Four Months Ago
Champagne was served and they all toasted; even the Saudi took a glass, winking to Gault as he did so.
Toys closed on Gault to whisper in his ear, “What the hell are you doing? We don’t even know what we’re getting into here. We just got out of a mess … . Do you want to walk into another one?”
Gault looked at him, his eyes hard and steady. “I know precisely what I’m doing, Toys. If you’re scared, you can leave any time you want.”
Toys took a step back as if he’d been slapped. “What are you—?”
The American cleared his throat and waved everyone to their seats. Gault and Toys remained standing, though now they stood a few feet apart. Toys looked both surprised and concerned, but Gault smiled and patted him on the cheek.
“It’s all going to be fine,” he said quietly. “You’ll see.”
When everyone was seated, the American pressed a section of the tabletop and it slid open to reveal a computer keyboard. He tapped some keys and the monitors on the wall flickered on to show a series of buildings in different cities.
“First,” he said, “let us show you our world. No secrets.”
“No secrets,” murmured Gault.
“This is the world of the Seven Kings.”
On the screens, one after another, buildings erupted into flame. School buses exploded, throwing small fire-wreathed shapes into the street. Jetliners slammed into tall towers, and those towers collapsed, pancaking down and filling the streets with deadly gray clouds. Suicide bombers walked into theaters and train stations. Kings and presidents were caught in indiscretions. Princesses were killed in car wrecks. Drug companies released medications that proved to be more dangerous than the diseases they were designed to combat. Flu epidemics sprang out of nowhere. It rolled on and on. A symphony of destruction that was at once shocking in its scope and elegant in its subtlety.
As each new image played, one of the Kings would tell the story behind it. Misinformation, disinformation, and the placement of carefully selected truths. Fuel thrown onto the fire of religious hatred. Ethnic wars funded by private dollars. Useful assassinations, and even more useful attempted assassinations.
Gault turned to the Kings. “You did all of that? The Towers? All of it?”
“Some of this is our doing,” said the King of Gold. “Some of these things are the actions of our enemies. Some were conceived by us but handed over to other groups to carry out. We’re often involved well behind the scenes.”
The King of Famine said, “We provide ideas, financing, encouragement, and occasionally direct action.”
The American nodded to the small man who sat in the seat of his Conscience. “My good friend and Conscience, Rafael Santoro, has overseen many of our most complicated ‘events.’”
Santoro bowed slightly. “It is always my pleasure to serve the Seven Kings.”
Toys gestured to the screens. “If some of this isn’t your actual work,” he said, “why show it to us?”
“Well,” said the American with a mildly pained expression, “that’s part of the reason we brought you here. When we said that we will have no secrets from you, we meant it. As much as we would like to truly be the most powerful force on the planet, we aren’t.”
Toys nodded. “Let me guess—you’re in some kind of dustup with the other lot.”
“Yes,” agreed the American.
“And they’re bigger?”
“At the moment.”
“And stronger?”
“For now.”
“Do they know about you?”
There was an uncomfortable murmur. “Yes,” said the King of War. “They know. They know and they would like to see us all dead.”
Toys said, “Do they fight for truth, justice, and the American way?”
“Hardly.” The King of Lies laughed. “They are a true shadow government with no higher intentions. They have had a hand in starting virtually every major conflict since the Civil War.”
“As opposed to you chaps who are giving out daffodils and free blow jobs,” said Toys with disgust.
“Damn it, Toys,” snarled Gault, but the Kings surprised them both by laughing.
“I like this boy, Sebastian,” said the American. “I always have. Says what he fucking means and doesn’t give a rat’s ass what anybody thinks.”
“Too bloody right,” Gault said with asperity.
Toys affected to brush lint from his lapel with a look that said, I’m rubber; you’re glue.
“Our agenda is not a happy one for the great unwashed masses,” admitted the King of Gold. “We are predators and we pretend to be nothing else.”
“Then who are your enemies?” demanded Gault. He looked as if the very thought of enemies offended him on a personal level.
“The Skull and Bones.” Several of the Kings said it at the same time, each of them with disgust.
“The actual Skull and Bones?” Toys laughed. “Those wankers at Yale? George Bush and that lot?”
“That lot, yes,” said the Saudi. “Though, admittedly, not all of the most celebrated members of that society belong to the Inner Circle and it’s the Inner Circle who are the real power. Many of the members do not even believe that an Inner Circle exists. They think it’s an urban legend created by detractors of the Skull and Bones. However, it is real, and it is only the Inner Circle which concerns us. That is where the true power is.”
Gault said, “Surely the world is big enough for you each to cut a large slice of the global pie. Why the conflict?”
“It isn’t of our making,” said the King of Famine. “When we first made contact with the Inner Circle we reached out in the hopes of establishing some manner of working partnership. Or at very least an agreement of noninterference.”
“How’d that work out for you chaps?” asked Toys.
“Not well. Each attempt to arrange a sit-down with the Inner Circle has resulted in the murder of our agents. Over the last decade the Inner Circle has invested a great deal of time and effort in discovering who we are. A number of our agents have been targeted and killed, many of them tortured for information. We keep a great deal of distance between us and our operatives in the field, so the Inner Circle do not know our names—but they’ve done considerable damage to our operations. They’ve also sicced various American and international organizations on us, including INTERPOL, NATO, the CIA, and the DMS. That has made things … uncomfortable.”
“Why the animosity? Are you both going after the same things?” asked Gault. “Is it simply a competition to grab the most?”
“No. Our interests overlap, but our methods are very much in conflict. And the Inner Circle have become obsessed with controlling all of the power in the Middle East, which is where we make much of our money. They keep starting wars over there.”
Toys looked at the King of War. “And you don’t?”
“No. We make more money from the threat of war and the arms race than from outright declared war,” said the Israelite. “Small wars are okay, but major conflicts stop trade. In cases of decisive victory it can even eradicate whole markets. We profit from the constant escalation, from nations and groups preparing for war, because that means when one upgrades its weapons system its rivals need to do the same.”
“Keeping up with the Joneses,” said Toys. “With guns.”
“Guns, missile systems, jets, tanks, body armor, defense satellites, the works,” said the American. “The Inner Circle are directly aggressive. We’re chaotic. Aggression causes trade disconnects—and to see that, look at the U.S. and its trade relations in the years following 9/11. They waved such a big stick that they chased everyone else off the playground, and as a result they wound up selling their souls to China. Dumb asses.”