In an attempt to blank out the sound of the shot, Harry was trying to piece together an altogether different scenario. One where the only person who mattered to him wasn't dead. Not helped, because the land rover which is crossing the rough terrain in a valid attempt to get to the scene in advance of the rescue team, isn't in his opinion, going fast enough. Despite Paul's calming influence and the driver with his foot flat to the floor. His mind fast forwarding, to an empty the airfield and what will be his requirement to walk behind her coffin. A memorial service and a well-chosen poem that he'll be expected to read. Neither of which he'll be able to do with any sort of propriety. Only to be pulled up by his boot strings, when a voice from behind him announces that Ruth is alive. Except that alive means what? That she's seriously injured, or is going to die before he gets the chance to say goodbye? Both of which are reasonable assumptions, especially when in the next breath the voice changes to one of urgency. Summoning medics and a rescue helicopter from the RAF base. To go to a destination which is close to the cliff edge and where Ruth is lying at bottom of a huge hole in the ground. One of several which have been created to simulate bomb craters and are used during exercises. Wired off in order to prevent such an accident. Which in the dark and when she'd been running for her life, she stumbled right through.
Twenty minutes earlier.
The group of soldiers who Ros was with, had crucially and unlike Harry, heard Ruth cry out when she'd got caught up in the wire and before she'd fallen into the hole. Giving them the advantage, both in distance, give or take a several hundred metres and in ability, given they were supremely fit, to be the first on the scene. Something which was re-enforcing the bond that had developed and without the added pressure of having not known how much time was available to them. Whereas now that they did and because it no longer mattered who heard, or saw them, they could go in with a toned-down version of all guns blazing.
Ros the only one who needed to convince herself, that anything other than a successful rescue was out of the question, based on what she knew about Mani That if he hadn't already killed Ruth, it wouldn't be long before he did, forcing her to ignore the cold water that was almost at knee level and accept the helping hand that was reaching out to pull her out of the stream. Up a steep bank and then out into what by comparison, was a vast area of open countryside. The sea which they now estimated to be about a quarter of a mile from where they were standing and with their combined hearing, confirming that this was where the cry had come from, making for an easy decision. One that saw them spreading out like a fan to minimise their chances of being a picked off the closer they got and with their eyes fixed on the horizon. Only speeding up, to the point when they were running, when they saw a single figure, silhouetted on what they estimated to be the cliff edge. Far too tall to be Ruth, it had to be Mani and caused Ros to make a decision. If she was wrong and they injured some poor soul who spent his evenings walking along cliff tops in a restricted area, then he only had himself to blame. Whereas if was Mani, then he was set for retribution that would see him suffer for the rest of his life.
'I need you to bring him down, but we need him alive,' resulting in the point blank shot that Harry had heard and was why Mani was lying on the ground with a bullet hole in his leg and why Ros, who was towering over him, had the added satisfaction of placing her army issue boot in the centre of his chest. Killing him was a privilege that belonged to Harry, not her. Although to prove a point and because until the rescue team arrived, she had no way of getting down to where Ruth was lying, or to find out how badly hurt she was, despite having had a brief look over the side, she increased the pressure and took pleasure in the reaction it produced. Resisting her earlier desire, which had been to roll him very slowly towards the cliff edge and then dangle him over.
.
Lying in a bed of brambles and unable to move, Ruth had in the intervening time and still was, drifting in and out of consciousness. Saved from a head injury because everyone in the security services, amongst all the rigorous training they received, were taught how to fall, she'd somehow managed to protect her head as she'd bounced down the side of the crater. Enough to know she was still alive, because every other part of her hurt. So much so, that it was only when she heard the shot that she changed her mind. Trying and failing to filter anything to prove that she wasn't about to die, because just for a moment, framed in the moonlight and with so many metres between her and the voice that was telling her to hold on because Harry was coming, was a blonde-haired angel that she didn't recognise as Ros. Not helped, several minutes later, when the owner of the one voice that could have convinced her that she wasn't hallucinating, was being prevented from launching himself into the crater in the same way that she had. His pleas being drowned out, by what to an outsider would have looked like an overwrought camper with a jumble of metal poles, when in fact a rig was being erected at breakneck speed. Allowing the two medics and their kit to be lowered into the hole.
Followed sooner than they would have liked, given that they still needed to examine their patient, but on the say so of Major Willis, by Harry. By which time, the helicopter that had been summoned, was circling above their heads. Its blades thundering to a level where no one could hear what anyone else was saying. Only when there was a wave from the bottom of the crater, to indicated that Ruth needed to be taken to hospital and that the only way to get her out of there was to airlift her, did it move to the point where it was hovering directly above them. Resulting in the noise levels for those who were in what amounted to a caldron, to increase. Apart from Ruth who was lying far too still for comfort in Harry's opinion, whilst still being prevented from getting close to her by the medics, as they waited for the doctor on board to be winched down.
