Torchwood: Exodus Code

morning.’
    On the ground below, Captain Anderson responded to a radio request that two transport units were on their way in from Lima and when she returned her attention to Jack he was shoving the nuzzle of Isela’s gun out of his face and hoisting himself up into the belfry.
    ‘This tower survived the last two quakes,’ Isela said, backing away from Jack, her rifle still aimed at his head. ‘I’ll be safer up here.’
    ‘No, Isela. You won’t,’ Jack anchored the rope to the bell, tossing the excess over the side of the tower. Isela’s voice tasted like vanilla and cinnamon.
    ‘How do you know?’ she asked.
    ‘Because that fissure wasn’t the result of an earthquake. And I think you know that. I need something you have of mine and I need you to take me to your mother.’
    Isela looked at him, deciding whether or not to trust him, keeping her rifle at his head. Captain Anderson climbed up into the belfry next to them both.
    ‘Well isn’t this cosy,’ said Jack, moving to the other side, away from the still crumbling wall to more solid footing.
    ‘Is. She. In. Your. Custody. Yet!’ squawked the voice in the Anderson’s earpiece.
    ‘Isela, I’m Captain Anderson,’ she yanked the comms unit from her ear. ‘I work for the US government—’
    ‘So you have no jurisdiction here,’ snapped Isela, backing away from her and a little closer to where Jack was standing.
    ‘I’m part of a joint task force with the Peruvian government—’ she continued.
    ‘Even the Peruvian government has no jurisdiction here,’ Isela laughed, dropping her rifle and sliding it into its case. She looked up at Captain Anderson. ‘Besides I haven’t done anything wrong. I was up here shooting at targets on the airstrip. You can’t prove I wasn’t.’
    ‘Until we can locate your father and your stepbrother, I’ve orders to take you into my custody.’
    ‘And how exactly are you going to do that?’ asked Isela. ‘You can’t cuff me or neither one of us will get down from here in one piece.’
    They both turned to Jack. He shrugged. ‘She has a point, Captain.’
    ‘I thought you were on my side?’
    ‘I said I wanted to get the girl down from the tower,’ said Jack , stepping closer to Isela, ‘but I never said I was on your side.’
    Isela looked at the soldier and grinned. She stepped closer to Jack.
    ‘On the other hand, Captain,’ said Jack, pulling his belt from his trousers. ‘I didn’t say I was on her side either.’
    In one swift movement, Jack had the belt tight around Isela’s shoulders and arms, pinning her like a straightjacket. Responding quickly, Captain Anderson bound plastic cuffs round Isela’s ankles. She lost her balance and fell at Jack’s feet.
    Jack flipped a squirming screaming Isela up and over his shoulder. ‘Isela, if you want to survive this climb, I’d suggest being as still as possible. I wouldn’t want to drop you.’
    Isela mumbled an obscenity into Jack’s shoulder. While he tied the rope around his waist, he feigned dropping her.
    She screamed.
    He said, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t hear what you said.’
    ‘Nothing,’ she said aloud and under her breath again, ‘What a dick.’

68
    WHEN THE THREE of them were safely on the ground, Jack set a relatively subdued Isela against the rubble. In the sky behind the hacienda, Jack spotted two Blackhawk helicopters cresting the plateau.
    ‘The girl is secure,’ said Anderson into her comms.
    ‘Copy that,’ said the voice in her ear. ‘Someone will meet you at Cuzco to transport her back to DC.’
    ‘Let’s get her to the airstrip.’ Anderson crouched, cutting the plastic ties from Isela’s ankles. When she did, Isela kicked out at Anderson who saw it coming and grabbed Isela’s foot instead. ‘Listen, I don’t care how you get on that helicopter, but you’re going to get on that helicopter.’
    Jack’s head was pounding, and twice since he’d set the girl down he thought he had stopped breathing. They had to get to Isela’s mother soon.
    Four hours and ten minutes soon.
    Isela glanced at Jack who held her stare for a beat. He saw dots, outlining the girl’s face, dancing across her high cheekbones. Picking up Isela’s rifle and slinging it over his shoulder, Jack hiked over the debris toward the airstrip.
    The piazza looked as if a monster has stepped into the middle, crushing everything in its wake and leaving its footprint. The fissure had split the courtyard in two, cracking through the arched