‘But I thought the government was keen to do things like that, to get rid of fossil fuels forever,’ Lopez said. ‘Even if this were just about money or corporations, surely they’re flogging a dead horse and everybody knows it?’
‘It’s not just about the money,’ Dr Grant explained. ‘It’s true that the corporations want to continue earning money from the sale of fossil fuels, but there is far more to it than just cash. The government has a vested interest in ensuring that people do not have energy security.’
‘That’s crazy?’ Ethan said. ‘Energy security is widely known to be one of people’s greatest concerns.’
‘That’s right,’ Dr Grant said with a smile. ‘And that’s why the government doesn’t want anybody else to have it. They must control the power because without power, the people are nothing. It’s the control that is important, the knowledge or belief that the people cannot have their electricity without the government and power corporations to supply it. If you put a private power supply in every home in the United States, and there are enough farms to provide food and water for everybody, then ask yourself Ethan: who needs a government?’
Lopez shot Ethan a glance. ‘More to the point, what would a government do if their authority was under such a threat?’
Ethan sat for a moment and then he asked Cecil Grant a straight — out question.
‘If you were Stanley Meyer and you had built something like that, what would you do?’
Doctor Grant sighed.
‘Truthfully? I’d do what Stanley told me he would do, and fly one of them out to Saudi Arabia to sell it to the highest bidder, then retire on my fortune.’
‘My dad wouldn’t do that,’ Amber insisted.
‘You sure about that?’ Grant challenged. ‘He even borrowed money off me to buy his tickets.’
‘He’s in Saudi Arabia?’ Ethan asked in amazement, and was rewarded with a nod from Grant.
‘If Stan really has invented a device that could render fossil fuels archaic, it would be utterly priceless.’
‘And worth killing for,’ Lopez added.
Ethan nodded in agreement as he pulled out his cell phone. ‘We need to speak to Huck Seavers, he’s the only direct link in all of this.’
XI
Aaron James Mitchell sat in the plush surroundings of a penthouse suite in the Bilderberg Hotel, looking out of the window at the sumptuous grounds as he tried to quell the sense of impending doom enshrouding him. The annual Bilderberg Conference, a three day event which was due to begin the following day, would mark a turning — point in the global obsession with fossil fuels. It was known, but only to those fortunate and powerful enough to be attending, that the future of humanity’s fuel would be decided not by environmental or resource factors but by the whims and requirements of a small handful of the world’s most powerful and wealthy men. The facts would be laid before the Steering Committee of Bilderberg and discussed at length by its members and invitees as a matter of global importance.
Even Aaron could admit to himself that the security of Bilderberg and the sheer influence of its regular attendees virtually premeditated the suspicion of those who regarded the political leaders of their respective countries with contempt. It was only in recent years that lists of the attendees at Bilderberg were even released to the public, and then only in places where those interested knew where to look. Combined with a permanent block on media reporting and the flood of security and secret services operations that surrounded the meetings, it was a marvel to Aaron that the whole world didn’t know about Bilderberg. The methodology of the meetings certainly flew in the face of Aaron’s own opinions on how to apply effective security, such as that surrounding Majestic Twelve. None the less, obscure and unknown the meetings remained, as did the events that took place within. However Aaron, and his close connection with those who both attended and even influenced the meetings themselves, had managed to gleen crumbs of information over the years about what went on within the shadowy corridors of Bilderberg.
At the top of the list of their priorities was economic policies based upon the trade in fossil fuels. Oil, in every form, in every country of the globe, was a concern that dominated most Bilderberg meetings at one point or another. Shell, Exxon, Oppenheimer, OPEC; all of the largest and most powerful petrochemical corporations were represented at Bilderberg, and all of them intensely interested in where oil was going to come from over the next ten, twenty or fifty years.
The great irony, Aaron reflected, was the fact that the vast majority of easily accessible oil in large quantities lay beneath the sands of the Middle East, and no Arab leaders were Bilderberg invitees. Thus, in the face of Arab distrust of the West, of the murderous and mindless hatred of Islamic fundamentalists, did the countries represented by Bilderberg have to discuss how their countries could do business with their unpredictable oil bearing foes in the Middle East. Many ordinary citizens considered the dominance of the fat — cat oil businesses and their continued manipulation of said oil — bearing nations to be the ultimate in oppression and self — serving greed, the pursuit of profit despite the suffering of the Muslim nations’ ordinary people beneath the yoke of their splendour — loving monarchies and dictators. Yet, in fact, the general public had the whole image the wrong way around.
The nations of the West had long possessed the ability to drill oil in places far from the Middle East. Even Russia, now a tentative ally of the West, was possessed of oil reserves vast and plenty. Oil fields were being discovered on a regular basis at greater and greater depths and further afield, even in Antarctica, and only the development of efficient technology prevented the mining of these precious fields. This was without mention of the immense capacity of the science of the West to provide energy from a hundred different alternative sources which, although heavily screened from the public domain, would render the need for oil completely unnecessary. Even electro — magnetic research had shown considerable potential for energy generation, and that at the turn of the 20th Century at the hands of men like Nikola Tesla.
No. The West did not use the Middle East for oil, for oil was not a permanent nor current requirement of the West. It did so because, without this tenuous yet essential link between East and West, the ultimate goal of the Bilderbergs could not be achieved.
The New World Order.
The New World Order had been shaped in the late 1950’s by the earliest Bilderberg meetings. It was not a self — serving plan for global domination, although it was placed largely in the hands of globalised mega — corporations. It was, in Aaron’s opinion, one of the most noble and yet fraught with danger policies that he had ever heard of.