Part 13 (2/2)

Mike Yates was fiddling frantically with the walkie-talkie, 'Venus to Jupiter do you read me?'

The little unit was completely dead, its casing shattered by the bullet.

Cautiously, Mike raised his head and looked round and saw the transporter being driven away, with the Black Maria following.

The hijack had been a complete success.

Since he'd already lost the missile, Mike decided grimly, the only thing to do was to find out where it was being taken.

As the transporter disappeared, Mike looked round and spotted an apparently undamaged motor-bike. It lay at the side of the road, engine roaring, the dead rider huddled nearby.

Mike ran to the motor-bike, lifted it upright, swung into the saddle and sped off down the road after the stolen missile.

Laying by the roadside, Sergeant Benton raised his head and stared dazedly at Mike Yates roaring away... then he fell back unconscious.

The Brigadier pointed at the map. 'Last time Captain Yates checked in officially, he was here. Now, given the estimated speed of the convoy and the time of the emergency call, the ambush must have taken place about here! I want a chopper standing by to take me down there as soon as possible!'

Corporal Bell said, 'I'll get on to it right away, sir.'

'And I want a Mobile HQ and a full forensic team in the area.'

She reached for the phone. 'Shall we ask for police and Regular Army co-operation, sir?'

'No. UNIT personnel only. This missile isn't supposed to exist, remember! Keep trying to get in touch with Captain Yates.'

Corporal Bell returned to the radio-telephone. 'Jupiter to Venus. Do you read me?' But there was no reply.

At that precise moment Captain Yates was lying in the gra.s.s at the edge of what appeared to be a deserted airfield.

The transporter had been parked outside the hangar doors, and a little group of men who, to Mike's amazement wore Army uniform were busy with a mobile crane, preparing to set the missile up, ready for firing.

Mike decided he had seen enough. It was more important than ever that he pa.s.sed on the location of the missile to UNIT HQ.

He turned and sprinted back to where he had left the motor bike, lifted it up and swung into the saddle, kicking the engine into life. Unfortunately, the noise attracted the attention of one of the armed convicts.

As Mike sped away, the convict opened fire, and several of his fellows joined in.

This time Mike Yates wasn't so lucky. One of the bullets struck him in the shoulder, smas.h.i.+ng him from the motor-bike.

Mike lay still for some minutes, sick and dazed from the wound and from the heavy fall.

Gamely he started to struggle to his feet, but it was already too late. There was a pounding of feet, and a gang of armed convicts ran up. Brutally they hauled him to his feet, and dragged him away.

The Brigadier was trying to get some sense out of a still-dazed Sergeant Benton, while a UNIT medical orderly dressed the gash on the top of the Sergeant's head. All around, the UNIT team were taking away the dead and wounded, clearing wreckage, and searching the scene for clues.

'And is that all you can tell me, Benton?' said the Brigadier at last.

'It all happened so quickly, sir,' said Benton. He looked apologetically at the Brigadier.

'Did you see what happened to Captain Yates?'

'I thought they got him, sir.'

'Not unless they took the body with them. And one of the bikes was missing.'

'I saw someone on a motor-bike, sir just before I pa.s.sed out again. Maybe it was Captain Yates. Maybe he followed them, sir?'

'Yes, maybe. Anything else, Benton?'

'There is just one other thing, sir. They were using a plain black van, the sort the police use. A black Maria.'

The Brigadier raised his voice. 'Map!'

A UNIT corporal hurried up with a map. The Brigadier studied it for a moment. 'Stangmoor Prison!'

Benton looked puzzled. 'What's that, sir?'

'Where else would you get a Black Maria? Benton, you stay here and rendezvous with Major Cosgrove and the mobile HQ. I'll join you later.'

'Where will you be, sir?'

'I'm going to take a look at Stangmoor prison!' The Brigadier headed for his helicopter.

Jo was still staring out of the window.

The Doctor sat at the Governor's desk, brooding, his chin in his hands.

Jo swung round. 'Doctor, we can't just go on sitting here.'

'Why not? It's the safest place at the moment. Besides, I need time to think. I've got to find a way of dealing with that creature.'

'What creature?'

'The one in the machine.'

'You mean there's something alive in there?'

'I do.'

'What is it?'

'An alien mind parasite, Jo, a creature from another planet. It feeds on mental energy, particularly on the mind's darker, more primitive impulses. On evil, if you like. It's probably the deadliest threat to mankind since the beginning of time...'

The Doctor sat staring into s.p.a.ce, thinking of the remote planet on the edge of a far distant galaxy where the creatures had first been discovered.

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