“Your mam’s face when you asked her if she still had the old cot in the attic!” Gwen giggled as she watched Rhys putting the frame of it together. She sat on the bed and played with Estuko, who was at that ‘curious about everything’ stage of development where anything moving, anything colourful, attracted her. She pushed all of the buttons and turned all the dials on the big, multi-coloured ‘activity playset’ and laughed her baby laugh when bells rang and horns beeped and something resembling a sheep with stomach ache emanated from another part of the device. She laughed again when Abby, the four month old Labrador jumped up on the bed to find out who was usurping her place in Gwen’s affections and reached out to grab a handful of golden fur. Abby was far from happy with that and retreated to the other side of Gwen to view the small stranger who had invaded her territory.

“She does keep on about when we’re going to have kids of our own,” Rhys said. “So does your mam.”

“And they both use the same line of emotional blackmail,” Gwen noted. “‘I’m not getting any younger. I do want to hold a grandchild in my arms before I go…’”

“I keep asking her where she’s going,” Rhys commented. “Both our mam’s will outlive us all, I reckon. They’re just playing for sympathy.”

“They can both wait,” Gwen insisted. “We said we’d leave it for a couple of years. And it’s our decision, anyway. Besides, you’ve been at Harwoods for less than a year. And my job… Torchwood…”

“Mind you, Toshiko manages to work for Torchwood and look after Etsu,” Rhys pointed out.”

“Jack sort of… bent the rules for her. But if I told him he needs to fit another cot into the Hub I think he’d die of shock.”

“Yeah, but half an hour’s rest and a cup of coffee and he’d be all right again,” Rhys answered with a laugh.

“When we’re ready, I’ll take some time off. I talked to Jack about it. He was really understanding. He said he’d get a temp.”

“Where would he get a temp for Torchwood from?” Rhys asked. “It’s not like getting someone to do the filing. Manpower don’t have a list of people skilled at Weevil wrangling.”

“He said he’d call his contacts in U.N.I.T.,” Gwen answered. “Maybe Martha would like to spend more time here, even. She was happy enough to come for a couple of weeks while Toshiko and Owen are in Glasgow sorting out Torchwood Two. She already knows her way around the Hub, and everyone likes her. Especially Jack.” Gwen smiled as Etsuko worked out how to make the picture of a dog on the playset bark – thoroughly confusing Abby. “And we have those two weeks to practice looking after a baby.”

At that moment Rhys’s hand slipped and the screwdriver missed the cot and drove into his thigh.

“Fuck, shit, oww…. Buggering hell…” Gwen covered Etsuko’s ears and ticked him off for swearing.

“We need a lot of practice,” she added.

Rhys got the cot up before bedtime, anyway, and Etsuko slept comfortably in the corner of their bedroom. Rhys had originally thought of the spare bedroom, but the radiator didn’t work, and besides, Gwen said it was better if she knew somebody was nearby. She might get lonely in a strange place.

Then when they went to bed it took a lot of persuasion before Gwen would let Rhys make love to her. She felt shy of doing it with the baby in the room. When she finally relented it was on condition that they were quiet and kept the covers on. Rhys conceded that there was at least that one downside to parenthood. But he seemed satisfied and afterwards he went to sleep happy. So did Gwen, but she kept her eyes on the cot in the corner of the room until she drifted off.

 

Sometime in the early morning Abby woke from her slumber, curled up at the bottom of the bed. She growled as fiercely as a four month old puppy could growl, then barked yappily and ran to investigate what had bothered her.

Gwen woke suddenly to hear a man’s voice swearing and Abby yelping as she was propelled across the floor like she had been kicked.

“Who’s there?” Gwen called out, reaching for the bedside lamp. There was nobody there, but Abby seemed certain there was. She ran back again to the baby’s cot. Gwen got out of bed and went to check on Etsuko. She was awake, though not crying or frightened. Her bedclothes had been folded back, though, as if somebody had been trying to pick her up out of the cot.

