Notes: The zombie fest gets underway and Rose gets annoyed with the celebrity status. The Doctor is impressed with how Rose takes charge. He also makes the score 15 - all in embarrassment tennis with a comment about handcuffs.
Andy decides that a life of drug dealing isn't for him, but that doesn't go down too well.
Chapter 3
John and Rose entered the bank and walked over to the customer information desk. They were greeted by a pretty woman with curly blonde hair. Her name badge said she was 'Debbie' and that she was 'pleased to help'.
The young woman's eyes went wide with surprise and she put her hand in front of her mouth.
"Oh my God! It's you isn't it? I mean Rose Tyler, the Vitex millionairess," she said excitedly.
Rose rolled her eyes. She'd had enough of this.
"No actually it's Mrs. Rose Smith, Torchwood Special Operations Field Agent." She held her ID badge up for inspection and nodded in John's direction. "This is Dr. John Smith. I believe two of our agents are already here."
"Er, yes. They're in the basement vault," 'pleased to help' Debbie told them.
"Right, thank you. Now you need to go see the manager and get him to evacuate the bank," Rose said. 'Pleased to help' Debbie just stood there, completely baffled by the sudden turn of events and loss of her routine.
"NOW DEBBIE!" Rose shouted to get her moving. She looked around the foyer and saw another employee named Jason who it appeared was also pleased to help.
"Jason, everyone here is in danger. Debbie has gone to get the manager. You need to get the customers and staff out NOW unless you want to become a statistic on the evening news."
John stood and watched with a look of immense pride on his face. This amazing woman, who had been an innocent 19 year old shop girl when he first met her, had blossomed into a successful and confident woman. who was now taking charge of the situation.
Jason gulped. "Yes Miss." He turned and spoke to the foyer. "Excuse me... Ladies and gentlemen. There has been a silent alarm activated and we need to evacuate the bank as a precaution while these officers investigate."
John and Rose looked at each other in admiration at the young mans resourcefulness.
"There ya go Jason. Nicely done," Rose said as she smiled at him and winked.
John and Rose followed the signs on the wall towards the stairs leading down to the basement vault.
"Have I ever told you how sexy you are when you're bossy?" John said with a grin.
Rose looked at him and rolled her eyes. "Shut up," she said playfully.
"Yes Miss. Of course Miss. Right away Miss," he sing-songed. Rose laughed as they went down the stairs. There was no use trying to stop him, it would just make him worse.
The vault was a polished steel door with a large 'wheel' handle in the middle. 'Just like a James Bond film' John thought to himself. Jake and Julia were standing guard.
"Hi guys. What you got then?" John asked.
"You ain't gonna believe what we got in here Doc," Jake said.
"Oh I don't know, we've seen some pretty weird stuff on our travels," he replied.
As Jake opened the door, they could hear the feral growling coming from within. As they entered the vault, they could see a row of polished steel bars from floor to ceiling, with the safety deposit boxes built into the far wall behind. Standing at the bars was a grey skinned, yellow eyed man who was looking at them as though they were going to be his next meal.
John put his holdall on the floor and took his sonic screwdriver out of the breast pocket of his uniform. It made the familiar warbling whistle as he waved it around in front of him.
The results of the scan were holographically projected in the air above the device. To the other people in the room, it looked like he was staring into space, seeking divine guidance.
"No airborne pathogens to worry about. So, let's see if we can get some samples. We'll be able to compare them with the ones from the hospital."
As John approached the zombie, it reached through the bars, trying to grab and bite him. Jake came up beside John and grabbed the wrist, only to be pulled forwards by the surprisingly strong zombie.
Jake only just managed to let go in time as the zombie went for a bite. It missed Jakes gloved hand and bit its own thumb. The group looked on in morbid fascination as it spit out the lump of flesh and grinned at them.
"Well, not quite what I had in mind, but what the hey, it works for me." John opened the holdall and took out some forceps and a specimen jar.
As he approached the bars to try and collect the chunk of thumb, the zombie reached for him. John backed away.
"Okay. Maybe not. Let's see if we can distract him." John thought for a moment and then had a mischievous smile on his face.
"Rose, have you got your handcuffs?" he asked her with a cheeky smile, waggling his eyebrows.
Rose blushed at the looks she got from Jake and Julia as she took them off her utility belt and held them out for him. The bugger had got her again.
"Jake, if you can draw him to the other end and get him to reach through the bars, Rose can slap the cuffs on him."
Jake nodded and started to taunt the zombie to get him to follow him along the bars. As he moved closer the zombie reached out and Rose quickly cuffed him.
The zombie squealed and started to struggle violently. Everyone stepped back, except for John who went to collect the sample. He reached through the bars and using the forceps, put the flap of skin in the plastic jar.
"DOC!" Jake shouted as he ran forward and tackled him away from the bars. When John sat up, he could see a singled handed zombie reaching for him, handcuffs dangling from the wrist.
When he looked over to the other side of the room, there was the other hand, lying on the floor.
