"Jack's Angels IV: The Case of The Missing Heiress" Chapters 3 & 4

[wanda1969]

Title: "Jack's Angels IV:  The Case of The Missing Heiress"
Author: wanda1969
Rating: PG- I don't think there's anything dodgy in here

Spoilers:  Can’t think of any??
Summary: Torchwood characters shoehorned into a rather unexciting Charlie's Angels adventure! No Charlie's Angels characters in this though!  The Team travel to sunnier climes...
A/N: This fic is slightly gwen-bashing. Not upsettingly so, I wouldn’t think....
For the very few people who wanted another sequel, here goes.

A long chapter 3 and a short chapter 4 in this one.

Obviously, I have borrowed these characters from the BBC.

Other parts, if you are interested:
Jack's Angels:
http://wanda1969.livejournal.com/957.html
Jack's Angels II (part 1):
http://wanda1969.livejournal.com/1202.html
Jack's Angels II (part 2):
http://wanda1969.livejournal.com/1456.html

Jack’s Angels III:

http://wanda1969.livejournal.com/2726.html

Jack’s Angels IV (Chapters 1 &2)

http://wanda1969.livejournal.com/3038.html

 

Ch 3

 

Ianto sat on the edge of the bed heavily with an exhausted sigh, before closing his eyes, letting himself fall backwards with a moan, to lie on the bed, arms outstretched.

“Exhausted, Ianto? “ Jack said softly.

“I’m absolutely bloody knackered!” It wasn’t that the flight was particularly long, or even that he didn’t like flying. And since coming to work for Jack, he had to admit that he’d had more experience of first and business class than he’d ever thought possible, which made air travel a far more comfortable proposition. What he hated mainly was the waiting around at airports. Worse than that, they’d had to travel to Gatwick for the flight; Ianto calculated (he just couldn’t stop himself from calculating) they’d spent more time travelling to the airport and waiting to board and then disembark, than they’d actually spent on the ‘plane- it was only about ten hours flight time. Add on Immigration when they’d arrived at Jose Marti International in Havana (however much he’d used his contacts to get a quick visa and passage into the country) and then there was the hour it had taken to collect the luggage. It didn’t stop there.  Then there was the journey to their hotel in the taxi, which, like many of those in Cuba, was a 1950s American Oldsmobile from before the revolution. Coupled with some severely potholed roads, and the local habit of any vehicle picking up hitchhikers en route, it meant that Ianto felt like he hadn’t relaxed in twenty four hours or more. It was now ten o’clock at night.

At least the hotel was comfortable. It consisted of ‘cabanas’ set in landscaped gardens and afforded guests a certain amount of privacy. Their cabana had two bedrooms (one was quite obviously the master suite, while the other had twin beds) and a sitting area; Gwen was booked into a single ‘cabana’ in another part of the gardens, where she was no doubt either sinking into a deep sleep or telephoning Rhys. There was often no middle ground with the ex-policewoman.

Jack reached down easing off Ianto’s shoes and socks and reached over to grab a hand, pulling him back into a sitting position. “Come on you! Get undressed, then you can have a proper sleep.”

The Administrator groaned as he undressed quickly and untidily, throwing his clothes onto a nearby armchair before he pulled back the covers and sank into bed. He was asleep almost immediately, even before Jack had joined him.

***

A similar, though less domesticated, scene was taking place over in Guanabo.

Johnson had gone straight to her room to get some rest, and Andy and Tosh had just closed the door to their porter.

“Well, I’ll say this for Ianto, he’s got taste! This place is amazing! It’s full of antiques!” Andy flopped onto the spacious day bed in the sitting room of their suite at Casa Fernandez. “I could sleep here!”

Tosh paused before she spoke, “No Andy, you can have the bed...”

“Don’t be stupid- you go and get some sleep- this is more comfortable than MY BED back home in Cardiff. And a damn sight bigger! No, Go Tosh, get some rest.”

***

The next day, the team in their two separate hotels awoke refreshed after a good night’s sleep. Breakfast finished, the Angels set out on their respective assignments

***

Ianto walked along the seafront at Boca Ciega, a copy of the Lonely Planet for Cuba in his hand, small rucksack on his back. He was wearing lightweight linen jeans and a t-shirt, looking for all the world as if he was on a ‘round the world’ trip. Like this, he looked younger than his age of 29, and much closer to Caroline’s age.

