Post by Fitz Kreiner on Feb 22, 2011 23:56:32 GMT
“Hey, hey, hey,” Kelly managed to get out as she was dragged through the throngs of Camden shoppers. “What the hell is going on? You’ve got a gun.”
Several of the surrounding shoppers turned and looked at them, a mixture of confusion and fear in their eyes at the word ‘gun’.
“Shh,” Tom scorned, pausing briefly to talk to her. “Don’t mention the ‘G’ word in a public space.”
“What the hell is going on?” Kelly repeated chancing a glance over her shoulder. Behind them, the pursuing soldiers were forcing their way through the crowds with some less decorum than Tom was. “Why the hell are those soldiers chasing us?”
“I think,” Tom said, briefly pausing and turning to face Kelly before glancing over her shoulder and running again, “I think I’m on the run. They were trying to arrest me.”
“What the hell for?” Kelly shouted up, stumbling over a loose paving slab.
“Because I was doing what I was told,” he replied. “Looking into Duncan, visiting the Master and generally being an annoyance to the establishment.”
A shout from one of the soldiers behind them caused the two of them to pause and look back. The soldiers were catching up, moving those people out of the way who weren’t already getting out of their way. At this rate, they’d be caught in moments.
“nuts,” Tom breathed.
“You’re on the level,” Kelly asked, turning to face him, “everything you’ve said is the truth?”
“Hand on hearts,” Tom replied.
Kelly looked up at the strange alien. He was looking panicked and pained. She could see the soldiers getting closer. A quick glance around told her how close they were to Camden Town tube station. She knew the tube network quite well, it was a chance.
“Follow me,” she said, taking the lead and pulling Tom along behind her.
Behind them, seeing their quarry take up a quick pace again, the two soldiers shouted at the crowds to part and set off in pursuit faster.
“I’ve always wanted to do this,” Kelly grinned over her shoulder as she neared the turnstiles in the station.
Releasing her grip on Tom’s hand, she put her hands both sides of the metal barricade and vaulted herself over. Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw Tom do the same. The staff were already moving towards them, shouting at them. What they were shouting, she couldn’t hear over the noise of annoyance from the crowds and the shouts of the soldiers who were nearing the entrance to the station.
In a brief flash, Tom raised his hand to the two members of staff who were approaching them. She didn’t see it, but she guessed that he had shown them the gun, as they backed off slightly, their hands slightly raised.
“Good plan,” Tom replied with a grin before looking around the small but busy area. “Where to now?”
“Down,” Kelly replied.
Leading the way again, she grabbed Tom’s hand and pulled him over to the escalators which lead into the depths of the station. There was already a number of people on them, stood over to one side. Leading Tom to the clear side, she set off down them at speed.
Already knowing that there was a maze of tunnels and platforms below them, Kelly knew that there was a chance they could throw off their pursuers. Even better luck would be if they could catch a train to escape them.
A shout from behind and above them caused her to glance around. Tom had paused a few steps above her and was looking back. She couldn’t see them, but she knew that the soldiers must have been closing in. The other people on the escalators were looking at them, some of the older people muttering about the rudeness of the young people who were pushing past them.
“Move, move!” Tom shouted, pushing Kelly gently down the escalator.
Another shout from above told her that the soldiers were now at the top of the escalators. Not much longer and they would be into the tunnels and platforms. She was just stepping off when there was a clear loud shout from the soldiers, one that reverberated through her head long after she first heard it.
“Stop or we’ll fire.”
The external world seemed to become distanced and detached. Sounds seemed to be dulled and everyone seemed to start moving in slow motion. She looked round to see that the escalator had been stopped and the people on there were moving out of the soldiers’ way or ducking. Only Tom seemed to be moving. His mouth was open and moving as though he was shouting at her, but she couldn’t catch any words. Her eyes were now fixed on the two red-capped soldiers stood on the escalator. One of them was aiming a gun directly at them.
“Move, damnit,” Tom’s voice finally filtered through the echoing sound of the soldier’s shout.
