Doctor Who_ Blue Box - Kate Orman [86]
‘What about Luis?’ said Peri.
‘Don’t forget Mondy; I added.
The Doctor said, ‘I suspect Mr Mond is capable of effecting his own rescue. Luis Perez, on the other hand, will need more help than the police can give him, even assuming they can catch up with Swan.’
‘She’s crazy,’ said Peri. ‘I thought we were all dead. I thought she was going to shoot holes in the campervan until she got all of us. Like playing a video game.’
‘There’s method in her madness, rather than the other way around,’ said the Doctor. ‘Swan hasn’t lost control. Her threats were very calculated, even though they’re driven by her obsession with the Savant. No, she knew just what she was doing.’
‘You mean she planned to kidnap Luis all along?’
‘Now that is interesting...’ The Doctor was staring off into the distance, as if watching a TV show only he could see. ‘She switched targets almost the moment I activated the Interrupt.
But she couldn’t possibly have known I had the device, nor what it would do. So why the sudden change of plan?’
‘Maybe she just wanted a hostage,’ said Bob.
‘That doesn’t make sense,’ said Peri. ‘Why grab someone you’d have to carry? She could have got Chick, or the Doctor.’
‘Something is going on here that we don’t understand,’
said the Doctor. ‘And the reluctance of our friends the Eridani to be more specific is the root of our troubles. But there’s not much we can do about them. What was that program that attacked the Apple II? What has she cooked up with alien help? Swan’s our target.’
‘Uh, excuse me,’ said Bob, ‘but she just tried to use us for target practice.’
‘We have to know what’s in her computer,’ said the Doctor. ‘All our sophisticated attacks have failed. I think it’s time to try something a little cruder.’
Swan had two phone calls to make. Luis seemed happy to keep playing with the Meccano set she had given him, so she went downstairs, settled into the chair at the kitchen table, and picked up the receiver.
The first call was to my editor ‘There’s someone I’d like to suggest you talk to,’ she said. ‘A former colleague of Mr Peters. Oh, of course, it’s up to you. But let me give you the details’ She did, and then listened while my boss told her he had no intention of calling some guy long-distance and interrupting his Christmas break. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Aren’t your journalistic instincts itching? I just spoke to him myself.
And do you know what he told me?’
She told him. My editor made that call.
Swan’s second call was to Bob Salmon’s boss. He didn’t answer his work phone, so she tried his home number. After three rings he picked up.
‘I’m afraid I have some bad news about one of your employees,’ she told him. ‘Robert Salmon was caught trespassing in my company’s offices and in my company’s computers. Now, I am willing not to go ahead with charges if you’ll take action against him yourself.’
‘I’m very shocked to hear this, Miss Swan. Bob has been an excellent worker. He’s a bright young man. If the department decides to dismiss him, I’m going to be very sorry to lose him.’
‘It’s up to you, of course,’ said Swan. ‘I understand you may not be able to make a decision until the new year. Just call me back at this number when you do.’
Swan hung up and sat back in her chair. She was back in control, she was on top of the world. She had Luis and we had nothing. She had hurt us, and she could go on hurting us. She had been on the police radio on the way home, using a device which lowered her voice’s pitch until it sounded like a man, confusing the reports until they would never know who the crazy lady with the shotgun was. She was untouchable.
Back at my flat, Mr Salmon was staring at the phone. ‘I cannot believe I just made a prank phone call.’
‘You didn’t make a prank call, Dad!’ said Bob. ‘A prank call is when you phone a guy at the bowling alley and ask if he has ten-pound balls. Swan called us.’
Mr Salmon took out his handkerchief and dabbed his forehead. ‘She sure was fooled,’ he said. ‘That’s bought you a few more days, son. But she’s going to be even madder