Title: Trading Partners, Part Three of Four

Author: Emma

Characters: Canonical Torchwood Three members… sort of.

Rating: Some chapters definitely not safe for work.

Disclaimer: Oh, please. If I owned them, would I let some of those idiots write the scripts? And if I were making any money off them, would I be where they could find me?

Summary: Torchwood Three goes chasing monsters, and Toshiko has a glimpse of her true inheritance
 Author's Note: If you're keeping track, this is Countrycide. Although after this chapter, there should be no doubt!
Author’s Note: I know the current incarnation of the GRO is the Identity and Passport Service. Don’t like it. Won’t use it. Also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergillum

Part One is here; Part Two is here

            Tosh stared at the data in her screen as if trying to make it change through sheer will. “Ianto, what are the odds that a village in the Valleys would have the highest per-capita income in Glamorgan and Powys?”

            He looked up from his own monitor. “Some sort of celebrity retreat place?”

            “No. Cuddfadwn. I started doing some research. Jack would ask me to at some point anyway. The disappearances cluster around it. I did an infogather and it showed up in the official statistics. It’s not a matter of an American billionaire returning to his ancestral lands and putting down roots, either. This village has been wealthy for at least one hundred years and it looks like it’s fairly spread out among residents.”

            “Even during the nineteen twenties and thirties?”

            “Especially. They stand out like a lighthouse during the depression years.”

             Ianto logged out of the “priority” questionnaire he had been working on for the Treasury – mostly repeating please contact Her Majesty’s Keeper of the Privy Purse for this information after each question – and brought up Mainframe’s integrated search module. “Tosh, would you keep on looking into the town? Who lives there now, anyone stand out, that sort of thing.”

            “Sure. What are you going to be looking into?”

            “Other disappearances in that area.”

            Ianto set up his research parameters and waited impatiently.  He couldn’t get rid of the feeling that something was wrong with Jack. It had started a few hours after they had left for the Brecons and it had been growing in intensity since then. He felt edgy, jittery, like someone standing in a field with a thunderstorm coming.

            The results window opened and a map of the Brecons came up. Different colored dots made an irregular circle with the village in the center, each color representing a different year. He gave a low whistle.

            “What is it?”

            “There have been disappearances around Cuddfadwn for one hundred and forty years. Clusters of twelve every twenty years, more or less. Bodies were never found. Each time it was attributed to either werewolves or accident.”

            “The first ones in 1889, right?”

            “Right. How did you know?”

            “Income took a jump up.” She enlarged another window. “That’s interesting. They got a doctor at around the same time.”

            “Most of those villagers had Healers…”

            “Not a Healer, a doctor. A London import by the name of Peter Courtenay. Wait a minute,” She switched windows. “Ianto, the current doctor in Cuddfadwn is also called Peter Courtenay.”

            “Descendant, maybe?”

            “Hold on. Let me try the General Register Office records.” She typed fast. “No. No children born to Peter Courtenay, doctor, at least not registered in Wales between 1888 and 1920. There are two in London proper, and a scattering in Hampshire, Sussex, and Kent. It would take me a bit longer to weed them out.”

            “Leave it for now. How did you find out about the doctor?”

            “Newspaper article. Oh. Photos.Yes, there’s one. Bad quality, but I can work with it. Let’s see.” She made faces as she worked, Ianto noticed with amusement. “There.”

            Ianto stared at the man, then tapped his earpiece twice. “Andy? Did you meet the Cuddfadwn doctor?... Describe him.” He listened intently. “Could you come to the Hub, please? I think Tosh is going to need some company.” He ended the call. Tosh…”

            She waved him to silence.  “Hold on…. There.”

            She used her cursor to create a lineup of three photographs running across the top part of the monitor.  The faces were not identical; if you had met two of them in separate occasion one may not have reminded you of the other. But when you lined them up side to side it was unmistakable. "Three men, three different decades, three different names."

            “The same man…. Ah.”  The sudden shaft of pain in his abdomen bent him in half. “Ahhhh.”

            Tosh ran to his side. “Ianto, what’s wrong?”

