Notes: John does some more 'CSI' stuff to find his family, while Torchwood lead an SAS badass style assault.
John descends further into despair.

Chapter 5

On the way to Special Operations, John reassured Pete that Rose and EJ were fine. He didn't tell him about the paralysis and the ventilator, he would have gone 'ape-shit'. It was all John could do to contain his own outrage, focussing instead on finding the airship they were on and intercepting it.

In the Operations room, Pete went to Andy's office and brought him up to speed with John's information. John logged onto a computer and started hacking Heathrow airport flight schedules for private charter airships.

Andy and Pete came up behind him and looked over his shoulder.

"What's occurring John?" Andy asked him. "Nice bit of intelligence gathering by the way. Could you teach my lot to do that?"

John looked up from the screen and saw Andy grinning at him.

"I'm trying to locate the private charter airship so that we can intercept it."

"What makes you think it's Heathrow? Just because they started off travelling west doesn't mean they couldn't double back after the switch," Andy told him. "I know I would."

"It's all to do with time," John told them. "I know Rose was hit with the tranquiliser at 12:17. Thanks to the mind meld, I know she woke up at 13:49. They had a 90 minute window to get her strapped down safe in the airship and get under way."

He was in what Pete called his 'Sherlock' mode. "At 13:07, they discarded Rose's phone rather than just switching it off, that delayed us for five minutes while they got to the factory unit. We then followed the decoy while they made their way to the airport. The only one available in the time frame is Heathrow."

While he was talking, lists were scrolling down the screen faster than Pete or Andy could follow.

"Got 'em!" he declared. "Private charter airship took off at 13:45 bound for Vidin airport in Bulgaria. That's right in the middle of the Balkan mountains, a perfect place to hide a spaceship." John tapped a few more keys.

"I've got their call sign and transponder frequency. They are over northern France, heading south east for the Alps."

"Right then, I'm off to my office to call the President. We'll need a bit of political muscle to intercept a foreign airship in flight," Pete said.

"What?! Can't we just go and get 'em? My family have been kidnapped!" John stated, incredulous that anyone would try and stop him from rescuing them.

"You're not in the TARDIS now John, we have to go through channels."

"Thanks for reminding me. That makes me feel a whole lot better."

"Don't worry, I'm going to pull in some favours. Harriet has taken a shine to you and Rose since you saved the universe from the darkness."

As Pete headed for the door John called over to him. "Could we at least let some of our staff take a little vacation to the eastern Mediterranean in your Vitex airship?"

Pete looked back and grinned. "Andy, call in White Watch and send them on a holiday, courtesy of Vitex."

Andy laughed and nodded. "Chrissie, call 'em in. Tell 'em it's a Code Red."

Chrissie made the calls and mobilized the watch when she had a call from Reception.

"Captain McNab, Reception has just had a strange call from an anonymous source. Apparently, they asked for a message to be passed to you personally."

"Really? Okay, what's the message?"

"It's a postcode and house number, with the words 'The kidnappers are here. Don't dally'."

"What the crap?!" Andy was experienced enough to know when an informant was passing on information. "Okay people, full combat gear now! Chrissie, get some Mobile Investigation Vehicles over there and start surveillance with the 'spy-flies', I want to know numbers, locations within the property, defences and firepower before we get there."

"I want a piece of that," Jack said from the door.

"Harkness, are you fit for duty?" Andy asked him.

"You bet, and I can identify one of the kidnappers."

"He's got a point," John said.

"And a good one at that," McNab replied. "Okay, get suited up with the others. John, if you standby here, we'll feed any intel direct to you."

John was eager to get out there and do something, but he also wanted to contact Rose again and let her know what was happening.

The Torchwood assault team were in a 10 seater vehicle parked around the corner from the target house. Captain McNab was giving the final briefing before the raid.

