Sex, Lies and MI5

 

Chapter 2

 

 

"So what's this?  Confession?"  Ros Myers looked over the two hunched figures before her as she took her jacket off and hung it over her desk.

 

Lucas gave her a wry look whilst Malcolm decided to speak up, "that's Catholicism, Ros!  Neither Lucas nor I were brought up under that regime.  Thank God."

 

"I don't much care, Malcolm, to be honest; I'm just wondering why the two of you are here at death o'clock instead of tucked up in bed underneath feather eiderdowns."

 

"I'm trying to piece together a few things, and Malcolm is helping me."  Lucas said, returning to his computer.

 

Ros crept up behind them looking over their shoulders.  "What are you trying to piece together?"  She noticed a couple of personnel files open on Lucas' screen.  "Oh, you want to know what that Elise has been up to since she dumped you."  She smiled her usually caustic smile.

 

Lucas turned to face her, "For your information Ros, I dumped her."

 

"I can see why!"

 

"Why?"

 

"I know she's obviously filled out a little since giving birth ..."

 

Lucas cut her off.  "For someone that is supposed to be an inspirational team leader you can be a complete bitch at times."  Lucas stood up to his full height.  Malcolm cowered behind his desk, he'd always hated confrontation.

 

Ros folded her arms over her chest in defiance; there was no way she was backing down.  "And I know exactly what buttons to press to get a reaction out of you, Lucas.  She is certainly a weakness.  Just make sure that no one else knows about her.  So why are you so interested if you dumped her?"

 

"I'm just interested to know what happened to her; I didn't take much notice once Elizabeta and I got together.  I know she married another operative and they had a baby together but I have absolutely no idea why she left the service or what happened to Jim, some of this obviously occurred whilst I was incarcerated and I just feel I ought to know."

 

"Doesn't exactly answer my question but if you don't want any help ..."

 

"I don't need your help Ros, I've got Malcolm.  And he's been able to give me a lot of information already, seeing as he does take an active interest in everyone around him."

 

"You're feeling guilty?"  Ros sneered.

 

Lucas nodded, "yes I am, if I'm to be totally honest about this.  When I spoke to Elise earlier on she made it quite clear that she didn't really want anything to do with me, even though she told me she was glad to see me back in one piece and that she knew I wasn't dead even when Elizabeta was adamant that I was."  He sat back down on his chair.  "I was terribly mean to her when we split up.  I'd gone home from work to find her so very happy, busy making tea and singing to herself when I walked in.  And I just told her, told her I'd been seeing Elizabeta and that she had my heart, that I couldn't marry Elise as I didn't love her anymore.  We'd known each other from uni, we were really good friends; we were recruited at much the same time and finally got together after she gave me the most languidly, perfect birthday kiss for my twenty third and was just drunk enough to build up the courage she needed to tell me how she felt about me."  He looked back up to Ros, unshed tears sparkling, "I have only ever seen somebody's heart break into millions of tiny pieces once, and it was Elise's."

 

Ros softened, pulling a chair from behind a desk and wheeling it in front of Lucas.  She sat down placing a hand over his clamped together in front of him.  "You look how I felt about Adam.  He was my world, Lucas and I lost him in an instant but I'll never stop loving him.  Your head was turned but you never stopped loving her did you?"  He shook his head.  She nodded.  "Right then, what do you know?"

 

Malcolm began, "shortly after Lucas and Elise split, she got together with Jim Gilbert and left MI-5.  A couple of months before the baby was due I remember Jim spilling the beans and letting everyone know that Elise and himself were going to get married before the baby was due to be born.  The actual wedding took place about two weeks before the birth of their daughter.  I saw them together on several occasions as well as once the daughter had been born but it never seemed right to me for some reason."

 

"In what way?"  Ros questioned.

 

"I don't know.  I would imagine it's the kind of feeling you get when your sister turns out to be your mother or something; not that that's happened to me you understand."

 

Ros smiled at his analogy.  "They were hiding something."

 

Malcolm nodded, "I questioned Harry about it at the time but he assured me that everything was as it should be, Elise had fallen pregnant by accident and wanted to make sure that her baby had the father's name, hence the marriage."

 

"A marriage of convenience," Ros mulled over her quiet thoughtful words.

