Extraordinary Rendition Part VI

[Silktie]

Tuesday 7 June 2011
London, the Embankment

They were back on the bench, watching the rest of London rush by, trying to get to their offices on time. It was turning into a nice day and Ruth lifted her face to the sun. She couldn’t help but contemplate how many significant moments between her and Harry had occurred whilst sitting on a bench; how, in fact, it was on the first such occurrence that she had pledged her allegiance to him. From that day on, she mused, her loyalty had been to him first, and the Service second. Luckily for her the two things had almost always been the same thing. Her thoughts went to Tom, and she wondered briefly where he was now, before turning her mind to the problem at hand.

Harry’s reaction to the information she’d got from Beecher’s computer intrigued her, to say the least. Whilst she had been alarmed at the strong evidence it provided against Malcolm, he had seemed more proud than concerned about what he’d read. When she’d turned to him questioningly, he had hustled her out of the car and down to the river. And now he was sitting next to her quietly, a far-off look in his eyes as he stared at the Houses of Parliament. She studied him, and couldn’t help but ponder how much they both had changed since that first time they had sat on a bench like this, discussing a colleague. More jaded by all that they had experienced since that day, and more worn down by their cares and sorrows. It saddened her.

When it became evident that Harry had no intention of breaking the silence, she spoke. “What’s going on?”
Reluctantly he turned his head and observed her. She looked so composed, so self-contained as she sat there, that he was reminded again that she obviously did not need him in the same way he needed her. Somehow, he thought, if she should never see him again, she would move on with her life. She would allow herself to fall in love, to start again. And he could not. Would not, more accurately. He would forever mourn the thing that never was between them, until the day he died. In that sense, she was stronger than him.
“Harry?” she prompted again, and he mentally shook himself.
“Malcolm once came to me with a proposal. This was during the time you were gone,” he clarified. “He had this theory, which sounded farfetched to my ear, that it was possible to penetrate Al Qaeda electronically. I didn’t understand most of what he said, I admit.”
Ruth smiled at that.
“The idea was roughly to send an email to known Al Qaeda sympathisers from someone claiming to have information about the Security Services’ surveillance on them. There would be a link in the email, and once they clicked on it a virus would download that copied all material from that computer and forwarded it to a server. This virus would transfer itself onto any external device plugged into that computer; memory sticks, external hard drives, CD’s, and then onto the next computer that device is plugged into, and so on. We could then sift through the information and use it to build a picture of their networks.”

She frowned as her mind ran through the probabilities and possibilities offered up by such a strategy. “You didn’t think it would work?”
Harry hesitated, then sighed. “When Malcolm came to me with the idea, he wasn’t quite himself.”
He searched for the best way to put it. “He’d recently lost Colin, and shortly after that you left. His two closest confidantes were gone in a matter of weeks. So he compensated by working obsessively and coming up with all sorts of wild ideas. I knew what he was trying to do. I should have talked to him, but I was too caught up in my own-“
He stopped and looked away from her, his hand unconsciously squeezing his thigh before he continued on a different tack. “I didn’t handle it well, and we had a shouting match in my office. I reminded him that Al Qaeda was notoriously reticent to use email communication, but he was adamant that if the information were enticing enough, it would work - that only one person needed to open that link. I refused, and Malcolm stormed off and never mentioned the idea again.”

Ruth absorbed all this, trying not to dwell on the pain in his eyes when he’d talked about her leaving. “So you think he went ahead and did it anyway?”
“It’s the only explanation as to why a bunch of Al Qaeda documents is lying on a secret server created by Malcolm.” He paused. “Unless you’ve changed your mind about the absurdity of believing him to be a terrorist sympathiser?”
A breathy laugh escaped her. “No, I haven’t.”
“Good to know. I depend on you to keep me on the right path in these things, Ruth.”
He sounded melancholy, and Ruth knew that was as close as he’d ever come to admitting how much he doubted his judgement at the moment. She decided to lighten the mood.
“So Malcolm disobeyed a direct order from you? Brave man.”
It was Harry’s turn to laugh. “Perhaps he counted on me being too much of a Luddite to figure out that he had done so. Not an unrealistic assumption, unfortunately.”
Though he didn’t mention it, Ruth could tell from his expression that he suspected Malcolm had also used his boss’ distraction at the loss of his beloved analyst to slip his actions under the radar. The words ‘it’s not your fault’ was on the tip of her tongue but she swallowed them, realising that she was beginning to sound like a broken record.
“Does this mean we can prove his innocence?” she asked instead.
Harry frowned. “I don’t know. We’ll have to ask our resident boffins that. I’m more concerned about how the Americans found out about this. Don’t you think Malcolm is smart enough to ensure that no-one outside of the Section could ever trace it back to him?”
They looked at each other meaningfully, neither having to say it: they had a leak.