"The first room on the left contains three targets, Jake, Julia, Stuart and Pete, they're yours. The room at the rear contains two targets, one of which is the assailant that attacked agent Smith. Jack, Gwen and Myself will take them. Upstairs in three separate rooms are three more targets. Clive, Danny, Andre and Craig, they're yours."

They all put on their respirators with gold reflective visors, and helmets with high tech sensors and cameras. They looked like inhuman fighting robots, which would scare even the most hardened soldier.

"Position the door nettings and call in when you are ready. I'll activate them all from my wrist computer."

They all exited the vehicle and crept silently down the street to the target house. All except for Andy, Jack and Gwen, who made their way to the back of the house to affect an entry through the back door.

They placed a flexible wire netting over the front and back doors, fixed in position with 'suckers'. This was another of John's inventions for gaining covert entry into dangerous situations.

"Alpha Team in position," Andy announced.

"Beta Team in position," Jake replied. Andy pressed a button on his computer and the doors silently turned to sawdust. They picked up the netting and silently made their way into the house.

Jack placed the netting over the rear room door and crouched to the side, with Gwen crouching on the other side. Andy was watching his wrist computer as each team indicated that they were in position and ready to go.

He had four green lights, they were ready to go. He whispered into his head set. "All units, we are go in three, two, one, GO, GO, GO!" He pressed the button again and all the doors turned to dust.

ZZAPP-APP-APP-APP-APP. There was an almost simultaneous discharge of stun guns.

"Beta 1, three targets down," Jake announced.

"Beta 3, target down."

"Beta 2, target down."

"Beta 4, target down."

"Alpha 1, one down, one to go," Andy said. "All units, secure targets and start extraction."

Jack, Andy and Gwen walked into the room at the rear of the house. One of the kidnappers was unconscious with his head on the table, a deck of cards scattered in front of him. The other man had his right arm in a sling, bloodshot eyes and a bruise across his neck.

He had jumped up from his seat when the other man was 'zapped'.

"FREEZE!" Gwen shouted as she aimed her stunner at him, standing combat ready and looking for the slightest hostile movement.

He actually 'gulped' as he looked at the three commandos with wide, terrified, red eyes. Jack took off his helmet and pulled off his respirator mask.

"Hi there handsome, fancy meeting you here." Jack recognised him as the assailant that had shot him earlier.

Andy took off his helmet and mask and grinned. "God that felt good! I've missed that since I left my old unit." He walked over to the kidnapper and pushed him down into the chair.

"And what poor excuse for a human being have we got here then," he said, his grin never faltering. "Kidnapping. Conspiracy to kidnap. Aggravated assault, you boys are looking at some serious time inside for all that. If you want the courts to look favourably on you, you had better start talking." He grinned at Jack. "Otherwise, I'll have to let handsome here show you a good time."

The kidnapper saw the look in Jack's eyes and the colour drained from his face.

Pete first phoned Jackie to tell her that John had managed to contact Rose and EJ, and although they were still held captive, they were unharmed.

He next phoned Harriet Jones and explained the situation and the need for urgency. The President was appalled, but informed Pete that they didn't have any special political relations with Bulgaria. The government would require evidence and proof before they could intercept the airship in flight.

The wheels of government turned slowly, and when it was two governments that didn't know or trust each other, they almost turned backwards. The best course of action would be for Interpol to meet the kidnappers at the airport and prevent them from getting to their spaceship.

Harriet Jones would move heaven and earth for her favourite celebrity couple, and that son of theirs was so adorable that she wouldn't let anything happen to him either. She had said this to Pete when he said he was formulating a contingency plan. It was her way of saying 'do what you have to and we'll sort out the politics later'.

In the Operations room, John was looking at the live feed from a surveillance satellite over Europe. He could see the airship approaching the Austrian Alps, and the sleek, eight seater Vitex airship over France that was slowly closing the distance.

He hacked into the feed from a Pentagon spy satellite and started scanning the Balkan mountains around Vidin, looking for an alien spaceship.

