A little later than first promised but here it is nevertheless. The good news is I have my new laptop (YAY) and it rocks! The bad news is my old laptop is well and truly dead.
I think that this version is better than my first draft though, shorter maybe, but I like it. Enjoy ...


CHAPTER ELEVEN

With a gasp that flipped Gwen's terrified stomach, Jack's chest began to rise and fall in a steady rhythm once again. He'd been out of over twenty minutes and he'd only been shot twice but maybe, she reasoned, teleportation didn't much help someone who needed to be brought back to life.

"Gwen?" he muttered casting his eyes around franticly.

They were in an empty aviation hangar, with one light illuminating the entrance. Its appearance was deceiving – it looked like it couldn't light up a caravan but in fact, it was shining a large pool of light across half of the grimy floor. They were – almost predictably in the half that was in darkness.

He whispered Gwen's name again. The diminutive sound was somehow magnified so that it echoed off of the metal walls.

"I'm here," came the small reply from directly behind him. He struggled to move around so he could see her but felt a painful tugging on his wrists and a warm liquid trickle down his arms. "Don't move! He's gone God knows where but he could be back any minute now. He's got you tied with barbed wire to a column and it won't shift." Jack struggled again but only succeeded in making the cuts deeper. "Jack!"

"Some reunion," he ventured to say out loud once he'd gathered some of his courage and managed to still the sickening butterflies in his stomach that somehow, even when they were faced with a crazed psycho, she still managed to evoke in him.

She didn't reply and he thought that maybe he was completely mistaken about everything; maybe she didn't like him or maybe she had, but he'd missed his chance. But then, after a bit of rustling, her fingertips were entwined with the very tips of his.

"Why can you move?" he demanded, doing the best that he could be touching more than just her fingertips.

"Do you have to ruin the moment?!" There a smile in her voice and he could almost see it – her beautiful smile that lit up her face.

"Sorry."

"He's only got me tied up with rope."

"So can you get free?"

"They're so tight I think my hands are going to fall off."

"Your fingers do feel cold."

"Thanks!" He could almost feel that smile again.

It felt so wrong but, clichéd as it was, so right; Bilis could come back at any time but here they were making small talk after not seeing each other for other a decade. His brain was commanding him to stop but his heart was cherishing the conversation. But then his heart, he swore on it, stopped for a second as he considered - if she didn't get out …

They shifted minimally as Jack struggled again, more desperately this time.

"Jack?" Gwen probed quietly. She'd never been stupid; people skills had always been her strong point and knowing Jack as she did, she was pretty sure, even when she could only just see his shoulder that something was wrong. "They don't know we're here, do they?"

"I'm sorry Gwen. I'm so sorry. He's blocked the comms."

There was a short pause. "But if you knew that … why come and … find me?"

"It was either you or me. Backfired in the end though," he laughed anxiously. "On the count of three then yell, okay."

"I've already tried," she informed him wearily. "I would have kicked him in the balls when he tied us up but I feel like shit, truth be told."

He could feel Gwen's shaking as he touched her hands again, his fingers touched her palm this time as the wire cut more into the pale skin of the inside of his wrist.

"How's the gang then?" Gwen asked after his fingers had stopped drawing comforting patterns on her hand.

"By the gang you mean …"

"Tosh, Owen. If the looks that he was giving Alex earlier were anything to go be, he's still harbouring that secret love? And Martha. That was Martha right, only she's changed a lot. Ianto, where was Ianto? And … Rhys. Tell me about Rhys. Because I can't help feeling that he wouldn't be dead if it wasn't for me." She ended almost inaudibly, swallowing thickly.

"How did you work that out?" Jack's reply came out far more sharply than he'd intended.

She ignored his tone completely, for which he was thankful. "If I hadn't been such a coward and ran away then I would have been the one in Torchwood, not him. IT was because of me that he was recruited."

"But I was the one that recruited him. I could have just slipped him some retcon but you know why I recruited him? Because it was easier that way. The human race always opts for the easy option out and I'm just turning into one of the herd. Maybe I've been living on this planet for too long."

"Don't you dare Jack. Don't you bloody dare," Gwen snapped sharply, breaking his sad tirade.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Don't you bloody dare get all … bloody sad and weepy and bloody self-pitying thinking that it was your fault, all of it. Some of it was. But don't you dare think yourself so important that you caused all of this."

"You asked about him!"

"About him! Not the infamous Captain Jack Harkness."

