He paused and then asked. “Please tell us why you are just now bringing this undercover operation to the world’s attention.”
The man’s head moved as he said. “I was present at this operation’s conception and my job was to carry out and coordinate the operation throughout. I have worked for an intelligence agency for fifteen years, but I will not say which one. In that time I have witnessed some underhanded operations by the agency, but nothing comes close to the scale of deceit of this one.”
“And the operation is called Operation Hoodwink?”
“That is correct.”
The camera panned to thick files on the table.
“Okay, we will get to that in a minute, but why have you come forward with this now?”
After a pause, the voice said, “Because unless the truth was revealed, many innocent lives will be lost daily. Buddhists will kill Muslims, and vice versa, and it will just escalate.”
“But by disclosing this now, surely the American people will be at risk.”
“It is not the American people who are at fault. It is the US government and the intelligence agencies. And yes, I am American, but I am a Muslim, and unless stopped now the situation caused by this deception will spiral out of control.”
“So this Operation started two years ago,” said the broadcaster.
“That is correct, and it was jointly planned by the CIA, NSA, and Homeland security at the US Presidents request.”
“And we have proof of that. We are about to show you Secret Service footage taken from the Oval Office at the Whitehouse. Other footage is available on FILE 2 but we just want you to see the relevant ones,” announced the presenter.
“Look! It’s the chimp in his Oval office, with some dodgy looking dudes,” said Stu as the man introduced the others around the table from footage dated two years earlier and filmed by the Secret Service.
“Along with the President it showed the Directors of the NSA, CIA, CIS and Homeland Security,” said the presenter.
There was silence as the US President sat on the desk looking concerned. “Gentlemen, we have a big problem. Due to the money it was costing us at home and abroad dealing with terrorist threats, our country was almost broke. We can no longer compete with China and the other major economies as we have no trade. This could leave us falling behind on the arms race, so has anyone got any suggestions?”
The men mumbled between themselves and the CSI Director said. “Yes Mr President, stop fighting the terrorists.”
The President smiled. “If it was only that simple John, but then that would leave us vulnerable.”
“Not if we let someone else do the fighting for us,” smirked the CIA Director.”
The President furrowed his brow and looking intrigued said, “Go on John?”
“What’s up matey?” asked Spock seeing Pon looking confused.
“It’s as I told Taksin,” he said and pointed to the screen, “I saw that Oval office at Fahed’s and although I only saw their backs I am sure the men I saw were two of those Directors.”
Spock shrugged as the footage flicked to more scenes about how Operation Hoodwink was planned and put into action.
The agent said the CIA had paid Fahed Del Alaz to recruit terrorists after a CIA agent found out about a book called the Puravuttanta and told him he could get revenge for his dead father.
A scene from the Oval office several months ago showed the Homeland Security Director, outlining Operation Hoodwink.
He said that by using the information from the book they would get Buddhist to fight Muslims and then trigger revenge attacks by blowing up Mosques and assassinating Fahed.
Bravo Company would then find his body and we would implicate Buddhists, with later footage showing both Buddhist and Muslim reprisals released on CNN news and the social media.
The NSA Director told the President they would use polymer impregnated with microprocessor cameras and screens to make invisible suits to replicate the attacks from the Puravuttanta.
The CIA Director said that the *CIS traced most of the descendants through DNA and dental records using the extensive Interpol database. He said that Siddhartha Gautama’s DNA had been on record for some time after taking it from dental remains held in Sri Lanka. (They would have had a big surprise if they had taken the Thai’s.)
“And none of this can be linked to us Walter?” asked the President after everything was told to him.
The Director shook his head. “No Mr President,” he said, “We have been thorough and all loose ties will be disposed of after he’d served his purpose.”
The other agencies Directors nodded and agreed.
“So how are we going to start?” asked the President.
Walter looked at the other Directors and sounding sullen said. “We may have to kill a few Americans and destroy a few of our buildings abroad to get the ball rolling sir, but that will be nothing compared to what we achieve.”
The President rubbed his chin and sighed.
“Acceptable collateral damage sir,” said the NSA Director.
The President nodded and then looked at a new man on the team and asked, “Have you the report I requested George?”
“Yes Mr President.” said George Teller from Forbes and handed the President several sheets of paper.
The President rubbed his face and his eyes widened when he looked at the projected increase in revenue for different US companies.
“And are these realistic figures George?”
“Yes, Mr President, in fact we aired on caution. Most of us as Forbes believe it will be a lot more after the operation started and Muslim and Buddhist countries no longer traded with each other. Our arms industry will be the first to prosper and we will take most of the trade from China with them predominantly Buddhists.”
The President nodded before he smirked and said, “Okay, make it happen.”
The scene went back to the interview were the broadcaster held up the Operation Hoodwink folder and said. “The full transcript is on FILE 3, along with the Trillions of dollars in projected revenue.
