Doctor Who_ Peacemaker - James Swallow [38]
It causes a pain in my head.’
‘Sorry,’ said the Doctor, ‘rambling. Occupational hazard.’ He stalked away, walking around in a small circle. ‘Thing is,’ he continued. ‘I’m flying blind here unless I can come up with some clue as to what this gizmo is that Godlove has. Or indeed, where it came from and who it belongs to. . . ’ The sallow faces of Tangleleg and Kutter crossed his thoughts. ‘And who wants it back. . . ’
He vaulted back onto the wagon. ‘Think, Doctor! Think!’ He tapped himself on his forehead. ‘Stratified matrix construct. Bio-energy engrams. Healing fields. Weapons. Adaptive technology. Put it together, man. Think, think, thinky- think!’
Walking Crow opened his mouth to speak again, but the Doctor suddenly stiffened, as if he had been shocked rigid. ‘Are you all right?’
the Pawnee asked carefully.
‘Oh, I’m better than all right.’ The Doctor ducked back into the wagon, a look of pure insight flashing in his eyes. ‘I’m positively exact, spot-on, dead-cert, no errors sure.’ He scrambled about, using his sonic and the chemicals to hand on Godlove’s makeshift workbench to cobble together a quick-and-dirty analysis fluid. ‘Oh, I should have seen this, oh yeah. If it was a snake, it would have bitten me!’ He took another piece of the metal and dipped it in the liquid, watching the reaction. ‘If I’m right – and, let’s be honest, I am so much of the time that it hardly bears talking about when I’m not – then I think I know exactly what it is we’re dealing with here. And it’s not good.’
93
Nathan found them a boarding house selling food and, with a few of the coins left over from the Doctor’s winnings at the Bluebird, Martha bought sandwiches of thick, gritty bread with slabs of corned beef inside. Nathan stayed close to her, moving from foot to foot.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, picking up on his nervousness.
The teenager eyed her. ‘Look around,’ he said in a low voice. ‘People are watchin’ us.’
Martha did so, doing her best not to be obvious about it. Nathan was right; a lot of Ironhill’s citizens were paying more attention to them than she might have liked. She gathered up the food quickly and paid with a cursory smile. ‘Let’s go.’
Nathan trailed at her heels. ‘News travels fast in a small town,’ he told her. ‘Reckon just about everyone hereabouts is gonna know the Doctor chased off Godlove. If he’s already gulled these folks, they ain’t gonna be well disposed toward us.’
She chewed her lip. ‘Let’s get back to the wagon. Best if we stick together, eh?’
They were halfway across the dirt road of the main street when the thunder of hooves drew her attention. She turned in time to hear someone cry out in shock and her heart sank.
95
The longriders were racing down the street towards them and, behind their steaming, gasping horses, Kutter and Tangleleg were dragging men through the mud on twisting lengths of rope.
Nathan cursed under his breath. ‘It can’t be! How did they find us?’
Martha had no answer for him. In the daylight, if anything the two outlaws looked even more ragged and sinister than they had in the dark of night.
Townsfolk were calling out in dismay and horror and, as Martha watched, the longriders cut their victims loose and let them spin away into the sidewalk. Kutter’s horse brayed and reared up on its hind legs, forelegs slashing the air. One of the men tried to get up and the horse kicked him, knocking him into the side of a building. He did not rise again.
Nathan threw the food parcel aside and his hands contracted into fists. He surged forward, and Martha realised that the youth was intending to confront the men who had killed his father.
‘Nathan, don’t!’ she cried, grabbing his shoulder. ‘You can’t stop them!’
He spun about and glared at her, his eyes burning with fury. ‘Then who will, Miss Martha?’ he demanded. ‘Are we gonna let them shoot up this town like they did with Redwater, or who knows how many others?’
She saw the longriders both draw their bulky pistols in slow, lazy motions, and Martha felt a hard knot of icy fear in her chest; but there