Kelly was vaguely aware of Tom grabbing her by the shoulders and half pulling her into a stoop and pulling her along with him down a tunnel towards a platform. An explosion sounded out, blowing dust and chunks of tile off the wall just above her head. With a stomach churning suddenness, she realised that the soldiers were shooting at her. Shooting at her! There were actually armed men firing guns at her, as though they were trying to kill her.
“Which way?” Tom shouted, grabbing her shoulders as though he had been asking that question for some time.
“Huh?” Kelly asked, her eyes distant. She was still trying to assimilate the information that someone had been shooting at her.
“Where to?” Tom asked.
“This way,” Kelly said, grabbing Tom’s hand again.
She wasn’t sure whether the soldiers were following them, she just wanted to get away. She was dimly aware of going through more tunnels and down another flight of stairs. It wasn’t until she noticed that Tom was crouched in front of her, holding both her hands, staring intently into her eyes, that she realised she was sat down, sat down and moving.
“Where are we?” she asked, wiping away something on her face and realising it was a tear.
“On a train,” Tom replied, glancing around. “Rather lucky really, one was getting ready for the off when we arrived, so we jumped on. Got away from the red-caps, thank the Other.”
“Going where?” Kelly asked, fast coming around to where she was.
“No idea,” Tom admitted. “Look, sorry about that, are you going to be ok?”
“Wednesday it was mad women driving cars at me, today it’s soldiers shooting at me,” Kelly said. “You do attract trouble. I’m not used to this sort of thing.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” Tom replied. “I didn’t mean for you to be embroiled like this. Just, they could have arrested you too, I didn’t want that.”
“So instead, you took me on the run with you?” Kelly asked, arching an eyebrow.
Tom shifted uncomfortably and got to his feet. “I have to say, I’m rather impressed with the level of service of your Earth public transporters,” he said, thrusting his hands into his pockets and looking around.
“What are we going to do now?” Kelly asked, trying to get up to talk quieter with Tom, but finding that her legs weren’t up to taking her weight just yet. Instead she looked around and gave an awkward smile to the man sat near her looking at her perplexed. He clearly thought was sat next to a nutter. “Only, I’m stopping at my sisters’ and she lives in Camden. Am I going to be able to go back there?”
“I’m sure you will,” Tom replied. “Give it a bit of time and we can head back. I would imagine that having lost us, they’ll go back to report. It seems the Master was right, I’m on the same side of the law as he is.”
“He’s that super criminal who tried to kill you, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Tom replied, walking back to Kelly and crouching down in front of her again. “My guess is they’ll go and try to get him next. He hinted they might. Now, we’ve got a choice; we can either get off this train and head back to Camden, hole up at yours, or head over to my friend the Brigadier’s, and he’ll put us up, I hope.”
“Brigadier?” Kelly asked. “Isn’t that a military rank?”
“Yes,” Tom nodded, glancing over his shoulder and shooting a look at a woman who was watching them over a newspaper. “Do you mind?” he asked, causing her to raise the paper and bow her head.
“Well, excuse me if I don’t want to go to someone who’s anything to do with the army after just now,” Kelly said, fixing Tom with what she hoped was a steely gaze.
Tom nodded, a sympathetic look in his eye. “No worries,” he said. “We can weave our way back to yours, probably over ground. They may put the station under observation in case we try to sneak back.”
“You let him escape?” Ashfield bellowed, standing up and resting his hands on Morris’s desk.
“Well, it’s not as simple as that, sir,” Morris replied. “He, ahm,” Morris cleared his throat before admitting what had happened; “he hit me and took my gun, sir.”
“You should have been prepared for that, Captain,” Ashfield said. “You’re incompetent.”
“Now, steady on, sir,” Morris protested, rage flashing through his eyes.
“I’ve heard enough from you on this matter,” Ashfield replied before turning to General Bailey. “Why didn’t you stop him, General?”
“Well, sir,” Bailey replied. “The speed at which Rowan acted, we couldn’t do anything, however well prepared we were. When he punched Captain Morris, he sent him staggering into me. We fell against the reception desk and Rowan made for the main doors, covering us with the gun.”
