2084 The End of Days by Derek Beaugarde Read Free Book Online

Halevi and Shifra Ben Haim have both been called up to do their honourable duty for the defence of our beloved State…”
    Ari thought that Yosep Goldenheim was putting just a bit too much emphasis on his phrasing of ‘honourable duty for the defence of our beloved State’ and guessed it was just another dig at him. Ari quickly scanned the rest of the short agenda on his ePad, saw that there was nothing else that he would be strongly involved in and he more or less switched off for the rest of the meeting. Goldenheim went on to argue the case for only filling one of the three posts vacated due to the Center’s budget constraints. Ari could not care less at this moment whether Goldenheim filled any of the vacancies.
    *
    Earthdate: 20:15 Monday February 3, 2081 GMT
    Jill had only been home at her small studio flat in Kew for about five minutes. The working week had started badly again and the underground train home from Victoria had been late again. She was starving and exhausted and she had literally thrown everything down and collapsed onto her sofa in the open plan studio flat. Buckley had been on her case since the disastrous editorial meeting 11 days ago. After the meeting Buckley had her in his own office and told her that he felt that her work lately had become slipshod and sloppy. Jill tried to deny that Buckley’s assertion was actually the case and that she always gave him and the Times 100% commitment.
    “C’mon, Jill, I’ve been in the paper business for thirty odd years now. Who are you trying to kid?”
    Buckley still called it the ‘paper business’ even though the presses had stopped rolling years ago and the public read their daily news on the online ‘Bloids’. God, thought Jill, he’s so bloody old hat, but she admitted, he was pretty damn perceptive.
    “Look, Buck, I’m really sorry. You’re right. I have probably taken my eye off the ball a little bit lately…”
    Buckley listened. Here it comes, he thought to himself, as he let Jill carry on.
    “…You see, I’m, uh, kinda havin’ some personal problems at home at the moment. But I’m on it, boss – totally gonna get it sorted out.”
    “Well, I’m not going to pry, Jill. But it better get sorted and PDQ. As you know, Jill, I’m not one for carrying any liabilities on my team. I’ve a mountain of investigative work and a pile of it is heading your way. Are you up for it?”
    Inside, Jill’s stomach churned. In fact, she felt strangely like vomiting but she suppressed the feeling of rising bile. Until she straightened things out with Khan the last thing she needed was a mountain of stressful investigations and deadlines. Jill had broached the subject of the lovey-dovey text signed to ‘A’ with Khan and he had put it down to a simple typo. He had obviously meant to type a ’J’ but he had done it in a hurry between meetings. He pleaded with her to believe that it was not a misdirected text meant for some other girl. Jill knew deep down it sounded pretty lame. It was just not the type of text he would normally send her in the first place. Half-heartedly she told Khan that she would accept it was a mistake and that night he made love to her gently and passionately. As Khan lay sleeping beside her a little niggling doubt kept Jill from getting to sleep right away. Now Buckley was putting the pressure on her to get down to some hard-knuckled journalism. Subconsciously, she chided herself. For God’s sake Jill, you’re a bloody investigative reporter – that’s what you do for a living.
    “No, uh, I mean, yes, Buck, totally. I’m totally buckin’ up for it!”
    Buckley arched his eyebrow suspiciously. Jill groaned inside. She knew that careless word would slip out one day. God, half his staff used it behind his back.
    “Are you taking the piss, Jill?”
    “No, sorry, boss. It just slipped out.”
    “Well don’t! Oh, yeah. Before you go, Jill - another small favour to ask?”
    “Yes, Buck.”
    “I want you to delegate