Doctor Who_ Rip Tide - Louise Cooper [57]
The effort of holding her station and keeping lookout for crab-pot
buoys took nearly all her energy and concentration, but as they approached the frowning headland she stared ahead through the spray, frantically looking for the ledge where the Doctor — please God — was waiting for them. Don't let him have done anything stupid; please don't let him have tried to get down to the cave —
'I see him!' Adam bellowed. And there he was, a tiny figure against the massive cliff wall, waving vigorously to the oncoming boat. Steve swore incredulously. 'How the devil did he get down there?'
'He climbed!' Nina shouted. 'He can do amazing things — I tried to tell you before, but —'
'Shut up, there's no time for that!' Steve interrupted. 'We're going in — get your head down, and stay down!'
The lifeboat started to turn, and Nina crouched low and tightened her grip on an inner grab-rope as they bounced and juddered on the swell. They were closing in; Steve throttled back the engine and they slowed to approach speed, with Adam's eyes fixed unswervingly on the outlying rocks where the sea foamed and surged. Both men had known this stretch of coast all their lives and had a fearsomely healthy respect for it. Adam was searching for the largest gap between the rocks, where he knew they could get through with room to spare.
'There's the channel!' he called to Steve. 'Starboard ... bit more ... OK, it's dead ahead! Go!'
The boat crept forward, nosing between the menacing dark points that looked to Nina like the dorsal fins of enormous, mutated sharks. Closer in, the cliff towered vertically above them, giving the illusion that it was toppling out of the sky. The Doctor had stopped waving. The tide was rising and his ledge was no more than two metres above the sea now; fountains of spray from every wave that smacked against the rocks soaked him afresh. To the right of the ledge Nina saw a cave mouth gaping — then she forgot everything else as, to her horror, the Doctor let go of his precarious hold and started to slither over the lip of the ledge. She screamed, 'Don't!' and Adam started to bawl, 'For Christ's sake, man, don't be so crazy —' Another wave lifted the lifeboat and Steve took advantage of it; as the wave swept them forward he opened up again, intending to run the boat right to the rocks and make a grab for the Doctor if — or, surely, when — he fell. Nina's heart turned over as the cliff face seemed to rush towards them —
And the Doctor sprang outwards in an astonishing leap that brought him crashing with a flail of limbs into the boat on top of Nina and Adam.
Cursing volubly, Steve fought to keep the lifeboat under control as Nina, Adam and the Doctor struggled to untangle themselves. Typically, the Doctor was the first to emerge from the confusion; shaking dripping hair away from his face he fixed intense and brilliant eyes on Steve, worked out who he was and the mood he was likely to be in, and did not waste any time with explanations.
'Excuse me,' he said politely but firmly, 'but this is an emergency!'
Steve was taken so completely by surprise that he didn't have time to resist or even react in any way as the Doctor scrambled to the stern, clamped his hands on the tiller and turned it. The engine roared into high revs — and with the Doctor at the helm, it accelerated straight towards the yawning darkness of the sea cave.
Entering the cave was like being swallowed by an impossible mythical beast, as the morning light gave way to gloom and the sounds of the engine and the sea were suddenly and shockingly amplified. Nina had only just extricated herself from the tangle with Adam and was so shaken that she had not yet taken in what was happening. She heard Steve shouting, then abruptly she was tipped over on to her back as Adam thrust past her and lunged for the Doctor. But in the rush Adam slipped. His balance went and he lurched sideways, snatching frantically at a grab rope as it seemed he might pitch overboard. Steve, momentarily forgetting the Doctor, scrambled to heave