'For his first trick, the terrorist presents....' Ch. 4

[JHyde]

Forgive me friends, for I have sinned....it's been a while since I last updated. (Well, it WAS Ash Wednesday yesterday.)

This was a bastard of a chapter to write, but I hope it was worth the wait. Not a huge amount of Tariq and Ruth in this chapter, but there's plenty of them to come. Lots of Ros, which I hope makes up for it. I really see this fic as being about them working as a team, and I hope you get that sense reading it.

Real life getting in the way, but I hope to get another chapter up before the end of the weekend. Please review - knowing what you think helps so much, and a great deal of effort goes into getting these right.

Uses the team as it exists after 8.3. Spoilers for Season 8.

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It was as Ros was handcuffing Piggins to the foot of the bed that she heard not one, but two intruders enter through the back door. She rolled her eyes heavenward - as though the odds weren't already against her firmly enough! It was bad enough that she had taken her eyes off them for a moment, but she couldn't risk the train guard coming to his senses and making an ill timed dash for freedom. The job done, she crept once more to the doorframe, and waited for her visitors to declare themselves.

The two men were inside by now and they paused a moment before exiting the kitchen. A few muttered words, exchanged in a language with which Ros was unfamiliar, and then both men set off through the house.

Ros tensed behind the door frame of the bedroom and drew back, ready to strike. Both men were armed, and so was she, under the circumstances, but there was no time to add a silencer to her weapon and she was keen to get to capture at least one of the intruders alive.

The two men separated upon reaching the tiny hall; one heading for the front door, one entering the bedroom. Because the door opened from the right as one entered the hall, Ros was concealed behind its bulk as it swung inward, and she squeezed out from behind it as the intruder raised his weapon higher to shoot the now stirring train guard.

It was all over very quickly. Ros disarmed him first and then there was a struggle. Ros had her arms around his neck and they stumbled - first to the side, and then back, so that the intruder faced the door. But it had not been a silent struggle. The second man was just outside the doorway now, a backpack in his hand. Ros ducked behind her captive's body as he shouted and the second intruder raised his gun. In her mind, she barely had time to see Jo nodding once and falling slowly in pain before registering that her captive was now missing part of his head at the back. Her gun pulled, she threw the body she was now propping up against the force of gravity to her left, where it collided with another bullet the second intruder had fired in Piggins' direction. Ros fired two rounds at the gunman, who had taken off upon realising that Ros was armed. Cursing, the officer jumped to her feet and sprinted after him

The few seconds' headstart were enough. Her quarry was in his car out the front of the house and driving away before Ros could get to him. She quickly memorised the plates and headed inside, breathing heavily as the adrenaline ebbed away.

Ros mopped her brow, and pulled the dead man's body out of reach from Piggins, by now almost conscious. She wiped the man's blood on his jacket, trying not to think too hard about how the bullet had ripped apart the back of his head. Having quickly checked her second, useless captive for weapons, Ros then pulled her phone from her pocket and dialled Thames House.


"Harry?" Ros winced as Piggins started to scream. "I've a couple of issues here."


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Harry met Ros downstairs in the hallway immediately inside Thames House, wanting to see her before the rest of the team. She clipped towards him wearily and met his smile with a brief shrug of her shoulders. She bypassed the small talk.

"Piggins is downstairs, still screaming. Hitman Number One with two bullets in him is in the morgue and we should do a sweep of him sooner rather than later, I think. You never know - we might get lucky."

"Henrik positively identified Piggins as the man who sold him the pills, to Lucas," said Harry, walking towards the lifts. "So now that we have him here we might be able to finally work out what this is all about rather than picking the card this magician wants us to choose." He stopped, pressing the 'Up' button determinedly in the silence, then turned to Ros. "Are you......?"

Ros smiled - that small, Ros smile, a mix of resignation, sadness and a sneer.

"I'm glad there weren't three of them." Her only comment hung heavy between them as Harry reflected how close they came, so often.

