Hughes Flats; Cardiff, Wales
December 25, 2020
Jack Harkness stood, leaning on the kitchen counter. It was going to be a long day. Dmitri was at the hub with the kids. All three were sedated in quarantine. Aman and Kailen were working on photographs and CCTV footage. The general said Four celebrated Yule instead of Christmas and would do what they could from Dublin. They needed a lot more people and resources.
"John, is Ken up for cooking as planned?"
John stood on the opposite side of the kitchen entrance leaning on the wall. "Yeah. Him and Dawn are looking forward to it."
"I can stay with them." Eryn sat at the small table next to Ianto. "I was planning on cooking anyway." She checked her watch. "I need to start the bread soon."
"Luc, the tablets allow you to access the hub through my home office. It would be a good idea to get some sleep while you can."
Luc stood behind Eryn with his hands lightly on her shoulders. "I will help Eryn and Ken, if they need it."
Jack knew she wouldn't like it, but they'd already agreed she would have the day off. "Gwen, please go home."
Gwen sat at the table across from Eryn. "That was decided before the church."
"It's Christmas." Anwen rested elbows on the table between Gwen and Eryn. "Dad spent hours on the decorations. Trefor's looking forward to what Santa brought."
Gwen took her daughter's hand. "Okay. Let's get your brother." Gwen stopped near the bedroom door. "Global searches on Nanogene replacement options did have similarities. A retrovirus was designed to improve natural healing. It ended badly. Finding names will take time."
Jack watched as the group thinned. Gwen carried Trefor out of the bedroom and Anwen followed. Eryn and Luc left hand-in-hand. That left him, Ianto and John to investigate.
"We need a place to start." Jack sipped coffee.
Ianto held up his hands. "What did the church get Gordon-Glen?"
"No." John shook his head. "Gordon-Glen wanted to target emergency responders with a WMD. The person who killed five people previously wants to expose Gordon-Glen, and is potentially mimicking how Cattrel Industries was found. Not many people cared for the church, but attacking any church on Christmas Eve is going to piss people off."
Jack grimaced. "Disposable victims?"
"Yeah." John reluctantly confirmed. "If we understand this killer, the mindset is not murder but public service."
Ianto sat back. "Who is this guy?"
"Poison suggests a woman," John countered. "The church was big on gender roles. Access to the food also suggests the killer's a woman."
"Man or woman, they have a connection to Gordon-Glen," Ianto said. "Both Liverpool and Montpellier had facilities. If she's a whistleblower, she's a former employee with the ability to recreate the drug."
"At least a chemist. Possibly a geneticist," John said.
That gave them a place to start. They might need to wake Kailen. "We'll start with a list of chemists and geneticists that worked in those cities. We check for current whereabouts. Anyone we can't locate or is anywhere near Cardiff is a suspect. The general will help us from Dublin."
"We need more than one approach, Jack. The general had an idea for finding scientists connected to Gordon-Glen, if he had a place to look," John explained. "We look for people potentially connected to Cardiff. The general looks for Gordon-Glen. Any country that has minimal regulation on genetic research or bribing officials to ignore human experimentation is possible."
Ianto Jones reviewed the image update from Nova Scotia. They had CCTV traffic footage near the church while the congregation was arriving for service. One of the cars was unexplained. It belonged to Trevonn Oliver, a repeat offender on parole. He'd missed his last appointment. Ianto checked Oliver's file, and the disappearance was unexpected. No one had reported seeing him for more than a week. As a nonviolent offender, he wasn't a priority.
"I think we have another victim." Ianto explained.
"Check for impounds," Jack said. "They might not have logged it yet."
John replied a few minutes later. "She burned it. No CCTV footage of the scene, but we have her walking away." He held up the tablet. "Bad neighborhood for a woman to walk alone. A car is burning a block from there and she's not worried."
Ianto had seen her before. He started flipping through pictures. "Liverpool. Dr. Katrine Palfreyman."
"Spell it," Jack said.
Ianto did.
"We have another problem. Not only is she a geneticist, she escaped from a psychiatric facility after being committed by the court for being criminally insane."
"History of psychiatric problems?" John asked.
"No."
"Any connection to Maddox's father Cort Tray? Or the building where he died?" Ianto asked.
"Checking," John said. "She was reportedly working at the building when she had a psychotic break. The company closed up weeks later. Which might be Gordon-Glen's MO. She escaped from the hospital before Cort Tray's accident."
Jack grabbed his mobile. "If Kailen could find Ronald Beaupre, he can find Dr. Palfreyman."
"Jack," John said, "Dr. Palfreyman could be a survivor. You saw the kids. Maddox is probably the exception."
"We don't know what the drug does," Ianto pointed out. "The deaths is Forest Farm suggest they attracted an entity like Maddox has. Except it killed them."
"'A dragon will wake in the Underworld and give the child the power of the gods.'" John quoted the prophesy from Idrissa's sisters. "The girls have perception issues. It could be a child and not connected to me."