Then Gwen felt somebody brush past her.

“Who are you?” she screamed. “Where are you? What do you want?”

Rhys took his time to wake, but once he did, he was fully awake and he reacted manfully, leaping out of bed and grabbing the long handled screwdriver that he had left on the sideboard after putting up the cot.

“Somebody’s here,” Gwen said. “I heard his voice. Somebody is… Oh, my god… he was after the baby.”

Abby ran forward again, jumping up as she often did when somebody new came into the house. But there was nobody there.

At least it didn’t look like anyone was there. But Abby’s teeth definitely connected with something about three feet from the ground and there was a yell of pain. There was another yell as Rhys ran and stabbed at shoulder level with the screwdriver, hitting what felt like flesh and leaving blood on the tip when he withdrew. Gwen yelled as she saw Rhys propelled backwards, narrowly missing Abby as he fell to the floor. She felt somebody brush past her and the bedroom door opened and shut. She turned and ran, but there was nobody in the hall and the outer door was bolted. She ran into the drawing room instead and saw that the French door to the balcony was open, but it was dark outside and there was nothing to be seen. She turned back and grabbed the phone. Jack’s number was the first on the speed dial.

 

Jack arrived in minutes. Speed restrictions meant nothing to him when it was an emergency. He came into the flat with his gun ready but with the safety catch on. He quickly confirmed with the lifesigns monitor on his wristlet that the intruder was not in the flat, now.

“I’m not kidding you, Jack,” Gwen said. “There was an invisible man here, and he tried to kidnap Etsu.”

“She’s right,” Rhys added. “I stabbed him with this.” He held up the blood-stained screwdriver. “I think I got his shoulder. He was about my height. And I think Abby bit his todger, too.”

Jack looked at the puppy, named because she was found abandoned in the bus station at Abergavenny. She was hunkered by Gwen’s side on the bed as she cuddled Etsuko.

“Smart dog,” he said. “Remind me not to unzip when she’s around, though.” Then he became serious. He produced an evidence bag from his pocket and opened it out. “I’ll take the screwdriver, Rhys. We might get a DNA trace from it.”

“Sure,” he said. ‘But…. Seriously… an invisible man… a naked invisible man. Even for you lot, that’s a bit crazy… isn’t it?”

“It’s unusual,” Jack admitted. “My guess is somebody worked out a chemical change in his body – but he hasn’t figured out clothes, yet.”

“You mean it’s possible?” Gwen asked. “Like… in the film.”

“Exactly like that,” Jack answered.

“Why did he want Etsuko?”

“When I get hold of the bastard and kick him where Abby got her teeth in already, I’ll find out,” Jack promised. “Meanwhile… Ianto and Alun are on their way. I’ll get them to do a full forensic search of the flat – fingerprints, DNA traces. It would be better if you were all somewhere else – you, Rhys, Etsu and Abby. Come on back to the Hub and spend what’s left of the night in the hospitality suite. You’ll all be safe there.”

“I should be safe in my own flat,” Rhys pointed out truculently. “Bloody naked madmen on the loose.”

“When we’re done, you can go on feeling safe,” Jack told him. “But let Torchwood protect you for now.”

Rhys reluctantly agreed, only because Gwen looked so much less scared when Jack made that suggestion. He packed a few things for them all and as Jack let Ianto and Alun into the flat and told them what had happened they all slipped downstairs.

 

Jack saw Gwen, Rhys, Etsuko and Abby safely settled in the hospitality suite, eight floors below sea level then went to his office and sat there for a while, thinking.

Then he went out again. The Hub was secure. Nothing could threaten the ad hoc family’s peace. But there was something he had to do. Something he needed to know. Something that burned him inside like acid.

