Ruth's Diary - No. 19 (3.9)

[almh]

This was a collaboration between all of us, so a massive thank you to Bea and JHyde for all the work they put into this entry

[31st May 2005]

I was meant to be going out last night, had Robert Morgan not decided to go visit a disused RAF base. He's a known trafficker, illegal arms dealer and civilian "contractor" (read: mercenary) who was under close surveillance. Everything was going like clockwork. I was ready to leave and heading to the pods when Sam called me. Morgan had decided to get off the highway a junction early, and there were my plans for the evening gone.

One of the police weapons team on watch shot and arrested him. Since the police would have released him, Adam suggested to bring him in for interrogation, that way we could find out what he was up to, digging up on site that was a Soviet weapons dump, not just an RAF base. He will spend all the night awake, interrogation techniques.

I'm not under interrogation, but I can't sleep either. I suppose this entry should have a different date on it, given the time.

I really wanted to go out tonight. Last night. Whenever it was!

[1st June 2005]

Harry asked me to help him prepare for an interview for the post of Director General of MI5; the current DG is retiring this summer. He confessed that he doesn't want to get the job, he wants to be part of the game “not lolly gagging on the 7th floor”; he’s not a man of politics. I also hope he doesn't get it. He's a good boss, one of the better ones. If he did go, I think I would miss him, miss his presence on the Grid. I'm not surprised they want him, but we want him too. And I think Harry wouldn't be happy doing that job. Well, he wouldn't be satisfied.

The operation against Morgan is still ongoing. Finance, friends, family. The three Fs, everyone has a weakness in one of those areas. Put enough pressure on them, and eventually they'll break. One of the more difficult aspects of this job is how far do we apply the pressure, at what point does it become torture? Or rather, unacceptable torture. We're treading a very fine line at the moment: too little pressure and we lose our hopes of stopping whatever he's planning, too much and we become like him, we become just as bad as him.

We now have some idea what's going on, at least. Malcolm and Colin treated it "like a three-dimensional jigsaw", and saw that a laser-targeted designator was missing. It can be used to target missiles without the operator being there but somewhere else miles away, by getting the operator to set a target and automatically fire. The operators then can be far away, practically impossible to find.

This piece of information fit perfectly well with last week’s report from Section E. They detected an untraceable flash which must have been this laser designator been taken on a trial run.

We can conclude the attack is imminent; we think we have a maximum of three days to stop this attack - that's how long Morgan's information will keep for. After then, his group will have had time to change their plans and either bring the attack forward or change their plans. That's why we had to do it, put the siren in. Some call it torture, in fact, most people would call it torture. I'm not sure whether we should have used the siren, whether that is too far, but we've got to get that information, otherwise other people will die.

[2nd June 2005]

Danny and Adam don't really talk about what is going on in the interrogation room. I'm not sure I even want to know. Danny seems to be taking this harder than Adam, he's not comfortable with how this is going. If Danny is worried then things must be going badly.

Morgan has a daughter, who needs a liver transplant. He calls her frequently and he has paid for all her treatment, evidently he is very close to her. We haven’t found her before because she keeps her mother’s surname. In terms of information to break Morgan it's dynamite, but I don't know, I’d rather not have found this information. It’s as useful as information could possibly be but honestly I don't trust how far Adam could go with this kind of information. I trust his motivation, but the outcome could be frightening as all get out.

[3rd June 2005]

Adam and Harry took Morgan down the river, to show him his daughter on the top of the building he was targeting. It was our last resort. Thankfully she was unaware of what was going on. They broke him. This operation has been an ethical minefield, we've gone to the line of what constitutes reasonable pressure, and somewhere along the way I think we might have stepped over it. We could easily become the people we're fighting against, and I think that we saw that today. But then I think of that building and all the people who could have died and I'm very glad I wasn't Danny or Adam. It’s a difficult matter, where to draw the line when millions of lives are at stake but playing with a little girl’s life... was it right? I hope she gets her transplant, although how long Morgan stays alive is up for betting upon.

Harry had his interview today. It obviously went well - he got down to the final two, but then they tossed in a late contender, 'parachuted' them in, as Harry put it. (I always love his turn of phrase, at least when it doesn't concern me!) I'm glad that he's staying with us, I can't really imagine him being anywhere else. I must admit I have enjoyed helping Harry in preparing for this interview. It was interesting to get to know him better, he’s a man of principles, I can tell. I mean, I knew it already - but it's quite another thing to have him articulate such points only to you.

I was finally able to keep my date from the other night.

[Aria]

Brilliant entry, well done almh, Beatriz and JHyde. Loved Ruth's qualms over the use of torture in gaining information and her relief that she doesn't have to make those tough decisions. Her feelings for Harry are becoming more apparent and her relief that he didn't get the D.G job was quite palpable.

[A Cousin]

Nice! That was a big episode for Ruth.

There's a good balance between the operation and her interaction with H in this episode. I think you got the tone of her awakening feeling just right; it is very subtle. It good to see her honest opinion of whether or not she thought they went across the line with the torture. I like the way it builds to it over the course of the few days covered.

[Tea Lady]

Good entry. Ruth clearly liked her one on one time with Harry and him confiding in her and no one else. Made her feal special no doubt. Ruth's obviously struggling with how they had to use Morgan's daughter to help save the lives of many more people. It's a dilemma Ruth never manages to resolve until the end of series 8 IMO and is probably just glad she isn't the one in charge, who has to make these final decisions.

[lwhite53]

Good entry. I like that Ruth clearly recognizes how difficult the decisions re Morgan were and also acknowledges that she really wouldn't want to be in the position of having to make those decisions. She's honest with herself, which is one of the things I admire about her (except of course in her interactions with Harry!) She does seem to be getting closer to him, though!

[Silktie]

Lovely entry once again. You guys are really inside our Ruthie's head. Thanks.

[Ceridwyn2]

Good entry. One of the things I fondly remember from this eo was when Ruth was following up Harry with more questions and she just mentions that she hopes he won't forget them when he's pacing the floors of the thickly carpeted floors of the DG's office. Harry quirks a smile and comments, "I didn't know I paced, Ruth." And she replies with "Only in a good way." A good indication of how much aware Ruth and Harry have become of each others habits.