toilet and as for the office, I did have plans for the weekend. Wouldn’t your usual newspaper reporters cover this event?”
“Yes Pete, that wasn’t why I was ringing you. I want you to do an article for ‘the country’ focusing on the impact these events will have on others lives. Like the one you did after Saddam’s fall. You know the sort of thing. Look I’ll let you go so you can get back to that gorgeous woman. I just wanted you to know so you can keep up with events in Libya over the next few days. Enjoy your weekend, I’ll see you Monday.”
The line went dead.
Dennis checked his e-mails, saw the Sky news link, saw that the Sky news report on anytime was fourteen minutes long, put the I-phone back to it’s screensaver, reached for the door handle, stopped, got his phone out again and quickly found the Sky news link.
“Fourteen minutes,” he said as the report began to load, “Natalie is going to kill me.”
Outside the museum the VIP’s had long since finished arriving and some of the news crews were packing up. Many of the reporters were now sipping coffee and hot chocolate on this chilly, late, October night.
Kim Nguyen was talking to her camera crew, their equipment on the ground in favour of hot drinks when she heard the first parp from the Roman cornicen.
“What the hell is that?” her cameraman put his coffee down and hoisted the camera onto his shoulder when he saw the legionaries that had rounded the corner. Nguyen was frantically thumbing through the multi page programme looking for Roman re-enactors.
“I don’t remember seeing anything about this,” she said, “Are you filming?”
“Absolutely,” Tom, the cameraman replied.
“Live from the British museum,” Nguyen began reporting, “A group of Roman soldiers are advancing towards us and the museum in what appears to be a surprise spectacle put on by the organisers who have managed to keep it quiet from us,” the camera flashed back from the legionaries to Nguyen, “I have the schedule here in my hand,” she said holding it up for the watching world, “And there is definitely no mention of re-enactors in it. What else will surprise us this evening. Kim Nguyen reporting from the British museum.”
Nguyen moved out of the way for the camera as the Roman re-enactors swept past her, about turned at a command from their officer, clearly a centurion, and marched towards the steps followed closely by the media with cameras and reporters giving chase.
As they passed Nguyen she noticed the centurion, who was the only one of them not carrying a shield, had a strange bulge under his tunic. It seemed ridiculous but she imagined it to be a gun. Not a handgun but possibly a small machine gun, a ‘what were they called‘? She tried to find the words in her head.
“That’s it! A sub-machine gun.”
She started to call out to her cameraman Tom when she realised the centurion was looking in her direction. She couldn’t see his face. They were all wearing shining masks that completely covered their features. She involuntarily shuddered. The masks had a chilling appearance. She shut her mouth and looked at the ground until she felt he’d looked away. Now she studied the legionaries and though they all carried shields she was sure they had similar if not the same strange lumps under their tunics. She grabbed Tom’s arm as he was filming, pulling him off balance and forcing the news camera off focus.
“Kim! What are you doing?” he said, knowing they could edit out any bad film.
“Tom. Stop filming. Have you stopped?”
“Yes Kim. What’s wrong?”
“Keep your voice down,” she said, “I know this sounds ridiculous but I think these men are armed.”
“Yes they were,” he replied, “With swords and spears. Their attention to detail is very good.”
“I don’t mean that. I mean I think they’re carrying guns. Under their tunics.”
“Guns?”
“Yes guns,” she said, glancing around to make sure no one else was listening. Tom was watching the re-enactors’ disappearing backs while searching for an answer.
“Perhaps Um! Perhaps they’re police.”
She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Since when have the Metropolitan police doubled as actors?”
“Well ok not them then but maybe they’re security people who came with the spear. Austrian police or something.”
“Possibly. But remember there was no mention of it in the schedule.”
“Do you think something’s going down? Kim you really do have a wild imagination don’t you.”
“I guess I spent too long dating Peter Dennis. I know one thing though.”
“What’s