Notes: The Doctor and Rose complete their mission, but all is not well on the way back. (Warning: There are some disturbing events in this chapter.)
Chapter 12
"Alpha One to Despatch. Inductance coil in position and ready to proceed. Over," John reported to Peter Davies.
"Roger that Alpha One. Standby."
John was kneeling down at the base of the pedestal that was holding the glowing emerald. Rose was standing by the emerald ready to remove it when John declares it safe to do so.
"Delta One to Despatch. Inductance coil in position and ready to proceed. Over," John heard Julia report over the headset radio.
They only needed Jack and Gwen to be ready and they would be ready to go. Rose checked her watch.
"It's 05:04 and 22 seconds GMT," he told her. "12:04 and 23 seconds local time."
"Trust Jack to be late," she laughed.
"How do you know that it's not Gwen that's late? I know what it's like when you women 'haven't got a thing to wear', and have to go through your entire wardrobe," he said with a grin.
She playfully tapped him with her hiking boot. "I'll have you know that Gwen will have been up, showered and with her lippy on, while Jack would still be chatting up the Room Service."
John laughed. "Yeah, actually I could believe that."
A few minutes later, Jack's voice came over the headsets.
"Beta One to Despatch. Sorry for the delay. Inductance coil in position and ready to proceed. Over."
"Despatch to all teams, activate induction coils on my mark, in three…. two…. one…. mark."
John threw the switch and the green emerald light dimmed and went out. He checked the readings and saw that the lithium battery was drawing all of the energy from the crystal.
"Alpha One confirms power diverted from crystal," he reported.
Jack and Julia reported that their crystals were also 'off'.
"Despatch to all teams remove crystals on my mark, in three…. two…. one…. mark."
Rose took a deep breath and lifted the Prang Emerald off the pedestal, looking deep into the beautiful translucent crystal.
"Alpha Two to Despatch. Crystal recovered. Over," Rose reported and heard Jake and Gwen report in to Despatch.
"D'ya think that was it?" Rose asked. "Y'know, the thing that caused me to send you a warnin'?"
"There's no real way of telling, but everything seems okay so far."
"This emerald is really beautiful John," Rose said as she put it into the backpack.
"Mmmm. Makes you wonder why it hasn't been reported stolen, doesn't it?"
John disconnected the inductance coil and started packing his gear into his backpack. He stood up and gave Rose a quick kiss before heading over to the bamboo ladder.
"Up you go then," he prompted. Rose held onto the runners and started to climb up. John looked up with a boyish grin on his face, watching his wife's bum in those tight denim shorts.
When she had cleared the entrance, John started his assent and climbed out next to her. He moved over to the torch holder and pushed it upwards. The stone floor tilted back into position, closing the chamber underneath.
They moved back along the passageway to the entrance ramp.
"If you give me a boost up Love, I can get a grip and you can climb up me," John suggested.
Rose rested her back against the 45 degree slope and cupped her hands into a stirrup. John put his right foot in her hands and gently reached up to the entrance, getting a good grip on the stone.
"Okay, climb up."
She reached up and held onto the waist of his trousers as she got a grip with her boots on the smooth stone slope. She climbed out of the hole and grabbed his arm to help him up. They pushed the cantilevered stone back into position, closing the entrance.
Walking back along the rubble strewn terrace, they could see a number of other tourists that had come to view the impressive monument. Climbing down the bamboo ladder, they made their way back to the Suzuki Jeep.
As they were driving down the dirt road they heard Pete Davies on Despatch.
"Attention Alpha and Beta teams. Your status is now red. Repeat, your status is now red. Delta team has come under fire. Take preventative measures and use extreme caution."
"Alpha One confirms message received and understood. Over," John said as he gave Rose a worried look.
"Are Jake and Julia alright John?" she asked.
"Yeah, they would have told us if they had been killed. Pull over for a minute; we need to assess our situation."
