Kiss Her Goodbye
Chapter 4
Owena's Honda screeched to a halt in one of the short term parking spots in front of the
Cathays Park office of the Welsh Assembly Government. The last rays of sunlight filtered through the trees along the street cast eerie shadows across the pair as they made their way toward the nearest entrance to the Crown Building.
"Looks like we're clear," Owena said quietly, scanning the street as they reached the door.
Tosh nodded, pulling an alien tool from his pocket. "Let's see if this lock picking device really works," he said softly, placing it next to the lock and pushing a button. After a few seconds the device beeped and the door opened with a click. Tosh pushed it open just enough to slip through, heading straight for the main bank of security sensors just inside the doorway. Owena followed him through, glancing back at the deserted street once more before carefully closing the door.
"Are we set?" Owena asked.
Tosh nodded. "Security scanners are disabled, but we don't have very long, no more than half an hour I believe."
"Then we'd better work fast," Owena said. She walked over to the building directory on the wall. "Where do you think we should look first?"
Tosh joined her at the directory. "Why don't you try the constitutional affairs department and I'll check the legal services department?"
Owena looked at where Tosh was pointing and made note of the room number. "Keep in contact, and be careful!"
"You too!" Tosh said, making his way across the building.
Gwynn parked his Saab in the rear of the building where Saxon's Cardiff campaign office was located. He barely had set the car in park when Joanna had jumped out of the back seat and was walking toward the door.
Joanna was bent over the doorknob when Iana and Gwynn finally reached the doorway. She stood up and winked at Iana.
"Door's locked up tight. You got a lock pick tucked in that tight suit of yours?" Joanna asked.
Iana rolled her eyes. "Tosh has the alien lock pick but I have something a bit better. Step back." She shooed Joanna away from the lock and slid a stiff card from an inside pocket of her jacket. "Am I clear?"
Gwynn looked around the deserted street. "You're clear. I don't even see CCTV."
"Odd," Iana remarked. She grabbed the door knob and wiggled it, while sliding the card in the doorjamb with her other hand. After a long moment, there was a click and the door yawned open.
Gwynn grinned. "I'm glad I don't have to arrest you for that," he said.
Joanna leered at Iana as she entered the building. "I'll arrest you anytime dear, just say the word and I'll get the cuffs out."
"Stop it," Iana snapped. "I doubt we have much time before the police do arrive, so let's look fast. Joanna, check that secretarial desk there. Gwynn, look through that inner office. I'll take the file cabinets."
All was quiet for a few minutes while everyone rifled through drawers and cabinets. Suddenly Joanna stood up and waved at Iana.
"Hey, eye candy, I need a hand here!" she called.
Iana looked over her shoulder, not moving from the file cabinet she was searching. "What?"
"I think I found something, but it's stuck. I need a hand here!" Joanna said. "Just come here and give me a hand!"
Iana groaned but put the file folder she was searching at an angle to mark where she'd left off and headed across the front of the storefront office toward the desk where Joanna was.
"All right, where is this stuck item?" Iana asked.
Joanna pointed to the bottom drawer, where the corner of a manilla file folder was peeking out. "I need a hand pulling that out," she said.
Iana bent over to try and grasp the file folder. Before she could get a grip on it, she felt Joanna's hands on her shoulders, pulling her up. She wiggled around but Joanna's grasp was too tight.
"What are you doing?" Iana protested. "Let me go!"
"What, can't I kiss my temporary team mates?" Joanna laughed. "Relax, eye candy, you're too uptight!"
Iana continued to try and squirm out of Joanna's grasp but before she could, Joanna pulled her in tight and kissed her on the lips. Iana felt her lips tingle, and she tried to wiggle out of Joanna's grip but somehow her energy seemed to be draining away. By the time Joanna let her go, her whole body felt numb.
"Wha--?" she tried to gasp, as she sank against the desk.
"Don't bother getting up, I mean, you can't. Paralysing lip gloss. Used to be one of Jackie's favourite tricks, back in the day," Joanna said.
Iana slid down the desk, collapsing on the floor. She tried to look up at Joanna but she couldn't move.
