Prologue
Bloody Himalayas, he couldn't believe it!
Jack had only been gone a month and a half and already the PM candidate, who is most likely to become Prime Minister by this time tomorrow, was sending them to the bloody Himalayas.
In a UNIT helicopter, they were in an chilling breeze, uncomfortable and cramped, which was never a good combination.
Especially with Owen's whining, Gwen swearing at him to shut up and Tosh trying to peacefully diffuse the situation not to mention he was stressed about how he was going to hide his blood from the team on the trip.
At this rate he was going to be insane within the hour and they hadn't even made it outside of the UK yet.
They had no idea what they were even looking for, Harold Saxon said he'd have someone brief them once they reached their destination, which seemed to be in the middle of no where.
He still can't believe the rest of the team voted against him to go on this trip.
Torchwood really didn't work well as a democracy but what choice did they have? It was either that or fight over who should become leader in Jack's absence.
They made it through the last month though, and while all decisions were a group vote, most activities were lead by which ever team member was most suitable for the task.
God he missed Jack.
He hadn't heard anything since the message Jack sent to his PDA nor was Jack back yet.
Arabella and Dexter would be letting themselves into the hub in a few hours, unknown to the rest of the team, to watch over the rift in the team's absence.
Ianto was broken from his thoughts as his mobile suddenly went crazy, beeping away in his pocket.
"You must have just got signal," Tosh said as the other three watched him pull out his mobile and stare at the screen in shock as it finally finished beeping.
Gwen peeked over his sholder to look at the screen.
"You have 33 missed calls and 41 messages. Jesus Ianto!" Gwen gasped
"Who are they all from? Got some wacko new girlfriend?" Owen stirred
Ianto was just about to answer when his screen lit up with another incoming call.
ARABELLA flashed across the screen as the ringtone kicked in.
"Who's Arabella?" Gwen asked
God she could be nosey sometimes Ianto thought ignoring the question as he answered the phone.
"Ianto thank god! Where the hell have you been, I've been trying to call you for ages?!" Arabella all but screeched in his ear
"I'm in helicopter Ari, it's not like I've got a solid signal." Ianto replied frowning slightly
"A helicopter? Where are you?"
"I don't know Ari, we're on our way to the Himalayas for work,"
"Who sent you?" she demanded again, he was getting sick of this
"Harold Saxon sent us, what does that matter though?" Ianto replied sternly
"Shit! Ianto you have to get that thing to land, get out of there it doesn't matter what it take just get out of there now!" The total panic that was in her voice startled Ianto for a moment
"Ari what's wrong with you? You're not making any sense." Ianto tried
"You're in danger; do you have any idea where you are? Where are you flying over? Are you still in the UK?" The question fired like a shotgun, giving him no chance to even open his mouth let alone answer her
"Damn-it Arabella, you're not making any sense!"
By this point the other three were looking at him in confusion and wonder.
There was enough noise from the copter engine to prevent them from hearing the other end of the conversation through his mobile even though they were all squished up together.
There was a muffled shuffle on the other end before Dexter's deeper voice drifted over the line.
"Ianto are you ok?"
"We're fine Dexter what is going on?" Ianto asked signing in relief that he'd finally get some answers
"We got some Intel from our spy in the government, Harold Saxon isn't who he says he is. He's put an assassination order out for all of you. When you land there will be bounty hunters there waiting for you. Alien assassins, some of the very best." Dexter explained
"Are you sure?" Ianto asked looking out the window trying to find some sort of a sign of where they were using his enhanced senses, knowing while he was facing the window none of the others would see his eye's change colour.
He managed to overhear the pilot talking on the radio about landing in a nearby airstrip, the only problem was they were already descending, which didn't give them much time.
"Where are you?" Ianto asked
"We've just pulled over at the moment, we're on the bikes, we were heading your way incase we could catch you before you left"
"We have a problem. They're taking us down to land, Stark Airstrip, how far away are you?" Ianto asked letting his abilities go and sitting back in his seat.
"Fifteen minutes if we push the bikes to their limit," Dexter replied and Ianto could hear motorbikes starting up on the other end of the phone line.
"Hurry." Ianto said hanging up the phone
"What's going on?" Owen demanded
"Harold Saxon has arranged to have us assassinated by alien bounty hunters as soon as we land," Ianto explained digging through his bag in search of his gun.
"What? Why?" Tosh gasped
"How do you know that?" Gwen asked as the rest of the team followed Ianto's lead and pulled out their own weapons.
"A very reliable source from his office." Ianto replied loading his gun.
"They're taking us down now," Tosh informed them a worried note creeping into her voice.
"We know they're coming now, so we can take them out before they get to us," Owen replied, his normal cockiness if full flight.
"Harold Saxon knows who we are and what we're capable of. If he has alien contacts, it's most likely he is one himself. Whatever he's sent after us is going to be enough to care us down with little problems," Tosh said realising their dilemma before the other two.
"Help is on the way. We just have to hold them off until it arrives." Ianto said taking a deep breath and mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen as he felt the helicopter touch down.
TBC