The rift alert had led them into the outskirts of Cardiff, and Jack had parked the SUV in front of a large industrial brick building. Until the late 1970s, it had been used as a knitting factory. Many such buildings in Cardiff were abandoned by their owners, with no one willing to spend money to demolish them.
A yellow Ferrari with darkened windows was parked on the other side of the street.
An unusual sight in this run-down part of the town.
"Looks like we are not the only ones looking for rift loot," Ianto eyed the sports car sceptically as they were heading over to one of the backdoors of the building.
"Makes me wonder how they find these spots so quickly lately," Jack sighed.
Alien technology fetched the highest prices on the black market, and interest from shady third parties had increased - even more reason for Torchwood to get to the objects first.
"Let's be extra careful, we don't know who we'll run into when we get inside," Gwen warned as she checked her gun.
Jack tapped on his earpiece. "Tosh? Give us an update on what to expect inside."
"The rift interferences are strong, so I can't get all the details. But there are three individuals inside. Two are on the first floor at the far side of the building, and one is on the third floor. The artefact you're looking for is also on the third floor. The staircase is located on the southeast corner of the building."
"Thanks, Tosh," Gwen acknowledged.
The three exchanged glances.
"Let's go," Jack said, pulling open the heavy metal door.
As they reached the third floor, they stepped into an empty corridor. Several large rooms ascended into both directions. Jack crept along the wall to the first door and peered inside. The room was deserted except for a few old and rusted machines standing in the middle. Old paint was peeling off the walls.
They checked other rooms and got the same result until they reached the last door. Even before peering inside, they heard movement and grunts that sounded familiar.
Jack turned around and mouthed 'weevil' to the others. Gwen tightened her grip on her gun while Ianto's eyes widened.
"Shall I get the weevil hunting equipment, sir?" Ianto hushed. Jack shook his head and put his finger to his lips. They needed to be quiet.
He moved forward silently, looking through the door. This was a smaller room with several adjacent doors. The weevil stood in the middle of the room, hunched over a large crate. It hadn't noticed them approaching with its back to the door, and its attention focused on rummaging through the box. All they could hear were excited grunts and wheezing.
Jack motioned for Gwen and Ianto to remain silent and proceed to one of the other doors. The plan was to encircle the creature so that it couldn't escape. They both nodded and vanished around the corner. When he noticed Gwen peeking through the door on the other side of the wall, Jack made himself heard and entered the room with his gun drawn.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I believe you have something that belongs to us," Jack said, his voice light. To his surprise, the weevil did not even look up. Whatever was inside that crate seemed far more interesting than three armed Torchwood agents. Gwen and Ianto had also entered the room, but the weevil still didn't look up.
"What is it doing?" Ianto whispered.
"No idea," Jack sighed. This was supposed to be a simple rift retrieval. Weevils usually didn't care much for the artefacts transported through the rift.
Jack moved in closer and tapped the creature on the back.
"Hey, mate...," he began as the creature abruptly straightened up with an ear-shattering roar. The weevil was enormous, with a broad chest and at least seven feet tall. The monster spun around, its arms raised in defence, hitting Jack in the chest and hurling him backwards. As he collided with the old brick wall, the air was forced out of his lungs, and he crashed to the floor in a daze.
"Jack!" He heard Ianto scream, but the weevil's roar drowned it out as it turned to face its other opponents. Then, the loud bang of a shot rang through the air.
Gwen's practice on the firing range had obviously paid off, as she'd pierced the weevil's shoulder just inches above its heart. Not that it had any effect; the weevil didn't even seem to notice.
Jack was pushing himself up when he saw the creature charging towards Gwen and Ianto, who were scrambling back out of the room and into the corridor. Weevils were always difficult to control, but Jack had never seen anything like this. He'd seen pure madness pulsing behind the reddened eyes when the weevil had hurled him against the wall. Jack took a few deep breaths to steady himself before chasing the monster out into the corridor. When he reached for his Webley, Jack realised he must have dropped it when thrown against the wall. Damn.
"He's gaining ground on you! Don't run straight!" He yelled as he saw the weevil catching up on the others. Gwen dashed through the nearest open door, but Ianto was less fortunate and a few steps behind. The weevil rammed into him and hurled him against the wall. Jack winced as he saw Ianto's head hit the wall hard. The young man crumbled to the floor and lay still.
"Ianto!" Jack screamed. But then he heard gunshots from the next room and Gwen calling for him.
"Jack, I need your help! The bullets do absolutely nothing!" She yelled.
Jack stared at Ianto, then knelt to check his pulse. It was strong and steady. He couldn't help him right now; it was more important to deal with the weevil first. Although reluctant to leave him behind, he followed Gwen and the creature into the next room.
Jack froze as he took in the scene in front of him.
