Doctor Who_ War Games - Malcolm Hulke [37]
‘Keep them covered,’ ordered the sergeant. ‘Shoot to kill if necessary.’
While the guards trained their rifles on the two prostrate figures, the sergeant ran to the bedroom door.
‘General Smythe, sir! I think we’re under attack!’
Outside men were shouting and calling to each other as firing continued. A nearby burst of fire shattered most of the remaining panes of glass in the french windows. All in a moment the french windows burst open. A ragged band of resistance fighters led by Sergeant Russell swarmed in.
The guards’ guns trained on Jamie and Carstairs were raised to fend off the attackers. Jamie was deafened by the roar of rifles being fired in the enclosed space of the office.
A stray bullet hit the ornate chain of the chandelier that kept it attached to the ceiling; the chandelier crashed to the floor, narrowly missing Lieutenant Carstairs’s head.
‘Jamie, are you all right?’
Zoe was kneeling over him. He got to his feet. The sergeant who had been guarding them was dead; so was one of the soldiers. The room was full of men in all kinds of uniforms.
‘The Doctor?’ he said. ‘They were going to shoot him.’
The Doctor’s face appeared in the crowd. ‘I’m safe and sound, Jamie. Zoe and her companions met up with this group of resistance fighters. The château is in our hands now.’
‘The general,’ said Jamie. ‘He’s in that little room over there. He’ll be sending a message for help.’
‘Come on, lads,’ cried Sergeant Russell. ‘Break down that door.’
Six men picked up one of the trestle tables. Using it as a battering ram, they ran at the bedroom door. The door caved in with a crash of splintering wood. Two shots were fired from inside the bedroom—the general was shooting at his attackers. One of the men who had battered down the door fell dead. The French soldier raised his rifle and fired once into the bedroom.
‘You mustn’t kill him,’ cried the Doctor. ‘He could tell us why...’
The Doctor’s words trailed off. He stood in the shattered doorway regarding the body of General Smythe, killed outright by a single shot through the forehead. Zoe came up behind the Doctor.
‘Doctor, what’s that?’
She pointed to a panel in the wall opposite the telecommunications unit. It too had been concealed, camouflaged by a section of the wall itself, now slid to one side.
‘Some kind of control console,’ said the Doctor, regarding the neat rows of buttons and knobs. He picked up a broken chair that lay immediately below the panel. ‘I think he was trying to destroy it.’ Marks were clearly visible on the panel where General Smythe had smashed at it with the chair. ‘I wonder if it has something to do with creating the time zones?’
Zoe suddenly remembered. ‘Doctor, that video screen! ‘
She turned to look across to the other side of the room.
The picture of the Royal Family was moved to one side and the video screen was glowing. She leapt across the little room and turned it off. ‘They probably heard everything you said, Doctor.’
‘It hardly matters,’ he replied. ‘You don’t think they’re going to leave us in peace very long, do you?’
Far away in the war room the Security Chief, War Chief and the War Lord saw the monitor screen go blank.
‘Smythe was a fool,’ said the War Chief. ‘He deserved to die.’
‘The processing machine head,’ said the War Lord.
‘Does this Doctor have the knowledge and ability to use it?’.
‘Yes,’ said the War Chief. ‘I believe he has.’
‘Then the situation is urgent. Fortunately, though, they have made a very stupid mistake.’ The War Lord waited to see which of his subordinates would ask what the mistake was. Neither was foolish enough to betray his own lack of imagination, so he continued. ‘By carrying out a mass attack, they have concentrated resistance forces in one place—this château.’
‘This time we should use our own guards,’ said the Security Chief. ‘I shall mount an invasion of the château by twenty sidrats. A hundred of our guards will emerge from each, their guns set to kill.’
The War Chief was appalled.