Every Last Mother's Child
Page 41
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“Good afternoon Lord Mercer,” the lord said sitting down next to him in the Side Bar, a small taproom near the parliament and the courts. Lord Mercer often stopped there after work to have a drink and listen to the barflies. It also gave people a way to just “bump” into him if they didn’t want to be seen entering his office in the palace.
“Good afternoon Lord South Hampton,” Mercer returned taking a sip of his scotch.
“How’s Alice?” the lord asked about his wife.
“Fine,” Mercer said, “a little pissed that our retirement plans have gotten messed up. She’s working a bit with Lady Hawthorne. And Jenny?”
“About the same,” they exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes before South Hampton finally got to his point, “Say Rammer is trying to get a parliamentary inquiry set. He thinks he can use the nursing home patients and the Queen’s investments as a hook to hold the hearings.”
“I see,” Mercer asked, “when?”
“A week or so,” South Hampton said, “He needs to get the Royalists to agree to it. Some of them are a little honked off about the nursing home patients, but they see why he did it. Some of them think it is awesome how he did it. They feel that his off world connections might be the best thing for the kingdom.”
“I had heard that Rammer wants to thwart the evacuation,” Mercer said, “I get so tired of this we propose we oppose shit. For once I would like to see the parliament stop playing politics and do what the people of Trena expect them to do. Serve the nation!”
“There more than a couple of us who feel the same way,” Lord South Hampton finished his beer and asked for another. “We feel we need to get behind Lord Wilson and the Queen and get our people to safety. We don’t have time for this bull shit. We’re going to let Rammer have his hearing but it is not going to turn out the way he thinks it will.”
“When we will be getting a notice,” Mercer asked.
“Sometime this week I think,” South Hampton replied. “Tell the Queen and the Marshal they have nothing to fear.”
“I will pass that along.” Lord Mercer replied. South Hampton paid his tab and left the bar leaving Mercer deep in thought. South Hampton had left Mercer’s mind roiling, although not a ranking member of the Contras, South Hampton was still a Contra. Their basic tenant was to be arch conservative and to go against the royalist and the monarchy. They loathed change, and fought the monarch tooth and nail. So he was having trouble believing South Hampton’s desire to help wasn’t a ploy to distract the evacuation command. On the other side of the coin, South Hampton was a moderate in the Contras. He often voted with the Royalists, and seemed to be a voice of reason among the Contras. He finished his drink and left the bar himself.