Tvivlsom Dom Pub; Esbjerg, Denmark
Saturday, January 30, 2021
Reviewing the charity building in the middle of the night didn't tell them anything. Scans showed no indication of alien technology. After Antwerp, they could have moved their canisters, they stored them somewhere else, or they never had any.
After midnight on a Saturday morning, there weren't a lot of options. They checked the area and found an open bar. General Trefor Williams insisted they wear casual clothes. Jack's retro uniform was to noticeable. He chose nearly matching outfits. At the time, the general didn't think much about it.
The he followed Jack into the Danish bar. In the dim light, they could pass for twins. Which of course was Jack's idea. He probably knew about the bar. Crawling in windows and barhopping with his father. It sounded like the plot to a bad comedy. His mother and sister would have laughed. When he told Nessa, she would ask why she wasn't invited.
Nothing like family outings. His Anwen went with him to more than one strip club when he was old enough to go. Her way of trying to make him feel normal. She claimed she enjoyed it, but she once fell asleep during an amateur burlesque competition.
"Follow my lead."
The general didn't want to know what Jack had in mind as he headed for the bar and a few empty stools. For a small town, the bar was crowded. Men and women sat at tables. A few people danced by the music machine. It sounded like German heavy metal, but the dancers were to drunk to care.
"Do you speak English?" Jack slid onto a barstool.
"A little." The bartender's accent blurred his words with the noxious music.
Jack ordered two micro-brews. Bottles made it easier to hide they weren't drinking. He quickly counted out the local currency to pay. "Nice crowd."
"Ja. Americans?"
"Yes. I'm Mark." Jack motioned at the general. "My brother Mike."
"Viktor."
Jack pretended to sip his beer. "We arrived later than we expected."
"Tourists?"
"Business. We're looking at real estate."
The general made a show of sipping his beer. It smelled awful. "Dad's considering expanding," the general mimicked Jack's accent. "He should be checking the ports." He turned to survey the crowd.
"It's better than that network conference he sent Rachael to."
The general shrugged. "The hotels are better."
A woman in her late twenties entered the pub and walked to the bar. The general smiled and shifted on his stool to leaned back against the bar. She sat next to him, and ordered in a language he didn't recognize.
Viktor set what looked like whiskey in front of her. She tossed it back and ordered another shot.
"That kind of night?"
"Ja."
"I'm Mike." The general turned toward her.
"Yasmin."
He flirted harmlessly. From the woman's body language, she wanted to drink whiskey from the bottle instead of in shots. When she removed a pen, from her small purse, and wrote on a napkin, he thought she was giving him her phone number. Instead it was the name of the charity in Antwerp. He casually set the side of his hand over the writing and reassessed her body language.
"Would you like to go somewhere more private?"
She set her hand on his leg. One of the drunks dropped a bottle startling her and she gripped him. He set his free hand over hers on his leg, and she released the vice grip.
"Having fun?" Jack sounded amused.
"Yeah." The general had to keep from groaning. "We're going to continue this back at our hotel."
Walking out of the bar casually was an experience. His leg hurt. She gripped his hand like she was trying to break it. Another loud sound startled her and she dug her nails into his hand. By the time they reached the street, the general wondered if he was bleeding.
He handed Jack the napkin as they walked up the street.
"What do you know about the charity in Belgium?" Jack asked.
"It's not a charity, Captain Harkness."
Jack stopped and looked at her. "You can tell us apart?"
She laughed a less than pleasant sound. "General Williams radiates Rift energy like a beacon on a stormy night."
"How do you know us?" The general asked. He didn't use his title outside Torchwood.
She released his hand looking guilty. "I belonged to the Fellowship of Inner Peace."
The general rubbed his hand. "You left the Refuge?"
"No. I was out of the country when your people invaded my home."
Jack held his hands out. "We're looking for a connection to Antwerp."
Yasmin nodded. "There is a research facility north of town."
"Kids?" The general asked.
She shook her head. "Biomechs. Really scary biomechs."
"Do you have an address?" Jack removed his mobile from his pocket.
"No." She explained its location.
Jack sent the text message. "We need to get you out of here."
"No. I'm going home."
"It's not safe."
Tears welled in her eyes. "You killed The Prophet. His people raided my home and abducted my family." She took off running.
Azrael watched from a distance until Yasmin started running. He knew what Jack and the general would do next, and would find them there. Yasmin needed him more. She stopped running several blocks, when a three men stepped from an alley in front of her.
One advantage to being incorporeal was speed. He crossed the distance in a blink-of-an-eye positioning himself between Yasmin and the men. One of the trio was a biomech potentially as dangerous as Kol. The Gordon-Glen situation was worse than he thought.
