Chapter 42: If it looks like a pig and smells like a pig, it's a...

06:37, 10 September

Laura had left shortly after the videoconference for a shift at the hospital. She passed Debbie and Christine who were just returning and there was some whispered conversation between the girls. Jamie raised an eyebrow questioningly, but as was the case sometimes, the girls simply ignored him.

When he had got ready for bed, he had a good guess as to what the whispers had been about, as both the girls attacked him and they had enjoyed several hours of uninhibited fun. It was strange to share them both without his sister present, but they had re-assured him that they all had Laura's blessing.

Now Jamie lay awake between Christine and Debbie, thinking about his priorities for the days ahead. He knew he would have to deal with the terrorist captive, but decided to leave that for another day. Letting her stew over what was in store might not be a bad thing. No, his first order of business had to be the survivors in the south. He realised Sir David's words of the night before were also important.

If over sixty thousand expatriates had returned already and many more were on the way, he needed to invest some of his efforts in making sure his plans for government were advanced, so that everything didn't just descend into chaos. He was keen to try and do something to remove President Bush's ability to keep playing the UK card too. The lack of legitimacy in terms of his rule over the rest of the UK had already proved to be an issue several times and he wanted to fix that if possible.

Getting up, he showered and dressed, leaving the two girls still sleeping. Jamie ventured out into the Dreghorn barracks in search of some breakfast and as he walked towards the mess, remembered he also had to make arrangements for his chickens! There were others already eating in the mess and he realised the camp had somehow been organised to deal with the needs of those who were based there. Snagging a plate, he shuffled past the large stainless steel serving dishes laden with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and everything else needed for a hearty breakfast meal.

The smell of freshly brewed coffee also assailed his nose and he happily poured himself a large mug, adding what was probably UHT milk. That reminded him to find out how Stuart was getting on with testing the surviving livestock. Fresh milk would be a godsend, as he was sure he could taste the difference in the treated stuff.

Jamie had just begun eating when Stuart arrived with his own plate piled high with unhealthy bacon and sausages. He joined his friend at the table and they ate for a few minutes in companionable silence.

"I was thinking about how you were getting on with having the livestock checked out?" asked Jamie at last.

"With the thousands of people who've returned in the past few days, we would have been very unlucky not to have found ourselves a vet or two. Actually there are over twenty of them and enough scientists to start an institute. The testing has already started and they've told me we should have the results within a week. All of the facilities they need are still in good working order and the scientists even said they would be testing soil to make sure the virus has fully degraded," Stuart reported.

"Good. What we need now is for details of any trained military personnel. I agree with your assessment from last night. I think the English are in trouble and I would like to move people south today if possible to try and have a plan in place in case things start to go pear-shaped down there," said Jamie.

"Funny you should mention that. I was looking through the database last night and came across some interesting people. There are three SAS troopers and to Special Boat Service guys, all of who were on detachment to America, some kind of training exchange between the UK and the US. There are numerous others with recent military experience and we could probably field a force of several hundred if we wanted to.

"Don't forget that you have the HMS Vengeance if you want to use it and its men as well. The minehunters have brought their first expats into Faslane too, but by all accounts they'll need quite a bit of rest before they're any use to anyone. What were you thinking?" Stuart asked.

"What I've been thinking is that I need to delegate more! I have some plans for establishing more of a government presence. If we're going to keep on top of the numbers coming into the country, then we need more people taking decisions. We need security, we need to control resources, we need to have effective logistics in place just to make sure we know how many people we've got and where we're putting them. I'd like you to become Minister for Wellbeing.

"I see that post as covering internal and external security as well as some innovative approaches to keeping the population happy - that bit would definitely be up to you! What do you think?" asked Jamie.

He could see his friend was a bit overwhelmed at his suggestion. He knew how he had felt himself at the realisation of just how much responsibility he was accepting when he agreed to become King. Now his friend was wrestling with the same concerns, the same doubts about his own ability to cope with that.

