Doctor Who_ Warlock - Andrew Cartmel [7]
But Shell was already wandering off, drifting towards the sleek black dog. She bent over to rub its head.
The dog lolled at her, tail patiently twitching. She glanced back at Ace. ‘Is he here?’ she said quietly. She was staring past the trees towards the distant house.
Ace turned to answer her but at that moment Chick wriggled in her arms, struggling to get free. Ace and Jack both stood back as the cat twisted out of their hands and leapt to the ground. With an unearthly yowl he fled away across the lawn.
In the same instant the black bitch began squirming and scratching furiously at her ear with a hind paw. She whined in an agonized fashion. Shell knelt to comfort her as Jack stared after the fleeing cat.
‘What’s going on?’ said Shell. A faint breeze stirred the roadside dust at their feet.
‘He’s here now,’ said Ace.
* * *
Walking back towards the house Ace saw Bernice Summerfield approaching from the line of trees at the north of the grounds. They met at the ruined summerhouse. ‘Hello, Benny,’ she said.
‘Welcome home,’ said the taller woman. ‘I heard you went to stay with some friends?’
‘Yeah. In London. By the river. It was a nice place. And they’ve got a baby on the way.’
‘Rather them than me,’ said Benny.
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Ace. ‘Now and then I get stirrings.’ They turned and walked back towards the house together.
‘Been for a walk in the woods?’
‘It was lovely. I was going to wake you up and ask if you wanted to come with me, but you were completely out of it.’
‘I’m all right now. And the Doctor’s back.’
‘I know,’ said Benny. ‘I saw Chick scarpering.’ The small cat was following the two women as they walked up the gravel drive towards the front door. Benny paused and scooped him up. ‘He never seems to get used to it.’
‘Who does?’ said Ace as they stepped into the cool shadow of the house.
Back in the breakfast room Ace’s coffee and croissants were waiting for her. ‘Well cold,’ she said, pushing them aside.
‘I’ll fix some more,’ said Benny, going back into the big kitchen.
‘Make sure you get the right bag from the fridge,’ said Ace. She sat down at the cluttered table and saw that someone had been to the newsagents. There was a copy of a garish magazine lying open, face down. The cover read serial killers weekly – free gift this issue: little‐known war criminals, special collector’s card to add to your set.
‘What’s all this, then?’ she said, showing the magazine to Benny as she came in with the fresh coffee. ‘Who ordered this nonsense?’
‘The Doctor. But it’s not the magazine he’s interested in, it’s that thing that came with it.’
Ace picked the brightly coloured card off the magazine cover. She stripped the cellophane wrapper off it. On the front of the card was a painting of a woman. Above the picture were the words number 28. the mata hari of chemical warfare. At the bottom it gave the woman’s name: ludmilla serebrennikov.
Benny took the card and turned it over. She and Ace leaned over to read the brief paragraph:
Ludmilla Serebrennikov stole certain secret documents from the Soviets before becoming the mistress of a Gestapo officer in charge of the German chemical warfare effort. Towards the end of WW2 she had made her way through the lines back past the advancing Russian forces. But then her luck ran out… Continued on card 47: Hank Harrigan, architect of the CIA’s MK/Ultrahuman research program. Collect the entire set!
They turned the card back over. The painting showed an impossibly voluptuous woman with shoulders stretched back in a provocative pose.
‘Look at that. She doesn’t need chemical weapons. She can kill them with her tits.’
‘There’s more,’ said Benny. She picked up the magazine and shook it. A yellowing piece of newspaper fell out onto the table. Benny smoothed out the brittle old cutting and Ace read it over her shoulder.
In the final part of this series Abel Lexington reports from behind the Iron Curtain. (Continued from page 3.)
The Red Beauty Meets Her