"Lewella and Morpheus are connected to what is considered the Underworld in Celtic mythology," Jack said. "Ancients?"
"Lewella said my family is connected to her. Morpheus and his brothers chose specific sleepers. Morpheus can contact Gwen without a problem. Phantasos' contact was an attack. Tremayne had no problem connecting with Phantasos. Dmitri communicates with Icelus."
"I doubt it's as simple as genetics," Jack said.
Ianto thought of an article he'd read months earlier. "People who have organ transplants sometimes report unusual personality changes or habits as a result. It's dismissed by science, in general. But if there is some," Ianto shook his head, "Essence of the person transferred with an organ, than changing a person's organs could affect that essence."
"That could explain the Forest Farm deaths." Jack said tentatively. "The retrovirus changed their essence and attracted something that realized they were imposter's and killed them." He took a moment. "Why is Maddox still alive?"
Ianto shrugged. "The entity likes him?"
"Luc will have a heart attack," John commented.
"Malcolm would be a better person to ask." From Jack's expression, he realized something. "We assumed it's a retrovirus created by Gordon-Glen. Nanogenes are a Chula invention. If it's alien technology or based off alien technology…"
"It could be attracting inter-dimensional aliens," John injected. "Did Oldaria explain how she got here?"
"No."
Gwen Cooper headed to the second floor with her family. Neither her nor Rhys got anymore sleep, but they managed a family Christmas. Watching Anwen chase Trefor around the room trying to stick bows to him felt normal. They needed the laughter.
Eryn was in the kitchen wearing a green dress, apron, elf hat and striped tights. Luc had a Santa hat and green and red Christmas tie. Ken wore an ugly Christmas sweater and a Santa hat. Dawn rested on the sofa under a blanket.
"Ianto will be down in a few minutes, Mrs. Williams." Eryn smiled. "Captain Harkness and Captain Hart are working with my brother and Aman."
"Bad guy?" Trefor climbed onto a chair at the kitchen table.
"One of Scrouge's minions." Eryn said to Trefor.
"Uncle Jack will get him."
"Luc," Rhys said, "Will you help with the tables."
"Yeah."
Gwen moved into the kitchen. "How are you holding up?"
"Good." Eryn lowered her voice. "Dawn needs to go the hub. She's nearing labor. Or a problem. Luc and Ken half carried her from the table to the sofa."
"Contractions?" Gwen asked.
"Not that she mentioned."
Gwen sighed. "Can you help Ianto with the kids and Ken?"
"Yeah."
Dr. Palfreyman was using Trevonn Oliver's flat. The small, dirty third floor unit had an open window to the fire escape. John Hart used his wrist-strap to do a remote medical scan and didn't like the results. She had definitely been exposed to the dreamfish drug. Unlike Maddox, Palfreyman was no longer human. She didn't have an entity, active retrovirus or any indication of alien technology.
"She knows we're here." Jack crouched next to him. They were using a flat directly across the alley from Oliver's. The ex-con demanded an explanation for an interruption on Christmas. Attacking a church with a bioweapon wasn't something the incompetent thief found acceptable.
John summarized the medical information.
"Will your stun pellets work?"
"Why wouldn't they? They're configured for biomechs."
"I met an alien unaffected by them," Jack explained.
John shook his head. "I've never had a problem."
He removed a handful from his pocket. Using his telekinetic Rift ability, the pellets lifted off his hand, flew across the alley and in the open window. John peered around the edge of the window to view the target. She didn't attempt to escape. One of the pellets made contact and she crumpled to the ground.
Ianto Jones passed out presents. The event he'd spent so much time planning slipped away. With Ken crying, even Trefor knew something was wrong. Eryn sat on the floor with the kids and made a show of throwing around wrapping paper.
The general's presents were impressive. Both Anwen and Trefor were happily opening them. For Anwen, he bought her books, horse figurines, movies and two nearly life-sized posters of Prince Nuada from Hellboy and Legloas from Lord of the Rings. Anwen laughed as she unrolled them. Trefor's gifts were Legos, model airplanes, Backgammon, video instructions for learning chess, X-Men figurines, a few science fiction movies and one that left them all staring. The general insisted Trefor open it last.
"The Millennium Falcon," Luc said in awe.
The replica was larger than a dinner plate. Trefor stared wide-eyed at the box until Anwen helped him open it.
"Spaceship."
"Have you seen Star Wars?" Luc asked.
Trefor shook his head. "I'm going to fly a spaceship someday."
Anwen carried over a small box as Luc and Eryn were discussing Star Wars and spaceships with Trefor. "It's not as cool as Han Solo's ship."
Ianto carefully unwrapped it. She bought him coffee mugs. "I make coffee," Ianto read allowed. "I drink coffee."
"Merry Christmas." Anwen gave him a hug.
"Thank you."