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Chapter 15

Clara had fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion the following night and yet her sleep had still been restless. She had kept waking up, looking for the Doctor only to not find him next to her. Wherever he was now she hoped he was well, that they wouldn't hurt him. Clara couldn't bear the thought that he might suffer because of her, not after everything that had already happened.

She was still tired but repeatedly hitting the punching bag in the MI5's gym and training centre felt good. They had showed her how to operate a gun and even though Clara had missed the target more often than she had hit it somehow it still made her feel safer and more in control of the situation that was continuing to slip from her grasp. Kate was the only one that talked to her, that answered her questions and she couldn't know whether what she told her was true or not. She had to trust her.

Clara had almost laughed at her own thoughts, a bitter, cynical laugh. There was one man and only one man she trusted now and he was Missy's captive. She was going to get him back whatever it took. She was lost without him. She needed him.

"I think that's enough," her trainer, a very masculine and strong looking woman with short hair, reminded her, "You should take a break."

Clara punched harder against the bag, sending it flying through the air only to have it come back at her with more force. "I decide when it's time for a break," she growled.

Suddenly the gym door flung open and a tall man in security uniform entered, looking straight at Clara. "Kate Stewart would like a word with you," he said in a low and bored voice that told her he was probably as fed up as she was.

Clara reached for her towel and wiped the sweat off her face before she approached him. "Fine, let's go," she said but as she tried to pass him the man held out a hand to stop her.

"You might wanna freshen up first."

She was ready to shout at him in her impatience but judging by the look on his face she knew that it wouldn't help her in any way, so instead of leaving the gym she headed for the shower room where for the first time since she had left her hotel room this morning she was on her own. Clara inhaled sharply before she stepped under the cool running water, trying to tell herself that if Kate wanted to speak with her she probably had news about the Doctor. Maybe they would finally do something to actually try and find him.

The security guard didn't lead her back to Kate's office, instead she found herself standing in a computer lab a while later and Kate was waving at her to come and look at one of the screens.

"We have found the owner of the car with the number plate you described. Sorry, we didn't get around to it earlier but with the state of the world these days we get possible terror threat alerts every five minutes," Kate nodded towards the screen.

All Clara could see was a map. "So?"

"His name is Sidney Zimmerman, born 1964, he is married with three children and works at a hardware store. He's got an impeccable record, no crimes and offences, just a couple of parking tickets," she explained to her and the employee sitting at the computer enlarged a picture of the man in question.

"He wasn't one of the men involved. Unless he was the one driving. But he doesn't sound like a kidnapper to me," Clara said doubtfully after listening to Kate's description of him.

"Every criminal starts with a clean record at some point and just because there aren't any crimes listed doesn't mean he never committed one. Maybe he just wasn't caught. There is, however, another thing."

Kate hesitated, making Clara turn around to look at her. Her face was unreadable.

"What is it?" she inquired.

"He recently rented an empty warehouse in an industrial area across the city and with recently I mean he did it last week."

Clara's heart skipped a beat. She had read enough crime novels to know that a warehouse in such a zone was the perfect spot to hold someone captive. She knew it. She just knew that that was where they would find the Doctor.

"So that's where the Doctor is right now," Clara couldn't help but smile. She would see him again soon. Everything was going to be fine. However Kate did not return her smile. "What are we waiting for? We should go and get him!"

Kate took a deep breath and suddenly Clara started to like that look on her face less with every second that passed.

"What's wrong? Why are you not doing anything?" she asked warily, trying very hard not to let her insecurity show.

"It's too easy," she replied simply, "I know Missy, I've dealt with her before and this is not her style. To kidnap a man and hide him in a building that legally belongs to the same man that owns the car that was used in the kidnapping – it's amateurish, it's not her. Missy knows we would find him within a day or two. This stinks."

"But it doesn't hurt to check it out," Clara argued angrily even though she could see the reason behind Kate's argument, "If the Doctor really is there-"

"I think that's exactly where he is, Clara, but I also think that it's a trap."

"A trap for what?" she yelled, "They've already got him!"

"For me, for you. Who knows what Missy wants but my guess is that the Doctor wasn't her target at all. Not if she makes it so easy for us to locate him," Kate said sharply and Clara's heart sank. She was right. She was absolutely right. It was too easy. If it had been up to Clara to plan a crime, even as an amateur, she probably wouldn't have made a mistake like that.

