– Torchwood style
Chap 1
A driveway is filled with cars. A formal evening party is in progress... a private reception for a foreign dignitary. Tuxedo wearing men escort their diamond draped ladies through the huge front doors, where they remove their coats and are scanned with hand-held detectors by white gloved security.
The walled wall around the house runs along the lake. There is an opening, to a canal, which connects to the boat docks inside. There is a steel grating across the opening, disappearing down into the thin ice of winter.
A person in diving gear was working at the metal bars with an oxygen arc cutting torch. One bar has already been cut out. Two quick cuts and a second bar falls to bottom and mud billows around the hovering figure. The man slips through the bars and swims silently along the stone canal wall like a black shadow moving against the frosted ice above.
The boat dock extends into the frozen canal, wrapping around a boathouse. There is a quiet chipping. The ice breaks and the pieces are slid back. A head appears, in a wetsuit hood. The Diver slips the breathing regulator out of his mouth and turns slowly, scanning... revealing: Ianto Harkness-Jones. Our hero. Ianto floats with his upper head above the surface so only his eyes are visible as a guard passes above.
After waiting a few moments Ianto slips out of his tank, letting it and his fins sink, and climbs the ladder onto the dock. Opening a snap lock bag, he pulls out a walkie-talkie.
"Honey, I'm home." Ianto purred down the wire.
Ianto's partner, Toshiko Sato, answers via the headset. "Roger that."
"Hey, Owen! Get your arse in here, Ianto's inside." She shouted with a hand covering the mike.
Outside the van, Owen Harper, a snarky brit, finishes making yellow circles in the snow and hurries back to the van. They are parked on a mountain road a half-mile from the house, and the lights can be seen through the trees.
Owen jumps in and goes to a huge telephoto night-vision scope. The green image jumps about as he sweeps the grounds, locating the boathouse.
"Were you born in a whore house?" Tosh growled as she recognised the cold air hadn't stopped and the door was still partially open.
"Whorehouse!" Owen grinned as he reached back to slam it shut.
Hidden in the shadows, Ianto is removing of his wetsuit. Underneath it he is wearing black tux pants, suspenders, cummerbund and a formal shirt. He puts an earpiece deep in his ear canal.
"Switching to sub-vocal. Tosh, check-check?" Ianto's low voice was a growl.
"It's Talk Radio. You're on the air." Tosh confirmed.
Ianto slips into his shoulder harness... holster on one side, holding his Glock-22, and the transmitter pack on the other. He slips on a formal jacket, hiding it all.
"The guard nearest you in moving away" Owen matters, "Go. Now!"
Ianto adjusts his bow-tie and strides confidently out of the shadows, crossing quickly to the house. He looks lush in his black tux with the white silk cummerbund and his hair wet. He enters the main house through a back service entrance.
Ianto stomps through the huge kitchen like he owns the place. The kitchen staff are scurrying around, too busy to notice. Ianto tastes a dish with his finger as he passes.
"This needs more garlic." He declared in perfect French.
He wandered through unchallenged, exiting into the party which is in full swing. Ianto blends smoothly into the crowd of dignitaries, businessman and minor nobility.
Ianto smiles politely as he strolls amiably among the glittering women and men, casually snagging a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. He nods to someone as if he knows them. Greets another is fluent Arabic. People Ianto moves through the crowd. Scanning it.
"There's Daddy" the host of the party and owner of the chateau is fat and animated, greeting guests.
Ianto makes his way up the grand staircase to the second floor then slips through some doors into the private area of the mansion.
Doors open and Ianto slips into a large darkened library then moves to a window and opens it onto a terrace.
Ianto slinks onto the terrace, and in a display of acrobatic ability, he pulls himself up onto the third floor letting himself into an office that is ornately furnished. Beautiful antiques shine in the moonlight. Ianto crosses to a huge desk and turns on the computer there. Lit from the glow of the screen, he pulls a piece of tech, from the back of his cummerbund. He connects it quickly to the modem port in the back of the computer.
"Modem in place. Transmitting...now." Ianto murmured then he pushed a button and a green light come on.
Tosh and Owen watch as their monitor screen lights with a data streaming from the private computer.
"Affirmative. We are in." Tosh is a computer ace. Her fingers fly on the keyboard as she types rapid key commands. We see words that are all in Alien characters.
"These are encrypted files, guys. This is going to take me a few minutes." Tosh said determinedly.