Rose pulled over to the side of the track, where they were surrounded by dense jungle. John took out his tablet PC and studied the GPS map.
"There's a turning up ahead on the left that loops back to Koh Ker. After that, the road heads south for four miles with no turn offs, that would be an ideal place for an ambush."
"So what do you propose we do?" she said with a knowing smile.
"Well, if we want to find who's behind all this, I think we need to get ambushed," he answered with his own knowing smile.
Rose took out her Glock, took out the magazine, checked the ammunition and slapped it back into the grip. She pulled back the slide to put a round into the chamber. She glanced over and saw John giving her a disapproving look.
"What? If we're driving into an ambush, I want to be prepared."
John rolled his eyes and checked the charge on his stun gun. Rose checked her stun gun as well, after all the Glock was her last resort weapon.
"Right then, let's see if we can get back to Siem Reap without incident shall we."
Rose gave him a wicked grin and floored the accelerator. The wheels roared and threw up dirt and dust as the Jeep fishtailed its way down the track.
"Woo-hoo," John said as he grabbed the dashboard. As they went past the dirt track on the left, John saw a jeep parked under the trees.
As they sped down the dirt road, John checked the rear view mirror. Through the dust, he saw the jeep pull out from the side track and start to follow them.
Rose had spotted them as well. "How far along do you think they'll try and intercept us?" she asked him.
"I reckon two miles. What about you?"
"Yeah, I was gonna say half way along as well."
Sure enough, two miles along the track in the middle of the dense jungle, a car was pulled over on the side of the track was a jeep with the bonnet up and steam coming from the engine.
"What'ya reckon? A bottle of water poured on the engine block?" Rose asked.
"Makes it look real, doesn't it."
Rose slowed down slightly as they approached. Two men straightened up from leaning in the engine compartment and waved at them. She floored the accelerator and roared past them, giving them a friendly wave as they shot past.
In the mirror they saw the two men hurriedly reach into the back of the jeep and pull out two AK 47 assault rifles. She started to swerve the car to churn up the dust and made them a harder target to hit.
RAT-AT-AT-TAT! Plink! Plink!
They heard bullets hitting the back of their Suzuki before a tyre blew out. The evasive swerving became hard to control and they were heading for a tree. Rose managed to control the car and glanced off the tree and ploughed into the dense undergrowth.
John grabbed her hand and grinned at her. "This takes me back a bit. RUN!"
Run was a bit of an optimistic instruction. Climb, crawl or scrabble would have been a better choice. It was hot, humid and the light was dim from the canopy cover. They heard the pursuit vehicles screech to a halt, and men speaking Khmer.
"Reach into my backpack Love and grab my jungle knife."
Rose opened the pack and found the large bladed knife in its scabbard. John took the knife and started clearing a path through the undergrowth. The blade was made from an alien alloy that was razor sharp, and sliced through the vegetation like the proverbial hot knife through butter.
"Unfortunately, we're leaving a lovely trail for them to follow," Rose noticed. "Who do you think they are?"
"Probably local hired help, mercenaries or criminals I would think. We're going to have to split up. I'll go on ahead to draw them on, and you can circle around and 'zap' them from behind," John suggested.
"Okay. Stay safe." They shared a passionate kiss before she headed off at a right angle to their original course. She found a large tree with plenty of undergrowth around it where she could conceal herself.
She watched a snake slither along a branch in front of her as she heard their pursuers moving towards them. There were two groups of two, stalking John, who was deliberately making a lot of noise to entice them along.
["There are four of them in two groups,"] she thought to him.
["Okay. I'm going to sneak off to the side now so that they'll come to a dead end."]
He found a fallen, moss covered branch and carefully walked along it until he could get behind a tree. He took out his stun gun and readied himself for the encounter. He could hear one of the men climbing over the fallen branch.
["Move around the tree now John, you can 'zap' one climbing over the branch."]
