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.’‘Well, yes.’ Pink coughed, not wanting to have to apologise for Hilary yet again.‘I’ll, erm, have a word with him, rest assured.But I’m a little more concerned with these incidents with the wasps, Miss Havers, than with gypsies.’‘Should we contact the police?’ suggested Fordyke.‘The police!’ squawked Miss Havers in horror.Fatboy ran the temporal-imaging scanner over the Doctor’s body.It didn’t even bleep once.‘He’s clean.’‘You’re so kind,’ commented the Doctor, sitting very still because of the neuro-stunner held against the side of his head by Jode.Old-fashioned or not, Kala guessed the Doctor knew enough about such weapons to realise that a discharge at point-blank range into his skull would probably cause permanent synaptic damage.Nevertheless, Kala was quickly learning that it was impossible to predict the man’s actions.He had now deftly relieved Fatboy of the scanner and was already examining it closely.For a second Jode was too surprised to even pull 70the neuro-stunner’s trigger.But by then Doctor had already sat forward so that any discharge from the stunner would possibly encompass Kala, too.‘As I thought,’ the Doctor was muttering.‘You’ve been trying to track an anachronistic element lost hereabouts.This is just the kind of thing you’d need to trace rogue chronon displacement.Nice bit of kit, but I bet it went haywire when it found the TARDIS.’ He tossed the scanner back to Fatboy, who caught it easily without comment.The Doctor regarded him curiously for a long moment before turning back to Kala.‘I assume you’re the brains of this outfit,’ he told her, with only the slightest sideways glance at Jode, ‘so you’ll recognise a decent offer of help when you hear one.’Kala arched an eyebrow.She had to admire his nerve.‘If you tell me exactly what you’re looking for,’ the Doctor continued, ‘I might be able to point you in the right direction.’Kala actually felt herself smiling at his impudence.‘I can’t do that.’‘Can’t? Or just won’t?’ He looked at her hopefully with those bright-blue eyes.‘Not even a clue? Just a small one.Cryptic, if you like.Or an anagram!’‘Shut up!’ yelled Jode.‘You know where the device is! Tell us!’‘You haven’t said the magic word,’ said the Doctor.Jode looked as though a couple of very short magic words were on the tip of his tongue, but Kala interceded: ‘Quiet, both of you! Can’t you see he’s stalling, fishing for information?’Jode opened his mouth to reply but suddenly the temporal-imaging scanner in Fatboy’s hand banged loudly.He dropped the device hurriedly as it fizzed and spat sparks all over the clearing.Something must have caused the chip in Fatboy’s SNS suit to short as well, because he suddenly turned from wearing a disruptive foliage pattern to a plain grey coverall.Then the control unit on his wrist sparked and suddenly the SNS material was a kaleidoscope of colour; Fatboy jumped around the clearing like a human rainbow, slapping at the controls until the camouflage-circuit overloaded and the suit turned grey again.Jode scooped up the fallen scanner and switched it off with an angry hiss as he burned his fingers.Fatboy snatched it back.‘The Doctor sabotaged it!’Kala turned angrily to the Doctor – but he was gone.All that remained were the handcuffs lying on the ground where he’d been sitting a moment ago.‘Well, I’ll be –’ exploded Jode, looking quickly around him in almost comical bewilderment.Kala just laughed.71Chapter TwelveAt Gwen Carlton’s house, Anji was thinking about going outside for some fresh air when Hilary Pink emerged from the kitchen.He was looking miserable.Anji got up quickly.‘How is she?’ she heard herself ask, and cringed.What a stupid question! She still had sharp memories of her own after losing Dave.But bereavement counselling had never seemed a very useful skill on the stock market – unless you counted losing several million pounds sterling in one morning as a bereavement.But you could possibly win that back the next day– there were no second chances with death.Hilary shrugged; Anji took that to mean awful.She heartily wished she was somewhere else, but then so probably did Hilary.Anji considered suggesting that they might call a doctor for Gwen, but then bit it back.She found to her dismay that she was completely unable to think of anything useful to say at all.She was saved the trouble as they both heard a car engine – the distinctive growl of Hilary Pink’s own Bentley pulling up outside.Anji rushed to the window and saw it sighing to a halt on the driveway.She then watched Fitz, who was in the driver’s seat, inexpertly stall it.Curiously, there were only Liam Jarrow and Fitz in the car.She opened the front door for them.‘Where’s the Doctor?’‘We’ve, um, lost him,’ said Fitz breathlessly.‘ Lost him?’ Anji’s eyes hardened as she glanced from Fitz to Liam.‘Where?What happened? How?’Liam pushed past her and ran into the kitchen, where he could see his mother sitting at the table, a handkerchief pressed to her eyes and a cold cup of tea in front of her.Only then did Anji realise that the boy appeared to have been crying.She watched him put his arm around his mother’s shoulders.She looked up at her son with red and puffy eyes.Then she flung her arms around him and hugged him, burying her head in his shoulder.A loud sob escaped into the living room, and Hilary Pink quietly shut the door.He caught Anji’s eye and gave her a slight smile.Anji turned back to Fitz, confused.‘What’s up? What’s going on?’Fitz was looking edgy.‘Well, we went around to this Rigby guy’s place, and he ended up pulling a gun on us and –’‘A gun?’73‘It’s a long story.I think the kid got a bit of a fright, that’s all.This Rigby guy – he’s got a real problem.’‘And the Doctor?’‘We, er, had to leave him there.He told us to go without him.Honestly!’Liam wiped a hand down his face with a sniff.‘I’m sorry,’ he said, pushing himself away from his mother.She looked up at him in confusion.‘Liam, don’t.’ she began, but then seemed to see something in his eyes –a strange kind of fear that she obviously couldn’t fathom.‘What’s wrong?’‘N-nothing,’ he lied.‘I’m going to my room.’He left her then, his stomach clenching inside as he heard her sob.He ran up the stairs and shut his bedroom door so that he couldn’t hear it any longer.What was happening? His whole world felt turned upside down.First Carlton dying – or being killed.Then that miserable toad Hilary Pink turning up on the doorstep again.And finally that strange Doctor and his friends.But worst of all, what had happened to Mr Rigby?Liam was trembling and had to force himself to calm down, to be brave, as his father had been
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