The Doctor shook his head, trying to clear it. He immediately hissed in pain and pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead, his skull felt as if Pallas Athena herself was trying to break out. He winced away from Jack's hand was on his shoulder.

"Just give me a moment," the Doctor gasped. He squeezed his eyes shut then opened them wide as he stretched his jaw. Giving his forehead a final rub he straightened up and froze as he realized he was sitting in a chair with no memory of how he had arrived there. Jack was crouched down in front of him, peering at his face worriedly. Frank standing behind him, watching like a bird of prey and the Doctor was the prey.

"You sure you're okay?" Jack asked "I thought you were going to faint for a second there."

"What?!" exclaimed the Doctor, who then immediately flinched at the sound of his own voice. "I don't faint. It's just…, it's just my headache flared up. That's all. It was literally blinding there for a few seconds. It's under control now."

"Headaches, he's claiming headaches now?" Frank asked skeptically.

"I told you he's been ill," Jack responded keeping his back to Frank. "He's had these headaches ever since he lost his TARDIS." Jack gave the Doctor a reassuring wink as he made the last statement.

"I'm still not buying that. How could he lose his TARDIS? He's the only one who can pilot it."

With an exaggerated sigh Jack stood up and turned to face Frank. "That's not true, others have piloted it, but this time it appears to have wandered off on its own."

His view no longer blocked, the Doctor could see the ambassador was gone, the medic was gathering up supplies and glancing worriedly in his direction. How much time had he lost here? And what was Jack talking about? The TARDIS had wandered off?

"It just left on its own? You really expect me to believe that? And what would that have to do with these headaches you're claiming he gets," Frank asked.

"He's mentally connected with it somehow. If the TARDIS is acting erratically, it's bound to affect him."

"Really, it affects him? Mentally?" Frank asked suggestively, his voice hopeful.

"No, not like that. Quit fishing, that's not going to work. You'll have better luck getting your father's friend off working the 'it's not really a murder because the victim wasn't human' angle." Jack glanced at his Vortex Manipulator. "Something's come up back at the Hub. I think we are finished here. Come on Doctor, let's go, that problem we talked about earlier looks like it could use your expertise."

"Not so fast, I'm not finished with him yet," Frank protested as he put his hand on the Doctor's shoulder pushing him back in to the chair.

"Yes you are," said Jack as he removed Frank's hand. "You've got nothing to charge him with, unless sleeping in a hotel room is now a crime."

The Doctor could feel Frank's eyes on him as he rose shakily to his feet. "I'm sorry I couldn't have been more help to you," he apologized, hesitating briefly, considering his next words, wanting to sound more casual than he felt. "Perhaps if I could talk to the ambassador, I might get a better idea of what is going on here,"

Frank looked slyly at the Doctor. "You could stop by our office here. I'm sure we could arrange…"

"You're not going to arrange anything," Jack interrupted. "If you want him to talk to someone it can be at Torchwood. We do have to go now."

Jack started to leave the room, but the Doctor failed to follow him as something caught his attention outside the window. He tried to catch a glimpse of it but failed. He stared out the window, certain he had seen something. But whatever it was had gone. He felt a bit dazed, as if he had missed something, something important, but he couldn't figure out what. His headache flared again, the pain sharp and stabbing from the inside out. His vision acquired a yellow scrambled quality as if he was looking through broken tinted glass. He could just barely make out that the medic was starting to leave.

"Any chance you could spare me some aspirin before you go?" the Doctor asked him.

"What, you want aspirin? I thought you couldn't have any." The medic looked puzzled, almost frightened by the request.

"That's an error in his file. It turns out it's perfectly safe for him," Jack explained.

"Oh, alright then," responded the medic as he hurriedly rummaged through his rucksack. "Here, this should do." He held out a blister pack with two pills. Jack grabbed it from him before the Doctor could and examined it closely.

"It's good, just aspirin," he said as he turned it over to the Doctor.

