Gwen walked into the hub the next morning to find Ianto curled up asleep on the sofa with a blanket pulled up over his head. Jack waved at her from his office and she went over and sat down. "Has he been here all night?"

Jack nodded. He had been keeping an eye on him as Ianto had worked at the computer. "Around three this morning he started drooping into the keyboard so I forced him to take a short ten minute break and lie down on the couch. He's been asleep ever since." There was a soft smile on his face as he remembered. "He seemed to be pretty frustrated by what he was, or rather wasn't finding."

There was a strangled cry from outside of the office and both Jack and Gwen quickly turned to see Ianto jump up from where he had only seconds before been in a deep sound sleep to run over to the computer and punch in a series of computer codes. They both got up curiously and went to see what Ianto was doing.

"Do you see that!" He pointed excitedly at the monitor. "A silly mistake. I must have been tired. It's not a computer virus, it's a worm. A masterful piece of work. Just incredible." He paused and looked back and forth between his two team mates as if confused by their silence. "It was created to hunt down specific information and nibble it away. It would self-replicate as it followed data strings through the internet and just lay in wait for the word combinations it was programmed for. That's why there is no information about this cousin." Still silence from the others. "Oh, and I was able to hack into the security system at the warehouse."

Jack shook himself out of his reverie. "I haven't seen you this enthusiastic about something in a long time." There was a look in his eyes and a tone in his voice that made Ianto quirk his eyebrow and give Jack a 'this is not the time' look.

Gwen just rolled her eyes at the two men. "What are we going to do about this computer virus?"

"Worm." Ianto pulled up a program that started to scroll across the monitor. "Once I know how it's formatted I'll be able to modify it to hunt itself down and eliminate itself. It won't bring any of the information back, but it will stop it from disappearing anymore."

Jack shifted uncomfortably. "What about the security system? Can you tell what the cousin is securing?" He might be able to hotwire a pan-dimensional surfboard but computer viruses were something completely alien and mysterious to him.

"There's a firewall that I can't break through. I tried everything I know and a few things I didn't know." He gave a small smile. "But the only thing I could get to was the security overview program." He pulled up a schematic of the warehouse on the computer. "Here is the security layout of the warehouse." He hit a few keys and red dots appeared around the edges of the warehouse. "These are outside security cameras. There are no cameras inside so I don't have actual footage of what's in the warehouse." He hit another key and green dots appeared at various points inside the rear half of the warehouse. "These appear to be remote transport beacons. I assume they are set up around the items stored inside the warehouse. If I can get close enough to them I believe I can disrupt the transport program." He pressed another key and a solid blue box appeared in the front quarter of the warehouse. "There is extra security around this area, bio-locks as well as an extremely high energy shield. It could be anything from a holding cell to a weapons room. I tried everything I knew to get through the security firewall but nothing worked."

Jack noticed the considering glint in Iantos eye and knew he was already coming up with other things to try to get past the firewall. Ianto didn't like not knowing something and usually stopped at nothing to find out the information he wanted. But just then the rift alarm started to sound. Ianto quickly pulled up the activity program. "Small, metallic. The energy signature is the same as your Tolien sheep. Again on Ty-mawr Road."

Jack ran to his office and grabbed his coat. "Ianto, get over to the warehouse and watch for activity. Gwen and I will go grab the tech." He looked over at Ianto. "Do not go into the warehouse. We don't know how many people she's working with or how deep the security is."

"Yes, sir." Their eyes caught and held for just a heartbeat before Jack was gone with Gwen racing to keep up with his long strides.

***

Kat grabbed her bag and was out the door within seconds of the rift alarm going off. This was it, she knew it, she could feel it. The energy signature was correct as was the mass of the object. Torchwood would not be taking this object from her.

She ran through every red light weaving her way through the early morning traffic and didn't stop or even slow down for the stop signs, leaving a number of irate drivers in her wake. She pulled up the coordinates on the navigation system in her car and saw she was very close. Slowing slightly she started scanning the area for trouble as she neared the coordinates. No sign of Torchwood. Excellent.

She brought the car to a halt and jumped out of the vehicle. The scanner in her hand pointed her in the correct direction. Taking just two steps forward she saw it. The most beautiful bit of machinery that had ever come through the rift just lying in the grass a few metres away. It was the focusing key that she had been waiting for.

The screech of tires rounding a curve drew her attention. The Torchwood SUV was speeding around the corner and heading her way. Running forward she grabbed up the focusing key and tucked it safely into the messenger bag slung securely across her chest.

