Peace among the chaos: Only the Soul is immortal, #3

By Andrew Gilbert

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Among the corridors of power there can be peace.

Among the world of high finance and world power there can be people wanting to secure a better future for us.

Among these lofty corridors there is one man who can bring determine to acheive that goal.

Yet among those same corridors there are any number ofgroups who seek to thwart him. Mike and his team are ready to do what they can to bring about peace, if only the other groups would allow him. It's a battle for Britain and the Middle east and it's a race against time!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Andrew Gilbert
• Release date: Apr 4, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224703128

Andrew Gilbert

Andy has been writing for the last twenty years and has written a number of books over a wide variety of genre. His first book Sold over 5000 copies and he continues to write on whatever the mood takes him. Currently he  is finishing Books on the crime scene in Rotorua, New Zealand. As always his books are not meant to be taken seriously. If you haven't laughed today, read one of Andy's books!

Book preview

Chapter 1 :Monday 1st May 2013

Mike Doull and His Chinese dining companion were sat over a meal in London. Mike had just asked Mr. Liu to allow his boss to replace Mr. Liu at the Embassy with one of their own people. Both Mike and his dining companion knew what that simple request actually meant. Mr. Liu’s soul would have to find a new body to inhabit!

Controlling his anger Mr. Liu asked And what happens to me? What role do I get, for giving up on being Mr. Liu?

Mike was not going to be rushed into replying. For the first time, he felt he had the upper hand. Mr. Liu had not rejected his first proposal out of hand. That almost indicated Mike’s assumption had been correct. Mr. Liu did see himself as a Boss.

He looked across the table at Mr. Liu. With respect, Mr. Liu. I would ask you to see the issue from the perspective of my colleagues. We see you as a potential leader and would like you to consider taking on another leadership role. We’d like you to consider being a candidate for the position of the Prime Minister of Great Britain and Ireland.

His dining companion was unable to hide his astonishment. Mike had long wanted to use a trick he had seen Woody use on David Powell in Vegas. A diversionary ruse to throw the opponent off their guard. He continued, The steak was amazing, Mr. Liu. Would it be out of order to ask for the dessert menu? That is, of course, if you have time.

Raising his hand to catch the attention of the wait staff, Mike looked at Mr. Liu and calmly asked the question. Alright, Mr. Liu. Now you can perhaps show another of your cards. You’ve heard our offer; perhaps you could show us one of your Aces, as it were.

The waiter arrived and offered Mike the dessert menu. Mike gave it his full attention, much to Mr. Liu’s annoyance. The waiter offered a menu to Mr. Liu who pushed it away. For a Chinese person to show such a lack of manners was an obvious sign to Mike that he had his dining companion rattled!

Mike continued to peruse the menu and ordered the apple pie. The waiter left, and Mike returned his attention to Mr. Liu. Sorry, where were we?

Mr. Liu was calming down but his previous position and body language of having the superior hand had disappeared.

Mike, you are either a very good bluffer or your group is much stronger than my colleagues realised. You say you can make me the prime minister. Prove it!

Mike smiled. I believe I asked you to show us one of your strong cards. I actually offered you the possibility of being a candidate for that position. That was on the assumption you had something to make it worth our while. Again, Mr. Liu. It is time for you to show us your hand.

At that point the waiter returned with Mike’s dessert. Mike thanked the waiter and returned his gaze to Mr. Liu.

Alright, Mike. My colleagues and your opposition and your own group have a desire to rule the world. With the intelligence you can gather from taking over my current position, you would have a tremendous insight into thwarting my colleague’s efforts, here in Britain and in many of our closest European powers. Mike was interested to learn that the Chinese thought world domination was a part of Mike’s groups’ plan, but he did not let the surprise register on his face. He remained silent. After a few seconds of silence, it became clear to Mr. Liu that Mike expected him to continue speaking.

"Alright, Mike. My role in London is to coordinate our group’s activity. On some occasions I myself will make an approach to a potential debtor. My area of influence extends into Europe and I advise or supervise seven other embassies. Our current landholdings in Europe amount to some 800,000 acres across nine countries and our lending would be in excess of seven billion of your pounds. All of which are to private citizens.  My government’s lending’s to the various

governments are far in excess of that amount, but I have no knowledge or dealings with those clients. That is what I can offer to you and your colleagues. Now, Mike let’s return to your offer."

Mike was eating the excellent dessert as his companion was talking. Again, he deliberately finished his mouthful before replying. My offer is as I explained it. It would be imprudent to offer any more details before relating our discussion to my colleagues. May I ask, what is your take on the happenings of the Dark link?

Mike had a desire to find out if the Chinese were even aware of the planetary event.

