Ianto checked once more the number on his list of places where the transmission had been spotted and confirmed it with the house he stopped by. It was the third one, the first two being empty.

"Hello, I'm Ianto Jones," he introduced himself when the door was open by a sick-looking middle-aged man. "I'm with the Health Department and we're investigating a product that has been released without having it previously undergo all the necessary tests. We believe that it may be toxic."

The man looked at him with a seed of irony hiding on his face. "Right," he said with spite. "Come in."

o*o*o

Tobey turned around the moment he heard Jack and Martha come in.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"We have a new assignment for you," Jack said throwing him the toy. Tobey caught it but not without showing some concern. "Is something the matter?"

"There are bombs in these things," Tobey explained. "They aren't triggered that easily. I guess only when you try to destroy them. Easy to defuse though."

Jack raised his brow. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"The technology in this thing is mixed up. Everything is top notch - I've never seen anything like this ever before. Chips storing terabytes of memory, long lasting batteries and on top of that great quality lenses. And to top it all of a simple detonation system from the end of last century. It seems like everything is out of this time. Even the elements from the future seem like they've been made years apart. I mean I'm no expert but they're all different."

"It's too big a coincident that somebody got their hands on the necessary parts only thanks to luck," Jack noticed. "And in quantities big enough for dozens of these little toys."

A beeping interrupted his chain of thoughts. It came from the technician's computer.

"I've got it," Tobey said turning towards his machine. He smiled typing several key sequences to receive a street and number of an apartment. He printed all the available information about it and gave it to Jack. "The signal is rerouted here," he said. A smile of satisfaction appeared on his face. He knew this wasn't enough to convince everyone of his usefulness but it was the first step in becoming irreplaceable in Torchwood.

o*o*o

Ianto walked down the road getting further and further from his car. He needed to get back to the Hub but there were a few phone calls he should make before. He decided to call Jack first.

"Somebody put them out on the Cardiff Market apparently," he said when Jack answered. "Nobody knows who it was or where he came from. It's a dead end if we want to follow through to the manufacturer."

After hearing the instructions to wait for a call back and head to the Hub for now he put his cell phone back in his pocket. He didn't get back to his car immediately. First he needed to find a phone booth.

There was one behind the corner. He went inside but before he could even find the change the phone rang. Ianto looked around but the street was empty.

With a bit of hesitation he picked up the earpiece. "Hello?" he said.

There was a whicker on the other side. "Hello Ianto," the person said.

His voice sounded sinister but although Ianto was certain that he knew him he himself was more than sure he had never heard him before. "How can I help you?" he asked with precaution.

"Oh you can help me all right. Tell Jack something. Tell him that this is only the beginning. I won't stop only at this. More people will die and I will make his life a living hell. However long it takes I will prove my point."

The caller hung up leaving Ianto dumbstruck with the phone in his hand. It took his mind a moment to realise what he had heard but his hands were already moving dialling three zeroes.

"This telephone is currently off-line," the speaker said and repeated that same sentence until Ianto hung up. He tried the mobile but he found that his services had been cut off.

Ianto fell sweat running down his neck. He couldn't contact anybody like this. He ran back to his car stopping a man on the way there only to find that his mobile phone contract had been terminated as well. He had no doubt about it. Somebody was preventing him from calling Jack and the rest of Torchwood. He tried figuring out their objectives but somehow only one thought was popping to his mind: fun?

o*o*o

"He's not answering," Jack said hanging up nervously.

"There must be a good reason for it," Martha stepped forward trying to comfort the Captain.

"There's no time though. We can't wait for him. You're going with me, Martha, and Tobey, keep track of the signal. Hack into the CCTV, make sure nobody gets in or out of that building. And let me know the moment you hear from Ianto."

Tobey turned back to his desk and turned on his earpiece. It wasn't long before he heard the loud sound of the Hub mechanic door shutting itself after Martha and Jack.

He tried calling Ianto again, just in case. He decided to get over with his work first putting on his desktop all the possible CCTV angles on the building to where the transmission was being transferred. Then, he decided to find the cause of the transmission jam in the second toy. He cut it open to find it to be quite distinct from the regular toy he had cut up before. It seemed like "playing" with it was going to be a lot more interesting than with the first one he'd analyse.

o*o*o

Andy took a sip of his coffee and glanced at his partner. After he had returned to work as a normal police officer he had been assigned a new partner who, although was a very good talker, wasn't that big a listener. Ed could ramble literally for hours. Work with him became much less bearable. There was, however, one thing that kept Andy from giving up this line of work. A quite reliable source had told him that there was a possible promotion coming up for him. He did realise that a certain secret organisation might have had something to do with it but he tried to ignore it and think about in a good perspective.

