3rd September 1991, 6 pm
140 Gower Street, London
By the end of the day, they're no closer to discovering the mole and Ruth can't help feeling frustrated and annoyed with herself. She'd so wanted to make a good impression on her new boss, on her first day, secretly hoping to be the one to figure it all out and hand him the person responsible for sabotaging the op and almost getting Harry killed on a plate.
"It's late," Mark says, grabbing a seat and bringing it close to her workstation. "You should get some rest, Ruth."
She sighs and looks up, smiling wanly. "You're probably right," she concedes. "I feel like I've been going round in circles for the last hour or so."
He smiles and gets up. "I know the feeling. Come on. I'll give you a lift home."
"Home?"
"The safe-house," he amends.
"Well, at least it has tea, a bed, and hot water," she replies, smiling as she gets up and grabs her coat and bag.
"No food?" Mark frowns.
"There were eggs and milk for breakfast. Does that count?"
"Then I'll buy you dinner."
She frowns, feeling suddenly weary. She has not yet mastered the art of hiding her emotions, however, and her reaction must show on her face because he smiles and leans in, saying conspiratorially, "Don't worry, Ruth. I'm a happily married man. It's Harry you need to watch out for."
She's not sure what to say to that, so she changes the subject. "Actually, I'm rather tired, so if you don't mind, a quick stop at the supermarket would be just the thing. That way I'll have something to eat for the rest of the week as well."
"Sure thing," he agrees and follows her towards the pods. Before they get there, however, a young woman, whom she has yet to meet, crosses their path, bumping into Ruth's shoulder with a vicious kind of satisfaction, and walks straight on, never bothering to apologise or even acknowledge Ruth.
"What the hell?" she frowns after the woman, totally confused. It's as if that was done deliberately and she can't for the life of her think why this unknown woman has such a deep dislike of her for no apparent reason. She doesn't even know who she is!
"Nice," Mark calls after her. "Very mature that, Jenna." The woman in question sends him a filthy look and makes a rather rude hand-gesture before disappearing round the corner. "Are you alright?" Mark asks her, his face full of concern.
"I'm fine. What was that about?"
"That's Jenna, one of the junior field agents. She joined us a few months ago."
"Do I know her?" Ruth frowns, turning to look at him.
"No." He sighs, then adds, "She's involved, or rather, she likes to think she's involved with Harry. I suspect she's feeling a little jealous."
"Jealous? Of me?!"
He just raises an eyebrow at her and gives her a knowing little smile.
"Oh please! If she wants Harry, she can have him. Just because I saved his life, it doesn't mean I want to sleep with him." And with that she turns and walks through the pods, silently fuming as she leaves Mark to follow if he chooses. Sodding Harry Pearce!
It really bothers her that people assume that she will fall into Harry's bed without a second thought just because he wants her to, and she spends what feels like half the night worrying about it, especially since there is a raw kind of attraction between them and part of her would like nothing more than to give into it and shag him senseless.
She never gives into that part of her though. She never gives in to her baser desires, though admittedly they've never been as strong as this before. Besides, Harry strikes her as being a bit of an arrogant prat and she certainly would never want to give him the satisfaction of having her when it'll only serve to make him more smug and insufferable than he is already.
4th September 1991, 7 am
140 Gower Street
"Malcolm!" she calls the moment she's dropped her things off at her station and spies him crossing the Grid.
"Good morning, Ruth," he smiles. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, thanks," she replies quickly, her excitement making her speak quickly. "I had an idea last night," she adds as she reaches him.
Malcolm's face turns serious and he directs her through to the technical suite. "Go on," he encourages once he's certain they're alone. Coolidge wants the bare minimum of people involved on this op now and even fewer on finding the mole. The last thing they need is for the mole to alert the Bond group that they've found them again. They're finally getting somewhere with gathering information now that they think they got rid of the threat by taking out Harry.
"I was thinking," Ruth explains, her excitement infectious. "What if it's not financial gain? What if the mole is doing it for some other reason?"
He nods. "Like what?"
"I thought maybe..." She hesitates. "What if he's doing it for love?"
"A romantic involvement?" Malcolm frowns.
"Not necessarily. It could be a friendship, or siblings. I'm just thinking that maybe our mole is trying to protect someone. Perhaps they even think it'll be temporary. Maybe they're convinced they can talk the person they care about out of being part of the organisation and they just want to buy themselves some time."
"Okay," he nods. "It's a good theory. Let's run with it. Where do you suggest we start?"
"I thought perhaps we could ask Harry if there's anyone he doesn't recognise, anyone he hasn't met. If I was the mole, I'd want to make sure that Harry never laid eyes on the person I cared about."
"Okay. Let's grab Harry and-"
"I hope that sentence ends with feed him because I'm starved," Harry interrupts, making Ruth jump.
He chuckles at her reaction, his eyes taking her in with a familiarity that makes her heart race. Damn him!
"How's the leg this morning?" Malcolm asks.
Harry grimaces. "I had to leave Jess at home," he complains.
Malcolm smiles. "Don't tell me you took the bus?!"
Harry just gives him a look.
"What's wrong with the bus?" Ruth frowns, trying to avoid asking the obvious question about Jess. She's annoyed with herself for feeling a pang of jealousy.
"Everything," is Harry's succinct reply. "Now, what did you want me to do?"
Malcolm looks around again to make sure no one can overhear and drops his voice. "Ruth believes our mole might have an attachment to someone in the Bond group and is trying to protect them, possibly attempting to talk them out of being involved, and in the meantime, sabotaging our surveillance. She thought we should have you look at the new surveillance footage to see if there are any members you don't recognise because they might be the link we're looking for."
"Okay," Harry nods. "Good thinking. I can do that right away." He winks at Ruth and hobbles over to the computer Malcolm has tucked into the corner that is running their surveillance feeds. He's not using crutches today, just a fancy-looking walking stick, and she wonders at how quickly he's managing to recover. Unless he's just hiding the pain in some stupid male attempt to appear strong and virile.
She shakes her head and turns to go back to her station, determined once again to find their mole. She'll go through all the personnel files and make a list of possible connections. Perhaps she can find pictures of all their family members that she can compare with the footage they have.