Disclaimer - not mine

Separation.

Ten days earlier

"Harry." Ruth walked into his office unannounced. "You are seriously considering going undercover." He sighed heavily, knowing she was asking as both Section D's analyst and his wife. He nodded once. "Why?"

"I can hardly send Ros, Beth or Erin in undercover in an all male prison."

"Actually." Ros stated as she walked into the office. "He has a point but there is a way Zoe can get in there."

"What?" Harry looked up to see both women staring at him. Ros smiled slightly. "Zoe hasn't done any undercover since that debacle in Newcastle."

"It's about time she did then." Ros countered. "The prison has a vacancy for a psychologist. The current one is on maternity leave. Zoe has a degree in psychology."

"How often does a shrink go in?" Harry frowned, genuinely considering the possibility.

"Once a week." Ruth stated. Ros watched as he mentally weighed up what he was being told. He knew it was a way of maintaining contact with the Grid and he had no idea how long the op would last.

"Ask Malcolm to have a legend prepared for her." Harry stood up, walking to his whiskey decanter before thinking better of it and turning back to the two women. "I am roughly the same age as Dominic Brewer. Similar forces background."

"Except you joined MI 5. He committed murder and blackmail."

"Which was never proven in court." Harry sighed. Ros raised an eyebrow before leaving the room, sensing her time there was over. She closed the office door quietly before heading off to speak to Malcolm and Zoe.

"Ruth." Harry continued. "I can't send Alec in. I need someone I know can infiltrate his gang, not barge in like a bat out of Hell."

"Alec can do his job."

"Yes, he is an investigator. Not an undercover officer. I will be fine."

"What do I tell the kids?"

"That I am away working. That I am coming home as soon as possible. Catherine and Graham will probably realise what I'm doing but Nick and Gracie don't need to know." Ruth sighed heavily, folding her arms across her navy blouse. Harry immediately recognised the walls going back up. Ruth was going into self preservation mode. "Ruth." He touched her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. "I am coming home."

"I."

"I promise. I will be home, before you've had a chance to miss me."

"Harry." She covered his hand with her smaller one, glad that the blinds to the office were closed. "I already miss you and you're here with me." He smiled slightly before kissing her gently, knowing this was going to be the most difficult job he had ever had.

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Now

"Well, they're in." Alec stated as he walked back onto the Grid with Beth a few steps behind him. Beth rolled her eyes before heading straight to Tariq's desk.

"Right." Ros looked around the room. "We carry on as we always have done. I'll handle Towers, Ruth can you have the latest threat analysis by this afternoon? I want to baffle him with facts and figures. Hopefully it'll keep him tied up for a while so we can get on with some work."

"Ok." Ruth sighed, glancing at Harry's empty office, wondering when it had become part of her routine to glance there at least once every few minutes. Ros looked away, knowing that Ruth was worried sick about the three undercover officers.

"I'm due to start my new job on Wednesday." Zoe leant against Zaf's desk. "Apparently it is the role of the in-house psychologist to assess all new in-mates."

"So you'll see Harry, Adam and Zaf?" Beth asked.

"Yeah." Zoe nodded. Ruth bit her lip, trying not to be jealous that Zoe got to talk to Zaf whereas it could be weeks or even months before she saw her husband again. Ros pushed herself away from Adam's desk before heading towards the office, knowing that meeting with Towers was going to take all her patience.

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"Jimmy Turner." Harry narrowed his eyes as he heard the tall, stocky man say his name.

"You wanted to see me."

"You're wife visiting later?"

"Why?" Harry was already on edge. He knew Ruth would not be visiting, the idea of her being in the large visiting room where criminals like Dominic Brewer would breathe the same air as her made him feel sick. It didn't stop him missing her and wishing she was going to be there, rather than either Ros or Beth pretending to be his daughter.

"Just making conversation."

"Well, don't." Harry paused. "I was told you wanted to talk to me. So talk."

"Straight to the point. I like that." Dom smiled, showing a gold tooth where his front incisor should have been. Harry remained calm. "I've heard about you."

"Aye." Harry let his Yorkshire roots show, knowing there was no way this criminal could ever guess he was the head of Anti-Terrorism at MI-5. "I've heard a fait bit about you."

"I know why you are in prison." Brewer continued. "And you don't look the type."

