Read Online Gone to Ground by Cheryl Taylor - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Cheryl Taylor
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said, hiding a smile. “You only have two more feet to go. At this rate you’ll be done by midnight.”
“You, my friend, are a sadist,” Maggie stated with conviction. “And I am a complete fool for asking to be subjected to this torture. When all of this is over, I will never look at a horse’s foot again. They can look elsewhere for their pedicures.”
“You’re thinking that this situation won’t last long?” O’Reilly asked in an offhand manner, causing Maggie to glance quickly in his direction. He was still sitting on his boulder, but he no longer appeared relaxed. Instead of looking at her, he seemed busy studying the lines and creases of his darkly tanned hands.
“Well, how long can it last?” she replied, studying his bent form. “Sooner or later the government will get their act back together. People aren’t going to put up with this concentration and APZ crap for long. They’re going to want to get back to their lives. At the most a year, maybe a year and a half.”
“Mmmm,” he gave a non-committal answer and continued to examine his cuticles.
Maggie tilted her head, looking at him intently. “I don’t get you. You left the APZ and left the Enforcers, and you haven’t given me a reason. What are you hiding?”
Every muscle in O’Reilly’s body telegraphed his discomfort at this interrogation and Maggie began to wonder if their newly formed partnership would stand the strain of the tension without ripping asunder.
Finally, after a long silence O’Reilly looked up and met Maggie’s eyes. “I had my reasons for leaving the APZ and the Enforcers, and those reasons are something that we’re going to have to talk about sooner or later. I realize that. It’s just that right now I’m trying to make sense of them in my own mind, and I don’t know how to explain them to someone else so that they seem rational.”
“You’ve got to understand how much trouble I have accepting that,” Maggie countered.
“Yeah, I know it sounds shaky,” he sighed. His dark brown eyes took on a distant expression. “It’s just the way it is. The thing is this, though. I want you to think about what direction the government, and the world as a whole, has been heading for the past twenty or thirty years, and do you really think that now that the authorities have total control over a completely demoralized population, they’re going to willingly give up that control any time soon?”
Maggie’s look sharpened, her brow furrowed as she considered the scenario he presented and her journalistic sixth sense began to send out a clamourous ringing of warning bells. “You’re saying that they’re going to try and... what, develop a world where people only live in designated areas, under supervision and control? I can’t see how that would ever work,” Maggie stated adamantly, though even as she said it, a small voice in her mind spoke to the truth of the plan.
O’Reilly looked up at her, studying her intently.
“Global warming has been a concern of all the world’s governments for quite awhile now, even though many say it isn’t true. What’s one of the chief causes of global warming? People. People and all the things that people make and drive and are probably unwilling to give up. People and their wasteful habits and their refusal to take the environment seriously.
“Now answer this question, what would be the best thing to happen to the environment? Reduce the number of people. Well, mother nature took care of that problem.” A fleeting look crossed O’Reilly’s face, more a flicker in his eyes, so quick that Maggie almost missed it. “Now our administration, with it’s loudly proclaimed green agenda, is considering taking up where mother nature left off.” O’Reilly’s agitation was growing extreme. He rose from his boulder as if pulled upright by an electric current.
“Oh, come on.” It was Maggie’s turn to become agitated. “Do you really think that people are going to let
“You, my friend, are a sadist,” Maggie stated with conviction. “And I am a complete fool for asking to be subjected to this torture. When all of this is over, I will never look at a horse’s foot again. They can look elsewhere for their pedicures.”
“You’re thinking that this situation won’t last long?” O’Reilly asked in an offhand manner, causing Maggie to glance quickly in his direction. He was still sitting on his boulder, but he no longer appeared relaxed. Instead of looking at her, he seemed busy studying the lines and creases of his darkly tanned hands.
“Well, how long can it last?” she replied, studying his bent form. “Sooner or later the government will get their act back together. People aren’t going to put up with this concentration and APZ crap for long. They’re going to want to get back to their lives. At the most a year, maybe a year and a half.”
“Mmmm,” he gave a non-committal answer and continued to examine his cuticles.
Maggie tilted her head, looking at him intently. “I don’t get you. You left the APZ and left the Enforcers, and you haven’t given me a reason. What are you hiding?”
Every muscle in O’Reilly’s body telegraphed his discomfort at this interrogation and Maggie began to wonder if their newly formed partnership would stand the strain of the tension without ripping asunder.
Finally, after a long silence O’Reilly looked up and met Maggie’s eyes. “I had my reasons for leaving the APZ and the Enforcers, and those reasons are something that we’re going to have to talk about sooner or later. I realize that. It’s just that right now I’m trying to make sense of them in my own mind, and I don’t know how to explain them to someone else so that they seem rational.”
“You’ve got to understand how much trouble I have accepting that,” Maggie countered.
“Yeah, I know it sounds shaky,” he sighed. His dark brown eyes took on a distant expression. “It’s just the way it is. The thing is this, though. I want you to think about what direction the government, and the world as a whole, has been heading for the past twenty or thirty years, and do you really think that now that the authorities have total control over a completely demoralized population, they’re going to willingly give up that control any time soon?”
Maggie’s look sharpened, her brow furrowed as she considered the scenario he presented and her journalistic sixth sense began to send out a clamourous ringing of warning bells. “You’re saying that they’re going to try and... what, develop a world where people only live in designated areas, under supervision and control? I can’t see how that would ever work,” Maggie stated adamantly, though even as she said it, a small voice in her mind spoke to the truth of the plan.
O’Reilly looked up at her, studying her intently.
“Global warming has been a concern of all the world’s governments for quite awhile now, even though many say it isn’t true. What’s one of the chief causes of global warming? People. People and all the things that people make and drive and are probably unwilling to give up. People and their wasteful habits and their refusal to take the environment seriously.
“Now answer this question, what would be the best thing to happen to the environment? Reduce the number of people. Well, mother nature took care of that problem.” A fleeting look crossed O’Reilly’s face, more a flicker in his eyes, so quick that Maggie almost missed it. “Now our administration, with it’s loudly proclaimed green agenda, is considering taking up where mother nature left off.” O’Reilly’s agitation was growing extreme. He rose from his boulder as if pulled upright by an electric current.
“Oh, come on.” It was Maggie’s turn to become agitated. “Do you really think that people are going to let
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