"She won't stay with you lot, she belongs out among the stars with me," Joanna said, and headed toward the inner office where Gwynn was working.
Jacqueline turned off the blue running lights on the SUV as she drove around the block to approach the office from the narrow alley that ran behind it. The alley was very dark, the few street lamps located down the alley all seemingly burnt out. She slowed down, peering in the darkened doorways, straining to see the office they were looking for.
"There it is!" Marcus said, pointing to the one doorway that had a dim light above it.
Jacqueline slammed on the brakes, parking the SUV right by the doorway. She put the SUV in park and pulled her Webley from its holster on her hip, flipping the cylinder open to make sure it was loaded.
"Put that thing away," the Doctor snapped. "I can't believe you still carry that around!"
Jacqueline flicked her wrist, making the cylinder snap back into place and she slid it back in the holster.
"Sorry Doctor, we don't know what we're facing in there. I don't want to be caught unawares."
The Doctor shook her head as she opened the car door. "Just don't pull it out unless it's absolutely necessary. You know I don't like guns."
"Yes ma'am!" Jacqueline retorted, jumping out of the SUV and making her way quickly to the door. Marcus and the Doctor were right on her heels, all of them peering around to make sure they weren't being watched.
The Doctor tried the door knob. "Locked." She dug in the pockets of her suit jacket, finally bringing out a small silver pen-like device.
"You still have that," Jacqueline said incredulously. "Oh I've missed your sonic screwdriver!"
"You can't have one," the Doctor said, with the air of one who's repeated herself many times before.
Jacqueline pouted, but didn't answer. As soon as the door was opened, though, she pushed the Doctor aside and entered the building first, pulling her gun and a pen light out, shining the light around the small room they found themselves in. The Doctor entered behind her and flicked on a light switch, which lit the room just marginally more than the pen light had.
"Lovely, a garbage room," Marcus commented, pulling his t-shirt up over his nose. "Shall we move on?"
Jacqueline found the only other door to the room and stood with her back to it, reaching down to turn the doorknob with her free hand while keeping her gun at the ready. She then pushed the door open and turned to face the hallway outside in one smooth practised motion. She scanned the empty hallway for a long moment before waving for the Doctor and Marcus to follow her.
Owena leaned back against the metallic desk with a sigh. Fifteen minutes of fruitless searching and she hadn't found anything that even remotely referred to the Prime Minister, let alone anything they could use as evidence about Harriet Saxon. She checked her watch and decided to contact Tosh to see if he needed help in the department he was searching. She was pretty sure the constitutional affairs department was a bust.
"Tosh? Come in Tosh?" She listened intently to her bluetooth but heard nothing but silence. "Tosh? Please answer me Tosh!" Nothing, not even a whisper of static.
Owena looked out the window and noticed the street seemed to be a little brighter than before, and she thought she saw flashing lights. She tried to remember just where the legal services department that Tosh was investigating was located as she ran downstairs and across the building to find her team mate.
Tosh, meanwhile, was oblivious to anything but the file folders he was poring over. Not that there was anything of use in them, but he was checking through them thoroughly just in case.
"Tosh! We need to get out of here," Owena said, running into the room.
Tosh looked up from the filing cabinet, then glanced at his watch. "We still have at least ten minutes before anything is tripped."
"No we don't, there's police cars coming up the street now. Several of them. Come on!"
Tosh dropped the folder he was about to examine back in place in the cabinet and slid the drawer shut. He followed Owena out of the room and toward the main hallway, nearly ploughing into her when she stopped short near the entrance they had come in.
"What is it?" he asked.
Owena didn't answer, just pointed to the two constables shining flashlights into the window beside the door.
"This way," Tosh said, mentally running over the layout of the building in his mind. He led Owena along the corridors toward a back entrance, that brought them out in a dark deserted alleyway. "How many constables were there? Can we get back to your car?"
"I think...let's get a little bit out of the way and pretend like we're a couple out walking," Owena suggested. "It all seems a bit suspicious, don't it? They shouldn't have gotten here that quickly." She started walking down the alley toward the lit-up street that they could just barely see.
