m_findlow

Title: Paying the price
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Gwen, Jack, Ianto, Rhiannon, Johnny, Rhys, Andy
Author: m_findlow
Word Count: 23,181 words
Rating: M (language)
Notes: Written for spook_me 2021 Challenge - Cyborg
Summary: Something strange is occurring at Cardiff's largest discount furniture retailer.

Johnny had scratched the address for the warehouse on a scrap of paper he'd found in the car. It might have been a discarded chewing gum wrapper, he realised, all coated with wax, because the pen wouldn't write on it properly, leaving more of an impression of the address rather than a visual representation of it. That wasn't so bad until he was driving in the pitch back, trying to read it by the light of a few dirty sodium street lights.

'Bastard nightmare of a place to find,' he muttered, finally pulling up that car along the curb in what was a messy rabbit warren of curving streets that made up the sad industrial estate. All these concrete buildings looked the same to him, and almost none of them had any signs to indicate what number they were, let alone who they belonged to. He'd been expecting a bloody great Altons sign pitched out front on the strip of grass frontage, and a further sign pointing him to the pick up point which was no doubt round the back.

He squinted at the address on the piece of paper again and then tucked it between his teeth as he idled the car at a crawl along the street, angling his head out the passenger side to try and identify even a single number that might tell him if it was still up ahead or he'd passed it by already.

'Bastard,' he mumbled incoherently around the bit of paper, and then, as if by dividen intervention, found the warehouse he was looking for.

'Finally,' Johnny muttered, letting the gum wrapper flutter from his lips, falling down into the footwell. He fished around for it between his legs, swearing again because it also had the docket number written on it and he was sure he'd need to quote that to someone to collect his goods. His fingers finally brushed over it and ensnared it, pulling it out and shoving it into his fleece jacket pocket. He stepped out of the car and popped the boot, grabbing the octopus straps and then opening the car door and dropping them on the back seat, ready to go, before slamming it back shut.

As his head popped back up and looked over the roof of the sedan, a strange light caught the corner of his eye. What the bloody hell was that? He imagined maybe it was a security light flashing on and off, or a freak bit of lightning. It was there one second and then gone, without him really being able to pinpoint where it had come from. He looked around the industrial estate, but apart from him, there was no one else around. Not so much as a single car parked along the street or a sign of life anywhere. That wasn't normal. Little shits like the ones back on their old estate block were always hanging round places like this, mucking around with their BMX bikes or joyriding along in their boosted cars with the stereos thumping, tagging the side of anything they could with a can of paint. Place like this was a paradise for ratty teenagers.

There was another flash of light. Johnny caught it this time, spotting it from a window of the Altons warehouse. Not just one window, like someone had flicked on a dodgy fluorescent tube that wouldn't stay on. It was coming from all the windows, all at once. Not lights really, but more of a glow. A blue white glow that grew and then dimmed and then was gone, all in the space of a second. Then the place went dark again, like there was no one there.

Johnny tucked his fists into the pockets of his fleece and took a few steps forward, crossing the road and stepping onto the pavement. A long concrete driveway led around the back of the grey corrugated iron building. A series of roller doors lined the way but Johnny didn't make it past the first one before the same sudden glowing appeared from under the roller door itself. He took a few steps back, then swore as he backed into the side fencing, catching himself by surprise. There was something off about the place he couldn't put his finger on, but he didn't feel like getting any closer. A shriek of metal tore through the peaceful night air, emanating to inside and Johnny felt no shame in backing away quickly and jogging back to the car.

By the time he got there he felt stupid, He should just drive up there, honk his horn and wait for someone to come out so he could collect this fridge and go. Another momentary flash and he grabbed for the car door handle. He opened it and got in, then checked his watch. Rhi was going to rip him a new one coming home empty-handed.

What to do? He wasn't scared as such. It was all just a bit weird. Yes, weird is what it was. He needed someone to come and verify that's what it was and that he wasn't a complete chicken shit. He grabbed his phone and then swore again. Bloody Ianto. Wasn't even here, was he? Just when Johnny needed him around. He saw the name three down from it in his list of contacts. Jack. Should he call him? It was one thing having Ianto think he was a pillock, but what would Jack think? Fuck it, he decided. Couldn't possibly be worse than facing the missus.

