17

Catherine practically ran onto the Grid that morning, knowing that she had to find more information on the elusive Katya. She knew the woman had been typecast as a pawn in the game somehow but the woman had been instrumental in the attack on the Climate Change Conference. She also believed she was instrumental in the murder of Yannis. The woman had been involved in the death of her father, she knew it and if she could just find the missing piece of information she knew she could prove it.

"Catherine." She looked up as Ros walked towards her. "What is it?"

"Kayta." Catherine paused. "I got an alert on my phone. I think I know where she is. Ruth is on the way in."

"Explains why you're here at this ungodly hour." Malcolm sipped his tea. "However, Ros."

"I got the alert too." Ros winced as the awful coffee hit the back of her throat. She made a mental note to find out where Ruth hid the more palatable stuff. There was only so much awful coffee she could stomach. "His Royal Sliminess has been taken back home. I couldn't keep him any longer without causing some sort of diplomatic incident. He's the Queen's cousin." Ros narrowed her eyes. She had taken an instant dislike to the tall thin man the moment she had set eye on him. She knew the other women in the Section felt the same. Uncharacteristically Ruth and Catherine had done nothing to hide how they felt about the woman. Ros frowned, glaring at the cup in her hands, she couldn't shake the feeling she should be worried about her friend.

"Location." Harry barked as he walked down the steps from the Pods. He headed towards his daughter as Catherine got to her feet. Ruth headed straight to her desk as Ros explained Lucas and Adam had gone to collect Katya from the English side of the Eurotunnel. Harry nodded once before heading straight into his office. Ruth kept her head down, cursing her painful ribs as she waited for her computer to spring to life.

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"This is too easy." Beth stated as she sat in the driver's seat waiting for Adam and Lucas to return with the Russian woman. She knew the casual observer would think she was talking to herself but Dimitri was listening on the other end of the mobile.

"You think?"

"One dead gunman. One soon to be disgraced Prince, a climate change conference that was probably an elaborate set up and we are assuming this bimbo is at the heart of it? I mean, really?" Beth looked over the carpark as she waited. She started the engine as Dimitri spoke.

"Both Catherine and Ruth think that is what she wants us to think."

"That she is a bimbo or an international criminal mastermind?" Dimitri walked through the corridors of Thames House as he spoke. Beth swore. "Beth?"

"I'll see you back at home later. OK?"

"Beth?" Dimitri looked at the mobile phone in his hand shocked that his girlfriend had just hung up. Something had happened but he had no idea what.

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"Katya." Adam smiled warmly as he stepped into the holding cell at the Customs office. The Border Patrol Officer was equally as bemused as the officer Adam had passed earlier. Neither man had any idea why MI-5's dedicated anti-terrorist unit would want with the woman they had stopped. She looked like any other middle aged woman travelling back to her native France. Adam's face dropped as he realised the woman sat at the table was not the woman they had been expecting to meet.

"You said you had picked up the woman on the Watch List." He turned to the older man who nodded and pointed at her.

"Aye, there she is."

"That is not Katya Dennisof." Adam snapped as the woman in front of him looked up, terrified. He fought the urge to punch the guard as Lucas crossed to the older woman. He sat opposite her and began speaking in fluent French. The woman smiled slightly, gripped his hand and replied as Lucas clearly turned on the charm offensive. Minutes later the woman they now knew as Madame Lisle Angel - aged 67 of the Louvre Valley was on her way back to France as Lucas followed Adam out into the car park.

"What did you say to her?" Adam stared at his friend who just shrugged.

"That it was a case of mistaken identity and that we were very sorry to keep her. That her cooperation had made a difference to British security." Lucas looked over the car park. "Er, wasn't Beth supposed to wait?" Adam nodded, the hairs on the back of his neck beginning to stand on end. He knew this woman was the daughter of former KGB operatives, that she was highly trained but the fact she seemed to be always one step ahead made his guts churn. Lucas pulled his phone out of his pocket, pressing Beth's number on speed dial.

"Any chance of a lift?" He asked nonchalantly as he walked over to where the car had previously been parked. Adam checked his gun as he turned to face Lucas. "Beth?" Adam stepped away, pulling his own phone from his pocket.

"Tariq, need a local on Beth's car. Now." He paused as he heard the young technical officer on the other end of the line. "Its all gone to shit, mate. Beth's on her own."

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Beth pushed her foot to the accelerator knowing that Adam and Lucas were not going to be happy when she finally got back to them. The car screeched around the car park exit corner on three wheels as she followed the woman she had only seen on magazine pages Catherine had shown her the previous days. She narrowed her eyes, determined not to lose the woman in front of her - knowing that none of her team knew where she was going.

"Bit busy." Beth snapped as she heard Lucas' voice through the comms. "Our friend Katya decided not to get the train after all." She pushed her foot to the accelerator as she heard Harry's voice ordering her to pull back until they knew what she was dealing with. Beth ignored him, reasoning Ros and Erin would keep the pressure up. She had to do the same.

"Elizabeth Bailey." Harry's voice came through the comms. Beth swerved onto the motorway. "Dimitri and Alec are catching up with you. Calum and Erin should be able to head you off at the next motorway underpass." He had clearly realised she was not going to listen to him when he told her to back off. "Ruth is clearing the road with the police. Assume she is armed."

"Sir." Beth glanced at the speedometer in the car before cursing under her breath. Ruth had to talk very nicely to the local traffic police if she had any hope of keeping her driving licence. She glared at the woman she was following swerved across the lanes. Beth copied her, relieved that the police seemed to have closed the motorway so that she didn't have to worry about civilians getting in the way of the chase. In that moment she wished she had Lucas and Adam with her - knowing that unless the back up Harry was promising arrived there was a fair chance that should the red Mitsubishi in front of her stop she was going to be dangerously outnumbered. She swore as she herd the distinctive sound of a helicopter above her.

"Now we are talking." Beth swerved into the outside lane, forcing the bigger car to lunge into the middle lane or be rammed into the barrier. She swore as she realised the passenger had pulled a gun as she accelerated past before swerving dangerously into a handbreak turn. The Mitsubishi screeched to a halt as the helicopter landed behind Beth. The blades of the helicopter made hearing anything difficult. Beth stayed in the car gripping the wheel as the armed officers flooded the scene. The helicopter fell silent as Ros and Alec stepped down with guns pointed directly at the car Beth had been chasing. Beth opened the car door as the adrenaline began to ebb away.

"Katya." Ros held the gun at the younger woman's head. "We've been looking for you."

Moments later the Russian woman and her driver were bundled into the back of the car. Ros nodded to Calum who locked them in before Erin drove away under police escort at a much more respectable speed than Beth had on the way there. Dimitri watched Beth for a moment before crossing to her.

"You ok?"

"Always."

"You bloody idiot." He pulled her into his arms. "Can you try not to give me a heart attack." He kissed her hair as she wrapped her arms around him. Beth closed her eyes as she felt rather than heard his words against her skin.

"Dim?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you drive back?"