"So what do we do?" she asked, "How do we get him without stepping right into Missy's trap?"

Kate inhaled sharply. "I would send a small team to investigate the area, to snoop around, to watch the building for 24 hours and see who comes and who goes, see what kind of security they have. Then we can make better plans as to how we get him out."

"So we would just leave him there for another day?!"

"It is the safest option, even for him," Kate said gently, "Who knows what we're going to find there? What if Missy has stationed half an army around the building? It's not just about our safety but the Doctor's as well."

Clara sighed and finally, after realizing that Kate was right in everything she had said, she nodded. It wasn't as if she had another option or could get him on her own. She had to trust Kate however hard it was.

The Doctor woke up with a start when a cold splash of water hit his face and he tore his eyes open to see Missy standing above him, laughing.

"This is so much fun, Doctor, you should try it some time," she giggled like a school girl, "It's almost like having a pet."

He shook his hair out, trying to stop the water from running down his face before he noticed a change in his range of movements. The shackle around his foot was gone, instead his hands were tied on his back in what felt like standard handcuffs.

"I liked the other one better. At least I was able to eat," he spat at her, "What are you gonna do now? Spoon-feed me?"

Missy grinned at him. "Wouldn't that be fun?" she asked happily but then her entire posture changed, "No, silly, I just wanted to show you something. Don't look so shocked, it's a nice surprise. You'll have your feet chained to the wall again soon enough. Follow me!"

"Has anyone ever told you that you're insane?" the Doctor grumbled as he scrambled to his feet and followed her out of the room.

He soon realized that it was the only one designed as a prison cell and that the rest of the building was an ordinary warehouse. If he made a run for it, how far would he get? He and Missy were the only people within sight but who knew how many men she had stationed elsewhere. He needed to get back to Clara but if he did something rash and got caught Missy would just make it harder for him to escape. He needed a plan and he hated plans. The Doctor knew he was better when he improvised, so maybe he should just go for it?

"Look out there," Missy had stopped in front of an open window and pointed outside.

The Doctor reluctantly followed her. They were on the ground floor. If he jumped he would get away with bruises and scratches – unless he landed extremely unfavourably. Then it could end in a broken neck. But even if he was willing to take that chance he still needed his hands free to propel him over the windowsill.

"You're not looking," Missy scolded him, giving him a soft whack across the back of his head before she pointed into the distance again.

He couldn't see what she where she was pointing at first until he spotted movement. Someone was out there.

"Your friends from the MI5 are slower than I had expected but don't get your hopes up. It's only a small team, probably scouts, calculating the chances of getting you out safely," Missy hummed absent-mindedly, "And those are the people in charge of the internal security of this country," she snorted, "Laughable. They're like slugs."

The thoughts ran wild inside his head. If the MI5 was here that could only mean one thing: Clara had contacted Kate Stewart even though he had told her not to. And he didn't need a lot of imagination to know what Kate would want in exchange for her help.

"Clara, what have you done?" the Doctor whispered to himself, trying to find a way for him to stop this madness before it happened if it wasn't too late already. She should have gotten on that plane and left him where he was.

"Oh, I just realized we're being incredibly rude. Wave, Doctor! Whohooooooo!" Missy shouted cheerfully and raised her warm to wave in the agent's direction and suddenly she burst into laughter and nudged him. "Sorry, Doc, I had forgotten that you can't."

She turned away from the window and laid her hand around his back, making the Doctor flinch at the sudden contact. He hated being touched, except by Clara. He missed Clara, he worried about her and he had to get back to her somehow. She needed him.

Slowly Missy was starting to lead him back to his cell.

"Tell me," she said after a while, "What would you do if I let them free you and captured your little girlfriend instead?"

"Clara isn't my girlfriend," he hissed sharply, glaring right at her, "And I would never allow you to touch her! You will never lay a hand on her and if you do you will lose that hand!"

Missy giggled as she pushed him back into his cell. "Not your girlfriend, eh? There was a time when you were that protective of me, too."

She shut the door right in his face but he could still heard her laugh on the other side of it. "Sweet dreams about your girlfriend, Doctor," she teased before her footsteps echoed across the room and eventually vanished completely, leaving the Doctor entirely on his own. He had very little time to escape and save Clara from whatever deal she had made with Kate.