Doctor Who_ Trading Futures - Lance Parkin [18]
‘What do we do in Athens?’
‘We’re expected, remember? We turn up at the right place and the right time, and see what happens from there.’
‘What do you think is going on?’
‘Something to do with time travel,’ the Doctor said. ‘Quite what, I’m not sure. But whatever it is, we’ll stop it.’
* * *
Chapter Five
Baskerville
Malady passed through airport security without a hitch, despite the two guns, the knives, the explosives and the hunter/killer software that were either on her or in her luggage. As ever, that left her feeling both smug and unsettled.
She only had hand luggage, and had been to Athens airport before, so was confident she’d be out of the terminal building in a matter of minutes.
That was until she strode straight into the first target, the Englishman in the long coat, the Doctor. He had also been striding along the main concourse, when he suddenly stopped to tie his shoelaces.
She tripped over him, rolled over his back and landed uncomfortably on his other side.
‘I’m so terribly sorry,’ he said. After doing up his lace, he held out his hand, helped her up. ‘I’m the Doctor.’
‘I’m Malady Chang.’ She was too busy looking for ‘Anji’ to bother with an alias. The Asian girl was behind them, struggling to keep up with the Doctor.
‘An unusual name.’
‘My parents didn’t know what it meant. They liked The Three Musketeers, and there’s a “M’Lady” in that. I think they wanted me to be a lady.’
‘I suppose my parents must have wanted me to be a definite article,’ the Doctor said, smiling.
Malady picked up her bag. ‘Are you here on business?’
‘I am. And it looks like our… ah… business associate is here.’
A Teutonic‐looking man in a dark suit was introducing himself to Anji, who had passed over a small piece of card. He wasn’t particularly heavily built, but moved as though he was trying not to look combat trained. Malady smirked – hopefully she was better at that than he was.
‘Doctor?’ he came over and asked.
The Doctor nodded happily.
‘If you’ll excuse me?’ he asked Malady, before walking off with the man.
At least she’d slipped a buglet into his… she glanced down, and saw the surveillance device lying on the concourse floor.
Malady waited a moment before hurrying after them. Outside, the Doctor and his companion were just getting into a silver limousine.
Malady crossed over to the taxi rank, and told the driver (who seemed surprised by her fluent Greek), to follow the Doctor’s car. The taxi driver was pleased to, telling her he’d seen people say that in the movies, but in ten years of being a taxi driver no one had ever asked him to follow a car before.
Malady stayed alert. ‘Any idea where they’re heading?’ she asked. Her training called this technique ‘gathering data from a local soft asset’.
‘Towards the docks?’ the driver guessed. ‘Ten minutes or so, even in this traffic.’
‘OK.’ She kept her eyes on the car in front – she wanted to stay ready for anything. The car didn’t have tinted windows or privacy LCD – she could see the Doctor and Anji sitting primly in the back seat.
The taxi driver was wrong – the limousine was now heading away from the docks.
‘Ah, business district,’ the driver told her.
There were more modern buildings here – it must be some new development. Still a bit of a ghost town. Most of the new office blocks looked empty.
‘We couldn’t build this tall until the last few years,’ the driver explained. ‘Earthquakes.’
‘Yeah, I’m from California, and it’s the same.’
They were heading towards one of the tallest. The limousine drew up outside it.
‘Who owns that building?’
‘No idea, ma’am. Drop you here?’
Malady nodded, passing over the fare and a generous tip. ‘You look after yourself,’ she told him.
She got out of the cab, putting on her eyephones. They could detect most forms of surveillance, and warn her if she’d been spotted. The idea was to avoid being seen in the first place, of course.
She was pinged almost immediately, but not from the office block. She checked the display. From behind – there were two of them on the roof of the building opposite. A man