Martha hung up knowing there was nothing more she could do to help Shannon with Alex's case. The pediatrician proved to be quite able and from the way she was handling this problem Martha felt slightly more at ease about not being there herself. Shannon had put her own questions aside and it was obvious Alex was her first priority.
"Don't you want to return to Cardiff for now, Jack?" Martha asked Jack, knowing the Captain was probably worried about Alex and Gwen.
"We'll get this done and then head back to Cardiff," the man said. "Only now we have to get it done quicker."
Martha wanted to continue with the conversation but there was a sudden rattling from behind.
"What the hell was that?" a voice drifted from one of the body trays. "A shot in the head? I feel like some animal. Jeez, that was horrible! And they said that they'd protect me. Pfff! Some protection is that! Getting me a life, friends and then trying to kill me off! Did they think I wouldn't know it's them?"
"Them?" Jack asked turning around.
The person uttering those words was one of the "corpses" - now sitting up and touching the wound on its forehead.
"Martha?" Jack looked at his co-worker.
"He was dead when I last checked," the girl said but her voice lacked the usual confidence.
The man who up until a moment ago had been presumed dead finally realised that he wasn't the only person in the room. He glanced from Jack to Martha and back again unsure what he should do. "Shit," he cursed, but it didn't help him pick up his thoughts and decide on what to do.
"Tom Addler, records say twenty-eight, from Brighton, working at a telephone company as a salesman," Martha read out from her list of victims. "Well, the last one may be true."
"He's one of them?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, he's definitely not human."
"OK, Tom, what's your name?" the Captain asked the alien.
"Tom Addler, like it says on the records," the man said his voice suddenly defensive.
"No, what's your real name."
"What? That is my real name!" the alien who called himself Tom Addler continued. The silence that ensued and Jack's judging look finally made him uneasy. "Okay, okay... I don't know how you knew but... So my name isn't Tom Addler. I don't really like my real name and you wouldn't too if you were me. In your language I guess it would be something like Nine. I'm Nine."
"Okay Nine," Jack continued the question. "Where are you from?"
"It says on the file doesn't it? I'm from Brighton!"
Silence.
"Okay then, I'm actually from Bristol."
Silence.
"Southampton? What is your deal?"
"Well, Mr Nine, our deal is that you're obviously a compulsive lier. If you think that we're just going to let you off like this."
"Well you wouldn't believe me even if I told you!" Nine continued.
Jack smiled. "Try me."
"OK, the place is called Planet 384. And it really is a planet."
"Ouch, no wonder you wanted to escape," Jack commented. "But why would they call you Nine?"
"Cause Eight was taken. Why do you think? But really... Do you think I'd believe you when you say you werethere?" the alien raised his brow in disbelief.
"Yes, actually. Not a very fun place to live."
"No it's not. So if you understand can you now leave me to live in peace?" Nine asked.
"No can do. I need you to explain to me what did you mean by them in your complaints just a moment ago."
"I'll tell you if you tell me why are you interested?"
Jack smiled but his face showed irritation rather than amusement. He couldn't help liking Nine's character but at the same time he found it hindered his work and he really needed to get everything done quickly.
"We're Torchwood," Jack explained. "Interacting with the extraterrestrial on behalf of the human race."
Nine started laughing.
"I fail to see what's so amusing in our line of work," Jack said, this time truly annoyed.
"It's just that... just that," Nine started saying but laughing chopped up his words into an incomprehensible mumble. Only once he calmed down under Jack's stern eye did he answer properly. "Well you talk like you control the alien underground but you don't know about the Ambassadors? You don't seem very reliable."
"Enlighten us then."
"Well once I got to Earth they found me quite quickly and since I had no way of going anywhere they offered to help me integrate into the human race. At least until a way of getting me back home was found. Well I didn't mind staying here, especially since I never had the intention of going back to 384. They gave me this device to hide my form, all the documents, a home, a job, a whole life."
"Do they have headquarters or some way to contact them?" Martha asked.
Nine shook his head. "Not that I know of."
"So we got nowhere," Jack concluded.
"Sorry..." Nine said. "So, can I go home already?"
"If you go home there's a big chance that what happened to you will happen again. And next time you may not be so lucky."
"You mean I should just stay here? With all these dead people? Ew..."
"We can get you a new identity if you want," Jack said.
Nine's expression changed suddenly. All the traces of carefreeness disappeared from his face; all that was left was accusation.
"I already left my life once it's not just flipping a switch! I've got a proper job and a home and friends. I don't want to just leave it!"
