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of flu – although it could be a new strain.’
    ‘Asian flu?’
    ‘Doubtful, but it’s really too early to tell. Like I said: tests. That’ll give us an idea.’
    Strong sat back, clearing his throat painfully again, thinking about the implications. He looked twenty years older. ‘Bloody hell, this is just awful. How long am I going to be off work?’
    ‘Don’t worry about it,’ Owen assured him, sounding positive but professional. ‘Remember, this is all precautionary. It’s probably nothing.’
    ‘Yeah,’ said Strong, in a hollow voice that meant he had said those same words to patients a hundred times before and not meant it either.
    ‘Get some rest,’ Owen advised him. ‘I’ll give you a call and let you know the results as soon as. OK?’
    Strong nodded, reaching for his tissues again as another coughing fit began. He waved as Owen let himself out.
    Back in the car, Owen contacted Ianto again.
    ‘It’s me. I’ve seen Strong and he’s in a bad way. Coughing up blood. I’ve taken a sample for analysis and I’m on my way back now. Do us a favour and get my stuff set up.’
    ‘As you wish.’ A pause. ‘And what about Saskia Harden?’
    Owen swore. ‘Listen, never mind her for the moment. I’m more worried about Strong. I saw another patient at the medical centre with the same symptoms, and possibly a whole lot more in the waiting room. Whatever this is, it needs prioritising.’
    ‘Once a doctor, always a doctor, eh?’
    ‘I’ll do my job, Ianto, and you do yours. That way we all get job satisfaction.’

SEVEN
    Owen found Jack on the phone to the UN in Geneva.
    ‘Torchwood,’ Jack was saying. ‘Yes. T-O-R-C-H-W … look, who is this? I’m calling on a priority line, dammit, I don’t need to spell anything out. I was promised a full report on the Helsinki Warp. Yes, I know that was a UNIT operation. Torchwood is copied in on everything UNIT does.’ He listened for a few seconds, a muscle twitching in his jaw. ‘Captain Jack Harkness. Harkness. H-A-R-K … oh, can it.’
    He threw the phone onto his desk in exasperation and ran his fingers through his hair. ‘What is it with these guys? Give them a desk and a phone and they think they control the world.’
    ‘Some of them do, don’t they?’
    ‘Over my dead body. And I mean that. It’s bad enough dealing with the Hokrala Corp lawyers and their ex-dimension writs, without all that United Nations red tape.’ Jack leant back in his chair and called out: ‘Ianto! Anything from Gwen and Tosh?’
    Ianto appeared quietly and calmly at the door to Jack’s office, almost as if he’d been waiting there. And he had a tray of coffee things with him. ‘They should be here within the hour.’
    ‘Great.’ Jack took a coffee. ‘Ianto, you always know exactly what I need. It’s uncanny, I tell you.’
    ‘That’s why I work for Torchwood. Uncanny is our business.’
    ‘You’d better get your autopsy table cleaned up,’ Jack told Owen. ‘Gwen and Toshiko are bringing in another guest for you.’
    Owen shot Ianto a questioning look.
    ‘They found a corpse at Greendown Moss,’ Ianto explained.
    ‘Human or alien?’
    ‘They can’t be sure. Probably human. Apparently it’s rather old and somewhat decayed.’
    ‘Two autopsies in one day. Business is good.’
    ‘It’s better than good,’ Jack said. ‘It’s a result. According to Tosh, the corpse registers for Rift energy – it’s linked to whatever’s been going on with that.’ He nodded towards the immense silver tower at the heart of the Hub.
    Owen shook his head, then paused as his gaze fell on a decades-old poster on the wall behind Jack’s head. Coughs and sneezes spread diseases , it read. He looked back at Jack. ‘I’ve been thinking about Bob Strong.’
    ‘Who?’
    ‘The GP.’
    ‘What about him?’
    ‘He’s very ill. He seems to think he may have been exposed to some kind of biohazard.’
    Jack looked at him directly. ‘Do you?’
    ‘Can’t say for