He drove carefully. He was angry and it would have been easy to be reckless. So he drove carefully. It was no more than a few minutes drive anyway, in the middle of the night, with no other traffic to get in his way. He was still angry when he reached the Century Wharf apartments. He was seething as he waited impatiently for the lift to reach the right floor. He steadied his hand as he inserted the key in the lock and pushed the door open.

Garrett was waiting up for Jack to return from the emergency that had taken him from his bed. When Jack came into the living room he asked if he would like coffee. He stood up as if to kiss him. He didn’t expect to be hit square in the face with the full force of Jack’s boiling, festering anger behind the punch.

“You bastard,” he yelled. “I trusted you. I trusted you… believed you. Owen warned me, ages ago… not to tell you. But… you used me… pillow talk… you used me… and now…”

“Jack!” Garrett steadied himself, rubbing his jaw where Jack’s fist had made contact. His lip was cut and a nasty bruise was forming at the side of his mouth. “Jack, what are you on about? I have never… never said a word to anyone… about anything we’ve talked about in bed… or anything at all to do with Torchwood… except where the information was shared between our two organisations. You… how could you imagine I would… after all that we’ve been through together… all that we’ve shared… the two of us…”

“How else could anyone have known about Etsuko? How else would anyone know that Gwen and Rhys were looking after her? You’re the only one outside the Hub who knew. I told you that. We were talking… joking about temp agencies… because I said I’d be two agents down. And you asked who was looking after the baby.”

“Not for that reason,” Garrett protested. “Because she’s a beautiful kid, reminds me of when my own were little. And because I hoped she would be looked after. I wasn’t thinking as an agent. I was thinking as a father. Jack… for heaven sake…”

“If it didn’t come from here, then where else? You betrayed me. And her.” He looked at the door key in his hand and then threw it down on the floor. He turned as if to leave. His anger was subsiding now, but the sense of betrayal, disappointment, those still overwhelmed him.

“Jack, please…” Garrett reached out and held his arm. Jack pulled away. He reached again, pushing him against the door. “Jack, listen to me. Believe me.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Don’t walk away from me,” Garrett said, pushing harder against him. “Don’t walk away… listen to me.”

He didn’t listen. He obviously wasn’t prepared to listen to anyone right now. He responded to Garrett’s plea with another swing at his face, this time blocked as Garrett defended himself and fought back. He swept Jack’s legs from under him and they both fell, but Jack’s head hit the wall with a sickening crunch. Garrett looked at him in horror, thinking he had killed him. He was relieved when he reached and touched him and saw that he was just knocked out by the blow.

 

Jack came around in a few minutes to find himself lying on Garrett’s sofa with a cold compress on the back of his head.

“Will you listen to me now?” Garrett asked. “For fuck sake, Jack. You mean the world to me. Do you think I would let you down like that? I’d cut my hand off first. Or any other appendage you could choose.”

“Then who did?” Jack asked. “Because I’m going to kill him when I get hold of him.”

“If it was anyone in my office, you’ll have to get in line. I’ll kill him myself. Please, Jack. Will you trust me… accept my word. Please.”

Jack looked at his lover, listened to the tone of his voice as he pleaded for him to believe him.

“Garrett…” he whispered. “I…” He reached around his neck and pulled him close. He kissed his lips, but Garrett pulled away. “I’m trying to say I’m sorry,” Jack said in a hurt tone.

“I know you are. But you knocked two of my teeth out before. It hurts to kiss. Save the making up for after I’ve seen a dentist. Right now… let’s go and find out who leaked information. We’ll start with my office.”

 

Garrett’s ‘office’ was discreetly placed in the heart of Cardiff’s business area, surrounded by corporate banks. Only a very few people knew it was the South Wales base for MI5’s operations. Jack was one of the few. He had been there many times even before Garrett transferred there for a quieter life than he got in London. He had an ID pass that allowed him into the secure areas. They both showed their passes to the night security guards as well as swiping them through the electronic lock.

“My office is bigger, you know,” Jack pointed out as Garrett brought him to his desk in a small, glass fronted room with ‘Deputy Director’ on the door.

