Deadly States (Seaforth Files by Nicholas P Clark Book 2) (44 page)
Read Deadly States (Seaforth Files by Nicholas P Clark Book 2) Online
Authors: Nicholas P Clark
many
others who did not make it here tonight. If you would like to
raise your glasses.”
“To absent friends,” Deeley
said. “Still, less
of them
means
more
for the rest of us.”
A wave of cynical laughter oscillated around the room.
“But seriously,” Deeley continued. “There are a few gaps left in our
organisation and hopefully
during the course of this evening some of
you will be able to suggest suitable replacements for the folks we have
lost.
As you are well aware, the success of this enterprise relies on our
network remaining intact. We need to fill those gaps, soon, and with
people that we can rely on.”
There was a buzz in the room as the guests turned to one another
for a
moment
of
quick discussion—as if getting their say in early
on
who should fill the
positions that Deeley
spoke
of would somehow
make their claim
more legitimate. Deeley afforded them the time to
indulge in that speculation and debate before raising his hands again.
Soon the room fell silent
once
more. Deeley
had their full attention
and he was basking in every glorious moment of it.
As he continued to
speak his confidence and conviction grew. The plans, the schemes, the
murders, they were only the first step. Deeley was not at the moment
of truth—the point where the crowd before him decided if they were
going to continue with him down whatever road he was leading them,
or would they turn on him now that he was there before them, in the
flesh?
As he read their faces and their body language he knew that he
had them; for the most part.
“We can address those matters later.
And I have to talk with some
of you about other matters as well. But for now I want to let you know
where we stand and what our plans for the next ten years are. It is hard
to believe that it has been almost ten years from our last general meeting. Time flies when you are having fun.”
The grin, again. The crowd laughed politely.
“In those ten years we have moved this project
on at a rate that
we would have not thought possible just a few decades ago. You have
brought so much change to the world and you have ensured that all of
what we have planned will eventually bear fruit. In many countries we
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have established the sham of a democracy andtheformer Soviet Union
will soon join their number. This will be our most important success
so far and it will ensure all of our other plans can take place. With the
military
might and political willpower
of Russia at
our side we will
rule the planet. Within the decade America will be a democracy in all
but name, and the same will be true of
my
own country. Our latent
dictatorships will soon touch every
part
of this world and those nations who refuse to bend to our will shall be forced into accepting our
will. The people will have their elections. They will believe that they
have freedom, yet at the same time they will gladly hand that freedom
over to us, all in the name of national security. This entire project was
born when a few
good
men
during the Second World War
decided
that the world must never engage in total war again. The nightmare of
industrialised
ethnic cleansing
born
out
of irrational
prejudice
must
never again stalk the planet like some dark carnivorous beast in search
of human misery and sacrifice. We owe it to the memory
of those who
died so needlessly and we owe it to ourselves.”
A pause.
“The Nazis taught us how to induce a
nation into giving up its
freedom through terror, and in the UK, at the height
of the war
between the Crown and the IRA, we saw just how easy it was to get the
public to give up their right to freedom and civil liberties when we
introduced internment. With enough motivation, with the right level
of terror, I am confident that a country as great as America will also go
down that route. Our friends from the Middle East are already
making
plans to help the great
democracy loving
American public come
to the right
decision as far as their
own security is concerned.
And
our friends in Ireland will strike a blow against the greatest symbol of
American
power in the world
once he sets foot in Ireland to accept
all credit for a
process that he had very little to do with personally.
Vanity gets you every time, ladies and gentlemen, and the vainer the
man the easier he is to get.
And I would like to thank all
of you for
providing
our men with the resources and intelligence that they need
to carry
out their mission. The UK and France are so closely tied in
with
America, as are a number
been attacked and
she
enacts
those
other countries will fall into line. Though in the case of the UK
and
of other nations that
once the US has
freedom-suppressing
laws,
then
Spain, that have been subjected to terrorist violence for many decades,
it
may take a little nudge to get the result that we want.
