Doctor Who: The Invasion Read Free Page B

paused to examine the huge bronze plaque above the entrance, with its symbolic zig-zag spark gripped in a giant fist, before marching resolutely through the automatic glass doors and into the deserted circular foyer.
    Unknown to them, two men crouched on the flat roof of an anonymous office block opposite were observing them intently - one through powerful binoculars, the other through the viewfinder of a polaroid camera. They wore drab suits with narrow dark ties and both had short military haircuts. The larger man with the binoculars spoke tersely into a compact walkie-talkie.
     
    'They're just going inside now... Tracey's getting them on film.'
    The smaller man ripped the film out of the camera and hugged it under his arm to speed up the developing process.
    The big man listened to his radio. 'Roger, sir. Benton out,' he said, switching off. Ducking below the parapet he crawled across to Tracey and examined the photograph. 'HQ want those two Top Priority,' he said. 'We pick them up as soon as they come out.'
    Tracey uttered a curt laugh. ' If they come out,' he grunted.
     
    The Doctor glanced contemptuously at the plastic chairs arranged facing a semicircle of small computer terminals in the middle of the glass foyer. 'I suppose this is Reception,' he muttered distastefully, sitting in front of a terminal which had lit up expectantly as they entered.
    'International Electromatix. State your business,' rapped the machine.
    'I wish to see Professor Watkins,' stated the Doctor.
    'One moment...'
    Behind a perspex screen above the terminals, tape spools jerked spasmodically back and forth.
    'Party not available. Good day,' the machine announced at last.
    The Doctor squirmed with suppressed indignation. 'Then I wish to see someone in authority,' he retorted.
    'Key in identity. Request will be considered and appointment arranged.'
    'That's no good,' insisted the Doctor, 'I wish to see someone now.'
    'All personnel engaged.'
    The Doctor's normally sallow features flushed with outrage. 'I insist,' he shouted. 'This is an emergency.'
    'Inform exact nature of emergency,' instructed the mechanical receptionist, its spools spinning busily.
    'It is a personal matter.'
    There was a brief pause. 'Personal matters merit no emergency status,' the grating voice announced. 'Key in identity and...'
    The Doctor's nimble fingers played a frenzied sequence of random keys on the keyboard. 'There. Work that out!' he snapped, leaping out of the chair. He strode over to the gleaming chromium-plated doors leading into the building itself and Jamie scampered nervously after him.
     
    High above them in the penthouse suite of offices at the top of the tower, two men stood in a spacious clinical room watching the two intruders on a bank of circular closed-circuit video monitors. The combination of swept-back silver hair and thick black eyebrows gave the older man a disturbing appearance. His right eye was permanently half-closed, but his left gazed wide open with chilling pale blue iris and huge black pupil. His clothes were coldly elegant: a plain suit with collarless jacket, round-necked shirt and gleaming black shoes with chrome buckles. Head tilted slightly back, he watched the multiple images of the Doctor and Jamie as if they were specimens under a microscope.
    'Do you recognise them, Packer?' he murmured in a leisurely cultured voice.
    Packer, dressed in black security personnel outfit minus the helmet and visor, shook his head. 'No, Mr Vaughn.' His small black eyes gleamed with sadistic alertness, but his pale waxy face tapered to a weak receding jaw. His voice was thin and devious.
    Vaughn sat down in a large padded swivel chair facing the vast semicircular chrome desk. Behind him the grey panorama of London stretched beyond the wide curving window through half-open vertical louvres. Reaching forward, he selected new pictures as Jamie and the Doctor walked down a long starkly-lit corridor, peering suspiciously around them. 'Most intriguing,'