25
They entered the front yard of the old homestead first, the barn Jack wanted to search was there and the old barn back along the road probably had newer stuff but more tech savvy. Right now, old and reliable is best.
Ianto watched as Jack got out and called out 'hello' softly, and then Ianto put his window down and held the gun out, covering Jack as he knocked on the farmhouse door.
Nothing.
They didn't expect anything but at the same time, it might have been nice to find someone alive. But a Bug was an equal possibility I guess. After they waited for a few minutes Ianto honked the horn, then they waited nervously for a few more minutes before relaxing and everyone got out.
"OK Mickey and Andy, you two are on first watch. One watches the road, the other scans around the fence line" Jack barked.
"I will check the house, you see to the others" Ianto said softly as he moved past Jack so the others could not hear him giving an instruction and Jack nodded, pleased Ianto was doing that so he could be the one to be seen in charge.
"Right" Jack bellowed "Ianto is gonna scan the house, I want someone in that barn… Rhys you know the machinery we need, someone else looking around the outer property… Mark?... and Owen… you can help Ianto with packing anything we can get into the Transporter from the house."
"Yes!" Owen punched the air "Lone Wolf Pack!"
Jack was in the fire truck so he had missed the conversation and his look of confusion made the others giggle more. The two men entered the house and Owen called out, shooting upstairs as Ianto shook his head with wonder at the man's inability to consider danger.
"Owen, did it occur to you that someone might be barricaded up there and might think you are a Bugger so… shoots you?" Ianto asked when the man stormed back down to declare it clear "you don't even have a gun. What if a Bugger was up there? They sleep somewhere ya know."
Owen had NOT considered this and it showed as he turned and looked back up the stairs like a gun wielding maniac was coming after him "Fuck."
"What was up there?"
"Four bedrooms."
"Children's?"
"No, I think you're right. The flash new one must be a family one, this one feels… old. Ya know? Look at this faded wallpaper and stuff, an old couple lived here, the two spare rooms all stale and one of them was set up like a kid's room. For when a kid stay over? If babysitting they probably just went down to the other house."
"That would be the assumption" Ianto nodded "So... the bedding was not exciting?"
Owen slouched over and said in a crotchety voice "It was terribly ollllllld."
"OK. So, you want to go though the food in the kitchen?" Ianto asked, "I will check out anything we might use."
"Right. Like what?"
"Batteries… laptop… any sort of tech… maybe books… stuff like that" Ianto answered as he dumped out a clothes basket full of clothes that had been on the table, leaving the clothes and wandering off with the basket.
"Hey!" Owen yelled after him "What if I needed that!"
"Whaaaaaaahhhhhhhh" came a faint sarcastic cry.
Owen giggled with glee as he totally loved this guy and their same sort of sarcastic humor.
After a while the table was groaning with shopping bags full of stuff, the large cache of bags something Ianto had clearly known about… right. He checked down here. Owen sat back and pondered if he was being handled, rising to see what Ianto was up to and finding him in the old man's office crouched by a large safe, spinning the dial.
He was about to speak when Ianto held up a finger having heard him coming, then he canted his head and hummed spinning the dial once more.
The click was loud.
Then Ianto pushed down the handle and pulled the safe open to reveal what he was after, the guns gleaming like they were freshly oiled.
"Jackpot" Owen breathed, and then added "where did you find the combination?"
"Didn't. I just… listened to the tumblers and when they click in the right tone, it's like a set."
"What?"
"Me Da taught me how to. He was a right bastard and he was also a drunk and a wife beater but… he did know how to safe crack pretty well."
Owen stared at him and then said after a while "I don't know when you are being funny or just fucking creepy."
"Oh, I prefer creepy every time. Sometimes I am funny? Damn, Owen you must tell me when I fail to creep you out so I can work on it" Ianto replied without turning from the boxes of ammo he was removing and stacking on the floor next to his feet.
Owens's laughter echoed through the house as he went to get something to carry all that good stuff in.
He was starting to enjoy this time with Ianto.
The Lone Wolves.