Doctor Who_ Father Time - Lance Parkin [40]
‘I thought you said it would be quiet here,’ she said, annoyed with Barry. ‘There’s more people here than at a City match.
But Barry didn’t care about that.
‘Stop the car!’ he shouted.
‘Here? No. We’ll find somewhere else.’
Barry glared at the girl, and she stopped the car.
‘That’s my Cortina!’ Barry told her, pointing to it.
She laughed. ‘Perhaps your wife’s gone for a walk up here.’
This time, the way she said ‘walk’ made Barry very angry. He got out of the Mini and strode over to his Cortina. It was empty, and so was the black Beetle parked next to it.
The girl had followed him out. She had her hands crossed over her chest, and was shivering, but the temperature wasn’t what was bothering Barry.
‘I’ll kill her,’ he snarled.
‘For what?’ she shouted back. ‘For doing what you were planning to do?’
Barry told her that was precisely why.
The girl was about to say more when something shot out of the woods and over their heads. An aircraft. No – too small for that.
‘What was that?’ she asked.
Before they could decide, another one came straight for them. Lower this time. It was a man standing on a disc. The disc was flying – about six feet off the ground and at about sixty miles an hour. Barry barely had time to register that the man was wearing a green jacket before the disc had vanished over the hill.
Barry looked around.
‘You saw that?’ the girl asked.
Barry nodded, but he wasn’t sure he had. It didn’t seem like the sort of thing he would see.
‘Someone’s coming,’ she warned him.
Barry could hear footsteps, crunching through the snow. There were people running towards them.
* * *
The Hunters stopped at the foot of the ramp.
‘Wait. We shouldn’t be chasing after them,’ Thélash declared.
Rum stopped peering out into the winter’s night and lowered his neutron gun. ‘You’re right. This isn’t part of our mission. You heard the Deputy: our mission hasn’t changed.’ He hesitated. ‘But if we do capture the Doctor, it’ll look good when it comes to our pay negotiations.’
Thélash shook her head. ‘They’ll just say we shouldn’t have let him escape in the first place.’
Rum was convinced.
‘Besides,’ Thélash reminded him, ‘the Doctor won’t get past Mr Gibson.’ She smiled. ‘Let’s watch from the comfort of our chamber.’
* * *
Debbie and the Doctor came running out of the wood.
Barry let them get to the car. Both of them were out of breath, red-faced. He shook his head very slowly at his wife.
‘Barry, not now,’ Debbie told him. She looked over at his friend. ‘Who are you? Hang on – don’t you work at the Co-op?’
The Doctor stepped between them. ‘Did either of you see... discs? Flying platforms made of metal, with people standing on them?’
Barry grabbed the Doctor’s shirt. ‘Look, mate, that’s not your biggest problem right now.’
There was a clunk to their right. From the Beetle.
They all turned to look at it.
‘I think you’re right,’ the Doctor said softly.
Barry let go of him and took two steps over to the car. He peered in.
‘There’s no one in the car,’ he concluded, standing up.
‘Stay back!’ the Doctor warned.
The car was matt black, almost invisible in the failing evening light. It had fat sports tyres on it, and Barry was sure he’d find a great big chrome exhaust round the back.
The Doctor was scowling at him, but followed him over. ‘We’re in the gravest danger.’
‘From someone that drives a VW? Doubt it. Nice bodykit on it – très sporty.’ He turned back to the Doctor. ‘You’re right about you being in trouble, though.’
Barry slapped his hand down on the Beetle’s roof, to prove his point.
‘Get your hands off,’ a deep, almost musical voice said calmly.
Barry looked around, but there was no one around. There was definitely no one in the car. He turned to face the Doctor. ‘Here, are you throwing your voice or something?’
The Doctor shook his head. He pointed back to the car. There was a strange noise, like a hydraulic piston.
Barry turned, and saw the Beetle standing up.
It was an odd sight. It bent in the middle,