"What did Torchwood want?" Thug One demanded in Danish.
"What?"
"The men you were with," Thug two said, "What did they want?"
"I made a bad decision to leave the bar with them. They scared me."
The biomech stepped forward. "You're a bad liar."
Azrael materialized between Yasmin and the men. "Leave her be."
"What are you?" Thug One demanded.
Yasmin stared a moment before averting her eyes. "The Prophet."
The biomech reached for a weapon. Azrael's form blurred as he reached toward the energy specific to biomechanics. It flowed outward, around Azrael. The biomech's eyes clouded over and he hit the ground with a thud. The energy danced over him before dissipating.
Thugs One and Two turned as ran.
"Do you have a mobile?" Azrael dragged the body into the nearby alley.
She nodded, removing it from her pocket.
"Switch it to speaker phone and dial this number." He recited the familiar digits.
Her hands shook as she followed his instructions. It rang.
"Hello?" Idrissa said.
"Yasmin needs to come home. There is a body with her. A third gen biomech requiring special containment."
"Where?"
Azrael provided details.
"I need ten minutes."
Torchwood Three
Ianto Jones met Jack by the large door when he returned with the general. It was good to see them safe. The burglary plans didn't worry him, but another possible facility did. After the connection he found between the London clinic and Manchester, his anxiety flared. Torchwood had already cost him too much.
"Do we have any information on former Fellowship of Inner Peace residents?"
"Some. Why?"
"We need information about a Yasmin from Denmark."
"I was monitoring law enforcement with one of Tosh's devices. From before. It translated police reports."
Jack turned back. "Are you all right?"
"No."
"What happened?" Jack ran a hand lightly up Ianto's arm.
Ianto shook his head. "I found something I can't deal with right now."
Jack gently took Ianto's hand. "You can rest. Taking down a biomech facility requires a lot of research and planning. It's not happening tonight."
"It's like Cattrel."
"What?"
Tears welled in his eyes again. "I connected the London clinic to Manchester. Seven fake death certificates were signed by a doctor that worked in Manchester after the Institute burned."
Jack hugged him.
"You're not going after a corporation, you're taking on Torchwood." Ianto pressed his face to Jack's shoulder and held on tight. "If they're from the future, they know you."
"We will figure it out." Jack kissed the top of Ianto's head.
"It's not the only problem. The police received an emergency call blocks from the bar. Three men approached a terrified woman. Another man intervened. He dragged one of the three into an alley. When the police arrived, there was no one there. They have three witnesses with the same story about a man that appeared from nowhere to protect the woman." Ianto paused. "I asked Luc to check the area. There is quantum energy and indications of a portal device."
"Azrael."
"He rescued Luc. He rescued a woman that probably belonged to the Fellowship. The Refuge suddenly decided to take over the Nigeria office and send the Fellowship people back."
"Idrissa?"
"Yeah. The original quantum entanglement devices came from Nigeria. He has access to Torchwood's storehouse of dangerous alien technology."
Jack Harkness considered an insane idea. He accessed Torchwood's system, from the main floor workstations, and scanned for unexplained energy. There was quantum energy in the hub after he and the general returned from Global. Something followed them when they entered the local charity. He sent Luc a quick message to scan Compassion and Mercy for quantum energy.
"What are you looking for?" The general asked.
"We were followed from Torchwood to Denmark. The same entity that climbed in the window with us."
"What are you thinking?" The general sounded familiar even through the Welsh accent.
"Idrissa doesn't like Aman coming to Cardiff. After Aman arrives, the hub has quantum energy and we're followed."
The general tilted his head. "You think Idrissa sent Azrael to check on Aman."
"Yeah." Jack paused. "Why did the Keara from this time go back to Nigeria?"
"She wanted to go home."
"Keara went home. Yasmin wanted to go home. The Refuge is sending the Fellowship people back to Nigeria."
"If Idrissa is working with Azrael, he may be rebuilding future Aman's legacy."
Jack shook his head slightly. "No. The Fellowship was a cult with one leader."
"Jack, he's dead. You watched Aman die."
"I watched a device implode. We have no idea where those devices came from. They disrupted the barriers between universes, and dislodged my connection to time and space. A connection caused by Time Lord technology."
The general obviously didn't want to consider the possibility. "Say it is Aman, Jack. What is he doing?"
"He and I had a lot in common?"
"Yeah. It's how you bonded and why you couldn't live together."
"What did I do when I recovered from the island explosion?" Jack took a moment. "I came home, assured Ianto I was all right, and went back to work."