The Hub was silent, only the ticking over of machinery gave lie to the fact that anyone lived here at all.
The silence was suddenly broken by the door rolling back, and life bursting back in.
Jack descended the steps as fast as he dared, holding tightly to his precious cargo, closely followed by Martha.
He kicked the door to the med-unit open and quickly laid the Doctor on one of the beds, then shut the door on Gwen and Ianto.
They looked at each other and shrugged.
"I need to shower," Ianto said and moved away.
Gwen sighed and looked at the closed door. She knew by Martha's face that things were serious, she needed to find something to keep her busy...she knew what to do.
With one last look at the closed door, she turned and climbed back up to the central hub.
Jack was silent all through the delicate procedure that Martha was performing, handing the equipment and sutures when she asked for it.
The wound to the Doctor's neck was deep and nasty, but it had least stopped bleeding, thanks no doubt to the Time Lord's superior healing abilities.
What worried Jack was the erratic beeping coming from the monitors. The Doctor's hearts were in serious arrhythmia, according to Martha.
"Jack, watch him whilst I go and test these samples," Martha said, carrying several phials out of the med-room and into the laboratory.
Jack nodded and pulled the only chair over to the bed. He sat down and took one of the Doctor's hands in his.
It felt cold to his touch, colder than its normal pleasant cool. He traced the almost invisible black line that was the only tell-tale sign that whatever the thing was that White Coat had implanted inside the Doctor was still present.
"I don't know whether you can hear me, but it doesn't matter if you don't. I know you wanted to die, wanted me to leave you. But I couldn't, and I don't care if you hate me for it, or if you never want to see me again. We've been through way too much together. I could never let you go, not ever. So live or die, it's how I feel, deal with it."
He looked up as the monitor beeped at him, the two lines showing the Doctor's hearts flat-lined for a second, causing Jack to tense and then relax slightly as they settle back into an irregular pattern.
"Come on, I can't go after him on my own. You need revenge as much as I do, if not more, live for that, if nothing else," he said, squeezing the Doctor's hand.
The door opening distracted him, it was Martha, but the look on her face made Jack's heart freeze.
"Martha, what is it?"
"That thing, it's dying," she said as she walked round to the other side of the bed.
"That's a good thing, right?" Jack said.
"I could say yes, but the thing is, it's what's killing it," she said, laying a hand on the Doctor's forehead.
"Martha, what's going on?" Jack said, standing up, fear rising in his gut.
"There's some kind of chemical, I think it's a chemical. It's breaking the infection down, but..."
"But what Martha?"
"I'm sorry Jack, but whatever it is, it's killing him as well."
Gwen and Ianto looked up at the sound of a door slamming downstairs, and tried to look busy when someone ran up the stairs.
The door to Jack's office slammed and they looked at each other, and then up at the closed door.
"I'll go," Ianto said. "You find out what's happened."
Gwen nodded and jogged down the stairs to the med-room.
Ianto didn't bother knocking, knowing that if he did he would only get a negative answer.
Jack was sitting at his desk, a bottle of whiskey was open and Jack was already halfway through a glass.
"Jack?" he said and sat down, without an invitation.
"I'm going to find him, and I'm going to kill him, slowly, painfully," Jack said, not to Ianto, but to himself.
He went to grab the bottle again, but Ianto had moved it.
"Put that back and go away Ianto," Jack growled.
Ianto shook his head and placed the bottle on the floor. "Jack, what's happened?"
"That bastard, he's done something that not even the Daleks could..." his voice trailed away.
Ianto frowned, then it dawned on him, it was something White Coat must have done.
"It's the Doctor isn't it, he's dying."
Jack nodded. "Some sort of chemical, its killing the thing inside him, and its killing him too," Jack said solemnly.
Ianto sat back in his chair, and then frowned again.
"Wait a minute, why would White Coat do that. Isn't that killing the golden goose?"
"To spite me..."Jack started to say.
"No, think Jack, why would he do that?"
Jack looked up, Ianto's words finally sinking in. "But if it wasn't him, who was it?"
"There's only one other person who might be able...Dr Michaels."
"She must have been there, those two seemed very close," Jack said and picked up the phone.
Sarah Michaels hadn't expected anyone to see her leaving, so the sleek black craft that forced her transport down was a surprise.
She was now being dragged into a UNIT office. She glared at the person sitting behind the desk.
"Do you know anything about the Human Rights Act?" she said to the person at the desk.
The person ignored her remark. "Place her in front of the vid-screen."
The guard pulled her none too gently across to a large screen and held her arms in a tight grip, so she stood still.
"Is this her?" the person asked. "Good, when do you want her? Certainly, I'll arrange transport immediately, I hope she can help, he is rather unique after all. No, we've got all we need from her, she yours to do what you want with. As for our other problem, we'll keep looking, thank you captain, good day."
The person looked at Sarah Michaels. "You really should have cut a deal with us Miss Michaels. I wouldn't expect any such leniency from where you're going. I'm afraid Torchwood are even less understanding."
"What could be worse than what you did?" she said defiantly.
The person looked at her. "Oh Miss Michaels, you really have no idea."
Jack watched as the UNIT helicopter made its approach, willing it to land faster.
Beside him Gwen shifted, knowing that Jack's temper was on a short leash. It was only the fact that this Dr Michaels might be able to help the Doctor that was keeping her alive. If it wasn't for that, she would be a very dead Dr Michaels.
The helicopter eventually landed, and two UNIT soldiers jumped out, and half dragged and pushed a woman towards them.
Jack tensed and pulled himself up to his full height.
When the woman saw Jack, all the fight seemed to go out of her.
The two UNIT soldiers nodded at Jack, turned away and climbed back into the helicopter.
Jack waited until the helicopter was safely away before speaking.
"Hello Dr Michaels, welcome to the rest of your life."