Doctor Who_ Winner Takes All - Jacqueline Rayner [56]
The youth club windows were dark too, but he could hear something from inside. He tried the door – locked – then knocked, loud enough to be heard, not loud enough to wake up anyone nearby.
The noise inside stopped abruptly, but no one came to the door. Mickey knocked again, a bit louder. Still nothing. ‘Come on, open up,’ he called, still trying for an impossible combination of loud and hushed. ‘It’s Mickey Smith.’
After a few moments, he heard a key turn in the lock, and the door swung open a crack. A pair of defiant eyes stared back at Mickey. He recognised the face: it belonged to a lad called Jason Jones. Mickey thought it quite unlikely that Jason had permission to be here, especially considering he was accompanied by a distinct whiff of cigarettes and alcohol fumes.
Mickey pushed his way in. Jason shut the door, and sulkily followed Mickey into the main room. ‘What d’you want anyway, Mickey?’ he said. Mickey knew he commanded some slight grudging respect round here, as an older, car‐owning guy who had, at least for a while, been going out with by far the most attractive girl on the estate. Further kudos derived from his having been suspecting of murdering her, even though it’d turned out that he hadn’t. Mickey had heard whispers that he had a gun collection, a knife collection, and several dismembered blondes under his floorboards.
There were two other lads in the main room, sat in front of the telly. Mickey recognised both of them. And to his horror, they weren’t all he recognised. There, frozen on the screen, was a distinct image from Death to Mantodeans. Not the training level, the real thing. Mickey waited till the two of them had swung round to face him before answering Jason’s question. ‘I want use of that telly, and your help. Does Bob know you’re here?’ he carried on before they could react. ‘And does your mum know you’re sitting here with a can of lager and a fag?’ he said to Anil Rawat, who nearly dropped his drink in fright. Mickey waited till all three heads had been shaken. ‘Well, if you want it to stay that way…’
They clearly did. Mickey took the empty chair in front of the telly, and Jason pulled up another one. Mickey held out a hand and the third lad, Kevin, passed him the control pad for the game.
‘It’s your lucky night,’ said Mickey. ‘Cos we’ve got a lot of games to play…’ He pulled out his mobile, and began to call Rose.
* * *
The Doctor asked Robert to watch the tube map thing as he continued to play the game. After a while, Robert noticed something. As the Doctor made Rose turn right, the fastest of the white lights would turn right too. If Rose was going straight ahead, the same light would go straight ahead.
‘How many white lights altogether?’ the Doctor asked.
‘Six,’ said Robert. ‘Four of them are quite near the outside. One’s further in, and Rose is furthest of all.’
‘So they’re the active players,’ said the Doctor. ‘The ones near the outside will be games that haven’t long started. That’ll be Darren Pye and the others, I reckon.’
‘Mr Snow and Mr and Mrs Nkomo,’ said Robert. ‘What about the other one?’
‘A game that was already being played,’ said the Doctor. ‘Could be
your mum
anyone.’
‘What about the blue lights?’ Robert asked.
The Doctor hmmed. ‘You say you saw a white light turn blue, and a blue light go out?’
Robert nodded, then remembered the Doctor wasn’t looking at him. ‘Yes,’ he said.
‘Then I would think the blue lights are people in inactive games. They’re standing there waiting for someone to move them again.’
‘Or for a Mantodean to find them,’ said Robert, who’d realised what it must mean when a light went out. ‘And then…’
‘I’m afraid so,’ said the Doctor. ‘Game over.’
* * *
SEVENTEEN
Mickey was getting everyone organised while he was waiting for Rose – or for the Doctor – to answer the phone. The Doctor had explained that because the only sense he was sharing with Rose was sight, he’d have to keep looking at the phone to check if it was ringing,