The Phoenix Affair

By Paul JR Marx

The Phoenix Affair
Centred around an expanding world population and the horryifying results of global warming. These pressures lead to individuals attempting to provide solutions. One of these decides to profit from his own research. He has formed an organisation called Phoenix, which has a complex web of members from international governments , leading political and military circles.
This individual is a world leading scientist but his activities come to the attention of MI6 headed by Howard Long. With his MI6 Howard Long enlists other lead members of the CIA and other international Intelligence organisations to help investigate Phoenix. As a result of what is found in China, MI6 has the key to the Phoenix organisation and its apparent aims. As a result, Phoenix and its involvement with leading political figures across the world, is exposed .
It becomes clear to the CIA and MI6 that Phoenix, has to be stopped. This takes many actions, some unsuccessful. The organisation hits back hard on occasions!
Meetings take place between the Arab, US, British and Russian intelligence heads who organise various operations to try and stop Phoenix from achieving its world wide ambitions. The secondary objective is the capture of the Head of Phoenix and his team, who have all vanished.
During these actions a background event in Yellowstone is overshadowing many activities in the USA. Eruptions and the contamination that results, is also commanding the attention of the US Government and its forces.
With the help of the international intelligence agencies, the CIA and MI6, try to formulate a solution to stop the Phoenix organisation and its objectives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Nov 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781491880258

Paul JR Marx

My background initially was aerospace engineering after a technical college education. I moved into senior manufacturing management and eventually was a director of 3 company's. During the late 1980's I became a plant and machinery valuer. Now a consultant self employed travelling internationally for the last 8 years. I also entered politics for some years and was the mayor of the town where I lived at the time in Yate near Bristol. My interest to write this book started by the realisation that world politicians are dodging the real issue behind the worlds economic and environmental issues. I am also an aviation artist and was an official artist for the GKN Westland helicopter group for some years. My work has been sold sold world wide. I am a keen aviation enthusiast and also a r/c aircraft builder and flyer. I live in Burnley, Lancashire in the UK with my wife and family pets. Sons and daughters are all grown up and with family's of their own.

Book preview

CHAPTER I

2036

The events of the world recession in 2008 were a meltdown of the world’s financial system leading to workplace closures and millions of people losing jobs and security. This was an early warning that the financial institutions and their activities were no longer working. Such was the pace of modern communications that any slight rumour resulted in immediate disposal of risks at great financial loss to companies and institutions that relied on finance from those sectors. It became all too volatile.

Governments introduced various measures to try and stem the breaches in international finance which led to more problems as a result. Energy prices escalated and escalating fuel costs crippled and closed many businesses that were dependent on this valuable commodity. Growth in national outputs fell for most of the Western developed nations, markets retracted. The simple truth was the fact that with diminishing incomes, greater taxation, higher costs for basic needs, people could not afford to buy additional items and small luxuries therefore growth and demand fell. Others could not afford the very basics to live, so they didn’t!

From 2008 to 2011 things could not improve, governments informed their populace that there would be various controls introduced and that inflation would not occur and that a return to the problems in 2008 was not likely. They were looking at growth and their imagined effective actions to achieve these aims. Many ordered their banking institutions to print more money to overcome shortfalls in their economies, all to no avail. It was a growing world-wide set of problems that there was no lasting solution for. As long as no real changes were made the world wide situation could only decline further.

How can growth be achieved when the world had no demand except for energy and food resources which by 2011 were showing signs of being finite?

The developed nations had energy at a cost, but at reducing levels and those problems were increasing, which beyond 2011 put these basic resources beyond many peoples’ pockets. Discovering new energy sources became nearly impossible, gas and oil were vanishing or became difficult to extract due to their location. The countries that still possessed such sources of energy were realising the power that they had and were starting to hold dependent nations to ransom, as they had started to do many years ago.

Famines struck Africa and other parts of the world and millions suffered. From 2011 millions died as a result of disease and reducing food stocks, international aid programmes did little to help the situation as most aid was being diverted into the hands of unscrupulous governments making themselves’ richer at the expense of their countries. The people were still dying.

