Return of Our Country

by David M Burke

  His seemingly rhetorical question, which he believed would need some discovery, hung in the air.

  A second later, the General was the most surprised person in the room when a voice resonated through them all.

  “I know where it is.” The response came from the only person not sitting at the table.

  The room fell silent as all eyes landed on Brooks.

  “There’s some gold from Fort Knox in Indonesia,” Brooks said. “We can get that quietly with a few small teams. Then there’s more that’s very well hidden and guarded. And there’s even more that’s funding the deep state.”

  Who was this man? The Generals did not know Brooks, the man known decades ago as The Shadow, although his presence at this meeting and the message he had just conveyed immediately established his stature.

  Brooks looked to Abrams. “General, if you want to retrieve the gold and want to stop the deep state funding, you’ll need every person you’ve got, and I mean everyone. If you’re willing to counter this threat, I’d be more than willing to offer a dose of retribution.”

  Chapter 33

  Brooks explained a small portion of what he knew. “The deep state took some of our gold reserves for themselves. Now it’s part of what’s called ‘black gold’. The term ‘black gold,’ as most of you know, is used to describe gold that’s in private hands and not traceable by any government.”

  Krieger was gruff with his question. “How could they do this right under our noses?”

  General Elder looked at Krieger. “First, Colonel, realize who put almost every president in power.”

  Krieger nodded with understanding, and eased back into his seat.

  The General continued. “Also realize that, years ago, the shadow government turned Fort Knox and other gold retaining facilities over to the Federal Reserve. Most people don’t know that Fort Knox is controlled by the owners of the FED. They lease that land on the military base.”

  “What?”

  The General elaborated. “The notion that all this gold somehow belongs to the American people is a carefully cultivated myth. Most people think Ft. Knox is a government vault but, while it is built on government land, it’s managed by the FED. Since the creation of the Federal Reserve System, all the gold vaults of the FED have been guarded by America’s largest domestic private security organizations like Diebold, Inc., an Ohio-based security firm established in 1859. In each vault, gold is kept in numbered chambers, and its actual ownership is known to only a handful of FED officials. The largest of these rectangular lockers are 10 feet by 10 feet by 18 feet, so each locker is big enough to hold $17.1 billion worth of bullion, given a market rate of $400 per ounce,51 at the last count.”

  Madison said, “So that’s currently over fifty billion.”

  The Shadow wanted to get back to what’s happening now. “Correct Senator… What’s happened over the years is, gold that was once the people’s gold, has been secretly moved into private holdings. Most of this gold is now in the hands of banking families that we know as the globalists. Some black gold is still within sects of the CIA and other governmental organizations, though the gold was never put on the books, so this allows them to fund things by using this black gold that can’t be traced.”

  Brooks wanted to keep them focused on what he was about to say, so he stood. “Many people know of the storied Nazi treasure. There have even been movies about it. But the globalists have successfully stopped movie producers from outlining key facts about what the Nazis really did with the gold they captured, and there are virtually no movies about gold not getting back to its original owners. To eliminate any trace of original ownership, the Nazis had it melted down, and recast it as ingots hallmarked with the swastika and black eagle of the Reighbank. There were other reasons why the gold was difficult to trace. Many of the original owners had died, and pre-war governments had ceased to exist.52 Washington’s ‘official’ (public) figure for recovered Nazi gold still is only 550 metric tons. A reliable source said he was taken to the courtyard of a convent in Europe where 11,200 metric tons of Nazi looted bullion had been collected.53 That’s an example of how Nazi gold fell off the radar. What we’re talking about here dwarfs that.”

  George asked, “What do you mean?”

  Brooks felt that George threw him a softball to keep the floor. With that, Brooks nodded and began to slowly walk back and forth on the far side of the table.

  “What no one talks about,” he said, “is the much larger amount of Japanese gold that the US captured in the Philippines from Japan. So much was added to the Nazi gold that the combination of these two is why there’s a massive set of funds called the Black Eagle Trust.”

  George already knew about some of the black gold funding the deep state and insurrection in the country, but he wanted the rest to hear it and he wanted them to hear it from The Shadow. “And much of this isn’t part of official governments records, so it’s open to either good use without oversight or it’s been taken over by the deep state?”

  “Exactly, Mr. President,” Brooks confirmed.

  George wanted to keep Brooks talking, “What’s the magnitude of what we’re up against? How big is it?”

  Brooks turned at the end of the far side of the table and walked back. “Well, let me put it this way. Prior to attacking Pearl Harbor, Japan had spent years conquering other countries in Asia, and had systematically taken gold, platinum, jewelry and all kinds of priceless arts from every country it conquered. The treasure – gold, platinum and barrels of loose gems – was combined with Axis loot recovered in Europe to create a worldwide covert political action fund to fight communism. This is ‘black gold’. It might have been a wise decision at the time, but it had had tragic consequences in the longer term.54 Remember, this trust was their solution to be able to stop the spread of the Nazis and their kind.”