 

Lucas looked up, "she was a good Christian girl, Ros.  There was no way that she could have lived with having a baby bearing her name and not the father's.  She'd have asked me to have done the same had it happened to us."

 

"Would you have done it?"  Ros asked.

 

"Of course!  There would be no question about it."  Lucas answered; his words heartfelt.

 

"Even if you hadn't loved her?"  He didn't answer, his eyes merely betraying him.  "Thought so."

 

"What are you saying, Ros?"

 

"Lucas, you're a minister's son.  You'd have done the right thing regardless and Elise would've known that.  So, she may have been a good Christian girl, so what?  According to the file," She pointed at the screen behind Lucas, "she's a psychologist; she would never have made you do something like that unless she knew she had your love.  If she felt that you didn't love her or care enough about her to have a child together she wouldn't have told you about it and putting you in a position where you had to do the right thing.  She would never have forced your hand.  That would have been totally unacceptable to her."

 

"So you're saying that there is a chance that her baby was mine but she didn't tell me because I'd just broken her heart."

 

"Why else would a woman be cooking her man a dinner, singing and looking extremely happy with herself?"

 

"Its conjecture," Malcolm regarded.

 

"It's a theory, a possibility.  We need more evidence Malcolm, I agree.  But I know that's how I'd damned well act if I was pregnant with Adam's baby and was just about to tell him."

 

Lucas leant back in his chair, his hands behind his head, his eyes closed.  "Shit.  And I handed her the biggest bombshell going.  No wonder she hates me."  He turned back to his computer screen.

 

"What do we know about Jim?"  Ros asked.

 

"We recruited him from a CIA secondment, the only American that seemed to have balls to stand up against his country when he thought something they were doing was wrong."  Lucas reeled off without turning toward the other two.

 

"Hmm, that was until we found out he was working for the FSB as well," Malcolm concluded.

 

Lucas turned to him, "what?"

 

Malcolm nodded his head, "yes.  With recent events there could've been some kind of professional relationship going on between him and Connie, although that's purely speculation on my part.  We sent him on a retrieval run, on an attempt to get you back Lucas actually and as an attempt to secure his loyalty, but that was where it all ended for him.  He took a bullet in the head.  His body was never returned and neither the FSB, CIA nor our own government has ever taken any responsibility for him or his family.  His death left Elise quite impoverished; Harry suggested that she come back and work within MI-5 as a profiler of some description but it was never sanctioned at the time.  In the end she retrained as a teacher and works at a state school teaching sociology, poor woman."

 

"What for having to teach thirteen to eighteen year olds or for marrying a loser."  Ros returned.

 

Lucas looked back to the other two, "she wouldn't have fared much better with me either, would she?"  His voice cracking with remorse.

 

Ros shook her head, "I suppose not, but then you did love her."

 

"Jim may of too," Malcolm insisted.

 

"I don't think so, Malcolm," Ros interjected.  "He seems like the kind of man that only did things for himself.  Lucas, on the other hand, does things because he needs to, not because he has anything to gain by it."

 

"Apart from Elizabeta."  Lucas confided.  "I gained my right to be with Elizabeta after destroying Elise's life.  I'm no different from Jim."

 

"Yes you are.  But I'm not starting a debate about this.  Is he definitely dead, Malcolm?  If the body was never returned then how could it be presumed that he is actually dead?  He may just be missing in action or gone to ground, especially considering that he was in Russia when he disappeared and he was supposed to be one of their agents.  Perhaps he was too great an asset for the FSB to lose."

 

"It was looked into, if I remember correctly."  Malcolm tapped away at his keyboard momentarily.  "Yes, thoroughly.  Harry ordered a complete investigation into it, Tom Quinn headed up the team.  He came home satisfied that he had seen Jim's body."

 

"Yes, but we all know death can be faked," Ros smiled, thinking back to her own resurrection.

 

Malcolm stared at Ros, "you don't think ..."

 

"Why not?"  She shrugged her shoulders, "in our game, anything is plausible."  She watched Lucas rise through concerned eyes.  "Where are you going?"

 

"To see my daughter."  Lucas responded flatly, he turned back to his screen pointing, "there is no way that that little girl isn't mine.  Elise has even given her my great grandmother's name.  Rebecca."

