The Doctor had led Jo and Bond to Bessie and, at the wheel, had driven the three of them off the U.N.I.T. grounds before Jo asked, 'Where are we going to start looking for the Master?'

 'Haven't the foggiest,' said Bond coolly.

 'Could be anywhere,' said the Doctor.

 Something on Bond gave an electronic trill, and he pulled out a cellphone.

 'I thought you chaps installed those in your shoes,' said the Doctor.

 'Bond,' said the agent into the phone, ignoring the Doctor. 'Yes. ... How interesting. ... We'll be right there. Apologize to the Brigadier for our going on ahead, will you?' He rung off and replaced his phone in the recesses of his suitjacket.

 'Yes?' said the Doctor.

 'The Master's been sighted,' said Bond, giving a Southbridge address.

 'Who saw him?'

 'An anonymous informant.'

 The Doctor snorted. 'How convenient.'

 'Just so.'

 It was several silent minutes later that Jo realized they were being sarcastic. She gave thanks that she hadn't said anything silly in the interim.

 Elizabeth Shaw wiped the perspiration from her forehead, marveling again at the way her morning visitor had seemed utterly cool and comfortable throughout his visit. Just like the Doctor the time he'd stopped by. This chappie had the same understated arrogance, too; the kind that had to be bred into you ... She wasn't sure if she'd got through the Doctor's visit without his guessing *why* it was so hot in this building or not, but if he had there'd been no fuss kicked up.

 Liz shook it off. Here on her desk was a message that one of her charges wanted to speak with her. She flipped the intercom. 'Joss, find Dossst and ask him to my office, will you?'

 'Yes, Dr. Shaw.'

 Dossst entered within a minute. He must have been waiting. 'Dr. Shaw. I have something very important to tell you. It's about some of the others.'

 'Which of the others, Dossst?'

 Dossst's agitation became confusion. 'I don't know really. One hears things, you know?'

 'Hears ... what?'

 'They're trying to keep it all secret among themselves, but it gets out and around.'

 'Some of your people here?'

 'Yes, Dr. Shaw.'

 'Which ones?'

 'I don't know. Except ...'

 'Yes?'

 'They call themselves the "Planners".'

 He'd correctly calculated the coordinates to put himself in the alley, up against the wall of the shop. He moved to a back window and peered in.

 Bond was already there.

 Both his nemeses in the same place.

 Jiang moved to the back door. He grasped the doorhandle firmly, turned it slowly. He opened the door, edged his way inside, and came face to face with the man he'd already spotted.

 'Braun,' said the man. 'Josef Braun.'

 *Of course,* thought Jiang. *The Master's mercenary, the one who has made a career out of his resemblance to Bond.*

 Jiang had his gun out, and Braun was unarmed, though undoubtedly he was not alone. 'Tell me why I should not kill you as a lion swats a fly.'

 'Because the Master needs me for his plans,' said Braun - with unthreateningly slow movements he reached into a pocket, bringing out a handwritten note and a Polaroid snapshot - 'and you don't want to anger him.'

 Jiang took the note and the snapshot. With one look at the snapshot he instantly reholstered his weapon; then, at Braun's motion, he surrendered it. 'I prefer enemies with honor,' he said. 'Bond shall die quickly, but you and the Master ...'

 'Don't count your chickens,' said Braun, with a wolfish, decidedly un-Bondlike smile. Jiang was reading the note and didn't see it.

 'Might as well barge right in,' said the Doctor. 'Save time. He knows we're coming, and he knows we know he knows. It's the quickest way to find out what his next step is. He's still got the Minister's son you know.'

 'I haven't forgotten.'

 They pulled up right in front of a darkened shop with a CLOSED sign hanging in the door, and climbed out of the car. Jo felt quite self-conscious, as from what the Doctor and Bond were saying they must be being watched - though they didn't seem very concerned. 'Should I wave?' she asked.

 'As you like,' said the Doctor.

 The door was unlocked. The Doctor led the way in and Bond brought up the rear. As soon as the door was shut behind them the lights came on.

 The Master was flanked by Jiang and Braun. There were two large armed henchmen on either side of the entrance, one of whom had turned on the lights.

 'How nice of you to drop by,' said the Master. 'Braun - see to U.N.I.T.'

 'Yes, Master.' Braun left by the front door, and the henchman locked it.

 'Where's the Minister's son?' the Doctor asked.

 'You'll find out soon enough,' said the Master offhandedly.

 'You surprise me, Jiang,' said Bond. 'Sticking with the Master after his dishonorable treatment of you at our last encounter.'

 'I have my reasons, Mr. Bond, which are no concern of yours.'

 'What's he got on you?'

 'I said, no concern of yours.' Even Jo noticed that Jiang didn't deny, let alone refute Bond's deduction.

 The Brigadier was in the lead jeep and jumped out when he saw Braun. 'Mr. Bond!'

