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shock collars, which explained how they d been trained and handled, but wouldn t have done anything for Ax. Ax tried to comfort Brock, who was a shattered heap: a situation not improved by his tactless mates telling him that the man-eaters would probably ve had to be put down anyhow. And now we d better find this Irishman a drink. ?Why didn t you use your own rifle, Fergal? asked Sage, as they left the haunted grove. Fergal grinned sheepishly. ?Oh, I knew I woulda been firing blanks. If I was in your shoes, I would not ve given meself live ammunition tonight, either. Sage had taken the PM across country to the M1, where he d spent the night under guard at a run-down Travelodge. The debriefing happened at nine the next morning, by the roadside. Fiorinda s van stood on the hard shoulder. Ax and Sage had been to Coventry after Ax s adventure in the tiger pit. They d brought Richard Kent, the barmy army s chief of staff, back with them. The Prime Minister arrived in the barmy army truck with his guards, looking exhausted by his short journey. He wasn t wearing his mask. Barmies brought him over to Richard Kent s big, dark, unmarked car. Richard joined the guards, leaving Ax and his Minister to talk to David alone. Fiorinda stayed out of sight. Sage sat in the back, unmasked. Ax sat in the front with the Prime Minister; who started off in a blustering mood. He d been kidnapped, the police had over reacted, the barmy army should never have been involved. Last night s whole operation had been outrageous, unsanctioned, illegal Ax said he didn t think anyone over-reacted. After seeing the bodies displayed in the pit, they hadn t known what to expect. They d had to respond with maximum force. As for the numbers, it s standard procedure. Numbers minimise violence in any kind of crowd control. If you can trust your men. ?And I can trust mine , he added, without any bluster at all. David took this in, and changed his tune. ?Is this interview being recorded? ?No, said Sage. ?There would be no advantage, said Ax, ?in preserving this conversation. They spent an hour with him, this haggard, unshaven, sixtyish bloke in his dishevelled evening casuals. It wasn t meant to be an interrogation, but he talked. He d known he was taking risks. Yes, he knew that digital masks are transparent to infra-red. He wasn t an idiot! (Like hell, they thought . . .) But it was an issue of trust. He had believed he was with people he could trust. He d had no intention of giving the Celtics political support. He had no sympathy with their anti-recovery, neo-feudal rhetoric. His involvement in the rites had been personal, a pilgrimage, a sincere religious impulse. He d never visited Spitalls Farm before (where the Wethamcote grove was located). He d known nothing until he saw the bodies. No one had told him, he had not been warned. He d thought he was hallucinating. He d been off his head, a waking nightmare. You surely don t believe I would condone ? At one point Sage had to leave the car and take a walk up and down. But he came back, and talked the businesslike compassion that the Triumvirate had decided had to be talked. The man must not be humiliated, or terrorised. He must come out of this feeling good about his rescuers, or else it was all for nothing. They told him that they were going to try and save him. ?I called you to the scene of the horrific discovery as soon as it was secured, Ax explained. ?You d already approved the barmy army and police operation. Now Richard s going to drive you back to London. He ll stay with you for the next few days, and between reacting like a statesman to the hell that s going to break loose, you re going to tell him everything. Every detail. Please. We need to how this happened, and just how much we have to hide. ?Ax, why are you doing this? David asked, tears of gratitude, and afterburn in his eyes. ?You could throw me to the wolves. ?I don t want to. I want you to lead the government for me. There was another ground-shifting pause. ?You can come back from this, David, said Ax (and using the man s first name, always a little awkward before, felt different now). ?We ve come through a lot together. We can go on working together: we can get the country through this bad patch and reach the future we both believe in. We ll let you go now. You must be exhausted. Call me when you ve had some sleep and we ll talk it all over properly. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |