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Dead End

Zaf had a feeling something was wrong. Ruth had promised to ring the Grid the moment there was any news about Catherine. Harry had left over an hour ago. Although he had almost a dozen nieces and nephews and knew sometimes women were in labour for hours he just couldnt shake the feeling something was wrong. Sighing he pushed his chair away from the computer, intent on making a coffee to clear his head and let his eyes rest after what seemed like hours going through the computer records for Mohammed Hussein. He had no idea how Tariq, Ruth and Malcolm managed to work on the Grid all day. He'd much rather be out on the road than in the confines of Thames House. Zoe raised her eyebrows as he passed her desk.

"Coffee?"

"No thanks" She smiled. The Grid was just as busy as ever but Zaf still couldn't shake the feeling that something had gone very wrong. He just didn't know what. He clicked the kettle on as he closed his eyes briefly. The scent of a very familiar perfume filled the air. He knew the owner of the perfume could never be on the Grid again. Once more he believed he had gone mad.

"Jo"

"There isn't time Zaf." She sounded panicky. "Ruth. There is no time"

"What is it?" He muttered as he saw the outline of the blonde spook waver. He felt sick suddenly. "Come on Jo, you told me to think of you as the Guardian Angel of Section D. What has happened to her" He wanted to reach out and grab her, but he knew it would be futile. He also dreaded to think what might happen if Zoe or Ros walked in the room. He was vaguely aware of the phone ringing in Harry's office.

"Zaf, please believe me. There is no time" She covered her face slowly before turning back to him "It isn't Harry's time to join me. Find them, please Zaf. She needs you there" Jo was gone before Zaf turned round. He abandoned his mug on the draining board and walked back on to the Grid. Grabbing his jacket he saw Ros answer the phone that was ringing in Harry's office. Zoe frowned as Dimitri walked towards them.

"Where are you going mate?" Dimitri called.

"Got to find Ruth, can't explain" He honestly didn't know how to explain he was worried sick and had just had a tip off from a ghost. It was when he saw Ros visibly freeze as she listened to the caller that he knew he was right to be worried. The colour had drained from her already pale face as she walked towards the main Grid.

"That was the hospital" She stared at the floor, unable to take her eyes off Zaf's shoes. Dimitri folded his arms as he waited. Malcolm and Tariq exchanged worried glances as Zaf grabbed his car keys.

"What did they say?" Zoe asked as she saw how worried Zaf really was.

"Harry was shot." Zaf was at the Pods before Ros could finish speaking. Zoe gasped and covered her mouth with one hand. He didn't hear the rest of the sentance. "Younis where are you going?"

"To Ruth, there isn't any time. Already wasted too much. Are you coming?" He looked at the blonde as she nodded once. She wasn't sure what he meant by wasted time but she wasnt going to let him go to the hospital alone.

"Zoe, ring me the moment any new info comes through" She grabbed her leather jacket as she walked towards the Pods. Zoe took a deep breath as she nodded.

"What do you mean wasted time?" Dimitri called.

"Look, I have to go. But think about it. Ever since 6 dumped this on us we have been playing catch up. Someone knows our every move, gets there before we do. We have to find out who knows as much as we do" He watched as Ros walked up to him. She knew he was right.

"Malcolm" She called "Find everything you can on Mohammed Hussein. I have a bad feeling about him" He nodded as the Pod doors closed behind them.

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Zaf spotted Ruth out of the corner of his eye as he followed Ros in to the A&E waiting room, they had already spotted the police cars surrounding the area where Harry had been shot. He sighed as he saw Ruth staring in to space. She looked almost catatonic with grief. He crossed to her as Ros spoke to the receptionist.

"Ruth" He sighed as she continued to stare ahead, seemingly oblivious to his presence. Zaf pulled her in to his arms as she began to shake. Ros was shocked. Harry had been shot. Harry Pearce had died in his wife's arms. It was unthinkable that her friend was dead. She tried to ficus on Ruth as she heard Zaf talking.

"Have you been hurt? Ruth you are covered in blood" He was talking slowly, as he would to Emma when she fell and hurt herself. Ruth didnt seem to hear him.

"Ruth" Zaf tried again "You are covered in blood" Ruth nodded.