Jack was just about asleep in his chair as the ringing from his phone startled him back into action. Finally! he thought, desperate for a bit of excitement, or at least he was until he saw the caller ID.

'Johnny,' he answered, bracing for some odd request, most likely not from Johnny at all but from Ianto's sister Rhiannon. She definitely wore the pants in that relationship. Sometimes it was hard to see how she and Ianto could possibly be related, until Jack remembered just how stubborn Ianto could be. The only real difference between them was that Ianto had a filter and Rhiannon didn't. Jack found that refreshing. He liked people who said what they meant and felt, even if he didn't always like what they said.

'Jack, mate, how are you?'

Jack glanced around the empty hub, as if waiting for some prank to burst forth. Did Ianto do pranks? There was a first time for everything, right? 'Uh, I'm okay. How are you?'

'Good. Listen, you don't have time for a quick chat, do you?'

Jack was slightly confused. 'Isn't that what we're doing now?'

'No, I mean, face to face.'

Jack frowned for a second, remembering who he was talking to. 'Is everything at home okay'?

'All fine. Rhi and the kids are great.'

A second thought crossed Jack's mind. 'How come you're not at the rugby like everyone else tonight? Johnny was mad about rugby. He was forever trying to convince the pair of them to double team up with the kids at the park. Moreso, so he could prove he was better at it than either of them. Ianto was more of a footballer than a rugby player. Jack preferred other pursuits that got his heart pumping without the need for grass or a ball.

'Got other stuff on tonight. So, how about it? I can be there in twenty minutes. Meet you there?'

'Listen, Johnny,' Jack began, trying to figure out how to let him down gently, 'if Ianto and Rhiannon put you up to this, it's fine. I don't need a minder.' He could picture it now, the pair of them hunched over the old formica table with cups of tea and spinach dip, discussing how Jack would cope with Ianto being away for work for weeks at a time, and making a list of things they could do to intersperse themselves into Jack's routine to keep his mind off being alone. 'I'm good, really. You don't need to take me out for a sympathy pint.' Not that he thought there'd be space enough for a gnat in any of Cardiff's pubs tonight. Wales versus England was the biggest sporting event this side of the Severn Bridge. A visit from the Queen wouldn't even register by comparison. Everywhere would be heaving. It was almost a blessing to be tucked away down in the hub away from it all.

'Listen if you're busy with work and all that's fine. Just say so.'

Jack looked guiltily around the empty hub. He couldn't have been less busy if he'd tried. And Johnny suddenly didn't sound like he was just offering tea and sympathy. He wouldn't say what it was, but it piqued Jack's curiosity nonetheless. 'I'll be here.'

Jack idled by the SUV in the car park under the Millennium Centre. When Johnny said he'd meet him at the hub, this was as far and Jack would let him go. He'd never seen the inside of the place that Jack still affectionately called home, even if he hadn't lived here full time for years now. Whilst his extended family had seen the kinds of things Torchwood faced through no intentional action on either his part or Ianto's, it was agreed that they wanted their family as far removed from what they did as was possible. 'Someone at least should get to have a normal life,' Ianto said, even if between them they'd also agreed that they never wanted normal and boring for themselves. Jack's mad lifestyle had rubbed off on Ianto and now he was as addicted to the insanity as Jack. Gwen was just as bad.

The familiar blue sedan rolled around the bend in the car park and clocked him, pulling in beside the SUV, leaving a car space between them so as not to run Jack over where he stood.

Jack nodded his head. 'Johnny,' he said warily, having read his brother-in-law's body language as he stepped out of the car. There was something furtive or even rattled about the way he moved.

'Mate, you're a sight for sore eyes.' He came over and gave Jack one of those awkward manly hugs that Jack had never quite gotten used to. He didn't mind getting one from Ianto, but with everyone else, it just felt strange, and Jack was a guy who typically liked hugs.

'I'm okay, really,' Jack insisted, trying to shake the vibe he was getting. 'Got my big boy pants on and everything.' Speaking of, he thought, God, laundry. Pants were going to be a problem in a day or two. Ianto always did the laundry. Damn. 'Everybody can stop worrying about me now,' Jack said, pulling away.

