Doctor Who_ Warlock - Andrew Cartmel [42]
Now Jack and Shell lay behind her, waiting for a response. Ace gave it another 30 seconds to be on the safe side then turned back to look at them. ‘Okay. It looks clear. Let’s go.’
Ace didn’t whisper; she spoke quietly but in a normal tone. She knew that the urgent sibilance of a whisper could travel further than normal speech. Shell and Jack waited just inside the gate as she bent down to pick up her jacket from under a hedge and then they started their search.
The place was like the world’s tidiest farm. And the most silent. Any normal farmyard would have disgorged a pack of dogs that raced barking and snapping at their heels by now. In this place there was just silence and stillness. There were lights on in only two of the buildings, the old farmhouses, and Ace decided to check these out before doing anything else.
Their line of approach had led them towards the left‐hand spur on the private road. Now they followed this to one of the buildings. The first window she came to was tilted open slightly to catch the cool air of the country night. Ace knelt below it and was horrified to find Jack and Shell pressing close behind her. She gestured for them to move away and followed them until they were back on the lawn on the far side of the road. Then she crawled back below the window.
She breathed in and out for a few moments to gather and calm herself. If she was relaxed she knew she was less likely to attract attention. When her heartbeat had slowed sufficiently she eased her face slowly up to the window and risked a quick look. Inside she could see a small sitting‐room. A young man and a woman were playing a board‐game. It looked like backgammon but Ace couldn’t be sure. They sat at either end of a long white sofa, facing each other. The board and some money was spread out on the sofa cushions between them.
The rest of the building only took a moment to check out. The next lighted window showed her steamy glass and the big white shapes of a bathtub and sink. Someone was standing at the sink, brushing their teeth. All Ace could see through the misted glass was the vague pink shape of the person’s back, shoulder bobbing with the toothbrush motion. For no discernible reason, Ace was convinced it was a woman.
The other two windows had curtains glowing in them and Ace was fairly certain both were bedrooms. She returned to the footpath and gestured to Jack and Shell to follow her. She was less worried by their presence now; in fact, they weren’t working out too badly. They hadn’t said a word since they’d entered the farmyard and now they were keeping a sensible distance behind her, moving low and staying quiet. Ace had been in tight situations with less competent companions.
She heard the owl call again, from the trees on the hill above. It was a reassuring sound. Ace stopped and stood for a moment, sizing up the second farmhouse. It was set at the rear of the farm, just opposite the first barn. It looked like this was the original farmhouse, with some of its weathered old stone kept picturesquely intact around the doors and windows. One of these windows looked into some kind of large office or conference room. Next to it was evidently someone’s living quarters: a room with a bed and fitted cupboards. The cupboard doors were open and Ace could see men’s shoes and a wide assortment of shirts inside. She immediately ducked back as a man came into the room. Kneeling underneath the window, she heard the man humming happily and the sound of wire hangers scraping on the cupboard rail as he moved his shirts around.
Ace risked another quick look and saw a bespectacled middle‐aged man perched on the bed in pyjamas, inspecting a pile of sweaters. He was looking through the brightly coloured clothes, unfolding them, studying them, then folding them again, piled in a new combination. It reminded Ace of a child with his toys. The man paused in his study of his clothing and glanced towards the window. Ace dropped out of sight, her heart pounding in her ears. She was