Mr. Liu smiled. The Dark link was not be as profound as the soothsayers predicted. Global warming mitigated its effects. Our research into weather patterns indicate the worst affected areas would be in the South pacific where the warmer seas may create stronger storm patterns. The worst hit were the smaller island nations, as we predicted. They are generally quite poverty stricken. There would be little value to China in being concerned with lending to those nations. It is easier to throw some few dollars at them to help build infrastructure and roads. That will give us far more influence and that will cause instability with their larger neighbors such as Australia. The larger land masses such as Europe, Asia and the America’s will avoid the excesses because their profusion of greenhouse gases will almost put a shield over those areas.

He continued I understand your opposition have invested heavily in those areas. Our finest thinkers now believe that your opposition committed too heavily and are suffering. Perhaps they are now stretched a little too thinly, financially, as it were. I trust your group has better weather information and has limited its input where appropriate. It is also our belief that your opposition is behind much of the middle East unrest. Personally, I find it very odd that a group of essentially Christian people would put so much of their effort into making the Muslim faith a powerful political player. I might also add they may become too powerful for your opponents to control.

Mike comfortably replied that his group held similar views.

Mike noticed that his dining companion was regaining some of his former composure and felt that this would be a good time to call the meeting to a close.

Alright, Mr. Liu.  We have shown each other a little more of our strength. Might I suggest that we return to your Embassy and continue our discussions on matters relating to the Embassy? After that, I shall return to my group and relate our discussions. That will also give you some time to think of our offer. Perhaps we could meet again if you still have some interest in allying yourself with our group.

Mr. Liu agreed. He settled the restaurant bill without even looking at the amount and their car pulled up to the kerb as they walked outside.

An hour later Mike was walking out of the Embassy with another cheque for his services tucked in his pocket and an undertaking from Mr. Liu they would probably speak again.

Mike phoned Annie as he walked back to the hotel. She was still shopping or wandering through shops, so Mike said he would see her when she was shopped out. He was heading back to the hotel to relax. At the hotel Mike put a call into Woody and gave him a brief summary of his meeting. Woody suggested they meet at the clinic when they had travelled back from London. Mike lay back on the bed and was surprised that he had fallen asleep, when Annie returned to the hotel room a little after 5.00.

Mike dug out the cheque he had received from the Embassy. At 650 pounds, it was for a higher amount than the previous session.  Annie grabbed it out of Mike’s hands.  Well done. And congrats on the pay rise, but it’s already spent! I loved that Jacket you bought, yesterday; so much that I went back to Harrods to see what they had for me. Guess what? Their sale started this morning. 999 quid down to 625 quid.

Mike wasn’t concerned. Do I get any change?

She laughed. You’re not listening, love. Harrods had a sale on!

Mike was quite relaxed. He’d had a very good meeting at the Embassy, Annie had clearly had a great day as well. And he’d had an hour or so of sleep which was far preferable to being dragged around the shops of London.

As Mike continued to lay back, relaxing, Annie made them a drink. She sat on the bed while Mike told her of how his meeting had gone. She was pleased that Mike had done so well and managed to wrong-foot Mr. Liu on several occasions. Pleased that the trip had been such a good one for both of them, they decided they would go out for a meal and spend the evening back at the hotel.

After the meal and back at the hotel, Annie showed Mike some of the other things she had purchased in Harrods. From the lingerie department. They had an early night......

Waking at a reasonably early time Mike had visions of hitting the road early. Annie suggested they leave it until at least 9.30 to allow the commuter traffic to get past its peak. So, after a leisurely breakfast they hit the road. Annie did have one suggestion, though. She wanted Mike to set up his phone GPS to navigate them out of town and onto the M1. Then she suggested Mike drive them out of London relying mainly on his GPS.

Although he was at first reluctant to rely on the technology, they got out of London without any problems and he was quite receptive as Annie told him how to set the cruise control on the car. When Mike’s phone rang, she grabbed it before Mike could and told him to wait for the car to talk to him. Listening to his phone being bluetoothed through the car radio was another eye-opener for Mike. The caller was Woody who asked them where they were and then suggested they swing by the clinic on their way home to give his report on the meeting with Mr. Liu and would they care to join him and the Boss. for dinner.

Declining the offer of dinner, they agreed to call in at the clinic and they pulled into the clinic car park a little before 2.00.

Woody was there to welcome them home and took them through to the boardroom where John Palmer awaited them. Settling down in the comfortable chairs with a coffee, Woody asked Annie how she had enjoyed the driving.

Mike answered for her. Yes, well. she enjoyed the drive down, but I drove back, and that cruise control is an amazing invention. Annie says I should ask you for a driving lesson. It’s entirely possible she was not only referring to the car.

Woody tried to suppress a grin but failed, miserably. That’s not a problem, Mike. So, you’ve discovered cruise control? Ah the wonders of modern science. You do realise it has been fitted to cars for more than ten years, don’t you, Mike?

