Doctor Who: BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures [040] - Endgame

Author:Terrance Dicks
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563538226
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 2000-11-05T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Washington

‘So Guy went as well,’ said Kim Philby. ‘That’s awkward. Dammed awkward. It wasn’t what I had in mind at all.’

‘It certainly wasn’t what I had in mind,’ said the Doctor. ‘He turned up to warn Maclean just as I did, and insisted on coming along.’

Philby nodded. ‘I can’t say I’m really surprised.’ He sighed. ‘Guy always had very good instincts – and a well developed sense of self‐preservation. Beneath that shambolic exterior, he’s a lot tougher and brighter than he looks. I had hoped he’d hang on for a while longer, though.’

The Doctor and Kim Philby were talking in a basement room in Philby’s house in Washington DC, a comfortable diplomatic residence on tree‐lined Nebraska Avenue. The Doctor had made his way there by taxi as instructed, and found Philby waiting impatiently for news.

Philby had quickly introduced the Doctor to his wife Aileen. ‘This is Dr Smith from the Foreign Office,’ he told her. ‘He’ll be staying with us for a few days.’ They spent a few minutes exchanging social pleasantries. Then, as soon as was polite, Philby had whisked the Doctor down to the basement for de‐briefing.

The entire basement was taken up with a big, comfortable room. Much of the available floor space was occupied by an ‘O’ gauge electric train set, and a toy wigwam stood in one corner.

‘This is the playroom normally,’ Philby had explained. ‘As if you can’t tell. Hope you don’t mind the clutter.’

The Doctor shook his head. ‘No, no,’ he said. ‘I like trains. I used to have a set myself,’ he added wistfully. ‘At least I think I did. Quite sophisticated as I recall.’

But Philby wasn’t listening. ‘This is where Guy stayed before he got sent home in disgrace,’ he was saying, lost in his memories of happier times. He pulled himself back to the present and cleared his throat. ‘But now there’s a vacancy, you may as well have the use of it.’

They settled themselves into battered but functional armchairs, and Philby listened eagerly to the Doctor’s account of the escape.

‘But you managed to get them away?’ he asked anxiously as the Doctor started his story, implying that the episode had not been uneventful.

‘Not without difficulty,’ said the Doctor. He told Philby of the various attacks, outside the house, on the road and finally on the boat.

Philby roared with laughter as the Doctor told of the final struggle. ‘Chucked him in the sea, did you? Well done.’ He slapped his knee with delight. ‘We won’t have any more trouble from him, then!’

‘I shouldn’t bank on it,’ said the Doctor. ‘We’re dealing with people with very unusual powers. If indeed they are people,’ he added significantly.

Philby stared at him. ‘Aliens?’ he asked eventually. ‘You don’t really think it’s little green men behind this, do you Doctor?’

‘Not little green men,’ the Doctor agreed. ‘Well, not as such. But beings who can assume human form. Who can appear and vanish at will.’

‘Are you serious, Doctor?’

‘The man who tried to kill me in my cellar faded away when he was in my grip.

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