They stepped into the lift and were silent as they rode it up to Section D. Stepping out of the lift, Ros took only a few steps before stopping her boss. "I'm sorry about losing the hitman, but at least we have Piggins. And there's that backpack - they had two of them there. One to kill Piggins and one to collect the bag, it looked like."

Harry nodded and motioned towards the pods. "You and Lucas best figure out how best to approach this man, then. I strongly suspect what he thinks he was bringing into the country may be yet another red herring for our benefit."


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For the second time that morning, Lucas and Ros waited outside an interrogation room, observing their suspect, preparing their approach.

"The strange thing is, I think because I was the one to get him out of that hovel alive, perhaps I should be the nice one this time around." Ros smiled mockingly at Lucas, who looked surprised to say the least.

"You not been getting enough action, Ros? By all means, flirt with him. Just remember that Tariq and I are here all day long to practice with, that's all I ask." He removed his watch and keys and placed them in the holding tray, then turned to look at his colleague. "I'd rather you flirt with him than me, if you think that's what it will take."

Ros nodded. "He's still pissed, remember? It's the fastest way, and right now fast is what we need. I think you should go in tough and I'll administer sweet solace which should do the trick. I doubt very much he'll want to go ten rounds with either of us, frankly."

Lucas cocked his head to one side. "Why they were so keen to bump him off, perhaps?"

Ros looked away from him and at Piggins, who was now openly sobbing. "That or his effusive displays of feeling. But I agree with Harry - he won't know what game he's playing. The best we can hope for is a lead on the real guys that might reveal what their endgame is."

Lucas raised his eyebrows. "So far, they don't strike me as chess players, Ros."

Ros shrugged and opened the door of the room, its grey interior raising her heartbeat as she looked her opponent up and down, on her turf, for the first time. She perched herself on the table coquettishly and introduced herself once again. Forget lying - this job was all about the greetings and the goodbyes.


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As Lucas shouted and blustered his way through the interrogation, Harry stood outside and watched. Ros and Lucas were extraordinarily well matched as partners in interrogation, as they were both capable of playing either role. It was Lucas' abilities in the interrogation room that had first attracted Harry's attention when, as a young man in his early twenties, Lucas had displayed an outstanding ability to get close, quickly, to a target or informant. His skills translated perfectly to the task of extracting information from unwilling participants. Harry was filled with regret for the years the still young man had lost, but marvelled at how adept he was after all this time at manipulating a conversation to hear what he needed. Harry squashed his pride, telling himself that he had no right to feel such an emotion in Lucas.

There was a light touch on his left arm, and he looked down slightly to meet Ruth's gaze, allowing their fingers to meet briefly. He smiled warmly at her and waved slightly at Lucas.

"He's doing really well. This is the first time I've seen him do the harder interrogation since he came back."

Ruth followed his eyes into the interrogation room, watching Lucas at work. She smiled. "He hasn't been that animated in weeks. Even if it's just show, I like it when he gets worked up, passionate about things."

Harry turned to look at Ruth, who as usual had penetrated to the very core of what he knew to be true about Lucas. "So while we talk about Lucas as though he were one of our pets, was there something you needed, Ruth?"

Ruth blushed, but grinned back at him. She loved the way Harry disconcerted her when she flashed her bad habit of over analysing everything; it was as though he found it amusing rather than annoying.

"You asked me to tell you when we had better background on Piggins? Tariq's still chasing the money, hoping there's a clearer trail than what we had with Henrik, but I have managed to find out a bit about Tim the Pig. Careless enough that he does most of his drugs trade at Univ, which is....."

Harry finished her sentence: ".....where Lucas' contact is and every other member of his cell. Footage yet?"

Ruth shook her head. "I'm on it, but it's going to take a while, Harry. If you can get Lucas and Ros to get a location from him that would help." She turned to walk away, but Harry reached out and grabbed her arm. She looked at him quizzically.

"It's....errr, a domestic thing, Ruth. I was thinking about how much time we've been spending lately running to and fro between our houses, fetching things when one of stays over at the other's house and...."

