Disclaimer not mine

Bin Day

Dimitri picked up the black bin bag and threw it in the back of the waste lorry that was ambling along the smart West London street. He glanced to his left to see Adam doing the same thing. Neither men were particularly enjoying their day with the council bin men. Minutes later Adam picked up the black bag they had been looking for and handed it to Calum who threw it into the boot of his car before driving off. He knew the contents would be analysed to within an inch of its life once it was back at the Grid.

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"Hiya." Beth smiled as the tall thin man opened the front door. "Spick and Span cleaners."

"You are not the usual people who are sent." Fitzgerald glanced at a heavily made up Beth. "You look familiar."

"Im not surprised. I filled in for May last year when she went on holiday. It's ok I've signed the Act." She smiled as he raised an eyebrow. For a moment she was certain her cover had been blown. Glancing at the tall thin man she couldn't help the stammer that returned.

"It's ok." She heard Malcolm in her earpiece. "He's bought it."

"Right, well. I have some business to attend to, so I'll leave you to it." He walked away as his driver pulled the large black car in front of the house. Beth closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as he drove away.

"Beth, put the camera in the living room. Anywhere you think he is going to talk freely."

"I'll leave the toilet out then." Beth stated calmly as she worked her way around the house. Malcolm rolled his eyes as Tariq tried not to burst out laughing.

##########

"I don't get it." Ros stated as she sat in an unmarked pool car opposite the B&B they knew Christian McCarthy was staying in. Lucas shrugged his shoulders but remained quiet. It was the second time they had the same conversation since midnight. He didn't understand it either.

"Adam and Dimitri will have lifted the bin bags now. Zaf and Zoe are following Fitzgerald."

"I know." She stated. "I don't think either of those two will have crossed paths with Infernal Affairs in the last couple of years. He may not recognise them. Beth will be the worry. She was on the Grid when he walked in. Hopefully he was so full of himself that he didn't notice the junior officers."

"Hopefully."

"Right." Ros nodded towards the door of the B&B as Christian McCarthy walked out of the building and lit a cigarette.

"Filthy habit." Lucas smiled.

"Yeah." Ros agreed. "Just the type of filthy habit that leaves DNA everywhere without us needing a warrant to get it."

"Ros."

"Stay here." She glanced at him as he shook his head. Seconds later she was out of the car and headed towards the heavily tattooed Irish man. McCarthy turned and watched her for a moment, clearly liking what he saw. Ros flashed him her best charm smile, barely managing to keep the nausea at bay. She hadn't smoked in years and the smell of cigarettes only served to remind her of Jo. Seeing McCarthy light another wasn't really helping. Lucas watched the exchange carefully, knowing Ros still hadn't been in the field since her time at the hands of Harrison.

"You alright there luv?" McCarthy asked.

Ros nodded. "Looking for a friend of mine. Well, my husband's friend really." Ros lied fluently.

"Aye, and who might that be?"

"Declan." She watched as his eyes clouded over. "Not sure of his surname, mid 50s, bit bald." Ros knew Harry would either be laughing at her description of him or furious. She held McCarthy's glare as she spoke. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't ring any bells with me."

"No? Never mind. I was told he might be staying here and when I saw you on the doorstep I thought I'd ask." She turned and began to walk away. "I'll just have to ask Terry next time I see him."

"Terry?"

"Terry O Callaghan. I see him now and again. He was big friends with my husband back in there." She looked at the floor. "Back in prison."

"Is that so? I've spent some time at Her Majesty's pleasure myself. What nick was he in?"

"I'd rather not say." Ros watched as genuine curiosity crossed the older man's face. "It's not something you broadcast. He wasn't exactly inside for petty theft."

"Neither was I luv."

"Well, you understand my reluctance then." Ros did her best to act the nervous wall flower. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have disturbed you."

"You say you know Terry. I was inside with a Terry O Callaghan. He was a mate. Say hello to him from me."

"I will." Ros tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "I don't even know your name."

"Chris McCarthy. You?"

"Sarah North." Ros lied fluently, dropping her first name out of the story. "I need to get back, pick the kids up."

"Why you looking for this Declan?" Ros looked over the street, knowing she had at least got the old man's interest. Lucas was watching the scene from the safety of his car and she knew he hated every second of it. She turned back to Christian.

"Because I think he may know where my husband is." Ros dug her hands in her jacket pockets and shrugged. "No way I can get a divorce if I can't find him." McCarthy nodded.

"How will finding Declan help?"

"He may know where my good for nothing ex is." Ros kept up the lie.

"If I see him? How do I get in touch with you?"

"I have babysitters tonight. I'll be in the Star at five." She nodded towards the pub on the corner. McCarthy smiled at her before clapping her on the back.

"If its one thing I can't stand Sarah, is dead beat Dads." He smiled at her. "I'll see what I can find out and see you later." Ros touched his arm, dropping the lightest bug Malcolm had ever designed into the man's jacket pocket.

"Thanks. I appreciate it." She turned, walked across the road and disappeared into the housing estate knowing she would be pulling him into Thames House a few hours later.

##############

"Ros has made contact." Tariq stated. Alec raised an eyebrow.

"And?"

"And she's going to need you to back her and Lucas up later." Harry stated as he walked out of his office. "Any trouble at the conference centre?"

"No. None."

"I can't help thinking there aren't any explosives." Ruth bit her lip as all the men looked at her. "It just feels wrong. We have been given carte blanch over the security now. But why repeat an attack twenty years after it failed? What's in it for them? Why would Fitzgerald be involved and where does Jane fit in?"

"He has the finances to fund it." Tariq stated as Malcolm nodded.

"Yes, but what would he gain?" Ruth bit her lip, deep in though. "Alec, you were at the conference centre. Is there anything we missed? Anything at all?"

