Doctor Who_ Warlock - Andrew Cartmel [6]
Ace tucked the gun back into the waistband of her jeans and bent over to kneel beside Chick. But instead of stroking the cat she began to delve in the long grass beside the wall, a few metres from the gate.
She picked up what appeared to be a stone, pale, mottled grey and about the size of a large potato. She opened the underside of it and took out a key.
‘Fake rock,’ said the man on the far side of the gate. ‘How ingenious.’
‘He’s being sarcastic,’ said Shell.
‘Nothing but high‐tech counter‐intrusion measures here, mate,’ said Ace. She fitted the key in the lock and unlocked the heavy old gate. With the man’s and girl’s help she swung it open and winced at the creak of its rusty hinges.
Emerging from the shadow of the tall gate, Ace stepped into the sunshine of Allen Road. She saw the road sign on the brick wall across the narrow lane and noted that, for the umpteenth time, some idiot graffiti artist had changed the second L in Allen to an I.
Still, at least they’d left the sign on the gate alone this time. Up until recently it had been daubed with the words, beware of the god.
‘We’ve brought you this,’ said Jack. He handed Ace the folded scrap of paper. It was some sort of handbill with a map printed on it. The sort of thing you handed out to publicize an outdoor concert or party. ‘We’re giving them to everyone in the area,’ said the tatooed girl.
‘That map shows the location of a laboratory just outside Canterbury,’ said Jack.
‘Laboratory?’ said Ace.
‘Animal experimentation,’ said Shell. ‘We’ve come to warn you.’
‘To warn everyone around here. You’re in their catchment area.’ The bearded man pointed at Chick, who was rubbing his whiskered face against the edge of the iron gate. ‘Any cats or dogs they find wandering loose they’ll pick up and kidnap. Use them for their experiments.’
‘Vivisection,’ said the girl. ‘The pharmaceutical companies have all these new drugs to test.’
‘And for some reason, torturing animals always seems to be part of the scientific method,’ said Jack. The big man was getting angry and Ace found herself beginning to take a liking to him. He was a leering slob but at least he was a slob who cared passionately about something. She wondered if he cared as much about his tatooed girlfriend.
‘Well, thank you for the warning.’ Ace folded the handbill and put it in the pocket of her jeans. She scooped up Chick and hugged him to her. ‘We’d better keep an eye on you,’ she said. ‘No venturing out into Allen Road.’
‘We wanted to give you this as well,’ said Shell. She came close to Ace. She was holding out her hand. In it was a small white pill. Ace suddenly felt a little uneasy. Shell was so close that Ace could smell her – a mixture of patchouli, sweat and something else. A faint smell like liquorice.
Ace suddenly felt peculiar in a way she couldn’t quite identify. It was a moment of déjà vu, almost. An intense awareness of the here and now, the strangeness of the instant. She felt as though all this had happened before.
Chick the cat was suddenly heavy in her arms. She could feel the life beating strongly in his small solid body, the firm pulsation of his heart vibrating against her bare arms, passing into her body and somehow altering the rhythm of her own heart. She felt a sudden flood of affection for the cat, this small living thing in her arms. The uniqueness of him and the fierce joy in his sheer naked existence.
The tattooed girl was peering into her face and Ace could see that she was spaced out, her pupils wide open. She was obviously stoned. She reached through the iron bars to caress the cat then pressed the tablet into Ace’s hand. ‘It’s for him.’ She nodded towards the house. ‘It’s very special. I saved up for a fortnight to buy it.’
‘It wasn’t a fortnight, Shell,’ said the man. ‘Don’t overdo it.’
‘Give it to him from us,’ said the girl to Ace, ignoring Jack. ‘Please. A gift. A token of our respect.’
‘It is good gear,’ added the man grudgingly.
‘Our gift to him,’ repeated the girl.
‘All right,