54

The streets were dark and almost deserted. The witching hour ticking away, just the faint siren here and there, someone drunkenly singing and a bottle smashing. The man in the dark clothing with the backpack seemed in a hurry.

Late for an important date.

His hands were shaking as he pulled the phone from his pocket, calling with haste as he checked then crossed the road "Christ… you will not believe what I have here… Christ. It's happening. It's really happening."

He ran although the hounds of hell were after him, his heart pounding as he crossed another road and checked behind himself, the dark shadows not helping his fear. He paused at the corner, lighting a cigarette with shaking hands, then he seemed to panic, running for real now as he panted with adrenalin and fear. Through the dark alley, he moved to the street beyond.

You could almost taste it in the air.

Fear.

He found a street light that gave a halo of safety and he leaned against it, gasping for air as he tried to calm himself down. He dropped the cigarette packet in the gutter, and then took a deep shuddering breath. He cursed, and then made a run for the other side of the street.

The sudden slam of solid metal to human flesh makes a strange sound, almost a rudely unassuming one. The man died with a mere dull thud.

.

.

.

.

"So what are we doing here?" Ianto asked as he watched Jack adjust the collar on his Great Coat, the rain now a soft drizzle. Lovely. Another fine Welsh day, eh?

"Looking around" Jack called back, walking confidently past the Heddlu cars and he paused at the crime scene tape. Ianto rolled his eyes as he stalked after him to raise the tape. Letting them both enter the crime scene.

"Oi! This is a fucking crime scene. You two better…." The officer started to bellow as he approached only to slow as Kathy Swanson stood and turned to watch them arrive, then wave him off.

"Harkness? Really? This is a simple Vehicle Versus Human accident" she called out with her hands on her hips "The dude bled red!"

"Wow. That's cool, should make t-shirts" jack said as he came to a stop near her, grinning at her as he squared off "Come on Kathy. He was someone I knew. Actually… someone you did too, if he was still recognizable that was. Constable Harris. Remember? He was sectioned out for his mental health? Retcon didn't seem to help with his memories of that little girl being ripped apart by a Hoix that time"

She crouched to take a closer look a the man's mangled features, seeing ginger hair and a mole near his left eye. "Shit. Harris!"

Ianto was crouching as well, on the other side of the street as he talked softly with Andy Davison who was picking up the man's shoe that had flown a fair distance. "So, did you catch the end of the game?"

"Yeah. Bloody rip off, we were fucking robed Ianto mate!" Andy agreed, both men rising to stand and watch their bosses do a dick measuring contest. Both of them knowing Kathy was a worthy advisory.

"They needed Bradley in the mix. They should not have benched him so soon" Ianto finally said and Andy grunted, turning to talk to a young officer that had approached. Ianto took his cue and nodded to Andy as he wandered over to where Jack and Kathy stood still eyeballing one another.

"Sir. Their coroner can send us the results just as well as Owen could send ours to them. After all … do you REALLY want to call him in on the weekend? After the bender he would have been on last night?" Ianto said softly.

Jack grunted as he tined to Ianto and grimaced, "Look. I don't …."

Ianto looked over to the backpack Jack was staring at as his voice petered out, the officers emptying it on the hood of a vehicle as they sorted it all to bag and tag. Jack took a step closer, his eyes running over the goods before he stepped back and nodded "OK. Fair enough. You are right Ianto. I want a hot toddy and a foot rub anyway. Good luck with the next five or six hours in this rain Kathy."

She saluted him sarcastically as he strode from the scene and Ianto smiled softly, and then took off after him.

They got in the SUV and took off for the Hub as Jack muttered to himself, swigging around the streets with the ownership of a man that has lived theses streets for many years. Knew it like the back of his hand.

Ianto drummed his fingers on the door's armrest a while, then sighed. Jack glanced at him then turned down a side street, pulling over to turn and face him. "Well?"

Ianto held up the crumpled cigarette packet he had snagged from the gutter while talking to Andy, handing it over for Jack to open and look into.

He shook the USB drive into the palm of his hand and nodded.

They had it.