A new player emerges...: Only the Soul is immortal, #2

By Andrew Gilbert

The efforts of our group have now reached the hallowed corridors of White Hall and even "number 10".

Our group finds itself dragged into the corridors of power when a coup on the Prime Ministership of the Land occurs.

A further development occurs when the European opposition gets involved and it also affects their leadership struggles.

In the background there is yet another group involved with designs on the power of Britain. The stroy expands as our group has to decide on the need for secrecy as opposed to a stable government.

Things start to matter when the Middle East flares up and the whole question of the Middle East is brought  to bear about who is behind the aggravation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Andrew Gilbert
• Release date: Apr 4, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224742622

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

By

Andy Gilbert

Introduction : March 2013

MIKE SAT BACK AND ENDURED the ride to London.

Steve Woods and John Palmer were having a conversation that was beyond his understanding. It was something about setting up watchers at various places. Tom at Moody’s was saying the Brits would be downgraded to AA+. Runs on the Pound may have a flow on effect on the Euro. Any progress on the Pool Act would have to be driven from within the UK government. Could Tim Cross be dragged in if the Pool Act was enforced?

It was all far above Mike’s head. The only thing that mattered to Mike was that they had lost Annie. Mike tried to recap all that had happened over the last few months. Annie’s energy, or soul, had once been Maggie Smiths energy. Maggie had been grabbed by the opposition and in the ongoing recovery operation they had recovered Maggie’s soul, but the body of Maggie had died. Mike had genuinely mourned at the loss of Maggie Smith. She had become a good friend. His two companions, however, had arranged to have Maggie’s energy placed into Annie. Mike had fallen in love with Annie without being aware of the connection. Truth be known, he’d fallen hard! Annie had then gone into a deep undercover role, and she had been snatched. Rather, the body of David Powell, that Annie had been using, had been snatched. And they had now lost all contact with Annie.

They were travelling to London with all haste to find her, or David Powell, before the opposition managed to kill David Powell or Annie. Or both!

Questions continued to confront and confound Mike.

Why was Annie’s inner security not able to make contact?

How had they discovered Annie’s presence?

If they had discovered Annie/David Powell’s true identity’, would they not be better keeping her alive until they got information out of her?

And the most annoying question of all. Why the hell had Annie agreed to go deep undercover in the first place?

Mike knew the reason for the last question came out of his own depth of feeling about Annie. The part of Annie that had agreed to go undercover was probably the adventurous and unpredictable part of Annie’s nature that he loved.

He tried to concentrate on the conversation going on around him.

Steve Woods said to John Palmer. Okay. Let’s ignore everything else until we get to Streatham. Maybe there’ll be some progress by then. Everyone in the London team is out looking for David Powell or tailing the Minister.

John Palmer was still as unemotional in his speech as his previous persona had been. And if we don’t make any progress within 48 hours, do we assume the worst? What was Annie’s knowledge of our structure? Do we need to start reorganising our security perimeter? What was Manu’s level of knowledge?

Steve Woods replied, Manu was still fairly low level, so he wouldn’t be able to give anything away. I’d not start to panic for at least three or four days. Surely by that time we will have some Intel to work with.

Mike was beginning to get annoyed. They were talking to each other as if Mike wasn’t there and as if their security was a higher priority than Annie. Deep inside him, he knew the security aspect was more important to these guys, but to Mike, getting Annie back took precedence over everything else. Woody, who’s this Manu guy you’re talking about?

Sorry, Mike. Manu is the name of Annie’s security guy. Turning to look at Mike, Woody tapped his head, "And I’m talking about this security guy. Trust me he’s one of the best."

From the back-seat John Palmer spoke up. Mike, please be aware that we are all focussed on getting Annie back. But I also must look at the very bigger picture. A security breach could have greater implications than just our own part of the operation. It could jeopardise our entire network. When the prize is control of the civilised world, our opposition will have no hesitation in playing as hard as they need to.

Woody interrupted the conversation to say they would have to stop at the services for petrol.

Pulling off the motorway they cruised on to the forecourt of the petrol station. Woody got out to fill the car up. John Palmer also got out and went around talking to Woody. He spoke quietly enough that Mike could not hear their conversation. He did hear Woody comment that he should not worry about Mike as Mike was made of stronger stuff than even Mike was aware of.

Pulling off the forecourt, Woody drove over to the far side of the car park and all three of them got out and walked in to the services to grab something to eat and drink.

