The four men and the Time Lord stared at each other after Yusta and his men left and in a flash, Jack and the Sphinx pulled out their concealed guns out and pointed them on each other.
"You bastard Calitri, you set me up!" Memphis shouted at the man he thought was Raymond Calitri. "Was Castleback in on this as well? Did G.R.A.B set this up?"
"For the last time, my name is not Raymond Calitri," the Doctor snapped at Memphis, his blue eyes boring into Memphis' eyes. "I have no clue who that man is and I have no clue who you are." The Doctor yanked out his international driver's licence and threw it at Memphis. It landed at his feet and Jessie quickly picked it up and studied it.
"You can buy these for the right price in southern California Doctor John Smith," Jessie sneered and tossed the driver's licence back at the Doctor.
"Put the gun away Jack," the Doctor snapped in an impatient voice. "I don't have time for a Mexican standoff right now. We need to find Rose before it's too late."
Jack reluctantly lowered his gun, acutely aware that Sphinx still had his gun trained on him.
"Here," the Doctor snapped, pulling out his psychic paper, focused on it, and then threw it at Memphis. "Doctor John Smith, United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Call the phone number on the back, I'm sure the Prime Minister of Great Britain would love to explain my credentials to you." The Doctor knew that Harriet Jones would go to bat for him if Memphis called. After all, he helped her to become the Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Memphis studied the security identification card and memorized the phone number on the back. There were way too many security features on the card for it to be a fake. Memphis sighed and made a decision he hoped he was not going to regret.
"Put the gun away Sphinx," Memphis said in a tired voice, running his hand through his hair. "You're right, we don't have time for this. Sway and the baby's lives are on the line right now."
"Baby? What baby? Sway's having a baby?" Jessie demanded in a surprised voice. He looked at Sphinx. "Did you know about this?" Sphinx merely smiled and shrugged.
"Sway's about seven weeks along, we were going to tell everyone at Christmas," Memphis said tossing the psychic paper back at the Doctor. "Give me that list, Jessie, I need to know what ladies we're talking about." Memphis studied the list and shook his head. It was a standard shopping list for stolen cars: Porsches, Jaguars, Hummers, and a Ford F-150 pick up truck.
The Doctor had a quick conservation on his cell phone and hung up. "Come on, we're going back to our hotel room, our car should be here in five minutes."
"Yeah good idea," Memphis said pulling out his phone. "I need to make a few phone calls and find out where these cars are."
Victorio Russo was standing at the reception desk scanning the lobby anxiously. Doctor Smith had called fifteen minutes ago and the man sounded like he was in a towering rage. He had curtly demanded a MacBook Pro, food and coffee for his room and Doctor Smith also demanded a Jaguar, and a BMW SUV in the parking lot.
He watched in trepidation has Doctor Smith swept into the hotel followed by Mr. Harkness and three unknown men. He swallowed when he saw Doctor Smith's livid expression and was thankful it wasn't directed at him. Victorio gave the MacBook and car keys to Mr. Harkness and spoke to the Doctor in a low voice. "Doctor Smith, might I have a word or two in private please?"
The Doctor nodded and Russo drew him aside and spoke very carefully. "Doctor Smith, we have the law firm Maynard, Russell and Bettany on retainer if you need their services and I can arrange for a cash transfer for up to two million American dollars in twenty hours if you need it."
Doctor Smith nodded curtly and walked away.
"Wow," Jessie said in an awed voice, looking around the loft, "this place is amazing." It was the type of place that most people could only dream of staying in for the weekend.
"Focus, Jessie," Memphis snapped, commandeering the dining room table. For some unknown reason, Calitri or rather the Doctor had dragged the small living room table near the television while Jack tore the computer box open. "We need to get a crew together. I've already called Fred. He's going to hack the DMV database and get the addresses for the cars. Jessie, Sphinx, do you have any contacts in the Bay Area?"
"We are not getting a crew together," the Doctor said in a firm voice. He took his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and aimed it at the window. There was a flash of light and a huge blue box appeared out of nowhere.
"What the hell is that?" Memphis asked in a stunned voice. "A Police box? What is that?"
"They're were used in the 1960's. If you needed help, you picked up the telephone and called the police," Sphinx said slowly. "They went out of use in the early 1970's."
"It's not a police box, it's my ship, she's called the TARDIS. She's going to help us find Rose and Sway," the Doctor explained, patting the TARDIS fondly, ignoring Memephis. Sphinx and Jessie's looks of disbelief. "Alright Jack, I'm going to access the TARDIS computer system and I want you to set up a remote access out here."
"Will do, Doctor," Jack replied in a serious voice.
The Doctor took a very deep breathe and pushed the TARDIS doors open, ignoring the gasps of shock and amazement from Memphis, Jessie and the Sphinx when they saw the inside of the TARDIS.
"Oh, my God, that's a spaceship," Memphis said in a stunned voice. "It's bigger on the inside than the outside. How is that possible?"
"His ship is called the TARDIS: Time and Relative Dimensions In Space. The inside of the TARDIS exists inside it's own dimension. She's a spaceship and time machine all rolled into one.," Jack said calmly, pouring four cups of coffee and for good measure added a generous splash of Johnny Walker Blue Label into their coffees. "As you can guess, we're not exactly from around here."
"Are you human?" Jessie asked in an excited voice. Jessie had grown up on a diet of science fiction shows as a kid.
"More or less," Jack replied in an offhand voice. Most humans by the fifty-first century had one way or another under gone genetic tinkering at some point, "but do yourself a favor, don't call the Doctor human. He gets really offended if you call him that."
"But he looks human," Memphis protested, taking a sip of the coffee.
"He's not human, not even close. On the evolutionary scale, he's the top dog and the rest of us are dirt beneath his feet, " Jack said in a sober voice. "I'm not joking when I tell you that he is one of the most dangerous people in the universe when he's provoked. Yusta let the genie out of the bottle and Rose is the only person who can put the cork back in."
"Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation," the Sphinx quoted softly. Jack, Memphis and Jessie looked at him. "Kahlil Gibran, famous poet from the Twentieth century," Sphinx offered by way of explanation.
"Wait a minute, if that's a time machine, why doesn't he go back in time and prevent Rose from being kidnapped?" Memphis demanded, putting down his coffee while Jessie and the Sphinx listened closely.
"Rule number one of time travel: never cross your own time line to try and prevent something from happening if it's already happened. Very bad things will happen if you tried to do that," Jack explained, snagging a club sandwich and wolfing it down. He gestured at them to eat, knowing it was going to be a long night.
"Like what?" Jessie demanded between bites of his roast beef and mushroom sandwich.
"The end of the universe for one thing," Jack said seriously.