The next morning the four team members were sitting in the SUV down the road from the warehouse, concealed in some brush. "Okay. Gwen and I will go around the side. Will? Ianto? You two take the back. Stay on comms. Non-lethal force. You hear me, Will?"
"Yes, Captain," she said with a touch of sarcasm.
"I mean it. No killing unless it's absolutely necessary."
"I know you run a different ship, Jack," she assured him. This was her first big case with this team… Jack's team. In the past, the two of them had often been ordered and encouraged to behave as ruthlessly and brutally as possible. But Jack's Torchwood was different. She didn't always agree with his pacifism but she trusted his judgement. They were discussing strategy as they waited for Graham Alan, the estate agent turned drug dealer, to arrive. There was more tension in the SUV than there should be.
Ianto had done a lot of research on Alan, trying to figure out how a struggling estate agent could manage to put together a thriving drug business and had, thus far, only discovered how the plant may have ended up in his possession. He'd done a search on previous rift spikes that correlated with the properties the agent had listed. One of his properties, a vacant home, was a match. Ianto and Gwen had investigated a small spike there shortly after the bombings and had turned up nothing. If that was indeed where the plant had come through, they'd most likely missed it either because they simply hadn't recognised it as alien or it had blended in with the overgrown property. Either way, Jack, Ianto and Gwen all felt a measure of responsibility. Miranda wondered if Jack's Atlas complex was catching.
It was nearly noon and Alan's sedan was driving up to the warehouse, passing the spot where they'd parked the SUV in the brush. This is what they were waiting for. After waiting a few moments for the vehicle to clear their line of sight, they all emptied out of the SUV and started walking towards the warehouse. Ianto and Miranda left Gwen and Jack at the side entrance and circled around the back to the old loading bay. She glanced back and saw her two teammates slip into the building.
When her and Ianto reached the old loading bay, one of the armed guards was outside smoking. She picked up a few stones from the ground and tossed them into the brush in front of them. The guard walked forward without looking around the corner. Ianto stepped behind him and pushed the stun gun into the guard's shoulder and he crumpled to the ground. Before moving into the building, Ianto crouched down, taking the clips from the man's gun and coat pocket. He bound him with plastic ties.
They dragged the unconscious guard into the building. Jack had said non-lethal force and leaving someone outside on the ground in November in Wales probably didn't qualify. Once they'd shut the door behind them, Ianto spoke quietly since his comm unit was already on. "Jack, Gwen? One guard is taken care of. Mandy, your gun."
"Jack said non-lethal force," she pointed out as she looked up and down the corridor for anyone else. "Maybe we should split up here."
The minute the words were out of her mouth, Miranda heard Jack's voice hiss in her ear. "Do NOT split up."
Ianto and Miranda both rolled their eyes at Jack even though he obviously couldn't see either of them. The team distribution made more sense now. Each mortal member of the team was paired with an immortal one. Jack had paired him and Miranda so she could act as a shield. The two of them were each clearly having their own internal debates on how much of Jack's wrath they'd incur if they disobeyed. Miranda decided it wasn't worth it. She knew Ianto was really in no danger, Jack did not. She couldn't fault the man for trying to protect his lover.
She also realised that splitting up was unnecessary. The corridor they were in was something that ran around the entire perimeter of the warehouse. If they turned the corner behind Ianto, they would end up in the hallway where Gwen and Jack had entered the building. She gestured for the young man to follow her as she moved to the corner behind her, peeking around it. Just as she did, Gwen's voice was in her ear, "We're good on another guard."
One left… She peeked around the corner again and gave Ianto the all clear sign but turned the corner first. She was about to open the first door when he stopped her. "You cannot take point without a weapon."
She heaved out a sigh and drew her gun, clicking off the safety and chambering the first round. She hadn't drawn it because Jack had said non-lethal force and she wasn't a very good shot. If she attempted to wing anything, she'd most likely miss. It was usually simpler for her to keep both her hands free. He opened the door for her. It was a broom cupboard.
The next door had a window and they could both hear the sounds of conversation. She reached into her belt and removed a small concealed blade. Angling the blade, she used the polished surface as a mirror to get a peek into the room. She signaled to Ianto that she saw two men inside. She touched his tie knot, held up one finger and then touched his gun and held up one finger again. They both backed away from the doorway so they could speak without being heard.
"Jack? We found the main office. East corridor. Alan and the remaining guard," Ianto said quietly.
"Go ahead, Gwen and I are looking for the processing room," Jack said quietly.
