Archangel - Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight
This was the part of the job Jack enjoyed the most: throwing his weight around and making an arse of himself to people in authority.
That authority was the woman who had shown John and Toshiko around Magister Innovations, Emilia Cosgrove. She was sharply competent, but Jack’s overbearing attitude was beginning to get to her, judging from the frown that marred her perfectly Botoxed forehead.
“I have no idea who you think you are -“ she snapped, her hands resting on her hips.
“Captain Jack Harkness,” he answered, giving her his best shark’s grin. “I’m not that forgettable, surely.”
He heard Castle snort softly from behind his right shoulder, and he didn’t need empathy to sense Elena’s amusement at the woman’s growing ire. Jack took great pride in his ability to piss people off beyond what was normal, and he saved it for just such an occasion as this.
Not that he really expected much. This was simply to divert attention from the other two teams infiltrating Magister Innovations.
Finding the TARDIS would have been easy for Ianto and Alexis, since they’d had the coordinates from the Eye-5 contacts. What would be difficult was if Ianto couldn’t, somehow, convince the old girl to show him out to pilot her to the Hub. He could have gone himself, since he was familiar with the time ship’s systems and had flown her himself on a couple of occasions, but he was the Director of Torchwood, and he had the authority needed to get this particular job done.
There was still the chance that he could rattle enough cages that they would be let in for a more direct examination of the company’s records. If so, then it needed to be him there, in order to give the proper amount of gravitas to the proceedings.
Besides, if there was one thing Jack Harkness was built for, it was for intimidation.
The second team had a more difficult job. John and Toshiko had been given the tour of the facilities, but they hadn’t actually seen the computer core. Toshiko could extrapolate things from the recordings from the contact lenses, and she’d used that to attempt to pinpoint the core, thus giving Tim the best coordinates possible. Once there, the two technologists and Paul could forge a link with Tim and the Torchwood mainframe, and gather as much information as possible before any sort of connection was discovered.
Both Tim and Toshiko had been completely unable to crack Magister’s firewalls, leading the biotronic supercomputer to finally declare that alien technology must have been involved. Both Toshiko and John had backed him up, which had meant they’d need to get everything directly through a download from the Magister Innovations’ mainframe. That meant that they would have to get up close and personal with the aforementioned mainframe, and hack in from within.
He and Elena had worked out a set of gestures and code phrases that she could use if needed, and the hand on Jack’s arm communicated to him that both teams were in the building and were fine. Not for the first time did Jack wish he was telepathic, so he could keep track of everyone instead of relying on Elena. That wasn’t anything against her competency; it was Jack’s own need to be in control of everything. Besides, that would have made talking to Ianto that much more fun.
Ms Cosgrove’s face went redder than it had been before. Jack hadn’t thought that was possible. “Captain Harkness,” she ground out, and Jack could swear her jaw was so tight that she had to have been breaking her teeth under the pressure, “you have no right to come here and demand anything. We are a private business, and we do not answer to you -“
“I’m afraid you do,” Jack answered, his grin turning into a knowing smirk. “Torchwood jurisdiction includes anything I want it to be, and right now I want it to include everything within this building, especially what pertains to the Archangel Network. Now, are you going to get your boss on the phone, or do I have to call my own? And I assure you, Her Majesty doesn’t like being disturbed when she’s walking the Corgis.”
The remainder of the team - Gwen and Owen - was back at the Hub on standby in case a last-minute rescue was needed. If Magister Innovations was determined to hold on to what they had, then it might very well lead to property damage and a need for Retcon. Jack had his own Webley, and he knew that Elena and Castle both carried Tomorrow People-styled stun guns, just to be on the safe side.
Ms Cosgrove’s face turned mulish, and she looked as if she was going to argue some more. Instead, she spun on her heel while slipping the mobile from its fancy holster on her waistband. She dialed a number that must have been from memory, glaring back over her shoulder in Jack’s direction. Jack simply gave her a flirtatious smirk in return, and then put his back to her to regard his teammates.
“I’m impressed, Captain,” Castle said, giving Jack his own smirk, this one pleased and not flirtatious at all.
“Thank you,” Jack replied, winking in return. “Anything interesting going on, gorgeous?”
Elena rolled her eyes at him. “Ianto and Alexis are at the TARDIS, and John and the others have found the computer core. They’re working on it now -“
“Captain Harkness.”
Jack turned back toward Ms Cosgrove, who was holding her phone out for him to take. “My boss wants to speak to you.”
“Thank you, Ms Cosgrove.” He took the mobile, holding it up to his ear. “This is Captain Jack Harkness. Who am I speaking with?”
“Captain Harkness,” a very familiar voice answered. “I would say this was a pleasure but I would be lying.”
Jack couldn’t believe it. “Mister Saxon. Colour me surprised.”
