Killing can be easy.
Jack looked at his team with growing dread. How was he supposed to keep this many people safe?
Miracle day had ended two months ago and they had finally reached Cardiff. Gwen held Anwen and Rhys stood beside her with both hands full of luggage.
Rex stood to one side on the phone, as usual. Fuck, how many times did he have to tell him that UNIT closely monitored some areas and that cell-phones might get pinged no matter how secure the line with America.
Scott and Jenny lagged behind with more gear being dragged along between them as they argued about laptop batteries.
Seven of us! Fuck me! Too many bodies to get a single or even double room at a fleapit or to sneak into a safe house. Yep, Six people looking at him for guidance, like he had all the bloody answers and now Rex was being more annoying that usual.
Rex snapped his phone shut and turned to Jack with a look he had come to recognise as the "Oh shit!" look.
"They know we've landed" he sighed.
"What? How!" Jack hissed.
Everything had been so carefully planned and executed. The plane was private with diplomatic immunity. The sheik more than happy to help an old friend, above reproach by either country involved. A small gasp alerted him to a possible reason and with a stifled groan he turned to glare at Gwen.
"It was only me Mam!" she whined, large eyes begging Jack.
"I just sent a text to say we were safe, not where we were or nothing!" she assured Jack.
"Give me your phone," he growled reaching out his hand.
Looking at Rhys who nodded in agreement, she pulled her phone from her jacket pocket placing it in Jack's waiting hand. Jack looked at the screen and then at her with horror. She hadn't turned it off, it was still active and now they were fucked.
Dropping it to the ground, he stomped on it with a bark of rage. Fucked. They were fucked! Good and proper!
Rex watched the display of temper in silence and then looked up at the heavens for guidance.
Rhys shook his head and dropped the bags. Pulling Anwen from his wife's arms he strode some distance away with his back to Gwen. Jack's instructions had been clear, he had nagged to the point where Rex started calling him Mom in an Owen like way that made Rhys like him more.
Scott and Jenny watched with disgust, another Gwen fuck-up. In the month since they had joined this band of merry men they had witnessed many of these moments and knew the outcome. She would cry, jack would give in and they would all have to run. Again!
Jack mirrored Rex and then spoke his name softly. Rex slowly lowered his gaze to meet Jack's and saw despair there. Had they truly run out of wriggle room?
"Any safe house in Cardiff or London with Torchwood affiliations will be watched now. Any known associates with phone activity in the last six hours will be watched, all known Torchwood stop off points will be watched." Jack's monotone was creepy.
"Come on Captain Orgasm. There must be another safe house nearby that hasn't had phone activity lately?" he prodded Jack.
"Like where? Buckingham Palace?" Jack smiled sweetly.
Rex swore and kicked at the ground as Jack's words sank in. Yeah. Proper fucked.
Jack knew there was only one place they might be safe. One place they would never be found and the perception filter was still in place along with hidden Torchwood tech. One place he never wanted to give up. The one place left. No. Not an option.
"FUCK!" Jack roared turning to punch at the air as he gave in to the tantrum.
A sob escaped Gwen as she watched the beginnings of a meltdown and Rhys turned to look at her. Nope, not his problem she'd fucked up … again. No way he was going to try to reason with Jack when he started a temper tantrum. Best to let him work it out. He just hoped this was not the beginning of the end. If Jack abandoned now they were dead. He knew that as well as Rex did and they stared at Jack in fear.
"By the Gods! Melahiah boolen!" Jack continued and Gwen knew he was really pissed now. His language changed and words spewed out as he stomped, stamped and raged.
"What language is that?" Jenny asked Rhys.
"Dunno, probably Martian, Plutonian or something. Jack knows more alien languages that earth ones for sure. He once told me he spoke over one hundred and eighty languages as well as every known earth dialect, except Welsh which really pissed him off sometimes," Rhys said with a shrug.
Rex eyeballed Rhys. He was sick of this shit. Pretending he was a space traveller was getting tired, fast. Now he was pretending to speak an alien language? Bullshit. He hadn't seen an alien since he'd watched the movie Paul the other night with Rhys. Aliens! Bullshit!
Jack's phone rang and Jack froze in mid rant to pat his pockets. He studied the screen and cleared his throat.
"Jack here" he said pleasantly as though interrupted from reading a magazine, not raging like a maniac on speed.
He listened and then sighed. He looked at Rex and frowned. Then his gaze swept over the weary bunch and he sighed again.
"No! I wasn't just … what? You are?" Jack looked up at the clouds and frowned.
"Yeah. Seven of us" he muttered turning away.
Rex strained to hear the conversation and saw Jack shaking his head furiously.
"No, no! It's too dangerous. What if they follow us somehow? I've already got a leak here. Yeah! … huh! … Gwen again. … I can't risk you. Not you!" he was pleading now and Rex frowned with surprise.
Jack turned back and Rex caught his eye. Jack met his frown and then closed his eyes in defeat.
"Yes. Yes love, I know. I'm sorry. I'm so bloody sorry" Jack's voice broke on the last word and Gwen turned to look at him with fear.
"Yeah! Tell Margaret to have Tom ready then. If you're sure it's gonna be OK… Oh, sweets, don't … no … hey don't … yeah! Anwen is with us. … yeah … huh? Hey! That's not … yeah. Oh baby, yeah. I'm sorry."
Jack was rubbing his face with his free hand and had apparently forgotten he was being watched as his shoulders sagged and shook with grief.
"Yeah! I know. No other choice! … Me too, me too … more each day!" he snapped the phone shut and slowly began to pull it apart, placing the chip in his packet before dumping the rest on the ground.
