Ianto and Jack both had their bags slung over their shoulder and were waiting in the Entrance Hall while Helen gave Ashley and Kate some last minute instructions that were probably completely unneeded but would at least make the older woman feel happier. That done Ashley laid a hand on each of the men's arms and teleported them to just outside the tourist office and thus just outside the EM shield. Releasing them immediately Ashley jumped back to the Sanctuary to pick up Kate and their bags.
"Well there's something you don't see everyday." Came a voice from just to their left and both men turned to see Martha Jones waiting for them. "UNIT's been working on something like that but haven't got it that good yet."
"Martha Jones!" Jack said with a wide grin as he swept her into a hug.
"It's so good to see you Jack." Martha said when he released her, "Hello Ianto."
"Hello Martha, you've been well?"
"Not had anything try to kill me recently." She told them with a grin. At that moment Ashley returned it Kate and their equipment. "I assume these two have something to do with why you called me?"
"More or less." Jack told her as he pulled her over to meet them. "This is Martha Jones, UNIT doctor and a very good friend of mine. And these are Ashley Magnus and Kate Freelander. Ashley is my god-daughter, her mother, and their boss, is a very old, very good friend of mine."
As Martha shook hands with them both her eyes widened, "Not Helen Magnus?" She asked turning her wide questioning eyes on Jack who nodded, "I've read about her in the UNIT files, the woman is a legend. Figures you'd know her." She added with a gentle shove to his arm. "We have a plane waiting at a privet air strip just outside Cardiff and a car over here." She lead them over and Jack was slightly surprised that there wasn't a driver or military escort.
"No guards?" He asked sounding almost a little disappointed.
"Just because you want to drool over them and their UNIT caps." Ianto teased, Ashley and Kate just followed behind both looking slightly bemused. They were defiantly missing something here.
"Besides I thought you'd want to keep this as privet as possible otherwise you'd have called one of the top brass that owe you a favour, or owe Helen Magnus a favour." Martha climbed into the drivers seat while Jack took the front passenger side leaving the back for Ashley, Kate and Ianto. The latter of whom had the foresight to put all their stuff in the boot. "What's all this about Jack?" Martha asked when she'd started the car.
Jack grinned, "We're going to catch Jack the Ripper."
To her credit Martha was remarkably calm when informed that their mission was to catch one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, she won major points with Ashley for not asking if they were joking. After all, with everything she'd seen a Victorian serial killer running around the modern world seemed almost normal. Her first question however was probably a rather poor reflection on Jack. "Please tell me he isn't you ex?"
Jack started laughing and Ashley actually looked a little ill, "Lady that's my dad you're talking about."
Martha turned to look at her, fortunately the traffic was stopped at some traffic lights at the time, she studied the younger woman for a long moment and then turned back to the road, "Well that isn't in the UNIT file on Magnus."
"If you can avoid crashing I can brief you now." Jack offered.
Martha shook her head, "Save it until we're in the air."
"Err Martha?" Jack started but she cut him off.
"No buts Jack." She said firmly. "UNIT refused to lead you a plane unless I accompany you on it, I don't know what you did to the last one but apparently they don't trust you anymore." Jack had the decency to look faintly embarrassed at that. "I'll stay with the plane once we get to Egypt, in case you need it to get home."
"We shouldn't do." Jack told her.
"Well I can't wait to hear your explanation for why you're flying from Cardiff instead of just teleporting all the way, from what I've heard Magnus had people in Egypt."
"Mom does." Ashley said, "And that's the problem, they can't know we're there."
They'd been in the air for nearly two hours before Martha had the complete story. Ianto had made them all coffee, apologising for the poor quality but he was stuck dealing with what was on board. "That makes sense," Martha said as she sipped her coffee, "In a sort of sick and twisted way. Do you think the parasite is an alien or one of those abnormals that Doctor Magnus works with?"
Jack shrugged, "If it ever stops trying to kill us long enough to run some tests you'll be the first to know."
"And the first thing it did when it escaped was try to kill?" Martha asked.
"Everyone in the house." Kate told her. She was still holding a quite justifiable and understandable, in her opinion, grudge against the thing that had tried to kill her. Repeatedly.
"And you're certain this containment unit will hold?" Martha asked.
"Helen's tech guy was pretty certain and he had one of the bes t minds in the world helping him." Jack told her with a gin.
"Tosh?" Martha asked and grinned when Jack nodded, "Everything should be alright then." She'd done some reading on Jack's team before she'd gone to Cardiff that first time and Tosh's file had been longer than anyone else's, bar Jack's of course. She just wished she'd known in advance that she'd be meeting with Sanctuary personnel, especially the daughter of the great Helen Magnus, so she could read up on their files. Of course since there was no mention of Jack the Ripper and his very intimate connection to both the Magnus women,it was probably fairly safe to say that the files were incomplete.