Jack considered for a moment then wriggled slowly in his bindings, careful to avoid touching the sensitive exposed flesh that had already been ripped to strips. It was a futile effort and a sharp hiss of pain made Gwen start behind him.

"I'm sorry Jack."

He laughed shortly. "For what?"

"I think you already know." She hung her head, glad of the knowledge that he couldn't see the tears dripping off her nose, like the blood dripping off his wrists. "I'm sorry for leaving and I'm sorry for thinking that you wouldn't come back and I'm sorry for not telling you and I'm sorry for … everything, Jack." He was listening intently to her every breath and was glad that he couldn't see his stinging eyes that were betraying far more than he was overly comfortable with. "I dunno, Jack. I'm sorry for thinking that you could have set those explosions and for not breaking through the retcon quicker and for thinking that you'd got more wrinkles when I finally remembered."

"You what?!" Jack's head whipped up almost comically.

"I'm sorry Jack," Gwen whispered softly.

"How touching." The voice made the hairs on the back of their necks stand up. "A sweet little reunion."

He was stood inside the large doors of the hangar. They'd been slid open just enough to although the thin figure to slide through but he was shutting them again now, with inhuman strength. He was holding the long samurai sword in one hand and a shorter, yet deadly looking kitchen knife in the other. It was cruel comparison; the sheer brutality of the knife looked like a toy next to the elegant, bloodstained and, Jack strongly suspected, authentic sword.

However as he stalked closer to them, it was the sword that he dropped onto the concrete floor. Shockingly it shattered into small pieces and a shard of the fragile blade skidded to a halt next to Jack. It was a ruby red colour, instead of shiny silver and Jack remembered the long cuts down Gwen's thigh.

Bilis too looked at it, stopping close to Jack's legs.

"Good evening Captain."

...

"It's stopped," Toshiko suddenly informed them all.

"What's stopped?" snapped Martha.

"The block. He's gone, he must have."

Even as Owen and Martha continued to make their careful way towards the ex-source of the commotion, they felt some of the tense atmosphere drain away into the dark abyss of the trees. Owen drew his coat around him and closed his eyes briefly. They weren't in any immediate danger; although Jack and Gwen might be, neither he nor Martha, or Alex and Toshiko, could quench the feeling of relief.

"What if it's another trap?" Alex muttered in Tosh's ear. She jerked around to look at him, despairing. Maybe that was what he'd been trained to do – see the worst possible scenario – but he could at least allow them their moment to think that it was half-alright.

"No, no. If it's a trap then he's taken Jack somewhere, blocked the signal there and then come back because I can trace residual energy but not Jack's comm."

"Where is it, Toshiko? Can you lead us to it?" Martha called down the comms. "Prick here ... sorry, Owen ... thinks it the opposite direction to the way we're going now."

Toshiko's fingers flew swiftly over the keyboard. "Keep going straight Martha."

"Fuck off and just move!" Owen replied to the laughter of both females.

...

Jack writhed against the post, managing only to make the incisions in his lower arms deeper still.

"Maybe I'll just sit here and watch you bleed yourself out," Bilis sneered, bending down patronisingly. He slowly wiped the knife down Jack's cheek. It sliced through the first layer of skin, mixing fresh blood with the smear left by the blade.

Jack suddenly jerked forward, bringing his head into contact with Bilis' nose. It broke with a satisfying crunch but behind him, Gwen let out a whimper as she wondered exactly what going on. Blood spurted out from the contorted feature, splashing Jack's battered face, making a bitter cocktail of the two men's blood.

"You ... bastard," growled Bilis.

It was the first time that Jack had heard him swear and it filled with an odd sense of pride that he could infuriate Bilis so much. The reaction was dulled somewhat when Bilis snatched the short knife back up off the floor and marched round to face opposite Gwen.

He allowed her to take in his nose and then caressed her bloody stomach gently with the blade.

She laughed defiantly. "The only bastard around here is you!"

He laughed too and she stopped abruptly at the sight of his twisted face. "That as it may be, just remember that it was your darling Jackie who made me do this."

He pulled back his arm and sliced through the tender flesh.

...

"Is there anything there?"

Owen stood up again, before his knees got stiff bending in the frigid air.

"No." His one syllabic answer sent shivers down Toshiko's spine.

"Owen ..."

"There's blood everywhere Tosh, but there's no sign of anyone. They've long gone."

"Then we've got no way of tracking them either." Martha silently stood behind Owen and together they stared at the crimson puddle illuminated by their flashlights.

The four fell into an uncomfortable silence which Alex suddenly broke. "Wait! I don't know if she'll be wearing it or not but there is something!"

