Thank you for the review.

The Commissioner of the Police is just the head of the Police. I found it out while doing a little more research on it.


CHAPTER 29

JOHN SMITH (12)

LOCATION: UNKNOWN

DATE: 10TH MAY 2017

TIME: 1:00

JOHN SIGHED AS HE REALISED WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HIM, AND PRESUMABLY THE OTHERS. They had all been knocked out. It was taking a toll on his body. From waking up on a concrete floor to now waking up in a chair, he could think of better ways that he could have woken up. This was the worst nightmare that he could ever have. He was living his worse nightmare. Kate had never trained them for this situation. Not for the situation he was in now. They had been trained to deal with if someone somehow managed to find out who they once were. But never if the organisation who had instructed them from the beginning started hunting them down.

He felt like everyone was turning to him to tell them what they should be doing. He had no idea. He had as much idea as the rest of them. That is why he got them to run. He liked to run from problems. That was why he ran away when he noticed the cracks in his marriage to River. That was why he ran away after Clara left university, just because everything reminded him of her. He didn't face his problems head on. He ran away from them.

After a while, he decided that it was probably better just to open his eyes rather than wallow in self-pity. He would have to face up to this and what he thought that he was probably expected to do. The job he never did. He would have to kill the Prime Minister, even though it wasn't the same Prime Minister. As he stared at the ceiling, he was wondering what they were going to get out of it. It was a different Prime Minister. Surely Missy would have enough influence to put someone they wanted in control of the country.

He sighed heavily before tipping his head forward to face the front. His face dropped as he saw Clara sitting opposite him, still feeling the effects of the gas used to knock them out. Now he was worried. He didn't want her to get involved. He wanted it just to be him involved. He wanted to do this all alone because he, alone, could deal with the effects of a job like that. River would probably send him back to the therapist that she did before, but it would be worth it for them not to get involved.

Clara started to stir and he waited for her to realise what had happened and what was happening before he said anything to her.

"I am so sorry Clara." He said.

"John, what is going on?"

"I didn't want you to get involved."

"Well, I am going to be involved."

"I am going to have to do it."

Her face softened as she realised what he meant. "I know."

"You are probably going to have to guide me. Kate always guided us through our missions. Making sure doors were open when we needed them opened. Making sure no one was about. Telling us if someone was about. Clara … I don't want what is going to happen to haunt you for the rest of your life."

"It haunts you."

"I am old Clara. I have a lifetime of regrets. I don't want to be adding the fact that I couldn't keep you safe one of them."

"I never asked you to keep me safe."

"You shouldn't have had to ask me. I know what I am doing. I have kept people safe in the past."

"John."

John pulled at the straps to try and get them looser. He wanted to get out of there before Missy came. He wanted to get Clara out before they came. Maybe if they could get into the ventilation shaft then they could raise the alarm. Get Kate in to help them out. She did always say that they could call her in their time of need. If this wasn't their time of need, no time would be their time of need.

"What do you think she will do to us?" Clara asked.

"Sorry."

"You said no."

"Yes, but I would agree to anything if you had a gun against your head."

"Yes, but you said that I would have to guide you."

"So."

"So. What if I give you the wrong instruction on purpose so that you would get caught or something so you didn't do the job. What then?"

"Ooh, she is clever. I can see why you like her. You like pretty, clever girls don't you Peter?" Missy said as she entered the room.

"John," John said. "My name is John."

"Someone's a little touché." She said as she turned to Clara. "Now please tell me that you two have finally declared your undying love for each other. As much as it is fun to watch you two tiptoe around each other, it is getting rather boring. I just want to, bang your heads together to make you see what is there in front of you."

With one quick look over to Clara, John knew that what Missy had just said was true. The kiss that he had given her had meant something to her. It made his heart flutter that she did feel the same. The years of regret and wonder hadn't been for nothing. It would have been had she not been interested. But she was and maybe she was wondering the same as he was, why did they never do anything about their feelings?

John knew why he hadn't acted on his. Because he thought he was too old for her and how awkward he was around her. The way his heart would beat so fast that it felt like he had two. She did that to him. And it was why he couldn't tell her. Plus the fact that she was his student at the time. Might have been a little weird.

