'For his first trick, the terrorist presents....' Ch. 1

[JHyde]

I don't seem to stay away long, do I? This is another thriller style fic, with Lucas as the main character and Harry and Ruth finding their way as a couple. Not sure how many chapters for this one yet. Please review. It makes me want to write the next chapter.

There is a bit of language in this fic, but nothing worse than what the show uses on occasion.

Spoilers for Season 8, uses the team as it exists after 8.3. I imagine this taking place sometime after the end of Season 8.

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The alarm bleeped shrilly through Lucas' troubled sleep and he slammed his palm against its top to silence its angry call. "Piss off!", he groaned, before rolling over and trying to rid himself of the lingering images of his nightmares. Every night he was plagued by the clowns of his Russian prison circus - Darshavin would give way to Kachimov, followed by the thugs of his dormitory holding him still while the tattoos were applied in their amateur, garish way. And now Sarah's face swam amongst them too; her piercing blue eyes mocking him as she urged Darshavin on in his dastardly pursuit for information. As she jabbed him with a cold finger, selecting the next place he would be branded....

The alarm on his mobile rang this time, the reminder he had added the night before. His insomnia was such that he knew additional measures should be taken to ensure he awoke in time for work. He groaned again and sat up, rubbing his weary hands over his face, and then checking his torso, almost as if he expected a new tattoo or wound to have appeared during the night. The ghastly characters of his time in Russia were dead or imprisoned far away, but their spectre was all too real and present for his comfort. He crawled out of bed and resisted the urge to hide himself away. A shower and work, he decided - but how many more days could his paltry medicine keep such pain from crippling him?

He cursed the slowness of the hot water tank as he stood outside the curtain. Truthfully, he didn't have the time to wait, but he knew the icy water would trigger a further flashback and only slow his progress further. It was relentless, this onslaught of memories that didn't lessen over the months since he had returned. But ultimately, what help was available? Tring? Level 6 of Thames House from whence no-one ever returned with a career? His job was everything to him, and there had to be a way of dealing with Russia's legacy that he just hadn't found yet. He stepped resolutely into the shower and allowed the almost scalding water to ease the tension of his muscles. His tattoos gleamed, the skin around them almost iridiscently pink after the water caressed them.


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Ruth finished buttoning her blouse and clipped on her earrings while Harry fixed his tie behind her. She was just the right height to stand in front of him so that they were able to share the mirror, Harry mused - it all could have been so much more complicated. There were moments when they got in each others' way, or said the wrong thing, but they were finding their way slowly. Together. Ruth smiled at him in their shared reflection, the warmth spreading through her body as she remembered how much she loved these nights during the week when one of them played sleepover. There was something about the morning mess of tangled limbs and tousled hair that she thrilled to, and the only thing that made it even better was how much Harry seemed to enjoy finding her there. Harry kissed her cheek swiftly and murmured his goodbyes but she caught his hand before he could run away.

"You need milk. I'll get some before I come back tonight, shall I?"

Harry answered her by kissing her soundly on her full lips and smiling through it while Ruth chuckled at his enthusiasm. There was a time when such a domestic concern would have bothered him terribly. Now it only served to remind him that Ruth would be back in the evening to share his bed. It made him shiver in anticipation.


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Ruth arrived on the Grid a little before 8am to find Ros on the phone arguing with someone and Harry in his office doing the same. Lucas slouched in behind her holding a cup of coffee from the local independent across the road.

"Organized chaos?" he queried, grinning slightly at Ruth. He found it impossible to help liking Ruth, as her warmth and gentleness reminded him vividly of his mother before she died. But it went deeper than that. Perhaps it was something to do with the fact that at heart neither Ruth nor Lucas were physically violent people. For Lucas, the art of hurting another person, even in self defence, was not one that came easily. Although since returning from Russia, his temper was harder to check and taking advantage of the opportunity to attack another human being was uncomfortably easy......he shut that train of thought down promptly as Ruth answered him with a shrug and the careless reply:

"Perhaps. Chaos of some type though, I'll warrant."

