Doctor Who_ Trading Futures - Lance Parkin [90]
At one point he’d had twenty class threes. But they were big targets, a little too cumbersome to be practical indoors, they lost their balance too easily.
They were lasting longer than twenty human troops would have done, and putting up a better fight, but Cosgrove had less than ten of them left, and – as far as he could tell – hadn’t even injured one of the aliens.
The aliens hadn’t located him in his control centre – they hadn’t come within a hundred feet of him. But they were keeping him from the main order of business: finding the time machine. Meanwhile, Mather and Malady Chang were loose, somewhere (it had been a while since they’d flitted past one of his cameras after escaping from Baskerville); Baskerville and Dee Gordon were still at large, and most worryingly, there was the Doctor. Not only was the resourceful Miss Kapoor with him, they’d been joined by the man Cosgrove had met in California. Cosgrove was worried that he couldn’t even begin to work out how the lad had got here. It was possible to get from California to here in the time (he’d managed it, after all), but the lad must have been right on his tail the whole time – or known to head here.
All he had to do was find that time machine…
* * *
The Doctor sat in front of the laptop they’d found in a first floor reception room.
‘An incredibly clever piece of programming.’
Anji was willing him on. ‘Never mind that – can we find out what Baskerville’s up to?’
‘Or control those robots?’ Fitz asked.
‘The program’s not about robots.’
Fitz looked disappointed. ‘What is it about?’
‘It looks like stock prices,’ Anji told them. ‘It’s monitoring financial transactions. Perhaps he’s waiting for a payment, looking for proof.’
Fitz was looking actively bored, now. ‘We’re looking at Baskerville’s bank statement?’
The Doctor was staring at the data, trying to make sense of it all. ‘More than that, I think. Anji, look: International Financial Exchange Computer.’
‘IFEC. So… Baskerville has control of this?’
‘I think so.’
‘Then he’s won. He’s got control?’
‘For what it’s worth.’
‘For what it’s worth? He can charge commission on every financial transaction on the planet. He can stop business deals, shut down governments. If you control the flow of money, you control the planet.’
‘A sad reflection on your species,’ the Doctor said, in that irritating professorial voice he occasionally adopted. ‘Hang on a mo…’
Anji saw what he was looking at. ‘The transaction isn’t complete until there’s an IFEC number attached to it. He’s not finished. He must have been interrupted.’
‘There is a very large hole in the floor,’ Fitz reminded them. ‘And a rather nasty looking red streak on that wall.’
‘Malady must have interrupted him before –’
‘I understand, Doctor, I told you, remember? Now, quick, before they come back.’
‘Quick, what?’
Anji held up a piece of paper. This is the IFEC number they were going to enter. The master account. Attach a different IFEC number.’
The Doctor floundered. ‘Which one?’
‘Any one.’
‘Any one?’
Anji stared at the screen. ‘Well, OK, not any one… er…’
The Doctor had a brainwave, and started rummaging around in his pocket.
‘Hurry, Doctor.’ She was looking around the room for another IFEC number, unsure why she thought she’d find one.
The Doctor had pulled out a bank card. ‘I opened a bank account in Athens.’
‘You had time to do that?’
‘It was an accident. Look – let me enter the number.’
He tapped the fifteen digit code into the computer, winced as it scanned his retina.
‘There.’
He tapped a few more controls.
‘Now… the world’s economy will be run through my bank account.’
Fitz was looking at the card. ‘Hang on, you’ve got all the money in the world in your bank account?’
‘Not exactly – for a millisecond or two, every financial transaction is channelled through my account, that’s all.’
Anji stared down at the little piece of plastic. A hologram of Medusa stared back at her. ‘Still, it’s probably best that you don’t forget your PIN number.’
* * *
The Onihr deputy leader sniffed the