Doctor Who_ Warchild - Andrew Cartmel [119]
‘Quiet please, Lesley.’ Justine was staring at the shaven-headed young man as if she understood exactly what he meant.
‘These people try to hide their abilities. Or when they’re young, their parents do the hiding,’ he said.
‘What is he talking about, Justine?’
‘Ricky.’
‘Ricky?’
‘He’s always had a gift. Haven’t you noticed?’
‘Well, I’ve noticed that the kids seem to follow him around. And one day I imagine he’ll have a real knack for attracting the girls. But I can’t say-’
Chris interrupted. ‘Ever seen him with a large group?’
‘No,’ said Mrs McCracken. ‘Unless your family counts as a large group.’
‘Well, he’s right,’ said Justine. ‘Ricky has some very remarkable power. But he doesn’t have any idea how to use it.
‘Not just Ricky,’ said the young man. ‘All of your children have been under surveillance.’
Justine’s eyes widened in shock. ‘What do you mean?
Since when?’
‘I warned you this would be disorientating. You have been under the observation of a clandestine government agency for years.’
Justine laughed. ‘This is all some kind of mistake. I appreciate the Doctor’s concern but there’s been some confusion.’ She glanced at Mrs McCracken.
‘Do you want me to leave the room or something?’ said the older woman, reaching for her sunglasses. ‘You have the look of someone who is about to disclose something highly confidential.’
‘She is about to tell me that her husband himself works for a clandestine government organisation,’ said the shaven-headed young man.
Justine stared at him in fury, unable to believe what he’d said. Chris shrugged apologetically. ‘It’s too late for secrets.
We know your husband works for the Agency, Justine. Mrs McCracken might as well learn that now. But it isn’t the Agency that has been keeping you under surveillance.’
Chris’s smooth bald forehead creased. He knotted his long fingers together and frowned at them with concentration, as though he was studying a puzzle. ‘At least, it’s not the Agency per se. But Creed’s job has certainly made it all the easier for your family to be watched. Essentially one secret arm of the government is spying on another. One secret agency subverting another. The very things that made you secure, the protection of the Agency, has actually made you vulnerable. You’ve been in an ideal situation to be watched.’
‘But watched for what? Who are these people?’
‘Weapons research.’
‘This is crazy.’
‘On the contrary. They see your children as potential weapons.’
‘What is he talking about?’ said Mrs McCracken. But Justine ignored her. She looked like a woman piecing a puzzle together, juxtaposing the confusing fragments, and discovering that it all made a frightening kind of sense.
‘What is your part in all this? Why are you teaching at the school?’
‘The Doctor’s gradually become aware of what was happening. So he sent me here. Planted me to keep an eye on things. But events are moving much more swiftly than we imagined possible. The opposition is about to make their move, after years of watching.’
Justine stared at Chris. ‘But who is there who would go to that much trouble? We’re not that important to anyone.
Who would...’
Mrs McCracken and Chris both saw the terrible realization dawning behind her eyes.
‘Oh, my God,’ she said quietly. ‘He’s back.’
At that moment there was a faint sound from outside the kitchen door.
A tiny creaking sound in the hallway.
They all heard it at the same instant, and registered the fact that someone was outside. They shared the same sinking feeling as they realized that someone had been outside, listening all along.
Chris was the first to react, dropping into a martial arts stance and sweeping a long sharp kitchen knife out of its rack.
But it was Mrs McCracken who marched out of the kitchen and dragged the two teenage girls in by the scruff of the neck. ‘These are our two darling daughters,’ she said.
‘Lysette, for whom I’m to blame. And Cynthia who is Justine’s personal cross to bear.’ She released the girls, letting them slink to a low bench in a corner of the kitchen; they perched there,