HUNTER KILLER PART TWO

Kathy Swanson had seen some pretty disgusting things in her career. Things that made one's gut churn in revulsion or made you so mad you just wanted to catch and kill the bastard responsible. She had learned the hard way to be dispassionate about the things she witnessed without losing her instincts or the 'feel' of a case. What she saw that morning however had left her standing at the edge of the crimescene with her jaw hanging open in shock. DS Waylin, who was stood beside her had turned and fled only to be heard retching outside. Kathy couldn't blame him, he was a seasoned man, 10 years older than her and the best DS she's ever had, who had turned down promotion in favour of remaining in Cardiff doing what he did best. Without ambition to get in his way Waylin was a bloody fine copper. Kathy stepped out of the room they had been called to and closed the door at her back. A young PC was hovering outside, looking incredibly pale.

"You alright Davidson?"

He nodded slightly jerkily. "Yeah, bit of a shock."

He'd been the one to discover the bodies after a reported break in, the burglar alarms were still clambering.

"You alright to stand guard?"

"Yes sir. That's not exactly the normal thing one expects to see on a Monday morning." He was nervy. Kathy smiled at him.

"No one but Soco's go in there, clear?"

"Yes sir."

She turned away and strode across the marble floored reception area and through the glass doors that lead out on to the quiet road.... too early for the morning rush. Sighing she pulled out her phone to call the station.

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Ianto hurried through his second shower of the day. Jack stuck his head round the glass partition, toothbrush in his mouth while he tried to speak, showering Ianto with toothpaste. Ianto gave him a long-suffering look and washed it off.

"Hey, don't talk with your mouth full!"

Jack just grinned until he realised the mess he was making and disappeared, re appearing a moment later with a minty white smile.

"You want me to put some coffee on?"

Ianto turned off the water and Jack passed him a towel.

"Don't you dare, leave the coffee to me, brunch is in the fridge sort that out instead."

Jack stuck his tongue out before exiting the tiny bathroom. It was at this precise moment that Ianto suddenly realised why Jack had lavished almost £4000 on the bathroom back at his flat, you couldn't swing a cat in this one!

Ten minutes later and the coffee was brewing and Gwen was just stepping in through the roller door her hair tied up under a wide sun hat, sunglasses hanging loosely in her grip. She did a double take when she saw Ianto in shorts and a lemon T-shirt and then paused at her desk to get a really good look at him, taking in the line of muscular calves and the pale colour of his usually well covered skin. The view really wasn't half bad. She suddenly realised that Jack was watching her watch Ianto and a blush crept up her cheeks and she squeeled.

"I'm only looking."

Jack grinned from his place at Tosh's terminal and Ianto was looking perplexed, being completely oblivious. The cog door rolled back and Tosh bustled in fanning her face with a folded magazine.

"It's roasting out there and it's not even 10 o clock yet."

Ianto handed out iced tea to her and Gwen and coffee to Jack and the three of them made various noises of contentment as they sipped on their drinks. Ianto smiled to himself. He noticed Tosh's eyes widen at the sight of him and rolled his eyes, anyone would think they had never seen him out of a suit before.

"Yes Tosh, these are my legs, pasty things that they are." He commented. Tosh almost spat out a mouthful of tea.

"Brunch is set up in the boardroom and the reports for the weekly meeting are there as well." Ianto advised them before heading back to the kitchenette to get his own cold drink..... a chocolate special.... well he deserved the treat!

It took all of fifteen minutes to go through the weekly reports, mostly weevil related and Jack needing to sign off on Owen's medical requisitions. Owen was bored and fed up with the heat, much preferring to be freezing his balls off than dealing with smelling and needing three showers a day. He had autopsies to do which would be lovely because whilst the HUB was cool in the mornings by late evening it was like a sauna. It smelt as well and he complained about it rather loudly. No one could disagree with him either.

"I'll get some more air freshener then shall I?"

Ianto suggested.

Gwen and Tosh both nodded.

"Personally I think we should move that dinosaur nest, I bet that's where the pong is coming from." Owen suggested.

Ianto sighed, he knew what was coming next.

"It's your dinosaur Ianto you sort it out."

Ianto faced him with a blank look. "Maybe she could stay at yours for the week."

