[spoilers] 8.8 - Chapter 7

[almh]

Two posts in one day. Wow! And we're nearly at the end I've already written the 8th chapter, just the final one to go and I actually love this story. Despite setting myself it as a challenge, (which shall be explained in the final chapter,) and having the least time this week I've ever had to write a story (and this being my longest SFAY story I've ever done,) I love this story.

And now away from my ramble and back to the story...

---

he ambulance crew quickly arrived, and Ruth was rushed away. He wasn't allowed with her.

"Harry," Ros said softly as she watched him watch the ambulance leaving. He turned to her.

"She wasn't a mole," he said firmly. "She just knew too much."

Ros nodded. "Yes. Tariq is going over the CCTV as we speak." She paused. "She will be alright Harry."

"She was right though. This is Cotterdam all over again. Faked documents, an external source trying to communicate through Ruth."

"It sounded like she was going to say Mace," Ros continued. "I think we should pay him a visit." Ros had never been sentimental when she joined the service, but the years had changed her. Last time she felt very little, slight annoyance that she had been manipulated into causing Ruth to lose her job. But now... well, now it was tearing her up inside. First Jo, now Ruth. Add that to the list of people who had already died. Like acid the increasing list of deaths kept eroding away her defences.

He nodded.

"What's Cotterdam?" Lucas asked. Harry walked away back to the car, leaving Ros to explain.

"Cotterdam was an operation. Mace was trying to cover up terrorists being taken from a high security prison and tortured, whilst at the same time getting Harry to join in his league of torture," she answered succinctly. "He did this through Ruth, set her up. She had to fake her own death."

"And you think he's involved this time?" Ros just nodded.

"And even if he isn't, being the slimy git he is he's likely to know more than we are about Nightingale. We're going to go extract the information from him." Ros turned round to walk away.

"This is personal," he said. "Mace being involved has made it personal. Why?"

She turned back round to face him. "Yes, yes it is. You see... Ruth had been investigating Maudsley, the man who was trying to get information to us, and went round to his house. I told Mace she'd gone there. It was my fault she lost her job, my fault she had to escape. I won't let him get away with this again. I owe her that much."

-=-

"It's done," was the first thing the man on the end of the phone said. Mace smiled.

"Good. Are they still oblivious?"

"I think so, but they may have suspicions."

Mace nodded. "Right. Get back here at once then, and we'll sort out what to do next." The phone call ended.

-=-

Lucas was at the wheel when Tariq chose to phone. Letting either Ros or Harry drive, he had decided, would risk his life. For both of them this was too personal, too raw. Instead he drove, ignoring the comments from the two of them to drive faster.

"Tariq," Ros answered, putting the phone on loudspeaker.

"Ros, I set up a call intercept around the park as soon as..." it hung unsaid. "Well, I got one. Pay as you go sim to another pay as you go." He played the audio file. "And I managed to get a rough location of where they were calling."

"Around the area of Mace's house?" she asked.

"Yes. I'm going to work on voice-matching them to make sure, there's no CCTV footage of anyone out of the ordinary, I've checked."

"Right, well work on getting a name as soon as possible." Ros hung up. "Lucas, if you do not speed up and we end up getting there after they've left I will personally hold you responsible and -" Lucas chose at that moment to up the speed. Ros could be terrifying when she chose to.

Harry remained blind to the conversation between both Ros and Tariq, but also between Ros and Lucas. He kept his face carefully turned away to the window, his mind replaying over and over again the last few moments. Suddenly it clicked. He took out his phone and turned back to Ros, waiting for Tariq to pick up.

"Tariq? It's Harry. She said this morning she was going to a meet, I think she had just received some information before she went, a file or a note or something. Did you see her with anything?"

"Well, she had a brown envelope, that was the last thing I saw her reading."

"Is it still there?" Tariq stood up and looked at Ruth's desk.

"No, no it's not."

"Can you check to see what happened to it on the internal CCTV, see if she took it with her-"

"Or if someone else took it," Ros whispered, it suddenly hitting her.

"One moment," Tariq told him. "Ok, going back to this morning... I've got her leaving, she hasn't got the envelope, it's on her desk... Wait, the man from GCHQ came in and took some files, including the envelope."

"Face match him," he said firmly.

There was an uncomfortable silence. "I've checked the person against all the records of those at GCHQ. He isn't there, he doesn't work for GCHQ. I'll try seeing what swipe card he used to get in..." There was another pause. "It's a blank swipe card, no name, no nothing. It's been forged."

"Get him face matched, we need to find out who he is. Call me back when you're done."

He hung up quickly, but kept the phone in his hands instead of putting it in his pocket. Impatiently he looked at his watch.

"Lucas, how long till we get there?"

"ETA about 15 minutes." Harry nodded and continued to look outside the window.

-=-

Tariq typed furiously on the computer. He hated being this alone, feeling this vulnerable on the Grid. Normally there was someone else there with him, even in the evenings. This felt so alien, and today the stakes were higher. It just mounted the stress on him.

-=-

"We're two minutes away," Lucas said. "What's the strategy, park and walk?"

"Seems like a good enough one," Ros told him. She called Tariq. "Tariq? I need you to hack into the CCTV for Mace's house. Set it on a loop so he won't see us enter."

"Ok," he said. "You'll have to give me a couple of minutes. Do you want me to check how many are inside first?"

"That would be good, yes."

"Ok... there are three people. The man who came in earlier, another man -"

"Probably Mace -"

"And a woman... It looks like Sarah Caulfield." Everyone looked at each other.

"Ok, where are they?"

"All are in a room at the back of the house, I can give you directions." He typed furiously, desperately changing the CCTV. "Ok, I've got the CCTV on a loop. I'll send a copy of the map of his house to your PDA, but the best way seems to be through the front door. I can disable the front door lock from here, and no other alarms appear to be on, so it should be an easy journey to them."

Ros' phone beeped to signify that the map had got through. "Thanks," she said, and hung up. Lucas pulled in to the side of the road and turned the engine off. He then handed a gun to each of the occupants in the car.

"Ready?" he asked them both.

"What do you think?" Ros responded as they all got out of the car.

[Beatriz]

I enjoy reading this fanfic a lot. Chapters are a good idea. Eager to know how it ends!! (I've already read the next one and :O!!! I like the "BBC3 preair")

[almh]

Unfortunately for you I'm continuing with the Spooks 'BBC 3' screening times so, just as Chapter 1 wasn't on BBC3 early, neither will Chapter 9! Mwah ha ha Glad you like it!

[lwhite53]

Ah, that's why the HS walked Harry and Lucas back to Thames House in chap 4 -- so he could see and evaluate the swipe card entry process.

Harry, with a gun, about to confront the man who shot Ruth -- now that's scary!!

OK -- eagerly awaiting the final two chaps.

[Beatriz]

Hope doesn't mean you wait more to post the final one

[almh]

Maybe, maybe not

[JHyde]

Did you know where this was all going when you started writing it?

[almh]

Erm, a little. I knew who the mystery guy was, and I knew that Ruth would get shot at some point, but it wasn't really fully formed - I've just been making it up as I go along really. I've only really known for the last couple of chapters how it would end - it's changed slightly as I've watched episode 7, but not really that dramatically.

[JHyde]

Did you know Mace was involved?

[almh]

Erm... I can't really remember now. I think it was an idea from fairly early on, but maybe he wasn't in the first draft - any particular reason for asking?