16

Jack looked around the main room, meeting the gaze of every member of his team. The light of day couldn't hide the fear in each of their eyes, but he remained confident. Anything less would mean he would lose their trust. And that would spell certain disaster.

"Does everyone understand your role?"

Janet's paw slowly rose in the air, and Jack rolled his eyes. "What is it Janet?"

"You do remember that I'm fat and lazy, right? I don't understand why you even gave me a job."

Another paw shot up, this time from Doc. "Yes, Doc?"

"I just want to say that in my day, we fought through snow, uphill both ways, for twenty miles. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it, and I'll do it better than all of you. However, your plan is doomed to fail. Just thought you should know."

Jack dropped his chin to his chest and shook his head back and forth.

Toshiko piped up next. "I'm a little nervous about talking to the guards. Do you think you could give me a lesser role?"

Suddenly, all three of them began talking over each other with suggestions and complaints. Jack watching them in shock. The noise clashed inside his brain and he dropped his head back on his shoulders.

A high-pitched whistle filled the air, and everyone went silent immediately. All focus went to Ianto, who stood with his arms crossed and a laser-eyed gaze scanning the people in the room. "Enough! I know this is asking a lot from you. It probably doesn't feel like your battle, but I can assure you that if we don't figure this out, things are only going to get worse in Torchwood and probably beyond. Now, Jack has laid out a really good plan, but we all need to do our part. Once I'm inside my father's bedroom, if all goes well, in an instant, everything will change for the better around you. That means that no matter how hairy things get, like the weather, give it a minute, things will change."

Slowly, Jack saw heads nodding, and he watched Ianto kneel beside his backpack, clearly satisfied that everyone was on board. he stuffed a few supplies inside—rope, flashlight, something wrapped in tissue he hid from his prying eyes—and zipped it up before throwing it over his back.

Everything he wore was black, and his long brown hair into which Jack's fingers itched to sink was tucked up inside a knit cap. They were just a spell away from making things right again. The question was would it change things between Ianto and him?

When they were together in his quarters, Ianto's reaction made him dizzy with arousal, and he'd wanted nothing more than to rip off his pants and plunge deep inside him. The only thing holding him back was how much he wanted to watch him go over the edge.

He'd been with other men and women. He wasn't a monk by any means, but he'd never felt that intensity of fire inside. It felt like he'd been burned from the inside out, and Ianto was the only way to extinguish the blaze.

As Jack looked at him now, though, he knew that the firestorm inside would never die. He would always burn for him no matter what happened now. Maybe he'd always felt something for him, even before he had known him.

From Ianto's father's pride as he spoke about his accomplishments at the Academy, from the candid moment in the photograph in the King's study, from the moments he'd watched him from a distance, he had begun to feel something for him. Yet, then, he'd actually met him, and he admitted to himself, he hadn't really known who Ianto was. And now that he did, he blew him away.

Ianto was strong, one of the strongest people he'd ever met. And he was determined. Most of all, though, he was honourable. Ianto might not want to admit it, but he wasn't trying to set things right to clear his name. His father and Ianto hadn't agreed on many things, but he knew his death was unnatural, and he was resolute about one thing. Someone needed to pay for the crime.

"Okay. I'll do whatever. Just point me in the right direction. I know what to do." Toshiko's response was enough for Jack.

They just needed to get moving while there was still daylight.

Jack, Toshiko, and Ianto wore long, flowing brown robes, the kind of garb worn by the religious monks of the region. Jack had slidened into the monastery where, when he was seven years old, he'd been taken after his parents' deaths. It had been a sombre place for a child to mourn, and he'd wandered the halls of the buildings like a ghost. He'd learned every inch of the place by heart and could still find his way through the old edifice that served as the main place of worship. He'd lived there a full year before the King saw him and took him to the palace instead. He'd never missed his time there, but he was grateful he'd had the space to grieve.

Once he was inside the garment closet, he'd grabbed three robes and slidened back to the cottage. There were so many, three wouldn't be missed, and they would disguise the three spies enough to get them inside the palace gates. They had no problem getting past the guards at the gates, but the ones posted at the entrance to the palace were checking visitors thoroughly, including requiring monks to remove their hoods.

They would need to find a different way in.

He was satisfied to see both Janet and Doc make it into the palace without any problems, but he had to think quickly to get the rest of them inside before those two crazy cats completed the first part of the plan.

"Could we go in through the kitchen?" Ianto's suggestion was worth considering. He thought about it briefly. They could remove the robes, grab a basket of grain or vegetables sitting behind the palace, and walk in through the kitchen. The only problem was that he didn't see any random baskets just sitting on the ground behind the palace.

"What's that building over there? I don't think I've ever been inside."

Ianto and Toshiko looked at the small shed where Jack was pointing. "It's just a small storage shed." Ianto shrugged. "There's no secret passage under it or anything."

"Do many people use it?"

"As far as I know, only the outside maintenance workers use it during the summer travel months to repair the infrastructure of the roads to and from the palace. Considering the season, I'd say no one uses it currently."

"Come on. We'll slide from the shed into the palace."

Ianto followed behind him, Toshiko on his heels. Once they were standing inside the cramped space of the tiny shed, Ianto asked, "I thought you said you couldn't slide into the palace?"

"Just the royal bedrooms. I could never slide into your father's or your rooms. But I can slide us into my quarters, and then we can go from there."

Toshiko looked confused. "Why wasn't that plan A?"

"Because they'll be watching my room now. We'll have to be careful slipping out. I'm sure there is surveillance keeping an eye on my last known location."

Once the door was closed, Jack wrapped his arms around Ianto. It felt better than anything else he'd ever done. Toshiko hugged Ianto from the other side, and Jack slid them into his small quarters.

As soon as they landed, Toshiko ran for the bathroom and puked for a full minute. Casting wasn't the easiest way to travel. Jack's gaze was drawn to the bed on the right side of the studio space. Memories of Ianto, naked in his bed, except for a pair of sexy underwear, came flooding back to him. He looked at Ianto and the heat in his eyes nearly scorched him where he stood. Clearly, his thoughts had instantly gone to last night as well.

Jack suppressed the urge to touch Ianto as Toshiko turned on the water in the bathroom and exited a few moments later. "Sorry about that. I'm not used to being in one place and then suddenly in another. It's abnormal, and I never want to do that again."

Ianto smiled. "Hopefully, you won't have to. If all goes well, we'll be able to walk freely around the palace by nightfall."

Jack checked his watch. "Speaking of which, Janet and Doc should be in place. We just have to wait for their signal."

They stood at the door, ready to go as soon as the palace lights flickered, but even after waiting several minutes, nothing happened.

"You don't think they..." Ianto didn't finish his words, but Jack knew what he meant.

"Fu..." But Jack didn't get to finish the full curse word as everything around them dropped into darkness for a few seconds before the lights popped back on. Jack grinned as he said, "Never doubted them for a minute. Now, the surveillance should be down. Come on. Let's get you to the King's room."