 

He was right, she had the same angular features, unmistakable dark hair and deep blue eyes that were his.  "Lucas, wait.  That could be pure coincidence," Ros' hand was on his wrist.

 

"No, I remember having a conversation with her once about it.  We'd been engaged about three months and the conversation turned to children.  She asked me what names I liked and I said that if we had a girl I'd always wanted to name her after my great gran."

 

Ros stood and crossed to Lucas' computer, clicking with the mouse and bringing up the picture of Jim.  From remembering what her mother looked like and the photo of the dead man the girl was definitely not Jim's.  "You can't go now.  It's just gone four, do you think her mother will thank you for waking them up at a stupid time in the morning.  Besides, what are you going to say to Elise?  If you still love her like I know you do then there are ways of going about this.  You have to think about this, Lucas."

 

"I've thought about it."

 

Ros sighed.  "You can't just walk in there like a bull in a china shop, you have to get her to trust you, begin to love you again even."

 

"Since when did you become Kilroy?"  Lucas bit out.

 

Ros pouted, "since I became team leader and I think you'll find I model myself more on Jeremy Kyle, sweetie."

 

The joke was totally lost on Malcolm who went back to his computer but despite everything, Lucas laughed, his reply dripping with sarcasm.  "I can see why, he has a great bedside manner, doesn't he?"  A look of puzzlement washed over Ros' face.  "That rest Harry put me on just after I came back from Russia, I had to do something.  Spent most of the time watching him and delving into the disparaging lives of countless people for the few weeks I was off.  God, he'd have a field day with us lot, wouldn't he?"

 

Ros sniggered, "yes, this job should come with a government health warning, 'MI-5, the life that can seriously damage any personal relationship you may enter into'.  What are you going to do?"

 

"Be sensible.  Find a way in."  He smiled reaching across to the top drawer of his desk.  He opened it pulling out the card that Elise had handed him the previous evening out on the street.  The gold letters twinkled before his eyes.

 

"What's that?"  Ros enquired, already knowing the answer but wanting him to tell her all the same.

 

"It's my way in, Elise gave me her card last night said that maybe we should sit down and talk.  I'll phone her later on and see if she wants to."

 

 

.oOo.

 

 

The sharp sound of knocking on her front door brought Elise out of her reverie, her marking already set aside as she'd sat at the table in the bay window with a fresh cup of green tea and mulled over her memories of the previous night.  She stood as she pushed the chair back and walked to the front door, looking through the peephole and deciding that the man on the other side of the door was definitely friendly.  "Good afternoon Harry, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

 

"I've got some news for you."  He answered as she opened the door for him and waited for him to cross the threshold so that she could shut it behind him.

 

"Would you like some tea?"  She asked, picking up her mug and threading her way through to the kitchen.

 

Harry followed.  "Thank you."  Taking note of the surroundings it was easy to see that she had struggled, bringing up a child on one's own was never easy and for a brief, guilty moment he thought of his own ex-wife and children.  But then Jane didn't have to go out to work and the children had never wanted for anything.  Elise had had to cope with losing her husband and not getting anything financially in return.  Sure she'd been able to get benefits but she was a proud woman and fiercely independent, driven by her desire to work and having to stay home looking after a baby had not been an easy decision for her to make.  But made it she had and Harry admired her for it, if only he'd had such a resolve.

 

"Harry?"  Elise broke through his wandering thoughts.

 

"Sorry?"

 

"I asked what kind of tea you would like and if you wanted milk or sugar.  Are you ok?"

 

"Yes, I'm fine.  Black tea is fine, milk no sugar.  You seem to be doing ok?"

 

"If you call teaching doing ok, then I'm doing ok.  Better than I have been doing anyway."  She answered honestly.

 

"How bad was it?"  Harry asked.

 

"Always so direct."

 

"Elsie, I'm sorry.  I feel responsible, I promised you I could help you and then I had to sit by and watch you struggle because my hands were tied."

 

"Harry, stop it!  Did I actually ever ask you for anything?"

 

"No, you didn't.  But you were one of this country's best officers and they brushed you under the carpet because of your association with Gilbert.  If I'd known then what I know now about him I would never have insisted that you marry him.  I tried to make them understand, Elise.  I tried to tell them that you never loved him and that your child wasn't his but they just didn't care and when I told them about Lucas, well quite frankly, I was disgusted with them."

