Doctor Who_ Trading Futures - Lance Parkin [41]
The Doctor paused to light his sixth leaf stick. The deputy leader was studying his snouttop computer. The rich smell of data pervaded the air.
‘You are hiding something from us, Doctor. Something about the Earth.’
‘Nah.’
‘You have a special affinity with the planet. You have visited it on many occasions. It has acted as a magnet to time travellers and other fourth‐dimensional beings. Why?’
The Doctor shrugged. ‘I honestly can’t say.’
‘He is hiding something from us, leader.’
‘I agree, deputy leader. There is only one thing for it.’
The Doctor’s shoulders slumped. ‘Don’t tell me… the pain inducer, only this time you’ll start on level five.’
The Onihr leader paused. That hadn’t occurred to him. ‘No,’ he grunted finally. ‘The only course of action is to conquer the Earth. Deputy leader, prepare the invasion fleet.’
* * *
Chapter Ten
The Secrets of Time
The Doctor parked the Land Rover right outside Baskerville’s office block. Here, closer to the sea, the city was in ruins. Across the road, another office block had collapsed completely, its top floors concertinaed into the ground level. The water was knee high, filthy, full of concrete rubble and sodden paper debris.
Malady followed the Doctor out of the car, wading through all this.
‘We’ll need shots after this,’ she called over to him.
‘And a towel,’ the Doctor agreed.
It took both of them to push open the revolving door of the office block, against the water.
There was a creaking sound, like a ship’s timbers.
‘The building’s unstable,’ Malady told the Doctor.
He didn’t acknowledge her.
‘Which storey did you say I was on?’ he said instead.
‘Pardon?’
‘When I fell out of the window, you told me which storey it was.’
‘I didn’t actually count them.’
The Doctor moved behind the reception desk.
‘Hello, sir. Visitors aren’t allowed behind this desk, I’m afraid.’ It was the autosec.
‘The power’s still on,’ the Doctor mumbled to himself. ‘Using the lift would be too risky, though.’
‘If you could move to the other side of the desk, sir, I’ll be able to help you with your enquiry,’ the autosec said calmly.
Malady was already heading for the stairwell. ‘It’s going to be quite a climb,’ she warned.
Outside, there was a terrible splash, as some concrete crashed into the ground.
‘I don’t think this building’s going to last much longer,’ she said, although the Doctor wasn’t listening.
He came back over. ‘We’ll use the lift.’
‘You said it wasn’t safe.’ What she meant to say was that it obviously wasn’t safe – the building was creaking, she could almost feel it twisting off its foundations.
‘No, but it’s fast. If the building’s really going to fall down, I’d much rather I was in a steel box with all sorts of safety features than just some stairwell.’
If the building was really going to fall down, Malady thought, then she’d much rather be somewhere else entirely.
The Doctor pressed the button for the lift. When it didn’t immediately arrive, he started jabbing repeatedly, as if that would make the lift come down any faster.
‘Who’s Cosgrove?’ he asked, while they waited.
‘Pardon?’ She knew the answer, but the question had come out of the blue, and Malady didn’t want to play all her cards if she could help it.
‘I borrowed his briefcase,’ the Doctor told her.
‘You did?’
‘Yes. Shortly before I blew up his boat.’
‘That was you?’
‘You know about it?’ the Doctor countered.
‘I saw it.’
‘So you know Cosgrove?’ He smiled, knowing he’d caught her out.
‘Jonah Cosgrove is –’
‘Jonah?’
‘Yes. It’s an odd name, but… well, my first name’s Malady, and yours is “The”.’
‘It’s not that, it’s… it doesn’t matter. Carry on.’
‘Cosgrove is the head of the British Secret Service.’
‘Eurozone Secret Service, surely?’
The lift arrived, and they stepped into it. The Doctor pressed the button for the twenty‐somethingth floor.
‘The British military was meant to merge with the rest of Europe’s as part of the Act of Federation, yes. But not quite everything got put into the mix. The British government liked to maintain