Missy groaned. "No?! Well can you do it now so that we can get on with things? We have a lot of things to do and not a lot of time to do them in. I am on a schedule here. You have put me behind because of this. Go on then. Declare your undying love for each other."

He opened his mouth to speak but no words would come out. He was under pressure to say something that he hadn't do in years. Something that he had rarely said to River but she knew that he loved her in different ways.

"Clara, I have a duty of care." He found himself saying.

Clara closed her eyes. He hoped that she was remembering their earlier conversation. That was where it came from. His desire to protect her.

"I know and I know you take it seriously."

He smiled at her and she smiled back at him.

"That's it. No, I love you so much. I have since university. I have been wondering what you have been doing all these years." Missy turned to John. "You used to be a hopeless romantic. Was domestic life with River really that bad?"

John didn't humour her with an answer. He knew that was what she wanted. She wanted him to rise to the bait that she wanted him to bite at. He wasn't going to do that.

"So you said that you knew why I liked her. I will ask her question. What are you going to do to us?"

"I think you already know what you are going to do."

"Yes. You want me to kill the Prime Minister, even though it is a different Prime Minister. I would have thought that you would be all for her. You know, girl power and all that."

"I wouldn't have her. She is an idiot. She is going to shoot herself in the foot with the snap election she has just called. I wouldn't have the Labour leader either. He has no backbone and against everything that we want."

"So why do you want her dead?"

Missy looked at him. He wondered whether this was the most interesting conversation she had in a while or she just thought he was the biggest idiot going.

"We have someone lined up, ready to take power as soon as the Prime Minister is assassinated. They will lead Britain through their mourning, putting an end to this snap election as well. They are one of us. They know what we want to achieve. And to be honest, with the hot-headed President in America, I think we can easily achieve what we want."

"What are you going to do to us? Clara is right. We could both make it possible for it not to happen."

Missy smiled. "I know. I have thought of every single detail and every single scenario. The only opinion is to take away our free will."

"Mind control," John said sitting back in the chair. "You were behind them."

"Behind what?" Clara asked.

He blinked a few times, the memory of what happened flashing before his eyes. "The top scientists were kidnapped. Some jobs we went on didn't require us to kill, just they were too dangerous for the security services to get involved in. I was tasked with the rescue mission. The building was rigged with explosives and I only just managed to get out with my life. I tried to get them out but they were just mindlessly doing what they thought they should be doing."

John hated that day. Some of the top minds died that day because he couldn't work out how to save them. He had no idea what was said to the families. It was one of the days that haunted him.

"I think he regrets it." Missy sang.

"You made it sure that they would die. He tried to save them. Of course, he would have regrets." Clara almost shouted.

"I lost all their research."

"Just do it," John said, sadly.

"Do what?" Missy said.

"Just do whatever you are going to do. Let's get this over and done with."

He didn't like the look that Clara was giving him but he knew why she was giving it to him. She thought he had given up but he hadn't. He did just want to get it over and done with. The sooner whatever Missy was going to do, was done, the sooner he could work out how he was going to get out of it and stop it.

"They should be along soon," Missy said before she turned on the ball of her foot and left them.

"John," Clara said to get his attention.

"Everything haunts me. That day is just one of a few that haunt me the worst."

"I understand."

"I wish I never took the job."

"Did you have much of a choice?"

John smiled at her. "No. I just … I wish I could wipe my memories of it. I don't want to remember what I have done. I never want to remember what it was like to hold a gun to someone's head. I never want to remember the way a skull caves as a bullet hits it. I never to remember how much blood I have spilt. But … if I did wipe my memories of it all." He sighed.

"If you wiped your memories of it all, what?"

He looked up at her. "I would probably forget about you as well. I met you around the same time."

"You were still … a Doctor when you were teaching me."

"I was doing my training when I taught you. I just want to forget it all."

Clara tried to launch herself forward, trying to move closer to him. He could tell that she wanted to comfort him and he would have easily allowed her to pull him into a hug. He knew how much she liked hugging. She was always hugging people.

"John, I am here for you."

He gave her a small smile. "I know."