The Survivor (Jude Lyon) by Simon Conway
Author:Simon Conway [Conway, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781529334371
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2022-11-02T16:00:00+00:00
Chapter 35
Subterranea Britannica
Itâs close to midnight and Bala is staring out through the bay window of her ground-floor office, which gives her a view of the now-deserted press pen on the far side of Downing Street. The tsunami of attention that she was expecting in the wake of her gender reveal has not materialised and the news at ten had been all about lead elements of Britainâs Rapid Reaction Force â 16 Air Assault Brigade â arriving in Latvia, and the national hunt for the terrorist Guy Fowle. As predicted, the press descended on her hometown of Durban like a ravenous horde, but came away with little more than the testimony of a couple of wistful ex-suitors and that of a former fellow volunteer at an AIDS hospice, a video from a local TV station of her cooking the local bunny chow curry, a wholesome beauty pageant portrait and a somewhat more risqué image of her tucked in Daisy Duke shorts at Durbanâs Gunfire Tactical shooting range above the title: Silver medallist in the Lady Junior category. She has a stern but thoughtful father who says he respects the decisions that she has made in her life and is proud to call her daughter, and a loving and supportive mother. In the press, she is driven but down-to-earth, sassy but with a heart, and best of all lacking any kind of axe to grind. Even the TERFs are holding fire for now. If there is a lesson there, she thinks, itâs that itâs a mistake to second-guess the British public. You never know what theyâll take in their stride. As the presenter of Womanâs Hour, a woman notorious in her previous job for eating politicians alive, whispered to her with conspiratorial glee just before they went on air, âThe listeners are entirely unshockable.â
Thereâs a knock on the door.
âCome.â
The door opens and she finds herself staring at Lee and the buildingâs foppish historian, Sir Francis. They are grinning like schoolboys and can barely stand still. She glimpses Denzel behind them, lurking in the corridor like he always does. There is so much work still to do and she doubts that Lee has even made a start on the nightâs mountain of red boxes. She sighs. âWhat is it?â
âDescende, audax viator, et terrestre centrum attinges,â Sir Francis says, with a theatrical flourish.
âThatâs Latin for weâre going underground,â Lee says.
âNot quite, but almost, ha, ha, ha. I was telling the Prime Minister that beneath its surface Whitehall possesses rich strata of hidden but still-in-use passages, ducts, and tubes. And he said, show me! How could I refuse?â
âDo you want my permission?â
âWe want you to come with us,â Lee says. He points at the News Channel on the TV in the corner. âIgnore the braying sheep.â
Thereâs something brittle and nervy about him that she has only rarely glimpsed before. She knows that heâs worried about the deployment of troops.
âPlease, Miss Bhatt.â Sir Francis has his hands pressed together, appealing to her better nature. âIt would be my honour to show you our subterranean delights.
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