Another chapter to sustain those of you waiting for series 9 to start :)
The next morning when Ruth woke, she watched Harry sleeping, until the nurse came in to say they needed to prepare him for surgery, and left Ruth to wake Harry. They had fallen asleep last night holding hands, and were still connected. Ruth squeezed his hand gently, rubbing his forearm with her other hand. "Harry, wake up … Harry … it's time to wake up."
It took a minute, but he stirred, opened his eyes and smiled at her, then closed them. Ruth. Ruth! Harry's eyes flew open again with the realisation he wasn't dreaming.
Ruth pursed her lips together in a knowing smile. "You're in hospital, remember?"
"I do now. How long?"
"Till the operation? Not long. The nurse will be back soon to get you ready."
"I'm not sure that it's possible to be ready for this, Ruth."
"They know what they're doing, Harry. You'll go in, they'll operate, and then you'll be back in action in no time." She raised her eyebrows and gave him a mischievous grin. "If you behave yourself."
"Yes. Yes, I know. You're right. I'm just … it's nothing." He shook his head and they sat silently, till Harry spoke again. "Ruth, yesterday, in my office ..."
"You don't need to say anything."
"Yes, but ... well, thank you. For what you said, and for staying with me. It means a lot."
Before Ruth could respond, the nurse returned and Ruth stood to leave. Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Ruth shook her head. "Don't. Don't say anything. I'll be here when you get back. I promise." She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, holding there for a moment, then straightened and cleared her throat. "See you soon."
With a final smile, Ruth turned and walked out the door.
At eight o'clock, Harry was taken into the operating theatre.
After a quick trip home to shower and change, Ruth returned to the grid. Harry's operation was expected to take at least three or four hours, so it would be lunchtime before Ruth was able to see him again. That gave her time to compile the situation report, and maybe even sort through the mess of files that had accumulated on her desk over the last week.
On her arrival, Ruth was greeted by Tariq and Lucas who enquired after Harry. Ruth's summary was typically empathetic. "You know Harry, not exactly effusive about how he's feeling. But I think he's been given a fright. It's serious, but fixable. He just needs to take the time to get better."
A discussion ensued about how long Harry should be absent from the grid, and whether that was comparable to how long they would be able to actually keep him away. Lucas reported that they were expecting Simon Glen to arrive shortly. "He's being sent over from Six to fill in for Harry. The DG himself arranged the secondment as soon as he got word of Harry's status. Do you know anything about him, Ruth? Simon, I mean."
"Simon Glen? Ah, yes, a bit … he's been with the Services almost as long as Harry. Not from a military background though. I think he was recruited straight from Cambridge. Specialised in organised crime, and spent a lot of time in the States and Asia. He was brought home a few years ago, parachuted into a position as Section Chief over at Six. Bit of a reputation apparently."
"Reputation for what?" Lucas asked.
"Ah ... Lucas?" Tariq interrupted, nodding his head to indicate an arrival on the grid. Lucas and Ruth turned to see Simon Glen himself surveying the surroundings regally.
"That kind of reputation." Ruth muttered as the three of them walked over to introduce themselves.
Adjourning to the meeting room so they could start the morning briefing, Simon got straight to the point. "So, what's being done about the team here? You're rather short on the ground aren't you?"
"Yes. I'm sure you're aware of what happened," said Lucas. "We are a bit low on numbers at the moment, but that's being rectified. We've got two more officers starting on Monday." He looked at Ruth, inviting her to elaborate.
"Dimitri Levendis. He's spent a lot of time recently working closely with Customs and Excise. Bit of an expert on piracy." Ruth chose her words carefully now. "And Malcolm Wynn-Jones. Malcolm's returning after … a leave of absence. Technician and data analyst. One of the best." Ruth didn't get the feeling that Simon would warm to the idea of an officer being brought out of retirement to bulk out the team. She needn't have worried though, as Simon was more interested in the first name she had mentioned.
"Dimitri? Interesting. Well, we'll have to see how things pan out on Monday then. Right, now, situation report. What's going on? What do I need to know?"
"You already know about the Summit Hotel investigation. In addition to that, we've been brought in by the Ministry of Defence to look into people connected to an incident in the Indian Ocean," said Lucas, again looking to Ruth, who had carried out the background research.
"More than forty ships have been hijacked in the last year alone. Three-quarters of them were ransomed for as much as a million pounds each. The increase in piracy has impacted on shipping insurance, and on the cost of shipping petroleum, electronics, food and countless other commodities. Not to mention ninety crew who are still being held captive." It rankled Ruth that this situation was little known by the community at large, and her frustration showed.
Simon said nothing, just leaned back in his chair nodding, so Ruth reached for the remote and pressed a button. The large screen on the wall flickered on to reveal an oil tanker at sea. "This is the Firmitas," explained Ruth. "It was owned by a Scandinavian oil company. Six months ago it was attacked off the coast of Africa, commandeered, and the crew were taken hostage. They were eventually released, for a price of course, but the ship remained in the hands of the pirates. Four days ago, the same tanker, sailing under a Liberian flag, was finally sighted by one of our warships after it was picked up by satellite."
Now Lucas took up the narrative. "Several of our naval warships are part of an EU task force patrolling a zone of almost two million square miles. The navy has been using boarding teams for over a hundred years, and even now they're deploying them for search and seizure operations. Our warship and several boarding teams engaged against the Firmitas, but the pirates aren't too keen on risking their lives, and escaped on smaller crafts of their own."
"Sounds like it's just as well Dimitri is joining the Section. His experience should prove quite useful," said Simon. "But why are Five involved? Piracy in international waters should be a job for Six if anything."
"Normally yes, but as you can see here, the Firmitas is no longer in service," said Lucas, directing Simon's attention back to the screen. The footage reached the crucial point, where clear blue sky and calm sea were abruptly shattered when a fireball erupted into a spectacular explosion, destroying the tanker. "We believe a load of oil was still on board, along with a large stash of firearms. Enough to generate that explosion which was heard hundreds of miles away."
"And?" asked Simon impatiently.
It was Ruth who responded. "As you'd know, there are strong links between piracy and organised crime. Piracy is big business. There's evidence that it's growing, and that gangs of criminals are now working across borders. A triad in China provided the firearms we believe were on board the Firmitas, and GCHQ recently intercepted chatter between a British shipping company employee, and a suspect with connections to the triad. The guns were smuggled to China from here."
"So we're tracking the suspects in Britain to sever the financial backing and eliminate the war chest," said Simon. "Right, well, you'd better all get back to it then. We're not going to solve anything sitting round here."
With that, Simon stood and marched out of the room, heading straight for Harry's office. Ruth, Lucas and Tariq were left looking slightly bemused.
"Do you think he's going to be hands-on like Harry then?" asked Tariq.
"There's nothing about that man that's remotely like Harry," replied Ruth.
Three chapters down ... and a few more to go yet :)