Same Disclaimer as before
Chapter 7
Back to the Grid
Four months after Harry was shot, Adam felt that it was high time he had a discussion with Dr Middleton about Harry's condition. After a long, heated session, Adam managed to convince him that it would do Harry a world of good to let him go back to the Grid for a visit. After all, Harry used to spend nearly all of his waking hours on the Grid. A visit would surely help jog his memory, more than any sessions with a psychiatrist.
Harry was very excited about his trip back to his office. When he went through the pods, he immediately felt that everything was familiar yet not the same. He exchanged pleasantries with everyone on the Grid. By now, he could almost recall everyone's name without prompting. He was even able to recall some of the ops which his officers were on and he asked about those. Some were still ongoing, others have been completed, satisfactorily or not, as the case may be.
Everyone was very happy to see their boss back in the saddle. Harry mentioned that even though he had not been given the all clear yet to join them for drinks at the George, he authorized Adam to take everyone out, at an appropriate time, and put it all on his tab.
Harry was very glad to see Connie. She was one of his oldest friends and allies.
"I was very worried about you, you know, but since you were in such good hands, I did not feel obligated to visit you. I hope you are not offended." Connie was pleased at the recovery which her old friend had made.
"Not in the slightest. My private nurse does keep me on a very tight leash. Watches over me like a hawk. I'm surprised that she did not insist on coming along with me today." As soon as Harry said this, he realized that for the first time since he met Rachel in the hospital, she was not there by his side.
Harry did not know that Dr. Middleton had given specific instructions that Rachel should not accompany Harry back to the Grid.
In due course, Harry made his way to his office. He knew where his office was and went to it without directions from Adam or Ros. Once he entered his room, more memories came flooding back and he felt more and more sure of himself. He looked at the things on his desk. Adam had been using his office during his absence but made an effort to tidy up all the paperwork strewn all over the office as soon as he heard that Harry was on his way in. Harry touched his computer, and fondled his favourite writing instruments.
The moment he sat in his chair, Harry looked up instinctively across the Grid to where Ruth used to sit. He was looking for someone, though he was not entirely sure who he was looking for since that was Connie's workstation now. Suddenly, an image popped into his head. It was Rachel, his private nurse. For a moment, Harry was confused. Why would he think of Rachel at this time and not, wait, who should he be thinking of? Why did it feel so right to see Rachel in his mind's eye? Was it simply because he felt a little lost without his nurse, or was it because …
Malcolm saw what was going through Harry's mind. He opened his mouth to say something but caught sight of the look that Adam gave him. Dr. Middleton had given firm instructions that Adam and his colleagues were not to volunteer any information about Harry's past life to him. They should only give information if Harry asked and then only in small doses, as a sort of nudge or encouragement to Harry's brain to recover more memories.
Malcolm was not at all sure whether this was the right way to go about it, but then again, he was a gadgets expert and could not claim any expertise in the field of psychiatry or psychology. He felt anxious for Harry's sake and sad for Ruth's sake, but he did not say anything.
During the long drive back to the safe house, Harry turned over the events in his mind. He was now certain that he did have strong feelings for someone who worked on the Grid, someone who sat in that corner he could not take his eyes off. He was also relatively certain that that person was no longer there. Gradually, like mist being burnt off by the noonday sun, the name "Ruth" emerged and the memories came flooding back. That cold October day by the dockside, the bittersweet farewell, and the pain he had been carrying around since then. But then, if Ruth had already left, why did he keep thinking of Rachel, his private nurse, whenever he thought of Ruth?
Unless, unless … . No, it could not be. If Ruth was back, how did she do it without being picked up by the authorities? She was supposed to be dead. Who helped Ruth come home? Who would want to do that, besides himself, of course?
He then remembered the telephone conversation he had with Malcolm that day he was shot, when Malcolm told him that someone was waiting to see him on the Grid. What was it Malcolm had said? "Someone you will be delighted to see again." He had no idea who Malcolm was referring to at the time but felt compelled to get back to his office as soon as possible. That was why he was in such a hurry and decided to use the front entrance instead of the underground entrance.
Harry needed answers to a lot of questions. If Ruth somehow found a way to get her old life back, why the charade as a private nurse? Well, for one thing, you lost your memory, you idiot. You might not have believed what she told you, even if she was telling you the truth. For another, maybe she needed a cover to get near you in the hospital, an excuse to take over nursing duties.
Harry remembered that this would not be the first time that Ruth fibbed about her relationship with Harry in order to get to him in a hospital. Well, at least she didn't claim to be my wife this time. Mores the pity.
As soon as they left the hospital and moved to the safe house, why didn't Ruth break cover? Why keep up the pretence? Most importantly, if Ruth had been willing to play nurse for the last few months, did she do that out of love, friendship or just a sense of duty?
Harry decided that he needed more information about this whole situation. Until he became fully aware of what happened, he was not going to confront Ruth about the charade.
On his next visit to the Grid, which was three days later, Harry asked Malcolm for a private chat in the conference room.
The first thing he said to Malcolm was, "Tell me about Ruth."
Malcolm was relieved when he heard this. Finally he could speak freely about Ruth. Although carrying around secrets was part of the life of a spook, Malcolm was not happy at all about carrying Harry's and Ruth's secrets. Why do these two keep circling each other? Can they not see that they belong with each other? Very quickly, he explained to Harry the circumstances under which Ruth was resurrected and Jools Siviter's involvement in all this.
