Doctor Who: The Reign of Terror (15 page)

At that moment, Lemaitre's tall figure
appeared from the dark passage leading to his room.

The gaoler strutted over to him. 'Two
recaptured prisoners, Citizen!' he reported proudly.

Lemaitre stared impassively at the two
girls and then motioned the gaoler to withdraw with him out of
earshot. As they talked, the gaoler kept glancing back at his two
captives and nodding energetically.

'What do you think they're saying?'
Susan whispered feebly, very weak after the hot march from
Montmartre.

Before Barbara could reply, the gaoler
came swaggering back to them and Lemaitre looked on, an eerie figure
in the shadows.

The jailer ordered two guards to take
Susan back to the dungeon.

'Barbara!' Susan gasped, as she was
seized and dragged away.

Barbara tried to follow, but the gaoler
grabbed her arm with brutal ferocity. 'Not you, Mademoiselle,' he
leered. 'You're wanted for questioning.'

It was torture for Barbara to listen to
Susan's faint cries of desperation in the distance, while she herself
was forced across the alcove to Lemaitre. Lemaitre waved his hand and
she was propelled along the narrow dark passage and into his room at
the end. She tried to struggle, but she was far too exhausted. In the
bare room she was confronted by a tall cloaked figure standing with
its back to her and staring out of the small barred window. With its
tall plumed hat, the figure reminded her of the Spanish Inquisition.

Swallowing a cry of panic and despair,
Barbara resolved to say nothing. She would betray nothing and nobody,
whatever they did to her.

'Citizen Lemaitre said you might like
to interrogate this prisoner,' the gaoler growled.

The mysterious figure raised an arm and
waved the ruffian away. As soon as the door had slammed shut behind
the gaoler, the tall figure slowly turned to face the prisoner.

Barbara's eyes almost popped out. She
uttered a strangled gasp of disbelief and delight. 'Doctor!' she
breathed. 'Doctor!'

The beaming Time Lord came forward and
clasped her hands. 'Barbara ... Barbara, you're safe!' he murmured,
hugging her tightly and laughing with quiet but heartfelt relief.

His heart pounding and his nerves
tingling, Ian crept cautiously down the worn steps into the
rubble-strewn crypt of the abandoned church. Short stubby pillars
supported arches behind which deep unfathomable shadows stretched on
either side. Straw, nettles, glass, bricks and tiles were scattered
everywhere and it was dark as a cave, except for odd shafts of sun
streaming through holes in the church floor above.

Suddenly he heard a movement behind
him. He whipped round and was just able to distinguish a tall cloaked
figure in the shadows. 'Leon . . . ?' he whispered
tentatively.

'You must be Ian,' answered the ghostly
shape.

'Yes, I am.'

'Are you alone?' Colbert inquired
casually in his resonant voice.

Ian confirmed that he was. 'Jules Renan
said that you might be able to help us, Leon.'

'Us?'

'Myself and my friends,' Ian explained,
breaking off as he heard faint sounds from the shadowy archways.
Gesturing to Colbert to keep quiet, Ian slowly turned round.

He found himself confronting two
militiamen with their bayonets and musket trained on his heart.

'Soldiers!' he gasped, turning back to
Colbert.

The Frenchman was covering him with a
pair of ornate cocked pistols. 'Poor Englishman. So crude and lacking
in finesse,' Leon laughed. 'You walked right into our trap, did you
not, Ian!'

Ian glanced back at the soldiers and
then at the murky steps behind Leon. 'Forget about escape,' Colbert
scoffed contemptously. 'And as for being rescued? Nobody will come
here, take my word.'

Ian squinted into the gloom, trying to
form a clearer impression of who he was up against. 'If I do not
return, Jules will investigate,' he challenged.

Colbert came forward into a shaft of
light. 'By that time we shall have taken care of him too,' he
retorted. He signalled to the soldiers.

They grabbed Ian and dragged him
against a pillar with iron rings set into it. His wrists were firmly
shackled to the rings with stout chains.

'Well, you never know who your friends
are ... ' Ian remarked with a sour smile.

Leon walked nonchalantly over to him.
'Our association would have had to end anyway,' he revealed. 'Jules
already suspects that a ... a traitor, if you want to use that word .
. . is working inside our organisation. We were about to close in on
him too.'

'But what on earth do you want from
me?' Ian demanded.

Leon smiled. 'Information of course.'

Ian smiled too, as if any suggestion
that he would talk was beneath his contempt.

