Saints and Sinners

Chapter Thirty-Two

Buckingham Palace

London

President Montague stood on the famous balcony, overlooking the Mall, trying to control his emotions. It was not his first spell as President, having been asked to steady the ship after President Forbes died, until the general election a few months later. He had guided the whole country for five months then, but he was looking at five long years that time, if the national government needed that much time to steady the ship. He would be ninety, if he survived his service. But he still felt healthy beyond needing to know his limits, and he had something that his younger colleagues had all failed to earn; the respect of the people. Nicholas Symonds was just a name, a link to the founding fathers of the renaissance, and he had never sought to get the people on side, or win their hearts and minds. Montague had always sold his changes to the people. He had explained what he was trying to achieve, and the steps necessary to get there, and he had largely taken public opinion with him, although occasionally only by sleight of hand. Obviously, his policies sometimes had ulterior motives. Equipping all women over the age of twelve was a public health measure, and it did help doctors offer proactive medical care, but only to the female of the species, whilst also giving them to their husbands and the government to control, forevermore. But he had not rushed into that, either. Big brother did not just suddenly rise up and crack the whip. He had practised patience. If only others had done the same, after he stepped back, he felt that things could have been so very different for everyone.

"Mr Symonds is demanding to see you, Mr President?" His personal assistant said, coming out onto the balcony behind him, looking anxious.

"Which one?" Montague said, still staring down at the street below.

"Mr Connor Symonds, Sir."

"Oh good...not a happy customer, I would imagine?"

"No, Sir...papers were served earlier...he is...very angry?"

"Show him in...and leave the door ajar...in case I need backup?" Montague said, only half joking. He had, by executive order, with full Cabinet backing, seized the assets of the entire Symonds family, which would hopefully allow the number crunchers to see what was what and work out how to free up a trillion in cash. No one outside of the Symonds brothers knew the extent of the investment fund, or the true value of the investments already made, so the seizure was necessary to stop Connor obfuscating further and let them get to the truth at long last. Walking back into the office, he headed for the sofa by the windows and sat down with an old man's grunt of effort, expecting an argument.

"You've gone too far, old man," Connor Symonds snarled as he strode into the room.

"You left us no choice, Connor...at least your father had the decency to remove himself as an obstacle to closure...but you have been fighting the inevitable every inch of the way...you forced our hands."

"I'll fight you through every court in the land..."

"Go ahead...but if you do, don't expect your reputation...or indeed what is left of your father's reputation...to survive intact...there are a lot of hard truths that we can still make public here, you know...a lot of very hard truths." Montague sighed as he stretched out his legs. "We will be opening up to foreign media again soon...and there is a lot for our people to catch up on...you may not come out of that as well as you hope?"

"My conscience is clear...you are the one risking the cause..."

"I was creating the renaissance whilst you were still in short trousers, young man...the cause is mine to risk, and save, and whilst we will have to make concessions, we will continue to grow and move forwards...your filthy lucre will not be missed that much," Montague suggested, with a dismissive wave of his hand, grimacing at his guest. "We cannot fight the world...we can't stand alone...not on this little island of ours...and this is the price you must pay for Drew's sins, my boy...Nick knew that, which is why he resigned to let me do it...he saw the writing on the walls?"