As promised part two of the eavesdropping. Many thanks for the reviews and I hope as ever everyone is staying safe.
As the official car smoothly and silently drew away from the hotel Harry, somewhat less smoothly but equally silently, was cursing his ill luck at being forced to attend a talking shop at the exact juncture of the operation reaching a delicate stage. Not to mention the more personal and even more delicate operational attempt to clear up the misunderstanding with Ruth, without reference to his inadvertent eavesdropping. Not that he regretted the latter, but quite how he proposed to approach her and cut through her defensive attitude was an issue that he could ponder while enduring this nuisance journey. It not being in Harry's nature to shelve matters he'd hoped to catch Ruth yesterday evening before she retired to bed, but for some reason she'd been delayed for an unconscionable amount of time. Finally at midnight he'd given up to seek his own bed for a virtually sleepless night. Always an early riser he'd planned to have a word with her before leaving this morning only to be confounded again. Having encountered her in the neutral territory of the shared room, just as he'd nerved himself to clear his throat, her mobile had rung and with a quick "Sorry," in a tone suggestive of the exact opposite emotion, she'd skimmed out the door, leaving him to debate whether his ears had deceived him the previous evening.
Malcolm watching Harry's exit through the wrought iron entry gates was experiencing a mild sense of elation regarding the concerted efforts of Team in successfully avoiding the pair meeting up during the unavoidable interval between part one and part two of their scheme. He'd taken his turn by asking Ruth to re assess some very dubious translations attached to an ongoing operation delegated to the remaining members of Section D and sent to him for verification. A task that had occupied her until the witching hour. Ros this morning had summoned Ruth to the Reception on the excuse of a consultation concerning Zahra and chaperonage, a conversation that was prolonged pending Harry's temporary removal to spread joy and light at the Section Heads meeting. Malcolm fought down any flicker of sympathy for those who would have to encounter Harry using that arena to given vent to his frustrations, he had other concerns. With a clear few hours now ahead, spiced with an even clearer sense of deju vu Malcolm buzzed the second victim of the supplementary conspiracy.
"Er Ruth. Sorry but could you observe the CCTV for me. Danny and Adam are going to tidy up the gym but just in case any of uncle's minions decide to appear…yes I know but I need to check a camera and Ros and Zoe are busy..Thanks."
That done he reproduced very much the same setup as the previous evening, the main difference being that Ruth would be observing via both sound and CCTV, so it was to be hoped that Adam and Danny's acting skills were up to scratch.
Ruth, although by nature less argumentative than Harry, still queried the necessity for her presence. "Ros says uncle and company have gone for a walk so can't you just record this?"
Malcolm already forewarned by Ros was ready with a pat answer. "It could be a feint, we know he's anxious to get into the gym to remove any evidence of his crime."
"But Danny and Adam…."
"Are here as employees so arguing would blow their cover – we need to have everything filmed, and if necessary edited." Pulling out the final shot, "Harry's instructions."
Ruth snorted, "And of course we all have to fall in with what Harry wants." This was not in Malcolm's view auguring well for the success of the plot Ruth was unaware of, as he replied with perfect truth, "He's our boss so yes we do."
Before Ruth could produce any further objections Malcolm channelling his inner Cheshire cat threw her a tight smile and vanished, leaving her to fume.
Settling down into the viewing seat Ruth was less than thrilled to have been delegated to witness the spook equivalent of paint drying. The first five minutes were exceeding dull, with the screen showing a totally empty gym, the only point of interest being the ropes and general disorder still scattered around the floor – a testimony to the scene setting of the two days past deception.
She was also conscious of some exasperation– what was the delay and why were Adam and Danny not appearing? It was so frustrating when she could be spending some uninterrupted me time in her room wrapped in the romances of Jane Austen, even though they had recently lost something of their former enchantment. In this less genteel age she now felt a certain impatience with the restraint of the heroines. A result of her recent entanglement a side effect of which being that when confronted with possible romantic complications, rather than follow these literary exemplars of understated suffering and decorum, she was fighting down an urgent desire to kick Harry in the balls.
The delay she was chafing at was in fact occasioned by Adam and Danny having a hasty conference on how to play this, since Adam had suddenly pinpointed one huge gaping gap in the plot, namely that since Malcolm has been scheduled to oversee the recording and they had feign ignorance of Ruth's substitution any conversation quoting Malcolm might seem a tad out of kilter.