Leon frowned. 'Oh, you will co-operate
... eventually,' he said drily. He smiled again. 'Think about it,
Ian. We have plenty of time.' Leon turned and walked away into the
shadows.

'He's giving you time to consider,'
hissed one of the soldiers.

Ian struggled half-heartedly against
the tight iron shackles. 'I do not need any time,' he retorted
defiantly. 'I know nothing of any value.'

The soldier slashed his bayonet to and
fro in Ian's face. 'We'll decide that when you talk,' he sneered,
hitting Ian in the stomach with the butt of his musket. 'And you'll
talk,' he promised, hitting Ian again so that he
doubled over in agony. 'Oh yes, you'll certainly talk ... '

Lemaitre's noble features creased in a
slow and thoughtful smile as he listened through the door to the
excited conversation in English between the old man and the young
woman taking place in the interrogation room. As far as he could make
out, his suspicions were proving correct.

'Doctor, we began to think we'd never
see you again ... ' Barbara was saying, overjoyed to be reunited at
last.

The Doctor chuckled wryly. 'You should
have discovered by now, my dear, that you can't get rid of the old
Doctor as easily as that,' he chided her. Then he suddenly grew very
serious. 'But what about Susan? Do you know where she is?'

'She's here in the Conciergerie,
Doctor. She was arrested with me,' Barbara told him, breathless with
surprise.

The Doctor's eyebrows shot up. 'Susan's
here?' he exclaimed. 'Is she all right?'

'Fine, except that she caught a bit of
a chill. She's in the dungeon.'

The Doctor frowned. 'Then we must find
Chesterton and get everyone back to the TARDIS at once,' he declared
decisively.

'Doctor, we know where Ian is,' said
Barbara, sinking into one of the chairs. 'We were all hiding at a
house.owned by Jules Renan ... '

'Splendid ... ' muttered the Doctor,
pacing thoughtfully up and down in his finery. 'Then all we need now
is a plan of escape. Where is this house?'

Before Lemaitre could hear Barbara's
reply, the gaoler came waddling breathlessly along the passage.

'Not now, gaoler, I'll speak to you
later,' Lemaitre snapped, a frown like a thundercloud settling on his
brow.

But the gaoler was determined to speak.
'I've just received a message for you from the First Deputy ... '
he mumbled, nodding significantly at the two soldiers flanking the
door.

'Well?' Lemaitre demanded, reluctantly
moving out of earshot.

'Citizen Robespierre wants to see you
immediately,' the gaoler confided. 'He said it was of the
greatest importance.'

Lemaitre banged his fists together in
frustration. He dearly wished to eavesdrop on the conversation in the
room, but he equally appreciated the folly of delaying after a
summons from Robespierre himself.

'The First Deputy did say immediately .
. . ' the gaoler repeated with a knowing grin.

'Yes, yes, yes ... ' Lemaitre nodded
tetchily. 'Listen, gaoler, has the young girl been locked away?'

'I saw to it myself, Citizen. Just as
you ordered.'

Lemaitre leaned forward, thrusting his
face into the ruffian's. 'She is to remain in her cell whatever
happens,' he instructed grimly. 'You understand? Under no
circumstances is her door to be opened.'

The gaoler nodded obsequiously. 'As you
say, Citizen. Under no circum ... '

'And if my order if disobeyed I'll have
you guillotined ... '

The gaoler stared mesmerised at
Lemaitre's brilliant white teeth only millimetres from his bulbous
nose and nodded frantically. Then Lemaitre beckoned to the two
sentries to follow him and strode rapidly away. Gulping and quaking
in his boots, the gaoler watched them go and then scurried back to
the alcove on his stumpy little legs.

At that moment, on the other side of
the door, the Doctor was snapping his fingers and beaming with
inspiration. 'That's it, I've got it!' he cried.

Barbara seemed not to hear him. She was
still mulling over the mistakes she had made. 'I was a fool even to
think of taking Susan to the physician. It's my fault entirely,' she
confessed gloomily.

'As it happens things have worked out
quite well,' the Doctor contradicted her. 'It might have taken ages
for us all to find one another otherwise.'

Barbara looked suddenly hopeful. 'Do
you really think we have any chance of getting out of here?' she
asked.

'I most certainly do,' the Doctor
nodded vehemently. 'My voice appears to carry some weight around
here.'

Barbara grinned. 'I'm not surprised in
that get-up,' she said, pointing at the Doctor's elaborate costume.

