Doctor Who_ Warchild - Andrew Cartmel [100]
‘Why didn’t you drive straight across the podium? It would have been quicker than going all the way around by road.’
‘We thought about that,’ said Creed. ‘But Roz wanted me to come around by the front of your house.’
‘Why?’
‘Because the White King is out the front.’
‘And what are you going to do with the White King?’
‘Corner him. That’s what Roz asked us to do. Corner him and cut off his escape.’
‘And then what?’
‘Blow him to hell,’ said Creed. He expected this to get some reaction from the stewardess, but she said nothing; she was leaning forward alertly, staring at one of the rear screens.
‘This vehicle has a computerized defence system doesn’t it?’
‘Sure.’ Creed was startled by the question but he was coming around the curve in the road that would bring them out in front of the stewardess’s house. The big vehicle was moving at high speed and he had to concentrate; he hardly registered what the stewardess was saying.
‘So it gives an alarm if anything comes close?’ said the stewardess.
‘Yes, assuming it’s the size of a dog. Or a couple of dogs, since I reprogrammed it.’
‘But would it give an alarm if we were getting close to something as big as a car?’
‘No,’ said Creed absently. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘Because — look out!’
Creed glanced up. Suddenly another vehicle had appeared on the main screen, cutting in from a concealed side entrance on to the road directly in front of the armoured car. It jumped out in front of them with breathtaking suddenness, shining in the moonlight. It was a long, gleaming black vehicle.
A stretch-limousine, thought Creed, as he hit both sets of brakes, causing the armoured car’s tyres to give a tormented squeal as it slowed to an emergency stop. The stewardess shot forward in her seat, bouncing painfully off the dashboard. ‘Put your seat-belt on,’ snarled Creed, as annoyed at himself for forgetting it as he was at the stewardess.
On the main screen the long black limousine was fishtailing along the curving road ahead of them at high speed. Creed released the brakes now and the big vehicle rumbled forward again, the melted patches on its tyres smoking in the moonlight. He had just barely managed to avoid smashing into the back of the limousine. Going at this speed, with its massive weight and reinforced exterior, the armoured car would have crushed the other vehicle like an empty Coke can, killing everyone inside.
‘They’re in a hurry,’ said the stewardess, rubbing her forehead where she’d slammed it against the dash. Creed was pleased to see that she seemed to be all right.
‘Stupid bastards,’ he said. They were gaining on the long black car now and he could see that there was something strange about it. He’d been wrong before. It wasn’t a stretch-limo. The proportions were different. And the back of it was squared off.
There was something familiar about the strange shape of the shiny black vehicle. Then Creed noticed the curtains in its rear window and he realized what it was.
‘It’s a what-do-you-call-it,’ said the stewardess.
‘A hearse,’ said Creed.
Roz eased herself up on to the roof slowly and carefully; even so she nearly got her head blown off.
‘For Christ’s sake, Roz, don’t do that.’ Redmond lowered his gun, staring across the rooftop at her in the moonlight. ‘I thought you were one of them, coming up after me.’
‘That’s why I’m here. They could come up on either side of you.’
‘Very true,’ said Redmond, raising his gun again and looking from right to left with a swift nervous sweep of his head. ‘So what are you doing here? Trying to put the wind up me?’
‘No, I’ve come to watch your back.’ Roz raised her own gun and strolled across the roof to the spot where Redmond stood.
‘Very kind of you.’
‘Isn’t it just? Now, do you mind telling me why you came up here?’
Redmond hunkered down on his haunches and gestured for Roz to join him. She sank down and sat patiently on her heels, watching the rooftops on either side of them. ‘I’ll show you,