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scaffold the prisoners were bustled out, formed into a line, thrust up the steps and strapped under the
framework, all with a ghastly well-practised efficiency.
The blade came down, the head dropped into the basket, the executioner held it up by the hair for the
delectation of the crowd. There was a roar of approval and another victim was hustled up the steps. Beside
her on the balcony, a tall elegant figure, neat in black velvet, stroked its chin and smiled.
She was on a hillside, overlooking a plain where a battle raged. She saw an aide, tall, thin, immaculately
uniformed, hand a dispatch to a baffled officer. She saw him point a long white hand. "There lies your enemy!"
She saw the officer lead a charge of cavalry straight into the mouths of a battery of cannon, heard the
screams of dying men as the surviving horses trotted by with blood-spattered empty saddles. The aide flicked
a speck of dust from his cuff with a silk handkerchief and smiled.
She was on another hill, overlooking a mud-filled trench filled with grimy, weary soldiers. The rumble of
artillery filled the air. A car arrived from the rear and a tall thin staff officer got out, wearing the red tabs of a
brigadier. He summoned a tired young officer and gave orders.
The officer led his battle-weary men out of the trench, across a strip of barren ground strewn with barbed wire,
and into the fire of a concealed machine-gun nest. As the men twisted and writhed and died in the choking
mud, the staff officer smiled.
She felt the Doctor take the sphere from her hand, the stream of horrifying images faded and she was back in
the alcove.
Ace found she was shaking with anger. "It was the smile," she said. "That damned superior smile."
"Yes," agreed the Doctor. "It's the smile that gets you."
"Who was - who is he?"
"It's is, I'm afraid. And not so much who as what. He, or it, is sometimes called Agonal, it's as good a name
as any. It's a Greek word, means the agony of death."
"Doctor - "
"Bear with me Ace, this is difficult." The Doctor paused, concentrating his thoughts. "There are beings in the
universe, call them elementals, spiritual in essence, but with the power to interact with the physical world.
Some are very powerful, some so weak you hardly notice them. Some are what you'd call good, some bad,
some completely neutral. With me so far?"
"Not really, but go on." The Doctor sighed. "I told you it was difficult. Perhaps if I used more familiar names.
The good ones might be called gods, or angels or earth spirits; the bad ones devils, or demons or ghouls. The
feeble ones like poltergeists can only manage to smash cups and slam doors in the night."
"And this Agonal is one of the powerful and bad ones?"
"Yes, but in a very odd way. He doesn't cause anything. He just magnifies evil."
"How do you mean?"
"What did you see in the sphere?"
Ace told him and the Doctor nodded.
"The Spanish Inquisition burning heretics, the Terror in the French Revolution, the Charge of the Light Brigade
in the Crimea, the First World War . . . Agonal didn't cause any of those events, he just takes advantage of
them."
"He caused that charge, and he got those soldiers killed."
"That's right. But the wars were happening already. No doubt he stirred up the Spanish Inquisition to resume
religious persecution, and helped whip up revolutionary terror. Don't you see, Ace? He chooses his period in
history and intervenes to make bad things worse."
"And he's intervening here, now, in Chicago?"
"It's perfect for him. A turbulent period which ought to be settling down by now. Everyone's getting fed up with
the violence, even Capone wants to sell booze not kill people, but one incident after another keeps the pot
boiling."
"So he's behind these three murders, the ones we've been investigating?"
"He killed Lingle, the reporter, and Dekker found a witness who saw him kill McSwiggin. I'm pretty sure he
machine-gunned Hymie Weiss, and he was certainly behind your kidnapping - which means he knows I'm
after him."
"Why are you after him, Doctor? What got you involved?"
"An anonymous message from Gallifrey," said the Doctor. "It suggested Agonal might be likely to be
operating in Chicago in this time-period. I decided to establish myself here and trap him."
"Why dump poor Benny on that peculiar planet first?"
The Doctor sighed. "This is where it gets a bit complicated. Just as I got the report from Gallifrey I got another
message as well - a telepathic one from a Time Lady who travelled with me for a while."
"Romanathingy?"
"The Lady Romanadvoratrelundar. She felt things were going wrong on a planet we'd visited earlier, she was a
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