The Doctor bit back a sarcastic comment to the effect that he could read for himself and took the pack. He deftly pushed the pills through the foil and into his hand as the medic protested Jack's actions. "I wouldn't give him anything that would hurt him. That's why I asked about the aspirin in the first place."

"Sorry, don't take it personally. I'm just not taking any chances with his welfare right now."

A glass of water entered the Doctor's field of vision. The hand holding the glass was attached to Ianto. "Sir, you'll be wanting this. Sorry its tap water. The bottled still water was used up."
"Tap is fine, thank you," the Doctor said as he took the offered glass. He tossed back the pills and quickly swallowed the water, but not quickly enough. The aspirin had already started to dissolve on his tongue. It had been centuries since he'd had it last but it tasted just as bad as he remembered, worse than pears. "Maybe I should get Jack to change the files back," he thought as the tepid water washed the bitter paste the aspirin had become down his throat.

The medic was watching him carefully. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I will be soon," replied the Doctor.

"I've never seen anyone take those without dissolving them first."
"What?"
"Normally when it is in tablet form, you put them in the water and then drink it," Ianto explained as he took the glass from the Doctor's hand.

"Ahh, it's been a while since I've taken it. No wonder… Well, no harm done," said the Doctor.

The medic was peering at him, obviously unhappy with what he saw. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked. "You look a bit…"

"He's fine," said Jack. "Or he will be fine once we get out of here. Doctor, if you are ready now?" Jack impatiently waved his arm towards the door indicating that the Doctor should precede him.

"Yes, certainly, you said you have a problem that I can help on? What is it?" asked the Doctor as he and Jack left the room.

"It's the haulage firm again," Jack explained. "Rhys came to work this morning and again every single solenoid had been burned out."

"Really? And the police still have no idea what it's about?" asked the Doctor as he entered the lift. The aspirin was making his headache a thing of the past and now his curiosity piqued. This was the kind of puzzle he enjoyed. Something that had everyone else stymied and more importantly, one he wasn't a suspect in.

"No, they don't, but this time whoever's doing it left a calling card." Jack stopped talking as they exited the lift. The Doctor was about to ask about the calling card, but the fear he saw in the reception clerk's eyes stopped him. The man's expression confused him. He'd done nothing to cause this man to fear him. He turned to talk to him, only to be stopped by Jack's hand on his elbow.

"No, don't, Frank will have a field day if he catches you talking to a witness without one of his people present," he explained as he escorted the Doctor out the door.

The SUV was parked just outside the entrance. The Doctor looked away from it towards the Plass. "I think I'll walk," he said as he pulled his coat around him as a shield against the cold damp Welsh air.

Jack shook his head. "No, we're not going back to the Hub. That was just a ruse to keep Frank occupied and out of our way." he explained. "Speaking of keeping Frank out of the way. Ianto"

"I'm on it sir." The Welshman pulled a device out of his pocket, after pressing a few buttons he stared at the screen. "Eight sir, five on the Doctor, two on you and one on myself."

"Eight?" Jack chuckled. "That's what I counted, but I couldn't believe it. Obviously government cutbacks haven't reached Frank yet."

"Shall we give him some asset loses to report?" Ianto suggested.

"About half, use the rest to keep him occupied."
Ianto smiled. "Yes sir, Doctor if you don't mind?"
"No, not at all," the Doctor answered. He was confused and worried he had detected two tracking devices being put on him, but five? How could he have missed that? Maybe he really did need a keeper if he was slipping that much.

Ianto proceeded to pick tiny pieces of metal, barely larger than a grain of sand, off the Doctor, two on his coat, one on his tie, one in his hair and the last one on the hem of his trousers. The Doctor had no idea how the last two had been placed. Jack handed two more to Ianto, who smiled as he took the eighth device off his own sleeve and left towards the entrance of the hotel.

"You should get in the car," Jack told the Doctor. "We are going to the Harwood's. Gwen's there waiting for us."

