XIA#1: From UNIT With Love
Chapter Eleven: 'The Penultimate Ploy'
by Rebecca Dowgiert
The Brigadier and his men arrived at the school grounds to a scene of utter pandemonium. One of the old granite buildings had collapsed into a jumbled pile of rubble, flames licking at the debris.
Shell-shocked students smeared with red were picking their way amongst piles of shattered window-glass as school staff tottered about.
The Brigadier sighed heavily as his men set about taking control of the situation.
Of those three men, not Braun. Let M15 deal with him for now; he and his men had work to do!
He felt the three corpses he'd left behind demonstrated forbearance. Compared to what he could have done.
Stepping carefully down the corridor, he rounded a corner to see Jiang waiting up ahead.
His sneer deepened. Sour git, always going on about his 'honor' and how he intended to kill Bond. He'd never liked the Asian in the short time they'd been acquainted. Perhaps it was time for an unfortunate accident -- times of confusion and battle such as the up-coming confrontation with the Doctor and Bond were excellent for eliminating annoyances without being suspected of being the true cause.
Odd, but Jiang's eyes seemed to be glowing... Impossible; a trick of the light. He--
There was a sudden, wordless shout, a silent concussion, then thick silence.
A few moments later, Jiang turned on his heel and strode back up the way he had come.
Empty corridor stretched behind him.
A needless gesture, really, but he enjoyed the symbolism. "That should keep the Brigadier nicely occupied," he commented to nobody. "He really ought to thank me; there *is* nothing more wearying than useless waiting."
Alas, nothing much could be done for the guests he'd just left. Though they wouldn't have to wait for much longer.
Another glance at his watch, as a thin-lipped smile grew. And the Doctor and James Bond should be arriving any minute now...
Up ahead he saw Jiang Dehuai waiting for him, holding firmly onto the arm of a small boy, of about ten years. The lad, dressed in a jacket and chinos, a tie and polished shoes, was unnaturally calm. Drugged.
Jiang was still around for only one reason, he knew: to get the chance to properly kill his nemesis, Bond. As he himself would destroy the Doctor.
Not that he cared a jot for Jiang's ludicrous obsession with 'honor' and revenge; not when he had his own triumph to anticipate. "You are ready?" the Master asked.
The renegade Time Lord didn't notice the gleam in Jiang's eyes. "Oh *yes*," the Asian said with dangerous softness, thinking of all he owed the world, and the extraordinary beings with which he had now allied himself.
Bond glanced aside at his colleague's slight grimace of annoyance as a gaggle of young people stepped off the curb right in front of them, confident they'd not be hit by the crawling Edwardian Roadster. Several glanced curiously at the bright yellow vehicle as they passed.
"Yes, yes," the Doctor muttered. "On your way..." The street cleared, and he pressed the accelerator.
Behind him, Jo stifled a smile.
M shook her head.
Liz wriggled, quietly infuriated now that the grogginess had left her. "I thought I'd left this sort of thing behind when I quit working with the Doctor..."
When she heard no reply, she looked up angrily. M was staring at nothing in particular.
"M. Are you all right?"
The woman said nothing, staring hard at the wall. A second later, she twitched, shrugged her shoulders vigorously, and pulled her freed hands from behind her chair.
Liz smiled in appreciation. "Well done," she said softly. Half a minute later, the M15 agent was behind her, loosening her ropes. "I could use some of the training you agents've got."
M glanced up, a polite smile on her lips, her gaze darting around the room, at the shuttered window, at the door. Once Liz was free, the agent stepped over to the window and raised one of the slats on the venetian blind to peek out.
"Well, well..." she muttered softly.
"What?" Liz inquired, glancing back at the door, half-expecting someone to come bursting in on them.
"We appear to be in Cambridge."
"Here; let me see..." Liz's voice trailed off as she peered through the slats. "You're right; we must be in one of the University buildings! But why--" She broke off. "Never mind; let's just get out of here!"
M positioned her self to one side of the doorway, motioning for Liz to open it. The researcher did so. When no one appeared, the two women carefully peered out.
The corridor was clear.
"Right." Letting the more experienced M lead, Liz followed her stealthily down the hallway.
Jiang bowed slightly. It *would* be the last time he bowed to this man. "As you wish."
The last time. The last time. The last time.
The Master watched him go. His behavior had changed within the last few days, from barely restrained frustration to a more worrisome coiled self-control.
No matter. The denouement was almost here. He turned his attention to the silent boy standing nearby, no more than a zombie.
"You see; you can never have too many hostages to serve as bait, Henry," he told the Minister's son. "You guaranteed attention; the M15 woman and Shaw seal the deal. The Doctor and Bond *will* be here."
Henry blinked, but said nothing.
"What do you know of him?" Liz asked. "He seems to know of the Doctor, but I've never heard of him..."