“I’m not in mine very much,” Garrett answered. “I do a lot of field work.”

“So do I,” Jack pointed out. “Two of a kind.”

“Would be if we just work on that trust thing.”

“I’m sorry,” Jack said again. “But seriously. This didn’t come from the Hub. And if it wasn’t you…”

“Then it was somebody who works here. And I’m not happy about that, either. It’s not just you and I who have to trust each other. Our agencies should be able to do that, too. If there’s a leak here, I’ll find it, Jack. I promise.”

Jack sat and watched as Garrett began by checking the computer records. He did so gingerly. Garrett had fought hard. He had some bruises he didn’t want to talk about. He felt emotionally wrung out and embarrassed that he had jumped to such conclusions. He should have trusted Garrett. He really should have. Later, he was going to have to work on rebuilding their relationship. Right now, Etsuko came first. He had to protect Tosh’s child.

 

Ianto and Alun took blood samples from the carpet in the bedroom and followed a trail of blood droplets into the drawing room and out as far as the balcony. Fingerprints on both sides of the window proved that the intruder had got in that way, and had left in much more of a hurry.

“Rhys got him somewhere around the shoulder,” Alun said. “But this blood has fallen from much lower. I think the little dog got a firmer bite than we thought.”

They both winced at the thought.

“So there is a naked invisible man running around Cardiff with a sore dick!”

“Unfortunately it isn’t going to help us find him. He’s not likely to sign into hospital for stitches.”

Ianto put the blood samples away safely and took out a new device that Toshiko had been working on for a couple of weeks. It used alien technology mixed with a bit of Human ingenuity to detect footprints that wouldn’t show up any other way. Of course, Gwen and Rhys had walked around their own home barefoot and in shoes, and so had the puppy. But there was a distinct set of footprints belonging to a male who had come from outside. His footprints had grains of soil and pollen and even bits of rusty paint from the fire escape.

“We can follow him down,” Ianto said as he noted that the device showed up the prints on the iron steps. “We might find out where he went.”

“It’s been at least an hour now. It’s a long shot.”

“That’s nothing new in our work,” Ianto pointed out as he climbed onto the fire escape and started to make his way down.

 

At the Hub, Gwen got a little more than an hour’s sleep before she woke up again and knew she wouldn’t get much more sleep now. She made coffee in the hospitality suite kitchenette and left a cup for Rhys. He always woke up after her and drank a cold cup of coffee before work. It would actually seem perfectly normal to him. Etsuko was awake, too. She was used to being dressed and brought out in her carry cot to work and then sleeping by Toshiko’s workstation. Gwen dressed her and carried her with her up to Hub central.

“Hello?” She was surprised to see lights on in Owen’s lab and looked over the rail to see a figure in a white lab coat at work. “Oh, Martha! When did you get in?”

“About half an hour ago,” Martha Jones answered, looking up at her and smiling. “I got into Cardiff last night. Wasn’t meant to start work for another three hours. But Jack called me. He said there was something important. He told me you and Rhys had a bit of a disturbance.”

“We certainly did,” Gwen replied. She told Martha about it as she watched her take a prepared sample from the screwdriver Jack had bagged up and examine it under a microscope.

“Invisible man!” Martha smiled. “Anywhere but here, anyone else but us, we’d think it was a joke.”

“Well, it’s a first for me,” Gwen said. “Especially in my bedroom. Usually Rhys is the only naked man around there. It’s a creepy idea. Him being able to get into my flat… or anywhere. Women’s changing rooms… toilets…”

“If it makes you feel better,” Martha said. “I don’t think he could do anything. I’m seeing huge amounts of nitric oxide in this blood sample. It causes impotence.”

Gwen decided it didn’t make her feel very much better. She told Martha she was going to find something to give Etsuko for her breakfast and get on with her own work. She needed to make herself busy and not think about what happened during the night.