* * *

The Grid

Tariq lifted his eyes fractionally and glanced over his terminal. Calum was talking to Dimitri and Erin, his back to his fellow techie. Good. They had been trying all morning to get into the local CIA database, still without success. Tariq, however, felt certain that at least three of the strategies they’d employed should have worked. He was more convinced than ever that someone was warning the Americans. Which was why he was running a diagnostic on all computer traffic from their Section, checking for anomalies. As his fingers flew over the keyboard, he kept one eye on his colleagues. Whenever one of them moved in his direction, he swiftly minimised the diagnostic window until the danger had passed. He’d already cleared Harry and Ruth, and was moving on to Dimitri. He did not expect it to be him, but he had to be sure. After what had happened with Lucas he couldn’t be too careful. Still, he hoped fervently that Dimitri would be innocent. If there was a mole, he would prefer it to be one of the newcomers. Tariq was aware that he was being unfair, but he couldn’t help it. Both Erin and Calum made him feel like they were judging him for the Albany fiasco, and he resented it. If another member of that team turned out to be a traitor, Tariq wasn’t sure that either Harry or his Section would survive the fallout. Glancing over his terminal once again, he ensured that the others were still safely across the room before continuing his painstaking investigation.

* * *

Harry and Ruth returned from the JIC meeting an hour before lunch. He had told Ruth to do nothing about Malcolm until they had figured out who the leak was, and was currently ensconced in his office, trying to think of an IT expert outside his Section that he could use. His thoughts were interrupted by a commotion in the outer office. He emerged to find Tariq and Calum nose-to-nose, shouting at each other, whilst Erin was trying to separate them. Calum’s demeanour was quite aggressive, and Harry was reminded about the earlier incident between Calum and Ruth. Was this how he had acted towards her? The thought angered him and he stepped forward authoritatively.
“Enough!”
The sharply barked word brought everyone up short and a tense silence settled over the Grid. Calum opened his mouth to state his case, but Harry held up a warning hand. His angry flush and set jaw left no-one in any doubt as to his feelings. He glared at the two men.
“My office, now.” As he turned away he nodded at Erin. “You too.”

They filed into his office and Erin closed the door. Calum made to sit in one of the visitors’ chairs but Harry snapped irritably, “You’ll remain standing, and speak only when you’re spoken to.”
He glared at them for a few seconds more before turning to Erin.
“Speak,” he commanded curtly.
Erin looked at him warily. “I don’t know what’s going on. They just suddenly started yelling at each other.”
“Who started it?” Harry demanded, never taking his eyes off the two men.
Erin dipped her head, and made a choice as to where her loyalties laid. “Calum,” she said regretfully but clearly.
Harry turned his head towards her and observed her closely, fully aware of what had just happened.
“Thank you,” he dismissed her in a more kindly tone.

When she’d gone, he addressed Calum. “You first.”
The kindly tone was definitely no longer in evidence, and Calum, still reeling from the fact that Erin had not covered for him, took a deep breath.
“I caught Tariq running a diagnostic on my computer.”
Harry’s eyebrows lifted in surprise and he turned to the younger man.
“Did you run a diagnostic on his computer?”
Tariq nodded, then added defiantly, “I ran one on everyone’s computers.”
Taken aback, Harry stood speechless for a moment. “You ran one on mine?” he finally asked.
Tariq nodded again, this time a tad apprehensively.
“Why?” his boss asked calmly, impressed by the young man’s daring despite himself.
His eyes darting to Calum, Tariq explained, “We should have been able to get into the CIA database. There’s no way they could have kept us out, unless someone was warning them. I was trying to find out who it was.”
“I see.” Harry’s unblinking gaze was now fixed on Tariq. “And did you?”
In response, Tariq looked at Calum and said, “If you don’t tell him, I will.”
Calum stared at his colleague, before a small, sardonic smile settled around his mouth. “You’re a smart guy, Tariq.”
He turned to Harry. “It was me. I warned the Americans.”

There was something in Harry’s eyes that disturbed him, something deeper than anger. The senior man turned away from them to look out onto the Grid, his focus automatically settling on Ruth.
“Thank you Tariq. Leave us, please,” he requested absently.
The door closed behind the young techie and a pregnant silence settled on the two men. When it became unbearable, Calum spoke up.
“Harry-“
In a flash Harry was around the table and beside Calum.
“Shut. Up.” he hissed in barely controlled fury right into the man’s ear, before turning away and carefully putting the desk back between them.
He took a few deep breaths and waited for Calum to look him in the eye, before demanding ominously: “You not only told the CIA about MI5 trying to hack into their database, did you. You told them something else as well. Didn’t you.”

tbc