The Minister of Defence chuckled, and Jack didn’t like the sound of it at all. Saxon bothered him at the best of times, but to have links enough to Magister Innovations to have been called by Ms Cosgrove…no, this was so wrong he couldn’t even define it.
“Ms Cosgrove called me because Magister Innovations is working on several government contracts that are extremely sensitive in nature. Now, you will stand down and leave London. This is no longer Torchwood’s jurisdiction.”
“And you would be wrong, Mr. Saxon. All of Great Britain is Torchwood’s jurisdiction. Just because there’s no longer an office in London doesn’t mean we don’t follow up issues here, and we will not stand down for you or anyone. We have information that Magister Innovations has access to alien technology that they have reverse engineered. We need to investigate that to discover if there’s any danger to the general populace.”
“I order you to leave, Captain. Magister Innovations has sensitive projects going on that are top secret, and your interference will not be tolerated.”
“You can’t order me to do anything. Torchwood is above the government, and as such you have no control over what me and my team do.” Jack could understand why Saxon was bothered; if the government did have contracts with Magister, and if those contracts were reliant on alien technology…that could be messy indeed, and the last thing the Defence Minister needed this close to the elections was to be caught up in a scandal…even if the reason for that scandal could not be released to the public. Saxon wanted to become Prime Minister too badly to let something like this get in his way, which just proved that Jack was right to have decided not to vote for the bastard.
“Don’t you think your talents could be used better in other ways?” Saxon was angry, but there was no way Jack was going to give in.
“Not at the moment,” he answered breezily. “Now, we have work to do. We’re going to examine every inch of Magister Innovations…and if we don’t find anything, then it’s business as usual. But if we do, then I’ll invoke my power as the Director of the Torchwood Institute to shut Magister down…government contracts or no. You can recoup the losses by taking the owners of the company to court.” That was something else they hadn’t been able to discover - just who owned the business. Toshiko and Tim had been led around by the proverbial noses, through shell companies and private individuals until the trail had become well and truly muddled. It was as if whoever did own Magister Innovations didn’t want to be found.
Jack didn’t care for that one bit. It simply confirmed that something shady was going on, and at this point he was most likely going to shut the place down, Archangel Network and all, just on general principles.
“I’ll find a way to stop you, Harkness.”
“You can try. But I’ve already sent a report to Her Majesty, and she agrees that things don’t add up. None of us want anything to come back and bite us in the collective asses, now do we?” Jack wasn’t being truthful; he hadn’t contacted the Queen as yet. He really only had supposition that what Magister was doing wasn’t strictly on the up-and-up, and he need to prove everything first. However, he wasn’t about to share that information with Harold Saxon.
Saxon was making spluttering noises over the line, and Jack just let him rant for a few minutes, to get it out of his system. The threats and imprecations that the Defence Minister was spouting wanted to make him laugh.
Because he wasn’t paying much attention to what Saxon was saying, he noticed Elena go deathly pale.
Castle must have seen it as well, because he took her by the elbow, supporting her in case she passed out. Jack was worried that the telepathic signal had begun once more, and that question must have shown on his face because Elena shook her head. “I can’t hear Ianto and Alexis anymore,” she whispered, rubbing her hand across her forehead. “One second they were there…and then, they were just gone.”
It was Castle’s turn to turn white, and the expression on his face told Jack that he was about to go storming in, and to hell with anyone who got in his way.
Jack put his hand over the phone’s receiver, letting Saxon talk to himself for a moment. “Hey,” he said calmly, “they must have managed to take the TARDIS into the vortex. You won’t be able to sense them again until they materialise. Don’t worry, okay?”
Elena nodded, looking relieved. Castle still seemed apprehensive, but he took a deep breath and was visibly settling his nerves. Jack could understand his worry; Ianto was quickly becoming more than just a lover to him, and would have been worried sick if he didn’t know that the pair would be safe in the TARDIS.
It was one of the reasons he’d sent Ianto and Alexis after the time ship, so that they would be out of the line of fire in case things went pear-shaped. He wasn’t about to let Ianto know that, however. After all, he did want to have sex again before the end of the decade.
Still, he couldn’t help but be worried, so he asked, “Did you feel them die?” The Tomorrow People would always know when one of their own died. Ianto had likened it to hearing an echo of a familiar mind slipping away.
“No, I didn’t,” she confirmed, gathering back her control and putting on her game face.
“Then they’re okay.” Jack was confident of it. He turned back to the ranting Saxon. “Mister Saxon, if you’re finished,” he cut across the man’s yelling, “then the sooner we get started the sooner we can shut this place down…or clear the company completely. Now, if you would give the order to Ms Cosgrove…”
“This isn’t over, Harkness.”
“No, I don’t suppose it is. Pleasure talking to you, Minister! Have a nice day!” He handed the phone back to Ms Cosgrove, who took it will ill grace.