His cell phone rang, the buzzing startling him and finally putting an end to Ed's elaborate speech about yesterday's lunch. With a bit of hesitance he took it out of his pocket. The screen had no intention of telling him who the caller was. Instead in an arial font the screen read "Withheld".

He sighed knowing exactly who was calling him. "Gwen?" he said after pressing the green button and putting the phone to his ear.

"Can I ask you a favour?" her voice said.

"You or Torchwood?" Andy asked immediately. Somehow Torchwood favours were the only favours she had been asking from him in a long time. The silence on the other side was enough an answer for him.

"Could you collect a few things for us?" Gwen asked trying her nicest voice.

Andy only sighed in reply but for Gwen that was enough of an answer as well.

o*o*o

Gwen put down her phone and glanced at Rhys.

"Evil Rabbit Toys?" he mocked her.

"It does sound funny if you put it that way..." Gwen agreed with a slight smile.

"Well, I have to say, I'm glad you don't endanger yourself as much," Rhys said preparing dinner. Gwen was always amazed at his kitchen skills. If it weren't for her husband she would probably have take-out almost everyday.

"I miss the excitement though," Gwen confessed.

"I wouldn't worry about that too much," Rhys said. "Knowing Torchwood you'll get involved in something bigger sooner or later. I just hope it will be later rather than sooner. Or never to be honest," Rhys' voice was bitter and with a hint of sarcasm in it.

"Rhys..."

"I'm just saying," Rhys defended himself. "If you involve yourself too much in that mess, well, I'm just scared that something might happen to little Alex."

"Except, if I don't do anything who'll protect him?" Gwen continued and regretted her words immediately. Her words were driven by emotions and she knew that this was going to become an argument.

"Does he even need protecting? Right now all he needs is his mother to take care of him!"

"It won't be enough one day! I have seen what is out there! I know how dangerous this world can be!"

Gwen left the kitchen deciding it was the best course of action to prevent further fighting. She took out her phone and tried dialling Jack. She needed somebody to tell her that she was right in what she was doing.

Her phone was cut off. She tried again with her home number but that turned out to be unavailable as well.

"Rhys, can I borrow your mobile?" she asked her husband already forgetting about their argument..

His didn't work either. She had an eerie feeling she couldn't explain. She checked up on Alex. The boy was playing calmly in his bed.

Despite her doubts Gwen decided to leave it till morning. She hoped that everything would all be all right until then.

o*o*o

Jack pulled up in front of a high, run-down office building which by the looks of it had not been used in a long time. The paint was coming off in plasters and the walls had apparently become a canvas for the local graffiti artists. Lights were flickering in some windows but generally the building was dark inside.

The two stepped out of the car surprised at the way such a building composed itself into the panorama of the Cardiff city and became invisible to ones who wouldn't wish to see it.

"Third floor, back door," Jack instructed and Martha nodded. She disappeared behind the corner and Jack pulling his Webley revolver out went inside. The corridor was lit but some of the lights were flickering or completely broken. There were no visible cameras which reassured Jack a little. There was a lift and a staircase in the building. Jack decided not to trust the electricity in the building. He hoped Martha wouldn't either.

He took out the blueprints Tobey had printed out for him and found the room to which the signal was being transmitted. There was the number 305 attached on it. He looked around and saw Martha running silently towards him.

"Clear," she said silently signalling the message with her hands. She too had a pistol in her hands and was cautiously proceeding towards the door.

Giving Martha a sign to stay behind, he barged through the door.

o*o*o

Jeremy was generally an honest man. He had a wife, two children and a badly paid job. He tried to decline the offer of temporary work at first but when the thousand pounds were magically transferred to his account he felt like he had no choice but to do it.

It had all started after a very uncomfortable situation when he couldn't pay for the groceries when his credit card had been suspended and he had no other means of paying for his shopping. He remembered the look on the ladies face full of contempt and annoyance. He left the shop abashed and kept the promise he had made to himself about never again going inside.

A man had contacted him later that very afternoon and proposed a temporary job(either 'proposed temporary work' or proposed a temporary job') helping him sell a few products on the market. The whole job didn't seem as suspicious as the payment he was ready to give him. Three thousand pounds for selling thirty toys, another grand as provision before he started and two if he sold them all. In total six thousand pounds for a few hours work as he later discovered.

He told the man that he would consider it but once the money was already on his account he felt he should do the job. Especially since Easter was coming up and he couldn't even afford a proper breakfast for his family. Not to mention chocolates and presents. He agreed in the end and sold all the rabbit toys in just one afternoon. The money saved him a lot of trouble and was a godsend at that time.

