Chapter 8

Leo and Jamie were huddled with Edmund when I walked into the newsroom the following morning. They seemed quite excited about something. Maggie was hovering at the water cooler, trying to eavesdrop and not being very discreet about it.

“What’s up?” I inquired, slipping my shoulder bag onto my chair.

Edmund ignored me and hurried off, leaving me with the guys, who looked as though they’d just won the lottery.

“We just got a tip that some of the militant clansmen are gathering somewhere in the desert. The Sultan’s going to be calling his war council together,” Jamie told me excitedly.

I glanced over at Leo who was already at his desk, working the phones. They had tomorrow’s front page. Good for them. Heading back to my chair, I noticed Maggie watching us. Catching my eye, she quickly turned her head away. I watched as she studiously filled her paper cup with water and then drifted off. Her nose was probably out of joint because she didn’t get that reporting position she’d been angling for. Oh well, her problem. I had enough of my own to worry about.

I’d been thinking about Lena quite a bit. In fact I had sat up the entire night thinking about her and what was going on between us. I still couldn’t figure out exactly what was going on. But I did know that whatever it was, my professional role had become subverted somehow. It would be next to impossible now for me to do a decent job on the article. So I decided on the only possible course of action left to me. My fingers trembled as I punched the numbers on my phone’s keypad.

“Out of the question,” the Information Minister snapped after I asked him to release me from the assignment.

“I don’t feel that I can…” I went on trying to explain myself. I didn’t get far.

“Nonsense! It’s what was agreed to and you’ll keep your side of the bargain,” he barked. “Finish your interviews and write the story I asked you to write.”

“Minister, I must disagree. And I mean this with all respect. But I don’t work for you and I don’t take orders from you.”

“We’ll see about that,” he said, slamming down the receiver.

I sat in silence for a moment, biting my lip. What a hot-head. His nasty demeanour worried me, but I didn’t realize the full extent of my predicament until Edmund came storming over about 20 minutes later.

“Montgomery!” he thundered. “In my office. Now!”

There was no need for any more theatrics to gain the attention of the entire newsroom but he slammed his door anyway. I could see the walls shake in response.

When I left Edmund’s office, my ears were still ringing. He had, as my Uncle Jack used to say, gone up one side of me and down the other. Even the hair in his nostrils was standing on end, and that was not a pretty sight. There was no doubt now that I had to swallow my pride as well as my reservations and finish the final interviews with Lena.

Every head in the newsroom seemed to swivel around to gaze into a computer screen as I passed through on my way back to my desk. Even Greenlee seemed quietly occupied for a change. I grabbed my shoulder bag and headed out.