"What about Ianto?"

"He won't be long, see there he is now."

Ianto returned grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "Found a good place did you?" Jack asked.

"Yes sir, a Scottish couple was checking out talking about returning home today. They have four hitchhikers now. The rest met an unfortunate end." Ianto held out his hand revealing the blackened devices.

"Good work, Now if there are no other problems let's get going." said Jack.

"Yes sir," said Ianto as he held open the passenger door for the Doctor.

The Doctor frowned as he settled into the passenger seat. He was disappointed that he wouldn't be getting a chance to check on the TARDIS. Jack seemed to understand his concern. "Don't worry, she's still there and as cranky as ever. People were practically crab walking to get into the Millennium Centre last night she was pushing at them so hard. Frank wanted to know where the TARDIS was, he had to have driven right by the Plass to get here, so I figured if he couldn't see her might as well let him think she had flown the coop."

"Good, once she finishes taking on fuel she should be fine," said the Doctor. Jack frowned as he put the car in gear but said nothing.

Studying the Plass as they passed it, the Doctor could see what Jack had been talking about. It was deserted. People passing through were walking round the very edges of it. Even he could barely make out the TARDIS. She was safe at least, he would have to be satisfied with that for now. He turned his attention to Jack and trying to sound more casual than he felt asked, "Any chance you could arrange an interview with the ambassador? I wouldn't mind going to MI5 if that's what it takes."

"No, that's not a good idea. Frank is far too interested in getting you in there and I doubt it's for your benefit." He looked over at the Doctor and shook his head. "Is it really that important you talk to him?"

"It might be. There is something odd going on and I think he could be the key."

"Don't tell me you believe that whole he was 'possessed' when he did it story. You're not falling for that are you?"

"Actually I think he was. I saw him with her last night, he was very protective of her and she trusted him. She was telepathic enough to know if he would harm her. Something else had to have happened and I need to talk to him to find out what it is."

While Jack took his time answering, the Doctor considered the situation. A possession would explain the flashes of memory he'd experienced. A being able to do that could have broadcast into his own mind, he had been just a thin wall away. It was the crime scene that had triggered the memories, that's all.

"You know he thinks you were the one who possessed him don't you?"

"All the more reason for me to talk to him. If I can convince him it wasn't me then we can work on finding the real killer. The Atterian may not have even been the real target. The murder could just be a means to discredit the ambassador. He is a high ranking official after all. Maybe someone or something wants him out of the way."

Jack sighed. "You honestly think that's a possibility?"

The Doctor shrugged. "It's just a theory, one of many. I need more information. But I don't believe he is a murderer."

"Alright, I'll try to see if we can get the ambassador to Torchwood, but don't count on it. It's going to take pulling a few strings and calling in a few favors to accomplish."

"Sir," said Ianto from the back seat, "there is that MP, the one we helped get out of a compromising situation last month. He might be willing to provide some pressure in the right places."

Jack bit his lower lip and drew in air with a hiss. "That might work. In fact if we sell it right, he might not even consider it doing a favor, but rather helping himself. He did claim it was a case of 'aliens made him do it'. The ambassador is claiming the same thing. Think you can convince him it's a follow up to his own case?"

"That shouldn't be a problem. He had expressed concern that it might happen to him again. Finding the perpetrator should ease his mind," Ianto replied with an odd mocking tone to his voice.

"You've had something like this happen before?" the Doctor asked his intrigued.

Jacked snorted a short laugh. "No, not really. He was experimenting with different life forms. Nothing I would fault him for, but this is such a prudish time, it could impact his position. When a tabloid photographer took pictures he was frantic. Fortunately we were tracking the pair of aliens he was with. They had been playing with the locals too much and we were about to tell them it was time to move on. We would have confiscated the camera and given the photographer retcon as part of our normal procedure anyway, but the MP didn't know that. So we let him think we were doing him a big favor. Never hurts to have a grateful MP on your side."