"Care to share it with us then?" Owen wasted no time in being grumpy to Alex.

"We've got trackers."

"He'll have blocked them you prat." Owen wasted no time in shooting down the idea. Alex ignored him.

"What do your trackers and comms run on?"

"They're tied in with the rift so we'd – hypothetically – be able to still talk even if …"

"Tosh!" Martha cut in.

"Well whatever that meant, ours are run by body heat, which should prove a lot harder to block, right?" Alex was running his fingers through his hair as he thought, hard.

"Right. The only probable reason that he can block our stuff is because he's linked with the rift."

"Can you activate it or is it already working?" Owen was suddenly a lot more receptive to Alex as he realised that the kid (and he was going to keep calling him that, whether he liked it or not) could actually save Gwen and Jack.

"Actually …" Alex shifted in his seat, "It's at the apartment. We had a little argument about you lot and I took it off. I didn't want her following me because … well, I was following her."

"Were you not partners?" Martha questioned, panting once again as her and Owen made their way back to the car.

"Well … we were. But I'm 6 and she was RIS."

"Is RIS." Toshiko muttered quietly without looking up from her PDA.

"Pardon?"

"Don't use the past tense. She's not dead." Alex looked straight at Toshiko but she kept her eyes determinedly averted. "Jack wouldn't let Bilis do that."

"Guys. Left or right?" Owen barked.

"Right."

The pair outside set off running again. "You know, I'm arsed if you think I'm doing anymore field work for the next month after this."

"Oh, shut up Owen. We all know perfectly well that you moan even more if Jack even threatens you with weevil duty so don't waste your breath," Toshiko snapped uncharacteristically.

"Anyway ... Alex … you, Gwen, RIS, MI6?" Martha interrupted, halting any further bickering on the parts of Toshiko and Owen.

"Yeah. Um … we share intel if we really have to but this is rare, us working together. We do it with the Americans more often but Russia is more of a solitary service, from my experience with them anyway."

"How many years have you been working for them?"

"Just the one."

"How many missions though?"

Alex's voice was steely. "Enough. I got recruited after my Uncle died. He was part of it and my Dad."

"Mum?"

"Scorpia don't show any mercy. She got taken down with Dad, same as I would have been if I hadn't got lucky."

"I'm sorry," both Martha and Toshiko consoled.

"I never knew them. But my Uncle lied to me all my life. He was secretly training me up although I don't think he meant for it to be quite so soon." Alex shook his head. "Anyway, you lot and Gwen had a history and there was a photo of you," he nodded at Toshiko, "and you, Owen, and Jack and her and some other bloke."

"Ianto," Owen supplied. "It would have been Ianto."

"I got suspicious. So we had an argument and I legged it. Figured that I'd hang around, see what she did and if it was anything that could have compromised me I was on the first train back to London."

Owen let out a long, low whistle as he banged on the door of the SUV. Toshiko and Alex both jumped as they spotted Owen's boyish face grinning in through the window.

"Bastard," Alex muttered as Owen's laughter followed him into the car. Martha plonked herself back into the passenger seat, Owen once again taking the wheel.

"Pray for your lives," Martha muttered to the two in the back, watching Owen stamp his foot on the accelerator.

For what felt like the hundredth time that evening Jack regained consciousness with a gasp and a jerk.

...

Bilis was still knelt in front of him, pressing his ugly knife against Jack's eye. It stung sharply as Jack twisted involuntarily as an after-shock of his near-death experience.

"Well, I was going to go for the forehead but if you'd rather it was the eye …"

Jack squeezed his lids shut and let out an unearthly shriek as his vision was suddenly filled with hot blood and a never-ending pain.

...

Alex jumped out of the SUV whilst it was still moving, which was quite a feat considering that it was Owen driving and he didn't seem to know that you could go under forty miles per hour.

Martha followed him into the apartment block.

"Just in case," Owen hissed at her, as he shoved her out of the door.

Just under three minutes later, they were back, Alex clutching something tightly in his hand. Martha was holding a small PDA.

"Activate it," Owen ordered the moment that the door was opened again.

"I have!" Alex shot Owen a filthy look.

Alex climbed into the front this time and sat waiting, tapping the screen. Martha sidled in next to Toshiko and leant forward.

"What are you waiting for?!" Owen's patience was running out.

"I can only go as fast as the software letting me!"

"Crappy Spooks," Owen cursed. "You know, I reckon that they only recruit people who can work alongside the software. Shit tech, shit spies. Certainly would explain why this country is going to crap." He revved the engine impatiently.