Danny nodding his head as Adam pointed out the difficulty agreed. "Yes we forgot that fact." After a couple of minutes thought he threw out a suggestion, "How about when we enter one of us pretends that Malcolm has just texted to say he's been called away, failing to mention that he's asked Ruth to sit in?"
"Hmmm – okay let's get Faizan over here – and run the conversation on the basis that Malcolm already knows about the Harry Ruth situation?"
Danny found this suggestion dubious. "And the safety issue if uncle did come back?"
"I've got a tracker on my phone – if he comes within 100 yards it buzzes and we shove Faizan out the fire exit at the back."
"It's a risk but okay – let's go."
As a consequence of this at the exact point at which Ruth was contemplating abandoning her watching brief in favour of doing something more riveting, such as researching legal methods of torture with a view to experimenting on he whom she never thought about, she was disturbed by the sight of Adam and Danny finally entering the gym, the mutter of 'Lights camera action' having been made by Danny prior to their appearance.
Once in situ the pair dumped their equipment, surveyed the scene and began to photograph and make notes regarding the state of the gym and the position of the artefacts. Peering through the pixels the maximum enthusiasm for her task that Ruth could sum up was to conclude that as a sight it was marginally more interesting than what had gone before. It perked up even more when Faizan suddenly appeared, to the well pretended shock of Adam who declared loudly – for the sake of his unwitting audience
"Faizan what are you doing – if you're seen?"
With an insouciance that Ruth recognized as typical Faizan informed him, "Uncle has wandered up to the top of the lake and Ali is keeping the others busy with their courtship of Zahra. " After taking a breath he provided his excuse for the benefit of the listening Ruth. "Ali intends to announce his decision tonight and I thought it might be wise for me to see the gym layout before I turn up on the wedding day and give my aggrieved brother performance."
Danny and Adam after a glance at one another nodded. "Okay, although as we're filming this Malcolm will have to doctor the footage - so can you just skulk in that corner?" Pointing to a dark area off camera. Adding casually, "I'd ring Malcolm to check the coverage but he was called away and the recording camera can only be turned off at source.
Ruth on hearing those words scanned the controls on desk but decided that pressing something might be a bad idea and incur not the wrath of Harry – well it would but she was past caring what that bastard thought – but might upset Malcolm who had been very supportive from the instant she'd set foot on the Grid. It wasn't Malcolm's fault that he'd been dragged into a reluctant complicity of Harry's deception.
After Faizan obliged Danny sighed, "I'll be glad to get this operation wrapped up – it's bad enough having Harry and Ruth biting chunks out of each other on the Grid, at least we get to go home. but here it's 24 7 and tedious?"
Ruth's mouth was compressing into a very thin line – how dare he –while the full details had been redacted the team had gleaned some idea of what Harry had subjected her to – for the moment Harry's balls might have been issued with a temporary reprieve but Danny's, had she been within kicking distance, might have been a little more at risk.
From the shadows came Faizan's voice "Yes Aaisha and I were wondering what is the story between the pair of them – I've never met Harry before this week but he does seem a trifle edgy when Ruth is around and such sharpness is quite unusual for Ruth – or was in the days when we hung out together."
Adam made his excuses, "I'd agree something seem to be wrong but I'm a newcomer to the team – I do know that the other night Harry had one whisky too many. When I escorted him back to his room he paused just outside and uttered a huge sigh as he looked towards Ruth's bedroom door." Dripping with innocence and turning to Danny he asked, "Any ideas mate?"
Danny, purely for Ruth's benefit was putting on a good performance of squirming with embarrassment as he sighed, "We're not quite sure. We do know that they became involved in some way when they met during an operation just after Ruth arrived on the Grid – Harry was undercover so couldn't tell her the truth and had honey trapped another woman– well whatever happened with Ruth she felt she'd been deceived and took it very badly. – felt Harry had abused her?"
Upstairs Ruth was nodding – how accurate and how correct - Harry had been a total bastard ….except of course he'd rescued her from Giles priapic clutches– only to inflict his own on her. Consideration of those experiences was an alley she preferred not to enter, being one paved with pornographic cobblestones. Her attention was suddenly dragged back into the present when Danny continued,
"You and Adam are both right about Harry – he doesn't confide in me of course but I'm sure Malcolm won't object if I advise you, purely in the interests of avoiding any problems over the next few days -seemingly one night Harry – having dipped a little too deeply, did admit that he'd handled the situation with Ruth very badly."