 

"I made my bed, Harry."

 

"No, I made it for you."

 

"And now Lucas is back ..."

 

"I know," Harry turned away from Elise, unable to look at her.

 

"You should've let me tell him when I wanted to.  I would never have asked anything of him but he had the right to know about his daughter."

 

"And now?"

 

"Harry, I have to tell him.  Whatever he chooses to do with the information is then up to him.  If he wants to see Becky then I can't stop him and would honestly welcome it.  Becky deserves to know her father as much as he deserves to know his daughter and they both deserve to understand how special they both are.  But I worry."

 

"What about?"

 

"Becky is definitely her father's daughter.  She's sharp, sharper than I ever was.  She can tell a lie at fifty paces.  I have to make sure she's not with me when I tell the odd fib, she's nearly got me into so much trouble on a few occasions."  She smiled.

 

Harry laughed, "what do you mean?"

 

"Oh Harry, when I look back its almost comical.  There was this one time, just after my birthday a couple of years ago.  Some of my friends decided to buy me some new clothes to go out in, I was a bit strapped at the time and couldn't afford anything myself.  Anyway, these boxes arrived and the clothes were just divine, silk blouse, linen skirt; the works.  Really expensive stuff.  So I wear them, as instructed, for this birthday bash they've put together for me but I'm careful.  I don't drink too much so as to make sure I keep the clothes nice.

 

"Anyway, a few days later I decide that these clothes are far too good for me and the money would do better putting towards Becky's uniform, or the rent, or a bill, or some food or something.  I iron the clothes so they look like they haven't been worn, put them back in their original packaging, with the tags still attached and take them back to the store.  Obviously I haven't got a receipt and so I say they were a present from my husband and that he got all the sizes wrong  and I didn't much like them either but I don't want to tell him because it will upset him too much.  Becky, who's seven at this point, starts saying stuff like 'but mummy looked so good', 'they did fit' and 'your friends bought them'.  I just manage to send her a warning look when I think she was about to ask why I was lying and she decided to shut up, thankfully.  I eventually got the money for the clothes with a bit of a confab and decided to never take her with me again if that was the kind of mission I had to go on."

 

Harry shook his head, "out of the mouths of babes."  Elise nodded her head in agreement.  Thoughtfully he asked, "rent?  I thought you were given this place from your parents' estate when they died."

 

"I was, but Jim left me with a lot of debt to clear up and as I couldn't prove he was actually dead, not having a body or a death certificate, I had to pay it.  A local housing association bought it and I rent it off them.  My job just about covers our living expenses but as Becky gets older ..."

 

"Hmm, girls always want more than boys."

 

Elise nodded, "I'd never be without her though.  I know that I was very career orientated before I found out I was having her but I could never have ..."

 

Harry reached over and took Elise's hand, "Shh.  Don't even think about it.  So why do you worry about it?"

 

"As part of his work, Lucas is prone to lying.  Becky will know immediately and I don't want anything to jeopardise any kind of relationship that will develop between them."

 

"Then you must tell him not to."

 

"What about the official secrets act?  He'll have to lie about his job."

 

"I'll have to have a word with Malcolm; there may be something we can do so that Becky doesn't recognise the lie."

 

Elise decided to change the subject, "when we get Ruth back on British soil, are you going to try again?"

 

"Try again?"

 

"Yes, the whole family thing.  Getting married, having children, etc, etc."

 

"Children?"  Harry scoffed, "I'm too old for that now?"

 

"My dad always used to tell me you're as old as you feel.  I know Ruth hasn't given up all hope of having a family."

 

Harry was surprised, "really?"

 

"Yes, really."

 

"Ruth and I hardly had time to cement any kind of bond to one another."

 

"From what I hear, you and Ruth cemented enough.  Ruth told me that she thought you were about to tell her how much you cared for her but she silenced you with a kiss," Elise smiled, her eyes dancing with delight at Harry's reaction to her words.

 

"I was just about to tell her I was going to miss her."

 

"Rubbish!"

 

Harry hesitated, "I was going to tell her that I loved her."

