'It'll be fine,' Adam told Jo as he pushed open the pristine glass doors, with the instruction to 'smile, he's a man Jo so use what you've got,' ringing in her ears. A lesson well learnt because the man on reception barely glanced at their identification tags as they headed across the huge foyer in the direction of the lifts. Where they waited patiently, at least that's how it appeared to the people who were crisscrossing behind them, only to find out when they reached the second floor and approached Pollard's office, that the entry code didn't match the one which Malcolm had given them. Causing Jo, not for the first time, to wonder how Adam coped with the pressure and still maintained the appearance of being in control, when her own insides were turning cartwheels. A feeling that was to continue when he retrieved a screwdriver from his pocket and took what felt like an age to open the door. Where once inside, he again told her to wait. Because if Pollard was in anyway less that what he appeared to be, that his desk would be rigged. Something that Adam proved by spraying the surface of his desk with the contents of an aerosol can. A learning curve which gathered further momentum, when he was only halfway through downloading Pollard's files, Juliet's voice came with the instruction to leave because Pollard had turned around on the bridge and was heading back.

Adam saying 'go, that he'd catch her up,' in the nick of time as it so happened, because as Jo exited the lift, she could see Pollard approaching the front doors. Where once again she reserved her smile for the same man on the desk, before she walked back out into the morning sunshine and released what was a long-held breath. Only to discover that when she arrived back on the grid, that she'd left the plan of the building on Pollard's desk.

Until Adam, still looking as cool as a cucumber, produced it from his pocket and accepted with a response of 'sometimes', when she called him 'a bastard.' Allowing her to acknowledge that her second foray outside of the grid had been a well spent exercise in tradecraft and more importantly had been successful, when Colin downloaded what were a series of photographs of various locations and several pages exhibiting weapons that certainly weren't available outside of the armed forces. Including one which after further examination, Colin confirmed was identical to the one which had killed their two officers.

'Ramping up,' as they sat around the meeting room table, said Adam, 'their need to locate Khurvin's whereabouts and decide what if anything he was planning to do next.

.

'Michael Gorman, you're a hard man to find,' Harry told the one-time CIA officer who was striding towards him with the air of someone who didn't have a care in the world. The approach to Thames Barrier being Harry's choice of meeting place, because he knew that at that time in the morning those who worked on the barrier would have arrived and because Malcolm had checked, that no visitor passes had been issued for that day. As opposed to his preferred riverside locations for meetings, which were much closer to where he lived, but on this occasion wouldn't have given him the anonymity he wanted, or have necessitated him taking a taxi.

Whereas here, his confidence, misplaced or otherwise with the backing of his colleagues, was giving him the feeling that he had nothing to lose, but plenty to gain by going walkabout again?

Unlike Michal Gorman, a man who he'd known for years and like him, had always been prepared to take things to the edge of what was acceptable to get a result. Not that he'd ever go to the lengths that Michael had, no matter how bad things were to become. Which had seen Michael blow up his boss's car, without its occupant of course. Something that he couldn't envisage any of his colleagues doing to him. But then he hadn't imagined that Tom would shoot him either, but he had.

Not that he was at all surprised that Michael knew he'd been suspended. Once a spy always a spy and no matter what you'd done or what rock you were hiding under, there was always someone that was prepared to keep you informed of what was happening in the world they inhabited. Mistaken though to suggest that he drank brandy, when whisky had always been his favourite tipple. Too often he acknowledged, as well as it being sometimes during the day when things got the better of him. A habit which he needed to break. Thoughts which were distracting him as he leant against the railings, waiting for Michael to tell him why one of his countrymen was involved in a scheme that involved hiring Khurvin to shoot people who worked for the British security services and God knows what else?

Which when he did, made perfect sense. It also made him consider his own position. How easily having appointed Juliet, he'd found himself inhabiting the shadows and organising clandestine meetings like this one. That nobody these days was considered to be indispensable. Not even him.

.

'Before you ask me, she's fine, Malcolm's keeping an eye on her.' Adam told him as he turned his attention away from dark thoughts and the industry that was the lifeblood of the Thames in this part of London and had been for centuries. Having watched Gorman walk away, to do what he hadn't asked him, and in all honesty didn't care.

'And the news about Khurvin?' He asked Adam, as much as anything to side track himself from what he assumed was going to turn into a protracted conversation which would require him to elaborate on the state of his love life. Because through necessity and a deep-seated need to make sure Ruth wasn't being harassed, he'd told both him and Malcolm that he'd rung her when he'd got home. Not though, that he'd chosen the moment to coincide with him running the water to have a shower. Something which when he'd told her, had resulted in her saying she was going to make herself a cup of tea and that she'd ring him back in a moment. Which when she did, by which time they were both in bed, he'd recognised a subtle difference in her voice. Less hesitant almost as though this was something that they did on a regular basis. Enough for him to conclude that her imagination had drifted beyond what they'd discussed before he'd kissed her. Brought to a head, when she'd promised him that she hadn't changed her mind and suggested that if he wanted to come over again tomorrow, which was now today, that she'd cook something. At which point they'd said goodnight, with an unmistakable hesitance. All of which begged the question, what had happened to her 'I want to take this slowly policy' in the time it had taken him to get home? Only now to be brought down from the cloud he was currently occupying, by the man who had encouraged him in the first place and to a lesser degree Ruth.