John's phone started to play Jack's ring tone, 'I feel like a woman' by Shania Twain. Jack had asked him to use that one because he felt it summed him up. John had told him 'The oldest swinger in town' might be more appropriate in that case.

"Doc. My trigger happy friend was only too happy to talk to me," Jack's cheerful voice said.

"Don't tell me you've got a date with him?" John joked, trying to keep his flagging spirits up.

"Hah! Didn't think of that. Their client first contacted them back home in Bulgaria on social networking, then email and then by radio. They've never met him but I've got the radio frequency, I'm uploading it now. I thought you might like to have a little chat with him."

"Jack you old rogue, did I ever tell you that you're brilliant?" John said, his mood starting to lift.

"On more than one occasion if I recall. See you soon."

John moved over to the communications console where Chrissie Anderson was sitting at Despatch. He fed the frequency into the transceiver and sent a carrier wave.

He waited a few minutes and the equipment indicated that the carrier had been received. The face of a wizened old reptile appeared on the screen. John recognised him from when he'd seen him through EJ's eyes.

"Your eminence! Finally we get to meet. My name's John Smith and you have my wife and son," he said, getting straight to the point.

"You know me? How is that possible?"

"I'm the Doctor, and with me, anything's possible." He could see he'd rattled the old lizard. "And I'm giving you the opportunity to turn that ship around, take my wife off the ventilator and bring them back."

From the look on the lizard's face he'd hit another bulls eye with the ventilator statement. He was on a roll and wasn't about to stop, he had wanted to unnerve him, and he was succeeding.

"And, if she's the Holy Mother, does that make me the Holy Father?"

"Wh... How do you know all this?" the lizard stuttered.

"I told you, I'm the Doctor. NOW BRING THEM BACK, or else..." His voice suddenly had an air of menace.

"Or else what?" the lizard asked hesitantly.

"Or else I will come and get them! And trust me; you really don't want me to do that. I'm saying this one time only, one offer, one chance."

The old lizard actually looked full of trepidation, but he was committed to a course of action and he couldn't turn back now.

"I am sorry Doctor, but the Kaliq-Farrash is essential to the future of our collective worlds and our survival. I really am sorry that it had to be like this, but without his presence to unify the worlds, we are doomed. I truly am sorry." The screen went dead.

He looked across and saw Chrissie looking at him, tears welling in her eyes. He then noticed that Pete had come into the room and was standing behind him, he'd heard the whole conversation. John silently went back to the satellite surveillance and continued to watch the progress of the Vitex airship.

The large, private charter airship had climbed to 6,000 metres to safely clear the eastern Alps which had slowed it down slightly as it climbed.

The Vitex airship however, was piloted by a Torchwood agent who had learned to fly in combat. The ship flew down narrow valleys, skimming treetops as it went. The co-pilot was using his Torchwood tablet PC to link to the satellite systems to plot the fastest, low level course.

White Watch had arrived at London City airport in their ordinary clothes so as not to arouse any suspicion as they went through the departure lounge. All their special gear had been fast tracked through cargo by the airport security staff.

They had received the 'go' signal from Captain McNab after it was found that negotiations with Bulgarian authorities would take too long and the target airship was veering off course and heading directly into the Balkans.

They were now kitted out in their black Special Operations uniforms, with white Parkas and over trousers for the snow capped peaks. They were going through weapons and equipment checks. McNab was briefing them on the mission and the circumstances of the hostages.

The ventilator presented an extra hazard due to the fact that if it became damaged or disconnected, agent Smith could die. Duncan Prescott, one of the most experienced field agents in Torchwood, second only to Andy McNab, designated one of the medic trained agents to be Rose's 'guardian angel' and keep her healthy.

The airship was being buffeted about by turbulence from bad weather over the Alps. One advantage though was that they had a tail wind which was carrying them along at speed.

