Thanks to all the readers and especially the people who took time out to review chapter one. Onwards we go, but not necessarily upwards.

xxxxxx

Adam hurried through the pods scanning his watch as he went. He was meant to have been back 20 minutes earlier for a meeting with Harry around a delicate situation in Leeds, where an agent currently undercover was showing signs of 'Stockholm syndrome' and becoming a little too evasive on his nightly call in. He glanced around quickly, it had just gone six o'clock and Harry's office was shrouded in darkness, catching a glimpse of a familiar face walking back to his desk with a cup of tea he called over. "Malcolm, any idea where Harry is?"

Malcolm paused en route to his desk before wandering over to where Adam stood, "No, sorry, anything I can help with?"

Adam shook his head, "I just needed to update him about Rogers up in Yorkshire, we were meant to be meeting 20 minutes ago."

Malcolm raised his eyebrows briefly as if to say that if Adam was 20 minutes late, he couldn't really be upset with Harry for showing the same tardiness, but said nothing. He looked around the Grid briefly, it was still a hive of activity despite the time of night. "I haven't seen him since he left for his meeting with Dolby, though that would be a few hours ago now."

"And he's not been back since?"

"Not that I've seen, though I have been down in the Registry up until 10 minutes ago, he may well have been and gone."

Adam caught a junior Analyst as he walked by, his head buried in a folder, "Iain, you haven't caught sight of Harry at all recently have you?"

"Not since around lunch time," was the quick answer given,

"And you've been on the Grid the last few hours?"

Iain nodded. "Yes sir, I've been focusing on that chatter coming through from GCHQ around Greenham."

"Thanks Iain," Adam watched as the Analyst sat back down at his desk, his head still buried in whatever document it was he was reading, "and don't call me sir," he added quickly with a grin before turning back to Malcolm. "I've got a strange feeling about this," he commented, "Harry was really insistent that we meet tonight to discuss this potential issue with Rogers before he checks in. I was surprised I didn't receive a call from him when I was late arriving."

"Give me a moment," Malcolm wandered over to his desk and picking up the phone quickly tapped in a couple of numbers before waiting for it to connect. "Agnes, how are you? Malcolm Wynn-Jones here from Section D... yes, yes I'm all good and how are you?" Adam rolled his eyes, at the conversation, Agnes, the DG's PA was a lovely lady but could talk like a magpie given half a chance. He motioned Malcolm to hurry up and get to the point. "Sorry to interrupt you Agnes, but we're trying to track Harry down, is he still in with the DG?... oh really... half an hour after everyone else...that is strange... what time did he leave?" Malcolm waved to Adam with his hand and mouthed, "he left Dolby about 40 minutes ago," as Agnes kept chirping away in his ear.

Adam walked away, a slight frown on his face, it wasn't like Harry to miss a meeting particularly with him and especially after all the trouble that had arisen with Ana, the Iranian incident and the fallout from that. On the spur of the moment, he turned back round and indicated to Malcolm that he was going back out, he had a funny feeling in his stomach and he wasn't quite sure why.

Harry jumped slightly as he heard the door to the roof open behind him. He'd gone straight there after leaving Dickie's office in an attempt to get his jumbled thoughts in order, there was so much racing through his mind that he didn't know where to start. Fury at Mace being allowed back into the fold with little more than a slap on the wrist and trepidation over the news about Ruth. She had been in his thoughts more that he would like to admit, even to himself, over the past 18 months and as much as he'd entertained the fantasy of riding in on a white horse and saving her from disaster, he was a knight after all even if only in name, he knew the reality was a lot different. Firstly he hadn't been lying when he said he had no idea where Ruth was now and secondly, even if he had known, there wasn't any guarantees that Ruth would actually want to be rescued. She'd always yearned for some sort of normality and order in her life and maybe going into exile had finally forced that opportunity on her.

"There you are," Adam said as he made his way over to him, "I've been looking all over for you."

Harry turned to look at him with half an eyebrow quirked. "All over?" he asked sardonically.

Adam rubbed his hands together against the cold, "well the canteen and I phoned Whitehall, neither had seen either head nor tail of you, so I headed up here," he answered with a grin.

"Sounds like a proper manhunt, remind me to put expert tracker down amongst your skills in you personnel file when we get back downstairs," was Harry's dry retort.

