Doctor Who_ The Last Dodo - Jacqueline Rayner [62]
He smiled. ‘Tommy, tell me where my pendant is, or Martha loses her head.’
‘Frank, no!’ cried Celia.
‘Didn’t know you cared,’ Martha muttered. But if Celia could persuade Frank to put down the gun, then Celia was her new best friend and no mistake.
‘You don’t want to do this, Frank. You’re a good man, really, I know that. You just… lost your way.’
‘Sheesh, Ceel, and I was just getting used to the idea of never hearing your moaning voice again,’ said Frank, dashing Martha’s hopes. ‘After Martha, you’re next. Hey, I may even shoot you first, just to make sure of a bit of peace and quiet.’
Whimpering, Celia retreated. Frank waggled the gun and raised his eyebrows questioningly at Tommy. ‘Well?’
‘Just tell him, Tom!’ called Nadya. ‘The authorities will pick him up anyway.’
Scowling, Tommy nodded. He reached across to a drawer in the bedside cabinet, opened it, and pulled out a pendant.
Frank’s face showed a mixture of triumph and annoyance. ‘You mean it was there all the time?’
Tommy shrugged, holding out the teleport device. ‘Drawer wasn’t even locked.’
Frank took the pendant, maintaining a stranglehold on Martha while he examined it closely, then he nodded and hung it around his neck. One‐handed, he began to programme it with coordinates.
Martha tensed as the final digit was inputted. Surely he’d just zap away now, make his getaway… But he didn’t. Instead, Frank put his free hand into a pocket and pulled out a small white sphere.
That’s a bomb!’ she gasped.
‘Well, duh,’ said Frank. ‘Funny thing, there’s me thinking all the bombs had gone off to Earth, but what do I find when I get back to the lab? Earth still lousy with life, RIP Eve – and a bomb on the bench. Thought it might come in handy. Cos Nadya had a point there, thanks, Nard. The authorities might be after me. But not if there’s no one left to tell ’em about it. I just need to destroy the evidence. And you’re the evidence.’
‘You mean “witnesses”,’ said the Doctor. ‘Sounds like you could do with one of the Christmas dictionaries that were on offer earlier. But I wouldn’t get your hopes up. I reckon you’re going on Santa’s “naughty” list for, ooh, ever.’
But Frank wasn’t letting the Doctor get to him any more. ‘Fine, witnesses,’ he said. ‘Call yourselves what you want, you’ll be just as dead – and in so many pieces they’ll never work out how many bodies there are. And then I’ll be safely away with my servants and my grapes, right, Martha?’ He rubbed the gun against her neck. Martha didn’t say anything. She couldn’t take her eyes off the egg‐bomb, as Frank primed the mechanism. It began to tick in time with the bleepings from Tommy’s monitors.
Bending down carefully, the gun still pointed at Martha, Frank placed the bomb on the floor. ‘Enjoy your last thirty seconds,’ he said, and his hand reached for his pendant…
And so did Martha’s hand. ‘You enjoy it too, Frank,’ she said, yanking the pendant so hard the cord snapped. She flung the device to the Doctor and, as Frank yelled in pain, she knocked the gun out of his hand. He pushed her aside and she fell to the floor, but grabbed hold of his ankles as she did so, pulling him down too. ‘Quick, the other pendants!’ she yelled, and the Doctor, already on the move towards them, understood at once. He tried to grab at Frank’s overalls – but Frank had retrieved the gun, and an energy beam narrowly missed the Doctor’s head.
Martha froze as the pistol swivelled between her and the Doctor, both now lying on the floor. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I was going to try to get away with the bomb.’
‘Yeah, I’m sorry too,’ said Frank, hurrying over to pick up his pendant. ‘Sorry to spoil your oh‐so‐heroic self‐sacrifice. But you know what? You’ve inspired me. I’m not going to let