She listened for a moment, and then her eyes grew wide. “Are you certain?” She went completely still. “Yes, sir, I understand…yes, sir…I do think that’s inadvisable…yes, sir, very well.” She snapped the phone closed, straightening her back in order to look imposing. It didn’t work. “Minister of Defence Saxon has ordered me to allow you access, but he requests that you come back tomorrow in order for us to gather all of the project notes together for your perusal.”
Jack sensed a delaying tactic when he heard one. “Sorry, but the Minister doesn’t get to dictate terms. We’ll go in now.” He let a little bit of ice creep into his voice, communicating to her that he was past the point of negotiation.
He stepped past her, fully intent on gaining entrance to the building.
“No farther, Captain.”
Jack turned, one eyebrow going up at the presence of the small gun in Ms Cosgrove’s hand. “That’s not going to work, you know. If you shoot me, then my companions will shoot you. Is death worth it in order to keep Saxon’s secrets?”
The sound of another gun cocking had Jack quirking that same eyebrow at the security guard who’d they’d first tried to bully their way past. “Three against two…still lousy odds.”
“Our Master has spoken,” Ms Cosgrove said, sounding almost mechanical. “We follow his orders.”
The security guard had a somewhat constipated look on his face, but he didn’t argue with her.
“Your master?” Jack asked, confused. What the hell?
He didn’t have time to question her any further, as her finger tightened on the trigger. Damn, and he’d hoped not to die today…
The gun went off.
Somehow Elena had ended up in front of Jack, one hand held out in front of her. There was the distinct sound of a bullet ricochet, and then the unmistakable whine of a stun gun in the split second afterward.
Jack couldn’t help but grin as Ms Cosgrove sprawled inelegantly on the stone flooring. “Now that was impressive,” he said, resting his hand on Elena’s shoulder. He traded a nod with Castle as the writer swiveled his gun toward the security guard.
The man’s eyes were wide, the gun hanging from his unresponsive grasp. Jack couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t every day that someone deflected a bullet with just the power of their minds.
“You will teach Alexis how to do that, right?” Castle asked, motioning with the silver weapon to indicate that the guard needed to leave the area.
The man did, practically stuffing his gun back into its holster and racing out of the building.
“Oh, she already knows how,” Elena promised, lowering her hand. She took a deep breath. “It’s not that hard, it just takes reflexes and a lot of power.”
Jack wondered if Ianto could deflect things like that, and hoped he could. It would mean he would be more difficult to kill, and Jack wanted to keep him around as long as possible.
“Oh,” Elena continued, “John says they’ve found the control room for the Archangel Network. The others will meet us there.”
Jack moved out of the way, bowing slightly as he motioned her forward. “Lead on, lovely lady.”
Elena grinned and then headed into the building. Castle followed, giving Jack a roguish smirk but not saying anything.
She led the way up to the second floor and down a corridor with blank walls and a single door at the far end. The place was practically deserted, but that was to be expected with it being the weekend. Still, Jack had expected a few more employees in the building, what with the roll-out of the Archangel Network coming up. But it meant less people to get in their way.
Jack was just a bit worried about Ms Cosgrove’s calling Saxon ‘Master’. Just what was the Defence Minister up to? He knew the man was married, and this didn’t seem like some really kinky sex game to Jack, who had really seen most of them. No, a sexual partner didn’t usually try to shoot someone on command.
The urge to shut down the entire company was so strong Jack had the sudden urge to go back to the Hub and dig out some of the alien explosives that had fallen through the Rift a couple of years back. A scorched Earth policy concerning Magister Innovations seemed like a really good idea in that moment.
Elena had arrived at the single door, and it opened to reveal Paul, looking slightly ill. “C’mon in,” he said, throwing the door open wider to let them all inside.
The room beyond was as long as the level itself, lined with all sorts of processors that flashed and hummed around them. Chill air made Jack glad that he was wearing his greatcoat, while Elena visibly shivered. Castle seemed to shrug it off, but then he was wearing a blazer in order to disguise the holster for his stun gun. Jack still had to fight the laughter when he recalled the writer posing with the gun and pretending to make quick-draws with it.
Jack, being a gentleman despite what his reputation might say, shrugged off his coat and tucked around Elena’s shoulders. “Thank you, Captain,” she said, smiling up at him.
“You’re welcome,” he answered gallantly. Jack quite liked Elena, and considered John a very lucky man indeed to have her in his life.
Paul rolled his eyes. He didn’t comment, but said instead, “We’ve found a terminal down the way a bit. John and Tosh are hacking it now, but so far what they’re finding isn’t good.”
Their trio accompanied the younger man through the maze of servers, Jack looking around while taking scans with his wrist strap. They were a bit higher tech than Earth norm, and he could pick up some otherworldly metals twisted among the processors.