Within a few minutes they were walking back to the car with sandwiches and a coffee each. Since his conversation with his higher ‘security ‘self a week or so back, Mike was now getting used to hearing random thoughts from him. If they entered a pub Mike could immediately feel his higher self do a scan of the pub for possible security issues. It was easy to feel the scanning as the higher self had to use Mike’s actual eyes to do the scanning. Occasionally he would hear something like two skinheads at the bar, let’s use the other end to order.

By now he had got so used to these random voices, he would enter a room and pause to allow the security check before progressing further into the room.

Woody was always alert and focussed and it was he who noticed the three young hoods hovering around the Jaguar. Mike immediately felt himself slowly completing a 360-degree circle to check for any other threats in the area. On occasions, it was annoying, but Mike knew he should just let it happen, as it was for his own protection. Woody was about to pass his refreshments to Mike to hold when John Palmer stopped him.

Let me take this one, Steve. I’ve only had this body a couple of days. Let’s see how fit it is.

John Palmer walked towards the three youths stood around the Jaguar. Two of the three were stood in front to hide the third one who was trying to get the driver’s door open.

Next to Mike, Woody called out, John, use Ma-tana.

John Palmer walked towards the nearest of the youths with his hand outstretched, as if to shake hands. As he approached, he said Hi guys, I’m not surprised you like her. You won’t see another Jaguar in Britain with an AMG conversion.

The first youth stood up from his lean and automatically put out his hand to meet John Palmer. Their hands touched. John Palmer‘s left hand immediately came forward to hold his opponents’ hand. His right hand, fingers extended, moved to dig in under the opponents’ chin and in the blink of an eye, the same hand then poked into the eyes of the opponent. Mike was astonished at the speed and simplicity with which John Palmer had immobilised his opponent. After that it was simple matter to knee him in the groin and then use the same knee to impact the head and the first opponent was down. The whole attack seemed to be over in two seconds and the first of the youths was on the ground. The second attacker came for John Palmer as he was turning to face him.

Woody called out, Krav Magar.

Thug number two threw a swinging right hander to John Palmer’s head. He automatically held up his arms in the familiar double triangle defence and the thug’s blow glanced off his left arm. The forward motion of swinging the punch made it easy for John Palmer to grab his opponents’ arm and twist it against the rotation of the elbow. The thug was powerless to defend himself and wide open to four chops or punches to groin, solar plexus, neck and the bridge of the nose. Mike was trying to take it all in, but the Boss was too quick and clinical in his delivery. The second thug was already on the ground as John Palmer turned to face the third thug.

The third thug moved away from the door of the Jaguar. This was one big guy. He probably surpassed John Palmer by six inches and thirty pounds. He waved for John Palmer to come forward and try his tricks on him.

In the background, Woody nudged Mike. Go on, Mike, it’s your choice. What style does the Boss use now? Go on, a martial arts style, tell him.

Mike actually didn’t have any idea of martial arts styles. He called out the first thing he could think of

Seagal. Steven Seagal.

John Palmer turned around to look at Mike. He had that ‘you have to be kidding me’ look on his face.

I think the word you’re looking for is Aikido, Mike. Said his Boss.

The big thug lunged at John Palmer while his back was half turned. He neatly sidestepped him and tripped the thug in his headlong follow-through.

Mike was very impressed, but the thug was furious.

The thug picked himself up from the floor and charged again. The same style of attack earned the same result with John Palmer taunting him this time. Come on, surely you have more than that?

This time the thug picked himself up from the ground and pulled a knife from his pocket.

Before Mike could shout a warning, Woody had something to say. Coffee’s going cold, Boss.

The thug waved the knife a couple of times and then charged in again.

For Mike, it was exactly like a Seagal movie.

The Boss only half side stepped, held the wrist of the knife hand and twisted it around against the elbow. Stepping smoothly into the side of the thug and lifting the arm over his shoulder gave John Palmer a perfect fulcrum to use against his opponent. The thug was now in agony. The knife dropped to the ground, but the Boss was not finished. Pulling down hard on the thug’s arm, the snap of the radius and ulna bones could clearly be heard by Mike. Even over the scream of the thug, Mike could hear his inner voice say, Very smooth. Well, done.

John Palmer moved away from the thug and allowed him to hit the ground alongside his two associates.

John Palmers only comment was, And that’s for Annie.

Walking back to Mike and Woody, the Boss grabbed his coffee and sandwich from Woody. Passing Mike, He gave a grin Seagal? Steven Seagal? and walked around to the back door of the Jaguar.

