Chapter 33

Since the Queen had first learned of the abuses at the UNIT prison, she had her security services working to put a plan in place to arrest all those guards whom Jack Harkness had named. The last thing they wanted to do was tackle the prison head on. That approach could turn ugly and lead to significant loss of life, most likely including innocent UNIT soldiers who believed they were defending the prison from an attack from an enemy.

They had considered sending a senior soldier to the commander of the prison and asking him to hand over the men they wanted. But there was the possibility that the men to be arrested would panic and start shooting. They had therefore decided to adopt a more subtle approach. An agent working for them had infiltrated the UNIT prison administration department. He was able to ensure that all the people they were after were off duty on one particular night shift. Fifteen barracks rooms and two family houses were raided that night. The seventeen men arrested were taken to the same facility that housed Oduya and Stamford.

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One hour before the arrested men were due to arrive for their shift, the prison was visited by General Ingham and two members of his staff. Although a member of UNIT himself, General Ingham had an exemplary record and was under no suspicion of misconduct. He was fully trusted by the Queen. The General explained to the prison commander that he was about to be significantly understaffed, and why. He also informed the man that he was being relieved of his command, pending a full investigation into abuse of prisoners.

The entire staff of the prison, from the commander down to the lowliest private, were to be suspended while the investigation continued. Each would be informed of the investigation and debriefed individually. Those who had not been directly implicated in Jack's abuse, and were cleared of any wrongdoing, would receive new orders and be reassigned to different bases.

The commander was escorted off the premises by the General's staff, to prevent any tampering with the prison records. A platoon of British soldiers (not UNIT) was standing by to take over guarding the prison from the soldiers about to go off shift.

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The prison records were handed over to a team of military lawyers for scrutiny. In addition, army medical staff performed full heath checks on every prisoner. Each one was interviewed and asked if they had been subject to any threats or coercion of any type, or if they had seen any such activities relating to other inmates. It was of course likely that a prisoner would seize the chance to implicate their guards in wrongdoing, therefore only allegations corroborated by other prisoners or a guard, or by medical evidence could be pursued.

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When he had been told that Oduya and Stamford had been apprehended, Jack had felt a strange mix of elation and trepidation. Elation that those who had facilitated his abuse at UNIT's hands were no longer a threat, and would get their just deserts, but trepidation at the thought of having to give evidence at their trial. The idea of standing up in court and describing what happened to him, on their orders, filled him with horror. But he pushed the trepidation down. It would be months, if not years, before the case came to trial. There was no point dwelling on it yet.

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Now that the danger of being targeted by UNIT was gone, it was possible for Jack to move out of the Hub. With their current arrangement for supplying his heroin at a gradually declining dose, no one was worried that he would abscond.

Jack was excited at the prospect, as he had had more than enough of being confined to the Hub. But he was also nervous. The Hub was safe, and gave him a sense of security that he hadn't had in many years. It was ironic that he had done his utmost to avoid going back there.

But the excitement won out, and Jack seized upon the opportunity to become more independent and to regain freedom of movement. He would be able to do things that everyone else took for granted; walk in a park, go shopping, have a social life. He and Tosh could go to restaurants on proper dates.

He was also keen to be out of the Hub before the new staff arrived. The three new recruits were due to start work on the first Monday of the month. Jack planned on minimising contact with them.

The first place that Jack went was an estate agent. He came back with a large pile of details for properties for rent. He sat down in the lunch area of the Hub with a cup of coffee and started to look through them. He was dividing them up into a maybe pile and a reject pile.

Ianto came to join him at one point, and started looking through the pile with him. "So, exactly what are you aiming for?" he asked Jack. "A central location, to be near all the action, or a quiet place in the suburbs?"

"Definitely quiet," Jack replied. "I had enough of being in the nightlife area in Manchester. Now all I want is a peaceful place. I can always head down to the centre if I want to."

"You should pick a good neighbourhood," advised Ianto, looking through some of Jack's maybe pile. "A couple of these are in quite dodgy areas."

"Yeah, you're right. That's just my first pass, weeding out the flats and inner city houses," Jack explained. "You can do a second pass for me, if you like, picking the good neighbourhoods."

"Sure," Ianto smiled. As he sorted them he asked tentatively, "Didn't you consider moving in with Tosh?"

"Tosh and I did talk about that," Jack explained, "but she only has a small flat, and, more importantly, I really need to be independent for a while. Moving in with her would be only a partial step back into the outside world."

Ianto nodded in understanding. He couldn't help it, and tried to quash his thoughts, but he felt quite relieved about that.

"Is there any issue about cost?" he asked, waving his pile at Jack.

"No, now that I have free access to all my bank accounts, I have plenty of money," Jack assured him. "It doesn't matter how expensive the rent is. I could actually buy a house if I wanted, but I don't want to make a long term decision on where to live yet."

