Thanksgiving Chapter 11

Not mine all Kudos

"Okay are you going to give me the name," Harry asked wanting to know who the mole was leaking information at CIA.

"No you are safer not knowing."

"Ruth, I'm your superior officer."

"Harry, If you want me in your bed tonight you will drop the attitude."

"Ruth what would you like me to fix for dinner."

"Let's just eat light. I understand within a couple of days we are supposed to prepare a feast."

"Yes Harry, It's Thanksgiving. We're going to have to prepare a shopping list for tomorrow."

Meanwhile Alec and Beth were eyeing each other suspiciously. Neither bowing to being the domestic in their housing partnership.

Dimitri and Tariq settled on noodles.

Thanksgiving Day

"Harry, I've been reading up on this holiday. Seems it is a family event. It seem that on the fourth Thursday of November, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, a national holiday honoring the early settlers and their harvest feast known as the first Thanksgiving. Of course Virginia maintains it held the real first Thanksgiving more than a year before the Pilgrims in Massachusetts."

"We're British Ruth."

"So were the Pilgrims and the Virginians for that matter."

"The people who comprised the Plymouth Colony were a group of English Protestants who wanted to break away from the Church of England. These separatists first moved to Holland and after 12 years of financial problems, they received funding from English merchants to sail across the Atlantic to settle in a 'New World.' A ship full of 101 men, women and children spent 66 days traveling the Atlantic Ocean, intending to land where New York City is now located. Due to the windy conditions, the group had to cut their trip short and settle on what is now called Cape Cod."

"Leave it to you to try and make us celebrate an American holiday Ruth."

"Well we are here. The story I'm reading goes on to say, that Squanto was a Wampanoag man who had experience with other settlers and knew English. Squanto helped the settlers grow corn and use fish to fertilize their fields. After several meetings, a formal agreement was made between the English and the native people and they joined together to protect each other from other tribes in March of 1621. One day that fall, four settlers were sent to hunt for food for a harvest celebration. The Wampanoag people heard their gunshots and alerted their leader, Massasoit, who thought the English might be preparing for war. Massasoit visited the English settlement with 90 of his men to see if the war rumor was true. Soon after their visit, the Native Americans realized the gunshots were harmless and that the English were only hunting for the harvest celebration. Massasoit sent some of his own men to hunt deer for the feast and for three days, the English and native men, women and children ate together. The meal consisted of deer, corn, shellfish, and roasted meat, far from today's traditional Thanksgiving feast."

"I can't see Beth taking to eating Bambi, or you doing the same for that matter," said Harry.

"The traditional meal has changed. Seems turkey and ham are key meats. Sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, casseroles of all type are side dishes are part of it and there's supposed to be at least one family fight."

"Sounds like fun," said Harry in a sardonic tone. "I guess you are thinking we could pull this off given that we have none of these items in stock."

"Well the grocery stores are open until midnight and some even later. I think Beth, Alec, Demitri are capable of acquiring what we need. Oh, and let's not forget Tariq. We can send them out now," said an excited Ruth.

Harry had rather hoped Ruth would be more excited about being with him tonight. "Won't you be up all night cooking?"

"No the point is to get up very early and start cooking and then eat later in the day. You starve all day long, tortured by the aroma of the food," explained Ruth.

"I'm already starved, and not just for food," with that statement Harry kissed Ruth passionately. She pulled back.

"Harry, we can pull of this op easily, and we'll call Zaf and invite him as well. He can drive over night."

"Ruth you should be in tactics. Won't the females be out-numbered? I fear Zaf may try to gain your attentions again as when he did when he first was on the grid. I had to work hard to keep him away from your desk."

"Harry! You didn't."

"I did. Later I regretted it when I thought he was dead. Now, I just don't want him getting ideas."

"He's more likely to get ideas about Beth," advised Ruth.

"I'm also worried about Alec getting ideas about you."

"Alec?"

"Ruth, Alec is a charmer. I've seen him glancing your way more than Beth's. In fact I figured putting Alec with Beth would generate some competition with Dimitri. But it hasn't happened. Oh all right Ruth you win. A traditional Thanksgiving it will be."

Harry turned over the Sat phone to Alec and told him to call and invite Zaf but not to tell that they knew who the mole was. However the only real person with that information was Ruth. He told him to not bring anyone from The Company.

It only took a few hours for the team to fan out and acquire what was needed for the special meal.