 'The Master,' Braun gasped. 'His men have taken the Doctor and Miss Grant! They were headed for some hideaway he has under Trafalgar Square. He left me for Jiang but I got away.'

 'Right,' said the Brigadier. 'Hop in.'

 'Bit done in, actually,' said Braun, seeming to recover some of his breath. 'I'll commandeer the Doctor's jalopy back to your digs and bring M up to speed.'

 'As you wish,' said the Brigadier. He waved for the other jeeps to follow, got back into the lead, and drove off in the lead.

 Braun continued to pant until the U.N.I.T. vehicles were all out of sight. Then he straightened his tie, jumped into Bessie, and drove off.

 'My dear Jiang,' said the Master. '"Honor" demands more than a simple death for these two. Not to leave you out, Miss Grant. No, Jiang, my history with the Doctor takes precedence over any petty differences you may have with Bond.'

 Jo hadn't noticed before now that Bond was a fidgeter. But now she saw that he had out a credit card, which he was rolling through his fingers like a stage magician with a coin.

 'This is not honor,' Jiang insisted.

 But wait - Jo had seen Bond behave this way before.

 'But you will acquiesce to my demands,' said the Master with iron in his voice.

 He'd been doing the same thing with his watch just before he attacked Jiang with it.

 'And I shall remember this later,' said Jiang, growling back.

 Two wires leapt from the credit card at one of the henchmen. There was a snap of electricity and he fell. The Doctor plunged the first two fingers of his right hand into the sternum of the other, and he fell too.

 'Get them!' shouted the Master as Jiang leapt at them. Jiang spun and kicked and chopped and succeeded in occupying both the Doctor and Bond. Jo took advantage of the Master's occupation with watching the battle to jump him.

 The Master didn't have the martial arts training Jo had as a prerequisite to joining U.N.I.T., but he had inhuman strength, agility and quickness to compensate. Jo had entered into the fray with no more hope than to keep the Master busy until the Doctor and Bond were done with Jiang. She miscalculated. About three minutes into the duel, as she was beginning to realize her breath and stamina were giving out, she let the Master in under her guard during a spin, felt a blow to the back of her head, saw stars, and then saw blackness.

 The Doctor grinned at him from the floor where Jiang had landed him. He hardly had time to lose the grin as Bond pulled out a pistol, aimed what looked like right at the Doctor, and fired.

 The Doctor spun to look behind him. The henchman he'd thought immobilized by his Venusian aikido hold was holding a gun on him. He was also trickling blood from a hole in his forehead. As the Doctor watched, he fell forward to the floor.

 'That wasn't necessary!' hissed the Doctor, jumping to a standing position.

 'Killing,' said Bond, 'is reprehensible because it is irreversible. It is to be avoided because it's the ultimate in the oppression of another individual's will and freedom, and risks turning the mind and soiling the soul. It is therefore defensible only as a defense - not necessarily right, certainly not good, but defensible. And I,' he concluded, 'have just done it for you.'

 The Doctor bit back his reply ('Don't do me any favors'); this was not the time to argue. 'Come on, the Master's got Jo!' He led Bond past the dead and unconscious bodies toward the back of the store, the only way the Master could have gone, the front way having been blocked by the fight with Jiang.

 They burst into the alley. It was absolutely cluttered with throwaway crating from the factory loading dock on the other side of the alley.

 'They could be anywhere,' said the Doctor, but quietly so that no one but Bond might hear.

 Bind nodded. He still had his gun out; he waved the Doctor one way and set off slowly and carefully the other.

 The Doctor had crept down the alley for less than a minute when he heard the sounds of a scuffle behind him. He turned in time to see Bond's pistol skitter out into the open from behind a large pile of empty crates, knocking over the precariously piled stack as it did so.

 'So,' the Doctor heard the Master's voice as he moved as quickly as possible back that way without making any noise, 'the noble rescuer. Botched it, didn't you?'

 The Doctor found his way blocked by the crates that the gun had knocked over. He could see Bond standing in a relatively clear area among the remaining, no more than shoulder-high, stacks of cardboard crates; and he could see the Master - just; and Jo was lying apparently unconscious nearby; but getting any closer to their position quietly was impossible.

 'I'm willing to have another go,' said Bond.

 Bond's gun was at the Doctor's feet. He picked it up.

 'You're a very small problem, Mr. Bond,' said the Master. 'And you're about to become smaller still.' He must be getting out the Tissue Compression Eliminator.

 The Master was almost completely obscured by their surroundings. Only his head was presented to the Doctor's view. Aiming to graze wasn't an option; the Doctor had never fired this weapon of course, and had no idea of the accuracy of its gunsight - he might miss cleanly, accomplishing nothing but to alert the Master of his presence. The only way to save Bond's life was to aim for the head shot.

 'And now, Mr. Bond,' the Doctor heard, 'you shall die.'

 END OF CHAPTER 5