Sorry for the massive delay again! I hope anyone's still reading this. One more chapter to come after this one.

7

It was the first day of the state visit. Everyone had been up since the crack of dawn, trying to get all the necessary preparations done in time for the Russian President's arrival, which was just two hours away.

Ruth and Malcolm were performing some last minute CCTV checks to make sure that no details could possibly be missed. In the meantime Ros, Lucas, Jo and Purdey were preparing to leave for Whitehall, the first stop of the planned activities.

Since they had enough reason to believe that the assassination would take place there, the four of them were going to place themselves in the crowd of people close to the President and Prime Minister in order to stop the attack. It wasn't a watertight plan, but it was all they could do with the very limited amount of information they had been able to get out of the men they'd arrested.

As they arrived at Whitehall they could see that quite a lot of people had already gathered there. A lot of officials from all over the place, and quite a large amount of cabinet ministers and other representatives. A bit further away stood some groups of protesters, mainly ones on behalf of human rights organisations. And then there were some other bystanders: people who just happened to be passing and wondered what was going on, and other people who had come just out of curiosity. All four spooks realised that if anything were to happen today, total panic would ensue and there would be massive consequences.

Soon they were all in position. Ros was standing right next to the podium where the President and Prime Minister would deliver their speeches. She was disguised as a member of staff in charge of security. Jo was sitting in the crowd not too far from the podium. Lucas and Purdey would be patrolling the area throughout the event, looking for irregularities in the crowd and just generally keeping an eye on everything.

They didn't have to wait long before a long train of black cars pulled up and the Russian delegation, accompanied by the Prime Minister, came into the picture. They made their way to the podium on a red carpet, stopping several times to pose for the numerous journalists assembled, and to salute the guards who stood lined up all the way down the red carpet. 'So far so good', Purdey thought to herself.

They had now reached and climbed the podium. The President and his delegation took their seats, while the Prime Minister stepped forward to give the opening speech of the day. This lasted for a good ten minutes, in which everything went according to plan. The four Spooks stayed in position, as to not draw attention to themselves, but continued to scan the crowd and the area. Ruth and Malcolm were in a surveillance van nearby, and for the time being they had given the area an all-clear as well.

Suddenly Purdey felt Lucas nudging her arm. She looked up at him, and he discreetly pointed to his right. While the whole crowd was standing still, one man was suddenly on the move and he seemed to be in a hurry. Both Spooks realised there was no time to lose and decided to follow the man, at the same time trying to be as discreet as possible.

They followed him to the back of a nearby building where they saw him putting a balaclava over his head before starting to mount the fire escape. They waited a few seconds before following up. The man was so engulfed in whatever task he was about to perform that he didn't notice he was being followed.

Lucas and Purdey followed him all the way to the rooftop from which they had a clear view of the crowd below. By now it had become clear that they were following a sniper who had been assigned to assassinate the President. They knew they had to act fast, or else mass panic would ensue in the crowd, not to mention the diplomatic crisis that would spring from this should anything go wrong.

They also realised they couldn't call for backup from Ros or Jo because there simply wasn't enough time. The two of them would have to make do. They decided to split up, hoping to catch the sniper by surprise if they ambushed him from two sides. There roof was completely flat so there was nowhere to take cover, which meant they had to act fast, or else they'd be spotted.

Both Spooks sneaked up to the sniper as quietly as they could. He was too busy preparing his weapon and putting it into position to notice he was being ambushed. And also his balaclava limited his sight to the sides of his head, which worked in their advantage.

Purdey was so desperately trying to keep quiet that she didn't see where she was going. She nearly tripped over a small rock, and let out an involuntary gasp. The sound she'd produced was next to nothing, but it was enough to alert the sniper, who immediately aimed his weapon at her. Purdey was frozen to the spot. She couldn't decide if she was scared or annoyed. Scared because someone was aiming a gun at her, annoyed because she had messed up her first op.

After mere seconds, but what had felt like a lifetime, Lucas appeared behind the sniper and placed his gun at the back of his head, telling him to drop his weapon. The man refused, instead continued to aim his gun at Purdey.

Chaos ensued as Lucas tried with all his might to disarm the sniper, which resulted in a struggle between the two men. The sniper no longer held Purdey at gunpoint, an opportunity she seized to try and help Lucas. Perhaps she shouldn't have interfered, but she felt she couldn't just stand there and do nothing.

The last thing she heard before the back of the gun connected with her head was someone shouting her name, but it wasn't Lucas' voice.

TBC