Doctor Who: BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures [008] - Option Lock by Justin Richards

Author:Justin Richards
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563405832
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 1998-03-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Blazing Fire

Colonel Roskov and his nephew Ivan seemed frozen in position. It was as if the enormity of their action had suddenly pressed home. Each mirrored the other, leaning forward over a console, index finger jabbed down on the red button. Still holding it down as if afraid to let go now.

Even when the burst of gunfire hammered into the base commander, driving his body first upright, then down over the control panel, his finger remained firmly in position. Ivan mirrored his uncle even in death, his own body jolted and rocked by the impact of the 9mm shells as they slammed him across the console. His head nit the screen with so much force it cracked the glass.

Ivigan stared in disbelief at the mess of bodies and debris that littered the floor of the room. A narrow river of blood met his left boot and formed a rock pool round the toecap, thickening and becoming viscous.

The staccato echoes of the final shots faded and the smoke from the flrefight thinned and drifted away to nothing. The silence was broken only by Ivan Roskov’s body slowly sagging and slumping to the floor, his right arm still extended towards the launch button. On the cracked, blood-spattered screen, the red tracer lines continued their slow, significant progress across the world.

Across the world, Norton Silver leaned forward across the desk as he watched the tracer lines intently. ‘Any moment now,’ he murmured. ‘Any moment now and they must respond.’

The Doctor leaned suddenly forward, his face appearing over Silver’s shoulder so that the large man flinched. He had been concentrating so much on watching the screen that he had neither seen nor heard the Doctor’s approach.

‘You actually want the Americans to respond?’ The Doctor’s voice was also quiet, but there was an edge of steel to it as his hand closed on Silver’s shoulder and he turned the man round to face him. ‘What exactly is going on?’ Their eyes met and locked. ‘What are you doing?’

Silver shook himself free, agitated rather than angry. ‘They will respond to the attack.’ His clenched fist slammed down on the desk in front of him.

‘They must respond.’

‘We must respond.’ Pete Kellerman’s words brought silence to the table. It was the first unsolicited comment he had made since arriving in the White House Situation Room. Even the President turned to him, surprised.

‘Pete?’

‘If we respond immediately, we have a chance of making the strike more significant. More decisive.’

From the main monitor, General Kane coughed. ‘We still don’t have actual confirmation that a launch has taken place.’

‘Oh, come on!’ Kellerman pointed to the map display where the tracer lines were slowly following the dotted arcs that projected the paths of the missiles, connecting the dots inexorably as they headed towards the eastern coast of the United States. ‘Why don’t you wake up and smell the fallout?’

Kane ignored the interruption. ‘And even if they have launched, we know it’s probably the work of a madman. Who do we retaliate against?

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