The team dispersed. Tosh had some refinements she wanted to make to the Rift predictor program, Owen went to his corpse, Gwen and Jack went to their respective desks and Ianto retreated up to the tourist office, deciding he had definitely got the better deal. He felt slightly underdressed in his casual attire as he unlocked the front door and propped it open. Jack would moan like hell, but it was bloody hot. He busied himself arranging leaflets and postcards and was quickly interrupted by a group of students who had come down from the university in town. The all chatted about the weather, the rugby and did Ianto want to come out on a hot date with Michelle. Naturally Ianto declined expressing his disappointment at having to turn her down, she gave him her phone number anyway before they all piled out into the scorching sunshine. It was shaping up to be a good paperwork catch up day. At 1:30pm he closed the shop and after a little bit of cleaning he came down into bowels of the Hub. Owen was swearing down in his lair, Tosh and Gwen were sat on the sofa discussing bridal gowns, by the looks of the magazines spread over their laps. A quick glance upwards told him that Jack was deep in conversation on the phone. Ok so it was time for coffee then while things were still nice and quiet. Somehow the moment Jack stepped out from his office, Ianto knew he had jinxed the day.

"Gwen, Ianto with me. The plod need our assistance."

Gwen rolled her eyes and stood up, thanking God she'd had the sense to put on loose fitting jeans and trainers.... looking cool rarely felt cool in this weather. Ianto watched in abject horror as Jack donned his great coat.

"Are you insane?"

"Gotta look cool Ianto!"

Ianto and Gwen exchanged exasperated smiles as they left the Hub with a wave from Tosh.

"Enjoy the sun you lucky......."

Ianto just knew that the last word in that sentence ended with a D. Ianto got to the steering wheel before Jack, much to Gwen's relief so Jack had to settle for riding shot gun, which was no fun at all when Ianto was driving. Ianto keyed the ignition.

"So where are we going?"

Jack shot him a sour look. "Now if you'd let me drive we'd half way there already. The new office block on Snowdon Road."

Ianto smiled. "Do you know how many speeding notices this vehicle picked up last quarter?"

Jack sighed, he'd forgotten that Ianto had been working on the financial reports. Gwen leant forward.

"How many Ianto?"

"Forty Three and I painstakingly tallied them against the mission logs and discovered that a certain Captain is responsible for 38 of them."

Gwen sniggered at Ianto's school-teacherish tone. "What about the other five?"

"Owen, of course."

Jack chose to stare out of his window, but there was a smile on his face all the same.

"What he neglects to mention is that he got a speeding ticket only last week driving his own car!" He revealed in a half whisper. Gwen's eyes went saucer like.

"Mr Ianto Jones, I didn't know you had it in you."

"It was an emergency, my sister's dog had to go to the vets."

Gwen was curious now, Ianto spoke so rarely about his family. Jack wound down the window to get some breeze.

"What did it do?"

Jack was laughing now, he'd been there.

"He ate something he shouldn't." Ianto mumbled as he stopped at a red light. Gwen was fascinated by this point.

"What did he eat?" She turned to Jack, he obviously knew. Ianto was going red and not from the heat. "Come on spill, did you feed him something bad Jack?"

"Hey, why me?" The faux innocence didn't fool Gwen for a moment.

"Edward is a Spaniel and he's kinda nosy. So when we went to visit Ianto's sister he put his overnight bag in his room and forgot to close the door. Edward decided he'd like to try some lube and condoms for size and when he had no luck getting it off, he ate them. We only realised because his breath smelt like strawberries. So instead of being at his neice's birthday party as planned, he was at the vets."

"650 quid that cost me!"

Gwen was laughing and Ianto just looked like he wanted to bury himself. After much discussion about what dogs do best they arrived, pulling up in the midst of a gaggle of police and emergency vehicles after being directed into the road by a traffic cop. All three Torchwood officers went straight into business mode as Kathy Swanson approached the SUV in white protective overalls, looking decidedly grim faced. Ianto went straight to the boot of the SUV and got his forensic took kit and camera, Gwen and Jack were talking to Kathy by the time he got back to them.

Kathy took a step back from the Torchwood team and gestured at the glass fronted building, it was with great reluctance that she had called Jack in the first place, but her medical examiner had been adamant.

"It's a mess in there, but nothing has been touched. You'll need suits and masks."

Ianto went back to the SUV to get their own protective overalls half wondering what it was they were going to find. The three of them donned paper suits and socks over their shoes, Jack putting his beloved coat back into the SUV. When they were ready Kathy led them into the building.

"If you don't mind. I'd really rather not have to go back in there. It's through that door."

Even through their masks the smell was apparent almost immediately. Ianto blanched recognising it straight away. Death; that was the only word for it. Somewhat reluctantly he followed Gwen and Jack into the room. The stench was overwhelming. Gwen had stopped at the entrance, but Jack edged into the space careful of where he was placing his feet. Ianto was totally unprepared for the sight that greeted him and he froze to the spot, the word Brynblaidd hanging on his lips.

"Oh my God." Was what came out.

Jack swung round and looked at him, his face unreadable. "I doubt God had much to do with this."