The populations in the Arab world were looking to remove their own governments which were predominately dictatorships in one form or another. After many repeated bloody battles all the Arabs states except for Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Iran managed to remove their rulers and established new governments which proved to be as bad as the previous ones. Factional splits and divisions resulted with the strongest elements emerging as the power base in each of these domains, proving as bad as the rulers that the populations had previously ousted.

Libya had long ago deposed Colonel Gadaffi and after 10 years of turmoil had been split into two parts, the East and the West, each under traditional tribal rule. The hoped for democracy never emerged.

Egypt never emerged as a democracy, twenty years later they were still ruled by the military and dictatorship was still the order of the day.

Palestine had realised its ambition, in 2020 it was recognised in its own rights and was granted secured borders against the militant state of Israel. Much to the USA’s concern, as a result the politicians in the USA lost out as Israeli money was withdrawn; it cost American business sectors dearly.

Iraq that was another story of an attempted democracy that had failed within a ten year period of the US and allies leaving the county. It had been split into four main regions; each one ruled by the main tribal leaders, each one a mini dictatorship.

The UN had pulled out of Afghanistan by 2015 and left the country to its own devices. Corrupt government and a lack of initiatives swiftly led to a Taliban led country once more with its oppressive practices that held the people in its grasp.

The West had learnt its lesson. No matter what, some regions in the world just could not accept imposed democracy, for hundreds of years they had been split within tribal territories and boundaries that could never be reconciled under any form of Democratic government. The divisions were far too many

Other factors were coming in to play; worst of all was climate change.

Havoc was being wrought as a result of global warming; the Polar icecaps were retreating and by 2036 world sea levels had risen 4 metres. Coastal defences were created to protect major cities situated at sea level or near to it. Tidal surges coupled with freak storm surges had caused many disasters, London and New York had both been hit with a major loss of life. Extra measures had since secured these and other affected cities for the time being, but low lying areas such as Bangladesh and Pakistan had lost much of its valuable land and resources with tremendous loss of life and a reduced capability of producing food for the populace.

These were only two of many such nations. All major land masses had lost land to the seas and the sea temperatures were still rising. In the Pacific whole islands were swallowed up by rising sea levels and their populations had been evacuated to higher levels in other countries increasing the burden further on their meagre resources. More famine followed.

Across the world the weather had reached extremes, increasing amount of hurricanes, typhoons and storms of greater intensity battered the worlds’ populations. The Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic had lessened in strength progressively and no longer was the warmer water from the Gulf caressing the shores of Northern Europe. As a result of this loss the average temperatures in the winter quarter of the United Kingdom and Ireland had dropped to equal that of Newfoundland, coastal waters being ice-bound from late October to Late March each year, creating increasing problems for shipping and transport across the Western reaches of Europe. No government had prepared for this and infrastructures found that they were hard pressed to cope with the worsening situation.

Against all this the worlds’ population had increased to one hundred and ninety billion from the seventy billion of 2011, and this ever increasing burden on the world and its resources was never addressed. No-one had the courage and foresight to tackle these foreseeable problems. Scientists across the world knew of all these coming issues but were, in turn, silenced by their respective governments as it was ‘not in the interests of the people’ and that the release of such knowledge could spell disaster to those who were in power. A few scientists who were outspoken and who knew of the situation and held many of the answers, were ‘silenced’ in one way or another by the ‘powers that be’.

What politician had the courage to stand up and state why the world had reached such a critical position in 2035? That over-population had been at the heart of every single problem in the world, including climate, resources and economic changes? They were more interested in self gain and their own security than in telling people the truth. As long as they stayed secure they would not bring the truth to the surface, as there would be repercussions that they could not deal with!

CHAPTER II

Intrigue

It was October and Howard Long leaned back slowly in his chair. The head of MI6 was unusually young and very athletic, a mere forty two years old he had started in the service from a very young age moving from the SAS to Intelligence over fifteen years ago. His rise was meteoric and he was generally very favoured by the present government and its ministers but the Foreign Secretary, George Maddison seemed to be a bit of a problem on recent occasions. Howard was nobody’s fool and was usually a step ahead in any situation.

He was sat in his office on the top floor of the building in which MI6 was located; the big window behind him overlooked the Thames and provided Howard with a view that confirmed that there was another world out there where people didn’t have to deal with intrigue and politics on a daily basis.

Maybe it was time to retire; the trouble was that he liked the job!

George Maddison, the Foreign Secretary sat opposite him in the brightly lit office, smoking was banned, due to a Government act many years ago, but that didn’t stop him relishing a stubby cigar which he rolled between his fingers as he mused for a moment. Howard, as usual, had furnished Maddison with an ashtray from his desk, a relic of his own smoking habit which he still indulged in at times of stress or when no-one else was about. Stress was his excuse.

The Foreign Secretary took a large drag off his cigar, exhaled, the blue smoke showing against the light from the widow, then he spoke, Howard, I know that you have been looking closely at the situation in China, are you aware of their proposals for the reintroduction of their birth policy that they ended ten years ago? It would seem to be a subject that is raising its head as an issue once more.

A shroud of smoke enveloped him as he exhaled after another long pull at his cigar.

There was silence for a few seconds before Howard replied.

Yes sir, you know that we are on top of most situations out there. We are also aware of growing unrest from the population over the proposals which have leaked out, nothing has been made public, and so they have their own problems with security leaks.

Maddison stubbed out his cigar with vigour. He stood up and turned to look out of the window at the Thames with its high defensive walling built fifteen years ago when a further two metres height was added to the existing river wall. It was cold out there and a thin skin of ice had started to form over the Thames, now an annual event about this time in October. He turned abruptly,

Have you anything on a Professor James Brady? It was a sudden question from Maddison, almost spat out.

Howard Long picked up a pen and started tapping it on his desk.

The mad bugger from the US? he asked knowing what the answer would be.

We have had tabs on him for some time now, he is moving very quietly by devious routes but mainly into China. We know he has been conferring with some high profile figures out there, but over what, we have not found out as yet. The only connection we can come up with is China reverting to birth control and the fact that Professor James Brady is an expert in some rather dubious aspects of that type of work.

Maddison looked at Howard Long very intensely.

Have you anything further on him? he asked. There was almost an air of nervousness in the question that didn’t go unnoticed by Howard.

We know that the CIA have had him in their sights but for some reason they have not curtailed his activities, which rather suggests that someone high up in the US State Department doesn’t want him interfered with. Rather strange don’t you think as China is still taking over world trade at the expense of the Americans and the rest of us?

Howard sat thinking about the fact he had lost two agents who tracked Brady some months ago and they went missing, never to be found. The CIA have been asking us for some assistance when they found Brady was going to China but had stop-over’s, one included Moscow which rather put the wind up them, he added.

Why would the CIA not have placed embargos on such visits?

They did try sir, but were overruled by a higher authority, said Howard.

That higher authority must go up into the White House, the CIA are usually a law unto themselves.

Howard swung round in his chair as he watched the Foreign Secretary get up to take his leave. The conversation, however brief, seemed to be over.

Maddison turned to go speaking as he went,

Do your best Howard, I would like to know more of what Brady is up to, preferably before the CIA find out—unless of course that they know already what he doing.

Howard watched Maddison leave and resumed his thoughts. His two agents in China had been tracking Brady and had set up an inside contact in Beijing who had fed some information back on Brady’s’ activities and what the Chinese were attempting. Like the rest of the world the Chinese had a population problem despite their earlier aborted efforts to control it. What he did not tell the Foreign Secretary was that the CIA was, partly ‘in the know’ about Brady and his activities with the Chinese. The CIA had attempted to curtail his visits and was aware of Brady’s importance to someone higher up in the echelons of the White House. MI6 had been working with the CIA closely to try and curtail those connections but for the same reasons that the CIA had been thwarted, so had MI6.

Howard was running other coincidences through his mind. Oban Banutu, the General Secretary of the UN and some of his staff had been found by MI6 to have more than a passing interest in Brady and the Chinese. Clandestine meetings had taken place between Banutu, Brady, the Chinese and certain Russian counterparts. Furthermore MI6 had, together with the CIA, identified involvement of certain individuals within the White House with them. There were further suspicions of others highly placed in the echelon of European governments and some of the Arab league might also be involved. Contacts with Brady seemed to be made everywhere but the reasons for this were not established.

It looked like the conspiracy theorists in the world had some grounds for their beliefs at last.

