Read The Village King for Free Online Page B

fire a gun. He said, by way of drawing out her thoughts, “I’ll tell
you what I’ve been wondering.”
    “What?” She still didn’t look at
him.
    He paused. “What would happen if
their command structure was disrupted?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “What if Morgan was taken out?
What would the outcome be?”
    This time she looked at him.
     

15
     
    M organ
called a meeting and
everyone gathered in the hall. Children were supposed to wait outside but Karen
had clung to Alana, who stayed next to Stephen in a spot against the wall but
still near the door. Gary and Phil stayed at the wash-houses. Finally, the
adults from the village gathered, all fifty three of them.
    Suzanne sat on a chair at the
end. The floor of the hall had once been marked out as a badminton court. Faded
white lines lay along the scuffed floor. Frank, Gareth and Bet stood behind
Suzanne; like courtiers, thought Stephen. Alana remained impassive but her eyes
roamed around the faces, taking in all the details.
    Rory sauntered in, a smug look on
his face and sidled up to the wall opposite Stephen. People moved out of his
way while his sidekicks Deek and Tim took up a place either side of him. No-one
spoke much, fearful of what Morgan wanted. Finally, the Colonel arrived.
    Boot steps could be heard in the
entranceway. Morgan entered first, followed by his Captain and Lieutenant. 
Both junior officers carried rifles, held across them with the muzzles angled
down. Their index fingers rested outside the trigger guard while their gloved
hands held the grip. Removing his beret, Morgan smiled at Suzanne. When he
spoke, a soft Welsh accent filled the room.
    “Good morning, everyone. Thank
you for coming.” He sounded grateful, but everyone here had felt ordered to be
there. All could see the silver pistols at his hip. “I am very happy to tell
you we intend to winter here.”
    Some people to Stephen’s left
shuffled their feet. One of the men, Charlie, caught Stephen’s eye. Morgan
continued on with his speech about how everyone should make them welcome. He
leaned on his silver pistols. Charlie turned back to listen. Alana had noticed
this and she exchanged a look with Stephen.
    Morgan asked if anyone had any
questions. There was silence for a moment before Suzanne stood up. Composing
herself first, she asked, a tremor in her voice, “And how do you intend to feed
yourselves?”
    Morgan smiled. Captain Weaver
glanced at the Lieutenant, who swallowed. Morgan said evenly, “We will be
availing ourselves of your hospitality.” His eyes roamed around the group to
allow them time to digest his point.
    “Colonel Morgan, we will barely
feed ourselves this winter.” Suzanne had spoken respectfully but firmly. Frank
rearranged his feet and moved closer to Suzanne, though his grey beard jittered
at his mouth.
    Morgan smiled again. He replaced
his beret carefully before opening his hands. “I’ll leave you to work out the
details.” He turned on his heels, followed by his officers.
    Rory and his friends skulked out
while the meeting broke up into angry denunciations of how that was handled by
Suzanne and how they would cope. Charlie nodded to his brother, Vincent, and
the two of them went to go. As he passed Stephen, Charlie said, “Time to move
on, I think.”
    Stephen held him by the arm.
“Where will you go?”
    Charlie shook his head and
shrugged. He followed Vincent out the room. While the shouting went on, Stephen
said to Alana, “What did you make of that?”
    She thought for a minute, looked
around, and then pulled Stephen to the side. They moved away from the others,
who were moving into the middle of the room, where Suzanne appealed for calm.
Alana said, “Take out Morgan? Weaver takes his place. Lieutenant Baxter is
ineffectual, probably incompetent.”
    Stephen felt shocked at her
assessment. He looked at the crowd, then back to her. “So what we do with
Weaver and Baxter?”
    “How the hell should I know?” She
suddenly seemed