Day Thirty Five: 6: 28pm

Lucas hastily pulled the car to a stop and then loaded his gun. "Stay here," he ordered.

"Lucas," Jo protested, "I should come too."

"It's against protocol for you to be out in the field now, and you know it. I don't want you exposed to danger. You're to stay here until I've assessed the situation."

"And twiddle my thumbs I suppose," Jo replied resentfully.

"If need be," Lucas answered brusquely, before shutting the car door and striding off in the direction of the barracks.

**

After thirty minutes of waiting in the car with no word from Lucas, Jo was indeed forced to resort to twiddling her thumbs. What on earth was happening in there she wondered. She was pleased that so far there had been no sound of gunshots or similar but she could hear occasional shouts coming from the hall in the middle of the complex.

After what seemed an age, Lucas finally returned.

"What's going on?" Jo questioned anxiously.

"They haven't been fed for the past two days."

"Oh," Jo replied. "I thought the Police organized that all the military camps would be provisioned."

"They did, but something must have gone wrong in this case. I don't know what it is – bribery, corruption or simply instructions not being followed. I'm trying to get to the bottom of it. Anyway – they're demanding to see William and the Prime Minister. I think we need to get them. The moods pretty volatile – for the moment I've managed to keep them calm and promised them they can see them soon, and that we'll bring some supplies in. The Police have offered to organize for a truck to bring some provisions in shortly, but I want you to go and get William and the PM, and bring some extra Police along with you."

Jo looked at him wide eyed for a moment, then nodded, "ok, sure, I'll be as quick as I can."

**

It was precisely three hours later that Jo returned with King William in the car, along with two of his bodyguards.

The Prime Minister was following them in the car behind, and a Police escort vehicle made up the rear of the convoy. A further two Police vehicles followed some five minutes behind them.

Once they reached the base, they waited a few minutes for the Police to arrive, and then Jo went inside to let Lucas know they had arrived.

It was easy to identify where the troops were from the noise. When she opened the door to the hall, the sight that greeted her was somewhat intimidating. Around two hundred sets of eyes turned to stare at her as she entered the hall, their angry faces illuminated by the lamps dispersed throughout the hall. They were dressed in the khaki uniform of the army and some were armed.

At first there was silence, but then someone whistled, and another called, "looking for a little fun darlin? Cos I'm your man," which provoked an outburst of laughter.

She ignored them and made her way towards Lucas, who was in the middle of the room with around 40 armed police officers looking remarkably cool calm and collected. Jo whispered in his ear, "they're here – do you want to talk to them?"

Lucas nodded, and left the hall to hastily brief the two arrivals on the situation. Ten minutes later they returned with King William and the Prime Minister in tow.

The entry of King William, who they had seen only four days earlier provoked loud cheering. He was clearly popular with the troops.

Once they reached the centre of the room, William looked to the Prime Minister, who indicated that he should speak first.

"It is a pleasure to be back amongst you only a few days after my last visit," he began, "though it is unfortunate to hear that things have not gone smoothly in our absence. I can assure you that your new Prime Minister gave express instructions that all military bases were to be paid and properly provisioned. Our understanding is that this has not occurred in this case and for that I am sorry." A round of applause followed this comment. "The Prime Minister has ordered that food be delivered as soon as possible to your camp, and we anticipate that it will arrive within the next hour." He paused and waited for the cheers to die down, "Prime Minister do you wish to add some comments?"

"Yes indeed I do. It was my earnest desire to make sure that you were properly provisioned and we are, as yet, unsure why this has not occurred. As the King has said, provisions have been dispatched and should be with you shortly. And you can be assured that in the future we will see that you are well fed and provisioned. Along with the rest of the citizens of this country, I am all too aware of the debt we owe to the servicemen and women in this country, who bravely put their lives on the line in the course of duty. I can only thank you and ask that you extend us your patience while we sort this situation out to reach a satisfactory conclusion."

The Prime Minister stepped down from the podium in the centre of the hall to the sound of clapping and shook the hand of the senior army officer beside him. Lucas nodded to both the Prime Minister and the King and led them forward out of the hall. Their progress was slow, as the soldiers surged forward to shake their hands along the way. Jo followed behind them, trying not to attract attention. She wasn't wholly successful as the boisterous mood led one of the soldiers to grab her and kiss her before she could wriggle away from him. Several metres in front of them, Lucas turned to see Jo trapped in the embrace of a rather burly soldier and frowned, then quickly made his way to her side, and separated her from the soldier, announcing firmly, "the lady is not for kissing, I'm afraid. She's already taken."

Outside Jo breathed a sigh of relief, as Lucas issued instructions that the Prime Minister and King should return to London, with Jo and their escort. Around them the troops filed out of the hall and back to their barracks.

On hearing that she was to return to London, Jo protested that she wanted to stay here to help Lucas and see that the food was distributed fairly.

"You're going back with them," Lucas replied, shaking his head, before turning away to talk to the Prime Minister.

Lucas' attitude irritated her. She wanted to stay and make sure that the situation was properly resolved before returning to London, to see the job through the same as Lucas.

"I'm not going," she replied coolly, "and you can't make me."

Lucas stopped his discussion and looked towards her, irritated. "Fine," he replied shortly, clearly not pleased with her response. "Stay then, but I'll watch you." With nearly two hundred soldiers around, some of whom had consumed a fair amount of alcohol, Jo would clearly need some supervision. And if he wasn't mistaken, pregnancy was already beginning to have an effect on her, giving her a certain glow which made her look even more lovely than usual, but which could easily spell trouble in an environment like this.

After the Prime Minister and William had departed, Jo and Lucas returned to their car to wait for the supplies to arrive. Around them, the Police Officers were milling about and joking with each other or sitting in their cars as they waited.

Inside the car things were silent, as Lucas ran through the arrangements he would make after the supplies arrived in his head.

Jo watched him furtively. They hadn't talked since their earlier discussion and the silence was making her uncomfortable.

She reflected that it was so difficult to predict what Lucas might do next and that being in love with him was clearly going to be hard work.

Half an hour later the truck finally arrived, packed with food and water. A few minutes later soldiers began emerging from their barracks, cheering excitedly and running towards it. Lucas, Jo and the Police had a difficult job keeping order as they dispensed the supplies, and it took well over twenty minutes before everyone had been fed.

After the truck had been emptied Lucas, Jo and the Police regrouped in the carpark. The Police announced they would send half of their cars back to London, with the rest staying until tomorrow to make sure things remained calm. Lucas announced he would stay overnight too, then looked at Jo and asked, "will you go back to London now? With the Police?"

She smiled and nodded, "yes," happy to return now the operation was largely complete. Lucas smiled, "I'll see you tomorrow then," then added so softly that everyone, including Jo, failed to hear him, "my love."

**

Nearly at the end of the story – only a couple more chapters to go.