A/N. Thank you to rosieposy, NoOneNotEvenMe, and Aswen for your reviews for the last chapter. I hope you enjoy the next chapter, i'd forgotten how much fun it was to write Alex. He's a bad guy, but i think that's why he's fun to write. :)
Chapter 30.
The other four members of the team looked at Molly, trying to take in what she had just said.
'No way,' said Jamie.
'You can't be serious.' said Ianto.
'Look, I hate myself for saying it, but he is the one person that's going to know who these people are.'
'He's never going to help us, I doubt he wouldn't even see us.' argued Ianto.
'He'll see me.' said Molly.
No.' said Jamie, pulling her around so that they were standing face to face. 'After everything that's happened, everything you told me the other night. You think I'm going to let him anywhere near you.'
'Do you think I want to see him? I'd be very happy never to set eyes on him again, but I have to do this, for Jess. Plus I'm doing this on my terms, not his.'
'She has a point.' said Jack. 'Alex is the only one that is likely to know who we are dealing with, and I bet he'll talk to Molly.'
'Then I'm coming with you.' said Jamie.
'I appreciate that, but no. If you come with me, if he even knows you are there, he'll get hostile and won't be any help. Last time you were together, you fought.'
'Yeah, last time you saw him, he tried to kill you!' The words were out of Jamie's mouth before he realised what he was saying.
'Oh, really, that must have slipped my mind.' said Molly sarcastically, pulling back from Jamie.
'Ok you two, stop arguing, that's not going to get us anywhere.' said Jack trying to break the tension that was rising in the Hub. 'I'll go with Molly, she'll be fine.'
'I need some air.' said Jamie, before he turned and stormed out of the Hub.
'I'll go after him, make sure he's ok.' said Gwen, 'I can call Rhys on my way, tell him I won't be home.'
'I need a drink.' said Molly and she headed off towards the kitchen.
'Are you really going to let her do this Jack?' said Ianto, when Molly was out of earshot.
'What choice do we have, she's the only one that has even a chance of getting him to tell us anything.'
'You can't believe that he's going to tell the truth. He's just going to use it as an excuse to torment her. Look at what happened last time he was here.'
Jack reached out and took Ianto's hand. 'I know you're concerned about her, but this is different. Last time Alex surprised her by turning up here, caught her completely off guard. Molly said it herself, she's doing this on her terms. I can't answer whether or not he'll tell her anything, but I have a feeling that we shouldn't underestimate what Molly is capable of, especially considering what's at stake here.'
Ianto sighed, 'Yeah, I know. I just hope he doesn't manage to shatter whatever confidence she has built back up. You better make sure she's ok.'
'I promise,' said Jack and he kissed Ianto on the cheek. 'Can you call UNIT and set up a meeting with General Andrews, he will probably be the most helpful. Tell him we're on our way, then maybe try going back through some of the files we have on Alex, see if you can get any clues.'
'What about Jamie?'
'Gwen, can look out for him. I'll go and see if Molly's ready to go, hopefully we won't be long.'
Jack walked across to the kitchen and found Molly leaning on the counter, a glass of water held tightly in her hand. 'You ready?'
'As I'll ever be.' she said.
'Do you know what you're going to say.'
'I have an idea, maybe you could help me work on it, on the way.'
'Sure, come on, the sooner we go the sooner all this will be over.' Jack paused. 'Do you want to speak to Jamie, before you go?'
Molly shook her head. 'No, I think he needs his space at the moment. He'll only try and talk me out of this.' Molly paused, 'But this is something I have to do.'
Jack and Molly left the Hub quickly and went down to the car park. They got into the SUV and started the journey to UNIT.
X
Gwen found Jamie leaning against the railings looking out across the Bay. The wind was starting to pick up in the early evening air, and sky looked as if it was threatening rain. She walked over to him and leant against the railing next to him.
'I shouldn't have stormed out like that.' Jamie said.
'I think it's understandable, it's not an easy situation.' said Gwen, knowing this was an understatement. 'I can't even try and put myself in your shoes, because if someone took Mary, I don't know what I'd do.'
'I feel so helpless, and guilty. I should have been with them earlier, if I was maybe it wouldn't have happened.'
'You can't know that, what if's are the worse thing to think about. If this gang have been planning on getting at Molly, or any one of us, they would have done it.'
'That doesn't make me feel better though, because if they didn't have Jess they'd have Molly and I'd still feel like this.' Jamie sighed and then turned around. 'Seeing what they did to Molly just…' Jamie trailed off, not able to put into words everything he was feeling.
'We will get them for what they did. They don't mess with Torchwood and get away with it.'
Jamie smiled a little at that, it was true and right now he really appreciated it. 'We should go back in and see what we can do. Standing here feeling sorry for myself is not going to get Jess back. I can apologise to Molly too.' Jamie tried to sound confident, even though deep down he didn't feel it.
Gwen and Jamie walked back to the Hub, and were a little surprised to see Ianto on his own.
'Where are Jack and Molly?' asked Gwen.
'They left to go to UNIT.' said Ianto.
'So she's going through with it. She's really going to go and talk to Alex.' said Jamie.
