There was a sound building in the air. Something was approaching.
It was time.
Tariq and Dimitri hurtled through the doorway.
"We think we've got it!"
Harry scrambled to his feet, dragging Ruth with him.
"Is there time?" she asked.
"We won't know until we try."
"Is it safe?" asked Harry
"Malcolm thinks it will work," Tariq was brandishing some device or other.
"Malcolm?" exclaimed Ruth.
"Oh, yes, all hands to the pump for you, Evershed," Dimitri grinned brandishing a knife.
"If you get this wrong, you're both fired," growled Harry.
"If we get this wrong there won't be anything of us left to fire."
Ruth didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"You need to hold very still," said Tariq "and it will hurt."
Harry looked to Ruth and took her face in his hands and cradled it still and safe.
"We've adapted an EMP, it should disable the device and give us several seconds delay on the sensor."
"How many seconds?" Harry asked, not taking his eyes from Ruth.
"More than two," whispered Tariq.
"This is madness," exclaimed Ruth, "now get out of here."
Harry planted his forehead against hers.
"Ruth," he whispered, "shhh."
Dimitri looked at Tariq, "I've got this now. Go."
A look passed between them and Dimitri nodded to reinforce his point.
Tariq grasped Ruth's hand for the briefest of moments and turned for the door.
"Harry, hold her tight."
A hand wound around Ruth's waist and braced her back, his other refused to let go of her face, his forehead still propped against hers.
"Okay, here goes," said Dimitri.
"I love you," whispered lips against hers.
"Harry…" was all she managed before they heard the electric charge build. It silently pulsed and Dimitri drew the knife quickly across her scalp, dropping it to the floor.
Ruth flinched but her eyes were fixed on Harry, his breath mixing with hers, her nose crushed against his, his lips open against hers.
Beth, Alec, Malcolm and Tariq watched the monitor. They held as still as Ruth.
They saw the two bodies need for each other and they held their combined breaths for them.
Harry prayed to every god the world had ever known.
Ruth closed her eyes and pressed her lips against his.
On the monitor they watched as Dimitri's arm prepared to flick away from Ruth's head.
And then the explosion came...
The room was filled with smoke and heat and rubble.
The monitor went black.
...
Harry's ears were ringing, his head sore, but his hands….the blood covered his hands. It was not his blood.
'How will you feel as you fall to the floor amidst the blood and the brains and the flesh and the death and the horror of it? …. you'll think of me and not her and see my face and curse the day you ever came to Ireland.
I laugh at your pain and wish you the seven horrors of hell.'
Fuck McGuire! Fuck that image in his head. Please god, let it not be true.
Ruth, where was Ruth?
His arm was heavy, he couldn't move it. He still couldn't see properly through the dust.
And then he realised with horror that there was a body lying on it.
"Ruth…"
She turned towards him.
"Still here," she whispered.
She started laughing, or crying, he wasn't sure which, neither was she.
"Dimitri!" called Harry.
"Fine," came a shout from behind them.
And then there were more voices and footsteps and figures through the dust and hands were reaching for them.
Harry didn't want the hands or the others, he just wanted Ruth.
Conclusion to come tomorrow but at least you can all go to sleep now!