Chapter 2

Ianto and Tosh spent the rest of the day going through the list of casualties of the Battle of Canary Wharf. Before leaving to talk to the police Gwen had hung back in the boardroom to bitch at Jack for what he'd asked Ianto to do, but his response had been that he was more familiar with those names than any of the rest of them. The fact that it was the very thing that made the task so onerous did not escape any of them.

Once everyone had set about their appointed tasks, Jack visited the armoury once more and then disappeared into the vaults. Returning with a heavy heart to his office, Jack had shut the door behind him, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed by Ianto, but he kept his thoughts to himself. He knew better than to pester Jack, he'd tell him what was troubling him when he was ready, and not before.

From his office Jack observed Ianto through the slats in the blinds. He had known that it would hurt Ianto to have to revisit the last days of the Torchwood Institute in London and wished there had been an alternative way to do this. Even having Tosh work with him was not enough to take the strain away, as the day progressed he watched his lover's shoulders droop, his stoic façade begin to crumble. Jack already had his suspicions and was hoping that the others would disprove them; he really didn't want to have to carry out his plan if there was any way it could be avoided. It was a last resort and it would cost him dearly.

By the end of the day Ianto and Tosh had succeeded in painstakingly cross-matching names and identity photos to the images of bodies recovered. They'd double checked DNA profiles for bodies that could not be physically identified, including those deleted, exterminated or converted. What was left was a list of those assumed to have been pulled into the Void, all unaccounted for at the end of the battle between the Daleks and the Cybermen. As Jack reviewed the products of their research he winced as he saw Rose's name on the list of those taken into the Void.

"All of these lost to the void?"

"That's what was assumed at the time. Odd how many of them just so happened to be from Yvonne's inner circle."

From that group of individuals Ianto had compiled a list of scientists and prime movers in Torchwood One that had all apparently disappeared into the Void. As Jack read through the names he bitterly wondered what they had might have taken with them, the devastation would have made any detailed checking of inventory impossible, any missing items would have been assumed to have been pulled into the Void as well.

"I should have checked. I should have been more thorough."

As the three of them silently contemplated the group of rogue Torchwood operatives that could potentially be at large, Jack blamed himself. He'd been so angry at having just missed the Doctor and then finding out that Rose had died, he'd let the others get on with the clear up operation, not paying as much attention as he should have done. He'd not even bothered checking on the survivors, made no effort to make sure they were taken care of. Looking up at Ianto he remembered the toll that had taken – that had been his fault. However, no one at the time could have conceived of the possibility that there may have been some individuals prepared to use the tragic events of the day as a front for the convenient disappearance of not only personnel but also of hardware.

"Oh shit! Jack, look at this!" Tosh called out from her computer. She'd been looking for any activity from the names on her list, financial transactions, travel arrangements, online blogging. One of the survivors had a website with a secure link to a password protected site, one that had proved to be only a minor obstacle to Tosh.

"What have you got?"

"Looks like a recruitment drive for disaffected workers from Torchwood –"

"Let me see – fuck, I know that name, that face."

Jack spun round to look at Ianto, who had paled noticeably. The image that Tosh had pulled up was that of a young man, late twenties, blonde hair, green eyes and handsome. Very handsome, Jack thought.

"Nick Morgan – worked as PA to Yvonne, rumour had it he provided more than cups of tea and digestives."

"Really?" Jack arched an eyebrow, thinking that maybe his management style had more in common with Yvonne's than he'd imagined.

"His coffee was crap I seem to recall. Tosh – what's this?" Ianto pointed at the icon at the bottom of the screen, a collage of hexagons like the Torchwood emblem, encircled by a spinning crown.

"I don't know – I can't access that area of the website, there's a ridiculously high level encryption program protecting it."

"I don't like it," Jack spat out. "Any links to Gates?"

"Nothing yet, but if there are any I will find them, Jack."

Jack sighed heavily, his worst fears were proving to be real and there was no way he could deny it any longer. There was an organisation set up by members of Hartman's Torchwood and they had no choice but to infiltrate it and there was one person better suited to that mission than the rest of them. A survivor of Canary Wharf.

"Jack – they'll fucking kill him!"

"I can't believe you're asking him to do this."

"Shut up all of all you. Jack is right, I hate to say. It has to be me,"

"You're using him as bait to catch those bastards aren't you, Jack?"

Jack looked forlornly at Ianto – it's what he'd been dreading all along, but truly he had no choice. There were sacrifices to be made and he was asking Ianto to make them for him.