Doctor Who_ Island of Death - Barry Letts [26]
Of course, some like it hot!‟ he added, and with a cheeky toss of his head and a giggle, he disappeared into the kitchen.
„Hmm. So that‟s what‟s wrong with it,‟ said the Brigadier, sprinkling his curry with a generous spoonful of chopped green chillies from the dish in the centre of the table. „You‟re changing the subject again, Doctor,‟ he went on. „You‟ll no doubt be delighted to know that, thanks to the intervention of the British High Commissioner, Major Chatterjee and I will be paying this Mother Hilda a visit first thing tomorrow morning. She has some serious questions to answer.‟
„Indeed? You have no more direct evidence to link the deaths with the Skang cult now than you had in London.‟
„I don‟t need it. There‟s sufficient circumstantial evidence for a proper investigation. And that would be impossible if they were to take to the high seas. Until this whole thing is cleared up, they won‟t be going anywhere.‟
„And how do you think you‟re going to stop them?‟ asked the Doctor.
„Not by having a bit of a chit-chat about philosophy,‟ replied the Brigadier, who had received the Doctor‟s report with some impatience. „I have here...‟ he produced from his inside pocket an official-looking envelope, „...something which will stop them in their tracks!‟
„Bully for you. It must be a very powerful bit of paper.‟
„It is indeed. An injunction from a High Court judge.‟
„And if they defy you?‟
„They‟ll be arrested. All the organisers. I gather from Chatterjee that those in charge come from some twenty different countries. We‟ll bag the lot of them.‟
„I‟ll believe that when I see it,‟ said the Doctor.
Here they go again, thought Sarah, and then she was struck by an appalling notion. What was so special about London? If there was a Skang creature hidden away in South Hill Park Square, why not in every country where the cult had a base? They could be looking at twenty of them, not just the one! „Hang on!‟ she said urgently, interrupting an irritable exchange concerning the efficiency of the Indian police -
indeed of any police, anywhere.
She told them her thought.
„Well of course,‟ said the Doctor. „I‟d taken it for granted that we‟d all understood that. Why do you think I‟ve been treading so carefully? As far as Earth is concerned, these are alien beings, and clearly inimical. The leaders of the cult are either in league with them or being controlled by them. With so much at stake, these people will stop at nothing.‟
It was apparently as new a thought to the Brigadier as it had been to Sarah.
„In that case,‟ he said, „it makes it all the more imperative that we take the strongest action possible. The Major is picking me up at nine o‟clock. This has got to be settled once and for all!‟
„Sorry Sarah,‟ he went on, „on an occasion like this, three‟s a crowd. Er... that is to say...‟ He‟d caught the lift of the Doctor‟s eyebrow.
So they were going off without her. Right. She hadn‟t told them the whole of her idea. She‟d remembered the gut-clenching thought she‟d had when she first saw the Skang. If there were twenty of the things, where were they hidden?
There could be only one answer.
She‟d got onto the ship once. What was to stop her getting on board again?
CHAPTER NINE
Major Chatterjee arrived to pick the Doctor and the Brigadier up in a battered old Land Rover - not with a squad of police-men in tow, but with a large army sergeant with a fierce Kitchener moustache and a UNIT flash on his shoulder.
So the UNIT presence in Bombay wasn‟t confined to one individual after all, thought the Brigadier. Including the driver, there were at least two more members. Hardly enough to take twenty people in charge. Twenty at least.
For a moment, he felt a pang of nostalgia for the UNIT team back home; for the most part ex-SAS professionals, who had helped him solve so many problems in the past. He stole a glance at the sergeant. That moustache would put the fear of God into anyone. At least his presence would show they meant business.
Not that you would have known it, from the Major‟s