2
Jack, dressed in an old T-shirt and boxer shorts, stands next to the alarm panel in the master bedroom, reading from an instruction manual.
He's frustrated. He mutters, slurring, a bit drunk. "Bypass non-ready zones... shunt, enter, zone number..."
He tries it, pushing a few buttons, but the alarm panel beeps at him disapprovingly. He's doing something wrong.
He sighs, sits on the floor, gets serious about figuring out the instructions. "Bypass non-ready zones... ah, shunt, enter, shunt again, zone number... wait.."
Sometime later. He seems to have figured it out, and a small light on the panel lights up.
SYSTEM ARMED
The very moment the red light goes on, also in the darkened panic room, where the dozen small video screens all suddenly wink to life, showing a dozen views of the house. Whatever he pushed turned these on too, probably not what he meant to do, but at least he got the alarm on for the night.
The door that leads from the panic room to the master bedroom hangs open. In the middle of the floor in here, somebody has made a small tent of blankets and couch cushions.
Ianto must have been playing here before bed.
Jack puts sheets on his bed in the master bedroom.
He fills a glass of water, puts it on a box he's using for a night table. He plugs in a battery charger for his cell phone, places the phone in the cradle. It chimes. "Charging."
He sets the digital clock, puts it next to the glass of water. It's 12:26.
He gets in bed, his side, the left side.
He lies in the dark, half an acre of empty bed across from him.
2:26.
Jack is in a hard, boozy sleep.
A van pulls up across the street and stops. No movement for a moment, then the driver's door opens and a man climbs out. He wears dark clothes.
The Man closes the door, looks both ways, and starts across the street towards the building. He's carrying a bag of some kind.
He goes to the door, and a key slides into the door, rattle.
But the lock doesn't turn.
The key slides out, back in again, jiggles.
Still won't open the door.
The Man steps away from the door, goes to the kitchen window, which is heavily barred, and peers inside, right at us. Can't see anything, it's darker in here than it is out there.
He turns, looks both ways on the street again, then steps up, onto the window ledge. Now he's reaching up, stretching for something. It drops into view with a metallic clank.
The fire escape.
The Man climbs, his feet disappearing from our field of vision.
A skylight.
The Man in dark clothes is on the roof now. He stops and peers down through the skylight.
He steps across the skylight.
This is not the way he intended to enter.
Here in the hall, just outside Ianto's bedroom, a closet door is ajar it's completely dark. Can't see a thing. But then a sliver of light appears, coming from above. We look up.
There is a ladder that's bolted to the wall in this closet, it leads up to a square panel in the ceiling.
Roof access.
And that roof access panel is moving, ever so slightly, moonlight spilling in as it twists in its setting. A shiny silver something slides through the crack along the edges of the portal.
It slithers along the edge of the hatchway, searching for something. It finds a small round nub in the crack. The silver something stops.
It hums with electricity for a moment, then there is a bright spark and a soft snap.
In the master bedroom, a message appears on the alarm panel:
ZONE 19 DISABLED
In the closet, the silver something withdraws and the roof access panel is removed. A million stars are visible in the night sky above.
And in a moment, this intruder is inside.
The Man peers down, through the open hatchway, then slips through the opening and climbs silently down the ladder.
In bed, Jack stirs.
An alcohol sleep is a restless one, and he's suffering.
He sits up groggily, chugs a glass of water.
Lies down again.
One floor up, the Man steps into the hallway and starts for the stairs, moving quickly and confidently. Knows where he's going, knows what he wants.
He starts down the stairs, happens to glance to the side as he does so.
He freezes.
He's looking in the open doorway of the top floor bathroom, staring hard at something that clearly disturbs him.
A nightlight.
Plugged into an outlet in the baseboard in the bathroom. (For the record, it's the Avengers.)
The Man climbs the stairs again, concerned, goes to the door of the bathroom. He looks from the nightlight to the countertop.
There's a moving box on the countertop.
His eyes widen. This is news to him, bad news.
He takes a step back and a breath. He turns, looks to the end of the hall. His eyes now adjusted to the darkness, he notices something he didn't see before, something coming from under the door to the fourth floor bedroom.
Light. From inside.
From another nightlight.
In the top floor bedroom, a nightlight burns in another outlet.
Nearby, Ianto is asleep in bed, the covers kicked off.
The door to Ianto's bedroom glides open, terribly slowly.
The Man stands in the doorway, staring, aghast, at the mountain of moving boxes piled in the room. His gaze falls on Ianto in the bed.
The Man just stares, beside himself.
His lips mouth a word, soundlessly.
Doesn't take a lip reader to guess it.
In the master bedroom, Jack flops over in bed, facing away from the doorway, really having a rough go of it.
He slept too hard before, now he's awake, his head is killing him, he's really paying the price of four glasses of wine.
He lies still, on his side.
Behind him, the bedroom door moves, silently.
Opening.
The Man stands there, one finger still on the door he's just pushed open. He stares at the sleeping form of Jack on the bed, whose back is to him.
He has no idea he's awake.