 

Ianto and Alun drew a blank. The footsteps ran out in the car park beside the flats.

“He got into a vehicle?” Alun questioned. “So now he’s naked, invisible and driving?”

“If he goes through a speed camera that’ll be an interesting picture,” Ianto noted. Then he looked around. He found what he was looking for. There was CCTV security on the car park. “We need to go see the building supervisor.”

 

“Oh shit!” Garrett groaned as he looked at his computer screen. “Shit, shit, shit. Jack… I’m sorry. It looks as if the leak has come from this office. I am so sorry. I ought to have picked up on what was happening. It wasn’t even especially well hidden. And look…”

Jack moved around the desk and perched on the edge of it to look at what Garrett had found. It was a medical file that included details of Etsuko Sato’s conception, foetal development and birth, her progress since birth, and most importantly, DNA profiles and other tests to determine the cause of her invisibility.

There were notes that suggested the invisibility was a reflexive action just like blushing or blinking, but that when she was older, Etsuko might be taught to control it for herself.

“I didn’t know that,” Jack said. “He kept that quiet.”

“There was no reason why anyone should know apart from Toshiko,” Garrett told him. “She’s her child, not Torchwood’s. This was need to know information. Owen made these notes for his own reference, in order to give her the best possible care. But they were not meant for anyone else to read.”

“Except for the other doctor he shared them with for verification of his findings,” Jack noted. “Damn it. Damn. Damn. That’s where your man got this from. Torchwood security wasn’t breached. Theirs was. U.N.I.T.”

“Not my man,” Garrett said as he looked at the file information and found the identity of the agent who last accessed it. Jack looked at him curiously. “Not a man. The agent is a woman.”

 

The night guard employed to keep an eye on the apartment block and the car park beside it was not particularly overjoyed to be visited by two men in suits from some sort of government agency who claimed they had a right to investigate anything they wanted, and detain him for obstruction if he objected. He allowed them access to the car park CCTV, but grumbled that it was nearly time for him to sign off and that he wanted his breakfast.

“Don’t we all,” Alun answered him. “We’ll be done in a minute.” He watched as Ianto skilfully rewound the relevant tape until he found what he was looking for. It was just after 4.30 when a car parked up.

“Shouldn’t you have moved that on?” Ianto asked. “It doesn’t look like it has a resident’s permit to me. That’s your job, isn’t it?”

The night guard looked sheepish and stopped complaining. Ianto and Alun noted that the driver remained in the car while the passenger door opened and closed for no obvious reason. The car remained there for some thirty minutes before the passenger door opened and closed again and then it reversed out of the car park and away towards Cardiff city centre.

“The registration plate is no use at all. It’s fake,” Ianto said. “That’s a 2006 Ford Focus. The plate is from a 2004 car. Dark blue, a common colour and make. No help at all to us.”

The night guard looked impressed at Ianto’s knowledge of cars and their registrations. Alun was impressed, too, but he was well aware of his lover’s many talents and didn’t need to comment.

“We might be able to pick it up on traffic cams,” he said. “Find out where it went. And we know one thing more, at least. Invisible Man had an accomplice.”

“We know something else, too,” Ianto added. “Couldn’t see a face clearly. But the driver’s seat was positioned very far forward. The driver is a petite female – about Toshiko’s size. Invisible Man has a girlfriend.”

“A disappointed girlfriend,” Alun joked. “If Abby bit down hard enough!”

 

“Janice Thorne,” Garrett said as he and Jack watched the security monitors on the front desk at MI5’s Cardiff office. The night staff, mostly ancillary workers, were all going off duty and the day shift was arriving. “Twenty-eight years old, graduate recruit. A born administrator, clever with computers. Not as good as your Toshiko, but good. Her only known relative, an older brother, died six months ago.”

“Died, how?” Jack asked.

“Accident in his laboratory. He was a scientist.”

“What sort of scientist? What was he working on? What sort of laboratory?”

