Ruth's Diary No. 24 (4.5)

[Beatriz]

Sorry for the delay guys.

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[12th November 2005]

I’m at home, enjoying a cup of tea, trying to relax writing in my diary. It's been a hectic week.

It all began on Tuesday when I was coming back from work, late in the evening (I’ve been working on a list of candidates to join our team). I was opening my front door when I felt a hand on my mouth muffling my screams. It was bloody Gary Hicks, he scared me to death. In this job you never know whether someone is following you and whether this someone is up to no good. Or, I suppose I should notice, but I never seem to until it's too late.

He came to me because he had witnessed a murder, a murder which was made to look like a suicide. It had been all over the news the whole day; Clive McTaggart ex-MI5 officer was supposed to kill himself. (The death meant something big to Harry as well - Clive was his Harry, his head of the Section while he was working his way through the ranks.) According to Gary, McTaggart was writting his memoirs without caring about the the Official Secrets Act and was out to publish them. Somebody inside our circle must have thought that should be silenced in the strongest possible terms. God knows why they didn't just steal the damn thing.

I called Harry to come over to my place to tell him what was happening and to try and help us figure it out. Harry deduced that we were almost certainly being watched or listened to and packed us off to a safe house to stay while this matter wasn’t solved.

It turns out McTaggart was dying of bowel cancer and according to Gary he couldn’t stand where politics were going; with all the secrets and and using fear to gain votes; he called it “velvet fascism”. So he contacted Gary to publish the book as he owed him one (Gary didn’t publish a compromising story involving McTaggart many years ago).

In the end we discovered that Juliet Shaw was behind all this. She and Roy Woodring (an old foe of Harry's) found out what McTaggart was doing so he contacted her; she declared to Harry when she confronted her that she didn’t know he was going to kill him. I’m not sure I believe that, it was all very convenient for her. I don’t think Juliet would stop at something or someone that bothers her, she doesn't strike me as that sort of person. She said Woodring didn't leave her any choice. But that was all after Woodring sent a kill squad after Gary and all of us in the safe house. We barely got out alive.

Gary has changed so much. He was so brilliant and insightful back in the day, back in our day, I suppose. He now prefers to use his skills uncovering scandals which is more profitable... He took the easiest path. I don’t blame him, most people do that. Even Harry asked me how I ended up dating him - I suppose it does seem strange. He was curious, I guess. Although Gary and Harry may not be very different at heart, the decisions they took in life emphasise their differences. It all what shapes your personality is your acts. Harry is a principled man, he has what it takes to follow his beliefs, no matter what. I admire this, so much, it’s never easy to be consistent. (Not sure why I’m comparing both of them).

I offered my shoulder to Harry to cry on, although that expression makes no sense in this context, for him; he was obviously upset by McTaggart’s death. I know he was going through a hard time. I thought it would be nice to show him some sympathy - this was before we knew it wasn’t a suicide (that would have helped me if I was in his shoes) but he rejected my offer, he is a busy man and he doesn’t have time to mourn. When I called him to come to my house and hear what Gary had to say, at first I’m sure he was thinking I was inviting him over due to a personal matter. That was funny! I guess he jumped to that conclusion after my inviting him to a drink.

On the bright side, we have a brand new field officer. Her name is Joanna Portman. After a week dealing with Debra Langam, HR specialist, Adam thought the best officer wouldn’t be one of the candidates handed in by her, but this journalist who was looking for a job and helped us with all this McTaggart issue. It was her who helped us get away from Woodring's men and then to locate them. Surprisingly enough it was her who found us, she met Adam when we thought she was a suspect and afterwards (thanks to her journalist instincts) she got involved in the operation. She will be joining us after her training. I think she will a good addition to the team, she has certainly been recruited in a different way and her background is hardly commonplace.

[lwhite53]

Love that Ruth questions her abilities re tradecraft and her comparisons of Gary and Harry. Nice job, Bea.

[Tea Lady]

Good entry Beatriz. Ruth has a real empathy with Harry now. He is being mentioned more and more in her diary entries. Well done.

[Silktie]

Nice job. I like her innate distrust of Juliet, and also how she finds it funny that Harry initially thought she was inviting him over for personal reasons with that late night phone call. Love how Harry is growing in importance in her entries.