“You’re both as bad as each other,” Ashfield replied. “What idiocy is it to try to apprehend someone with such an escape route?”
“With respect sir,” Ashfield cut in, “I did arrange to meet him in the lab; he came to meet us in the lobby.”
“Hmm,” Ashfield mused, eyeing Morris suspiciously. “Even so, you had two armed soldiers with you, why did it not occur to you to get them to stop him?”
“Sir, you did tell us to arrest him, not shoot him,” Morris replied, getting another stare of anger from Ashfield. “And besides, if just one shot had missed, there’s a chance we may have hit a member of the public.”
“Instead, you choose to let a dangerous criminal escape into the public domain,” Ashfield growled.
“Again, with respect, sir, we don’t know that he’s,” Morris stopped as Ashfield stared at him, daring him to continue talking with his eyes. “Sir,” Morris finished lamely, taking a step back.
Ashfield squeezed his eyes closed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “What counter measures did you take, General?” he asked after several seconds.
“I sent the two MP’s out after him,” Bailey replied.
As if anticipating his comment, there was a knock at the door. “Come,” barked Ashfield.
The door opened and the two military police entered, red-faced, and snapped immediately to attention. “Sir,”
“Well?” Ashfield asked.
“He got away, sir,” the taller of the two replied, “escaped with a female civilian. She seemed to go willingly, as if she knew him, possibly an accomplice.”
“Description?” Ashfield asked.
“About five foot four, long black coat, blue hair,” the soldier replied. “She may have had a facial piercing, but I can’t be one hundred percent on that, sir.”
Morris shifted slightly on hearing the description.
“You know this girl, Captain?” Ashfield asked, looking over in time to see the glimmer on his face.
Morris made a mental note never to play poker with this man, not that he would anyway. “Tom brought her into the HQ a couple of days ago,” Morris said, before noticing the look of anger flash across Ashfield’s face. “And before you say it, sir, I did tell him that he wasn’t allowed to bring unauthorised civilians into the building.”
“I don’t suppose you escorted her from the building, did you?” Ashfield asked.
“Erm, no sir,” Morris confessed. “We think they took a car for an unauthorised visit to Wingmoore.”
“Morris, you bloody idiot,” Ashfield thundered jumping to his feet. “My God man, if you’re lucky you’ll come out of this with your commission intact, if not, Mr Duncan will have your pips and career on a silver platter. You allowed an illegal alien and his accomplice to take a UNIT car to a restricted institute and allowed him to escape into the public domain.”
“Sir,” the other soldier replied. “Both this Rowan man and the girl were wearing rather distinctive clothing, and her hair and his, they stand out, we should be able to find them again.”
“You idiot,” Ashfield snapped turning on the soldier. “We’re in Camden Town. People with long or dyed hair and long coats are ten a bloody penny around here.”
Duly chastised, the young soldier stepped back, his head bowed as he took a sudden interest in the scuffs on the toes of his boots.
“In the mean time,” Ashfield said, his red face slowly turning back to normal, “Morris, I want you to go and brief all your staff; if Rowan returns here, as criminals often do return to the scene for thrill purposes, he is to be arrested. All of your agents are to search all areas where he is known to go. I also want a full description of both Rowan and this mystery girl from you all, a photograph if possible. These are to be issued to the police with the instructions that these are wanted criminals and are to be considered armed and dangerous. I want police at all underground and rail link stations waiting for them.”
“Sir,” all four military personnel in the room snapped to attention with a salute.
“Oh and Morris,” Ashfield said, taking his seat again.
“Sir?” Morris asked, turning at the doorway.
“This time, I expect a positive result,” Ashfield said. “Your reputation and career is on the line here. Oh, and prepare a car and two of your men, after you’ve got a good description, we’re going on a journey and a chance for you to redeem yourself.”
“Yes sir,” Morris said before turning and leaving his office, closing the door behind him, grimacing at the frosted glass pane.
“Don’t look so disheartened, Will,” Bailey said, placing a friendly hand on his shoulder. “It could have gone worse.”