It was further ten minutes, before Harry was finally told he could he anywhere near Ruth. Now strapped in a cradle with her neck supported and her clothes ripped to show the extent to which her body was bruised and almost certainly broken, he could go with her if he was prepared to be hoisted up, the doctor told him. Too shocked to answer, he just nodded. The sight of her being lifted, diluting ever further, his belief that she'd survive. Only giving way to his emotions when they were finally on their way. Close enough to Ruth, that he could hold her hand and talk to her, the noise inside the helicopter no longer mattering. The doctor sitting on the opposite side, who was keeping a close eye on the machine to which she was now attached and the contents of drip that was being fed into her, giving nothing away, other than urging him to keep going. Beyond arguing with anyone now, the fact that they were going to the military hospital rather that the civilian one in Polis, barely registering. All that mattered, was that after two years without her, she was with him again. In this intimate space that was thundering across the sky in an effort to save her life.
.
That the military on the ground were bringing Mani to the same hospital he didn't know. That it would involve a much longer journey and that after he'd been patched up, Mani was destined to be transferred to a holding cell, before an onward journey to wherever the security services wanted to deal with him, Ros had undertaken to organise in her own good time. While Paul, as Ros had also been afforded the privilege of calling him, had waited patiently until Mani had been bundled into an ambulance, before shouting, 'jump in.' Now on their way to the hospital, not only to find out the full extent of Ruth's injuries, but they were concerned about Harry. Harry, who when they were escorted into the relative's room, had if his expression was anything to go by, received bad news. When in fact he'd heard nothing since Ruth had been wheeled in at breakneck speed and under the glare of the hospital lights. Which compared to those in the helicopter, had made her injuries look far worse to his untrained eye. Deep scratches on her arms and hands, adding to his fear because she still wasn't responding.
'How many of those have you had?' Ros asked him, in an effort to gain his attention. Pointing to the pile of empty cups in the waste bin and assuming quite rightly that they were all his.
Paul chipping in, by suggesting that they all needed something to eat. Something that was substantial. A lifeline for Ros, who really needed a break and to get out of her soaking wet trousers, offering to go. Leaving Paul, looking for an alternative to telling Harry it would be alright, so asked him what he hoped would fill in the time until Ros got back. About Baghdad and primarily, the things that Ros hadn't told them during the briefing. Why Ruth had been with him and why was Mani so hell bent on getting his revenge?
'It's complicated,' said Harry, 'and I need to be sure that I can trust you.'
'That's a decision I can't make for you,' prompted Harry to look up. To tell this man who he barely knew, that he and Ruth met before she'd been seconded to MI5.
'The government of the day, in their infinite wisdom, decided that they needed to be seen to be right, having invaded. I was sent to Baghdad along with Mani, an officer from MI6 and a member of the CIA. To plant a large quantity of high- grade uranium, to vindicate the war. I stopped it happening by moving it and to this day, I'm the only one who knows where it is. Mani must have seen me talking to Ruth and assumed otherwise, when in fact she just happened to be there on a fact - finding exercise on behalf of GCHQ. That same evening, she got separated from her colleagues and ran into me – literally. She was lost and very scared and it was too late to take her back to where she was staying. One thing led to another. It was a magical night but a one off and I never imagined that I'd see her again, or she me. But as I'm sure you know, life has a funny way of playing tricks on us and seven years later, she was seconded to Thames House. Our colleagues at the time, most of whom are long gone, picked up on the vibes and made the most of it. Because I was now Ruth's boss and not some random stranger, she backed off. Only when she was exiled, to save me as it happens and is the reason that she ended up here, did she acknowledge that we loved each other. Two awful years later, during which time I've hung onto that memory and now look what's happened to her.'
His confession, if confession it was, was prevented from continuing, when the door opened and a nurse indicated that he should come with her.
'This is a military hospital. The rules, how shall I put it, are less stringent than in a large civilian hospital, so we don't have visiting hours, just short breaks during visits when patients are receiving treatment. Which means that you can come and go as you like,' she told him as he followed her down a maze of corridors, passing signs to several operating theatres, trauma wards, physiotherapy, radiology and even maternity. Having already told him that to understand Ruth's injuries, he needed to imagine two boxers. One a featherweight and one a heavyweight, put in a ring together and told to fight.
'When Harry had replied, 'he couldn't,' he'd meant that he didn't want to. A feeling that was vindicated when the door was pushed open and sight in front of him was all encompassing. The neck brace had gone but that was the only positive that he could bring himself to accept, when the nurse who was standing next to Ruth's bed, beckoned to him to come forward. That it was good news that the bruises were coming out, he didn't doubt. That she'd been shaken like a rag doll during the fall, was obvious. Her face, the only part of her that was unscathed, he couldn't take his eyes off. She looked so small, so helpless and it was then that the effects of drinking too much coffee kicked in.
'Head between your legs Harry and I'll fetch you a glass of water,' and he did as the nurse told him. 'Are you her only family?' and she'd sown a seed. George and Nico. What if when Ruth woke up, it was them she wanted to see?
'I think I need to make a phone call,' he told her.