Mike also heard a voice on the inner saying Steven Seagal, Steven bloody Seagal!

They all got into the car. Woody said, Nice one, Boss. The body works well. Buckle up, gentlemen. It’s time to hit the road again, now we’ve finished our fun.

Mike said nothing. He sat just and drank his coffee as the miles sped fast.  He didn’t bother with his sandwiches. He really didn’t feel like eating them. He kept hearing the sound of breaking bones and it rather killed his appetite.

Chapter 1 : March 2013

They arrived at the Streatham safe house a little after 1.30 am. It wasn’t a single house, but a large apartment in a large apartment building. Each of the three occupants of the Jaguar only had a holdall of clothes which they grabbed from the car trunk and entered the house to be greeted by a young guy speaking with a broad cockney twang.

Hello fellers, Welcome to the big Smoke, Had a good run?

Woody smiled, saying, Yeah, uneventful. Pete, this is Mike and John. You guys, this is Pete. This is his gaffe. Are the rest of the team here?

All here except for the three on watch. One on Powell’s flat, one on the Minister’s place and one on his bird. Seems he’s got a bit on the side tucked away.

Leading the way into the lounge, Pete introduced the six other guys who formed the London team. Mike was introduced to each of them and promptly forgot their name when he was introduced to the next one.  His inner voice assured him that he had it covered.

Mike sat back in a corner chair and let the meeting unfold before him.

It soon became obvious that John Palmer was acknowledged as the overall Boss. Equally obvious was the regard in which they all held Woody.

Mike was asking questions to himself, and his inner voice was giving answers.

Are all these blokes the same as John and Woody? You know, hundreds of years old.

Yes.

All fabulously rich?

To varying degrees, but yes.

And they can all mix it, like the Boss? You know, good in a fight?

Yes, especially if they have inner security. Pay attention to the next part, please.

The Boss was talking about security. He stated that the only one of the group that was possibly known to the opposition was Mike. He’d had an interview with David Powell, and he’d also been present when the attack on the Bowdon manor happened. To that end, Mike was to stay at the safe house and not risk being seen until it was absolutely necessary. The meeting went on to discuss a watcher’s roster. They’d give it another 24 hours and meet at the apartment on the following night. If they had no news by then, they’d start coming up with a strategy.

With that, the meeting ended. Pete showed them all to their bedrooms.

Mike sat on the side of his bed with a feeling of hopelessness until Woody popped his head in.

Don’t worry, Mike. Firstly, it doesn’t help and secondly, the Boss is taking this personally. You heard him say it to that tosser back at the services. He’s on top of this. All we need is some Intel to act on and then we get down to business. Sleep well.

Mike knew he wouldn’t sleep at all. So, he was quite surprised when he awoke at 7.30 in the morning, having slept right through.

Going downstairs he met Woody and Steve coming in the front door.

Good morning, Mike. Said John Palmer. Here are the papers. We’ve just had a meeting with the watchers as they swopped shifts. Nothing to report, yet. They entered Powell’s flat, and no one is there. There’s no evidence he has been back or that he packed up clothes for a trip away. We’ll leave the watchers covering it as a contingency.

Mike was disappointed at the lack of news. Anything at the Ministers place, or his girlfriends?

Woody chipped in. We can’t send anyone in as we believe they’re occupied. Even if we sent one of the security guys in, they’d be noticed. Once you’ve done the body switch, you can easily see other energies hanging around. Grab yourself some breakfast, Mike. Keep a routine going and it helps deal with the stress.

Mike prepared and ate his breakfast. People were coming and going from the house at regular intervals. He thought about the security aspect of so many people coming to the apartment. As always, his inner voice was on top of Mike’s concerns. There are nine separate exits to the building. They all vary their entry routine. Don’t worry.

On the one hand Mike was pleased he had such a clear line to his inner voice. On the other hand, he was wondering why he was here as it was obvious, he was going to be kept inside for the trip.

He didn’t get any feedback from his inner voice, so he focussed on trying to pick up snippets from the individual team members as they reported back.

Insofar as he could tell. The Minister had turned up for work at the ministry at his usual time. There was still no activity being reported at David Powell’s flat. And the watchers on the Minister’s girlfriend’s house were having no better luck either.

Around three in the afternoon, both Woody and John Palmer were sat in the lounge with a couple of the locals. Mike joined the group, if only for something to do.