The pair on screen went silent giving the audience chance to take in the information and then the agent gave a brief explanation about how the operation started with Buddha’s descendants and Sanctuaries and said, “The full copy of the American Puravuttanta was on FILE 4.” The cameras showed the copy of the Puravuttanta Pon had seen at Fahed’s and the man said, “After they found the Montana Sanctuary and copied the book.”
He paused while he took something from the floor.
Spock, Dave, and Stu looked at Pon who tried to keep a calm composure but they knew he was worried as the man on screen continued.
“These were brought into the CIA offices from the Special Forces team that slaughtered the monks in Montana.”
The man placed a bag on the table, removed a 5.56 mm shell casing from the many inside the bag, and said. “These are from American Ingram Mac 10 machine pistols. The two 7.62mm casings found by the FBI were planted.”
The interview went on for two hours with the man giving out more facts and evidence of the deception.
The interviewer kept reiterating about each country’s media needing to condense the facts into a story. He told them that they should report their story in their own language, which everyone should broadcast at the same time around the world for maximum impact.
The broadcaster, with a tremble in his voice, finished by saying. “Throughout history, there has never been deception on this scale. It surpasses any that the Nazi’s did during World War 2. Thanks to one American with a heart, Operation Hoodwink has now been revealed.” The broadcaster sighed. “Today, I am ashamed to be an American.”
The four in the kitchen looked at one another.
“Hmm,” said Pon, “things still don’t make sense. The CIA did not assassinate Fahed because I saw Sedgly kill him.” Pon frowned, “and why was the Oval office set up at Fahed’s mansion?”
He scratched his head, “and the Tusen su
it I wore didn’t feel synthetic.”
“It doesn’t matter matey, it’s over and the Septic government are about to get their comeuppance,” said Spock sounding relieved.
“Yep, and so they should,” said Dave with anger in his voice. “The bastards are responsible for all this murder and heartbreak, just so they don’t have to do their own dirty work and make money.”
“The main thing was the truth’s out so the fighting will stop and things can get back to normal.”
Pon shrugged. “I suppose so Stu; that’s also what Taksin told me,” he said and looked at his watch. “Not long now before the broadcasts. I better go help Taksin get the Americans out of the country.”
Pon took the USB and still looking puzzled went to Taksin’s office, knowing it would be a long night.
⸺ Chapter Twenty-Four ⸺
Eight pm, Spock and Stu sat in the kitchen and tuned into CNN, they wanted to see how they had condensed the information into a news story.
The others watched Thai channel 7 in the lounge.
CNN showed Russian troops going into Ukraine at the people’s request to assist them.
“Huh,” said Stu furrowing his brow and changed channels to BBC world, where a train crash in China was the headline story.
“Typical of them not to show the truth,” said Stu and changed channels again to Aljazeera news. “Ahh, that’s better.”
The residence, usually noisy with chatter, was silent with everyone glued to the TV.
Taksin and Pon went to Suvarnabhumi airport to liaise with flight operators, airport officials, and customs and immigration for the imminent panic.
Thirty minutes later, the Aljazeera news item finished, and the broadcaster said. “We could not contact the White House for comment and we are still investigating information, but we will bring you the news as soon as we get it.”
Experts were then brought in to comment.
Even though they had seen the footage, Spock and Stu felt an air of tension and realised that if the other channels around the world had produced such a gripping story, there would be international outrage toward America.
They went into the lounge and saw the kids playing on the floor by the window while the adults sat on the sofa looking aghast as the Thai news story was still showing.
Spock and Stu stood and watched. Stu chuckled. “Doesn’t the Chimp sound weird speaking Thai.”
The lads went back into the kitchen and drank beer.
Dave joined them, and the three chatted.
“This won’t go away any time soon,” said Stu and took a slurp of Singha.
“Aye,” said Dave. “And I hope the Yanks are made to pay.”
Spock drank his beer and stayed silent, considering the ramifications.
The next morning, Moo stood with her hands on her hips pointing at the overflowing bin. She glared at Spock who looked at her through blood shot eyes and covered his sore ears. “It was Daves fault, he was inconsolable.”
Stu chuckled as Moo went over, emptied the bin into a large black bin-bag, and stormed out. “Oh well, it looks like everything’s back to normal.”
“Phew,” said Spock taking a slurp of tea, “that was close; we better make ourselves scarce matey, they will be in to cook breakfast.”
Stu nodded and turned on the TV to CNN where a nervous looking broadcaster announced they had only just received the damning evidence against the US, and they were waiting for the President to respond.
“Huh,” said Spock as Pon walked in.
“You look knackered mate, I’ll make you a cuppa,” said Stu and went to the hot water jug.
Pon sat down, “It’s been mayhem at the airport all night, but it has quietened down now. They cancelled all outgoing flights, with those planes, along with any planes landing at Suvarnabhumi, diverted to America. So far, we have repatriated almost 20,000 Americans, but we still had many turning up when Taksin and I left.”
“Rough night then,” said Stu putting a mug of tea in front of him.
Pon nodded. “I will eat breakfast and then go to the temple to chant with the Tinju.”
After breakfast, Spock and Stu stayed in the kitchen flicking to news channels.