They landed in Egypt just before sunset. "What's the plan now Jack?" Martha asked.
"I need you to get Ashley and Kate off the plane without anyone seeing them." Jack said, "Ianto and I will make our way to the hotel, give us three hours and then follow." He continued to Ashley and Kate. "Do everything you can to avoid teleporting. Get checked in at the hotel and I'll start making contact with my old acquaintances, see if anyone knows where Druitt is. If nothing else I'll be asking the right questions in the right places to get his attention."
"I have just the plan Jack." Martha said with a grin. "You two go ahead and I'll keep these two busy for a bit." She turned to the two younger women, "Did you ever play soldier when you were growing up?"
"Martha please tell me you have a camera?" Jack said fifteen minutes later, just as he and Ianto were preparing to exit the plane. The good doctor had dressed both Ashley and Kate in UNIT uniforms and Jack had to admit they both looked pretty good in them.
"Don't worry." Ashley said, "We got pictures for you to show mom when we get back." Between the unfamiliar uniform, complete with red beret, and her hair twisted up in a tight twist at the back of her head, Ashley had hardly recognised herself in the mirror. So it would be a fairly safe bet that, unless he got close, her father wouldn't recognise her either, and by the time he was that close she intended to have him unconscious.
"Your entire family owes me one for this Ash." Kate complained as she tugged at the collar of her uniform. Her dark hair was likewise fastened up in a twist under her red beret. Ashley just grinned, she didn't bother reminding her friend that they already owed her for saving Helen's life and nothing would ever be able to wipe out that debt.
"At least it's an easy cover." Jack commented, "You just have to stand there and look cute, that's all the UNIT soldiers I've seen ever do." Everyone was grateful when Ianto smacked him round the back of the head. They exited the plane and Ashley and Kate stood slightly behind Martha as she and Jack exchanged pleasantries and thanks for the loan of the plane. They looked for all the world like proper UNIT bookends, just as they should.
Although Ianto had never travelled to Egypt before it was clear Jack had since he was able to quickly get them to the hotel they'd booked. Once they were checked in, they headed up to their room, "Well the girls shouldn't have too much trouble finding the hotel." Jack said in a low voice once they were in the lift. "I know at least Ashley has been here before and this place it kinda hard to miss."
"That was why I picked it." Ianto told him as they arrived that their floor. "We're not trying to hide our presence here."
When they entered their room Jack complained, "What no double bed?"
Ianto sighed, "Jack do you know what the penalty is for homosexuality in Egypt? I really didn't fancy testing how far our diplomatic immunity goes, especially since they don't know who Torchwood are out here." All Torchwood staff had diplomatic immunity, it was useful but Ianto was pretty sure it wasn't intended for dealing with pissed off locals because of avoidable things, such as sleeping arrangements. "Besides even a single bed has more space than that camp bed under you office."
"I suppose we can always push them together." Jack commented. Ianto sighed, Jack would never change. Not that he really wanted him to but it was sometimes just the principle really.
"What now?" Ianto asked after placing their bags in the bottom of the wardrobe, hopefully they wouldn't actually be there long enough to need to unpack.
"Now we start asking around."
Night brought no luck, Jack and Ianto returned to their hotel having been unable to contact Druitt. Jack's contacts had confirmed that John had been making himself known in certain circles. So far there had only been one death that the two men could attribute to Druitt but since the dead man was a known rapist and paedophile, his preferred victims been girls of around twelve to fourteen, no one was really complaining.
"If the creature is driving him to murder I'd prefer he stuck to rapists." Jack said when they'd met up with Ashley and Kate in the girls' room.
Ashley nodded, "So no luck contacting him?"
"No." Jack said, "but we've made our presence obvious, I suspect it'll only be a matter of time before he makes himself known.
"He could be keeping an eye on us." Ianto suggested, "To make sure that it is just us and we don't have any Sanctuary personnel with us. He knows that would be a risk with a Sanctuary so close."
"That means we really need to keep out of sight." Kate said, the others agreed and they chatted for a while before Jack and Ianto headed to their own room for the nigh.
"Captain Harkness, sir?" Jack and Ianto were just returning to the hotel for lunch when the man on reception hailed them, "A gentleman has left a message for you."
The receptionist handed him a folded piece of paper. "Thank you." Jack said, remembering Ianto's warning about flirting with the natives. The receptionist returned to his desk and Jack unfolded the sheet of paper. 'CJH, meet at the abandoned warehouse twenty minutes south of your hotel. 6pm. MJD'
"Is it him?" Ianto asked, Jack showed him the paper, "We should head to lunch and then get a nap while the sun is strong." Ianto suggested, they both knew that meant they should tell the girls.
