A Fistful of Trouble (Outlaws of the Galaxy Book 2) Paul Tomlinson (reading strategies book .TXT) 📖

“You were responsible for that clock on the council house, weren’t you?” I asked. It was the sort of grandiose gesture men like him made.

“I had it specially commissioned,” he said. “How did you know?”

“Lucky guess.”

“You must understand that I felt a profound sense of betrayal when the people of Cicada City took it upon themselves to vote me out of office.”

“Sometimes people vote for change just to see what it’s like,” I said. “Maybe they felt that you had become too remote.”

The Colonel thought about this. “Perhaps they were right. I intend to rectify that. I will be much more hands-on.”

“Is that why you bought a robot army?”

“A Colonel must have soldiers to command, Quincy. I will use them to protect my town.”

“From who?”

“Themselves. Cicada City has lost its way. People require strong leadership and I intend to give it to them.”

“By declaring yourself king?”

“Of course not. There will be an election – and the people will vote for me to be their leader.”

“At gunpoint?”

“Elections are always won by the man with the most money or the biggest guns. Anyone who wishes to run against me may do so. That’s how democracy works.”

Many men are obsessed with holding positions of power. I have absolutely no ambitions to hold political office and that makes me suspicious of people who do. And I know a crook when I see one.

“And when you are Mayor of Cicada City again, what then?” I asked.

“With Patricia at my side, I will preside over our town’s new age. It will become the model of prosperity that it was always destined to be.”

“Patricia Brennan will be your partner in this?” I asked.

The Colonel nodded. “As my wife.”

“Does she get any say in the matter?” I asked.

“It will be her choice. When someone has made a wrong choice, we say that they must accept the consequences. They have made their bed and must lie in it. But should we not be charitable and allow them to change their minds? Give them another opportunity to make the right decision?”

“You think she will choose you?”

“I do not think it, I know it. When she sees what I am prepared to do to win her hand, she will realise the mistake she made in choosing Brennan. Women are drawn to powerful men.”

I was certain that Patricia Brennan would not abandon her husband of twenty years simply because she was impressed by the Colonel’s hardware. He was kidding himself if he thought he could turn back the clock and make his life turn out differently. Whatever the Colonel was planning, it was not going to go well for anyone, including him. He had to be stopped. I just didn’t know how this could be done.

“I hope you don’t mind the interruption, but there is a small matter I must attend to,” the Colonel said.

What was I going to say? I couldn’t really complain about him being a poor host.

The man was brought in between two guards, his hands handcuffed behind his back. It took me a moment to recognise him. The last time I’d seen him he’d had his pants around his ankles. He was taken to the part of the room where the floor was covered by polythene. He looked over, recognising me, but his face showed no emotion. He had passed beyond anger and fear, finding a sort of peace in resigning himself to his fate.

The Colonel stood and the only sound was his footsteps over the polythene. The big blue robot then moved. Colonel Hodge stood in front of the man and the robot stood behind.

“Do you wish to make any statement in defence of your actions today?” the Colonel asked.

“No, sir. Only that I’m sorry, sir.”

“Your incompetence could have resulted in the loss of the freighter and its cargo,” the Colonel said. “It is important for people to learn that actions have consequences. You must pay for your failure.”

“Please, sir, I’m sorry.”

“Yes, you are. The sorriest, most worthless wretch I have ever had to deal with.” The Colonel looked over the man’s head to the big blue robot. “Kill him!”

The robot was not fitted with any of its weapons. I wished it was. A quick shot to the head would have been better than this. The robot’s massive hand reached out and gripped the top of the man’s skull.

“No, please!” he cried.

“Colonel Hodge, this isn’t necessary,” I said. “I was responsible for what happened on your freighter.”

“Yes, indeed,” the Colonel said. “And you also must see the consequences of your actions. These consequences.”

The man’s knees buckled, but the massive hand held him up. It began to squeeze. The man screamed. There was a horrible wet cracking sound and blood began to stream down his forehead into his eyes and down his face. I wanted to look away, but I needed to see what the Colonel was capable of. If I got an opportunity, I would have to kill Damian Hodge – and to do that I would need an image of this man in my mind.

I was also aware that Floyd was trapped in that robot body, as helpless as I was to do anything about it. The man’s body collapsed onto the polythene.

“I’m sorry, Floyd,” I said.

The Colonel looked down at the dead man. “Was his name Floyd? I didn’t know that.”

His men wrapped the body in the polythene and carried it away. The Colonel saw me watching them.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you like that. It would be too easy. I have something special in mind for you. You’ve got a big day ahead of you tomorrow.”

“You’re insane,” I said.

“We’ll have dinner at eight,” he said. “You should get some rest before then. I would offer you one of the guest bedrooms, but you have this terrible habit of escaping. I would hate to have to let the dogs out to hunt you down. For your own safety, we’ll put you up in the bunker.”

If the Colonel ordered the big