Harry was unusually restless that evening. With a bit of difficulty, he managed to put his reply message in chapter thirteen and now all he had to do was wait. He was uneasy about Ruth's plan, whatever it was. He had no doubt whatsoever in her abilities, but he knew from bitter personal experience that things didn't always go to plan. Like stopping Lucas. Or proposing marriage.

On the face of it, solitary confinement wasn't as bad as could be supposed. Had he been under house arrest, it was unlikely he'd do much more than what he was doing right now – reading, and thinking about his children and Ruth. He kept telling himself it was merely psychology that was making him go slowly crazy – he only wanted to roam freely precisely because he had been prevented from doing so. He couldn't blame them, either. He was the definition of "flight risk" and if he had had the inclination, he could have disappeared without a trace sometime in those two days after his confrontation with Lucas before IA picked him up.

After finishing his message, Harry tried reading for awhile, but gave up after having read the same paragraph five times without remembering a word of it. She filled his thoughts, and he was undecided if that was a good thing or not. Before their chance meeting with Ruth, he had resigned himself to the fact that although what he had done had saved her life, she would never forgive him for it. In her eyes, he was a traitor, not only to his country, but also to the sacrifices that people like Zoe, Danny, Adam, and Jo had made. The look on her face when she saw him in that corridor had given him a sliver of hope, and that tiny sliver wedged an opening through his soul that he had tried so hard to keep closed. He eventually slept, but fitfully, his dreams a confused jumble of his daughter, coded letters, and bloody knuckles.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The sky is bright and Ruth is worried that Catherine will be late, or worse yet, reconsidered and didn't go through with it. As she walks to the bridge, she is both nervous and oddly exhilarated; it's easy to understand now why field agents do what they do. The adrenaline is like a drug, and even the simple act of taking a cab suddenly becomes thrilling. She's not being followed this morning; she thinks that this is probably because the inquiry is winding down. That fact alone makes her very uneasy, despite all the work she and everyone else has done in the last two days. She's done all she can without Harry's codes. Once they have those, it is all up to her and her poker face.

She sees Catherine approach with a book under her arm, five minutes before their appointed time. Like father, like daughter.

"Hi."

"Hi." The young woman hands over the book.

"So what next?"

"For you, nothing. Go back to your life."

"But…"

"No buts. You've been a great help. If all goes well, your father will be able to take you out to dinner in a matter of days."

"Ruth… I hope he thanks you properly for all this." And with a smile, the young woman walks away, leaving the spook completely taken aback.

The Grid was alive with activity when Ruth arrived.

"I have more information on Bateman and his recruitment." Dimitri hands over a much-worn file.

"Thank you." She looks in the file briefly and uncharacteristically swears, vehemently.

"Is everything alright?"

"Everything is perfect." The smallest hint of smile crosses her lips.

Much later, Tariq shyly approaches Ruth's desk.

"Ruth, I've got the codes put in. Are you seriously thinking of doing what I think you're doing?"

"That's the only way I can see to get Harry free and clear."

"But how..?" It's clear the techie is impressed, and probably not a little smitten with Ruth as a result.

"I had a lot of help from your predecessor, Malcolm. A few years ago I helped him figure out how to hack into the black archive, just in case we needed it for a rainy day."

"I need to meet this man."

She manages to get Beth to show her how to pick a car lock. Harry's temporary replacement scarcely leaves the crimson office, and both Beth and Ruth joke about how they could probably run a few more black ops in plain sight on the Grid, before he'd even notice something was up. Tariq has done his magic with the car park cameras, and all she has to do is now wait.

If Michael Ellis is surprised to find Ruth Evershed in the passenger seat of his car when he leaves work for the day, he doesn't show it, much. His nose is in that stage of bruising where it is more green and yellow than black and blue.

"So, missing Harry already? Decided to reconsider my offer?"

Only the thought of getting Harry out is keeping her from either leaving the car or throttling this guy senseless.

"I just thought I'd do you a favor."

"Well, no one would accuse you of having self-esteem issues." He leans towards her and she jabs him – hard – in the ribs with a memory stick.

"Take a look at that."

"What is it?"

"We came across some chatter, and did some digging. The inquiry is a cover-up, a total waste of time."

"How so?"

"The Albany file that Harry gave away was a fake."

"We know that already."

"The real Albany file, the one that works, is still safe and sound."

"Albany works?" His jaw drops and practically hits the steering wheel.

"If word got out that we still have Albany, the deterrent is still there, and Harry isn't guilty of anything other than perhaps poor judgment."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I thought you'd appreciate going back to doing your actual job."

"And what if I don't want to pass this information on?" He was going to enjoy watching her beg for Harry's future.

"I'm sure your wife and your very rich father-in-law would be interested in our last conversation."

"She'd never believe you."

"Maybe not, but she'd have to believe the security camera footage from the lift and the audio provided by the wire I was wearing at the time, wouldn't she?" The lift didn't have a camera and neither did Ruth have a wire, but he didn't know that.

"I've been forgiven before."

"Well, there's always the little niggling detail that you let John Bateman take Lucas North's employment with Five, while you were on secondment. Very sloppy, not even double-checking basic background details. I wonder what kind of inquiry they would hold for you for that?"

He turned white, his knuckles tightly clutching the steering wheel.

"Give my best to your wife," and she abruptly left.

As she walked away from the Lexus, she chuckled to herself and offered up a little prayer to Ros.

Author's note: One more chapter to go, I think! Please review and let me know if I hit the right track…there have been so many great inquiry fics lately, I'm a little unsure.