The Coalition: Part II The Lord Of The Living (COALITON OF THE LIVING Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

raising his brows expectantly. He smiled as Dale filled it a third time.
    “Much as you want,” he said to his guest.
    “Just one more. I don’t want to get shit-faced if I’m going to have to fight my way back home.” Looking around, he located one of the stuffed chairs and setting his rifle aside, he fell into its leather comforts. Sighing, he eyed his host as the other man also settled into the chair behind the desk and tipped another serving into his glass.
    “You said something about them learning,” Ron said.
    There was another fusillade and then silence. The two waited to see if there would be any more shots fired. A minute passed. Two. Then three.
    “Are you telling me that they’re leaving?” Cutter asked.
    Colonel Dale nodded and smiled. “They’re not as completely stupid as we first thought they were. Or, to put it another way, they’re not as stupid as they were when they first came back to whatever state in which they find themselves.” Dale, too, had taken to sipping this latest glassful of whiskey, tasting it and allowing it to slide over his palate slowly.
    “I don’t  even have to look out there right now to tell you that the crowds following the ones in the lead , saw their fellows’ heads explode and decided that most basic of instincts; that being that discretion is the better part of valor.” He thought for a second. “Not that they have any idea of something as complicated as valor, mind you.” And then he nodded at Ron.
    “But you do. I know that you know all about valor.”
    “What are you talking about?” Ron lifted the shot glass again and sipped, enjoying every damned molecule of the whiskey.
    “You saved that girl. I heard all about it. You put yourself at risk to save her, and I know it wasn’t for her looks, because from what I’ve been told , she was not the picture of beauty when she came stumbling into Charlotte’s downtown.
    “And then you went out and brought Oliver back to your place. I wondered if he would let you, but I didn’t wonder if you’d try. I’ve been watching you for months. I knew it was in you.”
    Ron put the glass on the desk and slid it across to Dale. He had decided not to ask for a fourth hit. “Have you had people watching me? And how many of you are there?”
    “To answer your first question, I don’t have anyone spying on you. But things are seen. You see people moving about the city and take note of it, don’t you? That’s all the people who told me about your rescue of this Jean said to me. They saw it happening, saw that you were doing what needed to be done, and they didn’t have to take a hand themselves. Even if they were in a position to do anything, which they may not have been. I didn’t ask them that.” He took the now-empty shot glasses and put them away, stoppered that gorgeous bottle of liquid life and put them all back in the drawer.
    “As for your second question, there is no you, not in the way you mean it. I don’t command anyone and no one is going around bossing anyone else around, or trying to be the boss. We help one another. People are making an effort to put something back together. That’s all.” He clasped his hands together and waited for Ron to respond.
    “You didn’t answer my question,” Cutter said. “How many of you are there? Once you told me there were over a thousand people here. Is that how many of you are here?” He waved his arms to indicate the building.
    “The current living population of the city of Charlotte is roughly ten thousand souls,” Dale said, his perfect accent clipped and suddenly turning very efficient and very British.
    Ron sat there in stunned silence for several seconds. “There’s no way,” he said.
    “Way,” Dale said, with the hint of a mischievous smile on his lips.
    “Are they all in this building?”
    “Oh, no. Here and there. Sitting in safe places. Bunkers of one type or another. People are bound and determined to reorganize things.”
    “Like