Local time – 11:35pm, Saturday 16th June, 2011.
Prague, Czechoslovakia.
Ryan expertly melded the audio of the recorded Bilderberg speech so that the last words – ‘good luck’ faded down to nothing. It was a poignant ending. The video was now finished. Alex jotted down notes on the iPad, preparing her introduction. The original plan had been to have her speaking over the top of the music, explaining each scene change. But Alex pointed out that this would distract from the message. It was simple and cutting enough; narration was superfluous. But she agreed that a short explanation by her at the beginning would add credibility. It took it from the nut case conspiracy category to look more like genuine news.
‘I’m going to keep it short and sweet… “Hello, I am Alex North, journalist for The Contingent. While on assignment in Prague, I have come across a conspiracy so enormous that I didn’t believe it myself at first. However, after the bombing at the police station, and once I’d visited the new army facilities in Tallinn, I am convinced of the real threat that is the Bilderberg group’s mission. The speech at the end of this film is authentic. It was recorded at the Bilderberg conference dinner just hours ago. It makes their plans clear. Please watch this video and send it to everyone you know. This is real. It is happening. And it’s up to all of us to stop it. Thank you”.’ She looked up from the iPad, waiting for feedback. The smiles on the men’s faces said it all. Ryan clapped his hands together.
‘Brilliant! Leave it as is. Phil, grab the camera, we’re ready to go.’
They filmed her speaking in front of the white wall, so not to identify Henry’s hotel room. It took her three takes to get it exactly as she wanted. She kept her voice even and strong, and stared seriously into the camera. When they were happy with the final version, Ryan uploaded it to the start of the video and they watched it again. They were all transfixed by their message. Alex’s stomach was full of nerves. Henry gave her a quick hug and whispered in her ear.
‘We’ve done it Alex. They can’t hurt you now.’
Ryan buzzed with anticipation now that the message was ready to send.
‘Man, is this going to go off! The beauty of it is I’m using Google’s server for the send. So no slow down. You see these screens here, it’s the mainframe of the Gmail mail server. No one has ever sent an email to this many Gmails at once. Geez, they’d freak if they knew I was doing this!’ Ryan seemed pleased about the danger he was causing himself. Alex wondered how he thought he was going to get away with it. But then again, how were any of them going to get away with it? The witch hunt for Julian Assange after his Wikileaks site hit the headlines was enough to show them how the powerful reacted to rebellion of this type. Free speech only got you so far. Alex was about to mention this, but bit her tongue.
Ryan’s fingers tapped away animatedly. He uploaded the video into a blank email.
‘This is the best part. You see this field here, where it says ‘address’, they’ve never used it before, but they made it in case they needed a bulk message to notify of a technical fault. The email looks like it comes from Gmail. It’s so simple.’ The address he pasted in looked like gibberish to Alex – akjhsr987!asjh_2sery7238!@gmail.com. It was obviously purposely developed as a code, so people couldn’t just come across it by accident.
‘I worked my butt off for these fools for five years. All their obsession with security. Their huge profits. Their pretentious ideas. It’s all so easy to break!’ He laughed maniacally and Alex felt a little scared of him. But the other men chuckled to themselves.
‘Ok, the email’s set up ready to send. There are 140 million email addresses linked to this bulk send. We better get this right. What should I put in the subject line?’ All eyes turned to Alex and she felt herself blush.
‘You write the news. What makes people want to read something?’ Henry nudged her encouragingly. Alex felt put on the spot. The subject line could make or break this video.‘There is one thing we could try. I tested this out once. My theory was that press releases with celebrity gossip are more widely read than real news about current affairs, humanitarian disasters and the like,’ she explained.
‘So you think the subject line should look like gossip?’ Phil sounded incredulous, but Alex forged on.
‘No, but we don’t have to make it sound too serious either. For instance, I once sent out a press release to UK news agencies with the subject line: ‘Spears to visit UK, expecting huge crowds’. I tracked open rates and it was huge compared to what I usually got. Obviously people thought I was talking about Britney Spears, when in actual fact it was the head of the IPCC, Philip Spears. You’d think people would be interested in reading about a leading climate change scientist visiting the UK, but apparently even the news agencies are more interested in a washed up pop star’s next come back tour.’
‘Ok, point taken. We need to trick people into opening it then?’ Henry asked.
‘No, not trick. Entice.’
Josh had been very quiet through the making of the video. Alex noticed he rarely spoke, unless he found something important to say.