Ruth was struggling not to recall some ways in which Harry had handled her – a completely unsuccessful endeavour while down below Danny was continuing, "Anyway he seemingly admitted to Malcolm that he's absolutely besotted with her but since she doesn't want to know all he can do is pretend he's indifferent. – if only she'd given him some sign but of course she was so very deeply hurt that she won't."
Adam asked the next question, "So why doesn't he transfer her out of the section rather than put himself through it?"
Danny could only speculate, "She's brilliant at her job, best analyst we've ever had, and besides what would be worse for him, knowing she's elsewhere and not seeing her, or at least seeing her even she does treat him with contempt?"
From a distance Faizan groaned. "The problem is probably compounded by Ruth having had a bad time at University with someone who deceived her, so even if she does have feelings for Harry I think she's probably afraid of being let down again."
Adam the man with a happy marriage summed up, "So Harry can't make an approach because, leaving any other consideration aside, he is her boss and could be accused of sexual harassment of a subordinate and Ruth won't yield because the demons in her own past."
Out of sight Ruth was sitting open mouthed in shock. Harry …..drinking because of her, confiding in Malcolm – something that he would only do in extremitis – and afraid of her – Harry - the man who'd outwitted the world when in Six, had survived the IRA, the KGB, various internal terrorists and at this very moment was probably running rings around the other Section Heads in the weekly conference!
Despite her struggles to avoid admitting any feelings for Harry beyond contempt and disappointment, as she recalled various passages of their past in the light of this fresh information her professional instincts began to kick in, forcing an unwilling reappraisal.
Yes he'd deceived her but he'd also cared for her.
The common interests they'd shared, that wasn't faked – she'd met too many pseudo intellectuals when it came to Shakespeare and music to mistake a very genuine knowledge.
He'd risked the parts of that very important black operation, designed to protect the security of the country, to rescue her from Giles. A process in which he'd been more concerned about her welfare than Peter her stepbrother.
For the first time in months, she considered the events from his point of view.
He could have trusted her earlier, but supposing she'd made an error – as she was new to the staff how could he have possibly assessed her skills when he was off grid?
She could hardly claim that the sex hadn't been consensual- other than the first unplanned occasion which had come as a bit of a surprise - but that was after she'd trusted him in his undercover persona sufficiently to confide in him about Giles.
Harry was after all a spy and one of the best, employed to Regum Defende so perhaps she should cut him some slack. He was a liar, but that did come with the job and possibly, just possibly when it came to his feelings for her he was for once telling the truth. Should she consider the principle that a stopped clock was correct twice a day in relation to Harry?
Maybe when this operation was over she could try to make amends. Forced into admitting it, she'd been bloody miserable for the last three months if he didn't accept an apology what did it matter – did she really have anything to lose? Other than her job – he'd kept her on despite her request for a transfer – so…..
A rattle from below indicated that Danny and Adam, conversation concluded were now involved in cleaning up the gym while a separate rattle of the door handle indicted that Malcolm had returned.
"Thank you Ruth. – any problems?"
"Err Faizan has joined them beyond that nothing extraordinary." Ruth could only hope that her voice had remained level. Malcolm didn't appear to notice anything untoward as he commented. "No problem I'll be able to edit that and any suspicious conversation out," Glancing at the screen he noted, "They seem to working on the tasks, so I'll deal with it. Harry texted to say he should be here in about half an hour – he needs to see you to discuss how we cover Zahra and Ali's announcement."
Ruth gulped – how an earth was she going to face Harry in a calm business like mode when what she'd really like was….she forced her mind not to go there as Malcolm was looking at her a mite curiously, "Anything wrong Ruth?"
"No – just wondering if I need to check a few details."
"I'd see Harry first - in case of any changes to the current circumstances have emerged."
"Yes – good idea" Ruth regarding what might well be a change of circumstance wondered how she'd manage to get the words out and would not have been comforted with the knowledge that Malcolm seeing her confusion was inwardly relieved as it seemed that the message had gone home.
Once Ruth had whisked her embarrassed self out of the door Malcolm buzzed the group – "Success so when Harry returns can we make sure they meet up."
A message that received an addendum from Ros stating "And also make sure we stay out of their way for the afternoon." While on screen Danny and Adam could be seen hi fiving Malcolm was wiping the tapes and sound recordings of the two conversations. Some evidence was best buried.
Thanks for reading. If you have a moment a review would be appreciated.