrong hands. Do you know what could happen if it did? Who is your employer?"
"An old friend of yours." He smiled. "Although I would say she wished to be more than merely friends at one point."
"No."
"Yes." Both men turned to see Ruth leaning against the half open door. Her dress ripped and her hands and knees bloodied.
"Oh my God."
"Sweet Allah!"
"Hello." Ruth's eyes fell on Harry's as Mani covered his mouth with one hand. "Sorry, but I couldn't wait around to be rescued."
"Don't tell me, there was a few handy tree branches around?" Harry smiled slightly as relief flooded his body. If Ruth was teasing him then there was a very good chance she hadn't been as badly injured as he feared.
"One or two." She smiled as Mani stared at them.
"How?"
"Jumped out, rolled down the banking." She sighed. "Played dead when they tried to shoot me."
"Bloody Hell." Mani stared at the smaller woman. "You are amazing."
"I."
"She is." Harry held her gaze. "She really is."
"Sorry, but I wasn't about to wait around for my execution to be filled for YouTube or something just as horrendous for my family to see. Why are you here?" She stared at Mani.
"I brought information for Harry."
"Oh." Ruth glanced at Harry as he nodded.
"Yes, he has been very enlightening."
"I'm sure he has." Ruth stepped aside as Mani brushed past her. It was then Harry noticed she was shaking. In seconds he ushered her fully into the room before closing and locking the door behind her.
"Ruth."
"I'm fine." He took her hands and held them palm upright as he raised an eyebrow.
"They were going to kill me." She sighed as tears filled her eyes. "They knew I was a spy on a black op and they were going to kill me."
"Oh Ruth." He brushed her hair out of her face as the tears threatened to fall. "Do you know?"
"Who they were? Yes. Americans. Jack's name was mentioned at least twice. Part of me thinks I was allowed to escape." Harry nodded once, knowing if they had really wanted to kill her she would be laying dead in a ditch at that moment instead of in his arms. He hugged her to him as she winced.
"Sorry."
"It's ok." Ruth blushed furiously as one hand flew to her ribs. Harry nodded before gently pulling her blouse away from her skin. He frowned as he saw the boot shaped bruise that covered her ribs. A wave of anger so strong he hadn't known he was capable of washed over him.
"It is not ok."
"It's not important. Not now." She held his gaze as he looked at her.
"You are important, Ruth." She smiled slightly as one hand touched his chin.
"Harry." He closed his eyes as she spoke. "What is important is stopping Jack. If he thinks I'm dead then he may come after you."
"Let him. It'll save me chasing him. He's in this for the money. While we are trying to stop a third Gulf War he is trying to make money out of the last."
"I know." She sighed. "But we have to get that uranium out of Iraq. And we have to do it tonight or it'll be more than just us killed. I heard what they are planning. Harry, they thought I was out of it but I heard." He nodded as he listened. Before he knew what he was doing he had pulled her into his arms. She closed her eyes as she relaxed into him, knowing that in that moment at least they were both safe.
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A/N Are they? What side is Mani really on? Who is Mani really working for? Please review.
