Doctor Who_ The Sea-Devils - Malcolm Hulke [30]
‘Don’t trust him,’ said the Master. ‘He’s play-acting. The officer is behind the settee.’
Trenchard looked behind the settee, and saw his officer lying there face down. He called to another guard in the corridor. ‘Take this visitor to my office immediately. He is under arrest.’
‘Won’t you take this gun?’ said the Master, offering the gun, butt first, to Trenchard. ‘And I think the Medical Officer should X-ray my cheek-bone. The Doctor badly beat me up before trying to murder me.’
‘Of course,’ said Trenchard, taking the weapon. He turned to the prison officer, who had now come in, indicating the Doctor. ‘All right, take him away.’
‘You know you’re making a fool of yourself,’ asserted the Doctor.
‘I shall speak to you in my office,’ Trenchard replied. ‘Take him away.’ He waited until the Doctor had been led off. Then he turned on the Master. ‘What were you going to do?—kill him? I warn you, I won’t stand for that sort of thing!’
‘I was defending myself,’ said the Master, getting to his feet. ‘If you refuse to believe that, if you prefer to think of me as a cheap murderer, then that means everything you are doing is wrong.’
Trenchard tried to work that out, but it was all getting too complicated. He very much wished he was back on the North West Frontier with a kindly commanding officer who told him exactly what to do and what to think at any time of day or night. Here, he had to take so many decisions...
Jo found the château’s main gates locked against her, and Prison Officer Snellgrove demanding that she leave the naval Jeep and go with him into the gatehouse.
‘This is ridiculous,’ she protested. ‘I have a perfect right to leave here whenever I wish!’
‘The Governor’s orders, Miss,’ apologised Snellgrove. ‘It’s not for me to question what you’ve been up to, but you’ve got to come into the gatehouse.’
‘I haven’t been “up to” anything,’ she said. ‘If you want me to leave this Jeep, you’ll have to lift me out!’
‘I see,’ said Snellgrove. ‘A trouble-maker. All right, I shall call my colleague.’
‘You can call out the fire brigade if you want,’ retorted Jo. ‘I’m sitting here till you open those gates.’
Snellgrove walked halfway towards the gatehouse door and called. ‘Mr. Crawley, could you come out here a moment, please? There’s a visitor causing us bother.’
Crawley emerged from the gatehouse. ‘What visitor?’ he asked.
‘This young lady in the Jeep,’ said Snellgrove, turning back to where Jo had been sitting. The vehicle was empty. He swung back towards Prison Officer Crawley. ‘Well don’t just stand there! We’ve got to find her!’
The Doctor was hemmed in by two prison officers as he stood before Trenchard’s desk.
‘You’re in very serious trouble,’ said Trenchard. ‘I’m going to hold you here until this whole thing is cleared up.’
‘Is that what the Master told you to say?’ asked the Doctor,
‘I shall ignore that remark,’ said Trenchard, his fists clenched and knuckles whitening. ‘You have attacked a prison officer, and attempted to harm a prisoner in my care and protection. As for that UNIT pass of yours, I believe it is a forgery.’
‘Don’t be an idiot,’ said the Doctor. ‘Anyone at UNIT Headquarters will vouch for me. If you’ll allow me to telephone—’
Trenchard’s hand automatically clamped down on the telephone, even though the dial was securely padlocked. ‘Prisoners are not allowed to make telephone calls.’
‘I’m an unconvicted prisoner,’ said the Doctor. ‘I have a right to telephone a solicitor.’
‘Don’t quote the law to me, if you don’t mind,’ said Trenchard. ‘I know what I’m doing.’ He turned to the prison officers. ‘Take this man away.’
The prison officers grabbed the Doctor’s arms to wheel him out. The Doctor wouldn’t budge. ‘You’re throwing away your whole career,’ he said to Trenchard. ‘You’ll be a laughing stock.’
‘Insulting me won’t help you,’ said Trenchard. ‘You will be properly and humanely treated if you behave yourself, keep your cell clean, and remember to call all prison officers “sir”. To that extent this establishment is run as a