Hucking Harkness

Chapter 7

2.00 am Abergelli Farm, Swansea

The watch on Ianto's wrist beeped a loud staccato pulse, dragging him up from the deep throws of sleep. He was exhausted. The previous day's work had been tough and since he was still trying to get back into the work, his whole body ached. Hoisting hay bales had been like carrying weevils, but the rest of it was all new to his body and he was certainly feeling the strain when he collapsed in bed each night. Now though Ianto knew he had about an hour and a half before the rest of the stable hands would be up and he needed the time to look around.

When he'd visited the hub on his first Sunday off, Ianto had had little to report aside from the general running routine of the stable complex, the layout of the buildings and this week he wanted something more beneficial to their own investigation. Jack had been far too keen to burst in, guns blazing and shut the whole place down. It was up to Ianto to find something useful and save the many jobs of the stable hands and other staff. He felt he had slotted in amongst them well enough not to draw suspicion to himself and now he wanted to explore the places he did not pass as readily on a daily basis. Like the damn 'Food Store', which Ianto was convinced would be their best source of information.

Tosh had recently pointed out that according to the scans Jack and Owen had managed, as well as the layout plan Ianto had created using the contact lenses his first week, the 'hot spot' seemed to lie behind those locked doors. Ianto was a man that knew everything, and finding something he didn't know, always made Ianto want to find out more about it. He liked to know everything. Besides, it was always nice to have one up on Jack at something. The man was a way too good all rounder.

-T-

Jack looked up from the report he was working on, when the sound of an activity alarm went off. He'd barely managed two hours sleep that night and so was picking up the slack Ianto had left to fill his time. His absence was certainly making the team realise just how much he did for them all. Jack made his way down from his office, over to Toshiko's computer in time to see some data scrolling rapidly up one window as increasingly more statistics were collected. At first he thought it was Tosh working from home- it wouldn't be the first time, but he recognised Ianto's signature. He focussed on a few of the lines of text and recognised them as similar to the results he and Owen had observed a fortnight before. Opening a new programme he tapped into the tracker on Ianto's PDA and watched it slowly skirting the outside wall of one of the main barns.

Ianto crept as quietly as he could, his back and left shoulder brushing along the brick wall as the scanner in his left hand analysed the area around him, chirruping quietly as it picked up spikes in the chemical it was looking for. A door creaked ahead of him and Ianto froze. Closing the scan mid sequence, he listened. Scuffed boots treading on concrete moved away from what sounded like the shed ahead of him. He exhaled a sigh of relief, until a hand from behind roughly covered his mouth, and he was hoisted sideways, loosing his footing from beneath him in the rough gesture.

As Jack watched, the green arrow representing Ianto's location stopped. Ianto, frustratingly, had forgotten to put in the contact lenses so Jack had no idea what was going on, he could do nothing but watch. The window below the tracker, which had been a scan of the area, suddenly cut out mid-flow; the programme bleeping furiously in error.

The staccato sound merely added to the Captain's frustration and anxiety.

Jack felt helpless as the green arrow on the screen suddenly jumped left, stopping about a metre away from the wall. Had Ianto been caught? His heart thudded heavily as he watched the green arrow, powerless to do anything, bouncing anxiously on the balls of his feet, the frozen text forgotten.

Ianto grunted as he impacted hard against the concrete. Instinct took over and as if he were battling a weevil in a dark alley, he rolled left and scrambled back onto his feet. The burly figure before him stood braced in the shadows, so Ianto couldn't see the face, but he was crouched in a fighting stance, fists raised.

As he stepped forward, a glimmer of light from the moon slithered from beneath a cloud, illuminating Ianto first, then his assailant. The second Ianto came into better view however, his partner was already on top of him, the weight ploughing him to the ground and knocking the remaining air from his bursting lungs. For a long moment Ianto could do nothing, but as soon as a semblance of strength returned, he was up again, a well placed foot causing the man to stagger backwards, out of reach. The advantage was short lived however, because while Ianto sent a glancing blow to the man's jaw, he hit his intended target with full force, rendering Ianto unconscious immediately.

Jack meanwhile had no idea. All he could deduce was that Ianto had been caught. And he had no clue what was about to happen to his agent. The green arrow that meant so much more to him just continued to blink in the same place on the screen and Jack continued to stare at it, mesmerised.

It seemed like an age before the arrow moved, but the last thing Jack was expecting, was the arrow moving back towards Ianto's own room. Had he managed to get away? He continued to watch the arrow when it stopped in the location of Ianto's sleeping quarters. It was stationary for about five minutes and Jack was about to shut the program, obviously Ianto must be okay now, when the arrow started to move again. What was Ianto doing?

The arrow went back to the location Ianto had been, before the signal cut out.

-T-

Ianto woke to a headache. He groaned, trying to establish what he'd done last night. When it all came back however, he sat up with a start, his head spinning. The last thing he remembered was being knocked unconscious while exploring the stables.

Ianto looked around anxiously, confirming he was indeed tucked up in his own narrow bed, before glancing round, checking that nothing was missing. Last he checked his hiding place for his hand held computer. It was still there, but his PDA was missing. Ianto checked his phone, switching it on in the morning light. The battery died. Plugging it in to charge Ianto tried once more to switch it on. As soon as the small device had enough power, it started to vibrate madly in his grasp, multiple messages arriving and missed call alerts popping up on-screen. They were all from Jack, except the last three, which were from Toshiko.

Ianto speed-dialled the hub.

Jack answered on the first ring, "Ianto?"

"Yes Jack, it's me- I'm fine."

"What the hell happened? We lost track of your PDA hours ago!"

"Really? What time is it?" Ianto discovered his watch was broken- it must have been the impact last night, he could certainly feel the tumble's other, less discriminatory effects across his shoulder and back now. His right shoulder was stiff to move and his lower back throbbed in harmony with the headache streaming across his eyes.

"It's six o'clock Ianto, now what's happening?"

-T-

"Ianto! Where've you been?" demanded Jenny, spotting his approach.

"Slept in," he muttered, rubbing a hand across his eyes tiredly.

"It's alrigh' lad, happens to the best of us. I covered for you." said Gareth, leading Swansea Lee back from the tracks. Ianto fell into step beside him, "Is there anything I can help with?"

"Yeah I didn't do any o' the stalls."

TBC

So sorry for the wait! This is a bit of a filler, but it sets up the dramatics of the next bit- it's a fight between Jack & Ianto so...
Also, if there's any mix up between the time of day, let me know and I'll correct it? My head was teling me it should be a midnight escapade, but at stables it works better in the morning! More real soon, I'm working on it! Carrie