by Mark Radford
‘Gentlemen, I salute you with much gratitude for an excellent job done on destroying the Black Phantoms and obliterating their Fort Trafalgar headquarters. This calls for a greater celebration than usual.’ He then gave a hand signal to one of his footmen standing across the room. The man promptly walked over to the doors of the lobby and opened them. Several trolleys with large platters were instantly wheeled into the room with several prostitutes following the servants in and brought to the table. The committee members, including General Osti Skara, applauded in appreciation of what they were about to receive. Two servants lifted the largest platter and positioned it in the middle of the table before one of them lifted the lid and revealed a whole roasted pig. Gasps of admiration came from the table’s occupants, now joined by the women blissfully unaware that the event was being filmed by Spynet. The plates containing chicken, turkey, rabbit, ham, and many other similar meats were laid out, bottles of champagne stood on the table and the party helped themselves. They were happy to make gluttons of themselves, and began stuffing their faces with the delicacies on display.
*****
‘Start the transmission feed to the television network,’ ordered Commander Denham to an officer, who turned and radioed to the team at the television network.
‘We have a go, standby for forward transmission.’
‘The images are coming through.’ Images of General Skara, alive and well, and making a pig of himself, along with the President, and other members of the executive committee, with their female company were now being broadcast on national television.
‘Let’s go.’ Denham and his troops darted forward into the secret chamber, guns at the ready for the final onslaught.
*****
Distant gunfire from within the building interrupted the executive committee’s meal.
‘What the hell is going on?’ The President spoke with concern as he dabbed his mouth with a napkin and put it down on the table. He rose from his chair. The doors from the Ante-Room burst open and Black Phantoms soldiers stormed the gallery, their guns aimed at the table’s occupants. Commander Denham entered the room with Carl behind him.
‘Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,’ Denham greeted the committee. ‘Consider yourselves superstars, as you are all, this very moment, on live television, and what a spectacle you are serving up.’ A smile affixed itself to his face.
‘You are bluffing!’ The President exclaimed.
‘Who has control of Spynet?’
The President glared at General Skara for an answer.
‘You are all dead man.’ Skara bellowed loudly as he looked at the President for a moment before returning his attention to Denham. He got up from his chair to face his foe.
‘We may not get out of here alive but a revolution will be our legacy. The people of this country have just seen the concrete evidence of how corrupt you all are,’ spat the Commander. ‘Face it; you have lost your control of the nation.’
‘Switch it on.’ The President demanded of his footman, who went over and switched the wall mounted television on. The images were clear and close up of the situation in the gallery. Captions under the footage stated that people were taking to the streets in large numbers, protesting their anger.
‘It seems the revolution is already underway.’ Denham remarked. The continuing sound of gunfire crept closer to the door; soldiers of the APA had entered the room and scurried forward in earnest.
‘You can’t just remove us from power’ Masterson exclaimed. The standoff was now in place as both armies’ guns were aimed at each other.
‘We can because as the Military Crimes Officer, you are all under arrest for breach of the Ozone treaty with regards to your consumption of meat,’ Carl informed them. ‘You have violated your own laws, and I don’t think I need to remind you of the penalty for it.’
Some of the APA soldiers hesitated in confusion, seeing their General alive right before their eyes, the food on the table and the media spotlight on them. Their reaction did not escape Denham’s attention.
‘Yes, look around you,’ he told the General’s men. ‘Will you battle to the end for these criminals and risk the wrath of the people’s revolution that will kill you all without mercy? Do the right thing for the country and surrender your arms.’ The soldiers of the APA hesitantly began to put down their weapons.
‘Damn you, you fools!’ Skara laid into his men with fury and attempted to take a gun from one of them. A shot rang out. The General’s eyes widened in shock as he turned around and saw that he had been shot in the back by the President, a long standing friend.
‘You always were a liability. You just couldn’t stop abusing your power,’ the President scolded Skara bitterly. ‘I should have removed you a long time ago, but it’s over now. We will surrender.’
The General trembled, racked by the searing pain that shot up his spine, his breath ragged. Carl walked over to the struggling man.
‘The biggest mistake you made, General, was to get me suspended from my job after your collaboration with Chief Fletcher. A jail cell will suit you well,’ he condemned the man. ‘Take them away.’
Skara exerted one final burst of energy and tried to grab Carl, but he failed, a wounded man with nowhere to run, the humiliation on his face for all to see. The war was over and Carl Treyer was finally satisfied that justice had been served.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark is a deaf author, born in 1964, who has been living on the south coast of England for over 30 years. After many years his writing dream was revived when in mid-1998 ill health caused him to lose his job on medical grounds. He was diagnosed with Menieres. During the recovery period, he enrolled in two creative writing courses that led to writing qualifications and two novels, one of which was ‘Early Memory’, his debut publication release. A full biography of the author can be found at his Web site www.markradford.co.uk. He is presently working on his next novel.