“No disrespect, sir,” Morris replied, “but the only way that could have gone worse was for him to hand me my arse on a platter. Instead, he’s just got it ready. I’m expecting to get it any time soon.”
“He’s only a politician, Will,” Bailey said. “You can’t be held responsible for someone who isn’t technically on your staff.” Before Morris could say anything else, Bailey held up his hand cutting him off. “And if he does hand you your arse, I’ll be handing him my resignation. I’m one hundred percent behind you in this Will.”
Morris smiled and nodded. “That you, General,” he replied.
Trying to remain incongruous among the Christmas shoppers getting off the train at the Earl’s Court tube station, Tom and Jess walked among the throngs of people, carefully avoiding all people with official status, including station staff.
“Why did we have to keep changing trains and doubling back?” Kelly asked, moving closer to Tom as they walked.
Tom glanced down and gave her a look of almost annoyance before smiling and glancing back over his shoulder. “To try to give people the slip,” he said. “Granted they’ll probably have to get people to issue descriptions of us to the police and that’ll take time.”
“Whoa,” Kelly said, gripping Tom’s arm and stopping him. “You mean the cops are going to be looking for us?”
Tom nodded glancing around him. “But I recon it’ll take time. No disrespect to your planet’s police, but twentieth century police had a few major flaws until the 2029 Robert Peel Reform act.”
“What are you on about?” Kelly asked, wrinkling her nose in confusion.
“The 2029 Robert Peel reform act which reworked the police a tad,” Tom replied.
“Yeah, it’s 1999. Still. Just,” Kelly said, glancing around hoping that people weren’t staring at them.
“Yeah, and I’m a time traveller,” Tom replied matter-of-factly. “I worked as a security officer in the year 4046. The British police became hugely influential around the world after that act, beginning the formation of the Earth security forces, especially during the thousand day war with Mars. It was part of my training.” Tom paused as he considered what he had said. “Actually it was probably more of a briefing or mental implant or something, but that’s not important right now.”
“And what is?” Kelly asked.
“Dinner,” Tom smiled. “Give them a little bit of time to spread out and us a chance to get some grub.”
“Shouldn’t we be lying low or something?” Kelly asked. “I mean, I’ve never been on the run like this before.”
Tom opened his mouth to reply but was silenced from a bleeping from his jeans pocket. “What the-?” he muttered reaching into his pocket before pulling out a mobile phone. “Oh crap,” he said, slapping his forehead with his free hand. “They’re tracking this thing.”
“No, you just got a message,” Kelly said, looking over the top of the phone and pointing at the flashing logo on the mobile screen.
“Ah,” Tom said, a sheepish grin on his face. “I knew that.”
Looking back down to the mobile, he opened up the text message and read it.
“Who’s it from?” Kelly asked.
“I dunno,” Tom replied. “The number is from UNIT base. Someone has accessed the computer system to send this to tell me that it’s safe to go back.”
“It might be a trap though,” Kelly said. “I may not have been on the run but I’ve seen films. They could be saying that to get you back.”
“No,” Tom replied slipping the phone back in his pocket. “I got a message before from someone saying I was being investigated. I think it’s the same person.”
“Are you sure?” Kelly asked, gripping Tom’s arm as he turned to make back to the station.
“Yeah,” he replied, taking her hand again. “I panicked then. They can’t trace this phone properly unless I’m using it, and then, only to within a half mile radius. Once we’re back under ground, there’ll be no signal to track.”
“Are you sure?” Kelly repeated.
“Trust me,” Tom smiled. “I got you away from those soldiers, didn’t I? Ok, with a little help from you.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Kelly said.
“Look, trust me,” Tom replied. “I’ll owe you a lot after this.”
“Too damn right,” Kelly said with a smile.
“Hey, didn’t you say you lived in Camden?” Tom asked, pausing and looking at Kelly.
“Well, my sister does, I’m staying at hers at the moment,” she replied.
“Perfect,” Tom smiled. “We’ve got a game plan.”
“We have?”
“Yeah; we nip back to UNIT HQ, slip in, get what I need and then head to your sisters. The later it gets, the more spread out the search and UNIT will become. What better place to hide from them than right under their noses?”
