A/N: Thank you again for your kind words and reviews. My family and I will be away from home much of this next week so I don't know whether I will have an update next weekend. I certainly hope to, but if I don't, you know why.


Chapter Ten

Sunday evening, 14 October

Ros sat at a café table sipping a red wine. She'd arrived early to ensure an outdoor seat and played the part of a woman on holiday, or at least as much as one could be when supposedly looking for a wayward boyfriend. Her seat allowed her to observe nearly the entire public square and gave her a clear view of the street from which Dr Pavlou should arrive.

Given what she already knew, Ros was trying to figure out where Zaf and Ruth may have gone if they were no longer in Polis. It sounded like they'd left the area a few days prior and they certainly hadn't turned up at Thames House so she hoped that the good doctor could shed some light on the situation.

A glance across the square alerted her to George's impending arrival. She took the opportunity to observe the man with whom Ruth had apparently been involved. The man was tall and good looking and Ros briefly wondered what it was about Ruth Evershed that attracted these men to her.

'Dr Pavlou, thank you for coming,' she said by way of greeting as he pulled out a chair and sat opposite her.

A server took his order for a black coffee and glass of ice water and they exchanged pleasantries until his drinks were delivered.

'So, you know Ruth Miller and Jamal Davi. Tell me about them,' George asked.

Ros had no idea what story Ruth had given to George so she proceeded with caution and stuck with same story she'd told the women at the hospital. Zafar was her boyfriend and he'd come to Polis on holiday. When he didn't return she came to the island to find him and one place she checked was the hospital, which is when she'd been told he was a patient briefly under the name Jamal.

'Why would he have used a false name?' George asked.

Ros shook her head. 'I've no idea. I don't know anyone by that name and I don't recall Zaf mentioning that name either.'

'How did Jamal, or Zaf, know Ruth?'

It was obvious to Ros that George hadn't liked Zaf all that much though that may have more to do with the fact that Ruth left Polis with Zaf, leaving George behind.

'Zaf told me he once had a friend named Ruth but that she'd died before we met. Other than that he never mentioned her and I never saw a picture of her. Did Ruth say how she knew Zaf?' Ros asked.

'She told me that she left London to escape an abusive partner. When this Jamal turned up, she said that he was a friend who had helped her escape and she wanted to help him return to London. Zaf had been beaten, I'd say tortured, and was quite ill when he arrived here. He had some sort of respiratory infection and he'd had abdominal surgery that was infected. He wouldn't have lasted a lot longer without medical attention.'

George's description fit with what they knew had happened to Zaf as well as what they expected had happened in the meantime.

'How was he, when you last saw him? Was he fit for travel?' she asked.

'He improved quite a bit while he was here. Ruth was concerned for his safety so we snuck him out of hospital in the middle of the night and moved him to her apartment. I stopped by regularly to check on him. His vital signs improved quickly but he needed IV fluids and antibiotics to treat the infection. He was doing better when I saw him over a week ago, but he really shouldn't be travelling.'

'Were they planning to leave the island? Why didn't they simply fly back to London?'

'I asked Ruth those questions myself and she wouldn't answer me. Said she knew I wouldn't understand but that they couldn't just fly to London. I did get the sense they were leaving the island, though.'

Ros sipped her wine and thought for a moment. 'Well, if they didn't fly then they must have left by ship. Does Cyprus have passenger ferry service? Do you know where they sail to?'

'There may be some but they would dock at Limassol. There used to be regular service to Greece and other European ports but that has changed in the past few years.' George sipped his water before continuing. 'Now that you mention it, Ruth arrived in Cyprus on a freighter; she made friends with a freighter captain in Greece and came over on his ship, though I don't know anything else about the ship or the captain.' George glanced at his watch. 'I need to get back to the hospital. I won't lie to you; I'm upset with Ruth for leaving Polis with a guy who literally dropped at her feet in the public square one day but one of the things that attracted me to her was her independence. She swore that there was nothing romantic between her and Jamal and that she felt an obligation to help him get home safely. I just wish she could have told me why he couldn't just fly home. Too late for that now, I guess.' George stood and Ros did the same. 'Good luck finding your boyfriend and I hope he's all right. Give my best to Ruth as well.'