'Eh?'

'I'm not going to fall apart just because Ianto isn't here. We've lived apart before, you know.'

'Yeah, fair enough.'

Jack caught the distracted tone. 'Wait. This isn't about me, is it?'

There was a pause and then a visible swallowing. 'Ianto said if I ever got stuck in a bit of bother and he wasn't around, to call you.'

Jack looked skeptical. He wasn't sure Ianto would ever be so cruel as to foist his brother-in-law onto Jack. 'Come again?'

'I just… well... I got a problem, see. I figured you could help?' The upward inflection told Jack everything he needed to know about how likely it was that Johnny thought he'd actually say yes.

'Help with what, though? You couldn't get one of your other mates to help you out?'

'D'you think I'd be asking you if I had other options?'

Jack was taken aback. 'Gee, thanks.'

'Oh, look, that's not what I meant. I don't even like asking. I mean, bad enough having to crawl on hands and knees to beg Ianto to get me out of the shit. You don't know how many times he's bailed me out.'

Jack rolled his eyes. He could take a wild guess it was more often than Ianto ever admitted. Things were never quiet on the estate when it came to trouble. Small wonder Ianto had wanted to get them out of there and into a nicer suburb where the biggest scandal was the neighbour who left their bins out an extra day. 'You're sure you need my help?'

'Well, I can't very well ask Ianto now, can I? he huffed. Off in the Balkans on bloody work, isn't he.'

'Russia,' Jack corrected, wondering when on earth he’d inherited Ianto’s pedantry.

'Same thing, isn't it?'

Jack grunted something of a concessionary nature. Knowing it wasn't worth splitting hairs to argue about it.

'Look, if I don't get this sorted, Rhi is going to do her bloody nut. You've saved the world loads of times. This'll be nothing. Piece of cake for a bloke like you.' Johnny nudged him with his elbow. 'Put a good word in for you with the missus when he's back.'

Jack let out a pained sigh. He couldn't very well say no. Johnny was family after all, and Jack had willingly married into it knowing full well the consequences of his actions. And it was true that most of what he did on a daily basis was a lot more difficult than digging Johnny out of whatever hole he'd got himself in. Plus, he liked the idea of brownie points. Ianto would be chuffed with him for helping out. He was famous for randomly rewarding Jack for good behaviour in exotic and altogether kinky ways. 'Alright,' he said.

Johnny gave a thumbs up and a little click of his tongue. 'Aye aye, that's the way. Now come on. Hop in,' he said, throwing open the door to the grubby blue sedan.

'Couldn't we take my car?' Jack asked, casting a hopeful look at the SUV, black and gleaming. It was almost as clean as the last time Ianto had washed it before going away. Jack planned on keeping it that way just to prove he didn’t make a mess just to give his husband something to do. Family Johnny might be, but Jack still had a reputation to uphold.

'Not supposed to stick out, mate,' Johnny replied. 'Besides, Ianto's told me about your driving.'

Jack groaned, pulling open the door, trying to find a spare space in the footwell that wasn't full of burger wrappers and old soda cans. 'There's nothing wrong with my driving,' he said, reluctantly clipping his seat belt, as Johnny twisted the key and revved the engine.

The car zipped around the spiralling levels of concrete and burst out onto Bute Street. There were surprisingly few cars on the road, Jack observed, but as they slung down through the city centre, the place was full with people, overflowing from the doors of clubs and pubs, the bright light of wide screen televisions in every establishment glowing and blaring out the commentary of the year's biggest game. Johnny honked the horn at several drunken patrons as they ambled across the road in front of him. The colourful vitriol that spilled from his mouth through the open driver side window at them was enough to make Jack proud. The responses they received in return were equally colourful. God he loved this country.

The mass of people thinned as they passed through the other side of the city centre and Jack was now desperate to know what could need his assistance so badly that Johnny would call him out of the blue like this. 'Now, are you going to tell me what this is all about?' Jack asked, nudging a soda can with his boot to give his foot some room. 'Where are we going anyway?'

'Rumney.'

'Okay,' Jack said slowly. 'What's in Rumney?'

'A mate down the rugby club told me about how I could get stuff on the cheap, like.'

Jack rolled his eyes. 'Ah. Of course he did.'

