Hucking Harkness

Chapter 1

7.30 am The Hub

Ianto Jones sat down in the old chair in the tourist information centre, opening a newspaper and resting it on the desk as much as possible in the confined space. The foot of the page slipped down towards his lap in defiance of his wish. He scrolled the headlines. Hearing the name Harkness in the horse race news on the radio as he drove into work that morning, he'd paused at a 24hr Express and bought a copy of the Racing Post. He was now browsing through it in search of the reference.

Harkness wasn't an entirely unique surname, not as Jack would like to think, but it was uncommon enough for the name to come up in print or news, so Ianto had to check it out. It was his job to ensure each member of the team remained as anonymous as possible. Jack was probably the most difficult member of the team when it came to this task, since Jack loved nothing more than to introduce himself to strangers. Despite his non-status, his name was probably better known than the members of the Welsh Senate. Except Margaret Blaine Ianto conceded, she had made quite a name for herself before her mysterious disappearance a few years ago.

Ianto was drawn away from skimming the second and third pages of his newspaper by the entry of two of his team mates. Gwen was in early if she'd managed to arrive at the same time as Tosh, he mused. Perhaps having the afternoon and evening off yesterday was the reason. "Morning Ianto!" She called brightly, before leading the way through the secret door he'd opened for the pair. He smiled and inclined his head in greeting. Tosh gave her own quiet greeting in the return of the smile and a wave, before striking up a conversation with Gwen that they had clearly been discussing previously. Owen would not be in for at least another hour Ianto surmised, watching the secret door seal fully, before returning to his paper. As soon as he'd read it he would go and make the first coffees of the day. Jack had left a little earlier to source breakfast pastries and would be back soon.

Turning to page four Ianto immediately found what he was looking for.

A large colour photograph of a big bay horse captioned with the headline Harkness Beats All Odds to Win at Newmarket took up a large portion of the page. Ianto smoothed the page on the desk and started to read the full article. It wasn't until towards the end of a formal interview with the race horse owner that Ianto found anything suspicious, unless you counted an unlikely winner to the race. The reporter, Brian Fleming, was doing a mini question and answer session and one of the answers given definitely caught Ianto's attention. Fleming had asked how the name Hucking Harkness was chosen, as this could indicate where the success came from. The owner had reportedly laughed, before replying "She's named after an alien hunter in Cardiff! And as to our Harkness' success, well that's a well kept secret!" By the time he'd read the full answer given, Ianto's expressive eyebrows were nearing his hairline. It was definitely something to show Jack, Ianto thought, turning to the computer and running a brief search on the horse, stables and owner to place in a temporary case folder. While he was at it, he set a programme to running to alert him of further mentions.

After finding nothing of further interest in the newspaper, Ianto gathered the relevant sheet, placing it carefully in the new case file he'd created and made his way to the central Hub, towards the coffee machine. On his way past the workstations, Ianto spotted the telltale brown paper bag on the coffee table by the sofa, the remaining pastries inside and the shirt clad shoulders of his boss alluding to his presence up in his office. Ianto left the bag where it was for now, knowing that between them Gwen and Owen would soon scoff the remnants as breakfast. Ianto quickly made the coffees and with them on a tray and the case file under one arm, he made his way smoothly through the hub, distributing a coffee to Gwen and Tosh respectively, before ascending Jack's lair.

Jack glanced up as Ianto entered his office, shutting the file he'd just finished reading and placing in to the side for Ianto to sort later. The young man placed his coffee very deliberately on a coaster and Jack grinned. He loved winding Ianto up by not using the coaster. Sometimes Jack would deliberately place his empty mug to the left of the coaster for Ianto to collect. He met Ianto's steady gaze with a twinkle of amusement in his own. Until Ianto placed a folder in the centre of his desk that is, then his expression grew more serious.

"It would seem you're very popular in the horse racing world this morning, sir."

"Oh yes?"

"Or at least your namesake. 'Hucking Harkness strikes again, winning the Newmarket Stakes-" Ianto paused as Jack opened his mouth, a look of excitement dancing in his blue eyes.

"Wait a second- I have a horse named after me?" Ianto deadpanned.

"It's quite common, Sir. In fact we all have, Cooper's Pride, Scarper Harper..." Jack snorted at that one. When it looked like Ianto wasn't going to mention himself Jack asked.

"What about 'Jones'?"

"Smarty Jones, won the Derby in 2004." Ianto cleared his throat, "But we are digressing, sir."

Jack reached for the folder Ianto had prepared, found the article he had quoted and skim read it for himself. Upon reaching the lines Ianto had highlighted carefully as particularly relevant, his own eyebrows shot upwards. "Alien Hunter in Cardiff? Sounds a little close to home," Jack mused, before making up his mind and snapping the file closed. "Keep an eye on it for me, if there's any further interest or the name thing goes any further I wanna know, but for now I think it could be brushed off as a joke."

"Yes, sir. Anything else?"

"Think you could maybe enhance the idea the bloke was kidding around? Drop a few hints on the web and such like?" Ianto nodded and was just exiting when an alarm sounded from Tosh's workstation. Jack pounced for the door, Ianto allowing him to pass before following at a more steady pace. "What we got Tosh?" asked Jack as he made his way to her desk, where Tosh was looking at the readout on one of her many screens.

"It's a signal or something. Like a chemical leak, except some of the compounds are alien. I'm not sure," replied Tosh, tapping away at her keyboard.

"What's the location?" Asked Gwen, joining in the search.

"Abergelli Farm, in… Swansea?"

Gwen paused, fingers hovering above the keyboard. "But- I thought the Rift only went as far as Cardiff?" she asked, looking to Jack for an explanation to this seemingly new development.

"It does-" Jack started, with a frown.

"That's the farm in this file, Sir." Ianto interjected, looking up to meet Jack's gaze, the file from Jack's desk open in his hands.

"Are you telling me that a racing yard in Swansea, of all places, is not only naming their horse after me, but they're on a possible alien chemical hot spot?" Jack asked.

"Well kids, this whole thing just got interesting..." Jack stated, slowly meeting the gaze of each member on his team, the mystery lightening his expression.

TBC

Just a quickie folks- do people like references to other episodes/ Dr Who? I recently noticed it in the TW novels & thought I'd try it. Let me know what you think? Carrie x