Beth and Ruth decided they wouldn't be the only ones in the kitchen. They tasked each officer with an item. Between the three chalets there were three kitchens that could be used.

By noon Zaf had arrived and greeted Ruth with a huge hug and then kissed her as if he had always kissed her with passion. Harry frowned. Ruth was so shocked all she could do was respond. Who couldn't respond to someone like Zaf with that smile, personality, and body. Then she remembered Harry and pulled away, and looked at Harry. She feared Zaf might not survive the meal. To Zaf's credit he brought desert prepared by a store of course. Zaf said he didn't have time to drive and cook. "What about our mole Ruth?"

"No questions answered until after the meal."

"Fair enough Ruth, but let me tell you it wasn't easy slipping away from American agents. Ironically, they pay little attention to this area so it wasn't hard to lose them. Wrong GPS coordinates doesn't help find you." Zaf was trying to reassure them they would not be burst in on during the meal.

Finally the hour arrived. All officers brought in prepared side dishes. Ruth and Harry had the job of overseeing the turkey and then the ham. All was going well. Then Ruth asked where was the cranberry sauce. Everyone looked blank. Then Tariqu pulled it from behind his back. I've been told you need it with the turkey, especially if its dry." Ruth gave him a death glare. "Not that a turkey you cook would be dry. I just wanted to be in the spirit of the event."

Finally the meal was about to get underway when Beth suggested everyone tell one thing they were thankful for this year. She started by saying her job. Alec was thankful for second chances. Dimitri was thankful he wasn't on a submarine surrounded by smelly men. Tariq was thankful to be working with MI5 Section D. Zaf was thankful to be alive. That gave them all pause for a minute. Harry then turned to Ruth and said, "I'm thankful to have Ruth at my side." Ruth blushed at the compliment. She knew she needed to come up with something special and then the thought came to her.

"I'm thankful for something wonderful that was never said but now should be. I love you Harry Pearce." Harry almost spat out the white wine he was drinking as she made her public declaration of love. It seemed there would be no arguments at this meal. Zaf gave her a smile and a wink as he used to do on the Grid. Alec looked a bit uncomfortable. Beth, Dimitri and Tariq were all grinning. Ruth wasn't sure if it was from the drinking they'd been doing all day long as they cooked or from Ruth finally cutting the old man some slack and offering him the hope he'd been looking for. This was one Thanksgiving not to be forgotten.

Afterward, they were settling in to watch football, not soccer, but American football. The males found they liked the violence of the sport…rugby with pads. The females liked the way the male football players looked in their uniforms. Harry was trying to get Ruth to slip away with him upstairs, but she was having none of it. The togetherness was so like a family and she didn't want to miss a minute of it.

Suddenly the game was interrupted with news of hostilities breaking out between North Korea and South Korea.

"Bloody hell. Give me the sat phone," said Harry. Within minutes he had a helicopter on its way to pick them up, and carry them to a community airfield where a jet was waiting to take them to New York and then on back to England. "We need to be on hand for any repercussions. Americans may go in guns blazing and we don't want to be here. Plus we don't want to give them an excuse to keep us here longer."

Meanwhile Ruth gave Zaf the encrypted message that reveals the mole at the CIA who is leaking all the information via the Internet. She assured Zaf that had the CIA not deciphered it by the time they were all back in England she would give them the name verbally. She stressed she only trusted Zaf. "I wish you were returning with us."

"I'll explain all that has happened at another time," said Zaf who had a look of sadness as he hugged Ruth once more. "For all those who are not with us," said Zaf as he held her a little longer. Harry watched the exchange but said nothing. There was still a pang of jealousy, but he knew that Zaf was only her friend.

By 2 p.m. they were in New York and boarding a private plane capable of carrying them back to London. Harry had pulled a lot of strings and used many aliases to accomplish this task. He knew they were being sought by the CIA, but he also knew that right now the CIA would be distracted by the incident in South Korea. It was their best chance to leave and the DG had already recalled his team stressing the need to cut short his team-building experiment with the Americans which had not gone as well as hoped or so the DG thought. They were airborne by 2:30. p.m. that day and headed home.

As for the team, the best bonding had occurred over the special meal.

Will write more after Thanksgiving….depending on how much I eat Thursday…and how long family keeps me occupied and also some show I've set to tape that our favorite PF is part of the cast. At least they got the meal, found the mole, and are headed home. There is still more story left. Just had to beat the holiday.