He thought that it would end with that but it later turned out that he was wrong. Another few months later he received another phone call from that same man. His initial plan to decline failed again. This time he wasn't bribed into working. He was threatened. His family was at stake if he failed to meet the demands of his employer whose name he didn't even know.

In the new work he was to burn dozens of DVDs with material he was prohibited of seeing. Every few months he was called to a building and was only to supervise the burning of the discs. Afterwards he was given an address where he was to deliver the discs and the money magically appeared on his account.

He knew perfectly well that there was something illegal about what he was doing and whenever he was in that empty room with only half a dozen of computers, a chair and a pile of empty discs he felt like something bad was happening that very moment.

The instalments were growing with each assignment. At one point he thought if he could leave his job as a builder but decided not to rely on something as dangerous as this weird part time job.

Jeremy looked out the window and saw it was already getting dark. He thought about returning to this place again the next morning. He really didn't think it that good. Yes, he almost did nothing in this job but he never liked shady business and this was without a doubt suspicious.

He often wondered, when would something go wrong? That thought popped into his head every half an hour or so.

A man breaking into the room forced his pondering to stop at once.

"Put your hands in the air and don't move!" he said pointing a gun at him.

Jeremy immediately obeyed, at the same time turning around in his office chair to face his attacker. The gun was pointed right at his forehead. He gulped, wondering how he had gotten himself in this situation. He fought with nausea, his head felt both empty and full of rocks at the same time. He was hot, but at the same time was perspiring more than ever and extremely cold because of it. A small part of his mind was making bets whether he would lose consciousness or not. In the end he didn't, but he also couldn't open his mouth to say anything: his breath stuck deep in his throat allowing him only to breathe shallowly as if he was losing air to breathe with.

"I didn't do anything," he finally managed to say, his voice fluctuating between high pitch and his normal tone.

The man lowered his gun but didn't hide it. A woman came in after him. They looked at him expectantly. They were obviously trying to get him to tell them what he was doing.

Jeremy hesitated. They had the look of authority on their faces but at the same time he couldn't help but doubt they were from the police, army or any other government organisation. He thought about his family. He never wondered if the place was bugged. Now he was confused whether he could or couldn't tell those people his purpose in being in this building. He really wanted to but had no guarantee that they would protect him and his family if that man wanted revenge on him. He looked from the man to the woman and then back to the man again. Moments seemed like eternity. He noticed the man starting to raise his weapon again. It was a slow movement, barely visible but the adrenaline rush strengthened Jeremy's senses. He knew he had two choices: tell them what they wanted to know or be threatened again. He took a deep breath to clear his mind.

His phone alarm went off. He received a text. His face went pale.

The man approached him his gun raised to his face. Jeremy could feel his heart thumping against his chest as if it were to stop any second now. This really was too much for him. He closed his eyes tightly expecting a shot.

o*o*o

Ianto breathed heavily in the car. He had sprinted a total distance of two blocks and was exhausted. Once again his condition was a problem. He felt his consciousness slipping away, his body too tired to keep him awake. He forced himself to stay conscious. He turned on the radio and jazz tunes filled the car.

He took a deep breath and started the engine. With agility he had never expected from himself he drove onto the street. He drove towards the city centre trying to get to the Hub as quick as possible. Somebody was jamming all his lines disabling him contact with the Hub.

The "quick" he expected failed immediately. He had to wait for a long time at every possible lights. He knew immediately whose fault it was. It was too big a coincidence. He was waiting at the end of a line when his phone rang.

Ianto glanced at the screen. The screen reflected a number of numbers Ianto didn't know. His instinct told him it was either a public phone or a borrowed one. He answered it with one hand the other one still holding the steering wheel.

"I thought I'd tell you," the speaker said. "The first one is on Portmanmoor Road. I'd advise you to hurry up."

The man hung up in a feat of chuckling. Ianto didn't need to check to know that his mobile was off again.

Ianto waged his odds. It was closer. And the line of cars in front of him didn't look like it was going to become suddenly smaller. He turned around to look for an alternate road to get to the spot as fast as he could.

o*o*o

Jack took out the man's cell phone and looked at the screen. One new message. With the gun still pointed at the man he threw the mobile to Martha. She caught it and read the message out loud.

"Tomorrow at noon on Portmanmoor Road. There'll be a man waiting to pick up the packages."

"What packages!" Jack interrogated him. "Who do you work with!"

The man was pale and nervous. "I don't know who he is!," he said. "I'm just delivering these DVDs! I don't know anything. I swear I'm telling the truth!"

The man almost cried in front of them. Jack looked at him with a look that demanded more information.

"He contacts me," the man continued. "I had no choice but to do what he says! He said he'd hurt my family! I really don't want any trouble!"

Jack smiled. "Sorry, but you are going to be in a bit trouble anyway..."