Same day, 8th December, 3 pm
Ruth walks into his office and says, "17th of November, 1982."
He doesn't even look up from what he's doing as he murmurs, "The mists aren't parting, Ruth."
"The Kizlov ballet only performed in West Berlin once," she explains as she enters the room, "on that date."
He looks up, and after a momentary hesitation, he confirms, "Yes. It was Elena's cover, where Ilia thought she was going for the evening."
"There's no mention of it in the records," she adds.
"It wasn't an official operation," he confesses quietly before raising his eyes to hers with a deeply apologetic look. He really hates having to discuss his liaisons with her like this. After his many sleepless nights spent thinking about Ruth with George, he can well imagine how difficult this must be for her.
There's silence for a moment as Ruth fights to push aside thoughts of Harry with Elena. "One of the messages does mention that night, and as it wasn't a sanctioned op, I'm assuming not many people knew about it," she says eventually.
"Just me, Elena and Jim Coaver," Harry confirms.
"Harry, if Jim Coaver wrote these messages, if he tricked Elena into thinking he was you, then we need to consider that he was involved in the attempted hit on Gavrik," she states.
He nods and rubs his face with his hands as he adds, "And with what Tariq and Calum found out about the CIA's deniable asset, it also means that he was behind the theft of our laptop."
Ruth frowns and takes a seat across from him, murmuring softly, "Harry, from what I've found in my research into Coaver, you and he were friends, close friends."
He looks up at her and nods. "We were," he sighs and thinks back to his meeting with Coaver only a few days ago. "I met up with him when he returned to London some days ago, and I thought..." He tails off, shaking his head and saying, "Never mind."
"No, tell me," she encourages. "What did he say?"
"When I was leaving the pub, after he'd denied running Elena Gavrik," he murmurs, "he looked at me seriously for a moment and said that he always considered me a friend, and I thought... that he looked sincere." He sighs again before pulling himself together and sitting up straight, quickly banishing the regret he feels at losing another friend, and says in a steady voice, "I must have been mistaken."
Ruth looks thoughtful before she replies, "We need to be sure, Harry. It's possible that someone's setting Jim Coaver up."
"Who?" Harry asks.
She frowns slightly, debating with herself if she should share her suspicions yet, before deciding against it. "I don't know. It's possible, however, that Jim Coaver's only responsible for running Elena, and the woman with the laptop is working for someone else. We have no real proof that the two are connected, other than the fact that the CIA might be involved in both."
Harry nods. "Then we get proof."
Next day, 9th December, 4 pm
She waits on the walkway looking out over the Thames, lost in thought. She's about to take a big risk, but she's running out of time, running out of options. But if she 's wrong-
"So what is it with you guys and this hanging out by the river?" Jim Coaver's voice cuts across her thoughts and forces her to turn around to face him. He looks at her seriously, appraising her for a moment. "Now, I know you've been looking into me, Ruth," he murmurs reproachfully before pausing for effect and continuing, "way back too, and I want to know why."
"Shit!" Ruth mutters, she didn't expected him to know that. She looks away for a moment before meeting his eye again and saying, "It was a favour to Harry."
"What the hell does he think I'm up to? Arming Cornish separatists?" Jim asks, looking surprised and a little indignant.
She almost smiles at that, but she manages to keep a straight face. She can see why Jim and Harry were good friends, and it makes her sad to think that they are being pushed apart and strengthens her resolve, so she answers quietly, "He's been betrayed too many times. He's seeing enemies everywhere." She pauses for a moment and then adds, "He begged me to look into you and all I found out is that you two were friends, you trusted each other. I felt sorry for him. You're the one person he could always rely on and now-"
"I'm just another monster under the bed, huh?" Jim murmurs sadly.
Ruth nods.
"Yup. I've seen that happen to a lot of good people," he says and then adds, "though I wouldn't call the men in white coats just yet." She almost smiles again and watches as his gaze turns hard before he adds, "Berlin wasn't all wine and roses. Did you see the file on Treptower Park?"
"There was no file on what happened at Treptower Park," she says immediately, knowing that he's trying to catch her out. Then she turns the tables on him. "But Harry told me," she lies.
