27/11/07
5:25 PM
London

Jo stood with her back to a wall, outside the station, watching the taxi rank. She was a few minutes ahead of time, she'd left work forty minutes early to be sure of getting here on time in the rush hour. She was here to meet Zaf. She didn't have Harry's permission, but she had Adam's ("No, don't even ask him, just go. It's important. I'll deal with Harry if the need arises.").

It had struck Jo last night just how long it had been since she'd seen Zaf; two weeks while he was in Tehran before he'd been taken, just over a week while he'd been with the mercenaries, then four weeks in hospital. There were Christmas lights up in a few places now. When she'd last seen Zaf it had been early October. Adam had told her, several times, that he wouldn't be right, not yet. Not after something like that. She didn't know quite what to expect, she didn't know if he was scarred, if he had all of his hands and feet… She was hoping that he'd still be recognisably Zaf. He'd answered her code to say that he still wanted to live with her, she'd found a two-bed flat since then. Similar size and similar price to what they'd shared before. She'd managed the deposit on her own and the first month's rent (just about).

A cab pulled up, carrying one man. By what she could see of the shape of his face from here, it could have been Zaf. The man opened the door and got out of the cab. It was Zaf. She started towards him. He was looking around, scanning the crowds for her. God, he was thin. And pale. He just looked sick. There were marks on his face that looked like burn scars. He didn't look calm.

His eyes found hers. She walked right up to him and hugged him. He hesitated for a second, as though surprised, then hugged her back.

"Hey." She said.

"Hey."

"It's good to see you."

"You too."

She stepped back. "You okay?"

He hesitated. "Getting there."

She nodded. "Let's go."

She set off, away from the station, they had about fifteen minutes of walking to do, there was a station closer to the flat, but this had seemed like a better meeting point. She could feel Zaf half a pace behind her. He didn't seem to be limping. She didn't try to start a conversation with him, she had no idea what to say, and he seemed happy to walk in silence.

When they got to the front door of the building, Jo let them in, then turned to hand the second key to Zaf.

"That's yours."

"Thanks." He was breathing heavily. They'd only been walking.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Just unfit. Three weeks bed rest."

She waited a couple of minutes, until he said he was okay, then started climbing the stairs. He kept up, he was moving fairly normally, but there was a set to his jaw. He didn't quite look normal.

"So this is it." She opened the door to the flat. "Rent's only ten pounds a month more each, if anything I think it's easier to get to work from here." He followed her in, looking around. "This is the kitchen-living… communal space, if you like. Bathroom is this one, I'm the door on the left, you're the door on the right. We boxed up most of your stuff when I moved out of the old flat and stored it. Apparently The Service will keep your stuff for six months before it presumes you dead, so it's just been sitting in storage somewhere. I had it brought up yesterday."

"Thanks." Zaf repeated. "And thanks for sorting all this, do I owe you for deposit?"

"Ideally, but…"

"I think I'm still on full pay. I'll check in the morning. And call the bank and try to convince them I'm still alive."

"It's going to be a lot to sort out, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Oh, by the way, you're going to have to go and ask Clyde for the deposit you paid on the last place. He wouldn't give it to me."

"That was pedantic of him."

"I know. Do you want to go and start sorting your stuff out, I'll do food."

"Thanks."

"And Adam said he wanted to drop by later, just to see you."

"Okay." He disappeared towards his room. He was far too quiet tonight. He was usually talkative to the point of being irritating. It was… worrying was too strong a word. Unsettling.

She called him back for food half an hour later. He came at once and went hunting for cutlery and plates in the cupboards.

"You've tried to keep the layout the same, haven't you?" He asked.

"More or less." She said. "I got used to it that way." She handed him a bowl of pasta.

"Thanks. I'll wash up. I think I'll manage that."

"Are your hands not-"

"They're a lot better than they were. They've still got a lot of metal in them, but they more or less work now."

"When does the metal come out?"

"It doesn't. I'm just advised to stay away from strong magnets." She looked up at him. "I'm joking. It's titanium, it's not magnetic, it just stays in my hands. I can kind of feel it in a couple of places."

"That must be weird."

"It's not as weird as what was in my feet. They had metal bars sticking out until five days ago."

"Sticking out?"

"Yeah, that was more or less my reaction." He took a mouthful of food. "But apparently it works and I can walk now, so…" He looked about. "What's been happening on the Grid? Adam said something about North Africa."

"Yeah, that-" Jo answered. "That happened. Algerian broke house arrest and tried to use a car bomb to blow up the Iranian Special Consul."

"The one Adam's...?"

"Yeah. Adam's sleeping with his wife."

"Is that still going on?"

"Far as I know. I was…" She didn't really want to bring up what had happened to her that day. As scared as she'd been, Zaf had had it so much worse since they'd last met. "I was kind of out of the loop that day."

"Why?"

"I was following your boy, Michael."

"Did he behave?"

Jo hesitated. She was reluctant to lie to Zaf, but part of her didn't want to talk about this right now. "It was sort of taken out of his hands." He looked questioningly at her. "He was recruited as the driver, the Algerian left the bomb and him in the car next to the target and walked away. He wasn't given a lot of information, so he misled us but I don't think he really meant to." He'd been left to die like she had. He hadn't known the bomb was there.

"Unintentional suicide bomber?" He asked. She nodded. "He's making a dangerous habit of that." He looked at her intently. She met his gaze. "You were near it, weren't you?"

"Am I still that easy to read?"

"I've had a lot of practice with you."

She shook her head. "I was okay, Adam got me out in time." He was still looking at her hard. He knew there was more.

"You say that as though you couldn't have got yourself out."

"Yeah, they… they locked me in with the bomb." She saw a look of shock pass over Zaf's face, he opened his mouth to reply, but she cut across him. "I don't really want to talk about it right now."

"Fair enough."

Jo cast about for something else to say "We've picked up a new analyst."