"You'd rather stay and wait for the killer to appear again?"
"I won't have to if you catch him first," Nine grinned.
o*o*o
Without the pressure of other guests and while the sun was still up Tobey could now take a better look around Lois's flat. The place was small but quite homey. Clean but not spotless; the furniture modern though not exaggerated. Little trinkets on the shelves made the house alive despite it's owner's temporary move.
A Venice landscape greeted him as he entered the flat. The picture was vintage but the glossy reproduction took away its charm making it seem a little cheap.
"You've been to Venice then?" Tobey asked busy taking of his trainers. There was a basket with guest slippers right next to the door but used to walking bare-foot around his flat he didn't help himself to any.
"My sister got me that," Lois' voice came from the kitchen. "Tea or coffee?"
"Uuuh, tea," Tobey mumbled his mind somewhere in the clouds. "So you've got siblings," he continued the conversation moving down the corridor, passing two closed doors - one to the bedroom and one to the lavatory - and into the small living room.
"Yeah, a brother and a sister," the answer came. From the casual tone of the response Tobey figured they were in good but not perfect relations. Much like him and his sister.
The layout was quite simple: a spacious, almost square room (there was a half-circle like space where there was a big window distorting the square shape) with two open entrances - to the kitchen and corridor. Two bookcases occupied one wall, a sofa the other.
He saw a small TV on which they had watched the X-men trilogy the previous evening. It wasn't the kind of box you'd watch action movies on but it was a nice change to the large TV screens present in almost every household he'd visit - not to mention his own. He'd imagine it was good for old black-and-white movies - something Ianto would have enjoyed. And his sister.
"I have an older sister - bit whiney at times but overall great," he continued the conversation. "She'd love your place," he blushed after realizing he had almost said you instead.
The whistling kettle announced the water was ready for tea. Tobey took those last few moments to continue with his exploration of the flat. He saw the bookcase was mostly filled up with books - always a good sign - with two shelves storing DVD's. But volumes did not occupy the spotlight. It was the little trinkets: a figurine of the Sydney Opera House; several postcards from the States, China and Indonesia; an indian dream catcher, an Eiffel Tower snowglobe and a "bouquet" of dried peppers (red and green) and garlic - colours suggested the country of origin was Hungary. The lack of tourist guides between the many books seemed suspicious.
"Tea's ready," Lois said coming out of the kitchen with two ceramic mugs and putting them on coasters on the coffee table.
Tobey jumped to the sofa; the last thing he wanted to be called was nosy. He added sugar and milk and enjoyed the warmth of the drink. After sipping a little of the tea he continued with the conversation.
"So you travel a lot?" he asked not knowing how wrong his assumptions had been.
"Not really, no," Lois's answer was overly casual suggesting that this topic bothered her a little. "I've never been further than Cardiff actually. And that only now."
"No way!" Tobey couldn't stop his surprise before realising it may actually be a little hurtful.
"I'm scared of flying," Lois confessed, her face red. "Never been on a plane. Nor on an airport in fact. My sister and brother-in-law are travel writers and they always get me pretty things from their travels."
"Flying is not that bad, it's quite exhilarating actually," Tobey saying. "When there's a little time off I'm taking you somewhere. Marsaille or Oslo maybe. You can't be stuck in London and Cardiff all the time."
Lois laughed. "First we need to finish this work. Or in fact get on with it."
"A connection... Shouldn't be that hard."
It was. The list had several names which they divided between human and alien. There were both women and men all ages and colours. At first glance they looked like people with absolutely nothing in common. On the same list there were the worst of criminals right next to law-abiding citizens.
"Maybe we should start with the visitors," Lois used that term to avoid saying alien. It made her uneasy.
They did that but the work still proved plentiful. They knew they would spend hours just going through the files.
"We need to rethink this whole thing through," Tobey finally said, his list containing dozens of connections none of which looked relevant. "Whoever is doing this has mostly removed all the actual evidence from any of the servers. Whatever clues there are they're not here. They're out there."
Lois chuckled. "You're enjoying this aren't you?" she said.
Tobey looked puzzled. "Enjoying what?"
"Playing detective. Alright then, Inspector Magpie, what do you suggest we do next?"
Sorry for the delay, you won't have to wait for the next part so long, I promise. I should probably set specific weekdays for my stories to come out in - it would probably help me organize things. But hey, I'm starting uni next week so until I get things sorted out it's probably still gonna be random.
Thanks a ton for reading, I hope you all like the story and a huge thanks to Ash-Varnei for betareading everything!