Doctor Who: BBC Past Doctor Adventures [047] - Dying in the Sun by Jon de Burgh Miller

Author:Jon de Burgh Miller
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563538400
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 2001-09-29T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Dusk was setting in as the Doctor and Ben sat in the Doctor’s rental car, parked a few doors away, and on the other side of the street, from Wallis’s house.

‘Is he ever going to leave?’ Ben sighed. They’d been watching the house, for two hours since Wallis had returned from work and the cop still hadn’t emerged. ‘We could be looking for Polly, you know.’

‘She’s probably gone back to the hotel by now. Besides, I’ve left a message. She’ll know what we’re up to. I’ve asked Fletcher to keep an eye out for her, too. Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll be fine.’

Ben was about to argue when he heard the sound of a door slamming. He looked across the road to see Wallis leaving his house and marching down the driveway towards his car.

The Doctor and Ben instinctively ducked to make sure he couldn’t see them then, as Wallis’s car pulled away, the Doctor started his own vehicle and began a cautious pursuit.

‘Keep your eyes open, Ben,’ he said. ‘We mustn’t lose him, but we can’t get too close in case he sees us and realises he’s being followed.’

Wallis’s journey through the Californian countryside seemed to take for ever. After they’d been travelling for over an hour Ben started to get restless.

‘Are you sure this is right?’ he wondered. ‘Why hold a meeting so far away? Maybe the FOCAL thing’s been cancelled, maybe he’s made other plans.’

‘Maybe,’ said the Doctor, ‘but I think it’s more that they’re trying to keep the meeting as secret as possible. We’ll see, anyway.’

Eventually Wallis drove up a long path leading to a magnificent castle surrounded by palatial gardens, fountains and wildlife, then stopped his car.

‘What is this place?’ Ben wondered as the Doctor parked some distance back from Wallis, making sure they were safely concealed by the darkness.

The Doctor and Ben followed the policeman as he got out of his car and walked through an imposing archway at the front of the castle. They found themselves inside a luxuriously decorated entrance hall. The walls were made from stone in various pastel colours and were covered in elaborate classically styled marble and corniced architecture tinted with gold. Around the edges of the hall was a collection of statues, paintings and art treasures. Whoever owned this place certainly had a great deal of money.

They tried to keep back to conceal their presence, and followed Wallis as he walked through a side door off the hall that led to a large auditorium which looked as though it might once have been a theatre. Where there would have been seats there were now just deep-pile red carpets on which stood a crowd of people, presumably other members of FOCAL, enjoying food and drink from the tables scattered around the edges of the room. It looked as though there were about a hundred men and women, of various ages though Ben seemed to be one of the youngest among them. He and the Doctor tried to keep to the sides of the auditorium, staying in the shadows to make sure they weren’t conspicuous.

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