The SUV slammed to a halt as she raced back to her vehicle. She pulled out her gun and squeezed off a couple rounds in their general direction. Not caring about the traffic moving along the road behind them. She wasn't aiming, just keeping them from trying to stop her. The dark haired woman ducked down behind the dashboard, but the man opened his door and started to step out. Kat took direct aim at his head and squeezed off one more round. She felt the kick of the gun as the bullet left the chamber and saw the man's head suddenly stop and jerk back as the bullet hit it's mark. Pausing for just a split second she allowed herself a cold smile before jumping in her car and taking off down the street. They wouldn't be following her any time soon.

She headed back to the warehouse at a far more sedate pace than she had taken on the way out, already hearing sirens in the distance, not wanting to draw any more attention to herself than she already had. The thrill of victory was dancing through her veins as she pressed her hand against the focusing key through the thick fabric of the messenger bag. It was time to go to work she thought with a smile. All those years of waiting and preparing and the time to act was almost here.

As soon as she reached the warehouse she pressed a button and a garage door started to slide open. She pulled directly into the warehouse, quickly parking and getting out of the car. Staying here was no longer an option. Torchwood would not take kindly to the fact that one of their own had been killed and Kat knew that the hunt for her whereabouts would be quick, thorough and deadly. It was time to move on to her next location. One more old warehouse before reaching her goal and then she could transport herself to a warm, sunny holiday locale.

Hurrying over to her workbench she started grabbing up tools and storing them in their specialized travel cases.

The sudden clamour of the rift alarm caused her to pause in her work to silence the alarm, hitting the end key. She didn't need to check out anymore rift activity and went back to her preparations. Finishing quickly with the tools she turned to another computer, pulling up the remote transport program set up around the storage area and starting the activation series.

The rift alarm went off again, it's jarring alert causing Kat to turn and snarl at it. Hitting the end key with an angry finger she quickly disabled the alarm before turning back to the transport program. Something was interfering with her signal.

She started a quick diagnostic program running before pulling up a readout on the security system. Her blood ran cold before it slowly started to boil. There it was, that low energy scan that Torchwood was using. They must have sent out two teams. One to pick up the Tolien artefact and another to sabotage her warehouse. Pressing a few keys, she quickly pulled up a life signs reading, exhaling sharply as a light flashed inside the rear half of the warehouse. She silently berated herself for not checking the security system as soon as she got in, but now was not the time to worry about her careless lapse in judgment.

Pulling out her gun she checked the security scan again. The activity was along the far wall the warehouse where someone was apparently working to sabotaged the portable transport devices she had installed. This agent was foolish. They would not be leaving the warehouse under their own power. If they were leaving the warehouse at all it would be in a body bag.

***

"C'mon, Jack. Wake up." Gwen held tightly to the steering wheel as the SUV raced around another corner. Groaning silently to herself she tapped her comlink. "Ianto, can you hear me?" There was no reply. "Hurry up, Jack." She was rewarded with Jack drawing in a gasping breath as he jerked back to life. "It's about time. I've lost contact with Ianto."

Jack looked around. "She shot me." He sounded surprised.

"Yes, she did. And it's a good thing you fell back into the van because otherwise I would have left you at the side of the road. You're no featherweight, Jack."

"Where are we?"

Gwen pulled the SUV up next to a warehouse and stopped the vehicle. "We're here. Now get out of the van and help me find Ianto. I've gotten nothing but dead air since he checked in on arrival."

Jack was all business as he checked his gun and grabbed a scanner from the back of the SUV. "I told him to not go inside the building."

"Yeah, well situations change and opportunities arise. Now is your com working?" As Jack shook his head Gwen held a scanner in front of her trying to get a reading from the warehouse. The scrambled signal she received back told her nothing. She tossed the scanner back into the van and moved towards the warehouse with her gun drawn.

"No scanning, no com so we're going in blind." Jack had his own gun drawn and ready. "We know the approximate layout of the building, storage in the back, a secure room to the left in front which leave offices or work space to the right. Do we know how many people there are?"

Gwen shook her head. "Ianto said there wasn't any activity when he got here, that the place looked deserted." She glanced at Jack and watched as he turned his focus inward briefly before returning his full attention to the warehouse in front of them.

Jack felt his senses sharpen as he carefully locked down and ignored the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him. Right now Ianto was a member of Torchwood not the man he cared about more than life itself. He knew that Ianto could take care of himself so he had to trust in that until they had this mess sorted out. "If Ianto is in there hopefully he's laying low in some closet but knowing him he's busy tapping into a computer on someone's desk out in plain sight."

