Chapter Three – Earth, August 5058
"We got a tip-off!" Owen called, leaning his head into Jack's office. "Some hotel owner pretty sure he's got him staying in his hotel."
Jack sighed and looked up. "Are you sure this isn't just another wild goose chase?" They had been on far too many of those in the last few months. Someone thought they'd found a sign that they had the guy staying with them or at their restaurant or whatever, they'd go rushing over there and it wouldn't be him.
Or even worse, it appeared that it had been him, but they'd missed him.
"Sounded fairly legit to me," Owen said.
Mentally crossing his fingers, Jack grabbed his jacket and joined Owen and Toshiko as they ran out of the door.
They pulled up outside the hotel in question a few minutes later. "Stay out here, watch the door," Jack told the others. "We don't want him getting away if he is in there."
"Are you sure you don't want us in there for backup?" Owen asked a little bit uncertainly.
Jack shook his head firmly. "He's a fraudster, not a gangster. He's not going to be armed and dangerous, is he?"
Toshiko looked at him critically. "Are you sure?"
Jack grinned. "I'll be fine, trust me. And just watch that door."
Jack pushed through the front door of the small hotel, and after a brief conversation with the owner, who had been waiting for him at the reception desk, he had a room number. Drawing his blaster just in case, but keeping it discretely by his side, he climbed the stairs, and crept quietly through the hallways until he reached room number 212.
Just as he approached the door, counting along the door numbers… 206, 208, 210... the door to room 212 opened and a man stepped out, a box in his arms. Jack couldn't see his face as he was facing the other way, but he wasn't taking any chances.
"Freeze!" Jack yelled reflexively, lifting his blaster and pointing it at the man. "Put your hands on your head and no one needs to get hurt!"
The man turned around slowly and smiled disarmingly. "Sorry, you're too late. My partner and I already apprehended him as he tried to make his way out of the window. He's being taken down to our vehicle down the back of the hotel right now."
Jack blinked, couldn't quite believe his eyes. He tried to tell himself it couldn't be true. It couldn't be possible that the man in front of him was who he looked like to Jack. "Sorry, but who are you?"
"Oh sorry, my name's Jones, I'm with the Shadow Proclamation Fraud Squad. We've been after this guy for months," the man said, still smiling in a mild-mannered fashion. "You surely didn't think you were the only one?"
Jack shook his head numbly. His brain was whirling around in circles. It just couldn't be…
"Do you have any ID?" he asked, a little bit shakily. He just needed to know that what his brain was telling him wasn't true. There was no earthly way it would be possible.
"Sure," said the man, who couldn't be who Jack thought he was. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a battered plastic chip card. "Take it. Although would you mind taking the blaster out of my face? I'm not a big fan of having lethal weapons pointed at me."
Jack put the blaster down and holstered it, reaching out and taking the chip card. He didn't activate it; he would never have offered it had it not been correct.
"Thanks," the man said. "We're supposed to be on the same side, after all. And I'm sorry for you – if you'd been just a few minutes earlier you could have snagged the big catch for yourself."
Jack nodded, his whole mind still not concentrating on the current events properly, part of it still suppressing the thoughts he'd had the moment the man turned around.
"Do you mind keeping an eye on the room for me for a moment?" Jones said. "I can't really just leave it alone, but I really want to get this stuff down to the vehicle so we can finish up here and get away back to our base."
Jack nodded, and Jones started to walk away in the direction of the stairs. At the end of the corridor he turned around and faced Jack again.
"I didn't catch your name, by the way," he called.
"Jack," Jack replied. "Jack Harkness."
"Again, I'm sorry we beat you on this, Jack. You were so close."
He turned back and was about to start down the stairs when Jack looked down and realised he was still holding the man's ID chip card.
"Hey, don't you want your card back?"
Jones shrugged a shoulder dismissively. "I'll get it when I come back for the rest, it's fine. I trust you not to do anything to it."
With that, he disappeared down the stairs.
Jack watched him go, frowning.
He leant against the wall next to door 212 for a moment, blowing out a breath.
He spun the chip card between his fingers idly.
When Jones hadn't returned several minutes later, he looked down at it, a horrible thought starting to come into his mind.
He held the card out in front of himself and pressed the indentation on the side to activate it.
Nothing happened. He tried again, and still nothing happened.
It was a blank.
He slumped down against the wall. He'd had him literally within his grasp and he'd let him go. After all these months, this was the most frustrating near-miss to date.
His head dropped back, slamming into the wall, and yet another thought hit him. He'd been telling himself that his first thought couldn't be true, purely because of the timescales involved.
Ianto would have been dead three thousand years ago. There was no way he could be here in the mid 51st century.
But the man they were after, the man who had been dodging them all this time, was travelling in time somehow – he'd yet to figure out quite how he was doing it.
The similarities had just been too striking to ignore. If he discounted the time difference entirely, he wouldn't have had any doubts that the man who had been standing in front of him just a few minutes ago was Ianto Jones, the intriguing man he'd met and fallen in love with a decade ago in the 21st century.
If it truly was him… Jack sighed, utterly confused. He didn't know what that meant. For him or for the case.
He wasn't even sure if he wanted it to be Ianto or not.
If it was… Ianto hadn't seemed to recognise him. And he looked so young. He hadn't changed at all from the man in Jack's memories, and it occurred to Jack suddenly that it was entirely possible that Ianto hadn't recognised him because he hadn't actually met him yet.
But then, he hadn't appeared to recognise him back in 2009 either. If – as Jack was becoming more and more convinced was true – it was Ianto… which time had been the lie?