CNN and BBC world warned American citizens in countries outside the USA to return home as soon as possible.
The broadcast repeated constantly worldwide, with Aljazeera reporting other predominately Buddhist countries media had informed them that they had searched for Sanctuaries and uncovered the murder of their country’s descendants.
With American Embassies worldwide attacked, most Americans fled fearing for their lives.
Buddhist and Muslim leaders appealed for unity and harmony between the two religions.
Pon sat in Taksin’s office and smiled as an army General in the southern Provinces called to say that not only was there no longer tension between the two religions; they were helping each other rebuild the damage.
News footage on the Thai channels showed the same thing with Buddhists and Muslims building and partying together. Pon was called to the Temple of the Sacred Light where the King, along with the Supreme Patriarch, stood with Thai Iman’s and Iman Madhi’s and appealed for continued peace between the two religions after the day of mayhem. They asked the people to again co-exist in peace in Thailand. The King also implored all Thais not to seek revenge on the American people.
“It’s been a boring bloody day,” said Spock, “all I‘ve done is watch news channels.”
Stu looked up from his laptop and chuckled. “Why don’t you go play with the kids?”
Spock shuddered, frowned, and was about to show Stu what a great idea that was by priming his clipping hand, glanced at something on the TV.
“The Chimp, well about bloody time,” he said and turned up the volume.
The worn out US President looked like a deer caught in a headlight as he denied everything and blamed America’s enemies of concocting the story. He said how the world was being duped and although not saying by whom, he claimed they were collecting the facts and investigating.
“Pah,” said Stu, “bloody typical, deny the facts while blaming someone else with no proof. He is just stalling while his cronies concocted a lie as usual. Why doesn’t he just admit it and apologise?”
“What a wanker.” Spock shouted at the TV. “Nobody will believe you stupid; look at what you did to Edward Snowden for telling the truth.”
The American President then threatened to send troops into any countries attacking Americans.
“Huh.” said Spock, “I imagine that apart from a few countries in Europe, that would be the rest of the world… wanker.”
Spock and Stu felt enraged by the Presidents brief and blasé response.
CNN, although still not releasing a story, also blamed a conspiracy and interviewed a nervous looking ‘panel of experts,’ whose eyes flitted around the studio as the woman presenter, also looking scared, asked the experts irrelevant questions that only added fuel to the fire.
“Fuckers!” said Spock as he and Stu glared at the TV.
However, unbeknownst to anyone outside the U.S, other news channels around America that were not on a worldwide cable network, had the story from their foreign correspondents and had been broadcasting it on their channels since it broke worldwide.
Along with the social media and worldwide streaming through smartphones, the majority of Americans knew what had happened and felt outraged with their government.
“Oh,” exclaimed Spock as he and Stu jolted back as the TV screen went blank and a notice flashed up announcing, ‘normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.’
Stu furrowed his brow. “What happened there I wonder?”
“Huh,” said Spock. “CNN studios are in Abu Dabhi near where they destroyed the big Mosques. I bet the Muzzies attacked them.”
Stu nodded and furrowed his brow, “You know what that means,”
Spock nodded and smirked, “No more bloody Richard Quest.”
; Stu smiled and nodded. “We’ll celebrate with a latte.” He said and took out the milk, shook the plastic bottle and put the frothy mix into a glass and then in the microwave.
As he put two teaspoons of Nescafe in each cup, Spock looked at his now scab free ‘Up your bum’ tattoo and smiled.
“Matey, there doesn’t seem like there is much more we can do here. We might as well go home,” said Spock sounding hopeful.
“Yeah, we might as well Spock,” said Stu as the microwave pinged and he poured the hot frothy milk into the mugs. He brought the ‘latte’ copies over, put one in front of Spock, and took a sip. “Ahh, that tastes good.”
Spock took a sip of his and felt disappointed at not replenishing his emergency whisky stash.
“We can tell the girls now and tell Pon when he gets back,” said Stu and smirked, “do you want to tell them?”
Spock furrowed his brow and rubbed his swollen ear. “Not bloody likely, Goyt head will just find another excuse to slap my ears.” He looked at Stu with puppy dog eyes and sounding forlorn said, “Why don’t you tell them matey.”
Stu sniggered and tapped at his laptop while finishing his coffee.
“Okay,” said Stu “I’ll tell them,”
He smirked and walked out of the kitchen.
Spock felt overjoyed and danced a little jig, but when he saw Stu’s laptop still on, he thought, ‘Hah, I will read his stupid book.’ He grinned and looked at the blue screen with password request on it. Spock frowned. ‘Bastard.’
Stu smirked as he walked into the lounge.
Spock smiled like an innocent cherub when Stu came back into the kitchen ten minutes later after unsuccessfully trying to enter Stu’s password and the computer had locked him out from making any more attempts.
“Well matey, what did they say?”
Stu looked at his laptop screen and smirked. “I told the girls, Dave, and Manhut and they were fine, but Lek and Sid burst into tears when I told them we were leaving.”
Protector--The Final Adventure Page 24