Chapter 26
"Where's Ianto?" demanded Gwen, standing feet apart, hands on hips.
"You know damn well where he is," Jack replied, stony faced.
"You bastard-"
"Do you think I wanted to hand him over?" Jack advanced on Gwen almost spitting the words in her face. "Don't you think I care that he'll be spending the night in a cell?"
"Instead of warming your bed?" Gwen didn't back down, but stood her ground and arched her eyebrows as she challenged Jack. "Yeah, I suppose that would be an inconvenience-"
"Don't you dare -" Jack ground his teeth painfully, determined not to expose just how much her taunts hurt. He knew the reason for her sarcasm was genuine concern about Ianto and he couldn't fault her on that and truth be told, he was furious with himself for having got Ianto into this mess in the first place and for allowing him to be taken into custody. On the lonely return journey to the Hub he'd barely been able to glance at the empty passenger seat without a wave of guilt washing over and threatening to drown him.
"Oi, calm down the pair of you – fighting isn't going to help Ianto, is it?"
Owen stepped between the two most volatile members of Torchwood, taking hold of Gwen by the arm and pulling her away from Jack. He knew she meant well, but she'd totally failed to read the subtle tells, the way Jack had walked in, head down and shoulders tense, his jaw clenched and his eyes not quite focused. He could see that Jack was as close as he'd ever been to striking Gwen and there was no way he was going to let the situation degenerate any further.
"Gwen, just let it go for now. Tell you what - why don't you and Tosh go out and grab a bite to eat and leave me to tell Jack what we've got so far?"
"Owen-" Gwen bristled.
"Good idea. I could do with a break." Tosh had been watching from the sidelines, but had caught the way that Owen had emphasised her name, a hint that he wanted her to help defuse the situation. "We could just go across the Plas to the café at the Millennium Centre – won't take long to grab a sandwich and a coffee. Come on, Gwen, you need a break as well, we've been at this non-stop for hours."
"Alright – but no more than twenty minutes, OK?" Gwen's resolve to make life even more uncomfortable for Jack weakened, the hollow sensation in her stomach betraying her and she knew that if she didn't stop to eat neither would Tosh.
"Half an hour – come on." Tosh was not about to make compromises, she knew that Owen needed to have enough time to talk to Jack before they got back. "These two may be able to keep going for hours without a break, but we're mere mortals. Come on, I need caffeine and maybe some chocolate fudge cake. What do you say?"
"OK then. Owen, if there are any developments while we're gone-"
"I'll call you. You have my word. Now go – both of you."
Owen stood patiently in front of Jack whilst the women collected their jackets and handbags before leaving the Hub. He could feel the other man's eyes boring through him.
"Did I put you in charge and forget to memo myself?" Jack placed his hands on his hips in a belligerent pose.
"Not exactly. However, until you start acting like a leader again, someone has to keep the peace around here. Unfortunately the best bloke for doing that isn't here right now."
Owen sat down on the sofa and motioned for Jack to join him.
"Sit down and tell me what the deal is – do we need to start baking cakes with skeleton keys inside yet?"
Jack laughed, appreciating Owen's attempt to lighten his mood. He folded in on himself as he collapsed onto the sofa next to Owen, his head in his hands, relieved that it was just him and Owen left in the Hub. He would never admit to defeat, but it was easier to let down his guard and show how worried he was when he was in the company of just one of his team. Despite having absolute trust in Kathy Swanson, he wasn't convinced that she'd be able to protect Ianto as much as she believed she could.
"That might not be a bad idea. Detective Swanson is dealing with the case, which is good news, she's honest and fair, but she still had to go ahead and charge him. He's up before the magistrate tomorrow and Swanson said she'd support my bid to have him released on bail until it either goes to trial or we get the whole damn thing dropped." Jack rubbed a hand over his face and took a deep breath in an attempt to gain control. "In the meantime I could really do with some good news – did you guys find anything out that while we were gone?"
"Alien plant news or bent copper updates?"
"Start with the plant." Jack sighed as it occurred to him that Ianto had suffered as a consequence of both, but it had been the plant that had nearly killed him.
"Tosh's program located all patches of vegetation growing on the tops of buildings in a one mile radius from Albany Road – nothing particularly suspicious, but it could look just like any other weed and we haven't got a clue what we're looking for. We're going to have to search each area, by hand."