"Just be thankful that Evie and Yasmin aren't boys. They wouldn't stop arguing, I bet." Martha whispered in Toshiko's ear. They smiled to themselves, looking out of the windows to stop the giggles from developing. The number of times that they just spent hours taking the mickey out of Owen was quite unbelievable.

"And can you imagine what it would be like if he learned to drive? If Owen gave him private lessons?!" Toshiko laughed.

"Shut it," snapped Owen, watching them in the rear view mirror, used to the secret laughing but still not liking it.

"Nearly online," Alex informed them.

"About bloody time."

"Yes! There's a signal at least, out on the outskirts."

"We're going to run out of petrol soon!" Owen groaned.

Martha rolled her eyes. "Do you have to find fault in everything?"

Owen had already pulled away, somehow managing to achieve 0-50 in about 3 seconds, although the SUV was only supposed to be able to do 0-35. Martha was thrown back into the seat by the jerky movement.

"Sorry," Owen laughed, glad to get his revenge so quickly for the secret taunting. Toshiko slapped his forearm and the car jerked again.

"Watch it!"

"Somewhere in Somerset, I believe," Toshiko retorted.

"Near Blue Anchor?" Owen replied, rolling the words into one.

"Yeah, you are aren't you?" Toshiko finished.

Alex looked at the PDA which Martha had passed and looked around at the dashboard.

"It's behind the sat nav," supplied Martha, guessing correctly what he was looking for. After he quickly fumbled around the leads, Alex found an open port and plugged the PDA into the cars satellite navigation.

"Her name's Sasha." Alex looked at Owen with a smile that half suggested that he was debating his closest escape route and half planning to ring the men in white coats. "What?" Owen said defensively as he caught Alex's gaze. "The name came with it!"

The sat nav jumped into life with a smart "Hello" and the map of their location appeared. "Take the next left turning," she directed. Owen swung the car round the corner, brushing the hedge that lined the edge of the road. "This is a forty mile per hour zone." The speedometer read seventy. "Owen!" exclaimed Sasha. "Forty miles per hour! There could be …"

"Children around!" chorused Toshiko and Martha from the back, drowning out the chastising sat nav. The girls collapsed into laughter whilst Alex looked from Owen to the sat nav to the shaking women in the back seat.

He had to ask: "How did it, sorry, she do that? I just turned it on."

"Ask Smart-Arse back there."

Toshiko controlled her laughter, determinedly not looking at Martha, who was still shaking slightly. "It's new. One week."

"She spent the entire day in the garage!" interjected Owen.

"I connected the sat nav to the driver's seat and the global positioning satellite that UNIT has."

Owen interrupted once again. "They might think we don't know that they're tracking us but it set alarms off that wouldn't shut up for thirty minutes. I think we noticed."

"In 100 yards, take the next left."

"Anyway," Toshiko said, directing a glare at Owen, "I installed a simple weight system in the seat and it can also tell how far back or forward the seat is, measured in mm, so it can work out who is sat there. Then Martha and I programmed it with various witty remarks about everyone's driving."

"Hilarious," remarked Owen drily. But Alex was smiling alongside Martha and Toshiko.

...

"Why are you doing this?" demanded Jack once he'd opened his eyes to clear vision.

"Why?" Bilis laughed. "I would have thought that much would be obvious." He reached forward to grab Jack's shoulder. "I could show you if you want."

Jack flinched involuntarily as the cold hands gripped his shoulder. Behind him, he could feel Gwen struggling and silently willed her to stop, knowing that if Bilis was busy taunting him, he would leave Gwen alone.

"Just telling me would be fine."

Without warning, Bilis sharply twisted Jack's shoulder. Jack felt the bones grind against each other and then his right arm was limp and useless, except to carry the pain he was suffering along it. Somehow, he contained his shriek, unwilling to let Gwen know what he'd done.

"Think on that whilst I tell you," Bilis snarled into his ear. As he withdrew his hand, he purposely pushed his fingers into Jack's tender flesh, provoking a sharp intake of breath. "You killed him." His face contorted uncontrollably.

"Sorry, who?" Jack taunted, glad of the chance to give as good as he was giving, besides the torture part.

It worked. "You know who!" thundered Bilis. "My Master. The mighty Abaddon. You ruined my plan and as he knew that he'd been tricked, he made me feel his pain." Bilis lunged at Jack's shoulder, ramming it hard. This time Jack cried out, unready for the pain.

"Jack?!" cried Gwen desperately.

