Doctor Who_ Blue Box - Kate Orman [91]
Jesus!’ I hissed. ‘They’re coming out of the diner!’
I started to scrunch down in the booth, then realised how much more conspicuous that would make, me look, then realised that if I was scrunched down Swan wouldn’t be able to see me through the traffic. The phone cord pulled tight as I crumpled into a hunched heap on the floor of the booth.
‘Chick!’ the Doctor yelled in my ear. ‘What’s going on!’
I caught a glimpse of Swan and Luis. Instead of going to Swan’s car, they were heading across the parking lot.
‘You’ll love this,’ I told the Doctor. ‘Guess what’s next door to the diner.’
And what could be simpler than walking into the bank together, filling out a withdrawal slip, walking together to the cashier’s window, waiting while she fills a suitcase for you with hundred dollar bills, walking out of the bank, and driving off into the sunset? Why drive home, when you can go anywhere, have anything, do anything – if only you can think of it?
110
One
I didn’t dare go back to my car in the diner’s parking lot, not now. I didn’t want to be there when Swan came out of that bank. She might have noticed that my car was still there – that would have made her suspicious for sure. Even if she hadn’t she might just decide to do something to me, just because she could.
I called a taxi – not an easy thing to do when you’re hunched down in a phone booth, trying to look inconspicuous (and failing mightily, judging by the stares of passers-by). I lurked in a shop doorway until my tide arrived. I hadn’t seen Swan again, which hopefully meant she hadn’t seen me.
Happily, the taxi driver wasn’t a talkative one. I sat In the back with my eyes closed, leaning on the window, my face cupped in my hand. I felt as though I had run a marathon. It wasn’t the cumulative sleeplessness and stress of the last few days; that was nothing new. It wasn’t the abrupt end to my career in Washington. All of that fell away in comparison with that single encounter with Swan. I could not get the texture of the plastic tablecloth out of my mind. Its glossy red and white checks loomed in my vision for the whole journey back to my flat.
I had hoped for an undisturbed half an hour so I could pack my essentials. But the kids were there, fretting on the couch.
‘You look terrible,’ said Peri.
‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘Where’s the Doctor?’
‘He’s gone to stop her,’ said Bob. ‘He ordered us to stay here. He said he could resist the Savant’s effects on the brain, at least for a few moments. Long enough to use the Eridani device to switch this off. He said he could.’
I couldn’t see why the Doctor would think his brain was any less vulnerable than any other human being’s. It was probably just a bit of bullshit to keep his young friends out of harm’s way.
‘I had kind of hoped he had hooked up with you,’ said Peri. Her arms were folded tight. ‘He shouldn’t be out there by himself.’
‘He can handle himself,’ I said.
‘He does stupid things!’ Peri almost shouted. ‘He gets into the most terrible trouble. He always acts like he’s invulnerable. He thinks he can shout his way out of anything.’
She was miserable, scalp and stomach tight as nooses, looking like she was waiting for a loved one to come out of surgery.
She paced the room, straightening up bits of my mess. ‘When he said I should stay, this time I didn’t even try and argue with him. I just sat down and let him go. Why am I here? I ought to be with him.’
Bob said, ‘He knew what he was doing when he told us to stay.’
Peri didn’t hear him. ‘I want to be here. No, that’s not right.’ Something was dawning in her face. ‘I don’t want to be here. This is all wrong. I want to be wherever the Doctor is.
Wherever he goes.’
‘You know something?’ said Bob. ‘I don’t want to be wherever he is right now.’ He hunched his shoulders in shame.
‘That sounds terrible.’
‘Be fair on yourself,’ said Peri. ‘There are some things the Doctor can do that we just can’t.’ Bob gave her a pointed look.