Harry heard Ruth's voice cut off through the comms, and he clenched his fists, trying to tamp down his personal feelings. Tariq was searching through CCTV footage to find Ruth just in time for Harry to see a man walk her into a room. A room without a camera.
"Who are you?" came an American voice. Harry felt his heart skip a beat. The bloody CIA was involved. After he'd specifically asked Beecher!
"What are you doing?" Ruth asked. "Will you please stop pointing that gun at me?"
It was a good bloody thing Harry was miles away from QMK right now, because if they'd been in a surveillance vehicle outside the building, he would already be rushing in after Ruth and not a force on earth could have stopped him.
"Let me see your access card," the American demanded.
"There's a fire in this building," Ruth answered, deflecting the question. If Harry weren't blinded by his panic, he'd be quite pleased with how calm and intelligent she was being.
"There is no fire," the American said. "We've done a thermal scan."
Lucas heard that on the comms. "Thermal scan? Who are these guys?"
"Let me see your access card now," the American demanded again.
"Come clean," Harry instructed. He knew who they were. He knew Ruth wouldn't be in danger. Jesus, he hoped to god she wouldn't be in danger.
"I'm Security Services," Ruth told them.
The American hesitated before saying, "Protocol mauve six pelican."
"CIA!?" Lucas exclaimed.
"Gold nine cormorant," Ruth answered easily. Of course she knew all the code protocols. She'd drafted half of them herself.
"If you are Five, you better tell me what you're doing here. Now."
"Tell them," Harry said. The tension within him was still far too great. He was about to break, he knew. He needed Ruth safe. He needed her back on the Grid. He needed her with him as soon as humanly possible.
Ruth spoke with poise and strength. "We're investigating a possible Chinese operation against Ms. Jiang. We have a credible bomb threat against this building."
"Source?" the CIA agent challenged.
"A trusted asset in the Chinese embassy," Harry dictated.
"A trusted asset in the Chinese embassy," Ruth parroted. "You need to get her out of here."
"Alright. Let's go, Ms. Jiang," the CIA man conceded. "You had better be right," he added, warning Ruth.
The group left the room and Harry could once again see them on CCTV and follow their progress. Being able to see Ruth walking quickly alongside the CIA officers and Ms. Jiang did comfort him, but he knew she was not out of the woods. She wasn't safe until she was back home in his arms.
Lucas and Dimitri intercepted them in the lobby with the CIA insisting that they secure Ms. Jiang before anything else, which no one could fault.
On the external cameras, they caught sight of Ms. Jiang grabbing Ruth's hand and leading her into the car. Ruth followed. Lucas got into another CIA car behind them, and Dimitri and Beth rendezvoused into their own car waiting nearby.
Harry could still hear Ruth on the comms, comforting Ms. Jiang and assuring her that her son would be safe, that the CIA were very good. Lucas was in the other car demanding information from the officer he was with. They were all headed to a safe house randomly assigned by the CIA. All perfectly within standard protocol.
The screeching of tires indicated that the cars had stopped somewhere. Doors opened. Lucas shouted, "We can't really call this relationship special if we don't even talk."
"Once I know what's going on, we can get all caught up, sweetheart," the American answered facetiously.
"Wait, you said this location was randomly assigned?" Lucas asked suddenly.
"GPS transmission from our base."
"When?"
"Just now."
As the conversation carried on, the penny dropped for Harry. He didn't need Tariq to turn around and say, "That's not possible."
Lucas knew already. "But we jammed the signal."
Before Harry could shout for everyone to get out of there, the tell-tale clinking caused them all to freeze. The flash-bangs went off and car alarms and everything was in chaos.
"Ruth!? RUTH!" Harry bellowed. He banged his fist on the desk. "Tariq, find them!"
There was shouting over the comms, but Harry couldn't hear anything over the blood in his ears. More screeching car tires and doors slamming. More shouting.
"They took Jiang," came Lucas's voice above the din.
"We're okay," Ruth added quietly.
"Get back here immediately," Harry said, his voice barely above a terrifying whisper.
And with that, Harry stormed out of the forgery suite and went into this office. He practically threw himself into the chair. He wanted to break something, put his fist through a wall, snap a computer monitor in half, anything to get rid of this horrible adrenaline.