Bilis began to prowl around the pillar, circling him and Gwen like they were his prey. "And just when I thought I was going to die too, my Master passed back into the Darkness. But I swore for revenge. You shall never know pain like it. You think this –" he delivered a sharp kick to Jack's forearm, "- is pain? You cannot imagine. And it was your doing! Captain Jack Harkness, the hero, the savior of planet Earth. But what about the things that come through? The innocent?"

"Abaddon was NOT innocent!" exclaimed Gwen. "And neither are you!"

To Jack's horror, Bilis stopped in front of Gwen. She looked up at him with wide eyes, full of fear, however much she tried to hide it. She'd been tortured before. Bloody hell, she'd nearly died but somehow … this was worse. Maybe it was because all she could hear were Jack's screams and Bilis' maniacal laughter or maybe it was simply because it was Jack. Whatever it was, she wholeheartedly wished she done things different in the past, obliterated the chance that she was here, in this dingy hangar.

"Do you know something Jack?" Bilis inquired lightly.

"I know lots of things and most of them are derogatory in some way to you," Jack snapped through gritted teeth.

"You always seem to pick the, how do I put this," Bilis paused, "the weak ones." And before Jack could scream 'no' Bilis lunged at Gwen. She fought back and screamed as the knife flashed and this time it was she who felt the warm gush of blood on her hands and she realised that Bilis had sliced through the rope holding her, cutting her as he did so.

"You bastard!" She screamed, lunging at him in return. He dodged easily and lashed out at her as she collapsed to the floor, weakened by the imprisonment and injuries that he had inflicted. She continued to scream obscenities at him from the floor, struggling to rise and each time being thrown back down by a well-aimed kick. Eventually she stopped trying to rise fully, just inched slowly (but not slowly enough) towards the knife lying on the floor.

He got there first. "I don't think so, my dear Gwen." He picked it up. Her eyes were burning with an all-consuming hatred for him; he looked back at her unperturbed, and when she dropped her eyes, felt that he had, once again, triumphed over the weak, unimportant girl.

A sudden movement caught his eye and he whirled around, not fast enough, as, with the element of surprise, Gwen plunged a shard of the shattered sword into his left cheek. Bilis howled like an animal, clutched one hand to his cheek to stem the blood coursing down his face and with an unnatural grace, released the knife from his hand.

It hit its intended target, who was, to begin with, at a loss as to what had hit the back of his neck. Then came the pain, white hot and blinding. He tried to move his hands, to uselessly clutch his neck, but it would not obey.

"No," Gwen whispered. She saw the knife protruding from Jack's neck, like the sick intrusion that it was. "No!" She repeated. This had been her fault. She should have aimed for the jugular.

Bilis knelt to the floor with an athleticism that people half his age wouldn't have been able to manage and, once more betraying the strength that his frail arms disguised hauled Gwen to her feet. She was half dragged to face Jack.

He looked into her eyes as he died, the blue fading a shade or two as the life flickered away.

"That was your fault," Bilis whispered malevolently into her ear. She shook her head desperately, ignoring the pain that shot through her. He pulled her close to his body, so close that she could feel his breath in her hair. "Quiet now, my precious, I need you to be nice and still for me."

Everything went black.

...

"Well?" Owen repeated for the hundredth time, the SUV stopped in the middle of a forked road, blue lights illuminating the hedges which had been flashing past minutes ago.

The PDA had gone dead quarter of an hour ago and without it, the sat nav had lost the route.

"Well?" He pressed again.

Beside him, Alex fiddled with the small device, unsuccessfully.

"Let me have a look," commanded Toshiko. Alex gratefully passed it back to Toshiko who began fiddling with the computer like Alex had been. The difference was that it suddenly buzzed and the screen lit up. "Result," she smiled. She surveyed the information and the smile became fixed and forced, something which Martha and Owen were quick to realise.

"Tosh?" The Torchwood employees asked simultaneously, their brows furrowed.

"Where is she then?" Alex inquired, sounding much more upbeat, still unaware that Owen and Martha were turning slowly to look at him.

"There is no signal," Tosh explained quietly. "Either he's found it--"

"Impossible," remarked Alex.

"—She's very cold right now or …" She looked around at Alex too.

"Or she's not got any body heat anymore," Owen finished, when it became clear Toshiko was unwillingly to say the words. The words blanketed the car with thick dread.

"Maybe she's just unconscious?" Alex sounded optimistic, even if he didn't feel it.

"What?"

