Fantom Chapter 5, part 5.

   The faintest light of early dawn was creating a glow behind the hilltops as Patrick disappeared out of the window.  Ruth listened for any indication that he had been spotted but there was no noise at all.  She pulled in the makeshift rope, undid the blankets and lay down to try to rest, although the thought of sleep was now disturbed by prospect of facing the adjudicator made furious by Patrick’s escape.
   In the greyness before dawn she could see that the house she was prisoner in was in the middle of nowhere.  It would be some time, hours probably, before Patrick could even reach anywhere that he could find help, and then it would take more time for him to explain his story and for a rescue party to be gathered.  If he could not give directions they might have to search- it could be half a day before rescue arrived.  Ruth shivered at the thought.
   It was barely ten minutes after Patrick had left when she heard footsteps on the stairs and the jangle of a key.  She sat up as the adjudicator strode into the room, and looked down at her, smiling slightly.
   “So, he’s gone then,” the woman said.  “I was starting to wonder if there was enough wit between you to manage it.”
   “You knew?” Ruth said, her voice trembling.  
   “Of course I knew.  You don’t think I’m stupid enough to lock you into a room with the window open accidentally, do you?”  The adjudicator walked across and closed the window fully, then locked it.  “The guards were instructed to turn a blind eye.  By now he should be on the way to the nearest village- that’s if he hasn’t got lost.”
   “You let him go?”
   “Oh yes,” the adjudicator said.  “But I’m sure we’ll be seeing him again before long.”  She laughed.  
   “I sent someone to look for your time travel capsule, but they were unable to find it,” the adjudicator continued, looking out of the window.  “Either it was there, but too well hidden for my men to find it; or someone had removed it before they got there; or it was never there at all.”  She turned quickly and glared at Ruth.  “I think we both know which is true.”
   “So rather than going looking for it, I thought of a better plan.  I will get your friends to bring it to me.”
   “No,” Ruth said.  “They won’t give it to you.”  The woman smiled.  “I didn’t say they’d know they were doing it.”
   A chair was brought into the room.  The adjudicator nodded to her guards to leave the room.  “Be ready,” she said, and locked the door behind them and sat down in the chair.
   Ruth looked up at her with hatred and fear.  She realised what the woman was doing now.  It was a trap.  The adjudicator hoped that Patrick would be so desperate to rescue her before the adjudicator found out he was gone that he would travel back in time and bring the TTC here.  And, Ruth had to admit, it was likely to work.  Patrick would surely realise the danger of the TTC being captured, but if he thought he could arrive before the adjudicator knew he was missing- he might decide to risk it.  
   If he did, he would be here any time now.  And there was nothing she could do to warn him.  The adjudicator was watching her, smiling triumphantly.  All she could do was hope that he would not-
   She heard it.  Just the smallest of clicks, seeming to come from inside the wall behind her back, but she could not stop the flicker of her eyes from betraying it to the adjudicator.  The woman stood up and strode over to her.
   “Say a word to warn them and I will make sure you regret it,” the adjudicator said.  
   Ruth heard a door nearby open softly and then Patrick’s voice.  “Ruth?”
   She didn’t dare look at the adjudicator but shouted; “It’s a trap!  Patrick, she wants the TTC! You’ve got to get awa-”
   The adjudicator struck her with surprising force and pushed her aside to unlock the door.  Ruth could hear feet running away, but it was no use.  A moment later the adjudicator re-entered the room, dragging Patrick with her.  The fantoms followed, escorting Tom, Agnes and Adam.  
   Ruth’s spirits couldn’t sink any lower.  The adjudicator was triumphant.  “Well, what a surprise to see you here,” she sneered.  “And thank you for delivering your time machine.  It’s so much more convenient than going to look for things that aren’t there.”  She glared at Tom.  “And in the morning you will show me how it operates.”
   “Never!” Tom said, struggling to free himself from the fantom’s grip.  
   “I say you will,” the adjudicator said.  “Your little friend here knows that she has only been kept alive until now because I needed her to sing.  Now I have all five of you, some are expendable.  Think about that, and in a few hours you will, I am sure, be more willing to be helpful.”  
   “You betrayed us again!” Adam yelled at Patrick.  “This was a trap!”
   “I didn’t,” Patrick began.
   “Stop it,” Ruth interrupted.  “It was a trap, but we didn’t know.  Patrick didn’t know.  It was my idea that he should escape and get help, although I didn’t mean that he should bring all of you here.  It’s not his fault.  We were tricked.”
   The adjudicator laughed.  “Why do you bother defending him?” she said.  “He got you into this mess.”
   “You tricked him,” Ruth said.  “And you made him afraid.  He’s no worse than I am- than any of us.”
   “And you have such a lot to be proud of, don’t you,” the woman sneered.  She walked towards the door.  “There will be a fantom outside the door and another outside the window, so don’t bother trying to escape again.”  
   So that was it.  Ruth leaned her head against the wall and wept.  Destroying the fantoms was useless, the adjudicator could force them to make more.  Escape was hopeless and the last attempt had only made things many times worse.  There was nothing else she could think of.  She could only hope that someone braver and wiser than her could stop the adjudicator before real damage was done.  But she couldn't see how.

The story continues...