FAITH MANAGES PART TEN

"So... er Jack we got a plan here?" Aaron's Belfast accent was course and Jack always had trouble understanding the man. Jack was checking his Webley as they jogged along the path that ran along the length of a high, electrically wired fence.

"Simple, break in, shoot the bad guys, rescue Ianto."

Ranjan was shaking his head in frustration.

"We're going into the complex via the sewer, the tunnels take us right under their research labs."

Aaron visibly deflated. "Great so when we rescue this damsel I'm going to be stinking of week old shit. Holy Mary Jack, she better be worth it."

"Ianto's a guy."

"I know that Jack, but he's still your girlfriend!"

Ranjan was laughing at the indignant look on his boss's face but scanning the road for the man hole cover he was looking for. He pointed.

"That's our entry point."

They ran to it not even bothering with looking like they should actually be removing a sewer cover in the late afternoon and were honked at by three different motorists who head to swerve out of their way.

Ianto tested his right leg this time, chewing on his bottom lip as he carefully raised it and lowered it. Now confident that he could manage actually being able to sit up he carefully pushed himself upright trying not to make a sound as every muscle in his back and abdomen protested. The suited figure continued working completely unaware as Ianto eased himself off the metal exam table, his feet landing on the cold steel floor. His legs almost buckled and it took enormous effort not to cry out, but Ianto gripped the table to steady himself. He sucked in one, two breaths and then lunged. The speed of his forward momentum sent him slamming into the suited figure and Ianto took advantage of their surprise by grabbing the helmet and wrenching it off. A flood of long black hair poured out followed by a stream of curses in Japanese. Ianto flung the woman over and pinned her to the floor by straddling her body, a hand at her throat. She didn't even attempt to resist knowing he was way too strong for her. It was too late anyway she'd been exposed and the horror on her face made Ianto hesitate for a moment. She sagged in his grip.

"Who are you?" He screeched, his voice ragged and broken. The woman just glared at him in fury and Ianto was startled by how much like Tosh she looked.

"Who are you?"

Her eyes narrowed and she huffed out a breath.

"Syuri Tanaka. I am a bio research engineer for 'Futurecor'." She was dead already and had nothing to lose.

Ianto noted her resigned tone and realised why... somewhat belatedly that he had probably signed her death sentence without intending to.

"What have we been exposed to?"

"It's an air bourne retro virus."

The door hissed open behind them and before Ianto could react a bullet went into his skull.

"Owen? Owen are you here?"

Silence.

"Owen!"

There was only black.

"No. Owen you said you'd be here... please!"

Elliot sighed and closed the journal. He stuffed it back into the overstretched pocket inside his hoodie and jammed his feet up on the dash board. He glared balefully out into the street and decided that he'd had quite enough of sitting on his arse doing nothing. He could look after himself and Uncle Jack and his team would probably appreciate a diversion. Elliot clambered into the back seat and pulled out the remote computer terminal. He quickly brought up the building schematics and realised that it would impossible to go for a frontal assault. He needed to get people out of the building, not draw attention to himself or risk hurting anyone. A plan rapidly formed and Elliot was grinning away to himself as he searched through the weapons case for a couple of smoke grenades.

"Jeez Ianto, what the bloody hell happened this time?"

"I think I was shot, is there a hole in my head?"

Owen nodded leaping off his invisible black wall to get a better look.

"Clean through shot."

"Great so I'll get a migraine as well as the broken glass feel when I wake up, rapture!"

"I thought you were gonna escape!"

Ianto shot him a glare. "I tried. I just wasn't.... well to be honest I'm not sure how to. Are you sure Jack is coming?"

Owen nodded. "Yep, any time now, so you need to be ready instead of hanging about here."

"Anyone would think I had a choice. Head shots don't seem to take so long to wake up from though." He paused for a moment. "Owen?"

"What?"

"Where do you go, when you're not here?"

"Is this really the time to be asking me that?" Owen responded defensively.

"So where do you go?" Ianto had nothing better to do but ask again and Owen walked back to his wall and sat on it. Ianto wondered how the hell he could find it, everything was still black.

"Jack thought I was a ghost in his dream.... I can inhabit people's bodies. I tried it with you, gave ole Jackie boy quite a fright.... mostly I just float about. It's a bit weird actually, slightly pervy...."

Ianto quirked an eyebrow. "Pervy? What have you been doing?.... No don't answer that!"

Owen chuckled. "You and your dirty mind, you're as bad as Jack."

"That's.... Oh...until next time."

He was tied down to the table again and they were drilling into his head. Ianto screamed.

Elliot took a careful look along the length of the building trying to locate the CCTV cameras. So far he'd had to sneak past two but he was surprised at how crap the security was in this place. The building wasn't especially new, granted, and so far he had only found offices and vending machines. Twice he had ducked out of the way of people purposefully heading down corridors. He'd left one smoke grenade in a bin in the ladies loos, the timer would set it off in two minutes. The second grenade was meant for one of the offices, the busier, the better so people would panic, but all this creeping about was beginning to make him nervous. He didn't like to sneak and he sincerely hoped that no one would come to any harm from his actions. He turned a corner... Perfect.

He gripped the pin and yanked it free tossing the device through an open dividing window. There was a satisfying hiss and then an intensely girly scream from a male member of staff and Elliot charged out of the building with the rest of them, fire alarms blearing in his ears.

Jack was grinning as he turned to look at Ranjan.

"Did you fix the alarms?"

"No boss." The Asian was studying his PDA intently having accessed the CCTV network for the complex. "Looks like Elliot did it, and I've located Ianto... Oh shit, we need to hurry."

Elliot pounded away, his heart thumping in his chest and his breath heaving out in terrified gasps as he fled in the direction of the SUV, several streets away. He took a round about route and pulled off his hoodie and stuffed it into his pack, donning sun glasses and slowing down to a casual stroll. Convinced he wasn't being followed he finally made it back to the vehicle and locked himself inside behind the steering wheel. He grabbed his cell phone and dialled with shaking hand into the com system so he could speak to Jack.

"Uncle Jack. I'm moving the SUV, tell Ranjan so he can pick up the GPS. Hope you like the fire alarms by the way."

He was more than surprised when his Tad replied. "Music to my ears Elliot, we're on our way out now and thank you, even if I am going to give you a bollocking when I get to you."

Elliot roughly wiped at the water in his eyes. "Looking forward to it Tad!"

"Elliot, there's a bio hazard suit in the SUV, put it on as soon as you've parked up, the co ordinates are on the screen for where I need you to go. You must have the suit on and sealed, you know how."

Elliot was frowning at Jack's instruction. "Uncle Jack?"

"Just do it and hurry up!"

Elliot nodded, keying the ignition. "Ok ok."

Jack cut the communication and Elliot thanked God that Jack had taught him how to drive when he was 12, much to his Tad's consternation.