The End?

The single shot felt to Ruth that it had hit her straight in the heart. She couldn't breathe as she barrelled forwards only for Lucas to grab her before she could get much further. His arms tightened on her as she struggled to free herself, forgetting hre own injuries.

"Ruth!" Lucas winced as his own wound pulled, his sutures threatening to break it open once more.

"I."

"Ruth." He repeated as she finally stopped, the fight in her gone.

"He's dead,"

"We dont know that."

"I do." Ruth was numb. Reality seemed to slow down as she slumped in his arms. Lucas wanted to cry, knowing that Ruth really believed her husband, his friend was gone. It was Dimitri that finally broke the stale mate.

"Stay here. I'll go down there." Dimitri nodded towards the safe house they had reached moments earlier. "If." He looked from Ruth to Lucas. "If it is Harry hurt, I am the only one who is going to be able to keep my head, yeah? If it isn't. Well, I learned a bit of combat medicine when I was in the Service. If it isn't him I can call you both straight in with no concerns. Yeah?"

Lucas nodded. He knew the younger man was right. He and Ruth were too close. It wouldn't end well if someone was still there with Harry's dead body. He swallowed hard, hoping that it wouldn't come to that.

xxxxxxx

Ros marched towards Malcolm's desk as he looked up. The majority of the team were back on the Grid but she knew it was only a matter of time before those that were missing would start to cause concern.

"Any news?"

"Lucas has activated his tracker. I have sent him a recall message."

She nodded.

"Harry? Ruth?"

"No sign from Harry but we know Lucas and Dimitri have Ruth with them. They should be on the way back to us."

"What about Harry?"

Malcolm looked away for a moment before turning back to her.

"Nothing. Not yet. His phone wasn't with him when he left here. He had no intention of letting us know where he is."

"Bloody idiot."

"I dare say he thought he was protecting us."

"Exactly. Bloody idiot." Ros watched as a small smile crossed his face. "You've known him, for what? Since you started here?"

Malcolm nodded. "Best part of thirty years."

"You think he would go to wherever Tessa is? Face her down on his own?"

Malcolm sighed. "If it meant saving Ruth, he wouldn't even think twice. You know that, Ros. Why are you even asking me?"

"Now and again I just want to be proven wrong." She looked out over the Grid as Beth and Will stood talking to Zaf and Adam. She couldn't help but think her friend didn't look well. She frowned slightly, knowing Adam would not appreciate her observation. He wasn't one to take people noticing anything about him well. She turned back to Malcolm who was tapping away at the computer.

"Can you get me Lucas' last known location? Keep trying the comms. I want to talk to him."

"Of course." Malcolm looked at her as if she was asking him to breathe. Tracking his friends, even when they dropped their comms was something he found ridiculously easy to do. Moments later he was scribbling coordinates on a scrap of paper as she called to Zaf to grab his jacket. She couldn't shake the feeling Harry and the others needed back up whether they wanted it or not. Zaf frowned, grabbing his parker from the chair next to his desk he followed her out of the Grid.

xxxxxxxxxx

Dimitri felt sick as he looked around him. The floor was caked in blood, some congealed as the rest stuck to the skull of the dead body at his feet. He knew he should call Lucas and Ros but he needed a moment to get his stomach contents to stay where they were. He clamped a hand over his mouth as he turned in a circle.

"I think, this is the first time since I have known Ruth that she has been wrong." He stated calmly, surprised that he hadn't heaved.

Alec nodded as he let the gun fall to the ground. Harry sat on the floor staring at the body of the dead woman, clearly in shock.

"How?"

"I don't know." Harry couldn't pull his eyes away from the body of the dead woman. "Tessa had a gun."

"She was going to shoot you. I called out that I was here." Alec ran a hand over his face. "Dim, you said you spoke to Ruth."

"Er, yeah."

"Call a clean up team. Get him to Ruth. Now."

"Alec." Dimitri paused. "You shot Tessa."

"Yeah." Alec swallowed hard. Dimitri nodded, unsure if he really believed the older man. He had always been able to read people but for some reason Alec's words and his demeanour didn't match. He sighed, pulling out his phone to order a clean up team and speak to Ros. Alec crossed the room to where Harry was sat. He knelt down to where Harry was sat.

"You heard him. Ruth is alive."

Harry looked up.

"She is alive. She is with Lucas now."

"Alive."

"Yeah. And I pulled the trigger. Not you. I did."

"Alec, I was going to. I was prepared to. I."

"But you didn't. And any investigation will find that yes, you were going to. She was going to shoot you too. I distracted her, the gun swung towards me and I fired my gun. I shot her. It wasn't you." Alec surprised himself at how calm he felt. "Tessa can't hurt anyone any more. She's dead."

Harry nodded, looking at the corpse of the woman he had once thought of as a friend he knew Alec was right but part of him couldn't help but feel incredibly sad and angry that Tessa had never and would never really get to face justice. He let Alec pull him up by his arm and usher him out into the sunshine. Covering one hand over face to block out the sun he squinted as Ruth seemed to be staggering towards him with Lucas a few steps behind her. He smiled slightly before heading towards her and pulling him into his arms.

"Its over." He whispered.

"Never." She hugged him tightly, ignoring her pain as she buried her face in his neck, breathing him in. "I heard. The shot. I."

"Tessa is dead."

Ruth froze for a moment, pulling back she looked over to where Lucas and Alec were talking. Dimitri looked as if he had seen a ghost. She caught his eye, smiling slightly as he nodded once.

"Harry." Ruth whispered as he brushed her hair away from her face. "You're right. Its over. Bethsheba is over, Tessa can't hurt us anymore. Its over." She watched as he nodded, unable to take his eyes from her. He could see she had taken a beating, knowing the woman responsible for it was dead didn't dampen the anger he felt. Ruth had been beaten, he had almost killed a woman and his team had once again risked everything. His gut twisted as Ruth touched his face, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"She didn't win. We did. Harry, its over. The bombs didn't go off and the traitors didn't do the damage they wanted. Its over. Tessa didn't win, she didn't get away with it this time. It over."

Harry nodded, closing his eyes as he kissed her forehead.

"Back to the Grid." He whispered. Ruth nodded. "Via A&E."

"I'm fine." Ruth stated.

"No you aren't."

"I am now." Ruth held his gaze.

"Mule."

"Pedant."

"Hey." They turned to see Lucas, Alec and Dimitri heading towards them. "Hospital. Both of you. Or Ros will have all our guts for garters. And I am not explaining to her why you aren't in one piece." Alec stated as Harry began to turn to argue.

"He's right." Ruth squeezed his hand as the clean up team began working in the safe house. Her blood ran cold as she realised how close they had been to her or Harry being taken out of the safehouse in a body bag. She sighed heavily, hoping that Harry was right, it was finally over.