Page 123 of The Unlikely Heir

I end the call.

Callum’s squinting at me, one eye open. A chunk of his hair is sticking up.

I’m acutely aware that Harley is still in the room with us. Is there judgment in his gaze? I’m allowed to have a personal life. Although he could easily question my judgment over who I’ve chosen to have a personal life with.

“I’ll wait outside, sir,” he says.

“Thanks, Harley.”

Callum pushes himself onto one arm to look at me.

“What’s going on?” His voice is still hoarse from sleep.

“I’ve got to go,” I say.

I lean down and press a quick kiss to Callum’s mouth. His lips are warm under mine.

“Is everything okay?” he asks when I draw back.

“No. I’ve got to leave. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Okay.”

Callum is fully awake now, staring at me with concerned eyes. But I don’t have time to talk to him as I throw on my clothes and head back to Downing Street to deal with the crisis.

I pace around the briefing room as we await more information from Nigeria.

As I pace, my advisers and military personnel trickle in, hastily assembling around the conference table. Toby brings me up to speed on the situation: a group of armed militants attacked the British embassy in Nigeria, leaving three people dead and taking a number of embassy staff hostage.

"We’ve established contact with the militants," Toby says. "They’re demanding ransom and safe passage in exchange for the release of the hostages. They’ve given us a deadline of twelve hours."

I rub my temples. Fuck.

“What are our options?”

"We’ve always held a policy of not negotiating with terrorists," says General Winters, head of the Armed Forces. “I’m assuming we’re not going to change that?”

“No. We’re not changing that. What are our other options?”

General Winters points to a large screen displaying a satellite image of the embassy and its surroundings. "We’ve mobilized our SAS team stationed in the region. They’re ready to execute a tactical assault on the embassy to neutralize the threat and rescue the hostages."

"What are the odds of success without any loss of life?"

General Winters hesitates for a moment. "We can never guarantee a zero-casualty outcome, Prime Minister. But our team is highly trained, and we’ll do everything in our power to minimize loss of life."

I take a deep breath, aware of the gravity of my decision. "Let’s move forward with the operation."

And there’s nothing more I can do but wait.

Fuck. I hate this part of my job. The knowledge that I could have sent people to their death. The minutes tick by and the atmosphere in the room is tense.

A few muffled conversations break out but don’t last as we wait for news.

I find myself tapping my fingers on the table, waiting. Waiting.

General Winters receives a phone call, and my shoulders seize up.

“Winters.”