Chapter 14

"You were meant to be staying in contact with him while we were out in the field – what the hell went wrong?"

"It's not her fault, Jack –" Owen stepped forward placing himself between Tosh and an irate Jack.

"You were recording all input from the transceiver – yes?" Jack pointed at the desk top with undisguised hope.

"No, Jack – it didn't seem necessary…"

"Not necessary? Ianto's gone and we don't know what the fuck happened!" Any attempt that Jack may have been making to keep from losing his temper had been abandoned.

"Jack – back off, can't you see Tosh is just as upset as you are-"

"I doubt that!"

"Can't you track the signal, Tosh – find out where he is that way?" Gwen had sidestepped Jack and Owen to approach Tosh from behind her work station.

"Yes, yes of course …"

Gwen moved to Tosh's side, and leaned on the desk, placing yet another barrier between her and Jack, who was seething. Gwen knew that he was channelling his fear for Ianto's safety into anger at the screw up, but it wasn't fair for him to take it out on Tosh.

Tosh brought up a map of Cardiff and set the program to search for the signature signal emitted by the device implanted in Ianto. Although she'd designed it to have an output that couldn't be detected by standard scanners, she had set the transmitter frequency so that she would be able to home in on it. But there was nothing transmitting at that frequency in the city.

"Damn – they've already got him out of Cardiff," Tosh muttered, feeling the dark anger of Jack looming over her.

She zoomed out of Cardiff, to take in the surrounding countryside. Still nothing.

"How long since you last heard from him?" Owen put a hand on Tosh's shoulder now, squeezing it gently. She knew he was trying to reassure her that she wasn't to blame, although she would do anything to relive the past few hours and not lose touch with Ianto.

"Um… it was just after you all went to the Stadium, he was in a bar, he told me to tell Jack that he wasn't drinking shorts…"

Jack grimaced as he recalled giving Ianto instructions to take it easy on the alcohol. It seemed like only moments ago that he'd left the Hub clutching the small cardboard box.

"That was about two hours ago …" Gwen looked at her watch. "It wasn't dark when we left, but the lights were coming on as we came back."

"They could be anywhere by now." Jack sighed heavily as he moved closer to look at the map Tosh was scanning.

"Fuck." Owen held onto Gwen's hand that had grabbed onto his jacket sleeve. Their previous argument put into perspective by the outcome of the evening. The three of them were now huddled around Tosh staring at the screen willing there to be a sign of where Ianto was.

Zooming out even further, Tosh eventually picked up the signal that displayed itself as a small red light on the map, south of the tiny village of Ystradfellte. Deep in the Brecon Beacons.

"Damn, that could be why I'm not picking up anything from the microphone. The area is surrounded by high ground, and the village is tucked into a valley. It's also just on the edge of the range for the transmitter-"

"OK - so we need to get closer. Gwen, you're with me. Call Rhys if you need to. Tosh – you stay here and keep tracking him, get anything you can on the area. Buildings, farm houses, anything." Jack saw the shudder that passed through her body at the thought of farmhouses in the Brecon Beacons and hoped that Ianto didn't know where he was heading. "Owen, much as I'd like you with me, in case of medical emergencies, you're going to have to stay here. If there are any other weevil break outs, I need someone around who can deal with them."

"Makes sense. But I'll pack a medical kit for you to take with you."

Jack could feel his jaw muscles ache he was clenching his teeth so tightly. But they had a location now, a target to aim for.

By the time that Jack had gathered together what seemed like a small armoury of weaponry, he'd traded his earpiece for the one that was in contact with Ianto, he wanted to be there for him as soon as they were back in range. He looked around the Hub - Gwen was on her mobile phone, probably talking to Rhys, and Owen was throwing all manner of items into a medical bag. Jack sat next to Tosh and pulled her into a gentle hug.

"Forgive me, Tosh? I'm sorry I took it out on you. I'm just worried…"

"I know, Jack, we all are." She didn't need to say anything else, Jack understood.

"Has the signal moved much?" Jack looked at her screen, reluctant to let anyone, even Tosh, see how much this was affecting him.

"It stopped for a while, but it's moving north again. I can't work out where it's going. There's nothing there, no buildings, just open countryside."

"Satellite imagery?"

"Ystradfellte is in a wooded valley – there are no street lights and it's too dark to see a damn thing."

Jack swore to himself and stood up just as Gwen came rushing back towards him, a grim look on her face.

"Jack, a message came in for me while we were out. Andy – you know, my partner in the police - well he saw this box of stuff being brought in. A member of the public found it, thought that someone may have been attacked. He thought I should know as there was a picture with me in it – from his description it sounded like that photo Ianto had on his desk upstairs -"

"Ianto took that with him this morning. What else was found?"

"One smashed mug, some torn books … and a blood stained sweater."

Gwen saw Jack grow paler and then after a flicker of something akin to pain flashed across his features, she saw him set his face, tilting his chin up, in the way that meant that he was ready for business.

"Come on, Gwen – let's go, we're already at least an hour behind them."

Jack and Gwen had been gone barely half an hour when Owen demanded that Tosh get hold of them urgently.

"What is it, Owen?"

"Trouble."

When Owen and Gwen had dragged the weevils into the cells, Owen had taken blood samples. After the appearance of the weevil 'flu, he had decided to screen all new captures as a standard precaution. He was startled to realise that the three weevils all had traces of tranquiliser in their blood. Torchwood had been set up – they'd been deliberately diverted while Morgan and his gang had snatched Ianto.

That could only mean that they knew that Ianto was to be followed. Whether or not they also knew that Ianto was to infiltrate their organisation as an undercover agent was immaterial. The fact that they had gone out of their way to ensure a head start was made and that they had managed to get so far ahead of Jack wasn't good.

Jack was going to be really pissed off now.