Several of the surrounding shoppers turned and looked at them, a mixture of confusion and fear in their eyes at the word ‘gun’.
“Shh,” Tom scorned, pausing briefly to talk to her. “Don’t mention the ‘G’ word in a public space.”
“What the hell is going on?” Kelly repeated chancing a glance over her shoulder. Behind them, the pursuing soldiers were forcing their way through the crowds with some less decorum than Tom was. “Why the hell are those soldiers chasing us?”
“I think,” Tom said, briefly pausing and turning to face Kelly before glancing over her shoulder and running again, “I think I’m on the run. They were trying to arrest me.”
“What the hell for?” Kelly shouted up, stumbling over a loose paving slab.
“Because I was doing what I was told,” he replied. “Looking into Duncan, visiting the Master and generally being an annoyance to the establishment.”
A shout from one of the soldiers behind them caused the two of them to pause and look back. The soldiers were catching up, moving those people out of the way who weren’t already getting out of their way. At this rate, they’d be caught in moments.
“nuts,” Tom breathed.
“You’re on the level,” Kelly asked, turning to face him, “everything you’ve said is the truth?”
“Hand on hearts,” Tom replied.
Kelly looked up at the strange alien. He was looking panicked and pained. She could see the soldiers getting closer. A quick glance around told her how close they were to Camden Town tube station. She knew the tube network quite well, it was a chance.
“Follow me,” she said, taking the lead and pulling Tom along behind her.
Behind them, seeing their quarry take up a quick pace again, the two soldiers shouted at the crowds to part and set off in pursuit faster.
“I’ve always wanted to do this,” Kelly grinned over her shoulder as she neared the turnstiles in the station.
Releasing her grip on Tom’s hand, she put her hands both sides of the metal barricade and vaulted herself over. Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw Tom do the same. The staff were already moving towards them, shouting at them. What they were shouting, she couldn’t hear over the noise of annoyance from the crowds and the shouts of the soldiers who were nearing the entrance to the station.
In a brief flash, Tom raised his hand to the two members of staff who were approaching them. She didn’t see it, but she guessed that he had shown them the gun, as they backed off slightly, their hands slightly raised.
“Good plan,” Tom replied with a grin before looking around the small but busy area. “Where to now?”
“Down,” Kelly replied.
Leading the way again, she grabbed Tom’s hand and pulled him over to the escalators which lead into the depths of the station. There was already a number of people on them, stood over to one side. Leading Tom to the clear side, she set off down them at speed.
Already knowing that there was a maze of tunnels and platforms below them, Kelly knew that there was a chance they could throw off their pursuers. Even better luck would be if they could catch a train to escape them.
A shout from behind and above them caused her to glance around. Tom had paused a few steps above her and was looking back. She couldn’t see them, but she knew that the soldiers must have been closing in. The other people on the escalators were looking at them, some of the older people muttering about the rudeness of the young people who were pushing past them.
“Move, move!” Tom shouted, pushing Kelly gently down the escalator.
Another shout from above told her that the soldiers were now at the top of the escalators. Not much longer and they would be into the tunnels and platforms. She was just stepping off when there was a clear loud shout from the soldiers, one that reverberated through her head long after she first heard it.
“Stop or we’ll fire.”
The external world seemed to become distanced and detached. Sounds seemed to be dulled and everyone seemed to start moving in slow motion. She looked round to see that the escalator had been stopped and the people on there were moving out of the soldiers’ way or ducking. Only Tom seemed to be moving. His mouth was open and moving as though he was shouting at her, but she couldn’t catch any words. Her eyes were now fixed on the two red-capped soldiers stood on the escalator. One of them was aiming a gun directly at them.
“Move, damnit,” Tom’s voice finally filtered through the echoing sound of the soldier’s shout.
Kelly was vaguely aware of Tom grabbing her by the shoulders and half pulling her into a stoop and pulling her along with him down a tunnel towards a platform. An explosion sounded out, blowing dust and chunks of tile off the wall just above her head. With a stomach churning suddenness, she realised that the soldiers were shooting at her. Shooting at her! There were actually armed men firing guns at her, as though they were trying to kill her.