"Room service." Jack suggested. They headed up to their room, pausing at the one Ashley and Kate shared to knock a specific pattern on the door. They didn't both waiting for them to answer, the knock had been a code for them to join them in Jack and Ianto's room.
A few minutes later Ianto put the phone down from ordering enough lunch for the four of them to share, a second later there was a knock at the door and Ashley opened it without waiting for an answer. "Didn't your mother teach you to wait for an answer?" Jack asked, "We might have been busy." He added with a leer at Ianto
"As if." Ashley said, sweeping into the room, "You got in less than five minutes ago and knew we were coming. Ianto wouldn't let you get 'busy'."
Ianto grinned, "I did order lunch though."
"Great." Kate said, "I'm starving, so you got news?" Jack showed them the sheet of paper, "MJD?" Kate asked after she and Ashley had read it.
"Montague John Druitt." Ashley answered, "He hated his first name, that was why everyone called him John." She explained, he'd told her that while he was teaching her to control her teleporting. "It was his mother's family name and at school it got him the nickname 'Romeo'"
"Officially lost." Kate said.
"Shakespeare, Romeo's surname is Montague." Ashley explained.
Jack shook his head in mock sadness, "What do they teach you kids these days?"
"Don't look at me." Ianto said, "They still teach British school kids Shakespeare."
"So you're going to meet with him?" Ashley asked.
Jack nodded, "We have a few things we need to go over first. I know the warehouse he's talking about and it's a good choice." He took the pen and paper than Ianto handed him and sketched the layout. "It's all one room but there's a walkway like level around three of the walls and office space here." He pointed to the front right of the sketch. "Last time I was there it seemed to be used to store junk, lots of boxes and wooden creates."
"Sounds familiar." Ashley commented, remembering the room Druitt had taken her to when he had kidnapped her seeking her aid in protecting her mother from Tesla. A lot had happened since then.
"So Druitt will probably be in the main area." Jack said, "Ashley, you and Kate teleport to the roof, the entrance access to the main area is here. Ianto and I will come through the main door."
"Wait." Ianto suggested, immediately spotting a flaw with Jack's plan, "I have a suggestion."
John waited for Harkness in the middle of the warehouse. He felt strangely at peace, more so than he had in the nearly two weeks since he had taken the creature back into himself. Soon he would die and without another easily available host, hopefully the creature within him would die too.
He didn't want to die. He wanted to live. He wanted to be a father to Ashley and a friend to Helen, he could only dream that she would allow him to be anything more than that.
But he couldn't allow himself, and the evil within, to live.
He remembered the freedom of that hour he had been himself again. The rage that had consumed him for so long was gone, gone more completely than it had been when Tesla had shocked him back to his senses. Then it had only pushed it away, forced the demon to sleep. Gradually though it had awakened again. Strengthened by the blood he had shed in retribution of the loss of his daughter. By the time he had realised she wasn't dead it had already been too late, the creature was too strong. All he could do was fight for those few precious months that it had been safe to see Ashley.
Perhaps the creature would always have awakened eventually but he was sure the blood of the Cabal had wakened it sooner then it would otherwise had. The blood and death was like an addiction now, and one he couldn't break, not as long as that thing was inside him. He was certain that Ashley and Helen had known there was something wrong with him when he had begun to gradually limit his contact.
Eventually he would have severed it altogether, once again exiling himself from his family, but when Helen had phoned to beg his help in rescuing a ship of Empaths he could not refuse. He was more experienced than Ashley, teleporting under such adverse circumstances, a burning ship on the other side of the world took practice that his daughter did not have. And he knew that she still had a small, and understandable, fear of fire which would also compromise her teleporting ability. So he'd done what he could to help, intending to leave as soon as possible.
Then that Empath had spoken to him and although he couldn't fully understand her, something about her had set the demon off and he'd slit her throat. Putting her body in a cupboard couldn't really be described as hiding it, he knew someone would find it sooner or later. And he knew that once they did Helen would come for him. There would be no doubt about the identity of the killer. As she had done so long ago she would come for him.
He wanted to let her kill him but the fresh blood was fuelling the demon and he couldn't stop himself. Now that he'd been free of the demon, even for a short time, he could more easily tell where it ended and the man began. The man who was very nearly physically sick at the idea of hurting Helen. The same man who could still see the faint scars on his daughter's neck and wished someone would shoot him.
He'd be getting that wish soon. Harkness was supposed to arrive within ten minutes. He'd made himself very evident in the circles where the Torchwood leader would have contacts but Helen wouldn't. He had been so careful to avoid any possible contact with Sanctuary personnel. He knew Helen might be looking for him but he couldn't risk that it would be her who found him, the demon would kill her. The demon might try to kill Harkness but at least it wouldn't be permanent.
