Part 5 (1/2)

Mitch ploughed up some more snow with his huge legs in an effort to close the distance with Jacks. He didn't like her being so way out in front with the major haul. He wanted his share of the credit when they rolled in.

h.e.l.l, if there was anyone left up there to slap them on the back.

They were pretty close now. He could tell from the lie of that western slope. Question was, who'd fired all those shots.

Our guys? They knew the Army were crawling all over this hill, but Mitch didn't think they'd be nuts enough to get into a shooting match with the military. Least ways, not while GI Jane was out here with him.

'Slow it up, Lagoy!'

Mitch glanced ahead, saw her easing off the pace. Little hills of broken snow gathered around her s.h.i.+ns. The prize described a grotesque shape inside her pack. Something much more than just another chunk of aircraft.

Great, so now we get to slow it up. When I'm half dead.

Mitch forced himself the last few yards before bending over to catch his breath.

'Someone's coming,' she said.

'Huh?' Mitch ducked down as he scanned the hillside.

'They've seen us already.' Jacks slid the AK into her hands.

Mitch rubbed the hard bristles on his jaw and worked the Mossberg from his shoulder. He pumped the first sh.e.l.l into position and prayed it wouldn't be needed. He wasn't afraid, exactly. He just knew these things got awful messy. They did in banks anyway, and it couldn't be any different in the great outdoors.

He narrowed his eyes at the figure sprinting and tumbling down the slope. The snow wasn't falling too bad for the moment but this runner sure as h.e.l.l was. Colliding with trees even.

'He's panicked,' Jacks noted contemptuously.

Yeah, fire one of these at your tail, see how fast you run, thought Mitch. But he was feeling a shade happier that the figure didn't look dangerous. He held the shotgun nice and easy.

He screwed up his eyes a notch. 'Hey, is that-?'

'It's Crayford,' said Jacks, and for once she sounded shaken.

No, not Crayford. Not running like that. Not the great man himself.

Leela was accustomed to confusion. Usually it was a feeling inside, a devoted companion on her travels with the Doctor.

From the moment she left the chill confines of the house, it was a living force, manifested all around her.

'Coming through, miss!' Leela dodged aside as another pair of soldiers emerged from the house carrying a curled leaf of metal. In her eagerness to keep out of the way, she realised, she had strayed too close to the main doorway.

For the present the heavens had stopped shedding their cold ashes, and the chaos was confined to the ground. She saw the Doctor over by the vehicles, unmoving, except for the steady bounce of his yo-yo. He stayed leaning against one of the trucks, even as the dark-haired woman, Hmieleski, hurried up to speak to him.

Leela wandered over, avoiding the lines of men tramping back and forth, and training a wary eye on the vehicles they were loading: four large white crates on ungainly metal tracks, heavy carts tethered behind; two fat squashed trucks with large wheels; and a pack of squat but powerful beasts on tracks and skids. Many of those strange dwarf-vehicles were being unloaded when she had come out with the others to meet Captain Shaw.

He had been busy ever since, issuing rapid orders in every direction. Leela had started to feel lost and unwanted. And now she could see the Doctor was in a bad mood, sulking, so she felt less sure about asking all her half-formed questions.

'Doctor,' Hmieleski was saying, 'the Captain wants me to stay here, tear up the floorboards and anything else we didn't cover. He's taking you down to the town, help set up a lab.

But I'm sure if you put up a fight you could convince him you're needed here, we can continue our conversation.'

'You know,' said the Doctor at length, following the yo-yo in its rise and fall, 'I'm grateful for the invitation, but I think I'll take the ride. I'd really like to find out what attracted the cult to the pieces of a broken aeroplane. Your good Captain politely declined my help in the search for your Stormcore, but I can always find other fish to fry.'

The Doctor was one toothy grin, and Leela caught a glimmer in the woman's eyes, something pa.s.sing between them that reminded her of when she had first found herself under the Doctor's wing. 'Well I wish you luck. Just - well-'

'Ah, trust me, Lieutenant,' he made a shus.h.i.+ng gesture, 'I never reveal my sources.'

'I'll see you down at the lab. Apparently there's some hotel the Captain knows, he's going to make the management's day by commandeering it as our headquarters.'

'Really? I hope it's a good one. I tend to work very poorly in anything less than three-star accommodation.'

Hmieleski gave the Doctor a farewell pat on the arm, so Leela prepared to jump in with her first question. But the Doctor s.n.a.t.c.hed up his yo-yo and stood to face Captain Shaw and a small posse of Kristal, and two other soldiers. One was young, like Captain Shaw, but had the stride of a warrior trying to look like a leader, while the other, his skin a blend of earth and charcoal, had command written in his deep serious eyes.

Captain Shaw took charge immediately. 'All right, here's the news. Joanna, Ben's stopping here with you.' The boyish-faced officer traded nods with Hmieleski. Then Morgan gestured at the dark man. 'Doctor, this is Lieutenant Dermot Beard, he'll be riding back with us and my HQ squad.'

'You mean, you're not leaving me Pydych?' the woman Joanna asked.

'You might try hiding your disappointment,' answered Morgan, and everyone but Leela seemed to be laughing. 'Doc, Pydych is a good guy, technical wizard, he'll be a ton of help piecing together my aircraft, trust me. Okay, any questions from the civilian quarter?'

Leela wasn't sure whether she counted as the civilian quarter, but she knew she had questions. Because it was first in the queue, she said, 'What is happening?'

Everyone laughed again. But Leela was grateful to see the Doctor first to her defence. 'Captain, we really shouldn't be unfair on my a.s.sistant. The People That Time Forgot, you said - and even I managed to forget about her.' He moved to stand beside her. 'But she really is an excellent scout, capable of finding any needle in a snowstorm.'

'Well, that's Kristal's department. She's leading the search.'

'I am with Kristal,' Leela piped up, surprised to find the Doctor encouraging her with a pat.

She felt him leaning close. 'Leela,' he whispered weightily, 'if you get the chance out there, any chance at all, keep your eyes peeled for the TARDIS, there's a good girl.'

'I will do my best Doctor,' she promised.

Morgan Shaw reviewed the decisions just made around him. 'Great. That's a load off. Now can we please get moving?

And Kristal-'

'Sir.'

'You'd better be d.a.m.n certain. I don't want you coming back with a gaggle of wild geese.'

Kristal faced him with an iron calm. 'Have a little faith.

Captain.'

A silence settled along the row of vehicles, only to be broken by a cacophony of engine noise as they were fired into life.

'Leela. You're with me.'

And as Leela followed Kristal, she felt her separation from the Doctor keenly.

Amber pressed herself against the tree and waited for the truck to roll by. She was grateful for the chance to rest, although way too excited to really benefit from it. The idea that she might have been spotted only added to the buzz.