Doctor Who_ War Games - Malcolm Hulke [23]
‘I’ve got to help that young man,’ she whispered to Jamie.
‘Don’t be daft,’ he whispered back. ‘They’ll say we’re spies or something...’
But she did not listen. To Jamie’s amazement she stood up for everyone to see. ‘I must help the wounded,’ she announced, moving around the straw bale to get to the young man. She had all the self-confidence of her class background; it did not cross her mind that the soldiers would harm her.
For a second the soldiers were too surprised to move.
Then the man who had just killed two Yankees raised his rifle.
‘You stop right where you are, ma’am.’ He got to his feet and, instinctively, checked the back of the bale that Lady Jennifer had just appeared from. ‘I’ll be durned,’ he laughed. ‘There’s a man here wearing a skirt!’ He levelled the rifle at Jamie. ‘You come out, boy!’
Jamie emerged. ‘It’s a kilt,’ he said. ‘I’m from Scotland.’
Another soldier had got to his feet. ‘I’m Corporal Leroy Thompson of the 3rd Georgia Battalion,’ he said, introducing himself. ‘What are you folks doing here?’
Lady Jennifer was already applying a make-do tourniquet to the wounded soldier. ‘We are travellers,’ she said coolly. ‘I come from England.’
Corporal Thompson looked impressed. ‘I reckon you do by that strange accent you got. England’s on the side of the South, ain’t it?’
‘I believe the British Government did favour your cause,’ she said, still busy trying to help the soldier. ‘Not about slavery but about independence. This man needs water.’
A soldier stepped forward with a metal bottle. ‘You a nurse or something?’
‘Something,’ she said, taking the water bottle.
‘We have a little food,’ one of the men said, opening his knapsack. ‘You folks care to join us?’
‘That’s very good of you,’ Jamie said.
‘It ain’t much,’ the man apologised. ‘But I guess we all got to help each other
A Southern officer stepped into the doorway of the barn.
He wore a wide-brimmed hat and a long grey topcoat with a smart belt. Where he stood a shadow fell across his face.
Corporal Leroy Thompson stood to attention.
‘Who are these people?’ asked the officer.
‘Travellers,’ said Corporal Thompson. ‘The lady’s from England and the boy’s from...’
‘Scotland,’ said Jamie, realising Thompson had probably never heard of his home country before today.
‘That’s right,’ said the corporal. ‘That’s why he wears a skirt.’ He grinned.
‘I think you are mistaken,’ said the officer, his voice cold. ‘These are Northern spies, enemies of the South.’
‘But, sir,’ the corporal started to say.
‘Enemies of our cause, corporal. The man is a Yankee soldier dressed in women’s clothes. The woman is a spy...’
All the soldiers were getting to their feet now. In an unnatural voice Corporal Thompson said, ‘The man is a Yankee, the woman a spy...’
‘What do we do with Yankees?’ the officer asked.
The wounded man Lady Jennifer had helped struggled to sit up. ‘We kill them, sir, we kill them!’
‘First we shall take them prisoner,’ said the officer. ‘Tie them up!’
As the soldiers surrounded Lady Jennifer and Jamie the officer stepped from the shadow. Light fell across his face.
It was Major von Weich, last seen in the 1917 German trench.
6
The Process
After the floor stopped shuddering a full minute elapsed before the sidrat’s door opened. The Doctor and Zoe waited, their backs pressed against the wall of a little alcove, the only cover they could find in case someone came in. Indeed, the moment the door opened two men in black overalls entered.
‘This one is playing tricks again,’ said the first man, referring to a notebook. ‘Control says it made delivery to America 1862, but failed to deliver to the German side in the 1917 Zone and to the Roman war.’ He looked up. ‘Now the Chinese sector wants more specimens to fight the Japanese in 1936.’
‘They’ll have to wait,’ said his companion. ‘We never have enough time to do a proper service. If I had my way...’
They went down a corridor, the man complaining about the pressures