Chapter 3

Lucas gently pulled Ruth away from Harry's body so that the EMTs could take care of him. He moved her out of the office and handed her off to Beth, who sat her in the nearest chair. Ruth was shell-shocked. Her limbs were shaking uncontrollably and while she was no longer sobbing, tears continued to flow down her face in a steady stream. Beth knelt in front of her, taking Ruth's hands in her own.

"Ruth…it's going to be all right."

Ruth's tear-filled eyes stared into Beth's. "No, it won't, Beth." Her eyes glanced over toward the windows of Harry's office, and she had to stifle another sob as she looked down at the floor. "My God it will never be all right again."

Beth rubbed a soft hand over Ruth's arm. "I'll make us some sweet tea…" Ruth began to sob uncontrollably then, and Beth, not understanding the underlying meaning for Ruth, repeated, "I'll just make some tea…"

Lucas patted Tariq's shoulder on his way past his desk. "Keep calm and carry on, mate. Harry'd expect nothing less."

Tariq nodded as he angrily wiped a stray tear from his face. Lucas went into Harry's office and watched as the EMTs moved silently through their protocol, finally transferring Harry's body from the chair to a gurney.

"W-was it…" He barely recognized his own voice past the shakiness of it, "Was it a heart attack?"

One of the men glanced at him. "Looks like it, sir, yes."

Lucas swallowed hard and looked down, nodding. After a moment, he said, "You know the protocol for the body of a member of security services?"

"Yes sir, we know where to take him."

Lucas fought the tears which were threatening to come as they pulled the white sheet over Harry's face, and not knowing what else to do, he silently followed the gurney out onto the Grid. As they slowly moved past Ruth, she grabbed the arm of the lead EMT, stopping him. She silently stood up, wiped her face of tears and removed the sheet from Harry's face.

He looked so peaceful lying there, almost as if he were just asleep; except that his face was far too pale. Stifling the sob that was building in her throat, Ruth reached out and caressed the face that she had known for so long and so well. The broad face with the beautifully rounded features and full lips that she had once kissed; how that kiss had stayed with her. It seemed so unfair that she remembered that one kiss so well and so hard. His lips had been so soft and gentle, sensual in movement and chaste in tenderness. How could she have denied him for so long? How could she have denied herself? And now it was too late.

Tears began to flow down her cheeks once again, as Ruth reached down to run her fingers through the curls around the back of Harry's head. How she had loved him and denied it, until the bitter end. She chewed her lip at that thought; how was she going to live with those last few minutes? A sob finally escaped her throat and she bent down and kissed his lips lightly; they were still slightly warm, and for a brief, sorrowful moment, Ruth Evershed pretended that he was still with her sharing it.

She put her hands on either side of his face and bent down into his ear, whispering, "I loved you more than life, Harry, and now I'm to live the rest of mine in regret because I was too afraid to admit it."

She pressed her forehead into his cheek and kissed him once more before replacing the sheet over him. Nodding to the EMTs, she stepped away and quietly went into Harry's office and sat down in the chair facing his desk, where she always sat. And she stared into the desk chair she'd no longer find him in late at night. She closed her eyes and breathed in; she could still smell his scent – a mix of cologne and scotch. She wrapped her arms around herself and began to rock in the chair, crying the despair of one who had never allowed herself to really love at all.

Lucas watched Ruth through the glass and stopped Beth as the young woman was headed toward the office carrying a mug of tea. "Beth, I think this is one time that sweet tea isn't going to help." He looked back at the anguish on Ruth's face. "I think we need to just let her be for awhile." He looked at those still on the Grid and said, "I know we've all just suffered a devastating blow, and while we'll have time to grieve later, right now our first duty is to stay on task and uncover the biological threat. The clock is ticking." He paused and licked his lips. "And Harry wouldn't want it any other way."

Lucas sat down at his own desk, and picked up his phone, hitting a number on speed dial. It rang a few times before it was answered.