M looked over at her a bit sternly. "A master criminal. That should suffice. Very dangerous. I believe James has encountered him at least once before, though he refused to give us any details."
They both froze as an echo, a *clink* came to their ears.
Waiting...
Nothing. "Let's go," M whispered, and they eschewed discussion for more practical matters.
He turned, walked without panic to the elevator at the end of the hall, entered it, and rode down to the ground floor.
Positioning himself in one of the recessed doorways in the hall just beyond the stairwell door, he waited patiently.
Minutes later, he heard the stairwell door creak open. He waited a few seconds, heard the whisper of quiet foot-falls, then stepped out into the corridor.
Time slowed. He flowed into a defensive posture, seeing the other auburn-haired woman start in surprise, then get a hold of herself and start to run for the exit.
Jiang moved just enough to avoid the M15 agent's rush, dodging an attack that would have inconvenienced him, had he remained to counter it.
Instead, he launched himself at Shaw, grabbing her before she had gone more than a few yards, spinning her around and wrapping an arm around her throat.
Time returned to normal.
M rebounded painfully off the wall, then froze, her face set and grim.
A gun appeared. "Your presence is requested," Jiang told them mildly. "This way."
The Doctor's voice was casual, factual, the expression on his face calm.
Jo glanced at him askance. A tone *that* neutral bespoke of underlying emotion indeed. Or maybe she was imagining it all.
Next to her, James also sent a look at the Doctor. Cool, sympathetic. She *wasn't* the only one seeing it! Shaw's departure must have affected the Time Lord more than he had ever let on...
Jo considered, then decided: The One Who Got Away. She repressed a somewhat rueful smile. If *she'd* had umpteen advanced degrees, would she have worked with the Doctor, then just left, as if it were a mere temp job?
Jo wrinkled her nose, then shook her head slightly. Useless to imagine; unfair to presume to know Liz Shaw's reasons for leaving. And if she hadn't left UNIT, Jo herself might not be here now.
"Jo? Something the matter?" The Doctor, concerned.
She smiled, shook her head. "Well, not yet, anyway." She glanced up at the inscrutable granite building, then wrapped her jacket a little tighter.
Bond smiled debonairly. "I believe this is where we part company for a bit."
"Good luck, old chap," the Doctor murmured. "Do try to keep the body count down, will you?"
Bond glanced up coolly at his colleague, saw the slight smile, and relented. "I'll see what I can do," he replied. "I've some new mini-bombs to try out, though..."
He slipped away, around the building and out of sight.
The Doctor turned to Jo in a perfect imitation of Bond's air of elegant competence. "Shall we, my dear? Into the breach." He grinned as her tentative smile widened.
They crossed the street and entered the building.
They sneaked.
"The 'Planners', Jo are... the Planners," the Doctor told her, when she asked.
"You don't know; do you?"
"Not exactly... Though I do have a suspicion."
"Mr. Bond seemed to think it was some sort of terrorist group."
"He would; that's been his focus, you see, dealing with terrestrial groups as he has been these past seven years. But if the Master is dealing with them, they're probably extra-terrestrial in origin, given his obsession with getting off Earth and into a position of universal domination."
Jo blinked. "Again?"
The Doctor slanted a somewhat stern glance her way. "What they might want with the activation codes for 'Melt-Down' I don't know."
"To invade?" she hazarded.
"Perhaps. Though to do so by creating hot spots of radioactivity that wouldn't cause massive destruction immediately seems a bit inefficient." He paused, lost in speculation. "Though there's always..."
Jo looked uneasily at him as his brows furrowed. "What?" she asked, low voiced.
"There are species that feed off of ionizing radiation. I do hope..." He trailed off.
Jo suppressed a surge of exasperation. "Doctor, I wish you'd just tell me!" she exclaimed.
The Time Lord looked at her, his eyebrows raised. "That they're not going to melt down all the vulnerable reactors in Britain, perhaps even in the entire world. It would get quite messy."
They were here; he could feel it. He smiled dangerously, feeling the familiar surge of adrenaline. Gearing up for the confrontation.
He'd never experienced anything like this before he'd come to Earth.
Made all the rest of it worthwhile...
Bond strained his ears. Voices. A chuckle, a whisper, in the room up ahead at the end of the corridor...
The Master. Fiddling with his cuff-links, the super-spy strode towards the doorway.
Time to do what he did best.
The renegade nodded at Jiang.
A moment later, Liz shrieked in pain as the assassin cruelly twisted her arm.
The involuntary cry brought the Doctor, eyes blazing, to the opposite doorway within moments, Jo appearing behind him scant seconds later.
"Excellent!" the Master proclaimed. "Now that we are all here, it is time for you to meet the Planners at last!"
He raised a spheroid device and pressed a stud upon it.
There was a sudden, wordless shout, a silent concussion, then thick silence.
To Be Concluded.