“Which way?” Tom shouted, grabbing her shoulders as though he had been asking that question for some time.
“Huh?” Kelly asked, her eyes distant. She was still trying to assimilate the information that someone had been shooting at her.
“Where to?” Tom asked.
“This way,” Kelly said, grabbing Tom’s hand again.
She wasn’t sure whether the soldiers were following them, she just wanted to get away. She was dimly aware of going through more tunnels and down another flight of stairs. It wasn’t until she noticed that Tom was crouched in front of her, holding both her hands, staring intently into her eyes, that she realised she was sat down, sat down and moving.
“Where are we?” she asked, wiping away something on her face and realising it was a tear.
“On a train,” Tom replied, glancing around. “Rather lucky really, one was getting ready for the off when we arrived, so we jumped on. Got away from the red-caps, thank the Other.”
“Going where?” Kelly asked, fast coming around to where she was.
“No idea,” Tom admitted. “Look, sorry about that, are you going to be ok?”
“Wednesday it was mad women driving cars at me, today it’s soldiers shooting at me,” Kelly said. “You do attract trouble. I’m not used to this sort of thing.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” Tom replied. “I didn’t mean for you to be embroiled like this. Just, they could have arrested you too, I didn’t want that.”
“So instead, you took me on the run with you?” Kelly asked, arching an eyebrow.
Tom shifted uncomfortably and got to his feet. “I have to say, I’m rather impressed with the level of service of your Earth public transporters,” he said, thrusting his hands into his pockets and looking around.
“What are we going to do now?” Kelly asked, trying to get up to talk quieter with Tom, but finding that her legs weren’t up to taking her weight just yet. Instead she looked around and gave an awkward smile to the man sat near her looking at her perplexed. He clearly thought was sat next to a nutter. “Only, I’m stopping at my sisters’ and she lives in Camden. Am I going to be able to go back there?”
“I’m sure you will,” Tom replied. “Give it a bit of time and we can head back. I would imagine that having lost us, they’ll go back to report. It seems the Master was right, I’m on the same side of the law as he is.”
“He’s that super criminal who tried to kill you, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Tom replied, walking back to Kelly and crouching down in front of her again. “My guess is they’ll go and try to get him next. He hinted they might. Now, we’ve got a choice; we can either get off this train and head back to Camden, hole up at yours, or head over to my friend the Brigadier’s, and he’ll put us up, I hope.”
“Brigadier?” Kelly asked. “Isn’t that a military rank?”
“Yes,” Tom nodded, glancing over his shoulder and shooting a look at a woman who was watching them over a newspaper. “Do you mind?” he asked, causing her to raise the paper and bow her head.
“Well, excuse me if I don’t want to go to someone who’s anything to do with the army after just now,” Kelly said, fixing Tom with what she hoped was a steely gaze.
Tom nodded, a sympathetic look in his eye. “No worries,” he said. “We can weave our way back to yours, probably over ground. They may put the station under observation in case we try to sneak back.”
*
“You let him escape?” Ashfield bellowed, standing up and resting his hands on Morris’s desk.
“Well, it’s not as simple as that, sir,” Morris replied. “He, ahm,” Morris cleared his throat before admitting what had happened; “he hit me and took my gun, sir.”
“You should have been prepared for that, Captain,” Ashfield said. “You’re incompetent.”
“Now, steady on, sir,” Morris protested, rage flashing through his eyes.
“I’ve heard enough from you on this matter,” Ashfield replied before turning to General Bailey. “Why didn’t you stop him, General?”
“Well, sir,” Bailey replied. “The speed at which Rowan acted, we couldn’t do anything, however well prepared we were. When he punched Captain Morris, he sent him staggering into me. We fell against the reception desk and Rowan made for the main doors, covering us with the gun.”
“You’re both as bad as each other,” Ashfield replied. “What idiocy is it to try to apprehend someone with such an escape route?”
“With respect sir,” Ashfield cut in, “I did arrange to meet him in the lab; he came to meet us in the lobby.”