‘I agree with Alex. We need to cut through to people instantly. What about we go with ‘Your government wants to kill you’. Alex wasn’t sure that was quite what she meant, but Josh was right, it would sure have an impact. Even Phil liked the idea. Ryan typed it in and they all held their breath while he pressed send.
‘Done,’ he said, slapping Henry’s hand in an enthusiastic high five. He shut down his laptop and packed it away. Phil did the same with the camera. They agreed to meet Alex and Henry at the airport at 7:00 am.
Once Henry shut the door behind them, Alex asked, ‘Do we need to book flights to Pakistan now?’
‘No. Phil will organise a private jet. It’s going to be much safer to travel that way.’
‘He has a private jet?’
‘No, but he has access to one. Being ex-CIA has its advantages.’
Alex couldn’t believe where she found herself at the end of a very long day. Although she felt tired, she was also extraordinarily restless. She pictured people she knew seeing her on a video sent by Gmail, and calling her to see what on earth she was doing. But her old phone number would be out of service. She was on her own now. She went into the bathroom to get ready for bed, putting on her pyjamas and brushing her teeth. When she came out, Henry was already tucked under a blanket on the small couch, having stripped down to his boxer shorts. Alex guiltily slid into the huge Queen sized bed, with fluffy pillows and Egyptian cotton sheets. She opened the iPad and logged into her emails; there was one from Gerome. It was in response to her email with the photo from Paldiski. All it said was:
‘Alex, where are you? That person is still calling for you and he won’t say who he is. Sue looked at your photo – it’s the edge of the UN Logo. I’ve got some news about Bernie. Please call me when you get this.’ The UN Logo?
Alex didn’t call. Instead she responded to the email: ‘Thanks Gerome. I’m still in Prague. Story is getting there. You might see me on a video circulating. It’s all true. I’m going to Pakistan. Call soon.’ She smiled to herself at how incensed he would be when he saw the video, seeing as she didn’t have his permission to do it, or to use her connection to The Contingent. He hated it when his journalists went off on tangents without his go-ahead. Bernie used to break Gerome’s rules all the time, but it was a first for Alex. She smiled when she remembered what Bernie used to say whenever Gerome yelled at him; ‘If you’re going to be bad, be very very bad. And make the story worth it.’ It was a strange way to make progress in her career – upsetting her boss – but it felt right.
Henry turned over on the sofa and looked in danger of rolling off. He seemed to tense up when she was on the iPad, still paranoid that it would somehow be traced by Mossad.
‘Are you still connected to the internet? Maybe you shouldn’t spend too long... ’ he suggested.
‘I was quick. It’s Ryan’s spare card anyway, I’m sure it’s fine. I’m just looking at this photo you sent... you know, I think the sack in the back of this truck has a logo on it. It looks like the UN logo. Is that possible?’ Henry sat up.
‘Yeah, of course it’s possible! The UN would be up to their ears in this project. They’re controlled by the powerful governments of the world. It stands to reason that they would be helping to build the Bilderberg army.’ Alex nodded. It was another piece of the puzzle. Another portion of proof.
‘I can’t look at this now, I’m too restless to focus and too tired to try.’ She lay down and tried to get comfortable. Henry was still sitting up looking at her. The bed felt safe, but she knew one thing would make it feel safer. All her doubts and uncertainties about Henry and what she was doing with him receded into the background. She smiled at him and patted the empty side of the mattress. He leapt off the couch and slid into bed next to her, his strong arms wrapping her in a hug and his warm body pressing against her.
‘Henry’, she said, ‘this nuclear missile Bernie was looking for... ’
‘Yes.’
‘What are we going to do with it if we find it?’
‘We’ll use it to stop the Bilderbergers from using theirs. Like I said, they can’t attack anyone if they know we’ve got the power to attack back. We’ll blackmail them to give it all up.’
‘I know, I get what you mean. But how are we going to do that?’
‘We’ll worry about that when we find it.’
Alex felt too tired to continue this conversation. Yet again, she had underestimated how in control Henry was. But maybe he needed her as much as she needed him? That thought gave her a strange comfort. Intertwined in his arms, she let her heavy body sink into his. Her mind seemed convinced that they might fall asleep like this, but her body was suddenly much less tired than her mind. Henry’s warmth made her skin tingle. When he started to kiss her, she closed her eyes and let her mind go blank. She couldn’t stop the passion between them. They made love with a hunger that she’d never experienced. As if it was their last chance to touch each other. Henry managed to be gentle, but also ferocious, kissing her all over her body and whispering how beautiful she was. The tension of the day pulsed through their bodies. When they eventually did fall asleep, she felt so safe snuggled naked against him, a nuclear war was the furthest thing from her mind.