Doctor Who_ Blue Box - Kate Orman [32]
Swan went into Bob’s kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. That was when she saw the metal cabinet sitting on the table.
Swan’s mind went blank. She switched on the flashlight and pointed the dull circle of illumination at the beige cube.
The door was still open.
She stepped up to the table, dropping the flashlight onto it, and grabbed the cabinet, as if trying to convince herself it was real. She read the familiar warning stickers on the door twice.
The flashlight rolled off the table and bounced away across Bob’s kitchen floor.
Swan reached down to grab it and found herself sitting on the linoleum, staring up at the violated cabinet. ‘I’m gonna kill them,’ she said. ‘I’m gonna kill that kid and all of his stupid friends.’
Somehow, that promise seemed to clear her overloaded mind. Swan pulled herself to her feet, got the lights on, and made herself that cuppa. Her hands moved automatically as she considered what to do. The unique device she had gone to such great lengths to obtain was gone, stolen out from under her nose. (One slip! One! One hint of the device’s location in an email!)
She could make this good. She could make it better than before. If we wanted the device, she figured, we might have the others as well, or know how to find them.
Swan rinsed out her coffee cup and laid it in the drainer by the sink. She picked up the flashlight and stuffed it back in her coat pocket. She went into Bob’s study, took a clean sheet of paper out of the printer, and found a black felt-tip marker in the desk drawer.
She left her message stuck to the fridge with a smiley-face magnet. On her way out, she noticed the clock. It was Christmas Day.
50
One
The Doctor took us out for breakfast at a scary vegetarian café somewhere in downtown Baltimore. The other patrons gave us the kind of curious glances they were used to getting themselves. Picture the four of us: the Doctor in his black suit, tucking into a hill of eggs and mushrooms and baked beans and toast; Peri slumped over a stack of organic pancakes; Bob, chain-slurping chocolate milkshakes like an enthusiastic butterfly; and me. The little black-haired Aussie in the crumpled dark-grey suit, wrapped defensively around a bottomless mug of black coffee.
Ladies and germs, there is nothing in this world to compare to good old bad paint-stripper American coffee, trapped in a percolator jug and mercilessly boiled and reboiled into a thin black fluid of evil. Every gulp fills your nose with the aroma of nailpolish remover. You end up peeing the same smell. Add a few spoons of sugar to take the cruel edge off the stuff, and you have a confection equal parts foul and sweet.
Mercifully, the hippie restaurant was selling the real thing instead of some pussy substitute. I had three cups and Peri had four. Bootstrapping our brains.
‘Today,’ announced the Doctor, ‘we’ll return to Washington, and deliver the device we have to the Eridani.
My explorations have yielded as much information as they’re going to. Then it’s only a matter of locating the final component, and the Eridani can be on their way.’
‘What about the wiretap?’ said Peri. There were deep patches of dark under each of Peri’s eyes; she wore no makeup, and her hair was still damp from the hotel shower.
She dropped her voice. ‘What if the police know what happened at TLA?’
‘Perhaps it would be best to stay clear of Bob’s home for a little while.’ conceded the Doctor. ‘Until we establish just how much the authorities know.’
Everybody looked at me. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ I said, stirring more sugar into my coffee. ‘Why would I wreck my own story?’ Boy, did I want to talk to Mondy. It was never hard to get him on the phone – problem was, how did I make a call without the other three noticing? There was a payphone in back of the restaurant, but you could see it from our table.
‘How do we find the final component?’ said Peri.
Bob pointed a finger at her. ‘Swan’s email,’ he said.
‘That’s right,’ said the Doctor. ‘She emailed a number of people, fishing for information about the Eridani