"This is Lucas North, security chief of Section-D at MI-5, code alpha tango charlie gold three…."

The voice on the other end of the line responded, "Hold for the home secretary."

"Lucas," the home secretary said, "what's happened?"

Lucas swallowed hard and replied, "If you're not sitting down, home secretary, I think you should…"

The medical examiner tasked with the autopsy of Harry Pearce headed toward the forensic labs in no particular hurry. From what he'd heard this one was a 50-something spook who died of a heart attack in his office, nothing at all too exciting for a spy, he thought. He set his coffee mug down and reached for his lab coat when a large hand attached to a dark suit grabbed his arm. He froze as he stared into the burly man's gaze.

The man in the suit growled at him, as he thrust a paper and pen at him. "Read it and sign."

The medical examiner stared at the top page for a moment. "And if I don't want to sign the secrecy act?"

The burly suit leaned down into his face. "You have a freezer down here?"

Not getting it, the doctor nodded, "Well of course we do you blithering idiot, it's a coroner's office!"

The burly suit smiled at him. "Good. Sign the paper or plan to spend some quality time in stiff storage."

The black Range Rover pulled onto the old airfield in the dead of night, and all that could be seen out the windows were what the headlights illumined. The car came to a stop about 20 feet from a dark Audi. The back door of the Audi opened and the home secretary lumbered out and walked over to the Range Rover, opened the back passenger side door and sat down. He glanced at the man on his right, and smiled.

"For a dead man, you don't look all that awful, Harry."

Pearce sighed heavily. "I may not look it, but I feel it."

"Sorry for that, the drug unfortunately is a little rough on the system."

One of Harry's eyebrows lifted with irritation at the words 'a little,' but he chose to leave it, moving on to more pressing business. "Are you sure about this, home secretary?"

"I don't see any other way round the problem, do you?"

"Not really, no." Harry looked down at his hands and sighed heavily again.

The home secretary patted him on the shoulder. "I am sorry, Harry. But you are the only one left with all the pieces, and you were unwilling to share it with anyone else. You left me with little choice."

Harry's tone was less than calm, "I was certainly unwilling to put anyone else's life at risk by passing on what I know, that's true. Two men have already died because of what they knew, and the prime minister of Iran almost joined them."

"You do have a plan, don't you Harry?"

"Yes."

The home secretary looked at him hard. "I don't like that you won't tell me how you're going to handle this..."

Harry reached for the door handle of the car. "You don't want to know, home secretary. If something goes wrong, you will have complete deniability, and well, I'm dead already, so…"

"You can just stay that way if need be." He looked Harry in the eyes and saw a mixture of regret and sadness there. "We're counting on you, Harry. We need the allied assets in place in the Middle East should we ever actually need them to fulfill their true function, and we need to eliminate one way or the other the UAE sleepers before they unleash a biological attack in the UK."

Harry moved to leave and the home secretary grabbed the sleeve of his black jacket. "You understand what I'm saying to you, don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

"Regnum defende, Harry…"

"At any cost, home secretary, I understand."

"I still think it would have been easier to use Section-D for this..."

Harry glared at him. "Absolutely not." Off an irritated look, he explained, "all due respect, home secretary, but my people did not join MI-5 to become assassins."

"Assassins? That's a strong word, Sir Harry."

Pearce hated when his title was used to manipulate him, and he sighed. "I cannot and will not ask them to do what I am not willing to do myself."

"Be careful, Harry… and don't call me. I'm going to Washington to see the Americans."

Harry glared at him. "You bloody hate Washington, and the Americans…"

"I bloody hate this, Harry." He turned his gaze away from the spy. "Good luck."

Harry closed the door to the Range Rover and both cars drove off in the dead of night. Harry moved quickly across the airfield to the waiting helicopter and boarded it, zipping up his black jacket over his black turtleneck. It was cold, and he really hated to be without a heavy coat…

TBC