"Type? Didn't realise there was a type. I did what had to be done. Simple as. Now I'm serving my time because that has to be done. Simple as."

"Yeah. If you can't do the crime and all that Bull." Brewer smirked. "Only, you're like me." Harry tried not to shudder at the thought. "You do what has to be done and I do the same." Harry had to concede the man had a point.

"So? We're soul mates now." Harry smirked.

"Fag?"

"Don't smoke."

"No point in thinking of your health in this place." Brewer lit up a cigarette and blew the smoke in his face. Harry tried not to pull a face.

"I'd prefer to walk out of this prison rather than be carried out in a box." Harry stated. "I heard you are the man to be worried about here. Now is this why you wanted to see me? To make sure I know the pecking order." Harry shook his head.

"No, I know you have contacts on the outside."

"And how would you know that?" Harry watched as two younger men, one covered in tattoos similar to those Lucas wore passed. Brewer remained silent for a moment.

"I have contacts. Now, I heard you have something to do with that bomb last month."

"You know what I was convicted of. You know what I did." Harry knew the legend Malcolm had created made him seem like some sort of middle aged Mafia don. It was not a role he relished.

"And you know why I am in here."

"Money." Harry kept his face deadpan. "I heard you had a little financial issue."

"Multimillion pound tax fraud." Brewer laughed. "You could class that as trouble. Keep on my good side, Jimmy." He walked away leaving Harry to wonder what would happen next.

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Adam lay on the bottom of the two bunk beds in his cell. He knew his cell-mate was in the kitchens, working while he got accustomed to his new home. The locked door grated on his nerves but he knew he had to act the hard man, the 'mad dog' as Natasha had put it so many years earlier. Smiling slightly he wondered what the train station coffee girl would make of him being in prison now.

"Al?" He sat up to see Zaf in the doorway of his cell. "Settling in ok?"

"Yeah." Adam looked away.

"Sanjay Khan." Zaf stated. "Petty theft and GBH."

"Alan Coles."

"What you in for?" Zaf asked as two young men, one with a skin head and swastika tattoo on his forehead approached.

"My usual." Adam answered. The two men stopped as Zaf shrugged his shoulders.

"My first time in." Zaf looked at the floor. "And last."

"Not like Bad Girls, eh?" The thinner of the two young men laughed. Zaf looked up and shrugged. "Sanjay." He pointed to his chest. "This is Alan."

"Lee." The tattooed man spoke. "Looks like I'm your new room mate." Zaf raised an eyebrow before glancing at Adam. His friend did not look happy. "See you later, my bird is coming to visit." He turned and headed back down the corridor with his friend in tow.

"Bird." Adam rolled his eyes. "Can see Brain of Britain is going to be a hard nut to crack."

"Yeah. He should be glad Ros and Ruth aren't here." Zaf stepped away from the doorway of the cell. "Right, wonder if my bird is visiting. See you later Al." He wandered off, leaving Adam to wonder what was going to happen next.

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"Yeah, I do bleedin know where I am going." The young woman snapped as she shrugged off Stan's arm. "I am going to kill Adam Carter!"

"Put her down." Ruth called as Malcolm and Alec rushed to help the harassed security guard. "What are you doing here? Natasha?"

"Adam Carter." She snapped. "What the Hell is he doing in the same nick as my brother?"

"Your brother?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow. "You didn't come up on any search. Did she Ruth?"

"No, you didn't." Ruth addressed the clearly angry woman. "Who is your brother?"

"Half brother." Natasha snapped. "It's not like we keep in touch. He's a short arsed, spiteful, racist little scum."

"Lee." Ruth stated. "It's Lee, isn't it."

"Yeah." Natasha frowned. "What's going on? Where's Colin? Has he put some device or something on Adam to find stuff out about my brother."

"No, he hasn't." Malcolm closed his eyes for a moment, knowing there was no way Natasha would ever have known about Colin's death. It was a story he seemed doomed to relive. "It is of no concern of your how Adam found himself in that predictament."

"How did you find out?" Ros asked as she took Natasha by the elbow and frog marched her to Harry's office. Ruth and Malcolm exchanged glances before following. Stan shook his head before holding up a hand as Tariq asked if he was ok.