It had been a long time since Harry Pearce had lost his self-control, but he felt himself losing it now. He had spent years doing what needed to be done, putting aside personal feelings for the task at hand. And he had done that, he knew. He'd not done anything to jeopardize the operation. But he could not deny his feelings about this. It was too much for him, knowing Ruth was in danger. She'd been in the field before. She'd been in danger before. But that was before. That was…well, it was before. Now, she had an engagement ring on her finger and she had spent more nights than not in bed with him. Now, he had not only the hope and dreams of a life together but the actual beginnings of one. Now, he had far more to lose.
Harry took a deep breath and calmed himself down enough to be able to turn his chair back towards the window looking out over the Grid. Just in time to see Lucas and Ruth enter. The cardigan she wore over her thin blouse was torn, and Harry watched as she took it off as she approached her station. Her lovely pale arms were on display as she bent over to open a bottom drawer and removed a chambray shirt that she threw on to cover herself up. Lucas came over with a glass of water for her, leaning in to check on her. Harry saw her look up at him and nod and then look back down, taking a sip of water and sitting very still and looking very small.
All he could do for a moment was just stare at her. She was right there, and she was well. Obviously shaken and he thought he could see a little cut on her mouth. But she was safe. And he could see her. He could go out there and take her in his arms and vow to never let her go, but they would both know that was a hollow promise. Rather than lie to her and to himself, Harry just sat and stared for a little while.
A knock came at the door and Tariq entered. "Team's back. Lucas confirmed that the CIA lost Jiang and it was the Chinese who took her."
The panic of Ruth in danger had left Harry now, and he was left with a seething frustration. He stood up and went out to where the team was gathered. They paused and looked at him as he stormed over. All but Ruth. She sat and stared into the middle distance.
"We delivered Jiang directly to them," Harry snarled, pacing back and forth by Ruth's chair. She still didn't look at him, but just being near her now calmed that part of him that still ached over knowing she'd been in danger and had gotten hurt. Professionally, though, he was too frustrated to give any further credence to his personal feelings.
Lucas stood, agreeing, "The snatch team knew we'd react to a bomb threat by shutting down the networks, enabling them to hijack CIA GPS. They just had to sit and wait."
"There was no bomb," Ruth said calmly. Almost too calmly. Her tone was flat. Tired. Harry's insides gripped him again.
Dimitri spoke. "So the intel from the embassy…"
"Fed to us," Lucas answered before the question came out. "The Chinese let us steal it. It gave us the only thing that they knew about Jiang. Her code name, Amphitrite."
"Which leads us to one conclusion about the entire operation," Harry distilled.
"Kai's a triple agent," Lucas said.
Harry shook his head in disbelief at this immense cockup. "We've been on the end of their rope from the start. We've been manipulated by a foreign superpower on our own soil, not only with ease but with contempt."
Ruth looked up at him at last. "There's no way we could have known," she said defensively. Or perhaps Harry just heard it as defensively. She wasn't being defensive. She was calming him down. She knew how he got about things like this, blaming the team and his own leadership when they got played this way.
But Harry couldn't let her work him right now. He brushed off her words and continued, "We may have a small window of opportunity to turn this around. Bring Kai in quickly and quietly, before he has a chance to disappear."
Lucas and Dimitri and Beth got to it. Harry stayed where he was, standing beside Ruth.
He bent down to whisper to her gently, "I'm sorry about your lip." He wanted to hold her, but he rather felt that if he did, he'd never let her go. And there was work to be done. Far too much to contend with now. Mustn't slip.
"Don't be," she insisted. She was trying to ease his worry, he knew. Trying to tell him that everything was alright, that she was fine, that he didn't need to get upset. She could say whatever she wanted, but it wouldn't change anything. It wouldn't change that he loved her and needed to keep her safe with a visceral feeling unlike anything he'd ever known.
"Still," he insisted. He searched her beautiful stormy blue eyes, watching the way she in turn searched his eyes for something he couldn't name.
"Would you kiss it better?" she murmured, a little glint appearing in those mesmerizing eyes.
Harry did not hesitate to lean in closer and gently, lovingly press his lips to hers, hoping not to hurt her but never able to resist any opportunity to kiss her. Particularly now, he could not resist her. His defenses were all but gone just now. "That was highly inappropriate," he chided quietly as he pulled back. Harry did not hide the little smile that played on his lips.
"But you don't care about that," Ruth answered with a smirk.
"But you usually do," he pointed out.
She shrugged, a more genuine smile gracing her lovely but injured lips. "I'm going to get back to work now."
Harry gave a final nod and left her be. She was home safe where she belonged, and he knew that was all he could ask for just now.