He’d sought out nearly every bar and café that had been mentioned in his guide book. Before they’d set out, he’d put the only picture of Caroline and Jake that they’d sent home via hotmail on his mobile ‘phone, repeating the process for the rest of the team.

Wherever he could he’d got into conversation with other travellers and ex-pats, eventually pointing out that he was hoping to meet up with an old school friend who was travelling in Cuba; at that point out came the ‘phone and he’d search for the photograph, eventually finding it to showing it to whoever he was speaking to, asking if they’d seen her. He couldn’t get access to his e-mail account, and hadn’t managed to catch up with her. He was giving up, as every time he was greeted with ‘nos’ and head shakes.

Jack had remained at the suite with its internet connection; he had his own investments to take care of as well as searching out as much extra information as possible on Jake Urquhart. Twenty-six, public school educated, the son of titled (but nouveaux pauvres) land-owners; he’d dropped out of university and never managed to hold down a job for longer than a couple of months, instead preferring to spend his time partying. He liked to call himself an entrepreneur, but put little work into his enterprises and had left a string of disappointed investors. Jack was sure that he must have presented a different personality to Caroline.

***

It was a similar story further down the coast. Tosh had given Johnson, who was now sat at the pool-side bar with Tosh’s prized laptop, detailed instructions of the best ways to track bank accounts, ‘plane flights and hotel reservations.

Freed from the laptop and her computer searches, Toshiko was wandering around the town with Andy, visiting the local bars and even asking at guesthouses and beach huts for her ‘old friends’. As a honeymooning couple, their activities didn’t attract much attention. What’s more she was enjoying Andy’s company; it was a change to have someone to carry out investigations with like this. Too often she worked alone, and she was revelling in the opportunity to have someone to discuss her ideas with, and, even better, just chat with.

***

Meanwhile Gwen had set out on a similar mission to her colleagues. She’d managed a few cafés, but by 1 o' clock she was beginning to flag in the heat. She spied a beachfront bar and decided to take a well-deserved rest. It wasn’t long before she’d consumed several mojitos and was now in deep conversation with a thirty-something businessman from Havana on a short break, all thoughts of Sir Alistair’s granddaughter having completely disappeared from her head...

***

“Yeah, yeah- they were staying here a couple of months ago, down at the beach huts, before I set out for a trip to. Caroline and Jake was it?” Christian, Chris for short, said looking away from the mobile ‘phone screen and taking a swig from his bottle of Cristal beer.

Ianto had been about to give up, when he’d decided that he actually needed a beer; It had been late afternoon and he’d been drinking mainly soft drinks in the heat of the day.

He spotted a bar on the beachfront, and decided that there was time for just one final push to find someone who’d seen Caroline. It had been a lucky decision. He’d sat down on a high stool at the bar and started a conversation with Chris, an Old Harrovian with unkempt sun bleached hair- a typical drop-out Trustafarian. He had the blasé air of a man who’d been ‘hanging out’ in Cuba for several months. It turned out he was right; Chris had been travelling around the island for several months, but mainly coming back to the Cuban resorts on the northern coast, but avoiding the package holiday hell (as Chris described it) of Varadero.

“Great, Chris! Know where I can catch up with them?”

“Don’t even think they’re still on the island. Jake kept saying they were on their way to Central America, said he had business there and he’d had enough of Cuba anyway. Most of the time I just thought he was just trying to impress Caro, but he told me that he had some really big deals and could make a fortune out there.”

Ianto pressed him further. “Well, I’m heading over to Central America and South America before I go to Australia- any idea where they could have gone? You never know, I might catch up with them anyway.”

“Not sure....No wait, he said something about Panama. Yah, he said it had great beaches and loads of business opportunities. He’d been there before. I think they were going by boat. Sounded like they intended to spend some time there, so you never know, they may still be there.”

Ianto relaxed against the stool’s back and ordered another couple of beers; he wasn’t going to leave straight away and draw attention to himself in case his first impressions of Chris were wrong.

***

When he arrived back at about 6pm, Jack was on the ‘phone with Tosh, having been in contact with Johnson throughout the day.

