ACTS OF KINDNESS: PART 8:
Hopefully this adding of a chapter will work as it didn't last time. Reveiwers thank you so much.
ACTS OF KINDNESS: PART 8
'One Who Trusts'
Jack took the seat offered to him in front of Major Simmons' desk gearing himself up for an argument of monumental proportions…….
The call had come into Jack's office at lunch time. UNIT no less and he had been requested; no ordered to report in to HQ immediately under no uncertain terms. Jack was about to hang up after a few choice swear words and then the name Ianto Jones entered into the heated conversation. Jack froze and simply said he'd be there before slamming down the receiver. He nearly caused a major accident on the road there, driving the entire way well over the speed limit and for once he found himself grateful that Ianto wasn't in the car with him. All the while pounding the steering wheel with his fist and swearing at the motorists on the road with him. He was cursing the doctor who had disabled his teleporter and he was cursing himself because he'd lost touch with Ianto, his Ianto, three days previously. Sitting at a set of lights Jack half wondered to himself when Ianto had become 'his Ianto'. Dam it!
Major Simmons resumed his place at his expansive polished desk and pulled open a draw fetching out two glasses and a bottle of single malt. Pouring two very generous measures he handed one to Jack who gratefully accepted it. Jack and Simmons knew each other well and Jack was very glad that he was dealing with this man instead of another.
"What's going on John?"
Simmons relaxed back in his chair and undid the top two buttons of his uniform jacket. He took a long draught from his glass and faced Jack with his pale eyes a serious expression on his freckled face.
"So how are you Jack?" Simmons had never managed to rid himself of his Glaswegian accent, even after 20 years in the military and 20 years of absence from his place of birth.
Jack noted the deliberate ignoring of his question, but he tolerated it from this man. Simmons was actually one of the good guys, well as good as they ever got in UNIT. The accent set Jack's teeth on edge though.
"I'm good. Yourself?"
Simmons nodded, pleasantaries out of the way then.
"Ianto Jones, we need to discuss him."
Jack kept his face impassive. "Why is that?" He was going to be cautious here, regardless this man was still UNIT and Jack didn't trust any of them.
"Is he one of your boys gone bad? Jealous lover perhaps?"
Jack leaned forward. "Who needs to know?" He kept his neutral.
"I need to know Jack. He's smack bang in the middle of one of my operations and MI5 are now interfering as well. Quite frankly I don't want it screwed up by a bunch of spooks and amateur theatrics."
Jack half smiled at the reddening in Simmons' face. Ianto was many things, but never amateur or theatrical for that matter, but what the hell were MI5 up to?
"Ianto is working for me." He said finally not entirely certain that he should have divulged this. If things were 'going down' Jack needed to know about it for Ianto's sake.
"Pull him out. You have no idea just how far this thing goes." Simmons' tone darkened considerably.
"Can't do that, we're well beyond that point. Ianto knows what he is doing. He can handle it." Jack said, but he was doubtful now, and worried about the whole thing.
"Then I need to know what his orders are. There are others on the inside, it's going to be highly embarrassing if people on the same side start shooting at each other."
Jack placed his glass down on Simmons' desk. "I'll be honest with you I don't know how Ianto intends to play this. I haven't heard from him in three days."
Simmons held Jack's gaze for a good few minutes, realising that his Torchwood counterpart was genuinely worried about his operative. "I can tell you he's alive and well, holed up in Murry's Chelsea apartment. Your Mr Jones is his favourite play thing by all accounts."
Jack failed to hide a wince at the term of phrase.
"Yeah, we saw his handiwork a couple of weeks back. So what's going down? Should I be worried?"
Simmons nodded. "We should all be worried. Murry's people have some very powerful weapons, we still don't know where they are located, but there is a sale taking place sometime in the near future but…"
"You don't know when and where yet. Brilliant." Jack heaved out a frustrated breath wishing, and not for the first time, that he hadn't gotten Ianto involved.
Simmons recognised that look, he was only too familiar with it when he looked in the mirror.
"Jack if this goes to shit a lot of people will lose their lives."
"You think I don't know that. So, what's the plan?"
"As with all of these kind of operations, we sit and wait."