"It's not mine" Ruth starred at Zaf as he realised what she was saying. "Blood isn't mine" It was then that the tears fell. Zaf blinked as he held her tighter to him, willing his own tears not to fall. Why didn't Jo tell me earlier? Why did we not stop this? He thought as he felt her cling to him. He locked eyes with Ros, who seemed unable to maintain the Ice Queen facade they desperately needed her to this time.

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Dimitri sighed as he looked around the depleted Grid. He had only worked there a few months but could already see that the staff of Section D considered themselves to be part of a family. He felt honoured that they had given him a chance to be part of it. He hated to think that the man that had given him the option of getting out of the SBS was dead. Harry had been good to him and Beth when they first joined. It didn't seem fair. He pulled up the file they had on Mohammed Hussein and cringed. They had to get hold of Adam, if they didn't more people were going to be hurt.

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Ruth stared in to space. She was too shocked to keep crying. It felt as if her heart had been physically ripped from her chest, the pain was almost too much. She was suddenly aware of Zaf holding her. She sighed as she realised Catherine and Graham were still blissfully unaware of what had happened.

"Oh my God, what do I tell the kids? Their mother is in prison and now their father is dead. Died the same day he became a grandfather" She closed her eyes as Zaf realised that no one had officially told them anything about Harry's condition. Ruth sounded so distant, as though her voice was disjointed from her body. Ros shuddered, she wanted to cry and scream at how unfair it all was. But with Ruth being so unbelievably controlled she didn't know how to react.

"I'll call the Grid" She decided, suddenly aware of how other people may feel when she shut down. Lucas called her the Ice Queen when she was like that. She hated seeing Ruth the same way. It felt wrong. Zaf nodded.

"Remember he faked his death once? I wanted to kill him" Ruth shook her head as a doctor approached them "Then I wanted to kill Adam" Zaf nodded, he remembered the car bomb well. It was only the start of the trouble with Nicholas Blake.

"Excuse me. Are you with Mr Pearce?" The young doctor asked as Ros nodded. Ruth didn't seem able to focus on anything apart from Zaf's shirt.

"As you know he is badly hurt, but he has regained consciousness. You can see him for a few minutes before we take him to theatre" The doctor smiled kindly at Ruth. Ros frowned.

"Badly hurt?" Ros repeated.

"I'm sorry, are you family?" The doctor asked.

"Yes" Ruth replied more strongly than she had intended "Yes they are"

"Follow me, I can only take one person in at a time" Zaf gently pushed Ruth forward.

"My husband died. I heard the nurses saying someone should tell Mrs Pearce her husband is dead" Ruth was shocked. She was shaking again as the doctor rested a hand on her arm.

"I'm sorry, we had two people in with the same surname" The doctor sighed.

"There was so much blood. How could anyone survive loosing so much blood?" Ruth glanced at Ros who smiled at her. The relief visible on her face.

"Ruth, this is Harry Pearce we are dealing with. He is not going to just give up. Go. Now" She turned the analyst by the shoulders and sent her after the doctor as her and Zaf let out a shaky breath.

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Beth led the boys to a small B&B on the outskirts of Damascus. It was a tiny little house, almost too small for the family that lived there. Beth spoke quickly to the woman that answered the door. Adam was impressed as Beth spoke in perfect dialect for the region. She was turning out to be a definate asset to the team. While he could get by in Arabic these days Beth was fluent not only in the language but the local dialect of the region. The older woman sighed, rolled her eyes at Beth before ushering the three of them inside, insistant that Beth would have to share her room while the men shared the other. All other rooms were already in use. Beth smiled gratefully as Lucas wondered what he had just witnessed.

"Mrs Al-fayed is a star" Beth smiled as Lucas raised his eyebrows in question. "I've hidden here before, I know we can trust her"

"She knows who you are?" Lucas didnt like it.

"She knows who I was" Beth corrected. Mrs Sabrine Al-fayed was a contact from Beth's past life and the woman had offered them a bed for the night. In Beth's books that made her a star. She sat on the bed in the small room Mrs Al-fayed had set aside for Lucas and Adam. She was exhausted. Every cell in her body screamed for the need to sleep, but her leg throbbed mercilessly. SHe glanced at Lucas, who was just as quiet and pale as ever, she sensed something was very wrong.

"Ok, spit it out" She didn't turn her head as she spoke to him. Adam smirked, he liked Beth. She reminded him alot of Jo when she had first started but tougher. He had decided she was a cross between the two women. As tough as Ros but sometimes as cheeky as Jo. He smiled as he thought of the girl that had become something of a surrogate sister to him before she had died.