John Palmer was talking about happenings on the international level. It seems our opposition have been making inroads at a high level. They still want to weaken the Euro, but they’re also trying to start a run on the Pound. President Obama’s bill, last month, his ‘Taxpayer protection bill’ has the world market jittery on the US Dollar. We’re getting early information from our contacts in Moody’s that they’re going to downgrade Britain’s credit rating from AAA to AA+. They’re forecasting the British economy remaining sluggish over the next two or three years. With the German reliance on the Euro strength, they’re becoming very isolated and extremely vulnerable.

One of the locals, Andy, also had a point to add. I’m getting concerned with China buying up so much US debt. If they suddenly took up the default in land acquisition, they’d own nearly as much as our total holdings. Their total debt acquisition could take down at least a third of all the Major US banks. Should we be watching out for a third player in our game?"

John Palmer was only mildly concerned. I think they would have shown their hand by now, if that was their plan. I have a belief that they have an awareness of our opposition’s intentions. If the worst happened and the Euro was greatly devalued, they would only show their hand if any other entity made a large-scale move. With the US weakness, I’m hoping our opposition have delayed their ultimate intentions until the Euro situation has played out a little more. Perhaps we have an extended time frame of another six months.

Mike had been quietly taking things in. He surprised himself that he pretty much understood most of the conversation going on around him. However, he had concerns on a much more local, and personal level. Woody. What plans do we have about Annie? You guys are talking a year ahead. I’m more concerned about the next twenty-four hours.

Woody smiled and put up a hand to silence John Palmer’s protest at being interrupted. It’s in hand, Mike. We need to try and force the Ministers hand and see if we can drive out the whereabouts of David Powell. You have a meeting arranged with the Minister for a follow up to your interview with David Powell. That’s at 10.30am. I have a lunch meeting with him at 12.00. Between us we should be able to stir the Minister up to fronting David Powell.

Mike was about to say that he thought that would place Annie in jeopardy, when his inner voice suggested he stay quiet for the moment.

The meeting carried on with John Palmer taking the lead and talking of the bigger picture on an international scale. Mike tuned out.

Internally he was preparing for his meeting with Tim Cross and was wondering how he would handle staying calm in the presence of the guy he was convinced was responsible for Annie’s abduction.

Woody had a chat with Mike after the meeting ended. Everyone else had left with instructions from John Palmer on what to do next.

Okay, Mike. You can calm down. All you will be talking to the Minister about is getting a little more in-depth detail about him. You’ll say you’ve got a roving commission from the Daily Mail to do personality pieces on leading political figures, not so much their political life, more about their personal background. Tim Cross will be your first article. If he checks up on you, Tim Vorster at the Mail will back your story. I’ll probably have a few questions for you to ask. While you’re there you will ask to speak to David Powell, perhaps to thank him for his assistance with the previous article. I don’t know, I’m sure you’ll think of something. Basically, we want to see Tim Cross’s reaction and what he says as a cover up. I’ll be talking to him about the bribe deal that Powell and I organised. I’ll speak to the Minister but make it very clear I want Powell to be present at the next meeting. The longer we don’t find Powell and Annie, the less chance we have. I’m hoping that the two of us asking might spur him on to deal with his situation.

A few miles to the north of Streatham, the Minister was sat in his office.

He was tired, very tired.

He’d been awake for most of the previous night.

After subduing his private Secretary, David Powell, the previous night the Minister had sat back and watched his two henchmen prepare to extract the soul of David and put it into the drunken body of James. James had sat in a drunken stupor while all unfolded in front of him. The soul of James was actually a long-standing member of the Ministers group. In defining longstanding, he had worked with the Minister’s various personas for over three hundred years. James had suggested his persona be well intoxicated so that when David’s energy was placed inside it, there would be little difficulty arranging for David to have a fatal ‘accident’.

The swapping of energies was usually a task that took less than a minute. The Minister had witnessed the job being done a hundred times or more, in his many lifetimes. He did admit to himself that he always got a sadistic sort of pleasure watching the displaced energy wake up in a new body and struggle to take in what was happening. He had a heightened sense of anticipation with his treacherous protégé, David Powell.

Unfortunately, nothing happened.

His henchmen were unable to lift David’s energy out of his body!

The soul will leave the body and travel of its own free will. Always it must leave through the crown Chakra point on top of the head. It also must return to the body through the Crown Chakra.

With David Powell, the crown Chakra seemed to be closed.

After both henchmen had tried, without success, the Minister