Chapter 7
2018
With news of another death, this one the IT group leader out of Paris, the TEN had been reduced to 7. Six of them did not realize one member of the 7 was waiting to take over. As a remaining member of the 10, with the knowledge of what was going on, he was able to be confident and quicker on his feet than the others. He had, of course, planned this out, so it was easy to plan the perfect response. At 5’ 11”, 190, he was not large but he possessed a charisma that few men possess. He had such a presence that any room he entered he would be the center of attention inside of 15 minutes. When he left the room you could almost feel the room deflate, like a hot air balloon that was descending.
A meeting of the 7 remaining Ten was taking place via video conference. Each had their own bunker built for security purposes; a wall full of cameras and monitors, one for each person, so they could have face to face contact, and each had full access.
The 6 were not aware that Shem Aiah had arranged the assassinations to get this opportunity. Now he wanted them to ask him to serve as leader. With them giving him leadership he would reach his first goal in taking over the MMG and then the world.
Aiah started in on Eagleton, from Hamlet Security, to explain what they knew.
“Eagleton, what the hell is going on around here? Can we believe this is all coincidental? This appears to be an attack on our very existence! We must put things in place to protect the MMG and our members. I think we should put the 60 under guard until we figure out what is happening. I think we need to mobilize the ops group to make sure everyone is safe and to help with anything else we may need”
Ops were military experts, the black ops group; they were the muscle, the spies, and the enforcers, if needed. They were relegated to small to mid-size campaigns since they had been held down for years by the threat of John Bettle exposing them all; but this, was this attack on the MMG real? Who could possibly be doing this?
“Mr. Eagleton,” interjected Lourdes Mendoza before Eagleton could speak, “are we sure of the threat? I hate to get Ops involved. There appears to be no proof, not even from our people that are supposed to be protecting us.”
The rest of the group was nodding their heads in agreement. Eagleton had been working on his computer during the questions, but he stood up to respond. “Yes sir, ma’am,” Eagleton spoke, taking a long pause. “Ladies and gentlemen, do you, knowing what we know, really believe that these deaths are not preplanned? Weston trips in his bathroom, hits his head and falls into the tub and drowns the same day that Jo dies of a heart attack? It is my believe that the leadership team is under attack”
“Eagleton”, says Marat Pankov, a big burly bear of a man that specialized in oil, based in Russia, “it is our group that carries out these operations that look like accidents. Who could be doing this if not our people? How do we respond?”
“I am not sure who is responsible at this time, sir,” Eagleton said, “but we need to protect this leadership team and we need to at least be looking out for the 60. There is a lot of work being done at this time and, as we deploy additional resources, this will get to be a very large, think-quick operation. I recommend we put one member of the leadership in charge to help me manage this going forward. I have already been in contact with Aiah on numerous issues and he has a great deal of knowledge already. I would recommend Aiah to spearhead this situation for all of you; he is our best option at this time”
The rest of the group saw a power in Aiah and were actually glad his name came up, if only he would be willing to take charge at this time.
“Well, thank you, Mr. Eagleton.” Aiah responded with apprehension “I am not sure I am the best to handle this situation, however, if asked I will serve. My thoughts are for the families of our lost, and for our organization that appears to be under siege.”
The group all started talking at once but somehow determined to do a show of hands to have Aiah elected as the leader of the group, at least short term, and work closely with Eagleton to determine the threat. A unanimous decision put the person that created the situation in charge of making sure it was cleaned up. How easy it is to stop something you personally started and know was already under control!
“Well, thank you all for your confidence,” said Aiah. “I shall not let you down. Mr. Eagleton, with your mentor one of the people killed tonight, I am sorry to ask but can I get your thoughts on security for the rest of us?”
“Certainly sir!” Said Eagleton at standing at attention. “I have lost people in battle before sir; while I do grieve, I promise it will not affect my work, sir.”
“Thank you for the respect, Eagleton, but let’s relax the formalities, we are all glad you are here and working with us. Please, enlighten us if you would.”
“Well, sir, ah, sorry…sir.” An embarrassed Eagleton began, “Due to multiple locations around the world this appears to be a coordinated effort. This would lead us to believe that an organization of some sort is behind the killings. Certainly Bud knew how to take care of himself and could also see danger coming, and he got taken. This leads me to believe that we are dealing with professionals.”
“With my knowledge of groups that could do such a thing, most would be government or mafia related. Mercenaries would certainly be the correct group to hire, but hiring mercenaries without getting caught in a sting is very difficult.”
“The Ten are a closely guarded secret and should not be known outside of maybe 50 people. With Bud’s passing most of the people with knowledge, outside of the people in this meeting, work for me now. Your identities are one of the world’s best kept secrets. With all that I know at this time I believe this may be an inside job.” As he said it Eagleton watched for reactions. No one flinched; all showed shock at the thought.
“Inside job?” said 3 of the remaining 7. Lourdes continued, “Who would do such a thing? We give our people a lot. Who would gain the most from these deaths?”
“Well, I would gain from Bud’s death, of course,” said Eagleton, “I would not be leading this group without him gone.”
“Yes, yes, Eagleton,” said Aiah, looking at each member on his monitors, “we realize that you could be someone that gains. But you have also lost a great deal. We all know how close you two were. Please get your people on this and let me know how things are going.”
Aiah focused on the group monitors for the remaining Ten now. “My friends, Eagleton and I will work through this and find out who could be doing such a thing. The mix of the dead is a mystery. The Ten that are dead were Security, IT, and Media. The members of the C6 that died were not in those direct down lines. I do not see a pattern yet, but we will work through this and keep you informed.”
The group was calming down with a new leader in charge as the door opened behind Kalibi Keita, the Banking, Finance, and Markets expert from Nigeria, Africa. “Sorry to interrupt!” said Tau Birri, special assistant to the Keita, “we may have an issue. I have just been asked to pass on that a Run may have been started, but it appears to have started part way through.”
“What run?” asked Aiah.
“The Yen; and it appears to have started part way through with the blog, creating trades and dropping the value. No pre-blog work was completed to profit from the move.”
“What the hell is going on around here?” Aiah yelled, “who would know this stuff?”