Chase The Wind: Doctor Who/Studio C [Book 1]

The Runaway Actress (Part 3)

A/N: I planned on having this episode be four parts long, but this part was running a little long so it may end up being five. We'll see.

"I've lost the signal," the Doctor said, pocketing his screwdriver once more. "Right, you two, think! Has there been anything weird, anything extraordinary; like, I don't know, people stopping you on the street, or taking some special interest in you, could be anything really..."

"There's Phil," Matt said.

"What have you got against him?" Mallory asked, looking at him sharply.

"Nothing," he replied, a little defensively.

"You're always looking at him like he stole your ice cream or something—"

"I'm just saying he's taken quite the interest in you," he snapped in response, cutting her off. "Makes you coffee every day. Or haven't you noticed?"

She crossed her arms and sent him a glare. "Yes, I've noticed. Not my fault he can't take the hint that I'm not interested."

He tried to keep a telling look from coming over his face, and luckily the Doctor interrupted before Mallory could look too closely. "Yes, lovely, enough with the domestics, thanks. Anything else suspicious about this Phil?"

"Not really, no—" Mallory started, looking waspish as Matt interrupted her again.

"Plenty. He says his company transferred him over here when they opened a branch in the States but they cut him down to part time right after he moved, which is how he ended up working with us, about six months ago. And he's always going on about that job but he never really says what he does."

She paused and glanced at him. "How did you know all that?"

"I asked him," Matt replied flatly.

The Doctor was still wandering, holding his screwdriver out as he moved. "I still don't have a signal and we're right back were we started unless we can find some sort of connection."

"Speak of the devil," Matt said, glancing over to where a harried looking Phil was emerging from the studio.

"Are you all right, Mallory?" the crewman asked breathlessly. "I wanted to talk to you earlier but then everything happened—"

"I'm fine." She eyed Phil warily and Matt kept his face carefully neutral. After a pause and a sideways glance to both the Doctor and Matt, Mallory continued, "Where did you say you worked, Phil?"

"What does it matter?" he asked, tone sharp as he glanced between the other three.

She seemed to flounder for a moment,before finally saying, "You're always saying how much you miss London. I was curious what you did that could convince you to leave."

"London?" the Doctor said.

Phil ignored the Time Lord, straightening up and practically preening under Mallory's gaze. "Yes, I didn't want to leave, you see, but they wanted me to transfer... and they stabbed me in the back, H.C. Clements did, when I finally came."

"What does H.C. Clements do, then?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, all sorts of things. Security systems, mainly. Entry codes, ID cards, that sort of thing. If you ask me, it's a posh name for locksmiths..."

"Keys," the Doctor said quietly.

"Why here, though?" Mallory mused aloud. "You'd think a company based in London that wanted to open another branch in the U.S. would do it in... New York or something."