Howard had discussed this with his staff for some months as it seemed something big was brewing behind the scenes but his departments’ tentacles, although far reaching, had not uncovered the exact reasons for Brady’s undercover activities. It did not seem to involve major government players, except for where the White House was concerned and certain elements within the Kremlin.

He picked up his internal telephone and his deputy Kim answered. Kim, have we got anything new on file concerning Lloyd Brannigan, our UN rep, regarding meetings with foreign representatives in the last six months? he asked.

Particularly with anyone from the White House, the Chinese, and you better check on any activity with any European and members of the Arab League—or anyone else!

He put the phone down and stood up and went to the window. It was starting to snow lightly and river traffic on the Thames was starting to leave furrows through the thin ice as its thickness increased. Last year, from December, a couple of small ice breakers had to be used to keep river traffic flowing. He remembered his childhood and the warmer days in the month of October that seemed to have now gone forever. Global warming had a reverse effect on the UK and Western Europe nowadays, with no sign of improving year on year, it was just getting colder.

The intelligence business was more complex than ever. Governments were all faced with the same problems. Intrigue and issues were being centred around the lack of resources. Shale gas had provided some relief in the energy market for a brief period in the UK but that will not last forever. Britain still had to supplement this energy source by purchasing abroad, still mainly from Russia who were very adept at increasing prices and curtailing supply to those who could not meet those demands. Rifts kept developing between Europe and Russia.

Canada and the USA had reached agreement with Russia on extracting oil and gas from the Arctic regions but it was a shaky deal. Saudi still had oil stocks, Dubai had made some recent discoveries and together with the Russians they were holding the West to ransom.

Off the South American coast the UK had very large reserves around the Falklands, discovered in 2012 but demand had depleted these to a degree, also a very unstable political situation had developed with Argentina who laid claim again unsuccessfully through the UN to these reserves back in 2012. There had been two attempts at occupation by Argentina of the Falklands since then. They were repulsed but, with the UK navy so weak, an inheritance of the British cut-backs in 2011, the UN had to step in. It was mainly the use of the US Navy and ground forces that prevented the Islands and the oil fields being lost.

Argentina pulled out of the UN and matters never improved from that point in time.

The internal buzzed, Howard leaned over and picked it up, it was Kim.

Howard, what we have is not really significant but Lloyd Brannigan has been fairly active according to what we have, and more is emerging.

In what context asked Howard?

Kim continued.

We know he has been meeting several individuals internationally, some are known to us and are high ranking but he has passed through other regions with the odd overnight stop in all the countries you have mentioned. We have a track on his known UN activities but these other trips do not ‘sit’ with these. We also know the CIA and KGB have been showing interest in these visits but it appears any monitoring by those agencies has not been fed back to the top of their own respective Governments.

She added,

He has also been seen in the company of James Brady on several occasions in different international locations.

She hesitated and then made a statement that made Howard reach for his chair to sit down.

Brady has also been seen with Maddison on a couple of occasions in very strange places for a Minister of our Government!

She hesitated; then continued.

The CIA also monitored Brady, Madison and Oban Banutu, all of them were in the US and a meeting was apparently at the White House. Two hours later this was followed by a convoy of vehicles that left the White House and ended up at the Russian Embassy in Washington. Another factor —Kapov from the KGB was also making a quiet visit to the Embassy at the same time.

Howard drew a sharp intake of breath, his suspicions appeared to have some foundation.

Kim, how come I wasn’t informed of the whole picture when it happened? he didn’t wait for a reply.

It seems that I have been kept out of it. Our files are clear on who has been where and to meet whom, but we don’t know what about!

We were working on that, said Kim. We thought that we should try and firstly?—why these strange bedfellows were having apparent common ground on something, the question is— what on?

Anything else I ought to know Kim?

Kim thought for a couple of seconds.

We lost our two agents in China but we have another insider, she has got wind that some unofficial trips are coming up which includes all the aforementioned plus one other.

Who is that? asked Howard.

George Maddison.

The FS! spluttered Howard, We need to do some more digging fast Kim, call a meeting with the ‘troop’, in the main meeting room, and I mean now!

Howard scribbled a few notes to himself on the scenario that appeared to be emerging. He was thinking what the hell was the reason for senior government representatives, including our own, having quiet meetings around the world? It appeared that something major was afoot and for some reason MI6 and the CIA were not included. But the KGB was! Strangest of all it involved James Brady at every turn. He was always appearing in the frame.