"Yeah," Coaver sighs, looking a little surprised by this revelation, but since she's married to Harry, it isn't too far fetched to believe that he trusts her enough to share this information. "I would never have done it. I hope he knows that," he says earnestly. "I don't shoot my friends. Family... maybe, but not my friends. I don't know what he told you, but he was out of control. Attempting to extract a top level asset without a shred of authorisation? A KGB officer's wife for Christ's sakes! He was endangering multiple operations and all because he'd knocked up Elena, felt bad about it. I had to stop him."
"You were doing him a favour," she replies quietly.
"Yeah, he didn't see it like that then," he murmurs.
"You don't believe it, do you?" she asks bravely after pausing for a moment and taking a steadying breath.
"Don't believe what?" he replies cautiously.
"That he knocked up Elena," she clarifies, looking steadily into his eyes.
He studies her for several seconds before asking, "Now, what makes you say that?"
"Because I don't believe it either," she admits quietly.
"Go on," he encourages.
"I can't," she says, "because if I'm wrong..." She tails off and watches him for a moment as she tries to determine her next move.
"Whatever he thinks I've done," Coaver replies quietly, "I haven't. Your agreement with the Russians... it's not something my government thinks is a good idea, but my mandate here is simply to observe and report back to Langley, nothing more."
Ruth watches him carefully for any signs that he's lying, but she finds none. Of course, she never really expected there to be any. Jim Coaver's a pro, a boss spook, like Harry. "Who were you meeting this morning outside the park?" she asks.
He watches her cautiously, weighing up each possible answer he could give and what the result would be. In the end, he decides on the truth. "I was meeting a CIA deniable asset, nom de guerre Veronica Duran."
"Why?" she enquires, carefully hiding her surprise at his admission that he was at the park this morning when Elena had been shot.
"She arranged the meet with me, had some information to pass on," he replies still watching her closely.
Ruth sighs and looks away frowning. He could be lying of course, but then again all the circumstances point to him telling the truth. Why would he admit being present if he was guilty? And if he'd ordered the hit on Elena, why would he do it just outside the park where Elena was supposedly going to meet him, Harry's impostor? It doesn't make sense. It's just too convenient. Jim Coaver's no amateur; he's too good to make such an elementary mistake. So she makes the only decision she can; she decides to trust him.
"Right after you left the park, Veronica Duran took a shot at Elena Gavrik and missed," she says.
"What?" Coaver's so surprised by her statement that his eyebrows shoot up in disbelief.
Ruth remains silent, waiting for him to say something more.
"She missed?" he asks, and when Ruth nods, he frowns. "How far away was she?"
"About four, five yards," she replies.
"Huh," he exhales. "Duran's Israeli trained. From that distance, she must have missed on purpose." He pauses and then adds, "So she arranged the meet to set me up, huh? I bet Hal took that well."
This time Ruth does smile briefly, before turning serious. "The only theory I have that makes any sense right now is that Elena Gavrik hired Veronica Duran, and like you said, is trying to pin the blame for the attacks on the partnership on you and the CIA. In Harry's eyes, you're already an enemy, running Elena Gavrik to get intel on the Russian partnership, attempting to put a stop to it by arranging the assassination of Ilia Gavrik through Duran and stealing our laptop," she says rapidly. "The question is why?" Coaver looks thoughtful for a moment so she continues, "You know Harry. He's loyal to a fault and will do anything to protect the people he cares about and especially his children."
"Yeah," Jim Coaver nods, "and he's always put the mother of his children up on a pedestal, refusing to admit that she shared the blame for his failed marriage and his subsequent estrangement from his children. I guess this is no different. He won't consider anything you say against Elena until you can prove that Sasha's not his."
"I know," she sighs. "I'm very worried about him. He's going to do something stupid and someone's going to get hurt. I already have someone working on obtaining proof that Sasha's not his son. Help me to prove that Elena is setting him up, that she's behind all this. Help me to find out why."
He nods and murmurs, "Give me twenty-four hours; then I'll be in touch."
"Thank you," she says.
"He's lucky to have you, Ruth," Coaver replies. "I hope he knows that." Then he turns and walks back towards his car, leaving Ruth to breathe a sigh of relief.