Doctor Who_ Peacemaker - James Swallow [21]
‘Stop this.’ The Doctor’s voice was level and firm, a great anger boiling away underneath his steady, iron-hard gaze. ‘I am asking you to stop this before it goes any further.’
Kutter studied him, his expression never changing. ‘The question remains. Where is the healer? You will tell me, or I kill the young one. Then these females.’
‘And then everyone in this settlement,’ added Tangleleg. ‘Until we have an answer. We will spare them if you answer.’
‘Papa?’ Nathan’s eyes pleaded with his father.
Finally, Blaine spat and glared at the townsfolk. ‘Put your guns down. Now!’ He tossed his pistol to the dirt and the others grudgingly followed suit. ‘OK,’ said the sheriff, holding up his hands. ‘I’ll tell you, just don’t hurt the boy. Godlove and his redskin, they rode out to the south, toward Dekkerville. That’s where he was headin’. . . Now just let my son go.’
Martha saw the shift in the Doctor’s expression. She saw the look in his eyes and suddenly she knew what he’d seen. ‘They’re lying!’ The longriders had no intention of keeping their promise.
Kutter reacted, shoving Nathan aside. The massive pistol in his grip turned to face Blaine and it discharged with a thunderous shriek. A bolt of blazing white energy leapt from the muzzle and speared the lawman through the middle of his chest, killing him instantly.
52
Nathan screamed, his voice rising into the chorus of yells and cries from the rest of the townsfolk as Tangleleg fired wildly into the buildings, seeding chaos and fire.
‘Why?’ bellowed the Doctor, as the boy rushed to his father’s side with Jenny at his heels. ‘Why did you do that?’ He snarled, his eyes flashing with towering rage, advancing towards the outlaw.
Kutter studied him. ‘You’re different,’ he noted. ‘Unlike.’
The Doctor’s was furious. ‘He told you what you wanted to know!
You didn’t have to kill him!’
For a long second Kutter held the gun towards the Doctor, and Martha gasped, terrified the longrider would shoot him down as well.
‘He would have come after us,’ the gunman said, in a flat, matter-of-fact voice. ‘Examples must be made.’
The pistol dipped, the aim falling toward Nathan.
‘No!’ The Doctor threw up his hands.
Martha saw it happen. She felt the sickening lurch in the pit of her stomach as the weapon fired. The bolt struck out, dazzling her.
Jenny saw it too; and she threw herself at the boy, forcing him to the dirt as Kutter pulled the trigger. The shot went wide, missing the boy and striking the teacher.
The woman’s scream filled the night air as the blast of energy tore into her.
53
The TARDIS doors slammed open and the Doctor raced inside with Jenny’s unconscious body in his arms.
Martha came in, pulling the doors shut behind her. In the confusion and chaos following the gunfight, it had been easy to slip away down the alley; she felt terrible leaving poor Nathan out there, with only his father’s corpse for company, but the sheriff was beyond her help.
Jenny Forrest, on the other hand, was still clinging to life, and Martha had a duty to do whatever she could to save her.
‘Get the medical kit, white box with a green crescent moon on it,’
snapped the Doctor, laying the teacher down gently on the gridded decking of the control room. ‘Quick, quick, quick!’
Martha raced across the chamber and found the medical kit sitting on top of a woman’s jacket. Inside the plastic box were dozens of vials of fluid and a green, jelly-like pod that pulsated as if it were alive.
She brought the case to their patient. ‘How is she?’ The Doctor unrolled a length of burnt, fragmented material off Jenny’s shoulder to reveal the damage from Kutter’s gun. It had been a glancing shot –a direct hit would have taken her life instantly – but the injury was still very serious.
‘It looks as if she was struck by lightning,’ said Martha.
55
‘That was a phased energy weapon. Coherent plasma matrix suspended in a particle beam.’ He handed her an injector. ‘Here. The red and blue vials, full dose, into her carotid artery.’