Read Online The Spear of Destiny by Marcus Sedgwick - Free Book Online

1
    ‘You’re being very mysterious,
     Doctor.’
    The Doctor raised an
     eyebrow.
    ‘Let me rephrase that,’ said Jo,
     stabbing his shoulder with her forefinger. ‘More mysterious than
     usual.’
    The Doctor grappled with the
     gear-lever of Bessie, the bright-yellow vintage roadster he was
     so fond of driving. He frowned. The gearbox answered with the
     sound of cogs trying to eat each other, but soon lost the fight
     as the Doctor moved up into third. He smiled, looking ahead
     along the bustling street of Piccadilly. It was a warm day and
     the hood of the car was down. A few people stared and pointed at
     them as they trundled past.
    Jo sank a bit further back into
     her seat as the Doctor waved at a couple of passers-by.
    ‘You know what I love about
     London?’ he said, turning to her briefly.
    She sighed. ‘I’m sure I can’t
     guess.’
    ‘It’s the only city in the
     universe where you can drive around in a car that’s seventy
     years old and get away with it.’
    ‘Who says you’re getting away with
     it?’ muttered Jo.
    The Doctor waved again, and Jo
     shut her eyes. ‘We couldn’t have taken the Tube, I
     suppose?’
    ‘Now come on, my dear. Where’s
     your sense of style?’
    Jo stared, open-mouthed, at the
     Doctor.
    The Doctor was dressed in a green
     velour smoking jacket over a purple frilly shirt, the collar of
     which was large enough to sail a small yacht. It was
     eye-watering fashion, even for 1973, but, in all honesty, it was
     quite restrained. For the Doctor.
    Jo shut her mouth. At least he
     wasn’t wearing the Inverness cape for once. But she hated it
     when he didn’t tell her what was going on. ‘Doctor!’ she wailed.
     ‘Will you please tell me what we’re doing?’
    The Doctor turned up Dover Street,
     scuffled briefly once more with Bessie’s gearbox and then
     brought the car to a halt at the top of Hay Hill.
    ‘We’re going to a museum.’
    ‘You told me that much. A private
     collection. To look at something?’
    ‘No,’ said the Doctor, grinning.
     ‘To steal something.’

2
    ‘I never had you down as an art
     thief,’ said Jo.
    They stood looking at the noble
     frontage of the museum: just one of many magnificent Georgian
     three- and four-storeyed houses in Mayfair.
    ‘Not art,’ said the Doctor.
     ‘Antiquities.’
    ‘There’s something in here that
     interests you?’
    ‘Right,’ said the Doctor. His eyes
     scoured the building as if he were trying to see through
     it.
    ‘Something dangerous?’
    ‘Right again.’
    ‘And UNIT sent you here,’ said Jo
     triumphantly.
    The Doctor rounded on her. ‘My
     dear girl,’ he said. ‘UNIT do not
send
me anywhere.’
    Jo decided to tease the Doctor a
     little. ‘But you do work for them, don’t you,’ she said, her
     eyes twinkling. ‘Just like I do.’
    The Doctor glared at her. ‘I have
     offered my services to them during my … time here as a
     scientific adviser, and in a purely unaffiliated manner. I am
     not employed by them, and if at any time I choose to leave I
     will do so. Now come on. Let’s get inside and have a look at
     this thing.’
    ‘What thing?’ called Jo, but the
     Doctor was already striding ahead and up the steps.
    Maybe now wasn’t the time. He did
     seem to be very preoccupied, and, really, she knew better than
     to tease him about working for UNIT, the United Nations
     Intelligence Taskforce. She also knew better than to remind him
     that he had only agreed to work for them since he had been
     exiled to Earth by the High Council of the Time Lords, having
     been found guilty of violations of time. And, although the High
     Council had now allowed the Doctor freedom to travel in time and
     space once again, she certainly knew better than to mention his
     exile.
    Jo hurried up the steps, out of
     the bright day and into the cool dark of the museum.
    The Doctor had disappeared inside.
     Fumbling for some money, she bought a ticket from a small desk
     in the foyer