A/N. Hi, sorry for the delay with this chapter. I had a week without my laptop and then when i got it back i lost my momentum a little and it took me ages to get this chapter right. Anyway on with the next chapter, enjoy. Please review as it really does help to spur me on, and i'd like to get my review count up to at least 25. Thank you. Kat :)

Chapter 7.

'What!', came the simultaneous replies of the others.

'You're kidding right?' said Owen, hoping Tosh had misread something.

'No, I wish I was. Looking at some of the data I realised it looked like some of that from London. I only ever got a glimpse at part of the programme they were using for there so called 'ghost shifts', but the data was similar to this. I think he's trying to recreate it. Although there is a plus side.'

'A plus side?' queried Jack.

'Yeah, at the moment it seems that these doorways or portals, are only going one way. They are opening up briefly and letting people through, but nothings getting back to this side.'

'Hence the missing students. He's sending them through to test it and they get stuck.' said Jack.

'Most likely,' replied Tosh. 'I really need to get back to the Hub to try and get a fix on what he's doing so I can come up with some kind of countermeasure.'

'Why don't we just go down to the lab and destroy all his equipment?' asked Owen.

'As much as I would love to do that, we have no idea what is going in that lab. Morgan is going to have all sorts of things in place to stop unwanted visitors.' reasoned Jack. 'We need to find out about the lab layout before we go steaming in there. The last thing we need is any of us getting pulled into some parallel world.'

There was silence for a moment as everyone took in what was happening. Jessie had been quiet throughout, at the mention of parallel worlds she had gone visibly pale and sat down.

'Jessie, you ok?' Ianto asked.

'No, I knew I should have got out of town when I saw Morgan.'

'If you had we wouldn't have known what was going on until it was too late.'

'Great,' she replied sarcastically. 'I can't believe this is happening again. I knew he would be doing something bad, but this… I can't go through this again.'

Jack moved so that he was stood in front of Jessie. 'This isn't going to be like London.'

'How do you know? How do we know what could come out of those portals if he manages to get them working the other way, what if they come back through.'

Nobody in the room had to ask what she meant, they all knew she was talking about the Cybermen and Daleks.

'We are going to find a way to stop him before anything comes through onto this side, I promise.'

Jessie smiled sadly, 'Yeah well the last person that promised me anything was Sam, he promised me we'd both get out of Torchwood One ok, but look how that turned out.' Jessie stood up and headed for the door. 'I'm sorry but I just can't do this.' She opened the door and fled down the corridor before anyone could stop her.

'I'll go after her,' said Ianto.

Jack nodded. 'We need to get back to the Hub and come up with a strategy. I know Jessie wants nothing to do with us right now, and I understand her reasons for that, but it's not safe for her to be on her own.' It was Ianto's turn to nod before he too left the office. Jack sighed as he watched Ianto take off down the door, this wasn't going to be easy and he hoped that Gwen had had better luck than them.

X

Ianto hurried down the corridor trying to catch up with Jessie. He reached the end of the corridor and looked to see which direction she had most likely taken. Turning right led down another corridor, while turning left led to a door going outside. He turned left figuring that Jessie would probably want to get some fresh air. He walked out of the door and saw Jessie sat on a low wall looking out over the courtyard between buildings. He moved next to her and asked, 'Is it alright to sit down?' Jessie nodded and he took a seat next to her.

'Sorry I freaked out,' she said quietly.

'That's ok, everyone understands.'

'I was just feeling really claustrophobic in that office with all the talk of parallel worlds.' Jessie shuddered slightly. 'Didn't get very far though.'

'I know you don't want to be involved, but you really should come back with us because until we stop Morgan you're not safe.'

'No one is, especially the students.' She paused for a moment before continuing. 'I can't believe this is happening. My life is supposed to be normal now, I'd thought I'd escaped all this. Maybe you can never truly escape Torchwood.'

'Once this is all over it can go back to that.'

'It can't though really can it. I'm always going to know what's out there and what could happen.'

'Would you want to go back to being in the dark though?' asked Ianto curiously.

'Honestly, no. I was offered retcon after Canary Wharf, but I refused because forgetting all that would also mean forgetting Sam and that's something I'm not prepared to do. Knowing the truth does have it's upside, because I have to admit it is funny sometimes seeing what excuses the government try and come up with when something alien happens.'

'Oh yeah, they come up with some truly awful cover stories. Mine are always much better.'

'I can believe that.'

'So you're going to come back with us.'

'Sure.'

Ianto was just about to let Jack know that they would meet him and the others at the SUV when a voice sounded from behind him.

'Both of you, stand slowly, no sudden movements.'

Ianto and Jessie both stood up and turned to find two men stood behind them that they hadn't heard sneak up on them. Ianto slowly moved his hand towards his gun, but was stopped when the two men raised their own weapons and pointed them at Jessie. 'Slowly take out your gun and put it down on the ground, if you even attempt to shoot one of us, she dies.' Ianto did as he was told, there was no way he could shoot both of the men before one of them shot Jessie. 'I also want you to put down your phones and communication devices.' These guys were smart, they obviously weren't any of the students that Morgan had been using, these were professionals. Jessie and Ianto put down there phones and Ianto took his comm off, activating it as he did so in the hope Jack would overhear.

'What is it you want?' asked Ianto as he bent down to place his comm on the wall.

'Dr Morgan wishes to speak to you, we are here to escort you and make sure you co operate.'

Ianto looked over at Jessie and although he could see the panic in her eyes, he was impressed at the way she was staying calm. One of the men took hold of Jessie and started to lead her away, while the other man took hold of Ianto.

X

Jack, Owen and Tosh had been gathering together their things when Jacks comm had crackled into life. 'Ianto,' Jack said, but got no reply. Instead he could hear Ianto asking someone what they wanted and then a strange male voice say something about Morgan. 'Tosh can you get a fix on Ianto's comm?' he asked trying not to panic.

Tosh pulled out her PDA and pushed a few buttons to bring up Ianto's location. 'He's just outside, down the corridor then turn left. Why?'

'I think he might be in trouble,' answered Jack running off out of the door with Owen and Tosh close behind. When he got outside the door he couldn't see anyone around, but then he noticed on the low wall a gun, two phones and a comm unit. He went over and picked it up.

'Shit,' muttered Owen as he walked over. 'Someone's taken them, haven't they.' It wasn't a question so much as an observation.

Jack didn't speak as he was angry, angry that someone that they were supposed to be protecting had been taken, along with that a member of his team, and not just any member of his team, Ianto. If they hurt him in any way then Jack would make sure that they paid for it. They needed a plan and they need it now.