He picked up his jacket and strode out of his office heading for the meeting room.

Kim appeared beside him, small and petite but very capable of taking care of herself after 8 years ‘in the field’ on some tricky operations from which she had emerged unscathed every time.

You need know Howard, we have no field operatives ‘in house’ but all the co-ordinators are in today, so that is fortunate, she said.

Howard looked at her as they strode to the meeting room.

That’s all I need Kim, he said.

We have some major planning to do so they are all we need at the moment, but we need to establish what is going on very quickly, above all I would really like to know why our boss, Maddison, has some dark secret that he is not confiding in with his intelligence service, also why does the KGB appear to be in the know about whatever it is? And why the CIA appears to be kept at arms length! Unless of course, that our contact there is not very forthcoming with the truth!

They entered the meeting room, a large room with portraits of past Prime Ministers staring down across the meeting table. Again, it had only one large window that overlooked the river. Everyone there except for Tony, who scurried in behind them both to take his seat rapidly.

Afternoon Tony, said Howard

Call of nature sir, you caught me in the middle—,

Too much information Tony—and there are ladies present! said Howard.

There were ten ‘co-ordinators’ sat in the meeting room which was not lit and the effect was not improved by the weather outside, cold and grey with a steady fall of snow. Due to the energy problem there were strict rules in the office governing the use of lighting, if you fell over something a light could be switched on!

Howard and Kim took their places at the head of the table. Howard spread his scribbled notes before him. Kim had brought in the relevant files, just in case.

Howard stood up with his back to the audience briefly as he gazed at the weather. He turned round and placed both hands on the back of his chair as he spoke.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have some problems and what is said here today is highly confidential and must not be mentioned even to the Foreign Secretary himself. This meeting has not taken place, do we all understand?

A murmur went round the table followed by the nodding of heads.

Good! continued Howard.

In short, we are being kept in the dark over something which I suspect is big. The Foreign Secretary appears to be involved, even the PM possibly appears to be in on it. We aren’t! Kim has all the details of who appears to be involved and it seems it all revolves around a Professor James Brady, who, like a bad penny, seems to turn up everywhere. If you know little of Brady then please do your homework. I know that some of you have been putting out feelers and as a result we have a reasonable amount of details on his movements. However, Kim has been busy and we have started to put together all the links that we know of, placing him at various times with very important people!

Howard drew a breath,

If you check on him, there is only one thing Professor Brady has been very deeply involved in, and that is genetic research, he is the worlds’ top scientist in that area. What we need to know is what has he been looking at recently? The CIA has kept tabs on him, I don’t know how much they have but I intend meeting with my counterpart in the UK as soon as possible to see if they can enlighten us, or indeed, give us some help with info from the US.

He added.

If MI6 and the CIA is being kept in the dark then maybe its time for a closer unofficial alliance between us to see if we can both use our resources to find out what is going on—I believe it all hinges on Brady and whatever he is up to. He is the common factor in it all.

Howard waved a finger at his captive audience.

You can see why nothing must leak, we are about to investigate not only Brady in greater detail, but also our PM and his Foreign Secretary! They above all must not suspect anything.

He looked at Tony.

Tony, I know you have a connection, useful at times, with a colleague at MI5, do you understand me—no information is to reach them under any circumstances!

Tony Altman was a highly experienced team leader, he stood over six feet tall and was of a dark complexion, his mother was an Indian National by birth and Tony had inherited some of her looks. His father, of English extraction, spent a good few years in Asia and was also ex-intelligence which he served in for over thirty years. His skills were certainly passed to his son who led a team in MI6, concentrating their efforts in Asia and the Middle East, a difficult task with all that had gone on in the region which included uprisings and investigations into terrorist organisations and activities.

Asia was suffering badly as global warming had caused major flooding, in which, in some low lying areas, it had become permanent. Populations had been compressed into smaller areas and their ability to produce enough food was sorely pressed. Over two million of the populace of Bangladesh had been drowned or lost due to starvation in the past five years.

India had also fared poorly; over five million had lost their lives under similar circumstances in the same period of time.

China was slightly better