Doctor Who_ Match of the Day - Chris Boucher [59]
„Nobody in or out? You are saying I am a prisoner?‟ Leela was shocked and then immediately angry. „I am a prisoner again?‟
„Not a prisoner,‟ Nenron said hastily. „Not exactly a prisoner.‟
„You mean not technically,‟ Leela snapped, conscious of how often those words, those truthless words were cropping up.
„It‟s working like a charm.‟
„What is working like a charm?‟ Leela demanded. „I do not understand this.‟
„The Doctor does.‟
„The Doctor has no use for charms,‟ Leela said. „He says they are not rational and without rationality there is only chaos and terror. I have not been allowed to keep any charms.‟
Nenron stared at her intently. Eventually he smiled a small hopeful smile. „I can never tell whether you‟re serious or not.
I suppose that comes from your fighting technique doesn‟t it?
You keep your opponents guessing. Keep them off balance?‟
Leela almost smiled at his clumsy attempt to divert her attention. „What is happening?‟ she said very slowly and deliberately.
„It‟s classic showmanship,‟ he said. „You whip up the public‟s interest in something: in this case you. And then you cut them off from it. And then you tease them a bit with tantalising glimpses of what they think they want.‟
„The Doctor is tantalising them with glimpses of me?‟
Nenron said, „And it‟s working like a charm. Interest in you is higher than it ever was.‟
„You are right. He has told me nothing of this,‟ Leela said.
Was this the plan the Doctor had promised to tell her about when he had time? Was this the plan he was never going to tell her about because he knew she would not agree to it?
How could this be a plan?
„You‟re going to make a killing. In a manner of speaking.‟
Nenron was starting to babble. „I mean I know the New Way is not really about killing but there has to be an element -‟
Leela interrupted him. „Stop babbling old man and take me to Aerospace Main.‟
Nenron sighed and nodded. „Can I at least get you a less recognisable outfit?‟ he asked as he set the runner in motion.
„A bit of a disguise maybe?‟
„Yes,‟ Leela said. „I think so. If I do not wish to be recognised, a disguise would be sensible.‟
Nenron said, „If you do not wish to be recognised, not leaving the compound would be sensible.‟
„I will let nobody make me a prisoner,‟ Leela said. „No matter who they are or what their plan is.‟
Chapter Ten
They found him in a crapper on the Hakai OTS,’ he said.
‘Dollar to a dip he was a hauler who got himself spotted.’
Driftkiller Ronick was a crude, fat, sexist pig, Sita thought, but there were worse cops. He had a long memory for incidents and he made the links when they showed. She paid for the gutburgers and joined him on the bench by the lake.
‘How did you get hold of this?’ she asked, running the ID
he had given her through the fast-reader.
Driftkiller spoke round a mouth stuffed with most of a burger. ‘Friends in low places.’
She shrugged to show her indifference. ‘If you don’t want to tell me...’
‘Turned up in a currency bounce. Counterfeit crew. Good gear. They were working from plates stolen to order on the Hakai.’
She stopped the reader: it was the same routine stuff she’d got from central registry and it merely confirmed what she already knew. Norbert Lung was not the man who blew through ‘Space Main security. ‘None of this detail matched him at all?’
‘All they had in common was your friend Norbert is dead and so was this one.’
‘How dead?’ she asked.
‘Pro hit to the spine, then a coup to the brain.’ Still chewing he pushed a chubby finger against the underside of his jaw.
‘Neat blade.’
A dovetailed plover landed on the grass in front of them and Driftkiller tossed it some crumbs.
‘Who was the dead man?’ Sita asked.
‘I asked that.’
‘And?’
‘They don’t scuffling know. The body, all the forensics, all the samples, all the details - all disposed of.’
‘How could that happen?’
‘I asked that.’
‘And?’
‘Computer glitch,’ he said dismissively. ‘That’s their story and they’re sticking with