I still don't own Harry, Ruth, nor any others.
HR Physical Readiness Ch 4
Email message From: Jo To: Adam, Zaf, Malcolm, Ros
OMG! Can you believe that?! There's no WAY that's all work and no play. We need a summit to get to the bottom of this Harry/Ruth "operation".
6:00 the George. Who's in?
Email message From: Zaf To: Jo, Adam, Malcolm, Ros
I know, huh? Something's up, no doubt. Is it tracker-time, perchance? Besides, I'm always up for the George!
Email message From: Adam To: Jo, Zaf, Malcolm, Ros
Wes is at a friend's tonight, so I'm in.
Email message From: Malcolm To: Adam, Zaf, Jo, Ros
You all need supervision. I'll be there.
Email message From: Ros To: Adam, Zaf, Jo, Malcolm
You people need to get a life. But since I don't have one either, I might as well come.
At 6:30 pm a couple of nights later, Harry unlocked his safe and pulled a soft bulky bag from it, turned off the lights in his office and headed for the pods. Ruth appeared at his side, and they wordlessly exited together. "I left my bag in a locker this morning," said Ruth as they made their way down the corridor. "If I had left it under my desk everyone would have known by 9:06 am where we were headed right now. They may know anyway. I smell a lot of curiosity on the Grid about this."
Harry met Ruth's eyes and paused in his brisk stride, looking speculative. Ruth inhaled and blinked rapidly as he stepped very close to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, then smoothed his hands toward her neck. He gently turned her around, and she felt goosebumps as his breath stirred the wisps of her hair around her ears. He lifted the collar of her woolen coat, and breathed "Those pesky little buggers!" as he plucked a miniscule tracker, on a tiny length of wire, from her nape. With it pinched carefully between his fingers, he reached over her shoulder to show it to her. He stepped around her, took her hand and laid the tracker in her open palm. He pointed toward the Ladies' loo near the front entrance. "Go in there, and poke the wire into the top of a stall door, if you can find a tiny space for it. That way it will still show occasional movement. I'll wait here."
When she returned, grinning triumphantly, Harry was examining his own coat and found an identical tracker tucked under his collar. "These jackasses are sorely in need of training—they aren't showing much originality here" he grumbled but with a grin matching Ruth's. "Let's go along here a bit before stashing mine."
Before long they came upon the mail clerk, with his cart of letters and parcels to be delivered to each office. Harry nudged Ruth and said softly "There. Perfect!" He slowed their pace until the clerk stepped into an open doorway and turned to place the mail on the desks. Just at that moment, Harry tucked the tiny tracker under the edge of the soft rubbery grip on the cart's handle. "That should keep them busy for a bit." He said with a satisfied smile, which he shared with Ruth, as they imagined their team members tracking "Harry" to every office in Thames House.
They worked their way down stairwells and through the increasingly deserted maze of corridors until they reached an abrupt right turn through a set of fire doors, then entered the tunnel toward the Annexe housing the fitness center. Several turns and sets of fire doors later, they paused. "Meet you on the other side" muttered Harry as each entered the appropriate locker room.
Ruth opened the locker wherein she had stashed her gear early that morning. She pulled out her workout clothes which, while barely worn, were quite outdated in style. She struggled into the shiny, very stretchy spandex pants and breathed a sigh of relief that they were merely snug and not as girdle-like as she had feared. "These aren't actually all that bad" she encouraged herself as she turned this way and that in front of the full length mirror. "Especially with this!" and pulled an extra large tunic-style t-shirt on over her sports bra and settled it artfully around her hips. Hand on hips, she did a few deep squats and said "OK, I'm ready!"
Harry, in the Men's Locker room, wasn't so happy with his presentation. His elderly sweatpants hugged his waist, backside and, frankly… everything! a bit too snugly, he thought, and the fabric seemed a tad thin in the vital areas! "Why didn't I test these out, dammit?" he grumbled. "At least I can cover up with this." he consoled himself as he donned a large, loose t-shirt. It covered his midsection nicely. Harry flexed his muscles in front of the full length mirror and said "Not too bad for a decrepit old spook, eh?" before heading out the door to the fitness center to meet Ruth and the trainer.