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.’‘What’s the diversion going to be?’ Hannah asked.Dee smiled.‘Very loud and very explosive.’* * *The Doctor paused in Trafalgar Square.The screams of the TARDIS had stopped some time ago and he had been walking toward their echo.But the memory of those cries was too distant now.He would have to wait for the screaming to recur, before he could re-orientate himself.On the roof of the National Gallery, two men in overalls were disassembling a television camera.A squadron of men with brooms were strung out in a line across Trafalgar Square, sweeping the wet paving slabs.Ahead of them two street-cleaning trucks were washing the square clean.All were too intent on their tasks to notice the new arrival.The Doctor looked down and noticed a steady trickle of water and detergent mixing with blood on the footpath, running past his shoes.Something terrible had happened here, an atrocity.He was about to investigate further when another distress cry from the TARDIS stabbed into his thoughts.This time the sound was more a sob than a scream.It was coming from within Whitehall.The Doctor walked away, towards the pain in his mind.* * *‘Boss, there’s a bloke here says we’ve got his property.What do you want me to do?’ The policeman at the gate was talking into a telephone.His right hand was placed firmly on the Doctor’s arm, making sure the strange visitor did not leave.Behind the policeman a ramp descended into the bowels of Whitehall.‘He’s a funny looking bloke, dressed up like he’s going to a costume party.Says we’ve got a box of his.’‘It looks like a police telephone box,’ the Doctor offered helpfully.‘Looks like a police telephone box, he says.’ The policeman listened to a spiel of invective from his superior before turning back to the new arrival.‘What’s your name then?’‘The Doctor.Everyone just calls me the Doctor.’‘Says his name’s the Doctor.’ A pause.‘Yeah, just like the terrorist.’ Another pause.‘What do you mean, have I seen what the terrorist looks like? Course I have, I’ve got that drawing of him right here.’The policeman let go of the Doctor to retrieve a small square of paper from a pocket.He unfolded the page to reveal the artist’s impression of the Doctor.The policeman glanced at it, looked up at the Doctor, then glanced back down at the drawing with dawning realisation.‘It’s not a very good likeness,’ the Doctor said helpfully.‘Blimey! It’s him! It’s him! It’s the Doctor – I’ve got him right here!’ The policeman threw the drawing aside and scrabbled for his revolver.He aimed it at the Doctor, his hands shaking so much the barrel was waving in the air.‘Send someone quick, before he gets away! I’ve got him!’‘Congratulations,’ the Doctor said.‘Now, can I have my property back?’* * *‘If you’re coming to rescue me, Doctor, you better hurry,’ Fitz mumbled to himself.He was staring at the sliver of sky visible beyond his cell.Dusk was closing in and soon it would be night.‘What was that?’ Alan asked from the next cell, his voice just audible through the thick stone walls.Fitz walked back to his bench so they could communicate more easily.‘My friends, the ones I was telling you about?’‘The Doctor and Anji?’‘Our captor told me they’re in London.They’re probably coming for me.’‘Is that wise?’‘No, but they’re my friends.We look out for each other.That’s what we do.’ Fitz leaned against the wall, his knees drawn up to his chest.‘It seems like forever since I saw them last.I know it’s only been three days but.’‘Time does funny things,’ Alan said.‘I’ve been a prisoner for almost three-quarters of my life, but I can still remember moments from my youth like they were yesterday.The smell of the newly mown grass outside my rooms at Cambridge.The look of shame on my mother’s face at the trial.’‘Trial? What were you charged with?’‘Immoral practices and sedition.’ Alan gave a hollow laugh.‘There was a student called Robert, he couldn’t have been much younger than me, perhaps twenty-one.We were friends, at least I thought we were.Just after I finished my paper on computable numbers, he visited me in my rooms.He seemed nervous about something.I remember he put a record on the gramophone, he said it was so others couldn’t hear us.He started taking his shirt off.‘Suddenly, three policemen broke into my rooms.They claimed to have been told about my “activities”, that I was a notorious corrupter of young men.They arrested me and took Robert in for questioning.I remember he kept apologising as we were being dragged through the college, I couldn’t understand why.I only realised what had happened later.’‘He betrayed you,’ Fitz said softly.‘Yes.We were friends, but never lovers.Someone put pressure on him to arrange the incident so I could be arrested [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]