"The system can track the changes in body heat when you're not conscious. You're not moving right so you don't produce as much kinetic energy which is transformed into heat energy. The signal was … minimal so … maybe she was tied up but struggling. But now …"

"Yeah, alright, save us the lecture Spy Kid."

A beeping filtered through the speakers of the car as the sat nav burst back into life. Startled, Toshiko stared down at the PDA, which was once again showing a small signal.

"You so better be right about this," Owen growled. "If I find out you're taking us for a joyride and wasting the petrol I will kill you. Understand?"

Alex nodded, his heart leaping as the sat nav restarted its calm instructions.

...

Gwen felt warm … warmer, at least. She slowly opened her eyes, immediately on the defensive, scanning for Bilis. She couldn't see him.

Something shifted against her left arm and she started, aware that she'd been rebound to the pillar. The something groaned and she turned to look at Jack, now tied beside her.

"You look terrible," she told him matter-of-factly, as though she'd come into work one morning to find him with a killer hangover (if he ever drank alcohol) and no sleep to boot.

"Thanks."

It was more comforting with him beside her, his arm now securely wrapped around hers, linking them together. Unfortunately, it didn't do much for her as Bilis appeared in the slither of a gap in the hangar doors. The light was flickering as he walked under it, towards Gwen and Jack. She felt her stomach convulse with uncomfortable palpations of fear.

"Now then," he called across the empty space, his voice echoing back at them, "Down to business, I should think." He stopped before them. "I am not a fool Jack Harkness. I know exactly where to hurt you the most and I shall. In a short time, you will be the most wounded than you have ever been and dying isn't going to heal it."

"You'd be surprised what I can take Bilis. Try me."

Bilis laughed, knowing by the half flinch on Gwen's face that she hated the sound. "My Master meant everything to me. I went to the ends of the world – and beyond – for him and I know that you will do exactly the same that Miss Cooper here."

"Jack …" warned Gwen quietly.

"I swore eleven years ago that I would have my revenge on you, Jack Harkness and so I sat and I planned. I waited and I watched. It was harder than it should have been because you," he spat at Gwen, "took the coward's way out. Quite unexpected I may add, as I thought that you were a courageous young woman. You see, even being around for as long as I, one can never judge a character completely."

"I don't know about that." Gwen spoke defiantly. "I can judge your character pretty completely."

Bilis laughed again, waiting for the reaction. "So I had to think harder. You remember young Ianto?"

"Don't you dare besmirch his name," snarled Jack.

"I do. I remember the look on his face as he died. Those wide eyes and that poor, helpless face. You thought it was a weevil, didn't you, Jack? You shot the one you kept in the vaults because you thought that it did it. You were wrong," Bilis breathed.

"No …" Jack snapped aggressively. He remembered the stench of blood as he'd walked down to the vaults, dreading the next step after Toshiko's terrified scream had greeted him when she'd followed him down after he'd spent over an hour down there.

"It was Toshiko that found him, wasn't it? The sweet, loyal Japanese girl. At least, that's you think she is. If you get out of here Jack, you ask her why she never told you about me being down there. Why she stood by and watched you shoot the weevil in the forehead and then kick it until it was as mangled as Ianto. When she saw me do it. Oh, Jack, just out of curiosity, what did she do after you'd all calmed down. What did she do?"

Jack took a deep steadying breath, feeling obliged speak, feeling that it might quench the terrible fury brewing inside him as he looked at Bilis. "She went to Owen. Neither of them came into work for a week after, not until that Hoix convention in Newport forced them to. What did you do?"

"I told her, in perfect detail, how I was going to kill her babies, then Owen, in front of her powerless eyes, if she breathed a word."

Gwen shook fiercely and the loathing that she had been about to extend to Toshiko died down as she considered what Bilis had threatened her with. "You're sick!" she exclaimed.

"But, when I thought you were going to destroy yourself with grief, you picked yourself up."

Jack interrupted. "Toshiko was pregnant. She seemed so terrified when she broke the news and I thought that it was because of how I was acting. So I pulled myself together for her. My brave Toshiko, only then she wasn't 'mine' anymore, she was 'Owen's' and he complained when I called her that."

"So I returned to the drawing board." He turned his head slowly to look at Gwen. She and Jack could both see the direction that the conversation was taking and Gwen was suddenly filled with dread.

"You know that contact that Valera had at MI6?" Bilis switched abruptly to Russian. "And you know those two agents that Valera was planning to send out here? Oh, and you know that explosion? One big chain reaction."

