Doctor Who_ Trading Futures - Lance Parkin [28]
Anji stepped forward. ‘Baskerville, I have a couple of things to tell you. First of all, I’m not EZ. I’m CIA.’
Baskerville looked shocked. ‘CIA?’
‘Central Intelligence Agency. I’m an American agent.’
‘You are?’
‘I… think we can cut a deal. I’m operating on the direct authority of the President himself. Whatever the EZ is offering, whatever you want from them, we can give you more.’
Anji could feel the Doctor was glaring daggers at her, but that didn’t stop Anji from feeling smug. Besides, her masterstroke was coming up.
‘And this “Doctor” isn’t EZ, either. He’s an independent operative, the man that stole Jonah Cosgrove’s briefcase. He’s an impostor.’
Baskerville looked over at the Doctor.
‘Is this true?’
Anji leant in to the Doctor and went on tiptoes to whisper in his ear. ‘That should get you out of the building.’
It was around then that Baskerville had his man throw the Doctor out of the window.
* * *
Chapter Seven
All Fall Down
The Doctor fell about twenty‐five feet, about two hundred less than he was expecting to, then resumed his fall, at a reduced speed, a moment later.
Malady – the real Malady Chang, not Anji – had been climbing up the building on some sort of polymer line. He’d grabbed a handful of the back of Malady’s sweatshirt. This had broken his fall, but the impact dislodged her, and they found themselves heading straight back down her climbing rope.
‘What the hell?’ Malady asked, grabbing at the line, feeling the material of her gloves starting to fray.
‘Hello again,’ the Doctor said cheerfully. He wrapped an arm around her neck and a leg around her, until they were inseparable. That had the result of tipping them over, now they were almost horizontal.
‘How did…?’
‘Mind the glass,’ he warned. Shards of glass were falling along with him, sparkling in the morning light.
‘You jumped out of a twenty‐third storey window?’
‘I don’t know which storey it was,’ the Doctor admitted candidly, ‘and I was thrown out, I didn’t jump, but yes, that’s the gist of it. Can we discuss this later?’
The line wasn’t designed to carry their combined weight. Malady was sure the piton at the end of the line would hold, but wasn’t confident they’d slow down enough. She grabbed a little harder, saw the Doctor about to grab the line.
‘No! It’ll take your hand off.’
The Doctor stuck his free hand, the one that wasn’t grabbing the back of her shirt, in his coat pocket, then clutched at the line.
They slowed down, glided to the pavement, landed with quite a jolt.
Malady grabbed for her gun, but it wasn’t there.
The Doctor handed it back to her. ‘You’ll need this,’ he said, absent‐mindedly examining the damage to the lining of his coat.
After a moment he looked up at her. ‘Now, you’ve probably got a few questions, and I’d be happy to –’
Malady knocked him unconscious with the butt of her gun.
* * *
Baskerville was already leading Anji away.
‘I had my suspicions about him, of course.’
‘Of course you did.’ She looked back over her shoulder at the jagged hole in the glass. Warm air was wafting in. She tried to control her breathing a bit, calm down before she had a heart attack. Somehow, although her body was in shock, she couldn’t imagine that they’d killed the Doctor. They’d inconvenienced him, obviously, but she was wondering how he’d survived, not picturing him hitting the pavement.
Dee and Baskerville were leading her to the lift. The guy who’d thrown the Doctor out of the window was bringing up the rear, carrying a bulky carry case.
‘You’ve drawn attention to yourself,’ she warned Baskerville. The police will investigate the body.’ She knew she looked worried, this way, they’d think she was worried about that, not the Doctor.
‘And in a little under an hour and three quarters, the police will be caught in the tidal wave, and one more body won’t make a difference.’
They were in the lift, now, heading upwards.
‘You’re going to get back in touch with the real EZ?’