Part 20 (1/2)

'His mind betrayed his fear.'

'He will return when he has no choice.'

'He will return, and his time machine shall be ours.'

'And the weapon?'

'Untested, untried.'

'No danger to the Xhinn.'

'The quest continues!'

Tommy phoned his last surviving lieutenant. Norman Page had been waiting at home all day for the call and said so. He was never a man to mince words.

'Where the h.e.l.l have you been, Tommy? Do you know what's happening on the streets?'

'Yeah, the old bill is dragging people away in Black Marias.

Any idea where they're being taken?'

'I had one of the lads follow them. Some underground tunnel north of Old Street. He said people went in but n.o.body came out.' Page was worried. It wasn't like Tommy to hold back from taking action. Usually the problem was quite the reverse.

Tommy tended to jump in boots first and ask questions afterwards. 'Maybe they're being taken out of the city on the Tube. The underground was running this morning it's about the only thing in London that still is!'

Tommy wasn't convinced. 'If they was using the Tube, they'd take them down the station. Stands to reason. No, this is something else and I don't like it. Not one little bit.'

'So what are we going to do?'

'Sit tight for now.'

Norman could stand it no longer. 'You lost your bottle or something? That new bird of yours putting ideas into your head?'

'I'm gonna forget you said that. Tommy Ramsey takes orders from no-one!' The gangster tried to keep calm. 'We can't do anything in darkness, it's bad enough trying to see in the daytime.

We'll just end up hurting our own instead of striking back at whoever's responsible for all this.'

'So what's the plan?'

'Get everyone around here tomorrow morning, armed to the teeth. I'm expecting a call from Stratford Simon or Fingers Blake. If either of their firms joins us, we could have a hundred men.'

'And if they don't?'

'Then we go it alone. We're big enough and ugly enough to hand out some damage,' Tommy said.

'Go down fighting, you mean?'

'That's not my plan. But if I die tomorrow, I'm taking as many of these monsters with me as I can. They're going to rue the day they stepped on Tommy Ramsey's manor!'

The Doctor knocked on the door of St Luke's Church, glancing apprehensively around himself. He had expected the Xhinn to pursue him but there was no sign of that yet. His audience with the triumvirate had obviously distracted the Xhinn, weakening the grip of the aliens' mind control over its slaves. That gave the Doctor some hope. The Xhinn were a powerful enemy but this missionary force was limited in its capacity. It had not been designed to control a whole city, let alone an entire planet. There was still time to defeat the Xhinn, but the Doctor would need help if he were to succeed.

Father Simmons opened the door and let the Doctor in.

'What are you doing out there? You'll catch your death in that fog! Come inside, come inside!' The priest was holding a lit taper. 'You'll have to excuse me, I'm just lighting the gas lamps in the church. I want St Luke's to s.h.i.+ne as a beacon of hope in these dark days.'

'Please, carry on,' the Doctor said. He watched as the priest moved around the church, touching the flame to the gas-fired lamps mounted on tall stone columns which reached upwards to the high ceiling. Around the outer walls were hung a dozen tapestries, depicting the journey of Jesus to his crucifixion.

'Don't you worry about having such valuable tapestries on the walls of the church?'

'St Luke's is lucky to have them. They were stolen during the war but were returned in 1946, I've been told. Tommy Ramsey apparently brought them back.'

'Hardly what I would expect from him. Mr Ramsey does not seem to be a very religious man.'

Father Simmons grinned at that. 'No, but his mother is a believer. I suspect she may have had something to do with their recovery and return. According to parish records, the tapestries have hung here since '

'I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I didn't come here to talk about history. I came to ask for your help,' the Doctor said.

'I am just a simple parish priest. But I do all I can to aid this community. How can I help you?'

'Many people will die in the coming days. Many have died already.'

'The smog. It's a terrible tragedy but the Saviour moves in mysterious ways. I don't see how I can '

'The smog is not a natural event. It is being caused by the Xhinn.'

'That creature we saw yesterday? The fallen angel?' Simmons blew out his taper and sat in a pew beside the Doctor. 'But how can one such sinner create such a foul cloud over all of London?'

'There is more than one Xhinn. They have come to bring their own gospel to this world. But it is a gospel of death and destruction, glorying in its own righteousness,' the Doctor said, explaining himself in terms that the priest might best be able to grasp.

'They wors.h.i.+p a false G.o.d!'

'Something like that. Unless I intervene, millions of people will die. But if I act, I must be willing to sacrifice everything and everyone I hold dear. I must be willing to become like the Xhinn to stop them.'

The priest thought long and hard about the Doctor's words.

'I killed once. I murdered a man. Not for any cause, not to stop tyranny or prevent a war. Just for my own gain, just for my own benefit. I was like the Xhinn then but I changed. I saw the error of my ways. I have devoted the rest of my life to seeking redemption for that moment, by doing the Saviour's work.'

Father Simmons looked intently at the Doctor. 'Do you believe what you are doing is right?'

'Yes.'

'Do you believe this evil must be stopped?'

'Yes.'

'Then you must look to your own conscience to decide. All it requires for evil to triumph '