"You," Gwen gasped, replying automatically in Russian, "You killed all those people. They were innocent. Truly innocent, not like your twisted idea that you or Abaddon were!" Jack watched the short exchange, recognizing words. He squeezed Gwen's arm. She turned to him, fat tears welling in her eyes. "He manipulated everything Jack. The explosion and Roman and Svetlana! I went to their funerals for Gods sake! I knew that I would have to take over their job but I … I never dreamed that it was because I was going to take over their jobs that I was at their funeral!"

Gwen's beautiful, horrified face was covered in a thin layer of grime and mud from the woods but as Jack watched it began to stream away as tears washed down her cheeks. One dirty teardrop fell off the end of her chin; it splashed down onto the floor and was joined by another … and another as she slowly lost control. She was screaming obscenities at him through her hysteria, struggling against her bonds as she tried to launch herself at him.

"Gwen! Gwen!" Jack consoled, moving as close to her as was possible, wishing that he could put his arms around her and hold her tight. She hiccupped but the tears didn't stop.

"I'm sorry to break up the female hysterics but I'm afraid this is rather important." As Jack looked up the flickering light finally died, plunging the warehouse into darkness. Beside him he felt Gwen tense instinctively and he immediately bent his body as far down as the cuffs would allow him.

"Don't look at me," Bilis' laughing voice echoed out of the darkness. It seemed to be coming at them from all angles. "Not that you can, because it's dark now, but I didn't do anything. It must have realised that its time was nearly up and it preferred to go with some dignity."

A puff of wind tickled the back of Jack's neck and he jerked around, squinting desperately into the gloom. "What the hell are you playing at? My team is working to find you and trust me, they will!"

"And how do you think they're going to know where you are. I blocked your comms. I don't know whether you've guessed yet but I control the rift far better than you. Even if I didn't, they wouldn't have got to you in time. You're on the other side of the world."

"You'd be surprised, Bilis. I only pick the best."

I'm sure you did."

Jack shivered at his use of past tense.

"I digress. I've long since realised Jack that there are fates worse than death. You showed that when you killed my great master Abaddon and left me behind to suffer the consequences."

Gwen and Jack pressed their bodies against one another in a futile attempt at comfort. "I won't let anything happen to you," Jack murmured into her ear.

"How noble of you Jack," said Bilis, "but there are thirteen explosive devices positioned around this building, timed to detonate in two minutes and … thirty-two seconds. If you're going to do it, you might as well do it in style, I suppose. Another of your wise teachings Jack. And it means I won't have to clear up after you."

He sounded completely calm and collected and that was what scared Gwen the most. Toshiko and Owen wouldn't be able to get to them on time and no-one would know what had happened here. Her Mam and Dad; she hadn't seen them for years but they would never know that she was dead.

Suddenly a sharp breeze travelled straight past Gwen's ear.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

...

"There!" screamed Toshiko as a large aviation hangar loomed into sight as they sped along the runway. It sat alone, away from the main complex where the deserted departures and arrivals were situated by the main entrance.

Owen screeched to a halt and the team, including Alex piled out immediately. Martha and Owen pulled their guns and flashlights and Toshiko carried her PDA.

Alex was at the back of the group and a small movement in his peripheral vision stopped him dead. "Hey!" he shouted.

Martha turned back at his shout and followed his gaze to the top of a small hill, on the opposite side of the chain fencing that ran around the aircraft complex. Bilis stared back at her, completely calm and collected.

"Hey!" Martha echoed Alex's shout. "You bastard!" She bellowed and sprinted in the direction of the figure.

Toshiko had turned back at the second shout but Owen continued forward, jogging determinedly towards an open door at the front of the hangar. As he left the SUVs headlights range, he clicked on the torch; it shone a small path of light in front of him.

He entered the hangar as his comm crackled into life. "Bastard disappeared," Martha panted down the connection.

Owen cautiously edged further into the hangar. It was in darkness and his torch didn't go far in the way of lighting it up. His footsteps bounced off the walls.

"Jack?! Gwen?!" he called.

"Owen?" Jack's voice floated back at him, filled with relief. At the sound of it, Owen felt himself relax a little, although still wary that Bilis might come back.

Toshiko still sounded worried as her voice filled his ear. "Owen?"

"It's okay Tosh!" Owen informed her. "They're here! It's alright." He wondered briefly why no-one had followed him into the hangar.

"No, Owen." Martha replied. She was stood behind Toshiko and Alex, who were crouched over a miniscule box which sat by the outside wall. A single length of wire snaked into the darkness on each sides. "Tosh's found explosives. Thirteen of them! You need them out."