The two of them moved back towards the door. Ianto nodded at her and she knocked at the door, lightly. She waited nearly a full minute and then knocked again. They both heard the sound of chairs rolling and stepped back from the door. The door opened into the hallway and when the knob turned, Ianto stood ready. The moment the door opened enough that the man's hand appeared, he kicked the door edge, sending it flying open. The distraction worked. He managed to grab the other man's wrist, yanking hard, unbalancing him. When he fell forward, Ianto jabbed the stun gun into his shoulder.
T-shirt and jeans… only Alan in the room… Miranda walked into the office area and a gunshot rang out. The bullet slammed into her left shoulder and she stumbled backwards into the hallway, accidentally bumping into Ianto. He tried to catch her but she fell to the floor. Ianto took cover on the wall as a few more shots were fired in their direction. At the first opportunity, he fisted his hand in the shoulder of her coat, dragging her out of the doorway.
Jack was hissing through her comm unit demanding an update.
"I'm fine. Mandy's hit," Ianto said. "Alan is armed." It seems they had all underestimated the estate agent.
"We're coming to you!"
"I'm dealing with the problem," Miranda said, probing the gunshot wound with her fingers. Flesh wound… damn no exit wound…
"Do not take him out, Will," Jack's voice hissed in her ear again. She heard just about every variation of the order Jack could think of. He wouldn't let her get a word in edgewise.
Enough of this twaddle. "I'm not going to kill him, Jack," she snapped.
She holstered her gun and pulled the knife from her boot leg. She leaned into the doorframe, sighting Alan standing in the middle of the room with the gun raised. He fired off a shot when he saw her and missed. The second time she stepped into the doorway, she snapped her wrist and sent the knife flying. Alan fired at her again, but missed. The knife sank deeply into Alan's thigh and the man screamed, firing off another shot reflexively. She moved back into the doorway but the pain made Alan's aim even more erratic. He continued to fire in her direction, the bullets missing as she dodged. She kicked the gun out of his hand and bent down over him. She grabbed a fist full of his hair and slammed his head into the floor, knocking the man out cold. After she stood up, she felt something fall inside her blouse. That would be the bullet… She untucked a small section and it fell to the floor.
As Ianto walked into the room, Jack and Gwen were on his heels, all with their guns drawn.
"Your belt, Ifan?" she asked, holding out her hand. "Or yours Jack?"
Jack got his off first and handed it to her. Miranda resisted the urge to make any one of the dozens of sarcastic remarks running through her head and tied the belt tightly around Alan's leg. She caught Gwen's lips quivering and suspected the Welshwoman was having a similar struggle.
"The processing room is back that way but it's empty. There's nothing in the warehouse but gardening supplies and the plants. We couldn't find the two college kids," Gwen told them. "We ran into one guard, tied him up in a loo on the other side of the warehouse."
"Probably bolted at the first gunshot," Jack said. "Not our immediate concern though. Gwen? Get the stuff from the SUV and we'll get Cardiff's finest down here to cart these guys away."
Technically, they weren't guilty of breaking any laws. They couldn't be arrested or tried for any crime but that had never been a problem for Torchwood. No one had asked him how, but Ianto had acquired enough ecstasy tablets to qualify Graham Alan and his friends as suppliers. They planned to retcon a few months out of them and toss the tablets into Alan's car and have the South Wales police and the Crown court deal with them.
"An ambulance for this twat as well, Ifan, if you don't mind? I wasn't aiming anywhere near his femoral artery but he should probably go to the A&E," she said as she secured Alan's hands with the plastic restraints.
It all went so smoothly, the four of them were practically giddy. Torchwood, while investigating one of their 'spooky-dos', had happened upon a drug deal, knocking the perpetrators unconscious and restraining them for local police. Yes, perhaps these new dealers on the scene were the reason for the recent deaths. A few of them may have received blows to the head and may have some short term memory difficulties. No sooner had the ambulance and the police cars departed than the four of them turned to the warehouse.
"Well, isn't this a pickle," Miranda said as she stood next to her team mates, surveying the greenery. Everyone had to admit this part they hadn't thought through so well. The inside of the warehouse's main room was half full of growing plants and roots in various stages of processing.
"We probably should keep one for the hothouse," Gwen said. "It's not dangerous is it?"
"I don't think the plants are dangerous, no. Those two kids were handling them for months and they're still alive," Jack said.
"Burn it?" Miranda asked.
"We don't know if the smoke would be safe," Jack pointed out.
"What if we haul it all back to the Hub ? The incinerator system is closed isn't it?" Gwen asked. "I could get Rhys to bring over one of Harwood's smaller lorries?"
"Good idea, Gwen," Jack said. "Garden fairies this time, Yan?"
Gwen giggled and Ianto rolled his eyes. Miranda decided she didn't want to know.