The Doctor fixed her with a stern
look. 'Now, pay attention, Barbara. I'm going outside
now. You must wait a few minutes. Then you must walk out of the room
and out of the Conciergerie.'

Barbara gaped at the white-haired Time
Lord as if he had just gone mad. 'Are you serious?' she eventually
exclaimed.

The Doctor grasped her shoulders and
stared earnestly into her eyes. 'Of course I am, Barbara. There's no
time to explain. Don't ask questions, just do as I say.'

'But what about Susan? Surely you
haven't forgotten about her?'

'I'll take care of Susan,' the Doctor
insisted adamantly. 'We shall be along, don't you worry. We'll meet
at the house.'

Barbara looked very doubtful about the
whole idea. 'But Doctor, what if...

The Doctor waved his stick and shook
his head so that his tall white plumes waved majestically in the
shafts of sunlight streaming through the window into the poky room.
'Now do stop arguing, Barbara. You know perfectly well that my
schemes always work,' he declared, gazing down his nose at the mere
mortal.

Barbara watched helplessly as he opened
the door and peered cautiously outside to check that the coast was
clear.

'Just wait a few minutes and then leave
... ' he reminded her. Seconds later he was gone.

Against her better judgement, Barbara
found herself nodding at empty space. A thousand questions that she
should have asked and that the Doctor should have answered flooded
into her mind. But it was too late now.

The Doctor strode authoritatively into
the alcove and rapped on the table with his stick. 'Where is
Lemaitre?' he demanded loftily.

The gaoler hurriedly corked his cognac
bottle and wiped his blubbery lips. 'The Citizen has gone to see
First Deputy Robespierre.'

The Doctor concealed his secret smile
of relief beneath a scowl of irritation. 'Dear, dear, dear. I wanted
to see him most urgently,' he complained, beginning to pace
restlessly around the table. 'You see, I have interrogated the young woman and I am convinced that she is a
dangerous member of the anti-revolutionary party ... '

The gaoler's eyes widened expectantly.

'I'm sure she could reveal the names of
all the leading traitors in France ... ' the Doctor added, tapping
his nose with the handle of his walking stick in imitation of
Lemaitre.

'Perhaps we could make her talk,' the
gaoler suggested eagerly.

The Doctor continued his pacing as
though deep in thought. 'No. No chance, my friend. She would die
before she betrayed her treacherous associates,' he declared. He sat
on the edge of the table, frowning with exaggerated concentration.
'Oh, if only there was some way we could make use of her . . Some way
we could use her to lead us to her brothers and sisters ... '

The gaoler knitted his apelike brows in
the effort to come up with a suggestion. He did not notice the
Doctor's impatient sidelong glances in his direction, willing him to
have a brainwave.

There was a long chasm-like pause.

'Perhaps we could ... ' the gaoler
began.

'Yes? Yes, what is it?' cried the
Doctor, jumping up from the table.

The gaoler concentrated extremely hard.
'Well, Citizen, if the young lady was allowed to sort of escape she
could be followed ... I mean, she'd go and meet the traitors and we'd
follow her and arrest them all ...' The gaoler sank back on his
chair and wiped his brow as if the idea had taken a lot out of him.

The Doctor gazed at the gaoler in
breathless admiration. 'My dear fellow!' he exclaimed after a
suitable pause. 'My dear fellow, what a superb idea! Why didn't I
think of it myself?'

The gaoler beamed modestly and
shrugged.

'That is exactly what we shall do,' the
Doctor continued enthusiastically. 'Lemaitre will be absolutely
delighted with you.' The Doctor walked round the table and spoke
confidentially into the flattered ruffian's cauliflower ear. 'Open
the prison gates, gaoler, and then keep your men out of sight. Sooner or later the girl will
find her way out and we shall simply follow her!'

The gaoler looked ecstatic. Nodding
with conspiratorial eagerness, he scuttled away to do the Doctor's
bidding.

The Doctor smiled smugly to himself and
then turned and hurried away along the vault towards the dungeon.

After a while Barbara peeped out of
Lemaitre's room and then ran along the narrow passage to the alcove.
The prison looked deserted. She ran along the vault and up the steps
to the courtyard. Reaching the open air, she sighed with relief. The
Doctor appeared to have arranged everything perfectly. Taking a deep
breath, she plucked up her courage and walked towards the main
gateway, hoping against hope that nothing would go wrong now.