  Brooks turned again and cocked his head as if thinking back. “In retrospect,” he said, “recovering Golden Lily treasure vaults and setting up the Black Eagle Trust were the easy parts, done for patriotic reasons and a noble cause. Making intelligent use of so much underground money and keeping it in patriotic hands was not an easy task, and has been something that has failed the American people. One of the problems was that the Trust was discussed with some of America’s allies, which are interested in their own benefit, not that of the United States.”

  “What do you mean by ‘Golden Lily’?” Adam questioned.

  “That’s what the Japanese called their operation,” Brooks answered. “This total secrecy enabled corrupt people to abuse the resulting slush funds, and these abuses have multiplied like a cancer, ever since. A global network of corruption has grown around the slush funds. Bureaucrats, politicians, spooks, and generals, have become addicted to black money.55

  Adam looked at George. “I guess that’s why they hate us. We’re a risk to their slush funds.”

  George finally smiled. “Yeah, and we’re about to become much more of a risk.” Turning back to Brooks he said, “Please continue.”

  Brooks continued, saying, “According to official figures, there have been less than 200,000 tons of gold ever mined. However, this isn’t true, because the official figures never accounted for the gold in Russia, India, China and all of Southeastern Asia. They’ve been mining gold for centuries and have mined more gold than the rest of the world.”

  General Elder clarified that. “Mr. President, there are some of us who know the US took possession of large quantities of gold after WWII and kept it from the American people. It was off the books.”

  Brooks sat back down in the same chair.

  Elder continued. “Frankly, Mr. President, we just don’t know enough about the history of these funds or their whereabouts, besides they’re massive and spread around the world like an octopus with tentacles everywhere. The globalists are extremely secretive and, if anyone in their organizations begins to have a c
hange of heart, they’re usually found dead. The only way we’d ever find out more would be if you could find an elder CIA agent who was around in that area. But frankly by now they’d likely be dead at the hands of the globalists, unless they went underground or ceased to exist. By now they’d be fairly up in age and if there was one left, it would only be one. What are our chances of finding him? Some form of providence would have to deliver him right to us.”

  Krieger’s eyes raised from where the spot on the table where he had been staring. For some reason everyone looked at Krieger, who still hadn’t said a word. A presence filled the room as Krieger turned his head. He and Brooks made eye contact.

  Chapter 34

  Krieger’s phone vibrated. The text read, “Your friend The Cleric is here.”

  The message was from Briggs, who was with Mauricio and a team in Chicago at that very moment. Mauricio had set up a network of surveillance equipment that uncloaked most electronic devices that well-connected deep state operatives and politicians were using. Most of these people were either on the take, or the few who resisted were being blackmailed.

  Through information his team had extracted from the NSA database, Mauricio knew who was working with the deep state. Now Mauricio knew the players where he was at in Chicago. He had set up a small room at a black house, where he and his team were listening into emails, texts, voice and radio traffic.

  The Cleric was now in Chicago, so they knew something was up. Briggs just didn’t know how big it was and when they were going to strike.

  Mauricio and Briggs were setting up satellite listening stations in safe houses in several major cities. No one had ever gotten evidence that the deep state was paying politicians or police chiefs, but the teams hoped to get some from their surveillance.

  Mauricio directed Melissa, the head of his surveillance team in the city. “Get that location. I want to see every available camera within two blocks. Then track his movement.”

  As a Special Forces Communications Staff Sergeant, Melissa’s skills were above her rank. That was why, by the end of the day, Mauricio would inform her of her new rank. He had been working on her promotion through the NSA chain of command, with Krieger’s blessing. Melissa was an expert at communication techniques of unconventional warfare and surveillance. She already acted as Mauricio’s detachment commander in all communications matters. She not only was an expert at installation, operations and utilization of any kind of equipment he had ever given her, she was an outstanding trainer. It was a skill not always commensurate with being an excellent tactician.

  With long straight black hair, Melissa either had native American Indian descent or something else Mauricio couldn’t put a finger on. The way her hair was so straight sometimes made Mauricio wondered if she ironed it. Still, in her mid-thirties, she was as fit as any women he’d ever seen. She dressed in a sharp, edgy style, and her clothes were always well-tailored. The tone of her voice usually didn’t fit her looks. It was feminine, but when the action started, her tough, fiery persona took over. With the handle of extreme freak, those who knew her realized she liked to live life on the edge and get every bit of excitement out of it.

  Mauricio knew why she’d chosen communications as a specialty. It was the action and the fact that, just before she turned thirty, she’d realized she needed to transition out of active Special Operations. She’d successfully managed her evolution into communications with the NSA. That way she could stay in the game longer. After watching her, Mauricio believed she had found her calling within the special operations communication field she now directed. He was glad she was on their side.

  Mauricio added to his comment to Melissa, “He’s a cleric, we need a visual.”

  “Yes sir,” was all she said as she navigated equipment and directed others.

  A moment later, she asked, “Is this him, sir?”

  “Affirmative, send it out to the team,” he said, referencing the people watching and navigating the surveillance cameras.