John looked at Jake and smiled. "Thanks mate. You couldn't put that hand in a specimen bag for me could you?"
"Yeah, I'm on it Doc."
As Jake secured the hand in a bag, Rose stood beside her husband.
"What are we going to do with it John? I mean how can we get it out of here and back to HQ?"
"Hmmm, no idea really. Julia, try your stunner on it."
Julia took out her stun gun and 'zapped' the once human creature. It stumbled backwards and then lunged at the bars.
"Right, we won't try that one again," John said. "I'll have to have a think about this."
Rose took out her scanner and filmed the 'zombie', uploading to Torchwood as she did.
A few minutes later Rose's phone rang.
"Hi Chrissie. How are you? I haven't seen you for ages…. That was quick," she said to Chrissie. "Philip Coyne. Thanks Chrissie."
"Right, so we've got a name." John said, looking at the deposit boxes. "We need the ledger that tells us which box he was using, let's go find the manager."
They all nodded in agreement. That was the next logical step, although how and why he got locked in the vault in the first place was still puzzling.
With no risk of airborne infection, the staff were allowed back into the bank, with the basement declared a crime scene and out of bounds. The manager gave them the ledger of box numbers and Julia noticed the security monitors on the wall.
"Do you have recordings of those cameras on the premises?" she asked the manager.
"Yes, I'll get the security manager to go through them with you."
The team were disappointed that there was no video of the vault itself, client confidentiality being given as the reason. However, they hit gold when they saw Philip Coyne with a female employee heading towards the lift and seeing the indicator go down to the vault.
11 minutes and 20 seconds later, the woman is seen running from the direction of the stairs. The camera monitoring the staff entrance showed her leaving the building.
"Who was that woman?" John asked the security manager, who wound back the recording and freezed the frame.
"That would be Janet Parkes," he told them. "I think the man is her boyfriend."
"Really?" Rose said. "And does he have a safety deposit box?"
Julia looked up from the ledger. "Not according to this, unless he's using an alias."
"Mmmm. I wonder?" Rose said, looking thoughtful. "I'll be back in a minute."
She left the security office and went to find 'pleased to help' Debbie.
"Debbie. Can I have a quick word?" Rose asked her.
"Yes of course Miss T…. Er, Mrs. Smith. What can I do for you?"
"Janet Parkes, is she in today?"
"No, she phoned in sick. Running a temperature I think."
"Ah, that's a shame. D'you know her well? Y'know, socially?"
"Well, only from 'girls nights out' and office parties. She's a real laugh," Debbie told her.
"And boyfriends?" Debbie hesitated and her eyes looked away for a moment.
"Er, no. She's married."
Rose smiled knowingly at Debbie. "And boyfriends?" she asked again.
Debbie looked around and then leaned forward, speaking in a conspiratorial whisper. "You didn't hear this from me. Right?"
Rose nodded in agreement and Debbie continued. "She was having an affair with this bloke."
"Philip Coyne," Rose said as a matter of fact.
Debbie's eyes went wide. "You knew?" Her estimation of the Vitex heiress had just gone up to a whole new level.
"I suspected it. You've just confirmed it. And I suppose they used to go down to the vault for him to make a deposit of his own," Rose said with a smile. Debbie's mouth fell open and she covered it with her hand.
"Thank you Debbie, you've been most helpful. Pleased you could help."
Back in the security office, Jake was making copies of the security DVD's to take back to the Multimedia Laboratory for further analysis, when Rose entered.
"Janet Parkes phoned in sick today with a fever. Philip Coyne is her lover and they were using the vault for romantic liaisons," she told them.
"A knocking shop?" John said. "How did you find that out?"
"Female intuition John. You need to get in touch with your 'Donna' side. Oh, and Debbie, she was pleased to help." Rose stood there with a satisfied grin.
John raised his eyebrows. "Good work agent Smith." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "Right, let's get back to HQ and see if we can find what links Nicholas Fisher and Philip Coyne. Oh, and call Medical and get them to pay a call on Janet Parkes, she may need help."
15 years previously.
'They shot 'im! No warnin' nor nothin', just killed 'im dead', Andy thought as he lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling in the dim light of his room. He could see the look of surprised disbelief on Mickey's face, before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the floor.
And the evil smile of Mr. Mason as he realised that none of them had seen anyone killed in cold blood before. It was an execution. Mickey was an example of what would happen if they didn't behave.
They'd seen people get into arguments, that turned into fights, that ended up with someone being stabbed and taken to A&E. But to just take out a gun and shoot someone without giving them a fighting chance, well, that just wasn't right.
He had spoken to Big Den after they'd run from the warehouse and crouched, shaking in an alley. Den was really regretting his decision to start selling drugs. All he'd seen was the money he could make, not the trouble that would come with it.
What the hell was he going to do now? He couldn't stay around here, not now. Where would he go? And then he remembered the careers week at the school. An army officer had come to the class to talk about a career in the armed forces.
