14
Ianto was the first to notice.
Of course he was. The internal checks and balances occurring in his brain sometimes rivalled one of Toshiko's virus scans and she had commented more than once during a search that it would be easier to just ask Ianto.
Ianto walked along the platform and checked the netting was still complete, that there was no sign of anyone going over the edge, and then he turned at the very bow of the ship to look back at everyone happily working away out in the sunlight, muted as it was. Checks and balances. It is all about the numbers.
He then went over to where Frank was crouching while laying out piping for what would be a water system under the next house. Ianto casually said "Frank, where did Kenneth go?"
Frank did not look up as he shrugged, his son usually wandering about somewhere in his security garb looking officious these days "said something about a perimeter check I think."
"OK" Ianto wandered off thinking on that, not sure what it meant. A perimeter check? They didn't have one of those. They did have internal checks in the bunker. Was that it? Maybe the kid was still trying to keep to a routine and was now checking all the doors and such of the vessel much as he did the bunker? Made sense. Weird but without a new task, it made sense. Ianto felt remiss in this, he needed to have reset the kid's chores so he still felt important.
"Hey Tosh" he called out as he wandered over to where she was working on a tablet while sitting at a little table by the main blast doors to the inside "Can you do a body sweep so I know where Kenneth is please?"
A body sweep. As in… search for all bodies on board. She nodded and clicked over to the correct app and let it run while she measured out some wiring to cut. It pinged and she lifted it, then frowned "He's not here. His wristlet is not showing a ping. The ship shows all of us topside, and no one in the internal belly of her… body count is down one. Shit. Down two" she rose in alarm "John?"
Ianto swept his gaze around the tarmac and nodded "Looks that way. Maybe he took the boy with him? They did used to check things together."
"We never agreed to the kids being allowed out yet. We are still roping off an area to walk for the natural ecosystem to remain untouched" she grumbled "Typical Hart."
"He knows the trail, I already marked the trees with paint so he will stick to it and he is running more rope each time he goes out. If he has Kenneth with him, the boy will do the same. You know he idolizes that man" Ianto assured her but still did not feel right "One more thing and I will slink off, exiting stage right."
"What's that Snuggle Puss?" she asked with a grin.
"Can you just check the time for the count change?"
She stared at him and then tapped a few keys on the tablet and sighed, She didn't need to say it. He knew already, why he asked. Different times. They did not go out together. One followed the other.
"Space of time?"
"Within fifteen minutes?" she surmised, trying to find the footage in the CCTV archives and they watched John confidently swank out the door and then she fast forwarded to the boy doing the same.
Ianto immediately pulled the Bluetooth earwig from his pocket and engaged it in his ear, tapping it the correct times to call John. "Come on John, have your piece in."
"Ooooo, Eye Candy. You say such dirty things" John purred back straight away with obvious glee.
"Johnny, Kenneth followed you out, about fifteen minutes after you left he did too. I think he is trying to trail you" Ianto said without preamble.
"Fuck. I saw signs of wild dogs. Shit, behind me?" John was immediately on point as well, the soldier kicking in as he heard the clipped word of another "Orders?"
"Retrace your steps back instead of doing the full loop… no… wait. Wait while we check the cameras to find if he is behind or in front. He might have gone the wrong way and be coming towards you, not following." Ianto said as he nodded to Toshiko who began frantically checking cameras and then called back "Behind."
"Right, hear that? He is behind you. Turn back, retrace and be on the lookout. He does not have your stealth mode, he will be like a fucking elephant lumbering about and everything on the ground will know he is there… friendly or not."
"It's the 'not' that I am condensed with Eye Candy" John sighed down the coms "Like I said. A fresh kill over to the west and signs of a large pack of dogs. Damn it all… I am double timing."
They watched the screen as John picked up the pace and started to run past each camera, his hand on the katana to both stop it swinging and to pull it out quickly if need be. Ianto had started checking on the other tablet from the table, jumping cameras with ease while looking for Kenneth "John, last seen at cameras R7. I repeat R7. You are at H4 so it's a large pocket in there… I do not see him on the next camera so he has stopped between them."
"Roger."
Ianto drummed his fingers as Jack walked over, the coms sending an alert to his VM so he could see the conversation on the screen and he plucked an Bluetooth earwig from Ianto's outstretched hand to join the conversation "Johnty? Any luck?"
"No sign" came back a panted reply as John appeared in the periphery of R7's range "The kid is not here."
"Then he went off grid" Toshiko said with horror "He is lose in the green."
"And I can't find a single fucking track" John spat angrily as he circled slowly looking.
Ianto started to run, knowing they had limited light before that kid was in serious trouble.
Not that he was not already in the shit.