The weevil had Gwen cornered. She pressed her back against the wall, gun still aimed at her opponent, clicking hollow. She'd run out of bullets some time ago.
The weevil stumbled towards her, its chest heaving and mouth wide open. Saliva coated its long fangs, and a white substance dripped from its mouth. The most upsetting thing about the sight was the deep red eyes that radiated nothing but wild madness.
Two more steps, and it would rip Gwen apart.
Jack was about to pounce on the creature and fight it with his bare hands when it began to howl loudly and sway. A moment later, its body began to tremble as if it were having a seizure. The giant then collapsed to the ground and went still.
The room fell silent, apart from Gwen's heavy breathing. She stared at Jack, then at the motionless weevil at her feet.
"Bloody hell. What was that?"
Jack moved closer and knelt to examine the weevil for signs of life. There weren't any.
"It's dead."
Gwen finally lowered her weapon and sank down beside Jack.
"This makes no sense."
A groan rang out through the door.
"Ianto!" exclaimed Jack, leaping to his feet and sprinting back into the corridor. Ianto was still lying on the floor but was moving and trying to get up.
"Be careful," Jack cautioned, kneeling and gently wrapping his arms around the young man's shoulders. "You hit your head."
"Really, who would have thought," Ianto moaned and winced as his fingers touched the aching spot on the backside of his head. He sat up on his knees, blinking and trying to shake the dizziness. "What happened to the weevil?"
"It dropped dead right in front of me," Gwen said as she joined them on the floor.
"Only you could scare a weevil to death," Ianto tried to joke but groaned again as the world spun before his eyes.
"I doubt anyone has such skills," Jack said, his voice worried. "Whatever happened, I'm glad it's dead. This was way too close."
"Don't worry, Jack. We'll be fine," Gwen tried to reassure him.
"I almost lost two of my best agents because of a god-damn weevil, I think I am entitled to be worried," Jack snapped uncharacteristically.
"Help me up," Ianto said, trying to distract Jack from his dark thoughts. "Let's take a look at that crate. Not sure about you, but I'd like to know what caused the weevil to go berserk like that."
"You're right. Let's go back," Jack said as he wrapped his arm around Ianto's waist for support. Ianto leaned gratefully into the other man's embrace.
When they returned to the room where they had encountered the weevil, they discovered that the box had vanished.
The room was empty.
"Crap," Gwen cursed as she spun around to see if the box had found a hiding spot. "Where did it go?"
"Tosh?" Jack asked into his earpiece. "What happened to the other two life forms you noticed earlier?"
"Gone," their computer expert replied. Scanners pick up just the three of you. Otherwise, the building is empty."
At that moment, they heard a door slam outside in the street. Jack cursed, passed Ianto to Gwen, and dashed down the corridor to one of the windows for a better look.
There, he saw two blowfish trying to stuff the large box into the Ferrari's far too small boot. When the flap wouldn't close, they simply left it open. Both looked up and saluted mockingly before disappearing inside the car.
The engine started with a loud whine, and the tyres squealed as the Ferrari sped away.
"Tosh!" Jack bellowed into the comm. "Follow the yellow Ferrari on CCTV. Find out where they're going. I don't care how difficult it is, find them!"
"Sure, Jack, no problem," she said, and they could hear her shout through the hub. "Owen? Get up here, I need more eyes on the CCTV!"
"Shouldn't we be going after them?" Gwen asked as she caught up to Jack, pulling an unsteady Ianto with her.
Jack shook his head. "They've got too big a head start. Tosh has a better chance of finding them. Let's get back to the hub. I want Owen to look at Ianto, and then we need to figure out what killed the weevil."
It took them some time to load the large body of the dead weevil into the SUV. Afterwards, Jack ensured Ianto was comfortable in the back seat, still worried about his head injury.
"Jack, stop it. I can clip the safety belt on myself," Ianto sighed, rolling his eyes.
The dizziness had subsided, and he felt fine again. He tried to push Jack away, who was leaning over him, fumbling with the seatbelt hanger.
"Concussions should not be taken lightly. I want Owen to check you out when we get back to the hub," Jack insisted. Until then, he intended to treat the young man like a raw egg.
Gwen stood next to the car, impatiently waiting for them to finish. There was nothing more for her to do, and she was eager to return to the hub. While she waited, she looked around until her eyes fell on a row of police cars parked at the end of the street. Blue lights were flashing, and people scurried around. Was that Andy? She squinted her eyes and looked closer. Yes, it was him!
"Hey, Andy," she called out, waving her arm. Andy turned around and returned the wave.
"Jack, I need a minute. Will be right back," Gwen said and ran off without waiting for an answer.
She was halfway down the road when Jack got out of the car after strapping Ianto in while lecturing him about the importance of taking precautions after a head injury.