Doctor Who_ The King of Terror - Keith Topping [101]
The Brigadier appeared at the Doctor’s side, slapping himself on one ear.
‘That was a loud one,’ he yelled at the top of his voice.
‘Quite a successful demolition,’ noted the Doctor with genuine regret and sadness.
‘What?’ shouted Lethbridge-Stewart, looking puzzled.
‘We have about five minutes before this place is crawling with very upset aliens,’ the Doctor told him as he took his old friend by the elbow and led him down the corridor to the elevator.
192
Chapter Twenty-One
Fear of a Dead Planet
The reception area of the InterCom building had turned into a scene of carnage as the Doctor and the Brigadier emerged from the elevators, the latter with his revolver still in his hand, to find Captain Paynter and his dedicated ten-man force engaged in running fire-fights with a greater number of green-uniformed InterCom guards. And, amid them, three Jex in their true form.
‘They’re not doing much to hide themselves,’ the Brigadier shouted as he and the Doctor moved towards the reception desk and threw themselves into the small gap behind Paynter, whilst the captain fired a continuous, withering barrage of automatic gunfire at an area beside the stairwells.
A stream of shots crisscrossed the open spaces as men found their range and fired everything they had at the enemy.
And amid the sheer wall of bullets, a startled Robert Chebb walked into the building and found himself in a scene from The Wild Bunch.
‘What the hell is going . . . ’ he began, hands on hips, a look of almost comical anger on his face. Instinctively he reached for his weapon, outraged that someone would dare to take up arms in his kingdom.
Then one of the UNIT soldiers shot him in the back and he slumped to the floor, dead.
The sight of the Jex, their tentacles and claws flailing as bullets exploded around them, had surprised the Brigadier. ‘What caused them to reveal themselves?’ he asked Paynter as the captain crouched down to reload.
‘I don’t know, sir. It just happened when we walked in. Maybe they didn’t think the charade was worth keeping up any longer. The receptionists ran screaming at the first transmutation,’ Paynter said with a wry grin. ‘But these boys don’t seem to care who they’re working for. The bastards.’ He unloaded another burst of terrifying gunfire and then downed his weapon and saluted the Brigadier and the Doctor. ‘Nice to see you alive sirs,’ he said, ironically.
‘Not that I really expected anything else.’
‘The local Jex command structure is currently lying in a pool of its own blood upstairs, thankfully,’ Lethbridge-Stewart said, returning the salute. He turned to the Doctor. ‘Militarily, I know exactly what to do next,’ he said. ‘But what about wider issues?’
193
‘It’s a question of global significance now,’ the Doctor shouted above the noise of the battle.
‘There can’t be more than thirty members of the conglomerate around the world,’ Lethbridge-Stewart replied at equal volume. ‘We can deal with them without too much trouble. Captain Paynter, are reinforcements on their way?’
As the question was asked a loud explosion turned many heads in the direction of the main doors where, it seemed, UNIT’s entire North American force was storming into the building, guns blazing.
‘Here come the boys now,’ said Paynter aggressively. ‘Go on lads, get stuck in and give them a damn good shellacking,’ he shouted across the foyer to the newly arrived troops. ‘Secure the building. Maximum prejudice.’
‘Take a man round the rear, Sergeant,’ yelled the Brigadier to one of Paynter’s men as soldiers continued to pour through the glass doors. ‘Block all the exits.’ He turned back to the crouching Doctor, a broad smile on his face. ‘Just like old times, eh?’ he asked. ‘International Electromatics all over again. The cleaning-up operation may take a bit longer, but we’re on our way.’
‘No, Brigadier,’ the Doctor said simply, as a lull in the