Broken | Lucas North - Spooks/MI5 Story [Featured]

Chapter 25

Harry spotted the two men before Ros did, and knew right away that Jools had sent them, just as Malcolm had suspected. They were sitting in a dark sedan parked just outside the opened wire gate, its padlock hanging open. As Ros drove in, turning off the headlights, they could see the two buildings and just beyond it, the refinery.

A black Range Rover and a black car were parked side by side next to first building, probably the office building of what was once an oil refinery that had long since closed down its operations and moved to its new home a few miles away. These days, it was a haven for graffiti artists, their artwork splashed in just about every inch of bare walls, mostly metal pillars and drums.

As Ros had driven the ten miles back to Purfleet, just hours after she'd left it that afternoon, through the quiet streets of the town slowly waking with the coming of dawn, Harry listened as Malcolm relayed the details of the phone's signal just before it had disappeared.

"It's the old Gordon Refinery that closed down years ago," Malcolm said. "There are two office buildings in the property and the refinery facility itself."

"Thank you, Malcolm," Harry said as he glanced at his watch. Dawn was fast approaching and he could see the cars filling the streets, workers heading for the main refinery a few miles ahead. "You should head home."

"I think I'll wait here, sir," Malcolm said. "I'll monitor the communications in the area. I understand Six sent some men over."

"Really?" Harry wasn't surprised. Knowing Jools, he was going to cover his tracks and make sure there would be no trace of Nathaniel George having been back in England. Nathaniel would be proof of the nontraditional arrangement they had been set up years before, and Harry was certain that it was an operation that Jools would not want on his record. Not after this.

"Keep me abreast then, if anything new comes up."

"Yes, sir," Malcolm said before Harry hung up.

Outside the air was bone-chilling cold and Harry pulled up his coat collar above his neck to ward off the chill. As he and Ros walked towards the first building, he could feel unseen eyes watching him. Jools' men, Harry thought.

"How many do you think?" Ros asked, breaking the silence between them.

"Maybe two, possibly four," Harry answered. "But I can't be sure."

"Should we be worried about Jools?"

Harry shook his head. "We should be fine, Ros, unless Jools has something bigger than Nathaniel George that he's hiding from me. Which I doubt."

Ros turned to look at him, surprised though the expression faded from her face as soon as the information sank in. "How come I'm not surprised," she said wryly as she pulled out her gun from her holster and walked ahead of Harry the moment they closed in the distance between them and the cars.

The cars were empty, frost gathering upon the windows. As Ros turned the corner towards the doorway, she stepped on something and looked down. It was a phone. She picked it up and turned it on.

Lucas.

Pocketing it in her jeans, Ros moved ahead of Harry, and stopped just before the back door. She cocked her head towards the ground, where a sliver of light was visible beneath the door frame.

Harry took a deep breath, steam forming in front of his face. He wished he had back up, but knew that it was too late to call for one. Though Ros didn't say it out loud, Harry knew that she considered this too personal for Harry to be objective about. He should have been clear-minded enough to request back up for something such as this. But now was not the time for wishful thinking, Harry thought.