Doctor Who: Drift by Simon A. Forward Read Free Book Online Page B

at the house at four, not before, not after.
    Makenzie won‟t want you hanging around, and neither do I.
    You‟re here for Amber and that‟s it. And if I smell a drop of bourbon I swear I‟ll cut your visit real short. Be here for four.‟
    She hung up. Stole the last word, just like always.
    Let her have it. He was going to see his little girl. But hell, he‟d have to get himself cleaned up, and maybe pick up something for her in the store here.
    Curt dropped the receiver back in place and patted down his suit. Somehow he felt more uncomfortable than ever in this thing. Maybe that was why he felt the clerk‟s suspicious eyes on him all the time. Screw him, who the hell was he?
    Some hick storekeeper. The worst part was, the suit was empty of cash.
    All he could feel was the bulge of the gun, stuffed into his belt and digging into his waist. The clerk might have been looking at him like he was some kind of scumbag, but Curt Redeker had never held up a store in his life. And he wasn‟t about to start now.
    All the same, he had to get something for his little girl. No way was he showing up empty-handed. Itching inside his suit, he browsed the shelves furthest from the counter.
     
    „Keep it loose and layered.‟
    Leela resigned herself to the shorter woman‟s attentions as she helped her on with the coat - a parka, Kristal had said.
    Packed off into the care of this stranger, she was feeling more lost than she had done out on the slopes. Her instincts, however, told her to trust this woman and if she could not trust them then she was worse than lost, she decided.
     
    Kristal stepped back and Leela waited slightly anxiously on her pronouncement. She found herself wanting this woman‟s approval.
    She had yet to make up her own mind about her new outfit, briskly assembled from the supplies stowed in various cupboards in this one upstairs room. The clothing had looked bulky, although less so than her furs, but not substantial enough to ward off the cold.
    Now, Leela was beginning to appreciate the value of the materials. Her hands slid over the outer garments, testing every pocket and fastener. These were more than just cover-ings. At least she found she could move her arms fairly freely and the weight felt good on her limbs, nothing that would slow her down.
    „These cultists were survivalists,‟ Kristal told her, so their gear is pretty much Army issue.‟
    „Why am I not white, like you?‟
    Kristal laughed - softly. „I take it you mean your outfit. I‟ll have somebody bring up some overwhites from the trucks when they rotate the teams. If it means that much to you.‟
    „I do not wish to stand out like a sore thumb,‟ Leela declared, proud to have remembered one of the Doctor‟s phrases. She wondered then whether she had got it right, when she saw Kristal shake her head, a curious gleam in her eye.
    „Welcome to White Shadow. Leela.‟
    „Thank you.‟ Leela didn‟t know what else to say. She recognised a sense of ceremony in Kristal‟s attendance and the sense made her hesitant in case she broke any tribal laws.
    „What is White Shadow? Is that what you call this land?‟
    The smile of an elder stole across Kristal‟s face. „No, Leela.
    White Shadow is us. It‟s the name of our group of soldiers.
    Our warrior tribe.‟
    „It is a good name. I am Leela of the tribe of Sevateem.‟
    Leela detected a stir of emotion in Kristal and believed she must have said the right thing. The small woman spoke back to her with a measured respect, as one warrior to another:
     
    „And I am Kristal Owl Eye Wildcat of the Pasamaquoddy of the Abnaki.‟
    Excitedly, Leela pounced on a fragment the Doctor had thrown her earlier. „Are these your lands? The Doctor said a noble people lived here.‟
    „He was probably talking about the Penacooks,‟ Kristal explained quietly. „They were of the same nation, the Algonquin. These lands belong to a larger nation now, Leela.
    Not necessarily a greater one, whatever my