The pilot had put on his combat helmet so that he could use the satellite linked head up display to fly through the low storm clouds without being blind. A wire frame, virtual mountain range appeared in front of his eyes, along with cockpit flight instrument data.

In the Operations room back at Canary Wharf, John was tracking both airships and trying to find the alien spaceship. He had come to the conclusion that it was probably cloaked. The new direction of the target airship now indicated they were heading in the direction of Midžor peak.

Pete had contacted the President again and informed her about the deviation from a logged flight plan, and agreed that this would help to indicate the guilt of the airship occupants. She would be on the phone to the Bulgarian authorities immediately.

On the high resolution satellite feed to the HD screen, the progress of the Vitex airship could be seen, watched with a great deal of pride by McNab. He turned to Pete and smiled.

"We've got one hell of a team here Pete."

Pete nodded. "Just as well really. Let's hope they're up to the challenge ahead."

John programmed a predictive algorithm into his computer, taking into account relative air speeds, wind speeds and terrain. He ran it forward, and if all the factors remained relatively stable the Torchwood team should get to Midžor peak 5 to 10 minutes before the lizard.

His automated pattern recognition software came up trumps as well. It was looking for geometric depressions in the snow on Midžor peak. If a ship was cloaked, its landing struts would still have to make contact with the ground, and that would leave depressions.

On the Vitex ship, the co-pilot was checking his tablet and realised they should be able to see the target any time soon. He was looking out of the windows when he caught sight of a black dot through a break in the clouds.

"Bogey 11 o'clock, we've made good time," he told the pilot. "Heads up Duncan! Target acquired."

"Okay people, final prep. Let's make sure this goes right and by the numbers. That's one of our own out there, let's bring them home," Duncan said, holding his hand out. The team all put their hands in and shouted a 'HUH'.

Chrissie's voice came over their headsets. "Torchwood Despatch to White Watch, landing site located. Transmitting coordinates now. Be advised that Bulgarian commandos are on their way to assist, over.

"Roger that Despatch. It looks like the President did it. Perfect timing. Making our final approach now, over," the pilot said in the normal, unflappable voice of a professional pilot.

"50 feet, wind sheer 20 knots from the northeast. 40 feet. 30 feet, drifting to the right, 20, 10, contact. You are good to go."

Duncan flipped the door down. "GO! GO! GO!"

Four pairs of agents leapt into the snow and spread out left and right, stun rifles poised and ready to fire. The rifles fired a bolt of energy four times further than the pistols and were ideal for this kind of mission. They hunkered down in the snow and waited for the airship to arrive.

They didn't have to wait long. Six minutes, right in the middle of John's prediction. The large airship lowered itself to the snow and the side door hinged down to form a ramp.

Someone in snow clothing walked down the ramp and stood in the snow at the bottom. Another person followed carrying a carrycot and was helped off the ramp into the snow.

White Watch were startled, when a metal ramp appeared out of thin air a few feet above the ground.

"First hostage out. Acquire your targets," Duncan said into his headset. "No one gets on that ship, understood?"

"Understood," the responses came back in his earpiece.

Next to come down the ramp was a floating metallic casket with a person at each end.

"Second hostage out. Take 'em down!"

ZZAPP! ZZAPP-APP-APP. Bolts of blue-white electricity zipped across the snow field towards the people on the ground.

The Operations room was silent as they watched the unfolding mission on the plasma screen from the helmet cameras. It was like a scene from Star Wars as the energy bolts shot out.

"Yesss!" someone said as they punched the air, but John could see something was wrong.

"No, no, no, no, no! This is bad! This is very bad," he called out.

The energy bolts were flashing in mid air in front of the two ramps. It was so bright that they could only just see the people from the airship walking up the metal ramp and disappearing into thin air.

"An energy field! They're using an energy field. That's cheating! It's not fair." John banged his fist on the desk. "It's just not fair." He had tears in his eyes as Chrissie squeezed his hand and Pete put a hand on his shoulder.