Episode 122 Previous Episode	Next Episode
“Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.” Robert A. Heinlein “And in an address to the United Nations,” said the female news anchor, “the Ambassador of the United States to the UN publicly denounced the French Government’s military maneuvers off the coast of Great Britain.” The image of the well-manicured anchor was replaced with stock footage of French war vessels firing a barrage of shots from their massive boats. “The public outcry on the international stage has been overwhelming. The leaders of most of the industrialized world have denounced the actions of France, while some military analysts have gone so far as to suggest that this militaristic posturing may in fact be the nation gearing up for military action, though to what end is anyone’s guess.” With a large flash, the television screen went black. In the reflection, Assif stared at himself. The middle-aged Middle Eastern man glared at his thoughts as he sat alone in his office. The shine from the window made his reflection almost a silhouette. He turned away from the TV, mindless of the rickety fan over his desk slowly turning the stale air of his brown office. He templed his hands and leaned his chin on them, thinking as he leaned over his desk. His left eye twitched as he thought. There was a knock on the frosted window of his door. Assif glanced up without moving as Jin came in. The Korean shut the door behind him; his tieless dress shirt unbuttoned halfway down to reveal the narrow undershirt beneath. “Please tell me you’ve got something,” Assif asked. Jin paused, then shook his head pessimistically. “Nothing conclusive,” he said, pulling out the chair to sit down. “The island is still being kept off the maps and the media, though I can’t figure out how it’s being pulled off. Everyone’s calling it ‘military maneuvers’ by the French Government.” Assif snorted, looking away. “We haven’t been able to get any reliable leads on Alex and the others.” “Nor have I,” Assif said. “The UN is giving me the run around. Even Dr. Howitz isn’t being even the slightest bit useful.” He turned and looked Jin in the face. “What really bugs me is that they’re not even pretending to hide their hypocrisy. They fully admit that a team of Responders was sent to the island, an island that doesn’t exist. They just aren’t acknowledging that all contact was lost or the existence of any of the team’s reports from the island. They are still denying that any Command Protocols were issued.” “So what’s the plan?” Jin asked. Assif thought for a moment. He glanced out his window, then turned back. “There are three possibilities. This is either a governmental doing, a military doing, or a civilian doing.” “A doing?” Jin pondered over. “Who did it?” Assif clarified. “If it was a government, then we’d need to figure out which one. It seems unlikely that it would be the UN, because they wouldn’t have sent in Responders in the first place, so maybe the French Government.” “Given that they’re the current patsy, I don’t know,” Jin questioned. “Regardless,” Assif pondered. “If this is military, it seems like it could only be the French Military, and they don’t have the pull in the government to cover something like this up, especially not in the UN. That leaves the private sector.” He sat back with a sigh. “And that’s a whole new can of worms,” Jin said absently. Assif sat back in his chair, tapping his thumbs together. He turned and looked out the window for a long time, staring out at the Parisian horizon. “You’re still tracing the money trail for Alex, right?” He turned around in his chair, the change in topic taking Jin by surprise. “You’re still following up on the MacLean case, and Yun Tai?” “Y-yeah,” Jin said. “And how has that connected with the Security Council meeting that you don’t know anything about?” Assif went on. Jin thought for a moment. “I’ve…got some leads.” Assif sat back, his chair leaning back. “Extrapolate from what you’ve got,” he hypothesized. “What would be involved for an interest group to sway the UN Security Council, or at least the majority of the countries on it, to influence the military policy of both Great Britain and France, and at the same time, need such care in tracking down items like the Ivers’ books?” Jin sat back, thinking. “Hmmm,” he muttered to himself. “Well, there are few organizations that can influence governments in the west, I mean, to the extent you’re talking about.” “If you follow the trail of money, you can always find who has the real power,” Assif quoted to himself. He turned back around to Jin. “Keep on with your investigation. I’m not sure what Sarah and Alex were on to, but I’m starting to give more and more credence to their hunches.” “What about Sarah and Alex?” Jin asked. “They may need our help.” “There is nothing we can do for them right now,” Assif pronounced sympathetically. “The most help we can provide them is to have whatever information they may need when they return.” “Then you think there’s a chance they’ll return?” Jin asked. Assif smiled certainly. “I know they will.”
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