The library door opens a crack and a dental mirror comes out, looking around like a periscope. Seeing the coast is clear Ianto slips out. But just as he is closing the door, a member of security rounds the corner. Ianto smiles sheepishly and moves toward the guard.
"Where's the john around here? I have to take a major pee." Ianto says in perfect Lecturinian.
The man points warily down the corridor. Ianto nods and heads that way, back toward the party.
Ianto comes down the staircase and back into the glitter of the party.
He is sipping champagne and looking bored. He sees two members of security moving purposefully through the crowd toward the stairs with walkie-talkies in their hands. He turns away as they pass him and pretends to study a large fragment of bas-relief... a painting depicting a war chariot drawn by four horses.
He feels someone next to him and turns. It is a woman who is captivatingly beautiful, and her gaze is fixed on him.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" Ianto says pointing at the painting.
"Yes. Hi, I'm Gwen Cooper. I thought I knew most of John's friends but I don't believe I know you."
Ianto offers his hand to her. "Harper. Ianto Harper."
"Oi! We didn't agree to that bloody name!" Owen sniped, "That's mine."
Tosh turns to the screen displaying the mission database. She searches quickly for Cooper. "Cooper, cooper. Come on..."
Tosh finds the entry she's looking for as Gwen's picture and data appear on the screen.
"Gwen Cooper. Art and antiquities dealer, specializing in alien artefacts." Tosh informed Ianto over the link.
Ianto turns back to the picture "This is Perstelasian, if I'm not mistaken."
"Very good. Its sixth planet from the Delarcot System. Do you like it?" Gwen gushes.
"I adore it." Ianto sighed.
Owen watched from the scope, and saw one of the guards shining his light on the hole in the ice and then on Ianto's footprints leading to the boathouse. He calls to one of the other guards, who comes running over.
Ianto, still with Gwen, hears Tosh in his ear "Ianto, we got a problem. Guards are swarming all over the dock."
Ianto looks up the stair and sees the security man is gesturing to several of his men, and speaking quickly into a comms device. Three men come down the stairs, scanning the crowd. Ianto turns smoothly away from them and takes Gwen's arm.
"Do you dance, Ms. Cooper?" Ianto purrs as he steers her toward the dance floor.
Tosh, listening, rolls her eyes. Owen looks through the scope again. Guards are running around outside the house.
"Shit, Ianto's stirred up the hornet's nest." Owen mutters as Tosh is still working furiously at the keyboard.
"Okay, files are unlocked. I'm in. I'm down, baby. Whoo, Napsar got nothing on me boy!" se crowed.
"Just copy the goddamn files!" Owen snarls, then barks into the mic "Ianto, don't be stopping to smell the roses, now. You hear me,
Ianto?"
Ianto whirls Gwen aggressively across the dancefloor. She responds deftly. They are well matched. She counters each of his smooth moves with a flourish. It is a contest of wills, and a surprised assessment for each that the other is worthy. Gwen is hot. He bends her back at the waist, then snaps her up. She whirls into the crook of his arm. Their faces are inches apart. Wow. The music ends and she gives him a dry grin.
"Well. And I thought this was going to be just another bunch of boring billionaires and collectors." She panted.
"Ianto, seconds count, buddy. Ditch the bitch, let's go." Owen barked in his ear.
"Unfortunately, Gwen, I have a plane to catch." Ianto smiles charmingly.
She slips a card out of a pocket in her otherwise sheer dress. She hands it to him, maintaining eye contact. Serious heat between them.
"Call me, if you'd like to see some of my other pieces." Gwen purrs seductively.
"I'd like that." Ianto whispered in her ear.
Owen can't believe this conversation he can hear. "Son of a bitch is with her two minutes and she's ready to bear his children"
Tosh makes a noncommittal noise.
"What's your exit strategy Twinkle Toes?" Owen demands.
Ianto nods to the security men at the door as he strides through. He goes down the steps to the broad terrace above the car park. Behind Ianto, a GUARD lowers his comms device and starts after him.
"May I see your invitation, sir?" the man said in a flat voice.
Without turning, Ianto slips a small flat box out of his breast pocket. A Remote.
"Here's my invitation." He pushes the button and BOOM! The second floor windows blow out in a fiery explosion. Using the diversion, Ianto leaps off the terrace before the guard can open fire.
Owen sees the rising fireball a half-mile away. He starts the van.
"Aw, shit. Here we go"