"No." Alec frowned. "I went through everything. So did Erin and Ros. Nothing can get in or out without one of Malcolm's little toys setting the alarms off."

"They are not toys." Malcolm stated calmly. Ruth smiled, knowing he would never accept the way some of the field agents treated his beloved creations. "It has to be something else."

"Harry?" Tariq looked at his boss. Harry nodded once before leaning against Zoe's abandoned desk.

"Ros is going to pull McCarthy in later. We should have the listening devices up and running in Fitzgerald's place by then."

"Yes." Ruth frowned slightly. "And?"

"I think this goes back to Belfast." Harry stated "And I think I need to talk to Juliet and Henry again."

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London June 1941

"Henry Parks, what are you doing out here?" Kate called from the kitchen doorway. The night sky lit up with stars as Henry lay in the yard on his back.

"Watching the stars."

"Catching your death more like." Kate pulled her cardigan around her and trotted down the garden, careful to make sure no light emerged from the little terraced house she lived in. The last thing she needed was that blasted Air Raid Warden knocking on her door.

"I'm looking for planes." Henry answered honestly. The eight year old never ceased to surprise his aunt. "The radio said they call it the Blitz."

"They do. By rights, my sister should have sent you and the bairn to the countryside. Not here. Kids are being evacuated from London not to it."

"Nah." Henry looked up at her. "We're safe with you. Ma said so."

"I know she did." Kate held out a hand. "Why are you looking for planes at ten a clock at night might I ask?"

"Because if I can see them maybe I can warn people. If I can do that maybe I can get a job with the SOE."

"Henry." Kate knelt down to his level. "You can never say that. It's a secret. Not everyone knows what the SOE is. Not many people know there even is one."

"But they are helping to stop Hitler."

"Yes, luvvie they are. But you have to be a grown up to help. There's a minimum age and I'm hoping the war will be over before you get to 21."

"Aye, so am I." Henry got to his feet and took her hand. "Just going to have to content myself with looking after you and our Margaret then."

"You are." Kate shook her head as he lead her into the house, wondering where her nephew got such fanciful notions from.

###############

June 2013

"There are days when I seriously do not like this job." Calum stared at the rubbish that adorned the briefing room table. Tariq pulled a face as they realised there was nothing that could help them.

"Fitzgerald knows not to dispose of anything in the black bags that could be sensitive." Alex stated. Ruth wrinkled her nose at the smell.

"Er."

"Good job he doesn't know to do the same with his email."Malcolm smiled broadly. "Curtesy of young Beth I've been able to obtain all his emails for the last year. It seems like Ruth was correct. He has been in contact with both O Callaghan and McCarthy since before their release from the Maze. It looks like he was feeding them information on Section D. It was probably why Ruth was targeted early on and why Henry and Juliet are in danger now."

"Ros is meeting him in less than three hours." Alec frowned. "He knows exactly who she is."

"Yes. "Malcolm stated. "There was never a plan to destroy the conference. The plan was to destroy Harry, Juliet and Henry."

"Tying up loose ends." Zaf watched as Ruth swore under her breath. "Who wants to tell Harry?"

"I will. "She pushed herself away from the black bin liners and headed towards Harry's office.

"And I suppose that leaves you to contact Ros and Juliet." Malcolm stated as he followed Ruth out of the room.

#############

"Why did you become a spook?" Henry asked Juliet. She stared out the window, ignoring the question.

"There's a car parked behind the one that is supposed to be watching us." She stated. "Henry, I think it's time we went back to Thames House."

"What? What are you saying girl?" He was on his feet in seconds. "I am 80 years old, this is ridiculous."

"You hung Harry and I out to dry. And James for that matter. You knew we were in danger."

"Every British officer serving out there back then was in danger." Henry stated calmly. "My team were no different."

"True." Juliet nodded. "Not everyone is still watching their backs nineteen years later." She pulled her crutches to her. "Now I've paid the price for my involvement with Yalta, for what I did to Ros but this is different. This is a vendetta being made to look like a terrorist plot. Who wants to kill us and why?"

"I dunno lass."

"In that case I suggest we leave before we find out the hard way." She picked up her mobile, slipped it into her pocket and headed for the door.

####################

Ros sat in the pub watching the various customers buy drinks or seat themselves at tables. She knew Lucas was a few feet away watching the whole exchange. Adam and Alec were in the van outside while Zaf and Calum were the other side of the bar. Something felt wrong. She knew that McCarthy was too keen to meet her. He'd fallen for her story far too easily. Now as she sat and waited she begun to wonder who were the sitting ducks, the men that had tried to kill Harry and Juliet in 1994 or her sat waiting for them now. Seconds later the sound doors opening caught her attention. She looked up to see McCarthy walk towards her with his hands shoved in the pockets of his leather jacket.

"Hi." She smiled. "Can I get you a drink?"

"No thanks, Sarah." He smirked. "Or should I call you Rosalind?" He pulled out a handgun as she narrowed her eyes. In seconds Adam and Lucas were behind him. Ros flashed them a warning look.

"Who?"

"You know who you are. Tell Harry Pearce this isn't over." He raised the gun as Zaf pulled his gun discretely from his own jacket and dug it in the older man's ribs.

"Tell him yourself. I'm sure he'd be glad to see you." Zaf waited as Lucas reached and pulled the gun from where McCarthy was holding it out of view of the rest of the pub. Ros gave him her best Ice Queen glare, knowing it had been another close call. "Boss?"

"Boss?" McCarthy glared at Ros who now smiled sweetly.

"Back to base. Our friend here has some explaining to do." She watched as the rest of the team escorted the larger, older man out to the van, knowing that they had been misled since the beginning. The trade conference wasn't the target. Section D were.

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A/N Not much more left. Another long chapter, please review.