Author's Notes: Thanks again to everyone who took the time to review the last chapter. I really appreciate it. And a big thanks to the amazing Prothrombintime for feedback and suggestions on this chapter.
Chapter Seven
January 13th, 2004
Ianto paid and thanked the surly man operating the roadside food trailer, then grabbed a handful of paper napkins, and collected their impromptu breakfast of greasy cheese burgers and soggy chips.
He made his way back across the damp grass to where Jack was standing at the front of the SUV. The weather was bitterly cold, the sky dull and grey, and a thin mist spread across the rolling landscape of the Brecon Beacons stretched out before them. As much as he'd welcomed the chance to revisit the Welsh countryside and accompany Jack on a mission, he would have preferred to do it under more agreeable weather conditions. Since leaving the warmth of the SUV's interior, the icy wind had managed to rapidly penetrate his multiple layers of clothing, chilling him to the bone.
Dressed in heavy jeans, black t-shirt, casual white shirt, and a dark khaki weatherproof nylon jacket, Ianto felt ill-at-ease and vulnerable without his customary tailored suit. It was also the first time Jack had seen him attired in casual clothes. On his arrival at the Hub, the older man had remarked that he missed the suit, but he'd hastened to add that Ianto still looked good.
Jack was drinking his coffee while studying a large map spread out on the hood of the vehicle. They'd left Cardiff just before dawn, and Ianto was glad he'd had the foresight to prepare a thermos of coffee before leaving home. Jack was unpredictable at the best of times, but he could be downright grumpy and unpleasant before he'd received his first caffeine fix for the day. In fairness, Ianto had to admit he wasn't much better himself in that respect.
Coming to a halt beside Jack, Ianto passed him his share of the food. "Here you go. Careful, it's hot."
"Thanks, Ianto," Jack replied, glancing up at him before unwrapping his burger and taking a large bite out of it.
Tossing a couple of the sub-standard chips into his mouth, Ianto chewed as he leaned in closer and peered at the map.
"Seventeen disappearances within the last five months. Police are clueless," Jack said conversationally, pausing as he took another large mouthful of food. He pointed at their destination on the map. "The last known whereabouts of each one is somewhere around here."
Ianto nodded. "All within a twenty mile radius. Anything else linking them?"
"None of the bodies have ever been found. These people just fell off the radar. No patterns in age, sex, race. One minute they're here, the next..." Jack made a sound obviously meant to indicate something vanishing. "Gone."
"The Rift doesn't spread out this far does it?" Ianto asked curiously.
Jack shrugged. "We don't know enough about it to be certain. I don't think so, but it's too unpredictable to be sure."
Ianto took an unenthusiastic bite from his burger. It tasted as unappealing as it looked, but he was hungry and at least it was hot. "So, it might not be anything to do with the Rift or aliens?"
"Exactly," Jack replied. "We might be wasting our time. We'll start with the most recent victim, Ellie Johnson. We last have record of her making a phone call. She dropped out of signal mid-call. The coverage map has her placed... somewhere about here." Jack pointed to the map again and Ianto nodded as he took another bite from his burger.
"There's a hotel nearby if we need to stay overnight," Jack added. He looked at Ianto and grinned. "Although maybe we should have packed the camping gear."
Ianto pulled a face, expressing his displeasure at the thought. "I hate camping."
Jack laughed. "But it can be rather cosy." He gave Ianto a flirtatious wink. "There's lots of fun things you can do in a sleeping bag. Besides, no other race in the universe goes camping. Celebrate your own uniqueness."
Ianto frowned, ignoring Jack's less than subtle coquetry. It was just a part of the older man's larger than life personality and he'd gotten used to it. However, Jack quite often threw out casual, random remarks that left him feeling even more perplexed about the enigmatic Captain's origin and background. "There's no way you could know that," he argued.
Jack gave him a self-satisfied smile. "You'd be surprised what I know, Ianto Jones. Come on, let's finish our breakfast, then we'll keep going." He looked at Ianto hopefully. "Any of your fantastic coffee left?"
Ianto nodded, smiling to himself at the Captain's predictability in at least that one area. "Of course, sir."
###
Thirty minutes later, they'd reached the stretch of barren land where Ellie Johnson had disappeared. Jack steered the SUV off the road and parked on the nearby grass. Swiftly jumping out of the car, he began surveying the area while fiddling with his wrist-strap, apparently taking readings. Ianto grabbed his rucksack and joined him, extracting his hand-held scanner and beginning to sweep the area for any residual trace of Rift energy.
"No sign of Rift activity," he reported to Jack a few minutes later, after walking in a wide circle and completing a scan of the surrounding area.
Jack pointed to a border of trees at the distant edge of the clearing. "Let's try over there."