'Yes, she's feels it's the best way to find out who's behind this.' said Ianto, then seeing the look that Jamie was giving him added. 'I know you're not happy about this, but she believes she can get the information out of him.'
'At what cost though.' said Jamie, 'You know as well as I do what he did to her.'
'Yeah I do, but have you thought that maybe she needs to do this. Maybe by confronting him head on she can get some kind of closure on the subject.'
'Well, we'll see won't we.'
Gwen decided to interrupt, 'So what can we do while we wait for them to get back to us with something.'
Ianto, grateful for the distraction as he didn't particularly want an argument with Jamie considering things were still strained between them, explained what Jack wanted them to do while he was gone.
X
Jack and Molly arrived at UNIT and were greeted by General Andrews. 'Captain Harkness, Miss Jameson,' he said holding out his hand to each of them. They both took it in turn to shake it. 'Nice to meet you in person finally, although I wish it was under better circumstances. Your colleague Mr Jones gave me all the details over the phone. Follow me.' The General led them through a series of corridors and locked doors, until they reached a corridor that had two rooms in it. As they walked they discussed what was going to happen when Molly entered the room. Molly was starting to get nervous.
Jack turned to her. 'Are you sure you're ok to go through with this?'
'Yeah.' Molly said, even though her hands were shaking a little, and she was feeling rather queasy.
'Just remember, I'm in the room next door, if you need me to come in, I will.'
Molly nodded and walked towards the door, she reached out and took hold of the door handle. She pulled the door open as confidently as she could and she walked into the room. It was a fairly small room, with one table and two chairs, as well as a one way mirror. Alex was sat on one of the chairs, his hands cuffed to it. Molly sat down on the chair opposite him.
Alex looked at Molly for a minute and then smirked. 'When they said you were here, I didn't believe it, yet here you are Moll. Did you miss me?'
'In your dreams, I try to think about you as little as possible.'
'Can't help yourself though sometimes I bet.'
'Look this isn't a social visit, I need some information.' Molly said, trying to steer the subject to the object of her visit, because she knew he was trying to bait her.
'Is it something to do with those bruises and that cut on your face? Argument with your boyfriend, what was his name, Jimmy?'
'It's Jamie, and he never did this. Unlike some people I can think of he doesn't think beating people is the answer to everything.' Damn Molly thought to herself, she was letting him suck her into his games. She took a breath, 'The people who did this to me, are associates of yours. They ambushed me in the street and did this', she said gesturing to her face.
'I wondered how long it would be before I got the blame. Do you honestly think I was behind it? How would I manage to organise it, when I'm stuck in a cell twenty four hours a day, only seeing another human when I get my meals, or when they decide they want to question me.'
'I didn't say you organised it, I said that the people who did this were associates. You used to get them items. Now they want me to do the same. I want to know who they are.'
'Why, so you can go after them because of what they did to you, leave it alone Moll.'
'The thing is, that when I was taken off the street, I wasn't alone. I had an eleven year old girl called Jess with me at the time, and they took her too. They still have her.'
'Well, I'm sure when they get what they want they will let her go. Who is she to you anyway, you don't have any relatives that age?'
'She's Jamie's daughter.'
Alex laughed, 'Way to go Moll, you go out with the boyfriends daughter and she ends up kidnapped. Are you sure he didn't do that to you.'
Molly decided to ignore his comment and get back to the subject at hand. 'I need to know who these people are. I know you Alex, you are many things, but I can't believe even you could leave an eleven year old girl to the mercy of men like this. I'm sure buried somewhere deep down you have some form of conscience.'
There was a pause, and then Alex replied, 'What's in it for me?'
Molly knew from this answer that she nearly had him. 'You're in here for no set period of time right, which basically means forever. What if I said I have got General Andrews to agree to a set period of time?'
'How long?'
'Twenty years.'
Molly watched him as he thought this over. She glanced up at the one way mirror in the room and gave a small smile, just to let Jack know that she was ok.
'The people who took you, are they after the device that we worked on at your base?'
'Yeah, you know them.'
'Greg and Toby Wallace, they made their fortune selling alien artefacts on the black market, and by supplying criminal gangs with devices such as the one they want now.'
'You knew all this and still gave them what they wanted?'
'They paid well.' said Alex shrugging his shoulders. 'So then, you got what you wanted, maybe I'll see you in twenty.'
'Sorry, what do you mean, you'll see me in twenty.'
'Twenty years when I get out of here, I'll look you up.' Alex said smirking again.
'I think you misunderstood me, I meant twenty years per crime.' said Molly.
'What!' said Alex incredulously, 'When I asked what the set period of time was, you just said twenty years, not twenty years per crime.'
'Really,' said Molly with mock innocence, 'Oh sorry, that bit must have slipped my mind. I can see how that makes a difference, because you're being held on quite a few crimes aren't you. You're not really any better off now, than you were before I came in' Molly stood up at this point and started towards the door, leaving Alex with his mouth open.
'You can't do this to me.' cried Alex getting desperate now, he had always thought he would manage to get out of his current situation, but now he knew it was hopeless.
Molly turned around and walked back to the table. Then, looking Alex straight in the eye, for once not feeling at all intimidated, she said, 'I think I just did.' She then straightened up and strode to the door. She walked out, not looking back as the door closed behind her.