Again,
our
friends from the Middle East and their associates have agreed to lead
that charge, and again I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to
them for all that they have done in the name of our cause.”
Deeley paused once again as he raised his glass. A contented murmur radiated around the room. Jack listened intently to what Deeley
had to say. It was simply incredible. Was he really saying that the small
group
of
people from all
parts
of the world were in the middle
of a
global coup d’état? Was he really suggesting that force had been, and
would be used
on innocent populations
by their
own governments in
order to get them to fall into line? It was beyond ambitious—it was
ludicrous. Utter madness.
Jack
shifted as
he
made
himself
more
comfortable.
His
mind
turned
back to the safe house in the countryside
back in England.
It was the place of legend. It was spoken
of as the centre of some attempt at a
knew many
new world
order,
but
only as a joke amongst spies. Jack
of the officers that were assigned to the house and none of
them were in any way remarkable—certainly not great leaders. Then
again, the leaders
of Nazi Germany and their fanatical
death units
were unremarkable men in Germany before they took power. History
was riddled with the unremarkable taking power and using it to instil
fear and perpetrate inhuman crimes. How many
of those despots were
mocked before they took power? How
many were dismissed as lunatics? In times of great crisis, be it military, financial or natural, normal
people will turn to men who can
offer them a solution to their ills,
regardless
of the
price that came with that association.
And Deeley
was
right
about
the
UK;
the IRA
campaign,
though
deadly
and
terrifying
to the public, it was not so terrible that
people feared for
their lives in
their
own homes. In fact, life in England went
on as
usual even when the IRA was at its most dangerous and the public still
kept
quiet when
people were being rounded up without trial. What
other rights could
be wrestled away from the population in the wake
of an
even greater
threat? That
debate would have to wait until a
later date, but it was a
debate that Jack felt sure he would be a part of,
assuming he survived his current mission.
Jack pressed his face up against the grill as he tried to see into all
corners of the room below. He could not see her. He could not see
Barry. He could not see Robert, although he couldn’t
be certain that
Robert was in attendance—it was more a feeling that he had—he just
knew that he would be mixed up in this in some way. Something that
large could not take place without Robert’s say so. Try as he might Jack
simply could not see anyone that he recognised and he thought that he
knew all of the major players in his world. Perhaps that was how they
managed to pull the whole scheme together? Using operatives
of little
or no importance so that they could move under the radar? Jack didn’t
have an answer. Jack didn’t have any answers and that’s what annoyed
him most. Then it struck him. He was assuming that the crowd in the
room below him were made up of agents from various countries.
What if they were not agents betraying their countries to Deeley’s
mad cause? If that was the case then the people in the room below
could
have
been
criminals,
politicians,
businessmen and
businesswomen. Hell, they
could have been just about anyone. It
didn’t help
him in any
strategic sense but it
better about
not recognising any
did at least
make him feel a little
of them.
Every
month, and
more
regularly in times of heightened threat, Jack and his fellow spies would
be recalled, if active
operations
permitted, and they were briefed on
current threats to the UK. This included information on missions that
they were not directly involved with. Such briefings always involved
a file of photographs
of suspects. The men at the top knew that there
were tentative links between many of the UK’s enemies and that agents
needed to be aware of that wider picture. Unfortunately Jack always
found those briefings tedious. His
missions were much
more intense
and a lot more focused than most other agents and so the information
in the monthly briefings was never relevant. If the people in the room
below him were unknowns then he would be off the hook. If they were
in those monthly
briefing files then he had screwed up in the worst
possible way. One way
or the other Jack felt as if he was entering into
a situation that he could have been better
prepared for.
Alexa
could
have told him of her involvement for a start!
If what Deeley said was true then Jack was certain of two things:
even if they
didn’t take over the world as Deeley had said, they would
certainly take
out a lot
of innocent
people as they chased after their
dream.
And the second thing that Jack knew with certainty was that