Lucas smiled in his turn and dumped his mailbag satchel on his desk. It was still so strange being back here; every day he looked around as though expecting it to be a fantasy he had summoned while being tortured. His dreams made the present all the more unbelievable, almost as though the reality of the Grid and his work were the dreams and his nightmares the reality. As they had been for so long.

"Thanks fucking much to you too."

Ros slammed down the phone, fuming. She turned to her colleagues, including Tariq who had just pushed his way through the slowest moving pod. Why on earth, Ros wondered, did he always pick the slowest one? Was it something about postponing the moment of starting work as long as possible?

"Is there a reason for such early profanity, Moddam?" asked Lucas, who could never resist an opportunity to tease Ros. Ros smiled thinly before answering.

"The Met and Border Agency UK are feeling rather pleased with themselves this morning. They arrested a young French Algerian this morning called Rashid Henrik getting off the Channel Tunnel at St Pancras. It seems he had two pounds of Semtex stitched into the bottom of his backpack and the remote trigger to set it off in the same bag."

There was stunned silence, broken only by Harry's muffled expletive that he hurled at someone on the other end of his phone.

"How didn't they catch him in Paris? Or Lille - where did he get on?"

Ros rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure anyone's even asked that basic question yet. They're too busy crowing over their apprehension of a alleged terror suspect. There's celebratory phonecalls being conducted all over the Greater London area right now, and that particular bit of gloating was to inform us that Henrik is being brought to Thames House for questioning. No doubt after he's been paraded in front of a waiting line of reporters."

Ruth tried not to laugh. "So Harry's on the phone to whom? Border Agency UK's PR head honcho?"

"I suspect so," Ros sighed, "and I was told to expect him within the hour. Which means we'll be lucky to have him by lunchtime. The way they were carrying on you'd think we'd stuffed up and they'd caught the Cambridge Five."

Tariq cleared his throat. "Well, actually....."

Ros quelled him with a look as Harry marched out of his office. "I take it you've told them?" he asked Ros, who nodded. Harry rubbed his face wearily. "There's so much about this that doesn't feel right I hardly know where to start. For now we'll play along with this little charade. Tariq and Ruth, start working up his profile and Lucas - you're to meet your Algerian asset from Ealing. I want to know if there was anything in the works with a North African connection. Ros, you're to meet Henrik and his very happy minders at St Pancras. I do not want Thames House to become a roosting ground for reporters. And perhaps you can dissuade certain members of the Met from announcing that Henrik is on his way here. Feel free to tell them where they can shove their Scotland Yard board game while you're at it."

The team dispersed, leaving Ros and Harry standing closest to Harry's office. Ros was staring at Harry, a smile tugging at her lips.

"What?" Harry demanded.

Ros shrugged. "I had one of those board games, you know."

Harry growled in response: "Get down there, Rosalind."


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[Beatriz]

Lucas fans will be delighted to read the first part, the shower part especially
I like how Lucas sees Ruth

Nicely set up, we'll see what happens next

I love the image of HR in the same mirror

[HellsBells]

I love your writing. Really pleased you've written about Lucas (and included a shower scene !), just love your view of him - so accurate, in my opinion.
Looking forward to the next chapter.

[Nia M]

You have no idea how happy the Ruth/Harry-ness has made me, but thankyou so much for that gorgeous image!!

Loved the rest too, and can't wait for more, but that bit was just squeeness on another level

[kirmostar]

hyperventilating on the floor lucas naked shower lucas naked shower lucas naked shower lucas naked shower...............

[JHyde]

That was specially constructed just for you, Tyger and YourFutureMuse.

Glad it had the desired effect.

[arctic]

Good writing. Can't wait to see where the story goes.

[almh]

Really good

[TygerBright]

(08-02-2010 04:58 PM)JHyde Wrote:  That was specially constructed just for you, Tyger and YourFutureMuse.

Glad it had the desired effect.

hah, I'm old enough to have full control over my breathing thankyouverymuch

Just had a sneak peek, will do print & read on the bus home once the day's work is done (I like taking the bus you know ) definitely something to look forward to
ta ever so muchly..

[lwhite53]

Loved that you got all the grid characters in and especially liked the Lucas & H/R set ups. Great mirror image with H & R. And the Scotland Yard board game -- LMAO! Waiting eagerly for next chapter.