Chapter 4
184 Words
They all stood as one, raising their glasses in salute.
"To the future," proposed Barrington.
"The future," the rest echoed, then downed their drinks in one go.
Montrose watched them leave one by one, shaking hands and smiling. Once they had cleared the room, he made his way to the doorway, then to an adjoining room. His visitor stood, the painting on the wall still askew to reveal an observation hole.
"You heard?" asked Montrose.
"I did," his mysterious visitor replied.
"What do you think? Will it work?"
"I think your plan solid enough for now," the stranger replied, "though we may have to take more overt action in the future."
"You have something specific in mind?" asked Montrose.
"Not at this time, but I rather suspect that our young princess will be resilient to your efforts."
"She"s just a young girl," replied Montrose.
"No, she"s a young woman," corrected his visitor. "I"ve underestimated her once already, I"ll not do it a second time."
"Come, come now," added Montrose, "you can"t possibly believe she can outsmart us."
"Only time will tell," the visitor replied.
- Writer