John quickly stepped from behind the tree and chuckled as he stunned the man in the arse, before disappearing back into the bush.
["Hee hee. Nice sho…."]
John felt the whack to her head through their telepathic link.
["Rose? ROSE?!"] There was no connection. She was unconscious. 'Damn' he thought as he went to move towards her position. He quickly ducked back behind the tree as three other men came into view. He could hear another man shouting in Khmer.
"Come quick my friends. Look what I've found," he called out.
One of the three men picked up his unconscious friend and put him over his shoulder. They moved away from John, continually looking around with their AK 47's ready to fire.
"What have you found?" one of them asked.
"A valuable asset. Do you recognise her?" he said as they came upon Rose's unconscious form.
"This is the Vitex heiress from England. I saw her photo in a magazine. Forget the money that the Mad Monk paid us to watch the pyramid, her family will pay millions to get her back."
"Are you sure? What's she doing here?"
"She's some sort of secret agent."
"Not that secret if she get's her picture in a magazine."
"Trust me. I'm telling you it's her. Let's get her back to the jeep. We can take her back to the shack." They picked Rose up and carried her back the way they had come.
John tried to follow them as quietly as he could without losing sight of them. They dropped Rose and the unconscious man in the back of each jeep and drove off down the dirt road. He ran up onto the road and watched the plume of fine dirt drift into the jungle.
["ROSE!"] he shouted in his mind. Now what was he going to do?
He was beside himself with worry for his wife, and guilt for not being able to stop four armed men taking her. He took a deep calming breath and gathered his thoughts.
He activated his headset. "Alpha One to Despatch. Alpha Two has been taken. Request activation of emergency beacon. Over."
"Roger that Alpha One. Alpha Two beacon is now transmitting. Over," Welsh Pete told him.
"John, this is Pete. Where's Rose, what's happened," Director Tyler asked. It was the early hours of the morning in England, and yet Pete Tyler was there, waiting for news of the mission.
"Pete, we were ambushed on the way back from the pyramid by five assailants with automatic weapons. They've taken Rose for ransom. I'm going to go and get her back now."
"I'm calling the Embassy. We'll get you some back up."
"Thanks Pete, I'll talk to you later when Rose is safe."
He took out his smart phone and brought up the tracker app which showed a satellite view of the jungle and a dot that was labelled RS for Rose Smith. He started to run down the dirt road in the direction that the tracker indicated. What else could he do? The Suzuki Jeep was undrivable. He would try and flag down a passing tourist, if one ever came past.
He had run for about a mile in the humid heat and his chest was burning. He stopped and stooped over, gasping for breath. 'Damn this human body' he thought, 'where was the dual cardiac system when you needed it'?
He needed transport. And then it hit him, right between the eyes.
"Oh you idiot!" He thumped his forehead with the heel of his palm. He flicked through the phone apps and found the Emergency Call Protocol. Once activated he heard the familiar wheeze of their TARDIS as she slowly materialised on the dirt road.
Rose ascended through the fog of confusion, drawn by the dull ache on the left side of her head. She tried to rub it but found that she couldn't, due to the fact that her wrists were tied to the grubby metal frame of an even grubbier bed.
She could feel that her ankles were also tied to the bottom of said grubby bed which left her spread eagled and helpless. Her jaw was uncomfortable because of a knotted rope that had been tied in place that acted as an effective ball gag.
She glanced around the room and saw that it was some kind of shack. It had a table, some chairs, and a couple of cot beds, one of which she was tied to. The bed next to her contained a man that she presumed was the one John shot in the arse.
"Hah, she's awake!" one of her abductors said, rising from a chair and walking over to her. He was carrying a well thumbed magazine, which appeared to be the Cambodian version of 'Chat'. He showed her the cover and she groaned. There she was with John on the cover.
"You make us very rich, lady. You're family pay big bucks to get you back," he told her.