"I'll take the roofs – Ianto reckons I'm good on roofs."
"Really? I don't think that's something I want to picture somehow." Owen nudged Jack in the ribs with his elbow, determined to drag him out of his melancholy.
"Oh don't worry about that, Ianto is very strict about me not sharing any pictures-"
"Strict? Ianto?" Owen asked, looking thoroughly bemused at the idea of Ianto setting down the rules for Jack.
"Oh yeah, Ianto can be very … strict, when he puts his mind to it." Jack smirked as he looked up at Owen, grateful for the images conjured up to replace those of Ianto being cautioned in the police station.
"Enough, Harkness, the less insight I have into your weird relationship the better." Owen would never admit to being envious of the fact that the two men had grabbed what they could get inside Torchwood, neither stupid enough to leave it until it was too late. "We might not know where those plants are, but Gwen made a small breakthrough on the police problem – the bloke that Ianto shot? His name is Brian Morris. He's got a cousin in the police, who just so happens to be one of the two coppers you wanted to have a word with last night."
"What?" Jack snapped. Those bastards – he'd make them pay. "That does it, I'm going to that damn hospital and-"
Jack leaned forward as if to get up, only to be restrained by Owen's outstretched arm.
"Oh no you don't, Jack. You need to stay as far away from that bloke as possible. You'd probably end up scaring the bastard to death and, before we know it, Ianto will be up on a murder rap. Don't you think he's in enough shit as it is?"
"Damn. I really, really want to hit someone right now. I don't give a damn about the police guard – I need to talk to that bastard." Jack growled, his eyes flashing with anger.
"Again – not going to help Ianto." Owen reiterated. "But we can use that information if they try to pursue this charge, yes?"
"Maybe – but in the meantime it doesn't do much to help Ianto, does it?" Jack was beginning to see why Gwen was so upset at Ianto having been detained by the police. If the cousin of the man he'd shot was in a position where he could get to Ianto, he wasn't safe. "That does it, Owen –I want you and Gwen to go visit Ianto first thing in the morning, unannounced. He has the right to see his own doctor, and you need to check up on him after his collapse – yes?"
"Yeah, I should do. But why take Gwen?"
"Gwen knows her way around the police station. She can make sure you take the shortest route to get to the cells. Let's just hope they don't try anything on Ianto again before we get there. If they've laid a finger on him I want proof of it this time."
"Hang on a minute – what's with the 'again' and 'this time'?" Owen frowned. He wasn't reassured by the crestfallen look on Jack's face.
"The last time he got arrested he was verbally abused, roughed up and pushed down a flight of stairs."
Jack's expression darkened. He was now even less sure that Swanson could ensure Ianto's safety as she'd promised. The thought of him being incarcerated, unarmed and essentially defenceless in a cell overnight worried Jack. Ianto was in far too vulnerable a position.
"Fuck – why the hell wasn't I told about that at the time?" Owen exclaimed.
"He tried to hide it from me and figured you'd give him hell over it. I cleaned up the cuts and treated the bruising and there weren't any internal injuries."
"I'm glad to hear that, Doctor Harkness! Next time any of the team needs patching up, I'll just leave it to you shall I?"
"Drop the attitude, Owen. You were taking the piss out of him for having got arrested – are you surprised that he didn't want to let you know what else had happened to him?"
"I might have had a bit more sympathy for him if I'd known the full story. So this abuse ... homophobic by any chance?"
"Yeah… how did you-?"
"Your reaction to what was written on the SUV, when you looked at the CCTV images before Ianto got it cleaned it up, and the fact that you assumed the police were behind that."
"What? How-?" Jack was confused, he'd never made those suspicions known to Owen.
"Jack, we all talk to each other behind your back to figure out what the fuck you're up to. Ever since you pulled that disappearing stunt, we've made sure we compare notes on a regular basis. We might not have a fucking clue why you're doing what you're doing, but we do have a bloody good idea when, where and how."
"Oh." Jack looked offended and then hurt. "What about Ianto? Is he in on this?"
"No. Ever since he let Gwen know about Flat Holm, he's not been so keen to share. But he can be tricked into revealing more than he'd like to – Tosh has ways of making him speak."
"Should I be jealous?"