Yes, just for that this place would be taken down. Even just the tiniest bit of alien tech couldn’t be allowed to stand.
John and Toshiko were muttering to each other as they all approached the desk where the computer terminal had been set up. Both had their own versions of pissed off on their faces, and they looked up as they approached.
“Whatcha got, kids?” Jack asked. Despite the greeting he knew he sounded grim.
He knew it was bad when John didn’t make some sort of comment about being called a kid. “This is wrong, Captain,” he growled. “Whoever built this used a combination of Federation and some sort of future tech…I’ve never seen it before.”
“It’s almost like that cube we found about a year ago,” Toshiko added. “You know the one, right Jack? The one you said was some sort of communications device?”
Jack did. He’d suspected it was a Time Lord device called a hypercube, although he hadn’t been able to prove it. He’d heard the Doctor once mention them, and it had closely resembled a certain device on the TARDIS. It really had been an assumption on his part, but if whoever had built this had somehow gotten a hold of Time Lord technology…it had to have come from the TARDIS herself. There was no other explanation.
“That’s not all,” John interrupted, as Jack was about to call to have everything shut down, “there’s a subroutine in the network that has a telepathic component to it.”
“The burst?” It had to be, there was no other explanation.
The elder Tomorrow Person nodded sharply. “If I’m reading this programming correctly -“
“And you are,” Toshiko agreed.
“Then this signal was embedded into the network on purpose.”
Jack frowned. “So they did deliberately target the Tomorrow People?” It meant someone had known about them and had wanted to affect them in some way…
Toshiko shook her head. “No. It’s a generalised signal…almost like a subliminal message. John and I think it was meant to affect everyone on the planet.”
And suddenly, things began to fall into place for Jack, even though he didn’t have all of the pieces yet. “That’s interesting, considering that Harold Saxon wanted us out of here.” He explained about the phone call that he’d had with the Defence Minister. “I don’t have all the answers yet,” he finished, “but I’m very certain that Saxon knows exactly what’s going on here.”
Understanding bloomed on the faces around the desk. “The telepathic signal kept saying that it was our friend and that we should trust it…” Paul said.
“The elections are coming up,” John added. Jack thought he was taking a huge leap in logic, but it made too much sense to dismiss it out of hand. Saxon had a vested interest in the Archangel Network, and that had to mean something. And, with the Network’s activation coming up, as were the elections…Jack just didn’t believe in coincidence.
“Wait a sec,” Castle interrupted, “are you saying this Saxon dude is trying to steal your election by sending subliminal signals and convincing people that they should vote for him?”
“Scary, isn’t it?” Jack asked.
“Hell, why can’t I come up with this shit in one of my novels?”
The laughter that exclamation caused broke up some of tension that had risen in the room.
“Shut it down,” Jack ordered after a few moments. “I want all of this destroyed before we leave. We have proof of alien technology and that’s all we need. Make sure Tim and our mainframe get copies of everything you find, and then erase it all. If this is to win Saxon the election, then he’s just gonna have to go back and do it the old-fashioned way.”
“What about the satellites already in orbit?” Elena asked.
“We confiscate them,” Jack answered. “I think repurposing the Archangel Network into something similar to your Watchdog system is the way to go. More and more alien races are discovering the planet, and we can always use a first line if defence.” Jack’s mobile rang. “Yes, Gwen?”
“Jack, chatter on the British Army channels have orders coming down to stop a terrorist incursion at the Magister Innovations building.”
“Best get your arses outta there,” Owen added, proving that Gwen had put her phone on speaker.
“We’re almost done,” Jack said. “Owen, you’re my Second, use full Torchwood authority to get the army to back off. Tell them we’re handling the terrorist threat and to stand down.” He really should have expected Saxon to pull something like that.
“You got it.”
Jack heard him walk away. “Gwen, I want you to put the Hub on partial lockdown. No one comes in without my approval. Don’t worry about us, we’ll be jaunting in.”
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“I’ll explain as soon as we get back. Just get the Hub locked down, all right?”
“All right, Jack.” She didn’t sound happy, but she did as Jack asked.
He shut his phone. “How long before you get everything done here?”
“Not long,” Toshiko reported, her head down and her fingers playing the keyboard like a maestro. “Their firewalls might have been impenetrable getting into the system, but they didn’t do a thing to keep someone from transmitting out.”
“Good, because we might have company coming.” He told them about the call-out to the army. “Seems like Saxon was really unhappy about us showing up on his proverbial doorstep.”
“You all really know how to stir up a hornet’s nest,” Castle whistled, impressed.
Jack was going to reply, but the unmistakable sound of time and space being torn aside to make way for a certain time machine landing.
He couldn’t help but grin.
The TARDIS had arrived.
Chapter Nine