“I’ll see how Gwen’s gone on,” he mouthed silently at him as he took out his telephone and dialled, walking into the bedroom.

“How’s it going Gwen?” he said as she finally answered.

“Great, Ianto, great.” Her voice sounded ever so slightly slurry.

“Found anything? Are you OK? It sounds a bit noisy there- are you back yet?”

“Oh, well, no...I’m still in town at...where is this...?” She said to whoever she was with and then seemed to pull herself together as she continued, “Yeah, Bar Mirador. No, I’m afraid I haven’t found any leads, I was just chatting to... someone...” The Torchwood administrator thought he heard a muffled male voice, and rolled his eyes.

“Well, I think I’ve got a bit of news that I’m going to be checking out tomorrow. Perhaps you ought to get back, it’s six, y’know.”

“Is that the time?! I’ll head back- really ought to get something to eat I suppose.”

“See you around, Gwen.” As he snapped his mobile shut, he wandered back into the sitting room to find that Jack had finished speaking to Tosh.

“Honey, you’re home!”

“Jack...” Ianto sounded unamused but Jack laughed, knowing Ianto secretly didn’t mind.

“OK, OK! So, did you find anything out? The others didn’t have much luck.”

“Well, I was just about to give up but I called into a bar. I was getting to the point where I was desperate for a beer. And that’s when I ran into Christian. It’s why I’m so late.”

“Should I be jealous?”

“Of course...” but his voice betrayed a hint of humour.

“What did this Christian say, then?”

“He recognised them from the ‘photo and said they’d been staying in the beach huts at the edge of town a couple of months ago. And he thought they were on the way to Central America- Panama, as we thought. More interesting, though, is the fact that Jake said something about business opportunities out there. Oh, and he said he thought they were getting the boat from Havana, so that’s probably why we can’t find any record of them on any flights”

“Well, that fits in with what we know about Jake. How about Gwen? Did she find anything out?”

“I haven’t seen her, but I called her while you were on the ‘phone just then. She’s still in town at Bar Mirador. It sounded like she’d had a few Cuba Libres or Mojitos.”

It was Jack’s turn to roll his eyes. “So, nothing, then?”

“Didn’t sound like it, I’m afraid,” Ianto sighed.

“Oh, well. Anyway, let’s go and get changed, I’ve booked a table for two at the restaurant we can discuss this further there. I’ll just ‘phone the others at Guanabo- sounds like they’ve got a day off by the pool while we arrange flights to Panama and check at the port at Havana.”

***

A couple of hours later, the two men were seated outside at their table, small candle lanterns lighting up the gardens. As they were about to start their main courses they heard a familiar voice beside their table.

“Is that a Welsh accent? I’m from Cardiff- what a co-incidence!”

They looked up from their plates. It was Gwen.

Ianto tensed visibly, but she hadn’t noticed as she had turned her attention to Jack.

“Well my PA here is, but as you can probably tell I’m from the states,” he said keeping up the pretence that they were strangers.

“Perhaps I could join you?” she said cheerily, keeping up the pretence that the two men were strangers.

“Well, we were just about to start eating...maybe we’ll see you in the bar a bit later?”

The Welshwoman looked a bit taken aback at Jack’s dismissal but, then brightened, and gave him one of her wide smiles. “Of course, I’ll let you get on with your dinner. See you later.”

She walked away heading to the hotel bar; she was wearing a short fitted black dress and Ianto could swear he saw a purposeful wiggle of her arse in Jack’s direction.

“Well, she seemed to take that well,” Ianto said as he ate a forkful of his wild mushroom risotto.

“I wasn’t having Gwen interrupting this after she spent all bloody day in a bar! Let’s just enjoy the meal. I guess we’ll have to see her in the bar later, though...”

When the men had finished their food they headed towards the bar. They could see Gwen was deep in conversation with a couple of Italian holiday makers (both male, Jack noted), a drink in her hand as she grinned.

“Thank God for that! C’mon, Jack, let’s get out of here before she spots us!” Ianto grabbed his wrist and dragged him towards their rooms.