Another of the kidnappers came over with a digital camera and took her photo. The flash dazzled her eyes, and she thought how incongruous it was to see a high tech camera in a jungle shack.
The men jabbered away in Khmer, telling how he would upload the picture to that Torchwood Institute, with their demands for money. How much could they ask for? How much would they be willing to pay to get her back?
["John?"] she called out in her mind.
["ROSE! You're back. Oh, thank Rassilon. Are you alright?"] he responded immediately.
["Yeah. Just a bit of a bump on the head, and my jaw aches from havin' a knotted rope shoved in it."]
["Really? A knotted rope?"] he thought distractedly.
["Okay, hold on, I'm on my way. How many are there and what are their assets?"]
["It's a single room shack. Five targets in total. One unconscious from a shot in the arse, so four threats with AK 47's slung over their shoulders and ready to fire."]
She felt him chuckle at the 'shot in the arse'.
["Right. So I need to form a rescue plan. Keep your pecker up, I'll be there soon."]
["Don't be too long, will you,"] she thought at him, her anxiety levels rising.
One of the gang, she presumed the leader had come over to her and there was a bit more jabbering in Khmer, and the man smiled.
"No. I no damage her. Just have some fun," he told the others. There was more jabbering. "Yeah, you can have go when I finished." Rose was mumbling through the gag, her eyes wide in fear.
John had detected her raised anxiety. ["Rose, is everything alright?"]
["Er, I'm just going to 'zone out' for a while John. Promise me that you'll stay focussed and keep calm,"] she thought.
["Rose! What's happening? I can feel something's wrong."]
["John, just promise me that you will stay calm."]
["Rose! Tell me what's happening to you. What are they doing?"] He was starting to panic now; he could imagine what these low lifes would do with a beautiful young woman.
["Promise me,"] she pleaded. She could vacate the premises as it were for the duration of the unthinkable ordeal. She could reside in John's mind, safe in his protective love. But if he unleashed the Storm within, then where would she be?
["They're going to rape me!"] He could feel the fear, horror and helplessness in that thought as she wept.
["I promise,"] John thought to her with a weight of resignation and guilt. ["But try and hold on Love, I'm almost there."]
She watched as the young man pulled off his t-shirt and kicked off his was thin and muscular, with tattoos on his chest. She noticed that he had a small, triangular piece of emerald on a cord around his neck. Rose started to pull against the ropes holding her to the bed.
"Nnngh. Nnngh," she was saying as she thrashed her head from side to side.
"You stop struggle or I hurt you. Okay?" he told her.
Rose squeezed her eyes shut; tears trickled down the sides of her face. She nodded her head and turned it away so that she didn't have to look.
She yelped in pain, and then heard a noise that gave her hope. It was the familiar warbling whistle of a sonic screwdriver outside the open window. Her head snapped around and she glared at the man hovering over her.
["Sorry Love. This is going to sting a bit,"] John thought at her.
["Oh God I love you!"] She thought back, crying in relief.
The man hovering over her looked to the side as a black object sailed through the window to land on the floor. The three men at the table leapt to their feet, weapons ready.
Rose could see it was a stun gun, stuck to an inductance coil with duct tape. There were wires attached were wires shouldn't have been, and it was a typical Doctor cobbled together contraption. And it was making an ever increasing whistling noise.
Rose pushed her head back against the grubby mattress and snapped it forward with as much speed and force that her neck muscles would allow. There was a satisfying, if not sickening crack as her forehead impacted the young, would be rapists cheek bone.
'Stitch that you bastard'! She thought with satisfaction.
The force of the blow knocked him back a little, and the look of shock and surprise turned to anger and rage, as he balled his fist and pulled his arm back ready to punch her in the face. 'This is going to hurt' she thought as she closed her eyes in anticipation.
KERZZAPP!
A million red hot needles pricked her body, causing all her muscles to contract at once in a wave of agony before the darkness thankfully came and took her to a place that was peaceful and numb.