Ianto nodded, and they made their way into the wooded area, walking side-by-side in silence. After ten minutes, Ianto came to a stop and looked around. His scanner continued to show no indication of residual Rift energy. He was about to suggest that they should try in the other direction, when out of the corner of his eye he saw something move in the distance between a cluster of trees.
"Someone's watching us," he whispered to Jack, who had stopped a few feet ahead and turned back to look at him. Ianto pointed to where he'd seen the movement. "Through the trees. Fifty yards north. I just saw them move."
Jack moved back to stand next to him and peered into the trees. He pulled out his Webley revolver. "Got your gun?"
"Yes," Ianto replied, putting his scanner into his bag. He reached around to his back and removed his Glock semi-automatic pistol from where he'd tucked it into the waistband of his jeans. His heart pounded with nervous anticipation as he deftly cocked the firing chamber and disabled the safety.
"Stay behind me," Jack ordered in a low, insistent tone. "Cover our backs."
Ianto nodded and peered around anxiously, reminding himself to remain calm and focused. The area was eerily silent and it set his nerves on edge. With his gun raised and gripped firmly in both hands, they slowly moved forward.
A few moments later, he heard a rustling sound of movement to his left. He swung his gun around quickly, attempting to locate the source of the noise. "I can't see anyone," he murmured to Jack.
Jack was sweeping his gaze back and forth over the area in front of them. "Me neither."
There was another rustling sound, this time to Ianto's right. He swung around, but again saw nothing. Suddenly a large blackbird flew up from behind some trees, its wings beating loudly at the air. The unexpected movement caused Ianto to jump in surprise.
Jack spun around, apparently also startled. "Okay?" he asked, glancing worriedly at him.
"Yeah," Ianto muttered, forcing himself to remain composed as he returned to sweeping his eyes over the area.
They continued on, slowly circling around the group of trees Ianto had indicated, and then in a wide arc back towards their original position.
"Whoever it was, it looks like we've lost them," Jack said a few minutes later as they stopped and looked around.
"Maybe we scared them off," Ianto suggested doubtfully.
Jack didn't look convinced either. "Hmm. Maybe."
Still scanning his eyes around for anything out of the ordinary, his gun at the ready, Ianto spotted something on the ground in the distance, underneath a large, aged tree. It was too far away for him to make out what it was. He pointed his gun towards the object. "Jack."
The other man nodded, and they made their way cautiously towards the tree. Once there, they found something covered by a large piece of heavy, dirty cloth. Ianto immediately had a bad feeling about what they'd find beneath. With his stomach twisting unpleasantly, he took an involuntary step backwards as Jack knelt down and used the tip of his gun to gingerly push the cloth away.
Jack pulled back, drawing a loud inhalation of breath, while Ianto gasped in horror as they stared at the human corpse on the ground before them. It was little more than a skeleton, the flesh and organs having been meticulously stripped away.
A gust of wind carried the sickening stench of the rotting carcase to Ianto's nostrils. "Oh, my God," he mumbled, feeling his stomach flip over as bile rose up into his throat.
He watched as Jack grimaced and moved closer again, tentatively examining the corpse. He looked up at Ianto several moments later. "Well, it's not Ellie Johnson. This is a male... late forties, maybe fifties. He wasn't killed here." Jack gestured at the area surrounding the body. "No blood splatter or signs of a struggle. He must have been brought here after he died."
"Why do that?" Ianto asked, trying to force his mind to think rationally. "Not like they've tried to bury him here."
"Maybe we disturbed them and they ran away," Jack suggested, sounding unconvinced.
"Maybe it's a warning," Ianto said, thinking aloud. "Whoever's responsible marking out their territory." He forced himself to take a step closer and look down at the remains. Swallowing hard, he breathed through his mouth in an attempt to avoid the awful smell. He was feeling seriously in danger of losing his breakfast. "Any idea on the cause of death?"
Jack shook his head. "Hard to say. I'm not an expert, and there's not much left here to go on. Could have been anything."
"Could Weevils have come out this far?"
"No. Weevils don't finish off their victims like this."
Ianto suddenly heard a car engine in the distance. He snapped his head around in the direction the sound was coming from. "Jack, the SUV!"
Jack jumped to his feet and together they ran back to the clearing where they'd parked. They reached the edge of the woods just in time to see the SUV turning around, veering back onto the road, and speeding away.
"Aaarrrggghhh!" Jack shouted, chasing after it for a moment before coming to a stop and throwing up his arms in frustration.
Breathing hard from the sprint back to the clearing, Ianto looked on despondently. He wondered what in the hell they were going to do now.
###
Studying his scanner in between glaring balefully at his boss, Ianto worked on locating the stolen SUV using its built-in tracker. He just hoped the thief wasn't clever enough to locate and disable it.