“Private research,” Garrett replied. “Government funded private research, mind you. Which frankly is a contradiction in terms. The file has top level access. I would need my boss’s permission and a very good reason to open it. And don’t think you can overrule his authority, Jack. Not unless you want me posted to Inverness on the next train out of Cardiff Central.”

“I don’t want you posted anywhere,” Jack replied. “Especially not before I have chance to do some serious making up to you.”

Jack looked at Garrett’s face and felt very sorry for what he had done. The bruising was absolutely livid now and when he opened his mouth there was a bloody gap where his teeth were punched out. The only consolation he could offer was that his own body had equally nasty bruises where Garrett had fought back.

Sex and violence used to be a turn on for him when he and John Hart were the hottest item in the Time Agency. But it had never been a feature of his relationship with Garrett and he certainly wasn’t aroused by the memory of what he had done to his lover. He felt a total shit and he really hoped he would have a chance to make it right, later. He hoped Garrett would forgive him, not only for the physical hurt inflicted, but the fact that he had mistrusted him so readily. That was the thing that would be hardest to mend.

“That’s her car, sir,” said the security guard, pointing to a dark blue Ford Focus as it turned into the car park.

“Shit!” Jack swore.

“What?”

“Where she’s parked… she’ll walk past the SUV. She’s going to put two and two together and know we’re onto her. I wanted this to be discreet.”

“Fuck discreet,” Garrett replied. “She’s a fucking traitor.” He gave a quiet but firm order to the security guards who waited for his command then headed out to the car park. Jack followed him.

“Two choices, Janice,” Garrett said as the petite woman in a neat black skirt suit was handcuffed by the guards who had apprehended her. “You can come to my office and be formally charged under the Treason Act. Or you can go to his office and answer some questions. Depending on your answers, we might reduce the time you spend in jail so you’re out before your hair turns grey.”

Not surprisingly, Janice chose the second option. She was secured in the back of the SUV. Jack looked at her car.

“Ianto told me a blue Ford Focus was involved last night at the flat. Garrett, be a sweetheart and drive it to the Hub. The boys can check it out. If we don’t find some DNA traces that tie her to the break in, I’ll wear suspenders and stockings next time we go out to dinner.”

Garrett’s laugh at least suggested they would get to go out to dinner again, but Jack was pretty confident he would be in his own underwear for the occasion. He watched as Garrett got into the Ford before he buckled up in the SUV and headed the convoy of two back to the Hub. The prisoner in the back said nothing, but Jack noted that she squirmed around in her seat several times to look at her own car following behind.

 

Martha Jones was waiting when Jack came in with the prisoner. She had something she wanted to tell him. She waited, though, until he was done in the interrogation room.

“DNA shows the subject to be riddled with isotropic particles. Along with nitric oxide and some other compounds that the mass spectrometer is having trouble with, it looks like the recipe for making a Human body invisible. It’s permanent, and it’s actually slowly killing him. But his brain will be so badly affected by then that he won’t even know about it. He’s slowly going mad. It’s exactly like in the book – you know – HG Wells… the guy went insane in the end.”

“Herbert was a real party animal,” Jack said. “I could tell some tales.” Martha gave him a look. He grinned. “Another time. Is there anything else?”

“Oh yes,” she answered. “I know his name. The DNA profile flagged up a research scientist called Professor Leyton Thorne. He was under investigation by U.N.I.T. because of his interest in …”

“Invisibility?” Jack guessed. “Garrett was telling me a while ago how the file on Thorne was top secret and if he showed me he’d have to kill me after. How come you have higher access then me?”

“Did Garrett ever tell you how sexy you look when you sulk?” Martha asked. “That hurt look behind the eyes… the little boy inside the man.”

“All the time,” Jack answered. “He also told me that Thorne was dead. He IS the brother of Janice down there in interrogation?” He nodded to the large videoscreen that showed Janice handcuffed to the desk in the dimly lit room.

