Sarah Jane had been pacing non-stop for over half an hour. John should have been home long ago. She couldn't wait any longer. Finally, she picked up the phone and dialed the Brig. It felt like forever until she managed to get put through to him.

"Miss Smith, Benton says you sound upset. What's wrong?"

"Brigadier, is John still there," she asked anxiously.

The Brig cringed. "No, I'm afraid he left hours ago. One moment while I check with his driver. He wanted to take a taxi but I insisted he let us see him home." She could hear muffled speaking, and then he came back on the line. "The driver says he dropped Mr. Tinker off in front of your house several hours ago."

Sarah sat down hard. "He never came into the house," she said in almost a whisper. "Did he say anything to the driver about having a problem with coming home, or anything that indicated he didn't want to be here? When I spoke to him, he sounded as if he couldn't wait to get here."

More muffled speaking, then, "The driver says he didn't say much of anything at all on the way, but that he didn't stay to see if Mister Tinker went inside."

"Something's happened to him," Sarah said. "I just know he must be in trouble. What are we going to do?" She tried not to panic but it was useless. Deep in her heart she knew John was in danger.

There was quiet on the other end of the line for several seconds. "We're going to find him," the Brig finally said.

"Should I call the police in? After all, they're the ones that so-called family of his chose to go to when they wanted to claim him. Have you done anything about them yet?" She felt herself clicking into investigative mode. "It just occurred to me that they haven't called here looking for him. Doesn't that seem odd to you?" Now that she was sure that something was wrong, Sarah Jane was desperate, searching frantically in her mind for any clue that could lead her to John. If she had to she'd find him herself somehow, no matter what it took.

"As a matter of fact, Miss Smith, that is quite odd. But don't involve the police. I think that UNIT is going to handle this ourselves. Benton!" he shouted. "If you hear from him, Miss Smith, do call immediately, would you?"

"I want to be part of the search team you're getting together," she said firmly. "I don't mean that I want to be out with them looking, but you might as well know that with or without you, I intend to look for John until he's found and safe at home."

The Brigadier squeezed his eyes together. "All right, I know how you get when you're like this. But I should like to point out that we may all be over-reacting. He did say he had an errand to run before he came home, perhaps he realized he'd forgotten something and is still out getting it. What if he comes back to your home, and you're out looking for him?"

"Oh, never you fear, I'll be here alright, but that doesn't mean I won't be trying to find some way to help you." She said her goodbyes and hung up the phone with a determined expression on her face. 'Think, Sarah Jane, who could have taken John and why?' She headed out to John's workshop.

Warrant Officer Benton made sure that all of his people were in place before banging on Gloria Ridgeway's front door. "Gloria Ridgeway, official business!" he shouted.

Gloria went to the door and opened it, giving Benton a look of confusion as she wondered who this man was and what he was on about. "What is it? Why are you shouting for me? Is something wrong?"

"Miss Ridgeway," Benton said, "we'd like to speak with you about the disappearance of Stephen Parker, also known as John Tinker. May we come in?"

"This is about Stephen? What do mean he's disappeared?" she asked, her voice cracking. Gloria stood at the door, but didn't open it all the way. "Look," she said, recovering, "whoever you are, I'm afraid you've made a mistake. My fiance just called me a few hours ago and he was fine when I spoke to him. In fact, he's going to call me any moment to come pick him up at some place called UNIT."

Benton pointed to the patch on his shoulder. "Ma'am, we are from UNIT, and Mister … Parker has disappeared. We'd like you to come down with us in case you can help shed some light on the situation."

Gloria didn't budge an inch. Benton could hear a dog somewhere behind her start to growl. "How do I know this is real? Do you have any proper identification?"

Benton produced his identification. "Miss Ridgeway, being Mister Parker's fiancee, I'm sure that you're just as concerned his welfare as we are." He tried to look just menacing enough. "So I'd very strongly suggest that you come with us."

She looked at his ID and then back at him. "It seems to be in order. Can you give me a moment please? I want to call Stephen's brother so he knows where I am and I have to put the dog in the backyard so he's not locked up in the house."

"Of course," Benton said, stepping forward to make sure that he could enter the house with her.

Gloria seemed taken back when she realized that Benton was determined to enter her house. She looked past him and saw more men in uniform, then sighed as put her hand on Faraday's collar, both to hold him back and to be ready to let him attack if necessary. "Won't you come in," she said coldly as she stepped back to let him enter.