Jack was standing a few metres away, hands on his hips and looking furious, but wisely keeping his distance. Their eyes met and Jack growled in frustration. "All right! I said I'm sorry!"
Ianto just shook his head in disbelief at Jack's carelessness. "Basic security protocols, sir."
Jack glared back at him but then walked over to stand by his side, his expression shifting from anger to something closer to shame. "Looks like that body wasn't a warning. More of a decoy."
Ianto nodded in agreement. "So, we've been watched since we arrived."
"Yeah." Jack moved closer and peered over his shoulder. "Can you get a tracking signal?"
Ianto glanced up at Jack and then pointed to the results on his screen. "Already done, sir. It's currently three-point-five miles west from here. It's been stationary for the past four minutes. I'd go so far as to say it was parked."
Ianto pulled the map from his bag and passed it to the other man. Jack opened it out and studied it for a moment. "There's a small village in that area. Other than that, nothing for thirty miles."
Ianto was trying valiantly to push back his growing sense of panic. They were alone in the middle of nowhere, with no transportation and no one to even call for help. He was just glad they still had their weapons, phones, and his scanner. At least they weren't entirely helpless and defenceless. "Call me suspicious, but this has all the hallmarks of a trap."
Jack sighed. "Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing." He gestured towards the road and the direction the SUV had been taken. "Fancy a walk?"
###
After hiking for almost three miles, Ianto wasn't in the best of moods. He was tired and thirsty, and still mad about Jack's mistake of leaving the SUV unlocked with the keys inside. He was also growing increasingly worried about what they might literally be walking into. They'd reached the top of a hill and there was a derelict looking building in the distance in front of them.
"Has the SUV moved?" Jack asked, breaking the silence that had settled between them.
Ianto glanced down at the scanner and then checked his watch. "Not for an hour now."
Jack pulled out his gun and watched as Ianto did the same. "Let's go. We need to follow that signal and find the SUV. If there's any sign of trouble, I want you to stay behind me and get to cover. Okay?"
Ianto nodded. "Understood."
They headed down the hill and towards the building. It was a long, stone structure, with a large double wooden door at the front, a grey gravel driveway leading up to it, and there was an old, heavily rusted tractor parked off to one side.
Ianto checked his scanner again. He pointed his gun towards another ramshackle building positioned on a grassy slope to the right of where they were standing. "Up there."
Jack looked determined. "Right, let's get the SUV back and find out who took it."
They followed along a low stone wall up to the other building. Reaching the front door, Jack tried to open it, but discovered it was locked. Ianto peered around anxiously. He was just about to ask Jack if he was going to attempt to break down the door when a loud, spine-chilling scream filled the air.
They both looked around wildly, trying to determine the direction of the sound. "What the hell was that?" Jack demanded.
"Just a... fox or something?" Ianto replied, knowing it was a lame suggestion even before the words left his mouth. "Check around the back?"
"Yeah," Jack agreed.
With Jack taking the lead, they moved around the side of the building. Ianto kept glancing behind them, his body tense and infused with a surge of adrenaline, his senses on high alert. They eventually reached a back door and Ianto tried to ignore the row of rotting animal carcases hanging on the wall beside it. He felt distinctly uneasy and he couldn't shake the feeling they were being watched. Another anguished scream filled the air just as Jack reached for the door handle.
Spinning around, Ianto took several steps forward, his gun held out in front of him as he tried to locate where the sound was coming from. There was a substantial shed-like structure in his line of sight, almost hidden by a dense cluster of low-lying trees, a short distance from the house. He wondered if the SUV might be inside or hidden behind it.
"Jack, I think we should..." he began, glancing over his shoulder to check what the other man was doing.
Jack wasn't there.
Ianto looked around rapidly as a wave of panic threatened to overtake him. He tried the door but it was locked. "Jack!" he called out desperately.
Looking around for any sign of the other man, a flash of movement at the far end of the building caught the corner of his eye. Taking a deep breath, his heartbeat pounding furiously in his ears, his gun clenched vice-like in his hands, Ianto moved forward to investigate. "Jack!" he shouted again.
Reaching the end of the wall, he peeked around the corner, but found nothing. Taking another deep breath and willing himself to remain calm, he took a tentative step forward.
There was another blur of movement and before Ianto could react, he was roughly shoved forward. He fell heavily to the ground with a gasp of surprise, the impact jarring the entire length of his body. In his involuntary attempt to break the fall with his hands, his gun had been dislodged from his grip, landing on the ground just beyond his reach.
A dark hooded figure loomed over him. Frantically reaching forward to retrieve his weapon, Ianto's fingers found the edge of the barrel. Then there was a blinding flash of pain to the back of his skull, and the world went dark.