"I was thinking about appointing a few other ministers as well, all of them teenagers. I don't want us to slip back into the ways the country was run before and I think we have the energy and the ideas to make something better. Do you remember the speech I gave at Fort William, when I said we had something more to offer? I really believe that.

"We need to make sure that we don't have all of the adults going off in the huff though, so we'll have to find positions for them too, advisory position, second in command positions. If we give them positions that allow them to fully contribute, but where we continue to have the final say, it might work. You could appoint somebody like Captain Mexford as your commander for external security and maybe these SAS men could fill in to cover internal security? What do you think?" asked Jamie.

Jamie's enthusiasm fuelled Stuart's own excitement. He did remember the speech at Fort William and how he had responded to the words at the time. He also thought for a moment about some of the things that he had achieved over the past few weeks and realised that he had already been shouldering significant responsibilities. Jamie was making it clear that he wouldn't have to do this on his own and that was re-assuring. He also came to the conclusion that he would be proud to continue to serve his country in whatever way he could.

"I'll do it," he said with conviction.

Jamie's face lit up with a huge smile.

"Excellent, I couldn't think of a better man for the job. Your first task is to take over the planning and execution of raids into Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. Use whatever resources you feel you need to make it happen with the least risk to our people and the English teenagers. Take as many of the trained adults as you feel necessary, no problem," Jamie said.

"Well, there's nothing like getting dropped in at the deep end!" laughed Stuart.

Jamie could see his friend's focus had already shifted to thinking about all that he would need to set in train to carry out the raids. He finished his own breakfast and wished Stuart good luck, suggesting they get back together to review his plans before Stuart headed south.

Jamie spent the rest of the morning speaking to Lee about the role he envisaged for him in his new government. He also talked to Sinky over the radio to ask him to take on the intelligence brief and finally got together with Laura when she returned from her shift at the hospital. Laura was just as surprised as the other teenagers when Jamie suggested she become the Minister for International Co-operation and Collaboration.

"I think you'd be really good at this, Laura. You seem to have a natural instinct for it from what I've observed. Just think, all of our relations with other countries would be down to you, complete control over how we help others to begin their own rebuilding," Jamie suggested.

"But we haven't even begun to rebuild our own country yet Jamie. It will be years before we can even think about helping others, by then the Americans will have moved in and taken over the world! You're not telling me that the US won't have already moved into the Middle East, Nigeria and anywhere else where there are oil reserves?" she asked.

"I think that's bordering on the cynical, Laura. I'm sure the US will be doing all it can to help others, just like they've offered us a massive aid package. There's little doubt that the US also has an imperative to secure fuel, but that's not what's in the hearts of the ordinary man and woman in the street. I can't bring myself to believe that," said Jamie.

"I'm not talking about ordinary Americans, Jamie. That's exactly my point. America is run by big corporate organisations, the politicians are controlled by donations and funds and that all comes from business. I think you're right that the population at large would instinctively be in favour of doing what they can to help - gosh, the e-mails you get are evidence of that if any was needed. Unfortunately they are not the people setting American foreign policy," Laura said.

"You see, that's just what I mean. You're more politically aware than most adults I've ever spoken to. You'd be great doing this job. Just think about it for me, will you?"

"Okay, I'll think about it, but there's something to be said for the satisfaction of doing something more tangible and immediate - like nursing at the hospital today for instance," Laura replied.

14:12, 10 September

Stuart hunted Jamie down after lunch to share details of his plans for heading south into England. Jamie was surprised to see that Stuart had opted for a small team of only eight people to go.

"I thought you told me we had hundreds of trained military personnel to choose from now? Why are you only taking eight?" Jamie asked him.

"Sometimes less is more, your Grace. The more people we take, the bigger the logistical issues, the more difficult the command issues become and the more people there are to get injured or killed.

"I think this team will work just fine, particularly given my secret weapons. This isn't meant to be an exercise in fighting force with force, there are too many innocent bystanders around - collateral damage I think they call it in modern warfare - this will reduce the risks.

"I've got three SAS troopers, two SBS men, two of our original assault squad and Kalif. What more do I need?" asked Stuart.

