Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Torchwood, Sarah Jane Adventures, Children of the Stones or any other odd shows that I may have made reference to. Im beginning to fear that the planned ending to this wont live up to the build up its getting, but it is fun to write. This chapter was going to be a bit longer, but that has been moved to chapter 5. Enjoy.
The bell on the door to the rundown tourist information center rang as the door opened wide. Ianto looked up from his dull book just long enough to glance at the two women who were standing outside, holding the door open. Correction, one woman, the other was a young girl, possibly a teenager. The woman was giving the girl some instructions, but not loud enough for him to hear what they were.
The book held only the most basic interest for him, in that he was actually reading it, but only while he was on the surface, he had been at it for over a year and only gotten half way through the tattered volume. Although, there had been the one time when Jack had replaced it with a pornographic novel, that had been difficult to explain to the tourists who were passing through at the time. The door jingled again as it closed and the woman entered. She appeared to be middle age, but he suspected she was older than she looked.
"Hi, may I help you?" Ianto asked, setting the book down and giving the woman his full attention.
"Sarah Jane Smith," the woman said, shaking his hand, "I've come looking for my son, I'm afraid he's gotten lost somewhere around here."
"Well, I haven't seen anyone other than yourself all day," he replied, "I'm sorry."
Sarah Jane gave him a smile that seemed too sincere, as she fingered a photograph. She seemed to be debating whether or not to show it to him. "May I use your phone?"
"Certainly," Ianto replied, gently moving the corded telephone towards her so she could use it. He couldn't help wondering if the photo was of the boy Owen had in lock up; not likely, as far as anyone was concerned there was no proof that the boy had ever reached school that day, never mind the fieldtrip to Cardiff. Still, he hoped Jack would return soon, he was afraid that Owen has over stepped his
bounds on this one. It didn't bother him that much, it was just the sort of thing Torchwood One did on a regular basis, but Jack and especially Gwen may take exception to it.
Down the road, the young girl Maria Jackson finally found a payphone, and dialed the number Sarah Jane Smith had written down for her.
"Hi, Sir," she franticly spoke into the handset, "… I know this is your private line. You don't know me, but my name is Maria Jackson. I'm calling on behalf of Sarah Jane Smith… She's fine, but they took Luke and she is going in to get him. She told me to call you in case something goes wrong, and because they may come after me and my Dad next."
She listened to the strong voice on the other end of the phone that spoke with a confidence and authority that she had only heard from Sarah Jane before. Slowly her own fears melted away."
Alan Jackson finished setting up his laptop on a small table in Sarah Jane's attic. Normally he would have filled his newfound computer support roll from his own home across the street, but Sarah Jane had asked him to keep watch over Mr. Smith incase anything went wrong. Of course, normally she would have had the computer Mr. Smith performing her computer support for this task, but "he" was otherwise occupied at the moment.
He checked the time on his computer screen and saw he still had a few seconds before he needed to begin, so he spared another glance at the improbable wall safe that was mounted in the wall. What amazed him was that the safe was apparently immense inside; Sarah Jane had said it contained a Swiss developed black hole, while he would like to doubt that, he had already seen far too much to doubt anything anymore. Set up next to the open safe was a carefully positioned full length mirror that Mr. Smith was using to bounce energy beams into the safe. He really didn't fully understand what was going on, but whatever it was took Mr. Smith's full concentration.
Alan had his computer set up and an array of invasive programs and viruses ready for instant use. Everything short of the Armageddon Virus, he didn't want to cause the end of the world if the targeted computer was interconnected with the rest of the world in unexpected ways.
Finally the clock rolled over to the prearranged time, and Alan began sending signals to the computer addresses that had been furnished by Mr. Smith the first time it had hacked into the Torchwood computers. He didn't make any attempt to be graceful or subtle in his initial assault on their computer system, while he did intend to gain access to their systems, first he wanted their attention.
"I told you, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to be able to see that lift," a very tired and haggard Luke Smith tried to explain to the stern looking Owen Harper that sat across from him.
"Your not helping your case, or do you mean that if you knew you weren't suppose to see it then you wouldn't have? What other abilities do you have? You have already proven that you are gifted in math well above humanity. Are you ready to finally tell me what you are?" Owen said.
"I already told you, I was made by the Bane. I'm an amalgamation of ten thousand scanned people. That is why I have good memory and am good with math. That must be why I could see your lift too," Luke explained.
"So you say you are an artificial human. Like a clone," Owen said, sounding doubtful, although the truth was that he was starting to believe the kid. But if he was an artificial person, then what? They couldn't very well just let an alien experiment wale around free, that was against everything Torchwood stood for.
"That's why I don't have a belly button, but I'm not a clone, exactly. Look, I just want to go home to my Mum. I know she will be looking for me. She will be worried."
"When my boss gets back, we'll decide what to do with you, okay?" Owen said. "I've looked into this whole Bubble Shock thing, what else can you tell me about the Bane?"
Before Luke could answer, they were interrupted by a call from the intercom. "Dr. Harper, Please come to the Hub," Tosh said over the intercom system. 'Doctor Harper,' she had said, playing it all official in front of the prisoner.
Owen gave Luke a thin humorless smile as he stood up. "Sorry. Duty calls," he said, then walked out of the room, leaving Luke very much alone.
"What is it, Tosh?" Owen asked as he casually jogged back into the Hub.
"Torchwood, how may I help you?" Tosh said into the phone receiver with her most professional sounding voice, then franticly covered the mouthpiece and angrily mouthed to him: Owen, pick up the phone!
Startled, and a little shocked, Owen picked up the nearest handset. In his time at Torchwood he had never once seen that phone line in use when they did not already know who the caller was, usually UNIT or Whitehall.
"Just a moment, Dr. Harper will be able to assist you with any questions you have," Tosh said into the phone, then hurriedly put down her handset and rushed to her computer terminal. Owen knew that she was already busy starting to trace the call, finding out who was calling, from where, and as much about them as possible.
Using his official voice, Owen took over the call, "This is Dr. Harper, how can I help you?"
On the other end of the line a woman's voice said, "My name is Sarah Jane Smith. I believe you are holding my son. I want him back."
Owen looked over at Tosh.
"I've got the trace…. Its coming from…" she looked back at him with a dumbfounded look on her face, "upstairs."
Tosh toggled the CCTV feed from the upstairs entrance to the big screen. They saw a woman with her back to the camera, standing at the desk with the phone to her ear, and staring at Ianto, who was manning the desk.
"Really?" Owen said, reaching for his gun. "What is his name."
"I'm giving you this one chance," Sarah Jane said, "release him now, or I'm coming to get him."
"Now, listen, we can discuss this like two civilized people," Owen began, but Sarah Jane hung up the phone on him.
"You should have invited her down here, like the first time we met Gwen," Tosh said.
"Bollocks, your right," Owen agreed, that way they could have kept the situation contained, and under control. "Jack always did have the best ideas. What—"
"We are being hacked again," Tosh exclaimed from her computer, "different computer from before. Damn I wish Jack were here!"
Owen wasn't able to give Tosh any attention. If he had blinked, he would have missed it. Ianto had made some sort of move, he wasn't sure what, not that it mattered now. Once Ianto had started to
make his move, a thin energy beam from under the camera angle struck Ianto, and he crumpled. Then the woman looked down, then at the secret door. She raised up her arm to point at the door, and the door opened.
Something in Owen began to panic, between what he saw on the screen, and from watching Tosh fend off computer attacks from her station. First thing, he needed to do, he decided was to buy them some time. He initiated the Hub's Lockdown. Nothing would be getting in or out.