Chapter 212 - School Visit (2)

26 February, Military Base, City K

Shaking his head General Man said, "I should not be surprised with special forces that you are good with keeping secrets. That explains the deployment of Colonels Dang, Pang and Wang here. The commandant is not that dumb that he does not realise there is a problem with four colonels being deployed here in the special forces group."

"You know, I am not worried about him having worked out that. The special forces, unless it is a natural disaster involved, are out of the sphere of influence he has. If he wants to try and control me, he will soon find himself pulled into line."

"You are vicious Matthew."

"To survive in the special forces, to a point you have to be vicious. He is the first base commandant that I have dealt with or observed that tries to control what happens in special forces. In some respect that is driven by what has happened over the last few years here, but…"

"You will be grateful when he is made to retire. He will not like that particularly as base commandant in the past have tended to keep their position until they opt to retire."

"True. But unlike others who know when to go, he is insistent on staying in place, claiming he provides stability. What will make it worse is that he will not like who will be appointed to the position…"

"What do you know?"

"Edward, have a think about it…" Matthew paused and smiled at Edward. "Now, I better head out or this situation when the base commandant gets the telephone call will become messier, as I have to be seen in complying with orders."

General Man shook his head, and Matthew stood up, picked up the jamming device and switched it off. As he headed out the door Matthew said "General, I need to go and follow the commandant's orders."

As he opened the door General Man walked out and Matthew followed him, locking his office door behind him.

Matthew quickly headed out of the special forces administration building and walked towards the guest reception building at the main gate, where he knew the school group would soon arrive. As he walked across the base to the building passing various soldiers who snapped salutes to him Matthew returned every one of them. Just as he was about to enter the guest reception building, the base commandant came into his vision from the right.

Matthew paused, and turned to face the base Commandant and snapped a salute, before saying "Sir, what can I do for you?"

"What in the world have you done. I have just received a call from the national head of special forces telling me to take you off this detail. No damn way."

"Sir, you gave me your orders, but I also have standing orders from those in my direct chain of command, which I followed."

"Who cares, you are in my area of control and I have given you my orders."

Matthew paused. While it would be tempting to expose his real position, it was not worth it to cater to the vanity of the base commandant.

"Sir, I believe that the position of the national head of special forces outranks individual base commandants and you have been given a direct order…"

With a scowl on his face the base commandant turned walking away. Matthew sighed, not being comfortable with that exchange, but it was needed to straighten out the situation.

As he reached the guest reception building, he noticed there were ten soldiers outside, and he said "Ladies and Gentlemen…"

They all turned and seeing Matthew snapped a salute saying "Sir," before standing at attention.

"At ease. Can you tell me what you are all doing here?"

"We heard children from an elite school were coming and wanted to have a look."

"If you have time for that, you are coming with me. You can help play tour guide for the day if you are so interested in observing those children." Matthew at his words could see a shudder pass over the group, but they realised he had given an order.

With that he walked into the building and found four soldiers waiting in there. Trailing behind him came the ten soldiers he had ordered to be involved.

Once everyone was in the room, Matthew glanced at the clock and saw that there were still a few minutes before the buses bring the children and the parents accompanying them.

He turned and said "Ladies and Gentlemen, for you who do not know I am Colonel Rong. We have a school group coming in from one of the elite private schools, and the fourteen of you will be playing tour guides for the group. I am aware of the standing orders about parents, which we would all agree include stepparents of children in the school groups being one of the tour guides. My stepson will be in this school group, but I have only been posted here for two months, so it has been determined at more senior ranks that it is inappropriate that I am a tour guide, but I will speak to the group before the tour commences, as this school is my Alma Marta. Other than that, I will otherwise be a parent simply accompanying my stepson…"

Matthew could see the looks of fear cross the soldiers faces. Those waiting for him to arrive believed he would be the one running the tour. It also was a sign that they all knew they would have to deal with the children but at the same time be under his supervision for the tour.

Matthew continued "I am counting on you all to make a good impression on both the children and their parents. As I believe the group should be here any minute, you need to head out and show them into here."

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