The Dictator

Chapter Seventeen

Alina sat perched on the edge of the couch, rocking nervously back and forward as she waited for Nala to get back from the toilet. She avoided making eye contact with James. He was slumped near to her in an equally awkward posititon.

Finally, the the door creaked open and Nala arrived. She grabbed a DVD off the top of tbe wobbling pile, and shoved it into the player, then slammed her hand down on the TV'S on button. BBC news came on and the face of a panicked and dismal-looking male elderly presenter filled the screen. Behind him, flicked pictures of the Pentagon, Dextre and massive nuclear explosions.

Guilt creept up on Alina again. She had the chance to stop Miles. And she had done nothing. Or at least, that was what her conscience was screaming inside her head. She tried to drown the screaming out with sense. Miles had a gun. There was nothing she could do. But it sounded like a puny excuse. What was one life, to the thousand that Dextre killed? And after this, there would be more deaths. The Pentagon was practically the key to America. Now there was only the Army and the intelligence agencys. And those wouldn't last long against Miles' artillery. All Miles needed to finish the nuclear bomb was some uranium, and them Flynn would be forced to put it in. And then he would have to live with his conscience. Alina was just glad that Nala had suggested she come over for a sleep over. She wanted some time away from Miles.

The opening music of the movie came on, and Alina tried to push her guilty thoughts away. Even the sight of Nala snuggling up to James was unable to bring a small smile to her face. After an hour or so, the movie came to an end and Nala's mum brought in a plate of steaming hot pizza. The delicious fumes tickled Alina's nostrils and for a short time she was able to forget Miles.

"Nala, who is this?" Asked Nala's mum, looking at James with a weary confused expression. Nala grinned.
"Mum, this is James. He's my boyfriend. I'm sure I told you about him." Nala's mum just shook her head, a light teasing glint in her eyes.
"What happened to Zander?" Nala just gave her an embarrassed glare
"I don't know what you are talking about. I never liked Zander. He's a stupid flirt and only an idiot would go out with him." Her mum decided to let it go and strode back through to the kitchen.Alina watched as Nala gave James a slightly nervous glance. Luckily for her, James however, didn't care whether she had gone out with Zander or not. He was far to busy digging into his pizza. Nala grinned at him, then brought her own pizza to her mouth. Alina followed suit and tried to force the incident with Dextre out of her her head. But the memory of explosions and unheard screams echoed through her mind. But the worse was yet to come. When Miles got that uranium, he would take out the FBI, the CIA, and then bring America to it's knees... Or destroy it. After that, Britain itself couldn't last long either. And then Miles would turn his attention to other places...