Jack lies in bed, eyes wide open, no idea a Man is standing in the doorway to his bedroom.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Noiselessly, the Man moves away, down the hall. The Moment his head disappears down the stairwell Jack flops over again, facing the doorway.
He closes his eyes, gives sleep another try.
The Man walks across the kitchen, shaking his head in exasperation at the packing boxes all around him. He goes to the front window, peers outside.
He reaches for a light switch on his right.
Through the window, we can see the outside light go on. Then off, then on and off again.
Still through the window, we see the side panel door of the van slide open.
Two more men climb out. They are also dressed in dark clothes. They also carry satchels. They walks calmly across the street, grow large in the window as they approach.
The first intruder (who has a name, it's Adam) steps over to the kitchen door, runs his silvery strip through the gap.
Another pop and spark.
ZONE 1 DISABLED
Adam opens the kitchen door, letting the two other guys slip inside.
David is a hulking figure whose back seems to rise up over the top of his slouching head; when he walks it looks like gravity does all the work, just pulling him forward. Sean is much smaller, very high-strung, dresses like a homey, very street and cockney.
They all freeze, staring at the moving boxes.
Sean mutters, "Fuck."
"I know." Adam hisses as David frowns.
"What?"
"Two people asleep upstairs" Adam replied, rubbing his face and Sean gapes.
"Fuck!" Sean splutters and Adam growls for him to keep his voice down as he starts to pace.
"They're not supposed to be here!" Sean whines.
"This was your department, Sean." Adam pointed a finger at him angrily.
"They're not supposed to be here!" Sean repeats still in shock.
"That's why the key didn't work, they changed the locks." Adam said with a groan.
"Fourteen day escrow, man, that's almost three weeks!" Sean was still protesting his innocence, "They shouldn't be here for another week! They don't own this house yet! "
Adam pauses and stares at Sean like he's growing an extra head, "Exactly how is fourteen days almost three weeks? "
"Fourteen business days. Escrow is always business days." Sean whines and Adam face palms, "I mean, right? Isn't it?"
"You're an idiot." Adam says in a flat voice.
David steps forward, shoves Adam with both hands in the chest. "Watch your mouth."
"It's okay, David."
" Who is this guy?" Adam speaks to Sean, ignoring the glowering man.
"David is cool. That's all you need to know."
"This is insane. I'm outta here." Adam snarls as he starts to head for the door and dean grabs at his arm.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. We can still handle this." Sean looks over at David "Can we still handle this?"
"It's just the man and the kid?"
"Unless Daddy comes back later." Adam snorts.
"Daddy's not coming back" Sean sighs, "it's just the two of them. A gay couple and that kid is no kid, just a whiney toy boy. We're okay, here. We can do this, right?"
"You're fuckin' A we can do this." David sneers.
"Not with me. Not with people." Adam says firmly.
"Forty-five minutes. That's all you said you need. That's like nothing." Sean reminds him.
"He'll call the cops, they'll be here before I get unpacked."
"So we keep an eye on him. David can totally administrate that part." Sean says grandly.
"No problem." David rubs his hands.
"I don't want David to administrate that part." Adam narrows his eyes as he watched the glee in the man's face.
"They won't get hurt." Sean points out.
"What about us? What if he has a gun?" Adam asks.
"David, what in God's name do we do if he has a gun?" Sean gasps theatrically and David pulls up his sweatshirt, revealing a .38 tucked into his belt.
"Asshole." Adam mutters.
"A guy shows you a gun, Adam, and you insult him? Hey, who's the idiot? Huh?" David sneers as he starts to swagger.
"Where did you get this clown?" Adam asks Sean with open anger.
"I met him at the tables, same as you. And frankly, I'm grateful we have a little muscle right about now. " Sean frowns at him, referring to the waiter jobs they have at the casino.
"What tables? I've never seen him before."
"Different tables." Sean shrugs.
" The fuck did you bring a gun for?" Adam demands of David.
"You're welcome." David says grandly.
"Peace out" Adam snorts and he moves for the door. Sean, trying desperately to hold this together, gets there first, blocks the door with his back.
"We can't do it without you, Adam." Sean starts at Adam. David stares at Adam. "It's still a good plan. It's just... got a twist."
"Yeah. Kidnapping." Adam snorts as he waves his arms in anger.
Sean frowns as he considers, "Not if we keep 'em here. You can't kidnap somebody in their own house. It's just breaking and entering, unless we take 'em someplace. Or something like that, I'm pretty sure."
"Pure idiot." Adam sighs.
"I am." Sean sneers "I'm an idiot's son. An idiot's grandson. I'm third- generation idiot. But for once in my life I had a good idea, and I'm not giving up so easy. You are? Are you actually telling me that for the first time in your life you're gonna throw your cards on the table and go home early? I can't believe my eyes. (Adam hesitates) Fourteen million dollars upstairs, Adam. You'll be out of the hole. Your wee gambling problem? Baby, you'll be so far out of the hole you could draw bricks every night for the next twenty years and still shit green. (Adam sways) Come on, Buddy. One more hand."
