Free The UnTied Kingdom by Kate Johnson Page A

barracks, he made good on his promise to take up drinking, leaving the company in Wilmington’s hands and heading straight for the mess, where the barman, seeing his face, got out a whisky tumbler.
    ‘No,’ Harker said, ‘I hate that stuff.’ And it was expensive, as it had to be imported from Scotland. Or smuggled over the border. ‘Give me a beer.’
    ‘The whisky will get you drunk quicker,’ said a voice behind him, Saskia’s voice, and he turned with a scowl.
    ‘Don’t you start,’ he said. ‘Don’t you bloody start.’
    Several other officers went very quiet.
    ‘He even asked for a batman,’ Harker said, disgusted.
    ‘Did you assign him one?’
    ‘I told him he could have one while we were at base, but he was on his own in the field. My men have better things to do than wash and dress their superior officers.’
    Saskia, who had always employed the custom of taking a batman to act as her personal servant, said nothing.
    ‘And you know what he said, Colonel ?’
    ‘I can’t possibly imagine. Major.’
    ‘He said he’d never been in the field before, and was it frightening?’
    ‘And what did you tell him?’ Saskia asked pleasantly.
    ‘I told him that with his command skills, it wouldn’t be frightening for long.’
    Saskia made the mistake of smiling at that, and Harker had to resist the urge to throw his drink at her.
    Right then a creak of the door heralded Captain Wilmington himself, and Harker forced a smile.
    ‘Ah, Captain,’ said Saskia. ‘We were just talking about you.’
    ‘Yes, sir?’ Wilmington looked at them with a hope that rapidly faded when he saw Harker’s expression.
    ‘Major Harker was telling me of your bravery in the field,’ Saskia said, and Harker turned away before he thumped one or the other of them.
    ‘On second thoughts,’ he said to the barman, ‘whisky would be great.’
    In the morning, head pounding and mouth dry, Harker woke up cursing Saskia, Wilmington, Wheeler, the barman in the mess, and all whisky distilleries. His mood wasn’t improved when, over breakfast, he was summoned to General Wheeler’s office.
    ‘Major Harker,’ she greeted him as he saluted. ‘At ease. Take a seat.’
    Harker did, with bad grace.
    ‘How are you getting on with Captain Wilmington?’ Wheeler asked, without looking up. Which was just as well as Harker was pressing his hands to his forehead, trying to stop his brain from expanding out of his skull.
    ‘Harker?’
    He sighed and dropped his hands from his throbbing head. ‘Permission to speak frankly, sir?’
    ‘I don’t believe you have ever required anyone’s permission for that,’ Wheeler said mildly.
    ‘Why the hell did you send him to me, sir?’
    She laid down her pen and looked up at him, eyes sharp in a face only slightly softened by age.
    ‘You don’t like him, Major?’
    ‘Oh, I like him fine, sir, but if he takes any of my men out into the field he’s going to get them all killed. He has no experience, sir. Where did he come from, QM stores?’
    ‘No, but I suspect that’s where he’d prefer to be,’ Wheeler said. ‘He is very good at drilling the men, I hear?’
    ‘Yes, sir, but he can’t fire a weapon. And if he ever took command of the company …’
    ‘Why would he do that, Major?’
    He gave her a heavy look. ‘Because sooner or later some bugger’s going to hit me somewhere they can’t patch up,’ he said. ‘And in that case –’
    ‘In that case, Lieutenant Riggs will surely step into the breach, Harker, because by the time I send C Company out on campaign, she will be its captain.’
    Harker opened and closed his mouth several times before he said, ‘What, sir?’
    Wheeler smiled. ‘You didn’t think I really wanted to hold either of you back, did you, Harker? No. I have something I need you to do, a special mission, and I’m quite sure you’ll be wanting to take the good lieutenant with you. Were she your second, you could not in all good conscience do that without