Author's Note: I managed to type this out at 2am this morning, dosed up on painkillers. Hope everyone enjoys. :)

As Jack hung up the phone, tapping it against his free hand distractedly, Ianto nudged him. "Who was that?"

Jack bit his lip, whispering under his breath. "The answer is in the absence. The answer is in the absence."

"Jack?"

He looked up. "Do a search for that phrase, Tosh. 'The answer is in the absence.'"

Toshiko nodded and turned back to her computer, moving to one of the monitors that hadn't switched itself off.

"Who was that?" Ianto repeated.

"The "Collector" apparently. Don't think he's human."

"We don't have time for unimportant aliens right now," argued the Brigadier. "We need to find where Mrs. Saxon is being held, and if she knows anything about the whereabouts of the Master."

"No." Jack shook his head. "This guy knew about the Data Matrix. And I think he's the one on the other end of the connection thing. He was talking about his 'property'."

"Do you think he meant this bird?" Owen asked.

Jack thought for a moment, before turning to Toshiko. "What have you got?"

"Real estate and Obama talking about withdrawing troops from Afghanistan."

"Damn it!" Jack dropped his phone onto the desk, running the conversation back through his mind.

"And if I don't?"

"I am going to have to leave you now, Captain. The time is at hand, and I must be ready. The answer to your question is in the absence. Do not forget that."

"Absence..." Jack repeated. "Absence..." He blinked suddenly. "Who's not here?"

"The Doctor." The Brigadier began to tick people off on his fingers. "The Master--"

"Gwen!" Owen interrupted. "She was here when you two were outside. Where is she now?"

Toshiko began tapping away at her computer, as Ianto retrieved Jack's phone.

"I can't find her on anyway of the CCTV cameras." Tosh shook her head. "She's not in the Hub or the Plaza."

They all turned to Ianto, who had Jack's phone held tightly against his ear. After a moment, he lifted it down, pressed a few more buttons, and put it back to his ear. A few more seconds passed before, "She's not answering her mobile, and there's no reply from her home ph..." He trailed off. "Wait a second." He listened intently for a few moments. "Um... yeah, mate. I know it's 2:30 in the morning. Only... this is a friend of Gwen's and..."

The Brigadier sent a frown Jack's way. "He doesn't know about Torchwood," Jack whispered.

"Good," the Brigadier replied. "I'm glad you're not just throwing our secret around."

Ianto rolled his eyes at something Rhys said. "Yeah, I work with her. She's told me your name."

Jack groaned. "Give me the phone!" Snatching it out of Ianto's hand, he cut across Rhys who could be heard complaining about 'bloody inconsiderate people'. "Shut up! I know it's early in the morning. I just thought you'd like to know that something's happened to your girlfriend!"

"Loudspeaker." Ianto nudged him.

Rhys could now be heard clearly. "What the bloody hell are you talking about?"

"Gwen," Jack stated. "Where is she?"

"She's right here. Sleeping."

Jack gave Ianto a worried look. "You mean..."

"Yeah. You woke me up for nothing."

"Can you see her at this second?" Toshiko asked.

"Why do think I'm whispering?" Rhys was obviously running out of patience. "I'll get her to call you in the morning. All right?!" Not waiting for an answer, he hung up.

Jack groaned. "I'm gonna get slapped in the morning."

The Brigadier, ignoring the smirks being exchanged between Jack and Ianto, spoke. "So it's either the Master or the Doctor he wants?"

"Must be." Jack nodded, lifting his phone to his ear again. "I'll call Martha. She can give me the Doc's number."

Martha was sitting at her kitchen table, nursing a mug of tea, when the mobile she always carried in her front pocket rang. A sorry tune filled the room.

"Hello?" she asked wearily. Ever since the Doctor had left without so much as a backward glance, life really hadn't seemed worth living. During 'the year', she had convinced herself that she had got over him, that she was just as important as he was in the run of things.

But that day on the Valliant, she had seen that he cared about the Master a lot more than her, or her species. A guard, the only one still loyal to the Master at the time, had knocked him out. When he'd come round, Jack had already ordered the Master to be taken down to Earth and locked up.

The Doctor had sprinted out of the room and hadn't answered her frantic calls, disappearing into the TARDIS.

"Hey, Martha," came the reply. "It's Jack."

That brought a slight smile to her face. "Hey, Jack. What's up?"

There was a pause. "We think the Doctor might be in trouble."

Martha frowned. That would explain why she hadn't heard from him, she thought. "What do you want me to do?"

"Do you have his number by any chance?"

Martha blinked. "Does he even have a phone?"

"Yeah," Jack sighed. "It's a cord-phone on the console."

"No, I don't." Martha got up, shrugging on her jacket. "Isn't there any other way you can contact him?"

"No," Jack replied. "Short of trying to blow up the Earth. That might attract his attention."

Martha picked up her keys, scribbled a quick note to her family, and left the house. "You think the Master's escaped?"

"I... I don't know." Martha heard a sigh. Jack sounded extremely tired.

"You should get some sleep, Jack." She opened the door of her car. "I'm coming up to Cardiff. I should be there about 7am. We can worry about everything then, yeah?"

"Mmm." Jack didn't sound too convinced, but seemed to concede the point. "Okay. Drive safe, Martha."

"I will." She smiled as she hung up. She had missed this.

As she pulled away from the driveway, she was too busy thinking about what she would say to the Doctor when she next saw him, to notice the headlights that appeared in her mirror, or the car that stayed behind her for the whole journey, never drifting more than three cars away.

Rhys placed the phone back on the table, turning back to the living room. "Happy?" he addressed the man in the grey suit, who was holding a gun to an unconscious Gwen's head.

"Very happy, Mr. Williams. Now... if you would be kind enough to open the front door, we can all leave. If the Captain is sensible he will not interfere with my plans, and you will not be harmed. You are merely the means to an end. Me having you will stop the Captain from trying to protect my property. Now..." The man motioned towards the door. "Move."

Author's Note: Toshiko finding "real estate and Obama talking about withdrawing troops from Afghanistan" when searching the phrase 'the answer is in the absence' is simply the first two things I found when imputing the phrase into the Google search engine. The quote was not directly used in either of these subjects though, so I still claim to be behind thinking it up. ;)

Just as a reminder to everyone, the story at this point is taking place at the end of Doctor Who season 3 and Torchwood season 1. Therefore, Rhys doesn't know what Torchwood is, he and Gwen aren't married yet, and Martha (having not had her goodbye scene) didn't give the Doctor her mobile.