Chapter 10

…

Harry Pearce walked up the steps to his house and turned the key before stepping inside. He went straight into the kitchen and grabbed the bottle of Bourbon from his work top. He took a glass from the top cabinet and poured a large glass. He walked through to his study and took a seat at his desk and switched on his laptop, he was about to go through some old colleague files, looking for anyone who may have a grudge against MI5. He heard is mobile ringing from outside, forgetting that he's left it in the hallway table. He walked through, leaving his laptop un attended to retrieve it. He was just about to answer it when an almighty bang rang through the house, causing Harry to be thrown against the door.

…

M rolled over when her mobile began to buzz beside her. She moved from James embrace as she leaned over to answer it.

"Tanner, do you have any idea what time it is?"

"I'm sorry to disturb you at such a late hour Ma'am but I've just had a phone call from Ros Myers and I thought you'd like to be informed."

"What is it?"

"There's been an explosion at Harry Pearce's home, he's been taking to London's Old Royal."

"How bad is he?"

"We're unsure of that yet."

"Right, I'm going to head over there immediately. I want you and Eve to get in contact with Lucas North and Connie James, let them know what's happened."

"Very well Ma'am. We'll meet you at the Hospital."

M hung up the phone and slid out of bed, James felt her move away causing him to wake up.

"Hey, what's going on?" He asked, still half asleep.

"Go back to sleep James." She spoke, softly.

He sat up and turned on the bedside lamp, as he watched her get dressed.

"Emma, what the hell's going on. Is it Joanna, has something happened?"

"That was Bill on the phone, apparently someone just tried to blow up Harry Pearce."

"Jesus."

"I don't think Jesus had much to do with this one."

"Is he alright?"

"I don't know yet, they've taken him to the Royal Hospital, Ros Myers is with him and I've got Bill and Eve contacting Lucas North and Connie James."

"Right, I'll get dressed."

"Wait, what no…you stay here."

"Emma, we're both a part of this remember."

M watched him as he grabbed his clothes from the chair and quickly got dressed.

"James, aren't you forgetting something?"

"What?"

"Someone has to stay here with Ava."

"We'll take her to Joanna's."

"It's after 11pm, She and Simon will be in bed, not to mention Mary and Ethan. I'm not disturbing them at this time of night."

"Okay, then we'll take her with us."

"James I….."

"Look, we agreed that if you were going back to work then so was I. We were doing this together, that was the deal."

"Surely under the circumstances we could make a small exception."

"No…we can't."

"Oh alright fine, we'll take her with us. I'll go and get her ready."

James watched as she stormed off in a mood and knew he'd be in for it later.

…

Connie walked into her sitting room to see Lucas lying on her sofa, she knelt beside him and shook him awake.

"Lucas wake up."

"Huh, what is it, what's happened?"

"We need to go."

"Connie, what's going on?"

"I've just had a text from Bill Tanner at MI6, Harry's in the Hospital?"

"What happened?"

"Another explosion, at his house."

"Is he alright?"

"I've no idea."

She stood up and Lucas sat up and put his shirt on over his white t-shirt.

"Why didn't you go home after I went to bed?" She asked.

"Because despite my re-assurances that Angelica or King can't hurt you anymore, I know there's still that small fear you have and I didn't want to leave you alone."

"Oh, well thank you."

She was just about to walk over to the coat stand when Lucas took hold of her wrist, stopping her. She stood frozen, waiting to see what he would do or say. She felt herself being lowered down onto the sofa beside him.

"Connie, I meant what I said earlier. I'm not giving up on this."

She turned to him and could see he wasn't lying to her. If there was one thing Lucas always was, it was honest.

"Lucas, I don't….."

She was cut off when Lucas leaned in and captured her lips, the kiss had been unexpected but the minute he did it, she found herself responding to him.

"This is the wrong time for this." She said, her tone a little quieter than she'd intended.

"I just want you to know I'm serious about this, I'm not playing games here Connie."

"No I don't think you are, come on….we should go."

"What about this?"

"Right now we need to go and make sure Harry's okay, let's just focus on that for now….okay." She smiled.

"Yeah….of course."

…

Bill and Eve were already at the Hospital with Ros and Malcolm. They were sitting quietly as Ros was busy yelling down her mobile at some poor desk clerk.

"I don't give a shit where you've got them or whose authorization you need. I want those cctv tapes brought to MI6 by 9am today or I'll make sure you're first in line t the job centre Monday morning, got it."

"Wow, I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of her, would you." Eve whispered to Bill.

"She's worse than M."

Eve let out a small laugh but went quiet when Ros shot them both a death glare.

"Are we getting the tapes." Malcolm asked, coming to stand beside Ros.

"Put it this way, I think I made my point to the stupid cow on the phone and we….."

She stopped talking and looked up to see M and James walking down the corridor, James carrying Ava…trying to calm her down.

"Oh for god sake, what the hell now." Ros moaned.

"It's a baby." Malcolm stated.

"Well done Sherlock."

As M and James approached them, M extended her hand to Ros.

"Ms Myers, nice to see you again."

"Yeah you too."

"How is he?"

"The Doctors are still in with him, look….don't take this the wrong way but do you really think bringing your granddaughter down here at this time of night is a good idea, surely your Daughter could have taken her back."

"Ms Myers, this is Ava and she's not my granddaughter."

"Well who ever she…."

"She's my Daughter."

"I'm sorry, she's your what?"

"My Daughter….our Daughter." She said, motioning to James.

"Oh."

"M why don't we take a seat with Bill and Eve and wait for some news before we go any further huh." James said, guiding her away.

Ros stood open mouthed as Malcolm moved closer to her.

"You know how to put your foot in it, don't you?" He smirked.

"They have a kid, seriously. At her age how is that even possible."

"You know what, if I were you I wouldn't do anything to piss this woman off. She is after all offering her services to help us out, we need her now."

"I guess you're right, I just can't believe it. I swear to god the way Lucas keeps going on about Connie right now, if they turn out like these two then shoot me."

"You got it Myers." Malcolm laughed, as he went over to join the others.

To Be Continued….