***

Ch 4

The next day Ianto and Jack travelled to Havana and then to the main port. A ‘payment’ of one hundred US dollars to the harbour master at Muelle Luz Port secured the information that they were looking for- Caroline and Jake had travelled to Panama two days before the withdrawal from Caroline’s account.

Gwen wasn’t at breakfast the next  morning, she was nursing a hangover, so they’d sent a text to her and the others before heading off to the capital: “take a day off. relax by the pool. we’re in havana 4 the day. c u later. travelling to panama 2morrow. u need to b ready 2 leave 4 6am” Ianto had cringed at Jack’s use of ‘c u’, ‘4’, ‘u’, ‘b’ and ‘2morrow’.

***

At Hotel Martinez, Tosh and Andy were spending the day relaxing by the pool. Andy was a little in awe of Torchwood’s IT specialist and had been surprised that he and Toshiko actually had so many things in common. Of course, they’d had conversations previously, but the day before, as they’d walked around the town they’d discussed everything from their favourite television shows and films, to travel and politics. Perhaps it had been the easy-going atmosphere of Cuba, or perhaps it was the heat after the cold rains of Cardiff in February. Whatever it was, Andy was enjoying himself simply sunbathing on the lounger next to Tosh and reading “The Motorcycle Diaries” (he’d bought it at the hotel shop- really, everything in Cuba always did come back to Che Guevara and Castro). As he looked up from the book, he could see Johnson swimming yet another length of the pool.

“Bloody hell! Does that woman ever stop?”

Tosh looked up from her copy of ‘New Scientist’, and laughed quietly. “I don’t think so, Andy! To tell you the truth, I don’t think she ever gave up the training regime after she left UNIT.”

“Well, I wish she’d stop it- it’s starting to make me feel a bit inadequate here!”

“When it comes to training, she makes us all feel inadequate; I wouldn’t worry about it, Andy,” she laughed quietly. “Anyway, I don’t think you need any extra training at the gym or anything...”

She looked over at Andy and he noticed a slight colour in her cheeks.

“Oh...anyway, fancy a drink? It’s 2 now, I think we ‘d be justified in saying the sun is well over the yardarm by now...” Andy dissembled. Without a doubt, he was going to have to try to get over his shyness when they got back to Cardiff, and ask her out for a drink. Or at least organise a team outing to The Red Dragon.

***

At 8 am the whole team sat in the international departure lounge of Jose Marti airport waiting for CA 1992 to Panama City. Gwen was feeling ‘delicate’; she’d taken the text telling her to ‘relax’ to heart, and had spent the previous day drinking in the bar with Mario and Pietro, the two Italian tourists she’d met the night before.

As the tannoy announced boarding for flight Cubana Airlines 1992, Jack rounded up the team.

“C’mon, guys. I reckon Panama is where we’re really going to have to do some real work.”

***

To be continued....

 

Comments

[phantomreviewer.livejournal.com]

Jack/Ianto are getting cuter and cuter. I've forgotten do the team know about them or not?

But Tosh and Andy are so adorable! They are so sweet, they all slot together so well!

Oh Gwen, give up please, is she goign to be another bad penny?

Looking forward to more!

[amcpep.livejournal.com]

So nice that Jack and Ianto get some time alone together. And Andy and Tosh are a perfect as a couple. I have no words to describe my feelings for Gwen but the sooner she finds out about Jack and Ianto the better!

[msemmaloo.livejournal.com]

I love this series; it is so much fun! I always thought Andy and Rhys would make a great couple, but I'm lovin' Andy and Tosh too. And please, don't ever be shy about bashing Gwen! It only makes the series more entertaining!

[wanda1969.livejournal.com]

Oh, I really don't like Gwen, so i won't ever be shy about it!
I am so glad you are enjoying this (Don't think many people are!!-it's too long!), I was thinking of finishing this story and then stopping...I don't usually write 'fanfiction' but was so annoyed by CoE (and the thought of 'Gwen's Angel's') I was tempted...
We will see..
But thankyou again! Panama City, here we come...

[missthingsplace.livejournal.com]

I've been saving this to read as i didn't have time when you posted it and i was out most of yesterday and boy was it so worth it :D

I absolutely love this fic and i can't wait for more, i really can't.

[tiggerbrasilf.livejournal.com]

You can't leave it there? I'm hooked now (: