Chapter 20

The morning light crept unwontedly through the blinds that covered the kitchen window. The sharp glare of it forcing him to alter his position on the sofa. He stood up and moved silently to the kitchen, opening the blind and gazing out at the rapidly rising sun. It was set to be a beautiful day, and it was such a shame that he had no one to enjoy it with. Even if their day at work had been the single most dire and depressing day of their lives, he still would have had the moment of shared happiness when they awoke together to find the sun smiling out at them from a clear blue sky.

Did she know that she was permanently in his thoughts? Did she know that he hadn't slept for thinking of her? His every thought somehow found its way back to her, alone, in her house, but which he had been sharing with her. The silence of his flat meant that no matter what he did, he could not stop thinking of what was to come.

"Mr North."

"What?" Finally, something to break the silence, albeit in the form of one of his minders.

"You really should eat something."

"No, I don't want anything."

"You should eat, you haven't for the last day and a half."

Lucas smiled bitterly to himself. "Oh, I think I can cope."

The minder sighed irritably. "As you wish Mr North."

They lapsed into silence again; with Lucas collapsing tiredly back onto the sofa after a few minutes of pacing dully around the flat. His mind drifted again, back to thoughts of Amber. He could imagine her sat on her sofa, a mug of tea in her hands, eyes red with tears. The chances were that she wouldn't have slept either. No doubt her body was also aching with tiredness, and she had probably refused to go into work. Not that Harry would allow her to, given her current state of mind.

"I need you so much," he whispered as he gazed at the plain, white ceiling.

10:21am, The Grid

Malcolm had been at the Grid for just over three hours. He was determined to discover the truth, no matter what the cost to himself. He could not believe that Lucas was a traitor. He had known Lucas before Russia, known the man before he became broken, and it was so unlike him to do anything like this. Malcolm firmly believed that Lucas was still the man he knew, with his strong moral views and outlook of life it was impossible for him to even comprehend for a second that it was Lucas.

He had been watching the CCTV footage over and over again for any chance that he had missed something the first time round. He was desperately trying to prove his previous revelation wrong. Suddenly something caught his eye and, feeling his heartbeat quicken, he dashed away from his computer and into Harry's office.

"It's not Lucas," Malcolm said very suddenly, entering the office without knocking.

"I beg your pardon?" Harry had just finished speaking to someone on the phone and quickly turned in his chair to face Malcolm.

"It's not Lucas. He isn't the traitor."

"But, the CCTV…how can you be sure?"

"I can't, but I know that it definitely isn't Lucas."

"Explain." Harry leant forward on his desk, his fingers laced as he rested his chin on his clasped hands.

"Well I've been going over the CCTV footage with a fine-toothed comb. There's something that doesn't quite fit. Ten minutes after Lucas leaves, there's a minute glitch; so tiny that I didn't pick it up before."

"What are you saying?"

"It's possible that someone could have frozen the camera or snipped a bit of footage out."

It was rare that Harry ever looked anything but calm and relaxed, even when given the most important of news, but on this occasion, he appeared to have frozen.

"The only downside is-" Malcolm said.

"We still have no idea who the real traitor is." Harry took a deep breath. "Okay Malcolm, listen very carefully to what I'm about to say: do not tell anyone. Not even Ros. Do some more digging; if someone did snip a bit of CCTV footage then they must have hacked into the system. If whoever did this has any consistency whatsoever, then they will have used Lucas' login, but it may have been at a time when Lucas wasn't actually around. I want you to find out when this was, then cross-reference it with who was at the Grid at that exact time. Is that clear?"

"Yes Harry."

"Oh, and one more thing, this is strictly for my eyes only. If anyone asks what you're doing, lie."

Malcolm nodded solemnly, the weight of this discovery pressing firmly on his mind. He could feel Harry's tension, possibly mixed with despair at being betrayed. Who would do this? Who could do such a thing? Harry's mind was locked in a similar circle: if it wasn't Lucas, then who? He held his head in his hands as he tried to gather his thoughts, tried to piece together the mess that was currently residing in his head. He thought back over the past few days, and suddenly something clicked in his brain. He knew who the traitor was, and he knew what he had to do.

10:30am, Amber Hayward's Residence

"Harry?" Ros said as she answered her phone.

"Ros, are you still with Amber?"

"Yeah I am. We're sat in her living room drinking tea. Why?"

Harry hesitated before he spoke. "I need you to come in. It's about the situation with Lucas. I need to tell you something.

"I'll be right in. What about Amber?" Ros looked over at her and shook her head as Amber opened her mouth to ask a question.

"I think its probably best if you bring her with you. I'd rather she wasn't left alone."

"Understood, Harry. We'll be right there."

Amber and Ros arrived at the Grid ten minutes later, and Jo instantly approached Amber and wrapped her arms around her.

"It may be of little condolence, but I can't believe it either," Jo whispered as Amber fought to hold back her tears.

"Thanks, Jo." She smiled weakly at her as Jo squeezed her arm.

"Get into the meeting room right now," Harry growled, grabbing Ros' arm as he appeared. He spoke so low that no one else heard, and the rest of the team had approached Amber to see how she was, so no one noticed Harry forcing Ros through the doorway into the meeting room. "Now, sit down."

Ros sat. "I'm guessing by the not-so-kind way in which you are handling this that you are slightly pissed off."

"Pissed off? Ros, I am way beyond pissed off."

"It's understandable, I suppose."

"You have a lot of explaining to do. So, I suggest you start now." Harry sat down in the chair opposite Ros. He was breathing heavily, anger coursing through his veins.

"How did you know it was me?" Ros asked.