“Hmm,” Ashfield mused, eyeing Morris suspiciously. “Even so, you had two armed soldiers with you, why did it not occur to you to get them to stop him?”
“Sir, you did tell us to arrest him, not shoot him,” Morris replied, getting another stare of anger from Ashfield. “And besides, if just one shot had missed, there’s a chance we may have hit a member of the public.”
“Instead, you choose to let a dangerous criminal escape into the public domain,” Ashfield growled.
“Again, with respect, sir, we don’t know that he’s,” Morris stopped as Ashfield stared at him, daring him to continue talking with his eyes. “Sir,” Morris finished lamely, taking a step back.
Ashfield squeezed his eyes closed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “What counter measures did you take, General?” he asked after several seconds.
“I sent the two MP’s out after him,” Bailey replied.
As if anticipating his comment, there was a knock at the door. “Come,” barked Ashfield.
The door opened and the two military police entered, red-faced, and snapped immediately to attention. “Sir,”
“Well?” Ashfield asked.
“He got away, sir,” the taller of the two replied, “escaped with a female civilian. She seemed to go willingly, as if she knew him, possibly an accomplice.”
“Description?” Ashfield asked.
“About five foot four, long black coat, blue hair,” the soldier replied. “She may have had a facial piercing, but I can’t be one hundred percent on that, sir.”
Morris shifted slightly on hearing the description.
“You know this girl, Captain?” Ashfield asked, looking over in time to see the glimmer on his face.
Morris made a mental note never to play poker with this man, not that he would anyway. “Tom brought her into the HQ a couple of days ago,” Morris said, before noticing the look of anger flash across Ashfield’s face. “And before you say it, sir, I did tell him that he wasn’t allowed to bring unauthorised civilians into the building.”
“I don’t suppose you escorted her from the building, did you?” Ashfield asked.
“Erm, no sir,” Morris confessed. “We think they took a car for an unauthorised visit to Wingmoore.”
“Morris, you bloody idiot,” Ashfield thundered jumping to his feet. “My God man, if you’re lucky you’ll come out of this with your commission intact, if not, Mr Duncan will have your pips and career on a silver platter. You allowed an illegal alien and his accomplice to take a UNIT car to a restricted institute and allowed him to escape into the public domain.”
“Sir,” the other soldier replied. “Both this Rowan man and the girl were wearing rather distinctive clothing, and her hair and his, they stand out, we should be able to find them again.”
“You idiot,” Ashfield snapped turning on the soldier. “We’re in Camden Town. People with long or dyed hair and long coats are ten a bloody penny around here.”
Duly chastised, the young soldier stepped back, his head bowed as he took a sudden interest in the scuffs on the toes of his boots.
“In the mean time,” Ashfield said, his red face slowly turning back to normal, “Morris, I want you to go and brief all your staff; if Rowan returns here, as criminals often do return to the scene for thrill purposes, he is to be arrested. All of your agents are to search all areas where he is known to go. I also want a full description of both Rowan and this mystery girl from you all, a photograph if possible. These are to be issued to the police with the instructions that these are wanted criminals and are to be considered armed and dangerous. I want police at all underground and rail link stations waiting for them.”
“Sir,” all four military personnel in the room snapped to attention with a salute.
“Oh and Morris,” Ashfield said, taking his seat again.
“Sir?” Morris asked, turning at the doorway.
“This time, I expect a positive result,” Ashfield said. “Your reputation and career is on the line here. Oh, and prepare a car and two of your men, after you’ve got a good description, we’re going on a journey and a chance for you to redeem yourself.”
“Yes sir,” Morris said before turning and leaving his office, closing the door behind him, grimacing at the frosted glass pane.
“Don’t look so disheartened, Will,” Bailey said, placing a friendly hand on his shoulder. “It could have gone worse.”
“No disrespect, sir,” Morris replied, “but the only way that could have gone worse was for him to hand me my arse on a platter. Instead, he’s just got it ready. I’m expecting to get it any time soon.”