            “I’ve lost Jack,” he whispered. “I’ve lost Jack.”

            Tosh helped him to the sofa and then knelt by his side. “Ianto, is he dead?”

            He closed his eyes  briefly. “No. But I can’t feel him,.”

            “All right. Sit. I’ll go get what we need.” She pointed a finger at him. “Don’t even say it. I’m going with you, and that’s all there is to it.”

            Ianto watched her go into the weapons storage area. Actually, he was glad to have her along. In spite of her fragile appearance, Tosh was icy cold in an emergency and could think as fast as Mainframe if she had to.

            She returned carrying two of Jack’s prize modified shotguns and an aspergillum. He laughed, even though his chest hurt. “Holy water?”

            “Why not? Believers will respond and non-believers will be surprised to get wet.”

            He laughed harder. “I love you, Toshiko Sato.”

            Andy walked into the Hub in less than fifteen minutes; something in Ianto’s tone had made him run. Ten minutes later, Tosh and Ianto were on their way. Ianto drove as fast as he dared in the city, but as soon as he hit the main road into the mountains he opened up the SUV until the tyres were barely skimming the tarmac.The small sliver of moon gave him enough visibility to see the road, and that was all he needed.

             An hour later, as the SUV took a sharp turn, its head lamps illuminated the other SUV, parked on the verge facing in the wrong direction. He stomped on the brakes and was once again grateful for the excellent maintenance the SUVs received; otherwise, seatbelt or no seatbelt, they would have gone through the windscreen. He thought of telling Tosh to stay in the SUV but dismissed it immediately. Instead, he pointed towards the ditch on the other side, closest to the trees. She nodded.

            He turned off the ignition. They waited a few minutes, then they opened the doors at the same time and bolted. Tosh moved immediately into the deep shadows. Ianto stayed low as he ran for the passenger side of the other SUV. He peered through the window, using his pocket torch. The driver’s seat had been set wrong: too close for Jack, too far away for Owen or Gwen.

            He had decided to take a closer look when a whine and a sharp ping into the metal above his head made him duck lower. Several shapes were moving through the meadow towards them. Tosh’s shotgun barked and one of the shapes fell into the thigh-high grass. Ianto took off at a run towards her.

            “Into the woods. Now!”

            They ran. Among the trees there was no moonlight to lighten the shadows. Behind them there was the sound of men screaming and cheering. Ianto could barely see Tosh ahead of him, but she seemed certain of where she was going. Suddenly she veered off, almost backtracking towards the road.

            “Tosh! What are you doing?” he hissed.

            “This way!” Her voice was vague, but she kept moving. “We’ll be safe there.”

            He tried to grab her, but she was too fast. There was nothing for it but to follow. Suddenly, he felt the tingle in his senses that told him they had crossed some sort of magical barrier. Sounds receded, and Ianto was certain that they were beyond the reach of their pursuers.

            A few steps beyond, the narrow trail widened into a small clearing. A rivulet divided it; along its banks violets and eglantine bloomed. His mind told him it was the wrong season, but his magical sense told him in this realm things did not follow normal seasons. Seated on a rock by the stream was a beautiful young woman combing her hair, a cascade the shade of a dying flame that reached her knees.

            “Tosh…”

            “I know what she is,” Tosh said wonderingly. “A kitsune.”

            “A fox spirit?”

            “Don’t worry, Ianto. When I was small I loved kitsune stories…”

            She walked up to the young woman. Ianto, following her, noticed that on closer look the young woman had a look of great age to her, especially around her eyes.

            “Oldest sister,” Tosh said , bowing deeply.“We are lost and come for refuge.”

            “I have been expecting you, younger sister. We were warned you would be coming, and we have set places like this all through the woods.”

            “Who told you we were coming?” Ianto asked.

            “The handsome one. He said you would see us.” She shook her head musingly. “He did not tell us you traveled with one of our sisters.”

            “We didn’t know,” he said, noticing the look of shock in Tosh’s face. “But we honor you as we honor her.”

            She gave a gracious nod. “Come, then. The handsome one waits.”