Torchwood: Exodus Code

wondered how anyone could keep track, and then he decided that maybe it was best if they couldn’t.
    ‘Got it. I’ll send it to the screen on the top left.’
    He did and it took Andy a few seconds to adjust his attention to what he was looking at. The camera was on the shop’s front door, sweeping across the aisles every minute or two, which meant that Andy could only see the events in the breakfast aisle at a distance. Plus, the shifting camera made it feel like he was looking at a video flipbook, the sweep of the camera across the store far from smooth.
    Didn’t matter. Only a few minutes in, Andy was watching Gwen Cooper assault the store manager.
    Andy reached for his notebook, quickly finding the page with the file numbers and names for the other two local disturbances. Tommy took the notebook up, glancing at the page before he passed it back to Andy. ‘Did you want to see the video for that one, too? Strange times there and all.’
    ‘What do you mean?’ asked Andy, sitting back down.
    ‘DI Horn was in here first thing this morning asking for the video for that file,’ answered Tommy. ‘Thought maybe you were working the case too.’
    ‘Let’s have a look, then,’ said Andy, turning back to the screens. ‘And if anyone asks, I’m working both cases.’
    ‘This video’s in colour so it’s not as grainy as the first one.’ Tommy cued up the video and Andy realised immediately that he was looking at a floor in an imposing-looking building. ‘It’s the main library at the university. They’ve had problems with students having sex in the stacks.’
    ‘I’d’ve checked out a book once or twice,’ laughed Andy, ‘if I’d known that was going on.’
    ‘They installed a state-of-the-art surveillance system last term.’ Tommy fast-forwarded the video. ‘Check out the curly-haired dude with the droopy pants.’
    Andy and Tommy watched as a young male student and his giggling girlfriend turned into an aisle of floor-to-ceiling books where they became a snogging frenzy of clumsy clutches and slobbering kisses.
    The camera was angled in such a way that the students were never quite in full view, the camera catching them only when they moved out of the canyon of books and into the camera’s full field of vision. Their antics were clearly not the main event, though – Tommy sped up the camera, hitting play when the students were attempting to loosen each other’s jeans.
    At that moment, a middle-aged woman in a tan shirt dress with a wide belt sprinted across the screen and charged into the couple, taking them both down.
    ‘Jesus,’ said Andy, ‘where did she come from?’ He knew from his notes that the woman was the head librarian.
    ‘Oh, that’s nothing,’ said Tommy. ‘Keep watching.’
    At first the coupling students were too stunned to react, but after the young man got his jeans fastened and scrambled up from the floor, he grabbed the librarian and tried to haul her off his girlfriend. The older woman reached above her head, grabbed a hefty tome from the shelf and, with all her weight behind the swing, she smacked the book across the young man’s head, splitting his lip and sending a tooth flying.
    ‘Ow!’ said Andy, putting his hand to his own mouth. ‘That had to hurt.’
    The young man crumbled to the floor, obviously in considerable pain. For a few beats, none of the three were visible on the screen until the young woman, screaming hysterically, came back into view, slammed into the librarian, pinning her to the floor with her knees.
    ‘What the hell is she doing?’ asked Andy, leaning closer to the screen.
    ‘According to DI Horn, the student pummelled the librarian’s face to a pulp.’
    Andy kept his eye on the screen, trying to track the girl’s movements separately from the librarian’s, but it was difficult because of the camera’s angle and their heightened frenzy. A few seconds later, the noise had attracted three nearby students, who charged the women on the floor, pulling the girl off the librarian, holding her back until university security rushed into the stacks and imposed control.
    Tommy stopped the tape. ‘According to Horn, all three are in the emergency ward at St Helen’s. The boyfriend’s had surgery on his jaw and the young woman’s in shock. Horn’s trying to sort out what happened.’
    ‘Too bad we don’t have another angle,’ said Andy. ‘I don’t suppose we’ve got any students with their mobiles on this.’
    ‘Nah. Horn said