“He’s only a politician, Will,” Bailey said. “You can’t be held responsible for someone who isn’t technically on your staff.” Before Morris could say anything else, Bailey held up his hand cutting him off. “And if he does hand you your arse, I’ll be handing him my resignation. I’m one hundred percent behind you in this Will.”
Morris smiled and nodded. “That you, General,” he replied.
*
Trying to remain incongruous among the Christmas shoppers getting off the train at the Earl’s Court tube station, Tom and Jess walked among the throngs of people, carefully avoiding all people with official status, including station staff.
“Why did we have to keep changing trains and doubling back?” Kelly asked, moving closer to Tom as they walked.
Tom glanced down and gave her a look of almost annoyance before smiling and glancing back over his shoulder. “To try to give people the slip,” he said. “Granted they’ll probably have to get people to issue descriptions of us to the police and that’ll take time.”
“Whoa,” Kelly said, gripping Tom’s arm and stopping him. “You mean the cops are going to be looking for us?”
Tom nodded glancing around him. “But I recon it’ll take time. No disrespect to your planet’s police, but twentieth century police had a few major flaws until the 2029 Robert Peel Reform act.”
“What are you on about?” Kelly asked, wrinkling her nose in confusion.
“The 2029 Robert Peel reform act which reworked the police a tad,” Tom replied.
“Yeah, it’s 1999. Still. Just,” Kelly said, glancing around hoping that people weren’t staring at them.
“Yeah, and I’m a time traveller,” Tom replied matter-of-factly. “I worked as a security officer in the year 4046. The British police became hugely influential around the world after that act, beginning the formation of the Earth security forces, especially during the thousand day war with Mars. It was part of my training.” Tom paused as he considered what he had said. “Actually it was probably more of a briefing or mental implant or something, but that’s not important right now.”
“And what is?” Kelly asked.
“Dinner,” Tom smiled. “Give them a little bit of time to spread out and us a chance to get some grub.”
“Shouldn’t we be lying low or something?” Kelly asked. “I mean, I’ve never been on the run like this before.”
Tom opened his mouth to reply but was silenced from a bleeping from his jeans pocket. “What the-?” he muttered reaching into his pocket before pulling out a mobile phone. “Oh crap,” he said, slapping his forehead with his free hand. “They’re tracking this thing.”
“No, you just got a message,” Kelly said, looking over the top of the phone and pointing at the flashing logo on the mobile screen.
“Ah,” Tom said, a sheepish grin on his face. “I knew that.”
Looking back down to the mobile, he opened up the text message and read it.
“Your description’s been given to the police. Be on your guard. Ashfield, Bailey & Morris are leaving HQ to go to Wingmore. Come back now before they take your research. A friend.”
“Who’s it from?” Kelly asked.
“I dunno,” Tom replied. “The number is from UNIT base. Someone has accessed the computer system to send this to tell me that it’s safe to go back.”
“It might be a trap though,” Kelly said. “I may not have been on the run but I’ve seen films. They could be saying that to get you back.”
“No,” Tom replied slipping the phone back in his pocket. “I got a message before from someone saying I was being investigated. I think it’s the same person.”
“Are you sure?” Kelly asked, gripping Tom’s arm as he turned to make back to the station.
“Yeah,” he replied, taking her hand again. “I panicked then. They can’t trace this phone properly unless I’m using it, and then, only to within a half mile radius. Once we’re back under ground, there’ll be no signal to track.”
“Are you sure?” Kelly repeated.
“Trust me,” Tom smiled. “I got you away from those soldiers, didn’t I? Ok, with a little help from you.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Kelly said.
“Look, trust me,” Tom replied. “I’ll owe you a lot after this.”
“Too damn right,” Kelly said with a smile.
“Hey, didn’t you say you lived in Camden?” Tom asked, pausing and looking at Kelly.
“Well, my sister does, I’m staying at hers at the moment,” she replied.
“Perfect,” Tom smiled. “We’ve got a game plan.”
“We have?”
“Yeah; we nip back to UNIT HQ, slip in, get what I need and then head to your sisters. The later it gets, the more spread out the search and UNIT will become. What better place to hide from them than right under their noses?”