Jack stood in silence, regarding his feet like they were exotic beasties. Then he straightened his back and took a deep breath before turning to face the group.
"Ok. Plan B. Everyone is to remove and destroy his or her phone, now! Rex, keep your chip by all means but no devices allowed past this point. When we reach our destination a new phone will be provided that will be compatible with your phone chip, OK?" Jack said before stopping for a breath.
Everyone was attentive, even Rex didn't have anything to say as Jack considered his next tack. Plan B? Cool. Running again.
"Rhys, Scott! Fetch the luggage, Rex with me please. Jenny, I need you to sort some nosh and Gwen? Shut the fuck up and don't move, touch or fuck up anything, yeah?" Jack spoke slowly and without malice, his fatigue showing.
"A Car? Mini Van or SUV would be best," he muttered to Rex as they began walking again.
Rex nodded in silent agreement and began to scan the car park for a suitable ride. Pointing at a silver panel van with a grunt, he began walking toward it without waiting for approval.
Before long they were travelling at a sedate speed through the streets with Gwen still snuffling in the back. Anwen had fallen asleep and Rhys held her on his lap in a silent rage. Gwen has stuffed things up again. He knew Jack was not happy about where ever they were going and this was going to get worse.
At they reached the marina Jack turned into a siding that had a boat moored and a small noise from Gwen alerted the others that she recognised their destination.
"Flat Holm? It's still there?" she said softly, knowing he was still angry with her.
"Yeah! Perception filters are still in place, which means it is invisible to all scans and satellite imaging. Also fully cloaked from the visible eye now thanks to some alien tech I scrounged from the Doctor last time we was out and about in the TARDIS that matched the filter's specs" he answered, too tired to be mad anymore.
"No cell phones, no PDAs, don't fire up your lap tops either. Any device within a ten metre radius of the filter will fry so if you don't want an EMP to kill your tech keep it dormant until we're aground." Jack's voice rose to include everyone already listening.
"What about the boat?" Scott was curious now.
"Known to the filter, has been altered to accept it's motor, onboard electronics and radio. Nothing new gets through!" he answered with a steely eye.
They docked without incident and unloaded. A tall black man approached and leaned toward Jack. Rex made a noise in his throat and moved to protect the Captain who seemed too calm.
"He's not happy!" the deep voice boomed from the man.
"No. Me neither!" Jack sighed back.
They soon found themselves in a mess hall with hot food and warm company. Another staff member had joined them, a black woman who knew Jack and the way she kept touching his arm indicated that she needed a quiet word.
"He's not happy" Margaret echoed the other man's words from earlier.
Jack nodded and indicated he would follow her but as he stood he took a deep breath and spoke to them instead.
"No one goes into the west wing. You will know it's the west wing because the fire stop doors have "West Wing" painted on them in big letters along with "Keep out". No one, and I mean no one …" Jack eyeballed Gwen, "goes into the West Wing."
"Why?" Rex hated taking orders.
"There is a time flux past those doors. You step back a year. Time stands still and you don't age until you leave." Jack explained.
"Time Flux? Like when you were a time agent?" Gwen said with a frown.
"Yes. This one is not locked, you can leave when you want but there's things in there that can't be removed or altered. They must stay there. I will protect these things with my life! I will kill …" he again eyeballed Gwen, "I will kill anyone who threatens the time lock!"
"Hold on" Rhys asked politely. "Time agent? You go back a year? What does that mean?"
"Physically, you de-age a year. Like a re-set. If you are thirty and step in you will become twenty-nine, or at least regress a year to that time and stage in your life. If you had a broken arm a year ago it will re-break. Not nice!" Jack nodded ignoring the first question.
"So if Anwen crawled in …" Rhys stopped talking as it set in, she was barely ten months old so this could be bad. Very bad.
"Yeah! Anwen wouldn't have been born and may not survive a regression like that!" Jack nodded.
"Then why have it!" Gwen snorted. "It's dangerous to my baby!"
"Because I do! Leave it! Or leave here!" he hissed with cold rage.
He knew she was going to be trouble. As per usual. This is why he never wanted to bring her here. She did enough damage here last time she visited. This was going to get messy but it was OK. Her death would hurt but he was telling the truth when he said he would do it.
He pushed through the fire doors and entered the time lock. A slight shiver was the only indicator that he was in before a voice echoed along the corridor.
"Are you going to stand there or are you going to remove those boots before entering the great room sir?" The Welsh tones calmed him immediately.
"Hey Yan" he sighed as he saw Ianto looking around the doorframe at him.
"Hello love. Bad day at work?" he deadpanned and Jack snorted with humour.
Finding the time-lock tech had been hard, smuggling it onto the TRADIS without the Doctor finding him with it was near to impossible. Activating it was difficult as well, but stealing Ianto's body from UNIT was the cope-de-grace. With only two weeks to go before the time-lock's year ticked over he had finally watched his lover open his eyes and breathe again.
These months in America had been a slow burning hell knowing he was back here waiting patiently. He would never comment, never complain to Jack about his absences but Jack knew it hurt him to be apart. He knew Ianto would be interested to learn that Angelo had resurfaced and a photo of Brad the barkeep in his pocket would bring a comment about cradle snatching for sure.
With a grin Jack moved into his lover's waiting arms and the last year of hell faded away. Ianto's breath on his neck as Ianto nuzzled his throat, bliss. Ianto would never age, never die and never leave him. This was not just Ianto's home … this was home! What he had fought to protect, keep and come back to.
Yeah. Killing her wouldn't hurt that much at all. After all that hard work? Killing can be easy.