Doctor Who_ The Forgotten Army - Brian Minchin [7]
The cop was shaking his head. Amy stepped even closer to him, standing at her full height.
'What's your name?' she demanded.
'Officer Henderson.'
'First name?'
'Oscar.’ the young officer replied, surprised.
'Right then, Oscar, I'm Amy. I just wanted to ask, has the creature inside killed anyone?'
Oscar seemed to relax slightly. 'No, ma'am, and if you could step back I'd be much obliged. This is a controlled situation.'
Amy wasn't backing down. 'Has it harmed 29
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anyone in any way?'
Again, Oscar shook his head. 'No. But we believe that we should take preventative measures against any threat.'
Amy leant forward, bringing her mouth right up to his ear. Then she yelled, 'SO WHY ARE YOU GOING TO KILL
IT?'
Oscar stumbled back, stunned by her ferocity.
The Doctor sprang to the rescue. 'If I can just borrow my friend back, thank you...' As they walked away, he whispered, 'I think there might be an easier way of doing this. Can I borrow your phone again?'
The Doctor rubbed Amy's phone up and down on his jacket like it was a cricket ball and hit it a few times with his sonic screwdriver. 'This should work.’ he mumbled and pressed 'Call'.
Moments later, the Doctor was speaking with quiet authority, the big grin back on his face. 'Commander Strebbins, would you know what I meant if I gave you a code X231 hyphen 19 ten?'
There was a momentary silence, punctuated with urgent bursts of static and whispered conversation. Amy glanced over towards Strebbins, who was obviously confused that anyone could radio straight to her. The Doctor seemed to have turned the phone into a police walkie-talkie.
'Let me guess what you're saying.' Amy's attention snapped back to the Doctor, who'd obviously lost 30
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patience waiting for Strebbins's answer. 'There'll be no record of the mission allowed, no one in the NYPD or the FBI will be accountable, and you'll have to put your guns downs. No one's going to like it, but you're gonna do it. The short version is: I'm the Doctor - lemme in!' He grinned as he handed the phone back to Amy. 'I love a good code X231 hyphen 19 ten!'
Amy could see the furious Commander Strebbins approaching them. She looked to be in her fifties, and was probably hardened by numerous hours on the street. She was also obviously not used to being told what she could and couldn't do.
The Doctor turned to greet her. 'Hello, I'm the Doctor. You might have heard about me?'
'Colonel Mace was vague on that matter,' Strebbins growled.
'But he seemed to think I'd have no problem letting you take command of this scene. Told me you were worth ten thousand of my men.'
'Old friend,' the Doctor murmured to Amy. 'Always nice to have someone put in a word...'
Commander Strebbins evidently didn't like being kept waiting. She broke in brusquely: 'I'm trained for this situation, Doctor, and we need to go in with maximum force. I have the capacity to take out a creature twenty times the size of that beast. I've got smoke grenades, stun guns, smart explosives, and enough firepower to reduce however many elephants you've got in there to cat food.' She smiled, 31
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obviously assuming the matter was closed.
Commander Strebbins had underestimated the Doctor.
'Ah, well that's where there's a problem. Because, no one is going to hurt that creature while I'm here.'
'Damn it, there are people in there, Doctor!' Strebbins more or less shouted. 'I will protect them, whatever the cost.'
'Like shouting at him will make him change his mind,'
Amy thought wryly, as the Doctor pulled a tiny pair of binoculars out of his pocket and started gazing towards the Grand Hall of the Museum.
'There's no one in the windows.’ he told them, 'which means everyone got out of the place before the mammoth woke up properly. If I'm right, you'll have sealed the doors of the Grand Hall, so it's not going to have gone far. Pretty grand