Ianto put a few more things into his box. He didn't think he'd need anything else today, and he wouldn't be leaving anything valuable in the hotel room.
He knew it was a bit ironic, but he never quite trusted these little low budget hotels. Who knew who might get into your room when you weren't there? He could never bring himself to leave anything important in one when he wasn't there.
He stepped out of the room door and was just turning to pull the door shut behind him when there was a voice yelling behind him. "Freeze! Put your hands on your head and no one needs to get hurt!"
Ianto did freeze, for a moment, without conscious thought. A second later, plan in mind, he slowly turned around to face the man with the blaster.
And nearly froze all over again. The man in front of him was older than he remembered, but it hadn't changed so much as to be unrecognisable.
If it wasn't him, he'd eat his hat – well, if he had a hat to eat. It didn't seem like it was possible, but this was it. His eyes flickered momentarily towards Jack's wrist, and he saw the vortex manipulator that he expected.
His sudden disappearance, 3050 years or two months ago depending on whose timeline you considered it in, now started to make sense. He'd learned a lot about the agency in the months he'd worked at the Academy. He knew that once a mission was over, agents were expected to return to their own time period in a matter of days.
And that letting anyone outside the agency know who you were, and when you were from, was an absolute no-no.
It didn't erase the hurt, but it did ease the pain.
Of course, if Jack was in the Time Agency, and he was here, then that meant…
He couldn't let Jack know that he recognised him; he had to stick to his original plan.
He pasted a disarming smile on his face. "Sorry, you're too late," he said mildly. "My partner and I already apprehended him as he tried to make his way out of the window. He's being taken down to our vehicle down the back of the hotel right now."
Jack stared at him for a moment, and Ianto wondered if he recognised him too, or if it had been long enough for Jack that he'd forgotten him. The thoughtful frown that furrowed Jack's brow for just a fraction of a second had something in the back of Ianto's mind hoping that he was at least still vaguely familiar.
"Sorry," Jack started, "but who are you?"
A little speck in Ianto's heart sank, even as Jack's lack of recognition helped him in his current bid not to be identified as the man Jack was after.
"Oh sorry, my name's Jones," he said, keeping his tone as mild-mannered as possible. "I'm with the Shadow Proclamation Fraud Squad. We've been after this guy for months." He smiled lopsidedly. "You surely didn't think you were the only one?"
Jack shook his head. He looked a little bit shell-shocked, and Ianto began to reconsider his conclusion that Jack hadn't recognised him. Jack appeared to shake himself a little. "Do you have any ID?"
He seemed uncertain, confused, and Ianto wondered if something deep in Jack's subconscious or in the back of his mind did recognise him, and he was trying to place him, or trying to prove to himself that Ianto wasn't who he thought he was.
Ianto shifted his box of belongings into one arm and dug into his left trouser pocket. He pulled out an identity chip card that he knew was blank – he obviously couldn't hand over his real one. He held it out a little awkwardly. "Sure. Take it."
As Jack moved a little closer to take the card, the fact that the business end of his blaster was still pointed at Ianto suddenly rushed back into his awareness. "Although would you mind taking the blaster out of my face? I'm not a big fan of having lethal weapons pointed at me."
There was a beat, and then Jack lowered the weapon, putting it back in the holster at his waist.
"Thanks," Ianto said, relieved now he wasn't in immediate danger of being shot. "We're supposed to be on the same side, after all."
He reshuffled the box in his arms, and offered some encouragement to prop up his story further. The last thing he wanted was for Jack to start suspecting him before he had a chance to get away. "And I'm sorry for you – if you'd been just a few minutes earlier you could have snagged the big catch for yourself."
He smiled amicably and indicated the room to the door with a sideways nod of his head. It was definitely past time to be making his exit.
"Do you mind keeping an eye on the room for me for a moment?" he asked. "I can't really just leave it alone, but I really want to get this stuff down to the vehicle so we can finish up here and get away back to our base."
He had obviously sounded convincing, because Jack nodded immediately.
Hiding his wide grin, Ianto walked past him and started for the stairs at the other end of the corridor.
A thought occurred to him, and he couldn't ignore it – for multiple reasons. Firstly, it would make his cover seem a little bit implausible if he didn't ask, and secondly, he really just had to make sure. As certain as he was, there was one last little bit of confirmation he could get.
He turned back as he neared the stairs and faced Jack. "I didn't catch your name, by the way," he called out.
"Jack," Jack called back a moment later. "Jack Harkness."
Ianto hoped that his reaction didn't show on his face or in his body language. There was knowing it, and then there was knowing it. The man in front of him was the man he'd fallen head over heels for barely months before – although much longer ago for Jack – and now they were on opposite sides of the law and if that wasn't a barrier, nothing was.
He took a small step backwards. "Again, I'm sorry we beat you on this, Jack. You were so close."
After one last look, he turned away, and was about to start down the stairs when Jack's voice called him back. "Hey, don't you want your card back?" He waved the ID chip card at him.
Ianto shook his head slightly and lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. "I'll get it when I come back for the rest, it's fine. I trust you not to do anything to it."
He turned and went down the stairs, trying not to make it too obvious that he was in a hurry. Reaching the bottom, he turned left instead of right and slipped surreptitiously out of the back entrance.
There was no one outside, and he ran to the end of the road before sliding into the throng of people along the busy main road.
As he made his escape, his mind kept drifting back to that hotel corridor. The man he'd fallen in love with so recently, and a man who was determined to see him 'behind bars' as they said.
It was almost heartbreaking that they had to be one and the same.