The Bitter Truth

9

The Lieutenant general stared pensively at the smooth surface of the table. The room was quiet. He finally raised his eyes, and broke the silence.

"A woman was killed in a car accident last night, at Piccadilly Circus—"

"I read about it in the London Times this morning while I was inside of my Land Rover." The Prime Minister interrupted while turning around and looking at the Lieutenant general. He noticed that his face twisted into a grimace of disgust.

The Prime Minister raised his hands in a surrendering gesture.

"I had to take proper precautions and that is to eliminate every threat. We are both aware of what is at stake here."

"See what greed and power do to a person? They think that they are unstoppable. You have tried going rouge before, and your results were unsatisfying. You killed innocent people last year to eliminate this threat of yours. If the American

government had placed the Descendant to the Royal throne in protective custody, a war would probably have started against us. Wait until they find out you killed two American Agents."

"You are out of your mind and delusional." The Prime Minister replied. "The Americans are our allied."

The General raised his eyebrows. The Prime Minister didn't answer and the Lieutenant general continued.

"The investigator from Scotland Yard—the one that took notes of the accident last night, noted that a suitcase was taken from Ms. Watson's vehicle. Imagine if that information is related to Winterfield's clandestine Operation and it gets released to the media, it could endanger a number of lives, including mine!"

You are always thinking about yourself.

"You are selfish Mr. General."

The Lieutenant general ignored him and raised his index finger. "I am not done." He cleared his throat and quoted the word: Sir. "You always lack the full picture. Take a look at the total strategy and not just parts of it. There can never be a connection between the British Government and Operation White Diamond. The reputation of some very important people would be ruined. We are talking International figure heads here."

That and like I said...including my reputation.

The Prime Minister thought about his own reputation too. He plopped down in a gray fabric chair, and rested an elbow on the shiny wood laminated conference table.

No...don't take this role away from me.

"I know how important the descendant to the Royal throne and the black ops assassin Richard Maxwell need to be captured and killed. My first suggestion is to put their profiles on national TV. Put out an APB to Interpol until someone makes a citizen's arrest. Then, we coerce them into pressing charges. We will show this threat note and say that a great lesson will be tough for threatening your life and they are the ones to blame."

"What do we tell the Agent downstairs about what is to be released to the media?"

"That will be simple. On the girl's side...reason for her excessive beauty, she destroyed marriages, and injured nations. On the guy's side...he stuck his—" The Prime Minister gave him a look that caused the Lieutenant general to stop in mid- sentence.