A Voice in the Dark

Chapter XII

TITLE: A Voice in the Dark

AUTHOR: Lexie aka lillianschild

FANDOM: Spooks/MI5

RATING: PG13/R (maybe in later chapters)

PAIRING: Lucas/OC

SUMMARY: Section D has a traitor in its midst and a mysterious man arrives with what appears to be the key to rid MI5 of the mole. This fic is my own version of Series 7.

Disclaimer: all recognisable characters belong to BBC and Kudos Productions; I'm just playing with them for a little while without making a profit. No infringement's intended.

CHAPTER XII

THAMES HOUSE- 10 a.m. DECEMBER 18th

Harry was on the phone with GCHQ when Annabelle knocked on his door the following morning, but he motioned her in.

Sitting across from him, she struggled to keep her flared temper in check so, instead of slamming the door shut and demanding immediate answers, she waited patiently for him to finish the conversation.

“So...” he began, hanging up and greeting her with a smile,”you're leaving us. I see you've cleared your desk.”

“Yes, I've just collected my salary and said goodbye to the team.”

“I've never been good at farewells...”

“You could have fooled me. You're so good at pretending. I had a very interesting chat with Ros Myers last night. You lied to me, Harry. You've lied to me from the very first moment and I want to know why. You told me the man you arrested the day I shot Bateman had been deported and sent back to Russia. And yet Ros assured me no arrests were made.”

“Did you want him arrested, Annabelle?” asked Harry softly.

His response was disconcerting to say the least. Could it be he already knew what had happened between her and her captor? She'd experienced such guilt for loving her mystery man, for betraying everyone in Section D, including herself. Above all, she felt like the worst of traitors for having done the right thing in the end since that had entailed betraying the man she loved. And yet she'd been so furious when she learnt there had been no arrest.

“I just wanted what was right,” she shouted. “I did my duty as an agent of this service only to find out from Ros...”

“Rosalynd should have known better,” he interrupted.

“What does that mean? That she shouldn't have told me the truth? Because she did, didn't she? Nobody was arrested that day. Why? What possible explanation could there be for simply letting him go? It doesn't make sense. Did he make a deal, is that it?“

“I'm sorry, Annabelle, but I can't tell you that. Sometimes we can't choose what to do.”

“I slept with him, Harry,” she confessed after a short silence.”And I wasn't coerced. Nor did I use my body as a tool to try to earn my freedom. I loved him the way I've never loved any man before. But because I'm an MI5 officer and made an oath when I joined, I handed him over to you. I betrayed him and have had to live with that decision since then. It's the hardest sacrifice I've ever had to make and yet I was willing to live with the guilt because, despite my personal feelings, I knew I'd done the right thing. I would have kept on believing it if I hadn't met Ros last night,” she told the Head of Section D, trying to make him see the quandary she was in. “Isn't there anything you can tell me to make me understand?” she begged him.