"I see. You often use retcon?"

"Yeah, why not? It saves on having to invent explanations and we have the dosage down to a fine art. We can erase a person's memory down to the minute. They wake up fine with no side effects."

"That you know of."

"Why, you know of a reason why we shouldn't?" Jack challenged.

"No, none that come to mind, but I do think you should be more careful with people's memories. You might just erase something important someday."

"We are careful, Torchwood has been using it for decades. We haven't had any problems yet."

The Doctor shook his head. No matter who was in charge, some things about Torchwood didn't change. A reckless disregard for safety seemed to be one of them. He was about to point that out when Jack pulled up to the gate at Harwood's. Jack flashed his ID and the guard waved them through.

Jack parked the car just inside the gate. As the Doctor exited the vehicle he saw Gwen standing next to a tall man, with brown hair and a friendly, though concerned face. He approached the man with long strides and smiled as he held out his hand. "Hello, you must be Rhys, I understand you have a bit of a problem here. I'm the Doctor by the way."

Rhys took the offered hand. "Gwen here thought you could help. I'm not sure it's aliens or anything like that, but she said you were clever."

The Doctor grinned even wider at the compliment. "Well, I am, if I do say so myself. I think you are right though. I doubt it's aliens who are sabotaging your trucks. It's not as if you are hauling anything of alien origin."

Rhys turned pale at the comment and glanced at Gwen, who chewed her lower lip. The Doctor looked from one to the other his thoughts going from confused to horrified. "You didn't?!" he exclaimed.

"It wasn't like… We didn't… It's not as if…" Rhys stammered to a halt in the face of the Doctor's rising anger.

Jack stepped forward and tried to save the situation. "The haulage firm had nothing to do with it," he explained as he clapped his hand on Rhys' shoulder and continued. "In fact, once Rhys here figured out what the problem was, he risked his life trying to free the alien they were harvesting."

"It was alive when they…?" the Doctor asked, starting to feel sick. "They didn't even kill it first? Why would they do such a thing?

"Greed, just plain, simple, greed," Jack told him. "They found they could carve chunks out of it and it would continue to live and grow. They didn't even realize it was sentient. To them it was just a big hunk of live meat they could harvest and sell."

The Doctor shook his head and closed his eyes, trying to stay calm reminding himself that the humans with him weren't the ones who committed that horrendous crime. "When you said you tried to free it I gather that means it's dead now?"

Jack nodded. "Yes, it was too far gone, driven mad by pain. We had to euthanize it. I couldn't even tell you what it was. A poor way to welcome a life form to this planet, I know," he said sadly.

"You did what you could I guess," said the Doctor with a sigh. He put the thoughts of the unknown alien behind him and focused on Rhys and his problem. "So, two days in a row you have lost all your solenoids? The guards last night saw nothing?"

"No, no they didn't," replied Rhys his relief that subject had been changed was obvious. "One person thought he heard a humming sound but nothing was there when he tried to find the source. They did leave a mark on one of the fences though. It's not a typical gang mark though. It looks all scientific."

"Now that's interesting. Can you show it to me?"

"Gladly, it's right through here. Maybe you can figure it out. It just has everyone here scratching their head."

The Doctor followed Rhys between the polished white trucks with yellow and red signs on them indicating they belonged to Harwood's Haulage. They on the outside they all appeared to be in top condition, a contrast to the condition of the car park itself. The tarmac was old, stained with bits of gravel that had freed themselves from the surface. He could feel them through the soles of his trainers as he walked. He was looking down, avoiding a pothole when Rhys spoke up.

The Doctor looked up to see a large circular sign with several crescents cut out of it and lines asymmetrically running through it: Gallifreyan. What it said caused his jaw to drop and the blood to leave his face. He felt a presence behind him, then a humming, followed immediately by the crack of Jack's Webley handgun firing, the bullets making a ringing sound as they ricocheted off a metal surface.