Provender Gleed by James Lovegrove

Author:James Lovegrove [Lovegrove, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, Thriller, Science Fiction, Humorous
ISBN: 057507776X
Publisher: Gollancz
Published: 2004-12-31T18:30:00+00:00

34

Is watched Damien watching the news. She wondered if he was going to make the connection. The war. Provender. She prayed he would. She prayed it would dawn on him that he was the root cause of all this. His conscience would do the rest. He was still, all said and done, a man of conscience.

But, although Damien voiced concern about the situation, which was getting steadily graver, he didn't appear to care that much. He was preoccupied. Once or twice he mentioned getting the ransom demand out, saying it was long past due. He was expecting his Family insider to call soon and give him the go-ahead. That call, too, was long past due. Is could see he was chafing, champing at the bit. Less and less was he liking the fact that he was not in sole charge of the Provender kidnapping and that he had to be accountable to someone else. She still could not fathom his relationship with this unknown Family member. She understood only that in order to get what he was after, the money to renovate Needle Grove, Damien had entered into a pact with a representative of his very worst enemy. He had done a deal with, if not the Devil, then one of the Devil's minions. To Damien, this was not a compromise but an alliance forged by necessity. He remained, however, not best pleased about it.

On the television, the politicians kept talking about a diplomatic resolution, even as the military build-up continued. Whether they were genuinely hopeful of a peaceful outcome or just saying what an alarmed populace needed to hear, Is couldn't tell, but she felt that at the very least they were going to take things right to the brink. Like Damien, they too were at the behest of unseen masters, in this case Stanislaw Kuczinski and Prosper Gleed. Is found it bizarre to think that just two days ago she had been serving drinks to the latter, had stood within a few inches of him, had suffered him to ogle her boobs. A lecherous middle-aged man, similar to countless others she had come across, all too easily captivated by the sight of a generous chest - and yet he had the wherewithal to trigger a continent-wide conflict, almost without effort. Serially unfaithful to his wife, by all accounts, and addicted to gambling - and yet, with just a word, he could set one half of Europe against the other. That was wrong. That should not be. So much responsibility should not reside in the hands of someone so irresponsible.

The phone rang.

Damien snapped the TV off and picked up the receiver.

'Yeah? ... Oh good. About time you got in touch again. I was beginning to think -- ... Right, right. Yes, I've been watching it. Not good ... Uh-huh. Yes ... Really? Jesus! ... You think so? It won't make matters worse? ... So the one I've already written is no good any more ... No, I told you, I don't own a videotyper.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.