He'd helped Helen examine her injury afterwards, when they were both locked in the holding cell by the creature. She had a vicious bruise covering her side and John was horrified that he caused it, even possessed by the demon as he had been. Worse, he'd thrown that knife at her and then only minutes later he had come so very close to slitting her throat.
Once again Kate Freelander had saved Helen's life from a member of her own family. It was ironic in a sick sort of way.
The demon was sleeping now, it's bloodlust sated for the moment with the rapist he had killed two days earlier as the man had tried to rape a girl would couldn't have been more than fifteen, if that. That at least John could say, he had never killed children. He told the girl to run before he'd taken great satisfaction in killing the man. At least with the girl out of the way the demon wouldn't kill her after it got done with the guilty man.
The sound of the door opening caused him to look up, there was Harkness in his usual old fashioned military style. John had done some very careful checking before making contact with him to be sure that he wasn't working with the Sanctuary. He'd travelled to Egypt on a UNIT jet, accompanied by his colleague and a female UNIT doctor that was a friend of his and no doubt the reason he was on a UNIT plane. There had also been a pilot, co-pilot and two soldiers with them. No signs of any Sanctuary people nor had they made contact with the local Sanctuary since they'd landed.
"Harkness." John said as the other man walked towards him.
"Druitt."
"Has Helen spoken to you about last week?" John wanted to know how much Harkness knew.
"Ashley came to me, in tears." The other man admitted, "Then I went to America and comforted Helen as best I could."
"How are they?" John's voice broke slightly as he asked, he knew he would never see them again but he still loved them with all that was left of his heart and soul.
"Grieving for you." Harkness sighed, "If you mean Helen's injury then it healed." John was grateful for his phrasing, for his refraining from pointing out that it was John who had caused the injury in the first place. "Emotionally I think this will take a long time for them to recover from."
"I know." John regretted the pain he had caused them and the pain that he would continue to cause them, in a way it would have been better if Tesla's torture had never repressed the demon, then they would have never known about the demon. Ashley would never even have known him and as much pain as that thought called him he knew that it would have been easier for her. "I assume you're here to fulfil your word Captain."
"If you force me to." Harkness said.
John was about to answer when he heard a sound coming from the walkway the ringed three of the walls. Immediately he had a knife in his hand. "Come out."
He wasn't surprised when he saw Ianto Jones step out of the shadows of the upper level. The Welshman was pointing a gun at him. He nodded and turned his attention back to Harkness, he knew that the other man wouldn't act without his Captain's order so he wasn't a threat. Besides death was what he wanted.
"Don't make me do this." Harkness said, "I know that the reason you're like this is that there's something inside you, come back to Cardiff we me and we'll find a way to take it out of you."
John laughed bitterly, "So that it can infect all of those wonderful alien things you have there." He said, "I know Helen will have told you what the demon did when it got into the Sanctuary, I can't let it loose ever again."
"What about Helen and Ashley? Do you want me to have to tell them that I killed you? She'd my god-daughter and you want me to tell her I killed her father."
"She'll understand, they both will." John insisted and he was sure that they would. Helen had decades of experience and Ashley had once been prepared to die to save her mother. Surely they would booth understand.
"Their heads will understands but in their hearts I will always be the killer of someone they loved."
"Then so be it." John said, he wasn't oblivious to what the other man would suffer but it was the only choice, "This evil in me cannot be allowed to be free, you have to kill me." He dropped the knife he still held to the floor and held his hands slightly away from his body. "Do it." Harkness pulled his gun but still hesitated. "Do it!"
Harkness pointed his weapon square at John's forehead, "Any last words?" He asked.
"Tell Helen and Ashley I love them and I'm sorry but this was the only way." John said and he felt so peaceful, it was taking all his strength to hold the demon at bay, to stop it forcing him to run, but it would soon be over and those he loved would know that and be safe.
"I've had to kill people before." Harkness said but John wasn't really listening, instead he was wondering if he would see James and Nigel in the afterlife or if he would be condemned to hell for not better controlling the demon. "People who were also possessed by something evil that they couldn't control. There was no hope for Lisa."
At that moment John felt a dart smack into his neck, he spun round and looked up to where Jones had been standing, expecting to see the Welshman holding the dart gun. Instead he looked straight into the eyes of his daughter, tears in her eyes and a tranquilliser gun in her hand. He tried to teleport but something was stopping him. An EM shield he vaguely realised as he collapsed to the floor.
"There is for you." Harkness finished and as the darkness took him John wondered just what the hell he was on about. There was no hope for him and there never would be.
AN: And they caught John, it's all good - now we jsut need to get that thing our of him. Please leave a review