Ros watched him walk away from the café and back towards the hospital. She leaned back in her seat and tried to put herself in Ruth and Zaf's place. Why wouldn't they simply fly back to London, or even anywhere in England for that matter? Ruth must have had false passports to use when Adam and Zaf arranged for her to leave England, so was she still concerned about turning up in the UK, even under a false name? Zaf, she realized, wouldn't have had a passport and Ruth likely didn't have the means to obtain one for him without a visit to the British Embassy. Surely Ruth could have brought Zaf there where he could have made direct contact with the Grid. It would have allowed Ruth to remain hidden, as certainly Zaf wasn't going to blow her cover given that he already knew she wasn't dead.

Ros realized there had to have been a good reason that Ruth and Zaf were unwilling to simply go to the Embassy. Did they sail off the island for who knows where, or was that simply a story for George's benefit? Could they still be in Cyprus and if so, why hadn't they contacted the Grid? Leaving money on the table to cover her and Dr Pavlou's drinks, she headed back to her hotel. She needed to make contact with Adam before she headed to Limassol and tried to find where Ruth and Zaf had gone.

The walk back to her hotel was only 10 minutes at a brisk pace and it took Ros another five minutes to power up her laptop and make the secure connection to the Grid. Before she left the café she'd texted Adam to let him know she would be making contact shortly and thankfully he was on the Grid waiting for her report.

'What did you learn?' Adam asked.

'I met with Ruth's partner, or ex-partner I should say. He's a doctor here in Polis and he treated Zaf when he arrived. His assessment was that Zaf had been tortured; he was also suffering from a respiratory virus and had recently had abdominal surgery, which was infected. Shortly after arriving at hospital Ruth had Zaf moved to her apartment; apparently she was concerned for his safety,' Ros reported.

'Did he say where they were now?'

'He doesn't know. Ruth told him they were leaving but when he asked why Zaf couldn't simply fly back to London, she told him he wouldn't understand. I'm sure Zaf doesn't have a passport; whatever fake papers the Redbacks were using to transport him must still be with them. Not sure why Ruth wouldn't have taken him to the Embassy where he could have called the Grid. If Ruth didn't want to be discovered she could have simply dropped him off. The only other way off the island is by boat so I'm going to Limassol to check on passenger ferries and freighters tomorrow,' she said. 'According to the good doctor, that's how she got here in the first place.'

'There has to be a reason that Zaf wasn't willing to go to the Embassy, and if he's not going to go to the Embassy in Cyprus, he's not likely to go to any others, either. We can probably assume that he and Ruth are working their way back to England, though Zaf will need a passport at some point. There's too many border crossings and checkpoints if they are travelling by land,' Adam hypothesized.

'Unless they are sailing directly back to England, but that may put Ruth at risk. How many passports did she have when she left?'

'Malcolm constructed her legend and put together the documents but I know it was at least two, though given the circumstances I'd guess it was as many as he could do in the short time he had.'

'So if she were to enter the country at a port away from London, she might have success getting Zaf back on British soil but will she be in danger then? Zaf doesn't know that Mace recently went to prison so he assumes Mace's still a threat to Ruth and there are others that would jump at the chance to get Harry out of Five by using Ruth. I don't think she'll stick around Britain if she comes back; she'll get Zaf somewhere safe and then disappear again,' Ros suggested.

Adam concurred with her assessment and informed her he was going to see Malcolm in the morning and bringing a secured laptop, hoping that he was feeling well enough to work on finding Ruth. They agreed that in 24 hours they would need to update Harry and hopefully would have information on where Zaf and Ruth may have sailed as well as Malcolm discovering what he could about her legend of Ruth Miller.