  Melissa had one of her men send the picture. A moment later it appeared in the bottom corner of their screens along with the message, “HVT. Track him, and I want the secondaries to track everyone he talks to.” Secondaries referred to the team who would track whomever the primary targets spoke to. Mauricio had the operation set up to track followers like an organizational chart. Some people on his team were designated to track the top level, which were usually HVTs. Others were ready to track the next level down, and so on. Mauricio was taking no chances that any communication would fall through the cracks. That was one reason why he was the best at what he did, and why Krieger had chosen him.

  Several minutes later, Melissa said, “Sir, I have a visual. He just met up with someone. We’re recording.”

  Chapter 35

  Brooks stood and slowly looked around the small room as he thought.

  Based on the fact that they had all been hand chosen and given a lie detector test, The Shadow knew these men were vetted. They needed to know… He suspected at least one of the Generals knew some of it, though Adam, George and Krieger needed to know.

  “When I first worked at the CIA,” Brooks said, “I was set up to work with an aging man called Santy. He wanted me to help his family after he passed.”

  The whole room sat in silence as they prepared themselves to listen intently about this black gold that had no governmental oversight.

  Brooks continued. “In the closing months of World War II in the Philippines, several of Japan’s highest-ranking imperial princes, were busy hiding tons of looted gold bullion and other stolen treasure in nearby caves and tunnels, to be recovered later.56 This was property of twelve Asian countries, accumulated over thousands of years.57 Overseen by the princes, 175 ‘imperial’ treasure vaults were constructed throughout the islands.58 Several were 220 feet underground,59 while others were deeper and, as time ran out, Japanese General Yamashita was forced to conceal the last of Japan’s loot in a few shallower sites.”

  Brooks wanted to be clear. “The Black Eagle Trust is only one of many trusts this black gold currently resides in. In fact, unlike the Nazi gold, the gold Japan looted from Asia wasn’t recast, leaving an issue of traceability for the Japanese and eventually those who found the gold, the Japanese.”

  The Shadow looked across the table at General Abrams. “It was code-named ‘kin no Yuri’ (Golden Lily), the title of one of the emperor’s poems.60

  The General nodded and looked at Krieger with a look of thanks for somehow, some way, having Brooks (The Shadow) present to explain this.

  Brooks paced as he talked. “For our purposes, there were two major players. One was the original individual who found the location of the gold. He was a Filipino-American intelligence officer named Severino Garcia Diaz Santa Romana, a man of many names and personalities, whose friends called him ‘Santy’.61 Some of you may have heard of the name of the agent who was Supervising Santy, Captain Edward G. Lansdale.”62

  Brooks thought to himself, they’ll love this. “It’s not coincidental that the CIA was formed on September 18, 1947. What’s been kept secret is, that in 1945, the OSS was officially shut down after the war, though the heads of the organization never lost a paycheck and were tasked with setting up the CIA. They had an official and an unofficial black gold budget. Of course, the two-year gap is a political way to show there is no affiliation. In reality, this time was used to recover, conceal, ship and secure the black gold from the Philippines into many different places around the globe to reduce the risk of exposure and the risk that one source could be compromised.”

  “Thus, the octopus, or hydra,” George said.

  “Exactly,” affirmed Brooks. “The CIA began with this black gold, so it started with an official governmental budget and a black ops budget that was beyond Congressional oversight. It’s important to realize that the CIA only got some of the gold from Germany and Japan. The Japanese gold reserves were so
huge that MacArthur strolled down row after row of gold bars stacked two meters tall,63 for more than a half an hour. According to Roy Cline and others, between 1945 and 1947 the gold bullion recovered by Santy and Lansdale was discreetly moved by ship to 176 accounts at banks in 42 countries.64 Remember, gold at that time was worth $35 an ounce, and we’re talking about tons of gold and platinum that were deposited in the world’s biggest banks, including Union Banque Suisse and other Swiss banks, which became major repositories of the Black Eagle Trust. Some of the names of these banks have changed and documents have been burned to stop any possibility of legal action and traceability. But the players are the same. Sandy used his aliases in behalf of the CIA and the treasury department.65

  Brooks looked at Adam. “Over a period of decades, some of the world’s biggest banks became addicted to playing with the black gold in their vaults. Now they will do whatever is necessary to keep the gold.”

  Adam asked again, “So there were real ancient gold artifacts mixed in with all the rest of the treasures?”

  Brooks nodded. “Absolutely, Rogelio Roxas, a Filipino locksmith, found a one-ton solid gold Buddha and thousands of small gold bars hidden in a tunnel behind a hospital in the mountain resort of Baguio, which had served as a headquarters for General Yamashita.66 Roxas,” Brooks explained, “was eventually taken prisoner by President Marcos. He was tortured and killed and Marcos took much of the gold, which there was a lot of. A hospital employee estimated that ten boxes each day were loaded into the trucks over a period of one year, which would come to approximately 3,600 boxes, or 10,800 bars weighing 75 kilos each. In 1996, a US court in the state of Hawaii awarded his heirs a judgement of $43-billion against the Marcos estate, the largest civil award in history.67 That was only a small percent of the value of the money in that one tunnel.”