An agonizing ten minutes later they finally returned to the block where Owena's car was located to see a group of police cars filling the street and a large group of constables clustered around the open doorway. One man was standing by Owena's car, peering at the plates, when they approached.
"Might I help you officer?" Toshiyuki asked as they reached the car.
"This your car?" the man asked, standing up straight.
"It's my car," Owena said. "Is there a problem?"
"Where have you been?" the officer asked.
"We parked here and took a walk," Toshiyuki said. "I didn't believe it was a no parking zone."
"No, but there was a break-in right here just a short while ago. Did you see anything?"
"Nothing at all," Owena said. "We were walking for quite a while."
The officer eyed her suspiciously but finally nodded. "All right, go ahead." He stepped away from the Honda and headed back to the cluster of his fellow officers near the entrance to the building.
Owena dug the key fob from her jacket pocket and unlocked the car. She and Toshiyuki got in and quickly pulled away from the mass of flashing lights.
Gwynn didn't look up from where he was kneeling beside a bottom file cabinet drawer when he heard the door open. He continued flicking through folders at a rapid pace, certain that Iana would speak up without him needing to prompt.
He was so intent on his search, and so determined that it was Iana that had entered the room, he nearly had a heart attack when he felt a hand grab the back of his jacket collar and pull him up into a standing position.
"What are you doing!?" he gasped when greeted with Joanna's grinning face.
"Can't I share a quick snog with a team mate?" she asked, letting go of his collar and putting her hands on his cheeks, pulling him close and forcing him into an intense kiss.
Gwynn struggled to pull away from her strong grip but he started to feel the energy draining from his body, and his thoughts began to feel fuzzy. After what seemed an eternity, Joanna let go of Gwynn and his knees immediately buckled, causing him to collapse next to the file cabinet.
"Don't get up, not that you can. Paralysing lip gloss. It's been stellar but your boss' orders are just cramping my style." She turned to leave the room, then paused at the doorway. "Oh and if your boss doesn't find you within two hours your organs will shut down. Ta!"
Gwynn mentally cursed Joanna as she exited the building, and then hoped Jacqueline would find them in time.
Jacqueline creeped down the hallway, one slow step at a time. Behind her, the Doctor and Marcus followed, and Jacqueline could practically feel the Doctor's impatience. But, having heard nothing but absolute silence since they'd entered, Jacqueline wasn't taking any chances.
She slowly made her way down the hallway, carefully checking each room they passed. Her pace became slower the further they went without finding anything, not even a stray file folder to examine.
"Can't we go faster?" the Doctor hissed in Jacqueline's ear.
Jacqueline shook her head. "Something just doesn't feel right," she whispered. "My every instinct is screaming trap."
"We haven't found anything, how could it be a trap?" Marcus asked.
Just then Jacqueline kicked open the door of the next room to be greeted by the click of nearly a dozen semi-automatic pistols. Men clothed in all black wearing masks were behind the barrels of the 9 mils.
"Doctor, Marcus, get out of here now!!" Jacqueline said, clicking a round into place and preparing to fire her Webley.
"We can't leave you!" Marcus protested, but the Doctor was already running full tilt and dragging him along.
"Good luck Jacqueline!" the Doctor called over her shoulder, her words nearly lost in the gunfire from the mysterious men.
Jacqueline opened fire on the crowd of armed men, emptying three rounds into the room before whirling and running after the Doctor and Marcus, a hail of gunfire nipping at her heels.
The Doctor reached the door they had entered only to find it had been locked behind them. She dug out her sonic screwdriver and unlocked it, swinging the door open just as a bullet-ridden Jacqueline joined them, pushing the Doctor and Marcus out ahead of her.
"Get in the car! Hurry! Marcus, you drive!" Jacqueline ordered, chucking her keys at Marcus and diving into the back seat. The Doctor again jumped in the front seat, while Marcus slid in behind the wheel and peeled out of the alley. Behind them, Jacqueline let out a shuddering gasp and then was still.