"Whatever is going on." Stan smiled. "I don't need to know, but that girl." He nodded to where Ros had half dragged a protesting Natasha. "She should be on your team. The girl has balls!" He laughed before walking away. Tariq shook his head, wondering what the dark haired woman would do to the team and why she was so concerned about Adam.

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Adam glared as he looked around the visiting room, aware that there was going to be little chance to talk to whoever Ros had sent to visit him. Zoe wouldn't start until Wedsnesday and Ruth had been banned from leaving the Grid, even though he knew she would ignore that ban if she wanted to.

"Sit down." The guard snapped. "You're girlfriend is still signing in." Adam kept his face impassive before sitting on the plastic chair. He had known Malcolm had been given little time to prepare legends for them all and he knew Carrie would never be allowed to visit. She thought he was in the Middle East on an op. The thought that she was going to be worried sick everytime the news came on TV or radio made him nauseated with guilt. There was so much about the job his wife could never know, not like when he had been with Fiona. He looked around the room, watching the tattoed boy he had met earlier laugh as a girl a few years older walked in. Recognition hit him like a punch in the stomach. There was no way she could see him there. He immediately slumped in his chair, hoping the brunette wouldn't recognise him, wouldn't remember him sat with her as she was tied to a bomb.

"Alan." He looked up to see Joan Gough stood in front of him. "Rachel couldn't make it. Something about having to sort the kids out so its me I'm afraid. Good old Auntie Joan." Adam smiled slightly, knowing the sleeper agent and Beth's former mentor was the best person for the job. What he didn't know was what the repercussions of Natasha being a prison visitor was going to be. "What is it?" Joan continued. "You can tell me."

"I know." Adam smiled. "I'm not sure yet but it's big and I'd bet money on it being a race related attack. I've made contact with JK." He referred to Zaf as he glanced up to see him talking to Erin. "Not seen the boss yet. My cell mate isn't exactlty a MENSA candidate so next time you visit I should have something." He smiled as she held his hands, a slip of paper passed discreetly between them.

"I'm an old woman." Joan stated. "Too old for all this worry." She looked up as the guard passed. "I'll visit if this goes on longer than a fortnight, otherwise tell Zoe or Ros when they visit. Harry will get a visit from Becky. His daughter." Adam smiled, remembering Beth's alias. Moments later he was lead back to his cell, waiting to see whether he could get Lee to talk.

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"One of yours turned bad then?" Natasha shrugged off Ros as she spoke. "If Colin hasn't given him comms then Adam really did lose the plot."

"He has not lost the plot." Ros stated cooly.

"There was a bloke in charge last time I was 'ere, an all."

"Sit down." Ruth spoke calmly. "You remember Adam. Things aren't always what they seem. You helped him safe Zaf yeah? I remember that." Ruth watched as recognition passed through the younger woman's eyes. "It was you that helped us catch a terrorist. Risked your life to save half of London."

"Shining Dawn." Ros remembered hearing about the case. Ruth nodded.

"Harry is still in charge. Adam is on a case, with him and Zaf." Ruth knew she was risking the safety of her husband and friends, but Natasha had helped them once before. "Colin."

"Died." Ros stated. "He was murdered."

"Oh my God." Natasha's eyes filled with tears. "Colin? Lovely, gentle Colin?"

"Yes, a few years ago. Maybe a year after you helped us." Ruth bit her lip, the memories of being sat in Harry's front room with the rest of the team flooded back to her. "We need you to help us. We didn't know you were related to Lee, but he is in trouble."

"He's in prison for eight years." Natasha shrugged her shoulders. "How much more in trouble can he be?"

"Oh you'd never believe us if we told you." Ros stated, her eyes staying on Natasha as Lucas walked into the office.

"Ros."

"He's in danger of having his sentance increased to life. Maybe even a whole life tarriff."

"He's 22." Natasha stated. "A complete plank with a very warped mind but."

"Lucas." Ros acknowledged his presence. "Anything?"

"Zaf called in." They had known he would be the first to be able to communicate with the team. "It's definately happening."

"When?"

"Still unsure but he and Adam have an in with the two racist thugs Brewer has hired."

"Lee." Natasha closed her eyes. "He's going to do it again. Isn't he?"

"I don't know." Ros stated honestly. "Why don't you tell us what he did the first time?"

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A/N Can Natasha help? Please review. Oh the flashbacks to the start of the op may continue. Hope thats ok.