Part 24 (2/2)

Shaping out my future. When will my new web stretch out across the Earth?'

'Web?' She struggled to break his grip as his face came closer. He was drooling into his filthy beard.

'Not until I have the Locus!'

21.

A Reunion he Brigadier followed the ca.n.a.l west from Regents Park.

T He was hungry. He had not eaten since breakfast.

Eventually he saw the figure of his daughter seated on a bench, staring out across the water at the cemetery on the other bank. It was a day for memories. The blonde hair she had inherited from his own mother still reached down to her shoulders, just as it had done since she was little. He thought she looked distinctly lonely.

He had almost reached her before she noticed him. She stood up, looking embarra.s.sed.

'You're late,' she said.

'I was delayed. The traffic and this computer business.'

It seemed a world away in this desolate spot. They eyed each other warily, both awkward, not touching, each not sure if the other was an enemy.

'Are you all right?' she asked politely.

'I can't complain. How are you?'

She paused and then turned away. 'Look, this is stupid. I'll just go. I shouldn't have called you.'

'Kate?'

She was instantly back. 'Yes, Dad?'

'Have you eaten? We can go and get a meal.'

She shook her head emphatically. 'No. I just...' She sat down in frustration.

He sat at the other end of the bench, looking out over the water. 'All right. We'll sit here.'

'Sorry.' She was tight with emotion. Without turning towards him, she said, 'You look tired.'

He glanced round for trouble. 'I've had a difficult morning.' He turned to her. 'It's been six years, Kate. What's the matter? Is it money?'

'Not especially,' she said.

'Your mother, then?'

'No, I don't see her either.' She kicked out her feet. 'Sorry.

It sounds stupid, but well...I'm being hara.s.sed.'

'Who by?'

'There are these Chillys.'

'Chillys?' As usual she was miles ahead of him. He felt like the High Court judge who had to have compact discs explained to him.

'You know. Children of the...'

'Children?'

'No. I mean they're called Children Children. From that New World techno-cult.'

'Ah.' He maintained his look of concern, silently relieved that at last some pieces were falling into place. 'Nasty customers in yellow and green.'

'Two of them,' she went on. 'They just sit opposite the boat all the time.' She had turned to look at him at last, her face taut with despair. 'Look, I'm just being stupid.'

'No,' he said firmly.

Tears were welling in her eyes. 'But they just won't go away. And they're frightening...they're frightening me.'

He nodded, wondering what name she had nearly blurted out. He did not like sitting here. It was too exposed. Not for him, but because he had always s.h.i.+elded his family from the implications of his job. He was the one the Chillys were after and now Kate was involved because she had his name.

He had another abiding image of her as a little girl. She had huge sad eyes and said, 'Come back soon, Dad.' He was always being called away at crucial moments, and it was usually a certain Scientific Advisor's fault. Ridiculous that they had never met, because he was sure that the Doctor would be wonderful with children.

'Can we walk a bit?' he said.

She started to lead back the way he had come and he guessed she was taking him away from her home.

Showing emotion had always been a problem. That shrink woman that they sent him to after his breakdown at the school had told him as much. He couldn't imagine why. It had never been difficult to shout at the men, or at public schoolboys for that matter. That was letting off steam wasn't it? But the shrink, who was a very charming woman, he recalled, said he had been bottling it up for years. That was nonsense, of course. He never took family problems onto the parade ground, and if he never talked to Fiona either, then there were good reasons for it. He had duties and other commitments.

Anyway, Fiona had never talked to him either, not for years.

So that evened things out a bit.

He fished for something to say to Kate. She used to have a partner or boyfriend or lover, but he had never met the chap.

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