Johnny missed the facetious remark. 'All you have to do is go on to this store website, pick what you want and pay for it and then they give you the address of where to go to pick it up. Massive discount to collect it yourself.'

Yeah, because that didn't sound like a dodgy scam at all. 'Let me guess. You went there and there was no warehouse.' Just a few heavies counting their money in a grubby flat somewhere miles away, unbelieving how easy it could be to make some fast cash.

'Oh, there was a warehouse alright. Only it was a little, well...'

Jack sighed. Trust Johnny to fall for a scam. 'What did you buy?'

'A fridge. Rhi has been banging on forever about getting a new one. Old one had seals that were rotted, light's broken, and the thing wails in the night like a Valleys girl on the lash after a bad breakup.'

Fridges? Again? 'Are you sure you aren't related to any Williamses?' Jack asked. Rhys was forever getting into trouble, and for some reason it always involved fridges. Not to mention Ianto had just ordered them a new fridge at home. What were they all doing? Comparing notes and synchronising diaries? Had fridges become the new national pastime?

'Is that important?' Johnny asked, his tone serious.

Jack shook his head. 'No. Just curious.' As he stared out through the window at the emergency lane signs whizzing by, the obvious question struck him. He consulted his watch to be sure. 'Why are we checking this out at nine o'clock at night?' Dodgy scammers were unlikely to be hanging around at this hour.

'I got told to pick it up around seven.'

'What, you were just going to stick it in the boot?'

Johnny spared him an incredulous look as he took his eyes off the road. 'As if. I was gonna strap it to the roof.'

Jack gave an internally rolling of his eyes. 'This is why I won't let Ianto buy you a new car. Not to mention the internal rubbish tip you've got going on here.' Ianto would lose his mind if he saw this.

'You're joking right?' Johnny said. 'David and his little mates get in here after football practice with their sausage rolls and muddy gear. Wouldn't let those little shits anywhere near a new car.'

'Good to know you have standards.'

A little smile crept over Johnny's face. 'Yeah, go on, take the piss. I know it's a mess. I get busy but. And you don’t have kids.'

'Oh, no judgement here,' Jack replied. He'd been on the receiving end of far too many scoldings to count when it came to the state of the SUV. He cleared his throat trying to figure how they'd gotten so off topic. 'So, anyway. You bought a fridge online, went to collect it, and…'

'Don't laugh, alright? But I got this weird feeling about the place. Didn't go in. Didn't get too close at all. In fact, just… well, best you see for yourself.'

'Are we almost there?' Jack asked, getting fidgety in the passenger seat. He didn't like being the passenger unless he had something more important to be doing that meant he couldn't also concentrate on driving. Right now, he felt more like a third wheel.

'Almost,' Johnny replied. 'Just around this next street.'

'So turn your headlights off,' Jack told him.

'What, in case they like, see us coming and stuff?'

'Yeah.' Whoever they were. Possibly no one, but Jack tried not to discount gut feelings. Johnny might inadvertently be on to something that Torchwood hadn't picked up on. Emphasis on the “might”.

Johnny idled the car just a few yards from the top of the street and pulled it to a stop. Jack sensed his hesitation to get closer and experienced a similar gut feeling that something was off.

Jack pulled out his webley and checked it before slotting it back in its holster, receiving a questioning look. 'I don't go anywhere unarmed,' he explained, 'except dinner at yours,' he qualified. Ianto would have him shot if he turned up for a family meal armed and dangerous. Weapons stayed locked in the SUV if there was no other option.

'That's okay,' Johnny said. 'Just never really sunk in before that this is what you do.'

'Mostly it's just meetings and paperwork,' Jack assured him. At least it was for Ianto these days. Jack still found any excuse to get out, and Johnny didn't really need to know all the gory details of a normal Torchwood day. Trouble managed to find them more often than not. They certainly didn't need to go looking for it.

Jack got out and leaned against the car door until it quietly clicked into place. There was no flashy slamming it shut when his sixth sense was telling him something was up, even before he'd seen anything or had any real proof.

They walked slowly up the slightly curved street, bland grey buildings casting deeper shadows into the night. All except one, it seemed, which rather than being dark and foreboding, not stuck out like a beacon.

