14.1

Marlon was furious with the Committee. They’d already cancelled two meetings and now they were making him wait outside the door like a naughty boy waiting to see the headmaster. How dare they patronize him! How infuriating!

Fuck them!

They are boys!

You, Marlon, are the man.

Eventually the Chairman opened the door –

“Come in Sands.”

They were all there – all the smug –young men.

He could feel their awe as he entered the room – a real man.

“So, what happened with the girl?” the Chairman asked cynically.

Marlon figured they might begin with the girl – cretins in smart suits like this always begin with the girl.

“She failed to excite,” he said, smiling to himself as he took his place at the table.

The Chairman leant forward and spoke just above a whisper –

“I thought my instruction to you was to wind this up.”

Silent nods hinted of some hidden code. What was the problem? Hadn’t they been the ones who’d decided to go with the girl? No-one had ever asked him! He would never have suggested a stupid idea like that!

“It’s a question of how we go about it,” Marlon said cautiously.

“How do we usually go about it?” the Chairman probed.

Marlon felt squeezed, hemmed in by the harsh focus of eyes.

“We do what we have to do,” he said. “What the protection of our way of life demands.”

“Exactly.”

“But… this kind of operation takes a little time.”

The Chairman’s glance sought affirmation from the others, who were glaring at Marlon with undisguised hostility.

“Well… now there’s a complication,” he said. “The President wants to know what’s going on over there. And that’s a big problem.”

“I know,” Marlon said, scanning the group defiantly. “Don’t worry – I’ll soon sort him out.”

You’re the man…