"Oh, it was all too perfect, Ros. The way you managed to get Ivanovich back without explaining how – too vague to be reality, Ros. I would have at least thought that Lucas would have had more leverage with the Russians than you. So, how did you do it?"

"Yalta," Ros said.

Harry stared, dumbfounded, at her for a moment. "Yalta?"

"Yes. Yalta."

"You betrayed us, for Yalta."

"I did. They gave me Ivanovich."

She was effortlessly calm, gazing blankly ahead, keeping her eyes averted from Harry and fixed on a point on the wall. Fury boiled inside Harry, suddenly unleashing like a tightly wound coil. He exploded in rage, slamming his hands palm-down onto the table in front of him.

"Why did you do it?" He demanded.

"Because I had to." Her voice was filled with bitterness and pain. "How could you have been so stupid to think that Yalta were just going to let me go. Did you really believe that they wouldn't try and come looking for me? Of course they did…they found me in Russia. I had no choice but to do what they said. Or I would have been killed."

"You should have come home! You should have told me!"

"What, and let myself be destroyed? I don't think so. No, Yalta may not have the best motives, but that doesn't stop me from agreeing with some of their ideas!"

"Why did you bug Amber's house?"

"I needed her to get close to Lucas."

"Why?"

"Because Yalta asked me to. They have members that are in the FSB. They wanted to keep tabs on Lucas at all times."

"So you were going to use Amber, were you?"

"That was the plan, yes."

"Only you never got round to it, did you?"

"I didn't expect them to fall in love!" Ros slammed her fists on the table. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this! But Yalta…you have no idea of the power they hold. It was hinted at that they have people in the highest possible places. Think of any government in any country and chances are that Yalta has people there. What was I supposed to do, Harry? Tell me that."

Harry said nothing; his mind was reeling. "Why frame Lucas?" he asked finally.

"Well, I couldn't exactly let myself get caught, could I?" Ros said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It was all about the Russians, and Lucas was the perfect candidate. I figured that if I framed him and it turned out to be true that he was traitor then it wouldn't matter anyway."

"But he's not, is he? Because you're the traitor. You cut out the bit of CCTV footage that showed you leaving the storeroom, you set Lucas up, you, quite possibly, destroyed Amber in the process, and what was it all for? You have nothing now."

"You don't understand. I had no choice."

"You've lost your edge, Ros. What happened to you? I gave you another chance and this is how you repay me?" Harry shouted suddenly, and then dropped his voice dangerously low as he leant across the table. "What would Adam think?"

Harry could tell that he had touched a nerve; Ros blanched and blinked back fresh tears.

"Adam's dead, Harry." Her voice was trembling as she tried to control her emotions.

"My point still stands."

"No it doesn't. Stop trying to make me give in to you. What do you want me to say? That I'm sorry, I was wrong, I'll never do it ever again?" Her tone dripped sarcasm as she spoke.

"No, its far too late for that. I'm sending you to the dogs."

Ros looked up sharply, fear in her icy eyes. "What? Harry, no."

"You knew this would happen if you got caught."

"Yes, but I didn't think I'd get caught!"

"Too late, Ros. Far too late."

The team gathered in the centre of the Grid as Ros and Harry emerged from the meeting room. Several security guards met them and took Ros away. Tears streamed from her eyes as she realised that it was all over for her. She couldn't even look at the other members of the team; she could feel their betrayal radiating from them. As she reached the pods, Lucas came through, still being escorted by his minder. He said nothing to Ros as she was taken away. What could he have said to her anyway? Ros felt that she should have apologised, but whenever she tried, she couldn't find the words to say, and so she left in silence.

"I owe you all an explanation," Harry said to the team in the stunned silence that followed Ros' departure.

"I knew it had to be deeper," Lucas said flatly after Harry's lengthy explanation.

"Yes, but how much deeper?" Harry asked. "If Ros was right then nowhere is safe."

"Why don't we just deal with that when it comes to it?" Lucas asked.

Harry nodded in agreement. "I'm going to have words with the Home Secretary. Everyone, go home. It's been a long day for some of us."

They stood to leave, all of them exhausted though they had done nothing. It was amazing just how much news such as this affected them all. Everyone felt numb, hurt, betrayed, and it was a good call of Harry's to let them go.

"Amber, Lucas, a word before you leave, please."

They both hung back and waited until the others had left the meeting room before Harry closed the doors and turned to them both. His heart ached when he saw that Lucas had taken Amber's hand in his.

"I am so very sorry to do this to you both," Harry said quietly, and his sadness was evident in his eyes. "Lucas, will you be section chief?"

Lucas looked down at the floor. "I would Harry, I really would but…"

"But, what?"

"Amber and I had a conversation a few nights ago," Lucas began.

"I asked him to leave MI5 and stay with me," continued Amber, giving Lucas' hand a reassuring squeeze. "However, he said that he couldn't leave, and I was upset to start with, but then I understood."

"The thing is, Amber wants a normal life, and in my mind I can see it too. I can taste it, and I want it. But there will always be this life that I left behind niggling away somewhere in a locked-up corner of my brain. And I thought that if I was going to leave, then I didn't want to spend every day having doubts or thinking about what could have been. But the same applies for if I did stay – would I always regret it? Would I regret giving up a normal life for one of secrecy and danger? Those were my thoughts. But after today, I realised that above anything, I just want to be happy." Lucas looked towards Amber and smiled. "I'm leaving, Harry. We both are."

Harry looked between them both, saw how much Lucas was shaking, saw Amber's disbelieving expression, then her happiness as she threw her arms around Lucas' neck and kissed him passionately on the lips.

"Then go. Take this moment. You both deserve happiness. I can see now that your love is so much," Harry gestured around at the Grid, at himself and the team, "Deeper than this."

- The End -