Monday morning, 15 October

Ruth woke early the next morning and was happy to see that she and Zaf had managed to stay on their respective sides of the bed. She quietly slipped out of bed and grabbing her backpack, she headed for the bathroom to shower and dress for the day. She'd always been an early riser, which served her well during her time on the Grid. Zaf, on the other hand, was prone to late nights and late mornings and would probably be sleeping for a while yet.

Ruth made herself a cup of coffee and thought about what she needed to do today, including another visit to the café where she could check her email for a response from Malcolm. If there still wasn't an answer, she would need to find another way to contact Harry on the Grid. She wished she could just pick up the phone and call him but she had to assume that he was still being watched, which would include his phone being tapped.

'It's pretty early for such deep thoughts,' Zaf said, interrupting the quiet of the apartment.

'Not sure I would consider after nine in the morning to be pretty early,' she noted with a smile.

'It's that late? Sorry, I guess I was more tired than I thought,' Zaf responded as he helped himself to a cup of coffee. He sat down at the small table next to Ruth.

'Are you still planning to visit the café while I have coffee with Matteo?' he asked.

'Yes,' she said. 'Still confident about Matteo being able to get us passports?'

Zaf nodded. 'I'll be surprised if he doesn't have connections to someone who can help us. The frustrating part is that I have so many intelligence contacts from my time at Six, people I used to work with in North Africa that settled in southern Europe because they burned out from what they were doing but didn't want to leave the climate and yet I can't trust anyone right now, apart from you and Adam, Ros, Jo, Malcolm, and Harry. Even for an intelligence officer this feels ridiculous but I can't take that chance,' he said.

Ruth ran a hand up and down his arm. 'Zaf, it's okay. We'll figure this out. Just be glad you were in Cyprus and ran across me. I can't bear to think of what would have happened otherwise.'

Zaf nodded in agreement before taking another sip of coffee. 'Matteo will be here soon, so I need to get dressed. Any ideas on what you'd like your next name to be?' he asked as he walked back to the bedroom.

'I've never had a choice before. Malcolm or Colin always handed me my legends and I was stuck with whatever they came up with.'

'Don't see a reason we can't choose this time. Matteo thinks we're a couple so should our new legends be married?' Zaf asked as he walked back to the kitchen.

The question caught Ruth off guard for a moment. 'I'll say yes on one condition; that you aren't expecting a wedding night.'

Zaf's eyes widened in shock as he took in Ruth's response. 'Man,' he said, 'even in my fake life I can't get anywhere with you.'

Ruth blushed vividly at Zaf's remark, causing his smile to widen even further. Ruth turned her thoughts to names, which prompted a question.

'Will our passports be Italian? Or will they be British?'

Zaf paused a moment, then shrugged. 'I expect they'll be British. Neither of us speak Italian, which is a bit of a red flag if we're traveling with an Italian passport.'

Ruth nodded in agreement. As a kid she'd been obsessed with names, coming up with dozens of possibilities other than her own dreaded name. 'Pippa,' she said, 'was a name I loved when I was young because my favourite primary school teacher was named Pippa. How about you?'

'Sorry Ruth, I didn't spend my time thinking about names,' he replied.

'Fair enough. Did you have a favourite teacher or coach?'

Zaf nodded in response. 'My favourite teacher was a woman, so that doesn't help. Umm, who else... Peter Young was my advisor at university. That's a fairly average name,' he added.

'Do you think Young might be too close to Younis?' Ruth asked.

Zaf rubbed his forehead in thought. 'Good point. Peter could work, though. Who else was there? Ah, Dave Granger was my boss at the student union. How does Peter Granger sound? Do I even look like a Peter Granger?'

Ruth was unsuccessful in holding back a smirk. 'About as much as I look like a Pippa Granger,' she replied. 'And you don't want to use Dave because?'

'David is my second name, so best to avoid that. Peter and Pippa Granger. We'll sound like a proper English couple with those names,' Zaf said with a laugh.

'Good thing it won't be our permanent new names; not sure either of us would be described as proper,' Ruth added with a laugh.