"Probably. I know I am. She's a wicked woman and Ianto has appreciated that for far longer than I have."
"Talking of Tosh – sounds like the girls are back." Jack heard the sounds of two sets of potentially deadly heels clipping the floor as Tosh and Gwen stepped off the lift platform, arm in arm.
"That was quick."
"Been out for twenty five minutes, Jack." Gwen handed over two brown paper bags and a handful of white, paper napkins. "Tosh bought you a tuna salad baguette and a piece of the chocolate cake – I said we should let you starve, but she didn't want to give Ianto anything else to worry about. You don't deserve either of them."
"I know I don't. I'm sorry, Gwen."
"Me too. I'm just … just so bloody pissed off that they actually arrested Ianto. You are applying for bail aren't you, Jack?"
"Yes, dammit – of course I am – it's his best chance right now. But it does mean he has to stay in a cell overnight and no, I'm not happy about that, not at all. But it was Ianto who insisted we played by their rules."
"So that's why you asked for the lenses that Martha used?" Tosh asked, suddenly remembering that Jack had asked her to hand them over shortly before he'd set off with Ianto.
"Yes. Ianto said you'd got the optical components working again."
"Yes, that radiation surge at the Pharm fried the bioelectronics, but I've sorted them so they can transmit visual signals and receive text input now. I've also managed to recalibrate the lip reading software."
"I know. Ianto told me. Can you have the signals routed through my personal computer as well as any associated software." Jack pushed back his sleeve to check the time. "Check it's working properly."
"I'll get straight on it." Tosh nodded her head quickly and then set off to do as Jack had requested. She always felt better having a specific task to work on.
"What are the exact charges, Jack?" Gwen sat down on the coffee table and looked at Jack more sympathetically. Tosh had been right when she'd told her that Jack would do whatever he could to look out for Ianto.
"Wounding with intent to murder. No wonder Ianto prefers to use a stun gun to one with bullets."
"There are huge government initiatives prompting local police forces to tackle gun crime. That's not going to help Ianto." Gwen sighed, not wanting to spell out just how valuable each successful prosecution was to the local police when it came to reaching their 'targets'. Jack hated politics and politicians at the best of times.
"Jack – what the hell's going on with the police?" Owen asked the question they all wanted an answer to.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's serious. We need them on side. They moan and bitch about us – always have, but never before have they directly interfered or stood in our way." Jack frowned. "The fact that Ianto got arrested last month, despite identifying himself as Torchwood, that's unprecedented. I've had Gwen look into the issue but she's not found anything – apart from a few coincidences that don't wash with me – the same guys patrolling the beat when the SUV was clamped and then egged… and last night I was ambushed whilst pursuing the same two policemen. Now you're telling me one of them is related to the guy that beat the crap outta me and ended up getting shot by Ianto."
"What the fuck is this all about?" Owen asked bluntly.
"I think it all goes back to the loss of the four senior police officers during those weevil attacks." Gwen suggested.
"You mean that time John and …" Owen faltered, not wanting to bring up Jack's brother at a time like this.
"Yes," Gwen replied, also reluctant to go into the details.
"There are two ways of looking at that." Jack narrowed his eyes as he considered the implications. "Either the men lost-"
"Men and women." interjected Gwen. "Senior police officials don't necessarily have to be male."
"OK … well I was just going to say that I doubt they were that well loved that we'd suffer this kinda backlash, but I guess I could be wrong."
"Bollocks." Owen held up a hand, putting a halt to what he could tell was pointless speculation. "Call me cynical, but it strikes me that if the loss of these top cops has had such a fucking profound effect it's probably because they were either taking backhanders or involved in a racket of some sort. Something that's gone to shit now they've been replaced. It's not like we're doing anything different to piss them off."
"What?" Gwen was taken aback. "I hadn't even thought of that."
"That's because you aren't as cynical as I am. I wouldn't mind betting it's drugs."
"Well done, Owen, your cynicism may well have solved the mystery." Jack slapped Owen on the back and grinned, Ianto had been right about getting Owen to investigate the police problem. "Get onto it, both of you – find out everything you can about the officers killed by weevils that night. Dig up every last ounce of dirt you can find. While you're at it look for links with Morris – anything to discredit him or his family may be what we need to get Ianto off the hook."