He had said they could learn a trade, and this guy was in the Signals regiment. Radio, telecommunications and those new fangled computers, he liked the sound of that.
But they wouldn't take a scrote like him, would they? A thief, a witness to a murder, a no-hoper. He would have to do something about that.
A week later, the gang met up on the estate as usual, minus Meerkat Mickey. Den had put the powder into individual sachets and handed them out.
"Okay," he said quietly. "Not for personal use, see how many you can shift."
They all took their allotted sachets and put them in their pockets and silently walked away, except for Andy, who wanted to speak to Den on his own.
"Den, I've got an idea about our mutual 'friends'. Can you lend me a Ton (£100) and I'll pay you back in a coupla weeks?"
"Whatcha got in mind?" Den asked as he reached out a roll of notes.
"Nothin' definite yet, but I'll let you know when I've bought some stuff that I need."
Den gave him a doubtful look but handed over the money. Andy gave him a lopsided grin. "See ya later."
The gang managed to move most of the drugs in a month and it came to the time for restocking their supplies. Mr. Mason had sent word to Big Den about the meeting place, which was another disused warehouse.
A few days before the meeting, Andy had gone to the warehouse and checked out the location. He just wanted to get a feel for the place, where the exits were, hiding places, light levels and acoustics, all that sort of thing. On the night of the arranged meeting with Mr. Mason, Andy knew his way around the warehouse with his eyes closed.
The Mitsubishi 4X4 slowly rolled into the warehouse, broken glass and concrete cracking under the massive tyres. The Sutton estate gang were back in the shadows of the warehouse, waiting for the 4X4 to stop.
Den walked forwards and stood in the glaring headlights as the man-mountains stepped out of the vehicle and opened the door for Mr. Mason. Andy stepped out of the shadows carrying a Japanese sword in both hands against his thighs.
The man-mountains went to reach for their weapons but Mr. Mason smiled and held up a hand to stop them.
"Weapons Dennis?" he asked in a friendly, conversational tone.
"Well, the boys are a bit skittish after last months encounter. Can't say I blame 'em really.
"No, I suppose not. It must be a bit of a shock seeing your first killing, and especially if it's one of your own. But I hope the lesson was well learned?"
"Oh yes Mr. Mason, I've taken care of discipline," Den said, opening his jacket a little to show a pistol in his belt. "It was a bit embarrassin' for me last time, losin' face an' all that."
"Quite so, quite so Dennis. Discipline is so important. Anyway shall we get down to business?" Mr. Mason nodded to one of his bodyguards and he went to fetch the briefcase.
Den reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a large, brown envelope.
"Den. Me and the lads have been talkin' about this, and most of that money is ours," Andy said, sliding the sword an inch out of its scabbard.
"Yeah. And we all share in the profits from sellin' the stuff, don't we?"
"Yeah, but we don't want to anymore Den. We quit the gang, you can do it on yer own."
"Quit the gang? You don't quit the gang." Den looked back to Mr. Mason a bit sheepishly. "Sorry about this Mr. Mason. It looks like I have to instil a bit of discipline."
Mr. Mason smiled knowingly. He was interested to see if Big Den had the balls to instil discipline. If he did, then he had seriously underestimated him. If he did, there would possibly be an opening for him in The Firm.
Den turned back to Andy and took the gun out of his belt as Andy drew the sword.
"Don't make me do this Andy, You've become my second-in-command, my lieutenant. Don't be daft."
"I'm sorry Den, but we're all agreed on this," Andy said, raising the sword and pointing the tip and Den. "Are you gonna use that, or force me to use this?"
BLAMMM!
The gunshot echoed deafeningly around the empty building. Andy clutched his chest with his empty hand and looked down to see it covered with blood. He looked up at Den, his expression not surprised or shocked. It was more disappointment than anything else.
"Den?" he said as he sagged to his knees and keeled over.
Den walked over to where he lay, out of the headlights, in the twilight and stood over him looking down.
"I'm sorry Andy, but you left me no choice. I can't lose face in front of The Firm can I?"
The members of The Firm were looking around cautiously. That shot would attract attention. They had to conclude their business and move out quickly. Mr. Mason was about to attract Big Den's attention, when something totally unexpected happened.
Andy was still holding the sword in his right hand. He used his left hand to push himself into a sitting position and thrust the sword forwards at Den. The members of The Firm saw the sword come out the back of his jacket as Andy collapsed back onto the floor.
Den gasped and doubled up, blood seeping out of his mouth. As he turned, the sword could be seen buried to the hilt just below his chest.
"Jesus Christ! I'm outta here," one of the gang said and ran into the shadows and out of one of the doors, quickly followed by the rest of them.
Den sank to his knees and slumped over near Andy's body, blood pooling on the ground in front of him. Mr Mason could see that the brown envelope was soaked with their blood. He was contemplating trying to retrieve it, when the sound of sirens wailing in the distance stopped him.
"We had better go Mr. Mason," one of the man-mountains said.
He was not happy. Not happy at all. His employer would not be happy either, and that made him nervous.