“He was originally listed as ‘missing’,” Martha answered. “Apparently, having a sister in Military Intelligence is handy for faking your own death.”

“It all starts to make sense,” Jack commented. He was about to say something else but stopped. He put his hand to the communicator in his ear. “Alun, Ianto, are you two in position?”

“Yes, boss,” Alun answered. “Garrett’s just parking the car, now. He left it unlocked as you said.”

“Ok, you know what to do.” Jack closed the communication and grinned widely. He turned to where Gwen was busy at her workstation. “Come and watch this,” he said. “It’ll put a smile on your face.”

He put his arms around both women in a purely platonic way as they watched at Toshiko’s workstation where the CCTV cameras around the Hub could be called up easily. The tunnel between the garage and the floor directly below the Hub Central was displayed on the main screen. It was quiet except for Ianto and Alun waiting in an alcove that concealed them from the view of anyone coming in from the garage.

Garrett came into view presently. He didn’t break his stride as he passed them or give any indication that they were there.

He reached the Hub a few minutes later. Martha relinquished Jack’s arm to him as the four of them continued to watch the corridor.

“Oh, my GOD!” Martha and Gwen cried out a few moments later when they saw Ianto and Alun step out of the alcove carrying two large buckets. One contained some kind of dark liquid that Alun threw into the air. The other contained…

“Feathers!” Jack was right about it putting a smile on Gwen’s face. “Where did a bucket of feathers come from?”

“Ianto’s been cleaning them up daily since the eaglets fledged. Plus he destroyed a couple of pillows.”

“Tar and feathering!” Martha managed to say through a fit of giggles as they all watched Alun and Ianto handcuffing the Human shaped figure that became visible when they coated him with engine oil – rather kinder than tar – and the feathers.

“Serves the bastard right,” Gwen commented.

“How did you know?” Martha asked.

“Garrett is a trained and experienced member of Military Intelligence, with the emphasis on Intelligence. He knew perfectly well that Thorne was lying on the back seat of the car. He knew he would lay low, knowing that he was driving to Torchwood. He would want to have another chance to get hold of Etsu.” Gwen gave a frightened yelp. “Not a chance. I set up the ambush ready for him.”

Jack flipped the view back to the interrogation room, and the expression on Janice’s face when her brother was brought in and handcuffed to the seat next to her made Gwen smile again. The sound was turned down, but they could all see the two of them having a blazing row in which they blamed each other for getting caught.

“The interview can wait,” Jack said. “I think it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion, anyway. He got his sister to break into top security files to find anything that might help him become visible again. They found out about Etsuko. The only thing I don’t yet know is how they found out she was staying with you. I suspect the sneaky bastard has been stalking Toshiko for a while but couldn’t get close enough to her.” He turned to Martha. “You and Owen have been working together on our Torchwood X-Kids. That’s ok. I trust you. But tighten up your password security. Janice got into your files too easily.”

“Will do,” Martha promised. “Sorry I let her get that close.”

“We all learn from our mistakes. Good job none of us make such huge ones as he did.”

“Will they go to jail?” Gwen asked.

“She will. She committed treason by accessing those files without authorisation and passing information to her brother. He’ll go to a secure mental facility until he dies of the effects of the invisibility chemicals on his body.” He paused and then turned to Gwen. “Take Etsu down to hospitality. Put her in her playpen and make Rhys breakfast in bed. When you’ve both caught up on your sleep, you can finish those profiles. Meanwhile, can I borrow your dog?”

“Yes, course,” Gwen answered. “Why?”

“Walking a dog around the Bay. Good excuse for a bit of quiet time with Garrett. We’ve still got some making up to do.”

“You don’t need a dog as an excuse for that,” Garrett answered him, slipping his hand in his and squeezing gently. “But after we’ve walked the dog, you can run me to the dentist. And you’re paying the bill.”

Jack didn’t care. He was just glad he had been let off the hook so easily.

 

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