Annie piped up. He also discovered he has GPS in his car and on his phone.

Mike held his hands up in surrender.

John Palmer added. Annie, I believe Steve has also addressed your next request.

Annie looked a little puzzled.

John Palmer looked back at her. A car for you! Now you have discovered how to drive properly, it’s entirely possible the occasion will arise when we will need you both to be separately mobile. Steve has a couple of cars for you to look at later. Please choose one of them and I’m sure Steve will sort out the minor details. Now, can we get down to discussing your meeting with our Mr. Liu?

As their attention turned to Mike’s meeting, Annie sat with a smile on her face. She was getting her own car! Outside of her thoughts, the meeting was progressing well. Mike told John Palmer and Woody the broad details of Mr. Liu’s barely hidden happiness at the prospect of becoming the next PM. Getting to step aside from his role of Mr. Liu was not going to be a problem. He also said that Mr. Liu automatically assumed Mike’s group’s goal was world domination, which was something Mike had not disavowed him of. Mike also said that the Chinese were not relying on the impending planetary alignment, the Dark link, to have such a major impact on world weather and subsequent political fallout. John Palmer and Woody spent the next few minutes deciding how and when to get Mr. Liu to move from his Mr. Liu persona and into the role of Colin Mead. It was agreed that Mr. Liu should make the next move. Then the three of them and Annie moved onto discuss developments involving the Dark link, particularly relating to Mr. Liu’s thoughts on the subject.  John Palmer agreed that the major industrial nations had almost mitigated the effects of the potential storms by the sheer volume of their greenhouse gases. That only left the predominantly poorer island nations in the south pacific who were so small in size that their meagre greenhouse gases would have no impact on the severe weather storms. He didn’t think the Chinese had any better weather forecasting technology than his own group and the Chinese, like his own colleagues, were simply using daily weather data as it occurred and were using computerised forecasting to gauge its effects in the short and medium term. John Palmer’s own colleagues were now telling him virtually the same story. Fortunately, the only group to severely base their economic predictions on the outcome of the dark link were their opposition, the Illuminati. Although Annie had not been well advised as to the details of the Dark link weather phenomena, she was aware of the opposition’s heavy planning into creating a new World order as an aftermath of the dark link.

John Palmer was a little surprised at Mr. Liu’s comments about the Middle East but agreed it was something they should think about. Deciding that their next move would be to wait for Mr. Liu to contact them, Woody suggested that they call it a day and to let Mike and Annie go home. Before they left, he wanted Annie to have a look at a couple of vehicles he had parked at the rear of the clinic. While Annie went with Woody, John Palmer thanked Mike for his efforts with Mr. Liu. He added that Mike and Annie were becoming a major asset to his group in both the planning and the execution. As a parting shot, he suggested Mike keep an eye on Annie and not let her get too active, physically.

Mike thought that was an odd thing to say but he agreed to keep an eye on her. Leaving John Palmer on his computer, Mike walked through to the rear of the clinic where Annie was just returning with Woody from test driving the second of the two cars. One was a BMW X3 SUV and the other was a Subaru saloon. It was a four-wheel drive car but not a Subaru Impreza or anything that would make anyone give the car a second look. Mike could see that both vehicles had performed really well, and Annie’s adrenalin was pumping when she told Woody she would prefer the Subaru.

Woody thought for a second and suggested she opt for the X3 SUV as a better long-term option. When Annie demurred, Woody asked her to at least just try theX3 for a month. If she didn’t like it after that, she could have the Subaru.

Obviously, if Woody had asked her to take the X3, she could not refuse.

It was a very happy Annie that led the way out of the clinic with Mike trailing in his saloon. As Annie zoomed off into the distance Mike could only mouth Use the cruise control or you’ll get a ticket.

Mike still beat her home, to his surprise. Then he realised she would be out putting the X3 through its paces on a back-country road somewhere.

He had unpacked the car and put the kettle on before Annie arrived home. Annie was still high with the X3. Although she would have preferred the Subaru, the X3 would still do far more than she would ever need.

Annie started to make the drinks and pull food out for their evening meal as Mike turned on his computer and downloaded the emails.

The download was productive and contained requests for three articles from Mike. While Mike was starting to delete the rubbish and Spam emails, one more email popped through. It was from the Chinese embassy. Mr. Liu would be visiting Manchester on the following Saturday and would appreciate the opportunity to continue to ask Mike his opinion on another issue that had arisen that may be of interest to his colleagues at the Embassy.

