Four days Juliet was kept waiting until Harry walked into the room, during which time she'd been fed, allowed to sleep and given as much discretion as he deemed reasonable, given what she'd done. They were in no rush and nobody was going to find her. Hidden in a windowless room in a disused warehouse, she'd been kept in solitary other than seeing her minder who didn't care if she lived or died, but knew better than to go up against the man that until now he'd only known by name and reputation. Before that though there was work to be done and in Harry's case, a decision to be made.

Given time, uncertainty will eliminate all reason was a saying that sitting alongside Clive during one of the many lectures that they'd attended together as young spies had been drummed into them, and it was this that Harry was gambling would bring Juliet down. For once in his life, time was on his side and he intended using it wisely and for that reason he'd called Adam back onto the grid as they gathered for the morning briefing.

'Jim and I intend taking full responsibility for what is going to happen over the course of the next week,' Harry told Adam, Fiona and Malcolm, introducing his long - time friend Jim Coaver. 'None of you will be held accountable in any way, I give you my word,' he assured them, as they sat around the meeting room table with the one other person who'd waited as long as Harry had to get answers to this riddle. 'What I'm about to tell won't be found in any records and I'm guessing we're the only ones left who are likely to remember how close we came to succeeding. For that reason, no one apart from those of us who are sitting in this room must ever find out what I'm about to tell you. I'm sorry that I have to burden you with this, but I felt it only fair that you have the full picture,' he followed with a brief outline of what Clive had said in his letter, before going to explain what they'd planned but failed to achieve.

'Jim and I first met in what used to be the USSR,' he told them. 'Sent there because the CIA had devised a system of communication that in those days was revolutionary. It allowed us to plant a mole right in the heart of the Kremlin and communicate with him on a daily basis without him being discovered. He was a highly trained operative that I'd been cultivating for months and had we been given the chance to use him, it would have brought an end to the cold war far sooner, the result of which would have seen what approximated peace across Europe. He supposedly committed suicide a week before he was set to come home, although even then I was convinced that he'd been murdered. Until now it's been an unsolved mystery, but Clive's letter and subsequent death indicate that Juliet, for reasons that only she knows, decided to put a spanner in the works, which by killing one of our finest assets succeeded. Clive god rest his soul, has spent his last year delving through correspondence and files, to as he put it 'right the wrongs' of which I'm sure there are many more. But none are as important as this. It appears that Roy Woodring was Juliet's accomplice throughout and we'll deal with him later once this dies down, but in the short - term, in what will obviously be a black op, Jim plans taking Juliet on a sunshine holiday to the States. Overcome by guilt she will have effectively disappeared of her own volition. If we're going to succeed then I'm going to need your help and your backing which won't come without risk, which means that any of you can leave this room now without recrimination.'

'Just one more thing Malcolm,' Harry added, hanging back after the others had nodded their assent before leaving the room, changing the conversation completely. 'I don't want Ruth to have to spend a moment longer than is necessary sleeping in that safe house, it's dreadful, so I need you to tell me how and when it's safe for her to go home. I'm assuming that you can monitor Woodring's calls and keep an eye on where he is and who he's meeting?'

For someone that had known Harry as long as Malcolm had, it wasn't difficult to recognise that behind the certainty that Harry had been portraying, there was an undercurrent that hadn't been evident when the others had been in the room. Harry never really gave you the full picture and he certainly wasn't forthright when it came to telling you what was bothering him. He buried it, he had for years and Malcolm had always respected that until now. He felt sure that his relationship with Ruth was the key to his current mood, so rather than answering Harry's question or moving he stayed put, pouring them both another cup of coffee and waiting.

'I feel as though I've forgotten how to smile,' was mildly amusing, given that Harry rarely smiled, but not in this instance, as Malcolm waited patiently until Harry eventually looked up from where he'd been stirring his coffee rather than drinking it.

When nothing more was forthcoming 'That's not at all like you,' Malcolm suggested, hoping that Harry would elaborate, rather than making statements that required a one sentence answer.

'Juliet of all people, do you know I'm still struggling to understand why she did it. All these years she's had me trapped in her web of lies. Seducing me into believing that she cared, when all the time she's been using me,' was said with the passion of a man who drowning in self- doubt and what Malcolm discerned to be a cry for help. He wished they'd been sitting in Harry's office with the whisky bottle handy. He'd have reached for it, despite the fact that it was still the middle of the morning.

'Time passes and confidence grows. Your past history maybe, who knows why Juliet came back? Perhaps she heard from Woodring that Clive was dying? She knew how close you'd once been,' he suggested as possible reasons. 'If it's bothering you that much, then ask her would be my advice. But whatever her motives were and are, you need to get past this Harry and look to the future.'

'I'm trying believe you me but I'm tired Malcolm. Tired of all the lies and betrayal. It's got to the stage that I barely remember who I used to be, I don't think I can do this anymore, not now I plan to stay with Ruth if she'll have me?'

Have me? Malcolm did his best to contain a smile again, pouring them both a fresh cup of coffee and venturing as close to Harry as was comfortable. Juliet was a bitch, plain and simple and yet here she was, still able to get under Harry's skin after all this time. But how he could be doubting Ruth when she and Juliet were about as far apart as chalk was from cheese, was beyond him?