They moved quickly to the main entrance of the warehouse, eying the security cameras, knowing it was possible that they were being watched. Gwen stood to one side as Jack crouched down and opened the door a crack to peer inside. "Clear." he murmured as he stood up and pushed his way in. They stood silently at the door carefully scanning the open area in front of them for movement. It was a work area, tables and benches, computers, and equipment with a car parked on the far right side next to a large rolling door. They were standing next to a wall with a single door leading into the secure area. The far wall had a larger double door leading into the main warehouse.

Jack motioned to the single door. Keeping an eye on the double doors he led the way towards the secure area. The door looked normal enough, didn't seem to have any extra locks. Gwen stood to one side with her gun ready and nodded at Jack. He reached out a hand to turn the door knob when a burst of gunfire crashed through the silence of the warehouse.

Gwen whipped her head around to look in the direction of the gunshots. "Ianto." They both ran to the other set of doors and cautiously pushed them open. Row upon row of shelves and equipment blocked their view of the area. Shots rang out again echoing around the cavernous warehouse, the hard surfaces reflecting the sound from all directions.

"Can you tell where the shots came from?" Gwen asked quietly as she looked around trying to calculate their direction.

"No." He pointed to the right. "You circle around that way. I'll go this way. Remember, Ianto's out there."

***

Kat moved quietly across the catwalk high above the floor of the warehouse. The scanner in her hand showed exactly where the Torchwood agent was located and she moved confidently towards the back of the warehouse knowing that the shadows near the ceiling hid her approach. Catching a glimpse of the young man as he moved between the shelves she shot twice, not worrying about giving her position away. He already knew she was there and she was still far enough away that the shots would echo around the warehouse so he wouldn't be able to pinpoint her location.

Her measured pace brought her quickly to the far end of the catwalk where she caught another glimpse of the man and waited for the agent to make his move. He didn't. He stood still, between two shelves, and she couldn't get him into her line of sight. The catwalks ran in all directions across the ceiling and he had found the one and only blind spot in the entire warehouse.

She pushed down her frustration and allowed a cold and calculating smile enter into her voice as she called out, "Hello Torchwood. You came all this way and you don't want to come out and see me?" There was no movement, no sound as the echo of her voice faded away. She growled in anger and fired her gun again.

Kat knew his communications were down so he wouldn't be able to call for help and checked her scanner to see where the rest of his team was. As expected, two more life signs were circling around from the left and the right. There were three agents here now and soon there would be more. Cold fury starting to boil up inside her. Outnumbered. She just wanted to stay and kill the entire Torchwood unit, but it was time to make a strategic retreat. The rage she felt was all encompassing but she knew she was smarter than they were and instead turned and made her way back towards the front of the warehouse. The three agents were at the far side of the warehouse so she knew she would be able to make it, unseen, to the exit and her transport.

She hurried down the stairs and ran to her work bench. At least they hadn't discovered the Atomizer. The monitor was large and cumbersome so she left it and grabbed up the slightly smaller body of the Atomizer to haul it across the room to the door of the secure area. Balancing the mechanism on one hip she pressed her hand against the door, the bio-lock immediately allowing her entry. She set the Atomizer on the transport platform and turned quickly to go back for the monitor.

"Stop right there."

The hard voice came from the open door. She didn't think but immediately stepped back onto the platform pulling out her gun at the same time hitting the emergency transport button. She managed to fire off two shots before she disappeared into nothing.

***

Jack stood in the doorway watching in amazement as the woman took a couple wild shots at him before disappearing through the transport device. He had frozen and hadn't made any move to stop her. He couldn't. She had looked too much like Tosh and he hadn't been prepared to shoot at a friend.

He felt Gwen and Ianto moving in behind him. "Jack…" That's when he noticed the high pitched whine coming from the transport platform. Taking a step back he pushed them away from the open door just as the transport machine exploded. The force of the explosion threw him back into the work area where he was slammed to a stop against a heavy table then cut through by a hail of shrapnel.

There was very little heat and smoke from the explosion as there was nothing left of the transport to burn but the copious amounts of dust in the air made breathing difficult. Coughing, Gwen and Ianto pushed away the pieces of crumbled wall that had protected them from the most deadly bits of shrapnel and scrambled over to where Jack lay mutilated and bloody on the floor. The explosion followed by shrapnel had hit Jack square on, and his face, chest, and thighs were a mess. Gwen checked for a pulse. "He's dead. That bitch has killed him twice now."

Through the ringing in his ears Ianto heard an unmistakeable beeping coming from a computer against the wall. He grabbed at Jacks body, struggling to hoist it over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, unmindful of the blood that was soaking into his already ruined suit. "That would be the automatic self destruct that she has wired into the building. We may want to leave before it goes off. I don't know how much I was able to reprogram before she came back and interrupted me."

Gwen led the way, quickly leading Ianto through the unsteady footing of the warehouse out to where the SUV offered shelter.