"Well I managed to find you." Adam smiled broadly.

"I wasn't aware I was hiding..." Harry looked over at him again. "Was there something you wanted Adam?"

He leaned against the railings on the roof and looked over the expanse of the city in front of him, it was dusk and the lights from all the offices and landmarks were starting to become visible on the horizon. "Our meeting, you know the one you told me not to miss under any circumstances..."

Harry looked at his watch, "Bugger, sorry Adam, it completely slipped my mind."

Adam grinned at him. "Don't worry about it, another 24 hours isn't going to make any difference to this in the grand scheme of things."

"Is that so?" Harry looked over at him, searching his face for any hint of complacency but found none.

"Yes, if he has started to get a little too involved then we'll need to get another couple of officers up there, but we're not going to know that until we've questioned him thoroughly and we're not going to be able to do that until we've got said officers up there and arranged a suitable time to pull him in. So that if we're all wrong about all of this, him going missing for a few hours isn't going to be noticed by Mahmood's gang of merry men." Adam looked over to Harry and folded his arms against his chest. "We just send Andrews and Kaplan up there tonight so they're in place and have the chat with Rogers tomorrow instead. It means we can move very quickly if we need to and lessens the chance of him making a quick escape or doing something foolish if we are right."

Harry nodded, what Adam said made complete sense but he chided himself internally on missing the initial meeting. "I suppose what you say has merit." They stood together both staring out over the view of London in silence for a few moments before Adam broke the quietness.

"Look Harry, you can tell me to mind my own business if you want, but is something wrong?"

He sighed, someone as astute as Adam was bound to pick up on his sense of malaise quickly but he made an attempt to deflect the question. "Why would there be something wrong?"

"Because, you missed a meeting to come and stand up here, which is where you tend to go if your need to clear your thoughts." Adam looked over at his boss, he certainly looked as robust as ever but still. "Plus you were also in with Dolby for half an hour longer than all the other Section Heads, and though I might not win at Mastermind, I'm certainly clever enough to realise that the two things are probably related."

"You have been doing your homework," Harry said wryly turning towards Adam wondering exactly how much or how little he could get away with telling the younger man, "I take it Agnes was your source on the meeting?"

Adam nodded, "yep."

"Did she say anything else?"

"Not that I know of," he shrugged, "Malcolm was still on the phone with her when I left."

Harry pursed his lips and gripped the railing in front of him tightly, it was beginning to get cold now that the little warmth from the early autumn sunshine was disappearing. "You're right," he said softly but clearly, he looked over towards Adam, "he did tell me something and what I tell you now goes no further, do you understand?"

"Of course Harry," he looked momentarily put out, "you can trust me completely."

"I mean it Adam," Harry warned, "no running to the papers this time or doing something else stupid, no matter what I tell you."

"I thought we'd moved past that?" Adam said, slightly shamefaced.

"We have," Harry answered, "and I'm sorry to have to bring it up again, but when I tell you what Dickie Dolby told me then you'll understand. Parts of this are likely to become common knowledge around Whitehall and internally over the next couple of months but other parts, well..."

Adam looked at him curiously, "well what?" He asked, "go on then, tell me..."

Malcolm looked out across the Grid, his cup of tea had gone cold while he'd been talking to Agnes and once he'd passed on the information about Harry to Adam, they'd settled in for a bit of a chat. She was a passionate lover of classic literature much like himself and was a collector of First Editions, she often spent her weekends browsing around jumble sales and car boot sales in order to find that hidden gem and had been telling him about a recent find of hers. Malcolm felt slightly guilty for talking to her for so long, but quickly justified it to himself as he spotted the clock on the wall of the Grid and realised, that he, like his missing colleague and boss, worked hours far greater than their actual contracts stipulated. Still he thought to himself as he wandered back to the kitchen to make himself another hot drink, where the hell have Harry and now Adam disappeared to.

"Wow!" Adam looked stunned as Harry finished updating him on both Ruth and Mace.

"So you see now why there's such a need for discretion." Harry asked.

"Yes, Mace coming back is really going to set the cat amongst the pigeons." Adam shook his head in disgust, "I can't believe how the world works at times. I really thought we'd seen the back of him for good after that torture and extradition scandal. I as much as told him that when I last saw him."

"Men like him always find a way back," Harry grimaced, "but if he so much as puts his foot an inch out of line, then I won't be responsible for my actions."