There was a glow at the base of the building, a bright white light that didn't so much as seep out under the edges of doors and through windows as it appeared to scroll around the building, like something inside had revolving lights. It pulsed like a heartbeat as it ran circles within the confines of the structure.

'Well, the lights are on…' Jack said, leaving the rest of the sentence unfinished.

'See what I mean?' Johnny said. 'It's all a bit "close encounters'' if you know what I mean.'

It was nothing like close encounters but Jack didn't say so. Jack studied the lights as they made another pass around the building and then checked his wrist strap, scanning the immediate area. 'Nothing but low level rift radiation,' he murmured, disappointed by the lack of results.

'What, like traces of aliens and stuff?'

Jack shook his head. 'No more than the rest of Cardiff.'

Johnny seemed to pause and think about this. 'So, you mean there's alien stuff everywhere?'

Jack shrugged. 'You have your city sitting on top of a rift in space and time for a few hundred years, all kinds of stuff falls through. The place is awash with the residue of a few centuries. If our equipment was any more sensitive, we'd never stop. Whole city lit up like a Christmas tree.' Sometimes. It felt to Jack like there was more alien stuff in the city than there were locals.

'Blimey.'

Jack decided to cut the lecture and get back to the problem at hand, assuming there was one. 'And you say you bought the fridge at some local online store?'

Johnny nodded.

'Which store? What's the address?'

'Does it matter?'

Jack fixed him with a firm gaze. 'It matters.'

'Altons.'

'What, you mean like the big furniture chain?'

'Yeah.'

Johnny gave him the website address and Jack typed it into his phone. It looked harmless enough, like a hundred other sites that flogged cheap imported goods of questionable quality. It did seem strange though that a big chain store like that would have such a dodgy looking website that only sold a limited range of products. Whitegoods and electricals mostly. He seemed to be getting redirected to some local website based on his location. Still that didn't account for why Cardiff residents should get short changed by a major retailer. It wasn't until he did a trace on the IP addresses of its most recent customers that things got interesting.

Johnny hopped from one foot to the other. 'C'mon Jack, can we just go get the bloody fridge and go?'

Jack kept his scowl fixed on the screen of his phone. 'You don't want that fridge, Johnny. Trust me.'

'Eh? Rhi will do her bloody nut if I don't. And it's paid for. Course I do.'

The frown on Jack's face deepened as he cross referenced all of that IP addresses against local police reports. 'No, you really don't.'

'Why not?'

'Because this website is a fake. A good fake, redirecting local internet traffic, but still a fake. And according to this, the website has only had twelve customers, and in the last three weeks guess how many of them have been reported missing?'

'Twelve?'

Jack looked at him in askance. Ianto insisted Johnny wasn't as thick as he sometimes appeared. Bernie's mate Gummy had last been seen parking his bike by the loading bay of a furniture store. Had it been Altons? Jack couldn’t remember. The two could be connected. Maybe he'd gotten caught up in whatever was going on. 'Not yet,' Jack finally replied. 'With luck we're about to prevent you from making it an even dozen.' The fact that one had not disappeared made him curious. Just not curious enough to stop him worrying what had happened to the other eleven. Perhaps they just hadn't been missed yet.

'I'm going in to investigate. You stay here with the car. If I'm not back in an hour, you get in the car and go. Wait outside the hub. The little tourist office by the quay,' Jack told him, being extra specific. Someone would turn up in the morning and find him there. 'Bring help. Tell them you need to see a man about a corgi.' It was code for Jack being in trouble. The team would mobilise and come find him, armed to the teeth and ready for anything.

'But…'

'No buts.' Johnny was family and Jack needed his family safe and out of harm's way. Torchwood and families didn't mix but Jack had both and he was set on keeping it that way. 'I'll be fine. It's just a precaution.' He caught the worried look on Johnny's face. 'Relax,' he said, trying to be less serious and more reassuring. 'If I find your fridge I'm coming right back. I might be amazing but even I can't carry one of those all on my own. Not unless they've got some very handsome young delivery boys in there to help me.' In which case he would definitely be more than an hour, but for totally different reasons. It wasn't cheating per se. Not when your husband knew you couldn't resist. 'Just… stay.'

Part four...