Doctor Who_ Warlock - Andrew Cartmel [35]
She was tensely gripping the wheel of the Mazda, as if she could urge the car ahead more quickly through the effort of her muscles. Her shoulders were beginning to ache when the brake lights of the Volkswagen finally flashed red and the indicator flickered on and off.
She followed Jack and Shell down a narrow farm track that ran off the main road to the right.
High banks topped by hedges and lengths of wire fence ran along either side of her, a dense tunnel of emerald leaves and silver wire gleaming in the VW’s headlights.
An owl’s eyes shone at Ace for an instant before it turned its sharp white face away and took flight from the fence post where it had perched. For a moment the owl floated in the tunnel of light and then it all went dark.
Jack had cut the lights on the Volkswagen. They must be near their destination.
Ace had already turned off her own headlights. Now she slowed the Mazda to a crawl. Her eyes were still adjusting to the sudden darkness and, when the others stopped and pulled over, she missed them at first, only seeing the dark shape of the VW after she’d passed it.
Ace braked, reversed and pulled over beside the other vehicle, easing in beside a tangled mass of holly leaves that whined as they rubbed against the side of the car.
Overhead the clouds had broken, exposing a fragment of bright moon that lit up the sky and turned distant ploughed fields into a rippling pale surface studded with black clumps of trees.
An owl called behind her, back near the road and Ace wondered if it was the same bird she’d startled a moment ago. Beside the Volkswagen two figures stood in shadow with a tiny red glow slowly orbiting between them like some strange, slow firefly. Ace smelled dope on the clean night air as Jack took a deep breath and handed the joint back to Shell.
The laboratory complex lay a few hundred yards below them, notched between two hills at the end of a private road. It was nothing like Ace had expected. She’d imagined a modern industrial structure or a group of prefabs like you’d find in a science park, but the moonlight revealed a pair of handsome old farm buildings with two big barnlike structures behind them. Between these a small pond gleamed in the moonlight. Dimly visible beyond the barns, where the farm land began to rise towards wooded hills, was a fifth building, big and modern‐looking.
A small private road ran through a gateway towards the buildings and spread into a long circular drive. Centred inside the driveway was an island of neatly tended shrubs and flower‐beds. A short side‐road led off the driveway, curving to the left past one of the farmhouses and terminating at the nearer barn. The tarmac of the private road was dead black in the moonlight.
‘Want a hit?’ The glowing red circle floated out of the darkness towards Ace. Shell was grinning at her, tattooed face unearthly in the moonlight. She held the joint in her extended hand, waving it slowly in circles so it blurred with persistence of vision into a solid red ring, like a child waving a sparkler on bonfire night. Ace blinked and looked away from the hypnotic motion. ‘No thanks.’ Under the dope smell and the tang of patchouli she could still detect that strange liquorice scent which seemed part of Shell.
‘I’ve dreamed of this moment.’ Shell lazily exhaled smoke. ‘I first saw it in a vision. A warlock vision. Going to the house of Allen Road and finding an ally there.’
‘Of course, we were hoping to get the big guy.’ Jack loomed out of the darkness, grinning. ‘But we had to settle for you.’
‘My ally,’ continued Shell dreamily. ‘Coming here in the night to help storm this place.’
‘Forget about storming it. The best we can hope to achieve is a quick look round. It would be crazy to try anything else with just the three of us.’ But Ace touched the butt of the pistol she’d tucked into her jeans.
‘Hey. Was I in this vision too?’ Jack looked at Shell.
‘You know you were,’ said the tattooed girl, reaching out to squeeze his hand.
‘What else happened in this vision?’
Shell’s face suddenly lost its smile. ‘A big