Adam nodded, he knew exactly what Mace had done to Harry both professionally and personally over the years, not just with the events of Cotterdam, but also on numerous other occasions. "On the plus side though," he said with a slightly cheeky grin, "that's good news about Ruth."

"Is it?" Harry said with a weary sigh, sounding like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Adam looked at him in amazement. "Is it," he repeated quickly, "what the hell is that supposed to mean, of course it's good news... for you especially."

Harry stared at him for a moment or two with a look of warning on his face before speaking slowly. "Of course it's good news that Ruth has been fully exonerated but..."

"But what?"

"We don't know what Ruth's circumstances are now," Harry looked over at him with desperation etched on his face, "hell we don't even know where she is."

Adam took a step back, "you've really no idea?"

Harry shook his head, "no," he said softly, "no idea at all."

Adam's face registered surprise, "I always thought you knew where she was, even that maybe the two of you were still in touch somehow."

"That's not how it works Adam, you know that." Harry said firmly. "Any contact between the two of us could easily have placed her in danger."

"And you were never tempted to try and find her?"

Harry paused momentarily as if weighing something up in his mind before speaking softly. "When she left, she left completely clean. Zaf organised for a new passport to be waiting for her with one of his assets when she arrived in France, along with some money and once she collected that, from that point on she was completely alone."

Adam sighed as if deep in thought. "And you have no idea what her legend is now?"

"No, none at all." Harry pursed his lips, "if anyone did have an idea, it would have been Zaf." His head dropped slightly as he closed his eyes briefly as he recalled Zaf's fate. Another one lost on his watch, another life given over to Queen and Country, supposedly for the greater good.

Adam rubbed his hands across his face, "You were never tempted to ask him for any further details, see if he knew anything?" he queried.

"I thought it safer all round if I didn't know anything." Harry smiled sadly.

"So we find her ourselves," Adam argued, "it might be difficult but let's face it, we're spies, it's what we do."

"As I've just told you, we don't know where she is or what name she's using or even if she's still..." he paused, not wanting to put his greatest fear about Ruth into words.

"You alone might struggle," Adam said with a slight grin. He'd known what the older man had been alluding to when he saw the shadow cast briefly across his face while he spoke, "but you'll have my help, and if anyone can find a needle in a haystack then its Malcolm and Connie."

Harry turned round and leaned his back against the railings squeezing his eyes together with his right hand. "She might not want to be found," he stated calmly, certainly a lot more calmly than he actually felt.

"And she might be desperate to be." Adam countered, his voice starting to raise slightly. "Look Harry, I know she meant a lot to you but..."

"But nothing. This has nothing to do with my personal feelings, it's what's best for Ruth that counts." Harry said matching Adam's tone with one of his own.

"And you honestly don't think that giving her the option of being able to return to her old life if she wants to, isn't the best option for her?" Adam shook his head slowly in disbelief.

"I don't know." He turned around to face the city once again, gripping hold of the railing as if it was a lifeline, "I just don't know Adam, this isn't a decision I ever thought I'd have to face."

Adam let out a deep breath before continuing with an edge of frustration to his voice, "I think you're scared."

"Don't be ridiculous," Harry bit back.

"You are." Adam warmed to his theme and continued to push him, "You're scared that what you've built up in your head about you and Ruth over the last couple of years is going to be challenged and you don't want to face that."

Harry whirled round to look at him. "Don't overstep the mark with me Adam," he spat out, "you have no idea what I feel and no idea what I would..."

"Well all I know," Adam interrupted, "is that if someone told me that there was even the slightest chance to see Fiona again, I'd move heaven and earth to make it happen."

"That's completely different." Harry countered quickly. "Ruth and I were nev..."

"Too right it's completely different Harry!" Adam's eyes were blazing as he faced his boss, the two of them only inches apart. "Fiona is actually dead, while Ruth, as far as we're aware, is alive somewhere, possibly unhappy with the life she has, or scared, or in danger and you're just content to sit here and do nothing. Well screw you Harry." With that, he turned and walked briskly away to the rooftop door. "I always thought you were a better man than that, I actually thought Ruth really meant something to you. I guess I was wrong," he said angrily before slamming the door behind him and making his way back down towards the bowels of Thames House leaving a dumbstruck Harry staring after him.

TBC