Sending it through to John Palmer, before replying to Mr. Liu, Mike wondered aloud that he thought it was too soon for Mr. Liu to show his hand. It almost smacked of eagerness to get the ball rolling which, to Mike, was a very un-Chinese way of doing business. Even as he was thinking this, the email reply came from John Palmer saying Mr. Liu’s reply was sooner than he had anticipated, but Mike should plan to meet with him. Mike replied to Mr. Liu in the usual polite and formal tones and left it to Mr. Liu to set the time and place of the meeting.

Then he switched the screen off and went through to have a drink with Annie.

Annie was delighted with her new car; even in if was three years old. She had taken it out from Hale and headed towards the Tatton park area. The open road speed and power were plentiful, and she then found an off-road track where she tested its four-wheel drive ability. She found it more than enough capable of handling whatever she would need it for. Although she still would have preferred the sportier Subaru, she was warming up to the BMW.

While the tea was cooking, they sat and had hot drinks. Annie wondered what she would do to fill in her time. Now that the house move was complete and the training of the patients at the clinic was over, she felt a little like a spare part. Mike suggested she should give her journalism another go. Instead of working fulltime for a paper, she could do some freelance articles and Mike would use his contacts to see if he could get one of the newspapers to buy some of her articles.

Suggesting she could convert the second bedroom to her own office rather gave the idea some appeal to Annie. As always, she suggested they run it past Woody to check it would not breach any of their rules. Having said that, she did keep tossing out comments such as We could set up a Wireless network, easily enough and I could piggyback off your router. And another comment was I know you have a smart phone but surely you would find it easier to get yourself a tablet, for when you are on the road. As both of the comments were completely over Mike’s head, he simply agreed and carried on reading the paper.

On the Wednesday Mike set to and started on the three articles he been commissioned to do. Annie went into town and did the grocery shopping. On her return she gave Mike a few ideas that she had come up with for her attempts at freelance writing. Mike gave her a few brief ideas and then told her to just sit down and start writing. He also told her not to delete any of her early attempts as they would be an extremely valuable tool in a few days’ time when she could re-read them and see how far she had progressed.

Wednesday passed quite smoothly for both of them. To celebrate, they walked into town for a meal at a restaurant. When they returned to their house, Mike switched on the TV, Annie sat down beside him. By sheer coincidence there was a documentary about the ‘Dark link’ phenomena which they both sat and watched. Having heard of the Dark Link from other and better-informed sources, they still found it interesting in a sensationalist voyeur kind of way.

On Thursday, they had still not heard from the team at the clinic, so Mike set to and finished off his third article while Annie hit the wall in her efforts to overcome ‘Writers block."

The previous days efforts had started well enough, she had completed a page on several subjects and then hit the wall, so she started on a different subject. Each time, she had pretty much the same result.

Giving in to and admitting defeat, she went in to see Mike and tried to explain how she was feeling. Mike surprisingly was unsympathetic. He had just sent the three articles through to John Palmer for his approval so was feeling quite good. When he heard of Annie’s problem, he pulled out a sheet of paper from his printer and wrote down five items. There you go, love. One thousand words each on those five topics. I want a beginning and a middle and an end.

Annie was not rapt at Mike’s response. In fact, her demeanor was indicating the opposite reaction.  She grabbed the sheet out of Mike’s hand and turned and left the room.

Two hours later, Mike felt he might have overplayed his hand with Annie. He would have expected to have been called down for lunch around 12.30. It was now 1.30 and he was feeling a little peckish. John Palmer had replied, by email, that the articles were all approved, and could they be at the clinic for a meeting on Friday morning, at 10.00.

Just as Mike was about to get up and see how Annie was doing, he heard her walking along the passageway to his room. She had completed three of the five articles. She handed them to Mike and began to turn away. He called her back into the office.

Whoa there, love. Let me read them and we can then discuss how you are doing. Annie sat down on his spare office chair while Mike perused them.

He smiled. They’re pretty damn good, love. I guess the article on the staplers was your first because I can see you are still pissed off with me. The other two are pretty good as well. How did it feel being told to write on something you weren’t interested in and then told to only make it a thousand words and to have a beginning, middle and end?

Annie didn’t smile as she said. Demeaning!

Mike smiled right at her. And it felt structured! And it felt disciplined! And you had to think about what you were writing about!  And you had to keep it within a thousand words, so you had to reckon with word economy! Believe it or not, my little hottie, you are a natural writer when you allow yourself to be disciplined. And writing about something you don’t care about is what freelance writing is all about. Well done. You passed the test with flying colours. Now, if you will compare these with the stuff you wrote yesterday, you will see a vastly different and infinitely more readable piece of writing.

Now that Annie could see why Mike had acted as he did. She felt a little sheepish. And now I suppose you want some lunch, Obi Wan Kenobi?"

Let me come down and help you. Have you had any more thoughts on turning the other bedroom into an office? Mike was playing it a little