Chapter 2, Grateful for a Loan
"Oi!" Andy yelled. Carrying three coffees, he was dismayed to see the Torchwood SUV retreating down the street at a fast pace.
"Bloody Torchwood!"
"Six this time." Gwen reported, just about managing to read as Jack drove. He had his foot down as usual, just missing parked cars as they sped to the next location. Ianto tapped at the keyboard beside her, searching for any other reports. He was running a check for the injury description in hospital records, newspaper reports, across the local area, and extending it outwards to the UK, and worldwide. Having deemed the last location safe for the SOCOs to bag up the bodies (though they were property of Torchwood for now, and couldn't be autopsied by the police) the three Torchwood officers had set out again.
"Hairdressers. Two injured seriously." Gwen continued. "Eyes torn out, though we've got a potential witness this time." Carlie had been some help, but hadn't seen the eye extraction occur, so could only give them accounts for the noise.
"Carlie said it was like the sound of glass breaking, and then the sound reversed, like the broken glass was healing itself." Gwen explained, frowning. Ianto glanced sideways at her.
"The only glass around were the mirrors, but they were all intact, though blood splattered." He replied, and his screen flashed again.
"Another report, three year old child, eyes torn out." He told his colleagues, feeling a little sick. What on earth was this that had come through the rift? He cross referenced the results and locations.
"All three are situated along the rift. There's been three consecutive spikes, though the last two haven't been as large as the first." He drew in closer to examine the activity.
"Hang on…" He paused. "Four victims at the first scene, six at the second, one at the third." Ianto pointed to the screen. "There's corresponding negative rift activity."
Ianto glanced to Gwen uncomfortably, reminded by the investigation of missing people Gwen and Tosh had carried out, against Jack's orders, the one that Ianto had helped them with.
"So whatever it is, is stealing them back?" Gwen asked, her features contorted in confusion.
"Perhaps." Ianto shrugged. "Though, if that's the case, there's eleven pairs of eyeballs somewhere the other side of the rift." He and Gwen exchanged looks of absurdity.
"That's assuming all its taken are the physical body parts." Jack interrupted, skidding the SUV to a halt.
"What do you mean?" Gwen demanded, slamming shut the SUV door as her feet hit the pavement again. She followed Jack round the far side to the front of the hairdressers. He didn't explain, and Gwen felt a pang of annoyance. Ianto carried out the box of scanners again, just to check the results were consistent, mulling over what Jack had just added. A crowd had gathered at this scene, the windows of the hairdressers were making it easy to see the situation inside, despite the efforts of the police to cover the panes. The trio made their way inside.
The walls of the salon were splattered with blood. Several of the bodies sat in chairs, still wearing branded capes that kept hair from falling on the client's clothing. Two were sprawled across the floor, which was covered in chopped hair, and pools of viscous blood, which was clotting, and streaking where it had been disturbed, presumably by the two injured people who had escaped. Ianto spotted a boot print amongst the blood, and paid close attention to where he was putting is own feet.
"Captain Jack and his team. Better late than never!" They were greeted by a voice that Gwen didn't recognise, but Ianto and Jack found the Scottish tones all too familiar from the last forty-eight hours. Jack in particular, had left Ianto dealing with the situation, escaping with Gwen to sort the weevil while Ianto could only watch them leave. It was a guilty act, but something that Ianto seemed to have forgiven his lover for already. If not, Jack anticipated some angry sex later, which would set everything right.
Straightening up from a crouch beside one of the bodies on the blood splattered floor of the hairdressers, Siobhan Donald examined them critically through her glasses. Ianto recognised her from her file which Torchwood II had released to them. She was tall, slim, with red hair, tied back firmly in a bun. She held her hands out from her clothing, keeping the blood from her rubber examination gloves, away from her smart suit.
"Siobhan." Jack greeted awkwardly, "you know, usually we don't welcome additions to our team this way…" He continued, gesturing to the bodies on the floor, in pools of blood.
"Well, I wasn't far. Picked up the rift activity and received news of what had happened here. Thought you'd set up a welcome party for me then?" Siobhan replied dryly. Ianto shifted his grip on the box, adjusting the weight on his arm.
"Good, you've brought the scanners." Siobhan interrupted, "Put them over here would you Ianto?" Her tone was less of a question, and more of an order. Pausing momentarily to look at Jack out of the corner of his eye, Ianto stepped across the room and placed the box down in a clear patch on the floor, away from the blood splatters, and obliged to open it for Siobhan.
"Er, so who is this?" Gwen asked, turning to Jack, now rather peeved at the fact she was being kept in the dark. Jack turned slightly to face her and looked a little apologetic.
"Gwen Cooper, this is Siobhan Donald, from Torchwood II," He lowered his voice. "you know, the one with the rather strange man." He added to Gwen, and she nodded. They turned back towards Siobhan and Ianto, who were examining one of the bodies.
"Sent me down from Glasgow to help you out, since you've lost personnel." Siobhan explained briskly, glancing up over her glasses to Gwen and Jack. Ianto was used to the tone, having dealt with it on the telephone before Siobhan had begun her trip down to Cardiff. Jack had been avoiding dealing with her, and Ianto saw it as a matter of pride. He didn't want to show Torchwood III's vulnerability now they were two – or perhaps more technically – three officers down.
"I'll go speak to the witnesses again then." Gwen told Jack, staring at Siobhan and Ianto working. "Keep me updated." She added, stepping out of the hairdressers again. Jack heard the edge to her voice, sensing the warning of the oncoming tempest which was Gwen Cooper being kept out of the loop. It was a determination to find out what was happening, which had led her into the team, and one that sometimes got her in situations she could have done without. Jack turned to look at a nearby body, of a teenage girl. She was sat in a chair, her arms flopped over, and her head lolling backwards towards him. If she'd had eyes, she would be staring at him, but instead there were two bloodied pits where they would have been.
"Your preliminary thoughts?" Jack asked Siobhan, hoping that despite her intrusion and brisk tones, she would be some use. Her file certainly spoke volumes for her proficiency in autopsy, field medicine and more.
"The marks aren't consistent with teeth, which was my first thought, that the eyes had been bitten out. I'm more inclined to think they have pulled them out, though…" Jack watched Siobhan lift the hand of the body she was examining. "there's no blood under the fingernails to suggest that they did it themselves. What blood is on the hands, looks more consistent with covering of the eyes after the attack. No, the fingers that pulled these eyes from the skulls were sharper."
Ianto took the scanner from Siobhan's hand, and replaced it back into the equipment case.
"What did you mean, when you said about the eyes might just be the physical element taken?" He asked Jack, having mulled it over himself while Siobhan had been examining the injuries.
"Eyes are the windows to the soul Ianto." Jack replied, gazing into the eyes of his colleague and lover, as if gazing down into the very soul of Ianto Jones. The young man nodded.
"The eye, which is the reflector of the external world, is also the mirror of the soul within." He quipped back, and then stood abruptly.
"Mirrors." Ianto thought aloud, and looked to his reflection in the wall of mirrors down one side of the salon. Blood dripped down them, as it had back at the clothes shop along the rift. He reached for his PDA, and checked the details of the three year old, sat in a bedroom, with a mirror.
Jack touched his ear, activating his comms.