Not though before Adam updated him about the current situation.

'That despite time being an issue, he didn't need to worry about Khurvin. That they had all the information they needed and when they'd tracked him down, something which Malcolm and Colin were confident they could do quickly, Zaf was going to head out and monitor his movements. Unlike Juliet, and this was where Adam's tone changed, who despite being on the grid was proving annoyingly illusive when it came to offering any opinions. Almost as though she was allowing them to do what they wanted, in the hope that they'd stumble and have to beg her to get involved. Which was out of character given the seriousness of the situation which was making him wonder if she'd found out that he'd spent his evening with Ruth, or to put it another way, knew that he and Malcom had been lying to her? Which if she had, meant that they'd handed her ammunition to make life very difficult for them in the future.'

None of which made sense to Harry, unless Adam was suggesting he should stop seeing Ruth outside of work? Or he believed that Juliet still had some sort of hold on him, which in the first case he wasn't prepared to do and in the second was ridiculous. Begging the still to be answered question as to just how low was Adam really feeling?

Thoughts that didn't prevent him from saying, 'it might sound selfish, but he wasn't going to stop seeing Ruth. Because if he, Adam, was confident as he appeared to be about finding Khurvin and putting a stop to whatever he was planning, then he'd be back sitting behind his desk before the end of the week. That he knew without a doubt that Juliet had the job that she wanted, which wasn't occupying his office and to leave him to deal with any fallout, if and when it happened.'

Not that it made him feel any better as he watched Adam walking away. Knowing how close he'd come to asking him how he'd have reacted, if someone had told him that he had to stay away from Fiona or she him. Impossible right up until the end. Or if in some way Adam believed he's been comparing what he has with Ruth and thinks it's the same. Which it isn't, or would he suggest that it should it be spoken about in the same breath. In fact, he'd rather it wasn't discussed at all. Because whatever he and Ruth do or don't have outside of the workplace, is still very much in its infancy. He's kissed her once for Christ's sake and now and providing that nothing happens to stop him from going to see her again tonight, despite their late night tete a tete, he's not going to attempt anything that will see her running for the door unless he's absolutely sure she's willing.

Adam knew as soon as he'd mentioned what he knows have been brought about by his own irrational fears, that Harry would see through it. After all he's told him that it felt as though something was broken and could never be mended. That he doesn't even know how to cope with his own son. What he hasn't told him, is that he's constantly reliving what happened to Fiona in the form of flashbacks and is projecting it as a negative onto anyone and everything that he perceives as remotely happy. Jo smiling on what was only her second outing away from the grid. Zaf, behaving like an idiot behind Juliet's back, when in reality he's his right arm now that Harry's not there. Malcolm and Colin who sail through the day enjoying what they do and Ruth, the sweetest soul on earth, who of all of them recognises his moods and does her best to chivvy him along. Which is why now, he's taking his time before he goes back to the grid and has driven the short distance to where he knows he can park up and see Wes in the playground. Before he heads back to work, in the knowledge that Wes will probably be in bed and have a story read to him by his childminder by the time he gets home. A situation that he can't see changing any time soon unless he's honest with Harry, who he knows will understand and suggest a way to resolve this work and home life balance, without him having to hand in his resignation.

.

While the rest of them have been busy looking into Khurvin's latest exploits and planning his downfall, Ruth who knows that she's dodged a bullet after being late, has been catching up on listening to the perceived threats from other sources. One of her many jobs that are painstaking but vital. That and going through what are dozens of files that land on her desk on a daily basis, which she goes through to access the contents. Some of which she marks up and then passes on to Harry and other's which she sends back to the registry.

That Adam's gone to meet Harry, only she and Malcolm know and when Juliet had asked her where Adam had gone, she'd been as vague as she could. Harry who should have been at a meeting of the JIC this morning and isn't as she looks through the day's ahead in his diary, another of the things that she has to update and on occasions remind him where he should be. A thought which has her seeing an invisible entry that on today's page say's Ruth's for dinner, followed by another entry that says, I hope we get to know each other better. Only to be interrupted by Juliet who has materialised as she so often does on her shoulder. Not in the way that Harry does, which is to lean on her desk and speak to her in a way that is always part work and part asking her without the need for words if she's OK?

Which in this case is making her consider, given how forceful Juliet is and Harry when he clenches his fist when he isn't getting his own way and has been known to slam him hand down on the table if he thinks what he's being told is a load of old bollocks, behaved in bed? She knows that it was a long time ago and despite Adam thinking that Juliet does in some way still have a hold over Harry, which isn't true, that Harry and Juliet must have created what in spy terms equates to a bomb going off. Which is not at all how she imagines it will be, if and when she and Harry sleep together and is the main reason that she's invited him over again tonight. On her terms where if she can get away from the grid at a reasonable time, she can have the meal underway before he arrives and be wearing something which doesn't fall into the category of ordinary.

All of which are enabling her to smile at Juliet, despite her having taken up residence on her desk, in a way that is only reserved for Harry.