Doctor Who_ Bad Therapy - Matthew Jones [29]
Jack stared at the horrifying scene playing out in front of him. He wanted to run past them, up the stairs and get out of this place. Suddenly he couldn’t believe that he had been persuaded to come here in the first place. He fought an absurd impulse to go and kneel next to the Doctor and apologize for being so useless. But he didn’t. Instead he picked up the glass ball from the low table and walked quickly and certainly over to the fight. The globe was heavy, the glass felt thick and strong. Jack lifted it high into the air and then brought it down on the ginger-haired man’s head. He felt the globe crack beneath his hands and the thug toppled across the Doctor, blood escaping from a long, shallow cut on the crown of his head.
‘Stop!’ Light flooded the room from the top of the stairs. Jack was forced to blink as his eyes adjusted. A man was silhouetted in the doorway to the office. ‘Put it down.’ The voice screamed again, ‘Now. Put it down now.’
It was the crew-cut man they had spied upon from the roof. His eyes were full of fear and panic. He edged into the room, as if afraid that any sudden movement would cause Jack to drop the globe. ‘You don’t know what you’re doing. It’s already damaged. If the connection is lost. . . ’
48
Instinctively, Jack moved back until he was far out of reach of the newcomer.
He held the globe out to one side, balancing it on the palm of one hand. The man flinched visibly when he saw what Jack was doing.
‘I’ll break it some more if you take a step nearer, I promise you. One step nearer and I will.’ Jack had no idea why the globe was important, but as long as it kept the man away he didn’t care. He stole a glance at the globe when he was certain that the newcomer wasn’t about to launch himself at him. Its surface was etched with tiny pictures: faces, animals and strange squiggles, like Egyptian writing. A deep crack ran across the globe.
The man was standing motionless on the stairs, holding his arms out in front of him, silently begging Jack to give him the globe. In the quiet after the noise of the fight, all Jack could hear was the pounding of his own heart.
The Doctor was clambering slowly to his feet, gingerly exploring his bruised jaw. He appeared shocked, as if he wasn’t used to feeling physical pain. There was no way that the Doctor was going to be able to negotiate their release.
Jack looked from the Doctor to the crew-cut man. It was going to be up to him to get them out of here.
Filling his voice with as much authority as he could muster, he ordered the man on the stairs to walk to the far end of the room. The man complied, but paused when he reached the spot where their attacker lay, begging Jack to let him tend his brother. Jack ordered him on, letting the globe slip between his fingers dramatically to make the seriousness of his threat clear.
The Doctor finally looked at him and smiled weakly.
‘Get out, Doctor. Get up the stairs.’ Jack nodded towards the exit and they slowly began to edge out of the room. The Doctor used his hands to steady himself as he climbed the stairs, crawling up like a spider. Jack mounted each step slowly, keeping his eyes fixed on the crew-cut man.
It was when they reached the top of the short flight of stairs that Jack began to think that they might escape with their lives. He turned to face the two men who’d made his life a misery with their threats and blackmail.
‘Catch!’ he shouted, and threw the globe high up into the room. The last thing he saw before he turned and fled, was the crew-cut man launch himself through the air, arms out-stretched, like a cricketer diving for the ball.
Jack didn’t stop to see if he made his catch.
Patsy pressed the bell on the unmarked door for a second time, and stamped her feet impatiently. ‘Come on, come on.’
After a few moments, a small slot cut into the door at head height was slid back, revealing a pair of anxious eyes which darted between Chris and Patsy.
‘We’re closed,’ a male voice snapped from behind the door. ‘There’s no entry after eleven.’
49
‘We’re here to see the Major,’ Patsy