Harry's eyes narrowed when he heard the name Jools Siviter. He now remembered having heard about his return to the Service from his exile in Washington. Harry was surprised but not annoyed, at the time, that the Home Office did not give him the chance to clean up the Service, but gave the job to Jools Siviter instead. After giving the matter more thought, he agreed with the strategy to bring in someone who was known to the Service but also someone who was sufficiently distant from all the brouhaha to be able to do a more impartial job of cleaning house.
"I'm sorry I did not discuss this matter with you, Harry. I hope you understand the need for secrecy." By now, Malcolm was so happy that he could speak freely about Ruth that he really was not worried whether Harry was going to explode and threaten him with a posting to some god forsaken land.
"That's OK, Malcolm, I understand, please don't worry about it. Thank you for making all the arrangements for Ruth's return." Then Harry had another thought. "Malcolm, please don't tell anyone, Adam and the others I mean, and Ruth as well, that we have had this discussion. Can you hold on to this for just a little bit longer? There are a couple of things I still have to sort out before … "
Harry did not elaborate on what it was that he had to sort out. Malcolm agreed. He had expected Harry to react differently to what he had just told him – instead of elation, Harry now had a look of general apprehension in his eyes. Malcolm asked himself : Could I have been wrong after all this time, did Harry not want Ruth back in his life after all?
They were then joined by Adam who gave his boss an update on his shooters. Harry did not want to bring in the rest of his team. They were busy with a number of on-going ops and Harry did not feel the need to interrupt their work.
"Shortly after you were shot, the local police fished a body out of the Thames with a bullet hole to his head," Adam began in his usual businesslike manner. He also started to click on the projector so that a series of images began appearing on the widescreen TV on the wall.
"The victim was a Chinese man in his mid 30s. Likely to be an illegal immigrant. Scotland Yard was not able to identify him. However, the bullet which they took out of his head had the same markings as the bullets which we collected after you were shot, so we knew that he had something to do with your attempted assassination. Then we caught a break when Immigration raided a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown last week. Not only were they able to round up a large number of illegal Chinese immigrants in the basement of the restaurant, they also recovered a small quantity of arms, amongst which was the gun which killed our John Doe and which was used on you."
"I never knew that the Chinese disliked me so much?" Harry could not believe what he was being told.
"After intensive questioning, one of the Chinese men who was arrested confessed to the whole plot to assassinate you, but he wouldn't give up the name of the person who employed him. You see, John Doe was his cousin who had only recently arrived in this country via a container. His name was Han Ming. Han was terribly home sick and wanted to raise a lot of money in a short time in order to pay the snakeheads to bring his wife and son out of China to England. Han was the shooter whilst his two cousins were in charge of surveillance. All of them were ex-PLA, People's Liberation Army, so they should be able to handle firearms. Unfortunately for Han but fortunately for you, the gun he was given on the day of the shooting was not a model he was familiar with. That was why he missed."
Harry gave thanks, silently, and wondered that if he was spared on this occasion, what other surprises might life have in store for him.
"Apparently, Han was not aware that if you were not dead, then his cousins would not be paid the final installment of the agreed fee. When he found out, he went ballistic because he was counting on being able to reunite with his family in the near future. Now he didn't have enough to pay the snakeheads."
Harry remembered seeing the agents posted outside his room when he was still in hospital.
"Han thought that his cousins were not on the level with him, trying to do him out of his share," Adam continued. "He did not believe that it was his own fault that they would not be paid the final installment. He was also told that he had to try and finish the job. Han refused as soon as he became aware of who you were, specifically, your job title. Han's experiences in China with the secret service there did not leave him with a nice warm feeling, so there was no way in the world he was going to finish the job. They argued, shots were fired and the next thing you know, Han ended up in the Thames."
"Why wouldn't the remaining two give up the name of the person who hired them?" Harry was most curious to know who employed this hit team.
"They said that it was a very powerful gwei-lo - 'foreign devil', with some very powerful friends. They were told that if they ever disclosed the identity of the employer, their family members back in mainland China would not be safe. They wouldn't accept any deals which we offered them." Adam spared Harry the details of what interrogation tactics they had to use before they were able to extract the information which he just outlined.
"That is unfortunate. Who did I piss off so badly that they would want me killed? I know that a lot of people in and out of government dislike me intensely for a variety of reasons, but to order a hit, that's got to be personal. What are we going to do next?" Harry debated whether he should raise the possibility that Ruth's return had something to do with this whole sordid affair, but decided not to since he was still not supposed to know the real identity of Rachel.
"Jools is aware of all these developments. In fact, he just summoned me to his club for a drink. I doubt very much that it's the pleasure of my company which Jools craves, so my guess is he has some information for us."
"Be careful, Adam. Jools Siviter always has more than one plate spinning in the air. Trying to figure all the different agendas he's got going at any time is more difficult that navigating through a maze. Try and make sure you worm everything out of him. Oh, and watch your alcohol intake when you are around Jools. The man has hollow legs." Harry felt physically ill when he remembered the last time he had a drinking contest with Jools.
"I can look after myself, don't worry Harry. You just concentrate on getting better. We need you back here."
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