'Tell me if I've got this wrong and I've been wasting my time by polishing my best shoes, but aren't Ruth and Fiona arranging a party for the beginning of next month, by which time you'll be a free man and both Jane and more importantly Juliet will be history? I understand that you feel as though you've spent your entire life on one unsuccessful journey after another Harry, I really do, but Ruth's different, she's honesty personified and she's lovely, we both know that. Trust your instincts for once in your life when it comes to the personal. Take some time off away from five, take Ruth somewhere exotic, talk about the future. Life's too short Harry. Do whatever it takes for as long as it takes, we'll manage. You of all people need to turn your life around and so does she. Either that or I'll whisk her away myself.' Finally brought the semblance of a smile and allowed Malcolm a moment to breathe.

Later that evening.

The heating such as it was had been turned up to full, their takeaway had been ordered and Ruth had made the best she could of laying a table in front of the electric fire, something that amounted to a throwback from the sixties. A romantic setting it wasn't, but Harry was determined to make the most of it, if Ruth was prepared to listen. Do what Clive said and put any thoughts about Juliet to one side, just for this evening he'd been telling himself when Adam had been driving him back to the safe house, after Malcolm's assurance that Woodring's house had been bugged and his phones tapped.

The look of relief on Ruth's face and the sparkle in her eyes when she'd walked steadily towards him and into his arms as soon as he'd opened the door, and his confidence had been boosted. Did it matter that the shower had seen better days, no it didn't, other than it would have been nice if the water could have been warmer? The bed at least looked comfortable and someone had manged to find clean bedding such as it was. Two more nights and then they'd be able to go home. To his or hers he didn't care, as long as she said yes.

There was no need for him to dim the lights. The lighting was as antiquated as the rest of the house, but he didn't intend apologising. You've prepared yourself for this, go for it, sounded a bit like the boy scout's motto or was it the girl guides? Another chapter that he'd missed out on in his children's lives. Catherine who'd promised him that she'd come home for his birthday but he hadn't heard from in weeks, another dent in his certainty, had encouraged him just as Clive had, to make room for someone permanent in his life. Well he was trying. Ruth had filled a gap that had been yawning for the best part of twenty years and surely Catherine would like her. How could she not?

'A little bird tells me you're arranging a party for next weekend. Your house or mine?' he asked Ruth, refilling her glass as they cleared away what was left of the takeaway and settled down for the evening.

'Wes it was Wes wasn't it, I told him not to tell you?'

'Not guilty on all counts it was actually Malcolm, but only in desperation during a conversation that we had this morning.

'One of those that you can't tell me about I suppose?' and there she had it in a nutshell, despite the fact that he was sitting at one end of the sofa and she the other, with her legs stretched out and her feet that he was toying with on his lap. Whether or not it was a conscious action didn't matter, it was highly arousing and Ruth was struggling to hold on to the conversation, rather than crawl across to where Harry was sitting and ensure they never made it as far as the bedroom.

'The reams of paperwork that Clive left, our analysts will deal with, but they came with a letter addressed to me. It's what I told you I'd been reading when I rang you this morning.'

'Unless you're going to let me read it, which I assume you're not, then I don't see why you're telling me this Harry?' Failed to produce the letter, but heightened her sense of need for him to just get to the point.

'Because I've always wanted there to be an us Ruth, almost from the first moment that I met you. Clive in his letter gave me the nudge that I needed to be brave enough to ask. When he wrote the letter, he knew he was dying and he also knew he was being watched. In a nutshell he needed to contact someone that he knew he could trust, namely me. In addition to the information in the letter which will bring an end to us running from pillar to post, he was reflecting on what he'd done during his lifetime or more importantly hadn't. It's the shove I needed and it's why I want to propose something and see what you think?

Well unless he told her, she couldn't answer. Would it always be as difficult as this when Harry shut himself away in one of his tiny boxes, starting a conversation but never finishing it? Were all spies the same, maybe they were? It wasn't as though she didn't know everything there was to know about Harry the man, as opposed to Harry the spy. She knew him intimately, every inch of him. She'd handled his divorce and hundreds more before him. She knew more about Jane and his children than any other client she'd ever worked with and she'd watched week after week as he'd tried to shake off the ghastly Juliet. Why the hell was he doubting himself when it came to their relationship? She'd accepted what he did for a living, never questioning him whatever mood he was in when he came home, and in bed, well it was just perfect. But drawing teeth or not she had to let him finish.

'Shall I make some tea?, She suggested in an attempt to contain her impatience, as Harry's fingers continued to play havoc with more than her feet.

'After the divorce I was wondering what you'd say if I told you I'd like to make our relationship permanent,' meant what, surely not marriage?

'A new life, just you and I, wherever you want to go, what do you say?' and Ruth moved like a bullet out of a gun.

Juliet was just finishing her breakfast when the door opened and Harry walked in carrying what appeared to be her suitcase.

'I've got rid of your minder and nobody knows that I'm here, but we need to move quickly,' Harry told her as she made an attempt to stand up. 'I'm taking you somewhere where you can get washed and changed and the ticket that you booked to go to New Zealand has been re -booked for today.'

'Now what makes you think that I'll fall for that one, I'm not completely stupid?' Was a valid question given what she'd done, although this was Harry and if anyone was going to help her it would be him.

'Let's just say that I don't want out previous history splashed across the front pages and that I'll be pleased to see the back of you, now stop asking questions and let's get out of here,' didn't offer her an alternative option. That Harry was cringing inside and would have dearly liked for it to be otherwise and see Juliet brought to justice in the UK, the CIA were far better placed to deal with her and as far as he was concerned be out of his life forever. Heathrow airport would be heaving with people, none of whom would know what was about to unfold at gate 7 in terminal 5.