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In the aftermath of the raid on their secure facility, and the arrest of many UNIT personnel, the UNIT top brass held a hurried tele-conference (with full security scrambling to prevent any leaks). They knew that when one prison had been raided, others might follow. The head of each prison was ordered to immediately destroy any records relating to abuse of prisoners. Removing the paper trail was the easy part, however. Short of killing them, which would be noticed, they could do nothing about removing prisoners who had been mistreated.

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With Tosh and Ianto's input, Jack had narrowed down his list of properties to four. It was now time to go visit them.

"Would you like to come with me to see the houses," Jack asked Tosh. "It would be good to have a second opinion on them.

"I'd love to come. I love looking round houses," Tosh exclaimed.

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The following day Tosh and Jack had three appointments. The fourth house had already been rented, so they were too late for that one. The first house was a two bedroom, mid terrace, on a quiet street. It was beautifully decorated and had all mod cons. The second one was a three bedroom semi on a busy main road. A lot scruffier than the first. The third was a three bedroom detached house, with a small garden and garage. It was on a quiet leafy street and had its own driveway. It was perfect. Not as well maintained as the terraced house, but that one had no off street parking, and Jack intended to buy a fast car. He would prefer not to leave that on the street at night.

Tosh and Jack smiled at each other.

"It's bigger than you need," Tosh pointed out, "but I can see exactly why you like it."

"Yes," agreed Jack, "I probably won't use all the bedrooms, but it will be nice to have lots of living space." He took Tosh by the hand. "I hope that you'll come round and visit a lot," he said with a broad grin.

"You know I will," Tosh replied, and reached up to kiss him.

The estate agent was waiting for them by the front door, when they had seen enough. "We'll take it, Jack announced happily."

"Wonderful Sir," the agent answered, "I'm sure you and your wife will love it here."

Tosh and Jack burst into laughter at that, leaving the agent totally bemused.

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A week after Jack had chosen his house, he moved in. He barely had any possessions to put in the house, and only realised after he was there how much he would have to buy to make the place habitable. The main bedroom had a king size bed, but he only had the bedding he had been given at Torchwood. That was for a single. So first thing on the shopping list, sheets, and a duvet. Then he needed a massive supermarket shopping spree to stock the kitchen and bathroom. Furnished meant the house came with furniture, cooker etc., but there wasn't a pot or pan to be found. Plus he needed food supplies.

It would be nice to be able to cook again, Jack thought. The Hub wasn't set up for cooking. Heating left over Chinese was about as sophisticated as it got there. The others would probably be surprised to know how much cooking he had done in his long life. He was quite expert at it.

The first thing he did was make a list of things to buy. It was very long, and as he hadn't bought a car yet, he would need help to get anything. Tosh was on duty all day, but Jack knew that Ianto was on his day off. Perhaps he would be willing to help. Pulling out his mobile he phoned Ianto to ask.

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Jack and Ianto staggered out of Currys. Each was weighed down by a massive box. Jack could barely reach round his box far enough to hold it. Ianto was slightly better off.

"I hope that that box is going to fit in the car," he grumbled. "Couldn't you have got a smaller TV?"

"Large TV's are the norm these days," Jack pointed out with a laugh. "And, it's very thin. Just think how big it would have been with a cathode ray tube in it."

They reached the car. Ianto put his package down and opened the boot. It was a large boot but the box would have to fit through the gap to get in it. Together he and Jack pushed and twisted and tried every angle to get the TV into the boot but it would not go.

"I should have got a hatchback," Ianto sighed.

"No need," said Jack, "it can sit on the back seat. That smaller box can go in the boot."

By pushing the passenger seat as far forward as it would go, they managed to get the giant box into the car. There was then very little room for Jack, but he managed to squeeze in beside it in the back.

"OK?" asked Ianto.

"I'll manage," replied Jack as he tried to close the door. "Can you push this shut?"

Ianto pushed the door, and squashed Jack but finally managed to close it. "OK, let's go!" Ianto shouted in triumph.

They made it back to Jack's house in fifteen minutes. Ianto had seen the estate agent details but had never seen the actual house.

"It's a great street," he said, eyeing up the quality of the neighbourhood.

"Would you like a tour?" asked Jack. "After all you did help me pick it."

"Sure," agreed Ianto. "I'd love to."

Ianto admired the house as Jack showed him round, but his thoughts kept drifting to the past, when they used to spend time together being domestic. He hadn't appreciated it as much as he should have at the time. Jack was clearly revelling in his chance to live a normal life, and had embraced domesticity fully. But of course that would largely be shared with Tosh and not Ianto.

"Fancy going car shopping?" Jack asked, when they had finished the tour. "I think you're more into cars than Tosh is."

"What are you looking for?" Ianto asked.

"Something silver and fast," Jack declared exuberantly.

"How could I say no?" Ianto grinned, rolling his eyes. "You'd better get one with a big boot."

"Fast cars don't have big boots!" Jack protested with a laugh.