"Okay, tell me how you're going to do it?" said Jamie.

"First of all, you won't need to fly the helicopter this time. We've now got any number of pilots to choose from and I thought you had more than enough on your plate here to worry about. Laura also promised me twenty quid if I kept you out of the fighting from now on," Stuart joked.

"I wouldn't be surprised, she understands why I do it, but she's never happy about it," replied Jamie.

"Okay, here's my plan. We chopper south, with the first port of call Manchester. We drop off two of the Special Forces guys to start to gather intelligence and size up the opposition. We drop off two more Special Forces at Birmingham to do the same and then the rest of us make for Leeds.

"Once we've got a fix on where the tangos are based we use our secret weapon," Stuart teased.

"Okay, okay, I'll bite! What's the secret weapon?" Jamie asked.

"One of the SBS guys is Indian by heritage, he looks Muslim and could pass for an old looking sixteen-year-old. Our plan is that once we know where the terrorist bases are, Kalif and the SBS guy simply walk in and try and join up. If they get close enough in they can spring a trap - hopefully disarm the tangos - and then the rest of us can simply mop them up.

"You should see the SBS guy, your Grace. He's slick, very impressive. Not as good as the SAS guys perhaps, but I reckon he could take out a whole cell of tangos on his own. Anyway, what do you think?" asked Stuart.

"I don't know, it all seems pretty basic. Are you sure it will work? What if Kalif and the SBS guy don't get close enough?" Jamie asked.

"We think they won't be able to resist a couple of true believers. If they do, we'll just fall back on a covert approach and assault. We're taking the necessary kit with us to do that if we have to.

"The thing to remember with these things is the simpler they are, the fewer things there are to go wrong. It will be fine, the Special Forces people are more than happy about it," Stuart said.

Stuart didn't hang around long, explaining that given the intelligence they had, they wanted to set things in motion as quickly as possible. Every hour might be vital to the English survivors, as there was no way of knowing just how long the terrorists would hang around waiting for news from London.

Jamie planned on just getting round some of the new arrivals, dropping into Glasgow in the Lynx, and also dropping into the hospital to visit with the patients there too. He asked Laura if she was interested in going, but she cried off, tired after her shift at the Western General.

No orders had been given on what to do with the expatriates as they arrived in Glasgow other than to make sure their details were logged into the computer databases so there was a central record of the skills that were becoming available.

Necessity is the mother of invention however, and some of the enterprising teenagers had taken it upon themselves to identify areas of housing to allocate to the newcomers. Their thinking had been simple, to try and keep people as close together as possible. That would make the jobs of communicating and feeding them easier they had thought. Those areas with the nicer and newer housing were chosen first and so far there had been no complaints.

Jamie met with a committee of six teenagers who seemed to be running things. They had split responsibility for housing, transport, food and communications between them, with a couple always spare so that people could get some rest. The flights were every two hours, twenty-four hours a day, so it was gruelling work and Jamie could see that all six of them were dog-tired.

"Listen, you have all done an absolutely fantastic job so far, shown great initiative. I promise that I'll get others to help you now that I know how much is involved. This afternoon I was hoping to simply meet with some of our new arrivals, just to say hello and welcome them back," Jamie said.

A guide was found for him and he shared a jeep ride out to one of Glasgow's suburbs. The girl who was his guide had a laptop with her and she was able to tell him all the details of who had been allocated which house. He spoke to a teacher and a husband and wife team of lawyers. He welcomed them and assured them that they would soon have plenty of work to do. All of the newcomers were impressed that the King had gone out of his way to visit them.

The third house they stopped at had been allocated to a pharmacist called McDade and Jamie and his guide wandered up to the front door and rang the bell. They couldn't hear movement inside the house and no one came to let them in.

"Hello! Hello, is there anybody home?" Jamie called out.

When there was no reply he tried the door handle and found it turned and the door opened. He made his way cautiously into the house and then stopped in surprise at what he found. There was one adult in the main living room, sprawled over a large three-seater settee. Two teenaged boys lay on the floor. All three of them were completely out of it and the reason was quite clear.