"Anything from Zofira?"
All heads turned to Harry … apart from Ruth's.
"I made contact last night."
Before another word was spoken, Zaf's eyebrows were already on the rise. If Harry was aware of it, he did not comment.
"She's a little reserved, I didn't push it."
"Harry, we need to move on this," Adam pressed.
Harry turned to him slowly.
"Thank you, Adam, but I think you'll find that I have been doing this since you were in short trousers. I know what I'm doing."
"I don't doubt it," Adam smiled, "it's just that we don't have long before Kazal enters the country and the –"
"You'll have the information tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" queried a seemingly impressed Ros.
"You seem very sure of that," smirked Zaf.
"Tomorrow," repeated Harry, straight faced, "now if there's nothing else?"
He didn't wait for an answer, he was already on his feet.
Ruth lingered, letting the others follow him out until Adam paused in the doorway.
"It's what we do, Ruth," he said simply, "it might not be ethical but it is necessary."
"Of course," she replied casually.
Adam smiled, "Besides, if it was Ros we wouldn't even give it a second thought."
Ruth laughed, "If it was Ros, we wouldn't even have had to ask!"
He propped open the door for her but she hesitated before stepping through it.
"How did you do it, Adam … when it was Fiona in those situations?"
He glanced at her for a moment before smiling warmly.
"I thought that when she came home at night it was to me and that was the place she wanted to be. It was all an act, a performance we put on, like donning the coat that is our legend: shrug it on and take it off. Nothing more."
"Is it really that simple?"
"Usually, yes."
"And did it never get more complicated?"
"If you're experienced … like Harry, for example," he smiled "then it doesn't get complicated, Ruth."
She nodded, unwilling to say more.
Ruth sat before her monitor swiftly checking that no one was close by.
She reviewed the footage of the evening before for what must have been the seventh or eighth time. Already she knew its timing by heart.
Harry stood as Zofira stood. In unison. They smiled at each other before he reached down and gently kissed her on the cheek. Two and a half seconds. She looked away shyly and turned to go but his hand caught hers, pulling her back.
For a seemingly interminable eleven seconds he stared at her with powerful, intense, demanding eyes. Ruth felt each one of those seconds with a rising heat, that for all her watching, still never waned.
Finally he smiled, a soft sexy smile and mouthed a gentle 'goodnight'. Zofira, clearly thrilled and embarrassed jointly moved away from him, her smile clear to the cameras as she walked from the bar.
Alone now, Harry paid the waiter before he too turned to leave. Purposefully he strode away, the smile slipping from his face, and in that moment Ruth saw the proverbial legend shrugged off. It was the Harry she knew, the Harry who had a job to do.
Ruth sucked the cold, sharp air into her lungs. She needed to get a grip of herself, this was ridiculous, she had work to do, she needed to concentrate, not be up here trying to get that look out of her head.
"Trying to escape?"
The voice came from behind her. She held her gaze out over the skyline and bid her heart rate calm down.
"Would that be a bad thing?" she asked, calmly.
"No."
He stood beside her and peered out over the city. They were quiet. The city buzzed, a low hum of background sound that almost made its own silence of white noise.
He sighed.
"Is what we do wrong, Ruth?"
She didn't answer for a moment but rested her hands on the rail before her.
"What we do is serve and protect. The means we use to do that may not always be right."
He echoed her, he too leaning, steadying himself, looking forward still.
"But should we do them, Ruth? Does the need outweigh the means?"
"If it makes a difference…if it saves lives. Yes."
Both stood. Both stared at the space before them, both felt the other in the air between them.
Harry nodded and for the briefest of moments the little finger of his left hand stretched out and lightly brushed the little finger of hers. Then the hand curled and pulled away. And he was gone.