THE FOREVER GENE (THE SCIONS OF EARTH Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

president wants to see me.  What should I do?"
    "Don't keep him waiting," was the laconic reply.
    She sprang to her feet, ignoring the small smile on the young aide's face.  It was obvious that the president would want to speak to her before the conference began.  He wouldn't want to be embarrassed in front of a global audience by the ill-considered and impudent questions of a brash young Personet reporter.  She signalled Batu and Oyugun to accompany her and followed the aide up the stairs and onto the first floor.  They walked down a different passage to the one that she had taken to the conference room earlier and went through a set of double doors at the end of the corridor.
    The cafeteria was a large, airy room with an open-plan kitchen at the far end and a bank of windows in the wall to the left of the doorway.  The colour scheme of the room was mercifully understated, a far cry from that of the garish conference room, and the view from the windows was of the carefully manicured gardens in front of the hospital.  Most of the tables and chairs, all chrome and plastic, had been moved to the other side of the room.  The podium, which had been set up in front of the mercifully clean windows, was one which had been brought from the president's office.
    "Maybe this won't be as shabby as I thought," she whispered to Batu.  "Make sure you don't get the kitchen or that pile of tables and chairs in the shot."
    Batu nodded.  He was a talented camera-man and didn't need to be given such obvious instructions.  Broad-shouldered and taciturn, his weakness was an unfortunate penchant for cheap Vodka, developed during a stint in the armed forces. By the time Qara earned her shot at reporting he had been bailed out of the police cells on three occasions for brawling and damaging property and none of the other reporters or their producers were prepared to work with him.
    So, much to Tol's disgust, he had been paired with Qara.  Much to Tol's surprise, the apparent mismatch worked extremely well, particularly after Batu discovered Qara's love of horses and her riding ability.  He was a horseman of some repute, having won the thirty kilometre race at the Naadam festival two years running at age twelve and again at age thirteen.  After that he grew into a powerful wrestler, winning a number of national competitions.
    His loyalty to Qara was cemented about three months after they began working together.  She was on hand to witness his demolition of the Pink Pony, a back-street bar where they had gone for a quiet drink, in a brawl with five or six of its patrons.  For a wrestler, he was perfectly proportioned, short, but powerfully built.  With a forearm he brushed aside a wooden stool which had been hurled at him and took a number of heavy blows without flinching.  He had long arms which he used to deftly fling his opponents into the nearby furniture with great force and accuracy.
    Afterwards, she lied blatantly to save him another trip to the police cells.  She laid all of the blame for the fracas on the other patrons, none of whom were in any condition to contradict her.  What triggered the outburst was never clear, but at five o'clock the next morning she pounded on the door of Batu's third-floor flat until he opened it, blinking groggily in surprise.  She told him that, if he ever did anything like that again, she would never work with him again.  Her lecture was punctuated with the best English profanities in her repertoire, which was prolific given the considerable expertise of her fellow Oxford University students in the subject.
    Her approach had the desired effect and even the channel director was impressed at the improvement in Batu's conduct, if not in his consistently reticent demeanour.
    Without fanfare the president of Mongolia walked into the cafeteria, accompanied by a knot of aides and trailed by a detail of security agents.  All of them, except the president, were engaged in animated 'mote conversations