Ruth looked at her shoes. "I understand if we can't do it as often, Harry." She looked up at him again and tried to smile. "It's just...it's been nice, having you..."

Harry laughed, seeing quite clearly that she was afraid the sleepovers were ending. "No, Ruth, I'm not saying we can't still have the inadequate three times a week we get. (His voice lingered on the adjective, implying that it was not the company that was inadequate, but rather the small amount of time available.) I was.... suggesting....that perhaps I might leave a suit and some shirts at yours and you bring some things to mine. When you come over tonight."

Ruth drew her breath sharply, not quite knowing how to react. Harry hurried on, sensing her discomfort.

"It's not...moving in or anything, just...we spend so much time dithering about in the evenings when we're done here and.....," he stepped closer, "I want to be spending that time with you, Ruth. Not in the car, with my driver."

Ruth tried to laugh, but inside she was in turmoil. How different this was from her last invitation of domesticity! George had swept her off her feet with his request for her to join him and Nico in their home, and here she was with Harry moving in tiny steps towards....something, anything, she knew not what. Ruth suddenly felt very old, and utterly unequal to the task. She looked up at the man now regarding her anxiously, and sighed.

"Harry, not now. We can talk about this later. Lucas and Ros are busy in there and Tariq and I have to find out what Piggins is playing at....just, not now, Harry."

She hurried away, her pumps clicking quietly against the tiled floor. Harry turned back towards the interrogation room and watched Lucas slam his fist down on the steel table, threatening Piggins with....who only knew what? He pinched the bridge of his nose, playing the short scene over and over in his mind - what could he possibly have done wrong this time?

His reverie was broken by a shout from inside. Ros was waving at the monitor, knowing he was outside. Piggins was vomiting violently, clawing at his back urgently. Lucas met him with the bin from the corner as a receptacle and then looked at Ros, who was gaping in horror at Piggins' back, where his T-shirt was now hitched up. She crossed the room to the door, and met Harry outside with fear naked on her face.

"I can't say for certain, Harry, but Piggins has his back covered in what looks like the first rash of radiation sickness. Either that or someone gave him some serious shellfish." She reached for the phone. "We'd better get a medic in here, now."

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Please leave a review! It helps me write faster, truly

[Silktie]

Ooh, radiation sickness? The plot thickens. You've captured Ros well this chapter. I have a hard time picturing her as the good cop, methinks that might frighten me even more than the alternative! Awww, poor Harry. Ruth should know by now he's doing the best he can, with his 'limitations'. I hope she makes it up to him at some stage.

[Beatriz]

This is getting better and better!! I like Ros in action!! And love the sense of team work.

How cute of Harry!! poor man, you didn't do anything wrong!! It's just Ruth got confused ...

[Aria]

Excellent action filled chapter. I liked Ros kicking ass and then saying she was grateful there weren't three of them!! Also liked the HR interaction- it seems like something that would happen on the show, one step forward, two steps back. Keep up the great work.

[Tea Lady]

Ros is one tough cookie. Harry really cares about her I feel.

As for HR, what is wrong with Ruth? Did she want more or less from Harry?

Keep going, really enjoying this.

[YourFutureMuse]

Aww I really love how you do get a sense of the whole team working together, better than the actual scriptwriters I feel I like how you had Ruth and Harry talking about Lucas - got a better sense of their relationship with him. And I also loved Ros in this, you write the action parts reallly well

[Nia M]

Ros and Lucas in action, Ruth and Harry moving in (ish) with each other, and now the added bonus of radiation sickness - great chapter!

[lwhite53]

Radiation sickness -- well, that came out of left field . . . nicely done! Awww, poor Harry -- poor bloke just can't seem to figure her out! Oh well, hang in there Harry -- she'll come 'round. Lucas and Ros make a great team.

Waiting for more!

[almh]

This is really good I really like the HR interaction, their continued nervousness, which is a really good portrayal of how they act around each other on the show :sighs: Maybe next series they'll finally get somewhere...

[HellsBells]

Loved the way you touched on what Harry thinks about Lucas. This is such an intriguing story line, can't wait for the next chapter.