Page 43 of Captive Hearts
It took every ounce of will Ashley had to not physically gag.
But then Polly was through the door, and the sound of her footsteps was like Usain Bolt compared to the other two. Rick slammed the door shut and slid the lock back in place. He turned to the camera. ‘I’m sorry I ever had to keep them here, but I think they understood it. And cut there!’
Gina dropped the camera. Rick turned to Ashley. ‘How do you think that went? Looked good, right?’
Ashley nodded voraciously. ‘Oh, yeah. Couldn’t have gone better.’ She could tell he wanted a bit more than that, so she summoned further bullshit. ‘I think when the public see that, they’ll come down here to support you.’
Rick nodded. ‘That’s exactly what I was thinking. I mean, the “law” is only supposed to make people do right. So if people support me, the police are more likely to see that it’s right to give me what I want, don’t you think?’ he asked, a slight note of desperation in his voice.
Ashley was close to going right along with it. But then she realised that to really sell this, she needed to inject a bit of reality into it. ‘Well, Rick, it’s going to be a close-run thing. But you never know,’ she told him.
Rick smiled, relieved. ‘Yeah, I mean, I’m not fucking crazy. I know it’s not going to be easy. But I reckon I just improved my odds.’
‘I’d say that’s possible,’ Ashley said. Technically, anythingwaspossible. Would aliens land on earth tomorrow and announce they were gonna solve the climate crisis? It wasn’t likely. Was it possible? Sure.
‘I can’t wait to see the news!’ Rick said. ‘But I guess we better make sure they’ve got some solid gold footage, hadn’t we? Gina, you know what to do.’
Gina nodded and managed a cheeky salute. ‘Yes, boss.’
Rick gave her the thumbs up and went to the bar, grabbing himself a beer. He flipped the lid off and took a swig. ‘Yeah. I think it’s gonna be a good show,’ he said to himself.
Ashley thought so too. If only she wasn’t living it.