Owen's happy sense of relief disappeared immediately. Jack was calling his name again, joined by a welsh voice that he hadn't heard properly for years. He forced his legs to begin sprinting in the direction of the voices even though his brain was telling him to run in the opposite direction, back out of the door.

"Can't you diffuse them?"

"Owen?!"

"I'm trying!"

"Owen?! We're over here!"

"They've got just over one minute."

"Owen!"

He swung in torch wildly in every direction hoping to chance across a head or a pair of feet.

"Owen!"

"Jack!" he exclaimed in both relief and shock as the beam finally shone on Jack and Gwen. He bent down immediately to try and undo the bonds that were tying them but the image of the pair was still burnt into his eyelids – Jack's face and white top was a vivid red and there was even a pool of the stuff at his feet. Gwen was huddled into his side and he had turned his body into her as far as he was physically able to. They both seemed shrunken and desperate, covered in blood and jagged cuts.

"Owen, there are bombs," Jack whispered.

"I know."

He struggled with the ropes holding Gwen first, knowing that if anyone did end up getting blown to pieces, it was him and Gwen who wouldn't come out of it smiling. His hands fumbled with the tight knot that was secured around the tall pillar.

"Thirty seconds!" warned Alex.

He glanced at Jack's bonds and winced at the sight of barded wire embedded into his skin, about three centimeters deep in places.

"Owen! I can't do it!" That was Toshiko, sounding panicked, terrified

"Twenty-five seconds."

"No," he muttered, trying harder to untie the ropes, but only succeeding in making it tighter under the pressure.

He looked up at a touch of something on his leg - Gwen's foot nudged his to get his attention.

"Twenty seconds."

"Owen! Get out of there!" Toshiko cried into his ear.

"Owen. Get out of here." Gwen repeated, sounding much calmer than Toshiko outside.

"No," he muttered and returned to the rope.

Gwen kicked out, driving her heel into his hamstring. "Go!"

"Fifteen seconds."

"Jack," Owen appealed, looking at his boss with wide eyes.

Jack looked back at him with a guarded expression, not breathing a word.

Owen looked from him to Gwen and turned on his heel, sprinting for the exit. His flashlight grew fainter as it moved farther away.

With the light gone, Gwen felt, rather than saw, Jack's head turn towards hers. His fingers threaded back through hers, tenderness forgotten as he gripped her hand tightly and urgently.

"I really do love you, you know," he choked out.

Gwen's only reply was a strangled laugh but she buried her face deeper into his neck.

"Three."

Owen cleared the door and continued running.

"Two."

Toshiko, Martha and Alex were stood on the other side of the SUV. One of them had moved it away and as he appeared, Toshiko tried to run towards him, only to be held back by Martha. Alex was counting down on the PDA. Tears streamed down the girls' faces.

"One."

The hangar lit up the night sky as it blew itself apart. The walls disintegrated as a stunned Martha, Toshiko and Alex watched. They dived down as the blast of the explosion punched through the air, scooping Owen up and sending him flying through the air like a rag doll. The noise was deafening and they pointlessly covered their ears with their hands.

The smell of burning drifting up their nostrils and the crackle of flames was the first acknowledgement that it was over. Alex was the first to rise. Debris had fallen all around them, smashing the windscreen of the SUV. Toshiko slowly pulled herself up using the side of the SUV for support.

"Owen!" she screamed, searching the blazing wreckage for her fiancé. Owen was sprawled ten meters from the SUV and relative safety. His right arm was trapped under a large chunk of what looked like the remains of a metal wall.

They ran forwards together, pulling it off of him. Alex checked for a pulse as Toshiko cradled his head in her lap. Some debris had caught her temple, leaving a small V shaped cut which bled profusely down her cheek, mirroring the path of her tears.

He was numbly aware of sirens already piercing the air.

Martha was the only one to properly survey the carnage. She would be the one who would painstakingly search the ruins later in the morning, once the fires had been put out, Toshiko had gone with Owen to the hospital and Alex rushed back off to London.

But even in the first seconds of sweeping the wreckage with her bare eyes, she was already certain. There was nothing left; there were no twisted remains of walls or a vague shape of a building.

If anything or anyone was inside that building, there was no way on Earth that they would have survived in one piece.


Well? Was it okay? Or just plain bad? This was the hardest chapter to write so I'd muchly appreciate your views. It's that little button below. Thank you :)

PS I'd really love to see if I can get the reviews in triple figures 'cos I've never had that before! You would make my day so c'mon guys, only (I can't remember the exact number I've got at the moment) about fifteen reviews ... it's not that many!