 

"Then she was right to do what she did, I wouldn't have wanted to hear that and then try to leave.  I couldn't have done it."

 

"I hope I get the chance to tell her."

 

"You will, Harry.  I hope we can help her quickly."

 

"That's one reason I'm here, I have a proposition for you.  How would you like to head up an investigation in an attempt to ascertain who 'Fox' is or was?"

 

"I'd love to, but what about being brushed under the carpet?"

 

"Those powers that were no longer are.  I have friends in extremely high places and have been able to secure you a post.  I've been banging on for years about having a proper profiler in the ranks but I've always been overruled.  But the position is now open and I wish to recruit you.  Part of the remit though is to help out with the rehabilitation of field officers if needs be."

 

"Officers like Lucas, I presume."

 

"Yes, Lucas is a priority.  He has never spoken about the true extent of what happened in Russia, he won't open up to anyone.  There is a psyche evaluation pencilled in for him but he needs to be able to pass that in order to keep working and I can't keep putting it off for him.  I need you to help him get through it."  He passed over a file which Elise immediately opened, placing it on the kitchen counter.  Her fingers absently traced over the photos of the tattoos emblazoned over Lucas' skin.  "They're part of ..."

 

"Russian prison culture," Elise concluded, "I remember reading something about it somewhere as well as getting the condensed master class from Elizabeta one afternoon."

 

"Oh.  How are you and Elizabeta?"

 

"As well as two women can be I suppose, when one has had her heart stolen by the other.  I just resolve myself with the fact that Lucas obviously wanted to be stolen away from me."

 

"You're still hurting?"  Harry asked concerned.  He went to take the file, "perhaps I shouldn't be putting you into this situation."

 

"It's always going to hurt, Harry.  Every day I look at my daughter, it hurts.  When I see my daughter with her father in the future, it's going to hurt; when we talk on the phone and I pass him over to her, it's going to hurt; when it's her birthday and he's spending the time around us, it's going to hurt.  Even when I'm in a situation where it is just me and him, it's going to hurt like hell but I have to get over that and I have to be totally professional about it."

 

"Are you sure?"

 

She nodded.  Her mobile began to ring, "give me a sec."  Harry nodded as she picked up her phone looking at the number but not recognising it.  "Hello."  She answered.

 

"Hi, Elise?"  She closed her eyes to the rich, velvet tones.  All he'd have to do was say the word and she would submit to him completely.

 

"Lucas.  Hi."

 

Harry's forehead furrowed.  'That was unexpected,' he thought.

 

"You said I should ring so that we could talk."  Lucas continued.

 

"You want to talk over the phone?"

 

"No, I'd prefer to do it in person.  How about tonight?"

 

"I'm sorry, Lucas.  I can't."

 

"Oh, its Friday isn't it.  You'll be pampering yourself with your alone time."

 

How on earth had he remembered that?  It had been her weekly ritual but after all the water that had passed under that bridge ...  "No, no pampering.  I can't afford it anymore.  I have a daughter to bring up on my own, remember?"

 

"You're going out?"

 

"No, I'm not going out either.  If you must know I've got a pile of essays on the effects of capitalism to mark, a very boring prospect and alternative I can assure you.  But it's my only chance to get it done as my daughter is sleeping over at her friends tonight."

 

"Ok, well I'll see you about eight thirty then."

 

"Lucas?" She shouted into her phone but it was already dead, the call disconnected.  She sighed and closed her eyes.  "I know I didn't really want to do that marking but sometimes he can be so God damn infuriating."

 

"Do you want me to have a word with him?  Ask him to leave you alone until you're ready to speak to him."

 

"No, Harry.  It wouldn't make a scrap of difference if God himself told him to stay away."

 

"How so?"

 

"Lucas is a creature of habit, Harry, as we both are aware.  He'll be here, half eight on the dot, with a peace offering of chocolates and wine no doubt."

 

"Chocolates and wine?"

 

"My Friday night ritual as he liked to call it, consisted of a bubble bath and a pamper followed by a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates and a couple of weepy films.  Besides the sooner I talk to him about Rebecca the better.  Could I give you my answer in a couple of days?  I want to see how the land lies first, and then I can make a final decision."

 

"Ok, but don't take too long, even the high placed friends have limitations on patience."