I didn’t move.
‘Come in – or I shoot him now instead of later.’
I walked slowly into the room. I had nothing – no weapon and no plan, but I wasn’t going to leave Dr Bairstow to face this alone. If, somehow, I could buy him a few vital moments, I would do it gladly. I couldn’t care less what happened to me, but I did care what happened to Dr Bairstow and to St Mary’s. If, somehow, I could take this bitch with me …
‘Gun on the floor.’
‘I’m not armed,’ I said, regretting now that I’d given my blaster away and holding up my hands.
‘Stand over there. Right over there. By the window.’
I complied.
‘Now,’ she said. ‘I’m going to remove the data stick. You cannot prevent this. The only thing I have to do then is decide whether I shoot you both now, or later.’
Not at all would be my first choice.
‘Give it up, Izzie. You’ll never get out of the building alive.’
‘I don’t intend to get out of the building at all. While everyone is battling it out downstairs, I’m up here heroically defending Dr Bairstow from assassination. I find you trying to steal vital data concerning our remote site. Bravely, I intervene. We will struggle. The gun will go off, tragically killing Dr Bairstow. I wrest it from you, and in the struggle, I shoot you dead. Who will blame me? I shall be a heroine. Should the Time Police prevail, possession of this information will render me more than acceptable to them. Should St Mary’s win, I fought to defend Dr Bairstow from someone half the unit still considers an imposter. In either case, I shall be appointed Director of St Mary’s. Which will be very pleasant, but not half as pleasant as killing both of you.’
Doctor Bairstow raised his head.
‘Whatever did we do to you, Isabella? As far as I know, we welcomed you here. You were one of us and yet you’ve been selling us out for years. You’re how they knew that Maxwell had returned to St Mary’s.’
Her face twisted. Deliberately or not, he’d touched a nerve.
‘She’s not Maxwell. Maxwell is dead. Why can’t any of you believe that? We all saw the body, for God’s sake. She’s dead, I tell you.’
The gun swivelled to me. ‘I don’t know who you are, but you’re not Maxwell. You’re just some tramp Leon picked up from somewhere, when he should have been looking at me.’
Below us, the sounds of battle redoubled. I had to finish this quickly. People were dying out there. I needed to provoke her into doing something stupid and then when she shot me, with luck, Dr Bairstow could shoot her. Not my favourite plan, but better than nothing.
I said wearily, ‘Oh, we’re not back to that again, are we? He’s not interested, Izzie. You said it yourself. He’d rather be with some tramp off the street than with you. Anyone would.’
I really must try for a career in the Peace Corps.
She was too angry to speak. In her world, I should be begging for my life and I wasn’t. I swept on.
‘You’re wasting your time. He never even sees you if I’m in the room. You could drape yourself naked at his feet and he’d still step over you to get to me.’
‘Shut up!’
‘She’s right, Isabella,’ said Dr Bairstow, quite calmly for a man trapped in a room between two snarling redheads. ‘In fact, St Mary’s doesn’t want you, either. You may consider your employment at an end.’
Her gun came up and her eyes flashed dangerously. ‘We’ll see about that. You are about to be caught in an unfortunate accident and she’s going down with her face blown off.’
‘And you’re going to be Director of St Mary’s and Leon is going to fall into your arms,’ I interrupted. ‘And no one will ever know what a two-faced, scum-sucking, piss-boilingly treacherous bitch you really are. And always have been.’
‘I would not, if I were you, Isabella, assume that the Time Police will welcome you back into their fold. They didn’t seem too pleased with you the last time they were here.’
‘They’ll come round when I give them this.’
She flourished the stick. The location of our remote site. With our pods. And our archive. Everything they needed to start again. They could just wipe us out and start elsewhere.
‘It’s encrypted,’ I said, desperately.
She smirked. ‘And I’m Head of IT. Without this – without your pods and your archive, St Mary’s does not exist. We take this and re-establish elsewhere. Under the leadership of someone who appreciates the true potential of time-travel.’
She really shouldn’t have used those words. They’re like a red rag to Dr Bairstow’s bull. He made an involuntary movement.
She jumped and fired, frightening herself as much as everyone else and at that range, even she couldn’t miss.
He crumpled to the floor.
I should have leaped there and then, but for one fatal moment, I was so shocked I couldn’t move at all.
She shot Dr Bairstow!