"I just have a very bad feeling about this meeting. I think Farrah is up to something. Why would she agree to see us when she knows who Adam is and that we know she basically signed Fiona's death warrant by telling Farook where she was?" Lucas rested his head against the wall as Beth thought about what he had said.

"Just have to make sure we have all the bases covered then yeah?" Adam smiled sadly. Everywhere he looked in Damascus he was reminded of how he had met Fiona, how she had taken care of him after he was tortured. "Going to try to get hold of Ruth" He picked up their remaining mobile phone.

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Ruth closed her eyes as she approached the door to the resusitation room. She remembered a time when she wasn't allowed to see him after he had been shot and had to resort to bribary to get a message to him. She smiled slightly, at least part of the lie she had told the young, gulliable nurse was true now. Her legs felt like jelly. The doctor sighed, she had seen relatives act the same way a million times before.

"The bullet hit him in the left shoulder and caused damage to the muscke there. We noticed some old scarring" She watched as Ruth nodded.

"He has an old injury, still plays up occasionally" She didn't really know why she was telling the doctor all this. The doctor nodded for her to enter the room as Ruth walked up to her husband.

"Harry" She was at his side in seconds as he opened his eyes.

"Ruth" His lungs burned at the exertion of trying to say her name. "Are you hurt? Ruth are you ok?" Her eyes filled with tears as he spoke.

"I'm fine" Her eyes wateres as she felt him raise his hand to touch her face. She closed her eyes as she leant in to the contact. "You broke your promise. You scared me" She kissed his palm.

"I'm sorry" She smiled as she held his hand to her face.

"Just this once, you're forgiven" She tried not to cry as she took in all the wires and drips surrounding him.

"I love you Ruth" He watched as she opened her eyes and held his gaze.

"Oh Harry" She smiled as he ran a thumb over her cheek. "I love you so much" She blinked a tear away as he smiled "Don't you dare do something stupid like ignore the doctors. DOn't you ever scare me like that again!" Harry tried to smiled as she spoke.

"Who shot me?" He had to know.

"We don't know, not yet."

"There's quite a long list of people who would want to" He coughed as Ruth panicked a little at him struggling.

"You are going to theatre soon" She shot him a look that told him she didnt appreciate the joke "They have to get the bullet out. I'll be here when you wake up" She kissed his forehead as the porters arrived to take him to theatre. He mumbled something she didnt quite catch as the porters wheeled him away.

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"Thanks" Adam snapped the phone shut as the others stared at him.

"And?" Beth asked

"I talked to Malcolm. We can't risk Mrs Al-fayed anymore. Things just got a lot more serious" He was clearly angry. Beth waited for him to explain as Lucas shot him a look.

"I spoke to Tariq. There's been an incident. Someone tried to kill Harry and Ruth" Adam wached as Beth immediately looked angry. Beth and Ruth had quickly become friends.

"Right, this just got personal" The determination on Beth's face unsettled Lucas. He knew she could handle herself but he was also worried that she would turn things into a personal vendetta for her friend.

"Adam?" He asked.

"Harry is in theatre. Ruth is in shock, but Zaf is with her. Catherine had a baby boy this morning. He's ok, Charlie Henry Pearce arrived about an hour before his granddad ended up bleeding all over the car park" He shook his friend. Beth covered her eyes with her hand. She was exhausted, but knew the night was far from over.

"Harry will be ok though?" She knew Ruth would be lost without him.

"He's in theatre. The coward shot him in the back. Ruth is blaming herself" He shrugged. He knew the analyst well enough to think that she would be taking all the responibilities on herself.

"We meet Farrah in three hours" Lucas brought them back on topic. "We should go through the plan and try to rest"

Adam nodded in agreement. He knew the meeting was going to be difficult. He desperately wanted to arrest Farrah and bring her back to the UK for trial, it would be a diplomatic minefield. But then, if it stopped Anil he was prepared to risk it. Once more he wondered whether the petite woman was really as harmless as she had looked. He prayed Yasmin had covered her back, in less than 12 hours they would be on their way home, whether the meeting went well or not.

author's note. Did you really think I would kill Harry? Next time Adam and the others meet Yasmin and Farrah. Is Yasmin's husband dangerous? Will Anil make his next move and who shot Harry and why? Please, please review! Even if you hated it the reviews help me write better. Thanks