Michael Reagan - The Devil's Handshake

“Men like Martin and Wilson cannot bring nations to the brink of the war in the pursuit of commercial gain!” to sounds cheers and “Hear!” “Hear!” coming from both sides of the House.

The widow of Andrew Martin and the English family of Wilson desperately tried to tell the world that it was an Indian Businessman named Gourgmangi Singh who was actually behind the plot, but, unfortunately, for them, nobody was interested.

The Presidents of United States and Russia promised to work together to ensure that incidents of this nature never happened again between them, and Thomas flew to Nepal to attend the funerals of the five Gurkhas whereupon it was reported in the local media that he had set up foundations in their names and would be providing the men’s villages each a new school, hospital, and scholarships for the children of the fallen.

The Ambassador of Russia was met by Igor as he arrived to take up his post in Borama, quickly followed by a thousand Russian ‘advisors’ to assist the President’s security forces in rounding up Wasir’s criminals.

The United States of America announced that it would be opening an Embassy in Borama to support the growing interest in the country generated by the three American Natural Resources corporations who had applied for and had been granted several exploration licenses.

“The former Interior Minister remains at large, despite his assets in Dubai being frozen,” reported the MGN journalist from Dubai.

The Movers column on the Hotels.com website reported that the development officer of Sheikh’s hotel group was leaving after thirteen years for a new job in Hong Kong.

A Tuareg shepherd watched by his sons shook hands on new additions to his goatherd in Mali.

A Frenchman of Ukrainian extraction went shopping in his local Carrefour in Lyon.

The UN personnel murdered by Wasir were buried in the respective countries.

The world commodity markets stabilized.

The world returned to normal, or its previous version of it.

London

Looking at his reflection in the mirror Thomas was lost in his thoughts as he set about putting the shaving foam on his face.

It had been both a rather hectic month and a rather expensive one in economic terms, due to the personal commitment he had made to the President of the United States.

Described by the media and many analysts as the best piece of business that CORETEXAS had ever made by the fact that the field in Adwalland was estimated to be worth well over ten billion U.S. dollars in potential revenues, and it hadn’t cost them a single cent, he had tried not to think about the cost as he signed the agreement just yesterday.

Despite James, behind the scenes, heavily briefing the financial community’s various analysts that it made sense because of the increased marketing channels that TLH would be able to tap into, the business community on the whole wondered whether Thomas had lost his touch.

The only actual benefit the Englishman-become-Russian had actually received out of his ‘Noble’ act of stopping two of the world’s powers from a confrontation, was an invite through Jack Fielding for a private dinner with the President on his next trip to Washington and a Russian Diplomatic Passport with a title of ‘Special Advisor’ attached to the Embassy in the United Kingdom as a thank you from the Mayor. An item he thought of as a ‘poisoned chalice,’ as it now meant he was well and truly an instrument of the will of Russia.

On the other hand, one person who was completely satisfied with his gift was Mikhail who immediately saw it as an excuse to upgrade his security by taking up the option of contracting Armed Close Protection Officers from the Police due to him being a designated person in the country of the Russian Federation.

“I feel less naked now!” Mikhail said as he waved his hands dramatically about in defense of the fact that he wasn’t allowed to carry firearms when in the UK when a furious Saul had found out the cost of the team of officers per year was going to be half a million pounds.

“The Mayor is not going to be paying for this is he?” Saul had said to Mikhail in disgust.

“Just keep the old man happy,” Thomas had said to the CFO with a hand on his shoulder.

Yet despite the heavy cost to his fortune on a personal level, it had been a rather good one as Thomas had finally asked Nara to marry him.

It was a decision that he had made as the consequence of surviving the grenade that had fallen just short of his position in Borama. At the time the blast had knocked him off his feet. It wasn’t until he looked down while momentary dazed to find shrapnel lodged in his chest amour next to his heart that he had his epiphany.

“Fuck!” he had thought as the bullets and smoke whizzed around him as it had suddenly dawned on him that his first thoughts weren’t about himself they were about Nara and Victoria for the first time in his life, before switching back on to instantly to take up position again by the window.

As he did, so he made a vow. If he survived he would marry his Turkmen wild spirit.

The look on his beautiful life’s companion’s face was one he would never forget. They were on The Libertine off the Amalfi coast. He had woken and finding she wasn’t there he had gotten up from the bed to look for her only to find her, as she often did when on the yacht, on the deck outside their bedroom looking out to sea, watching the sunrise.

Taking a moment to gaze at her as he did so he was more convinced than ever she had never looked more beautiful than she did at that moment just as a touch of wind had caused her loose coal-black long hair to flutter about as she sipped on the glass of water that she was holding with both hands.

“Good Morning, my Thomas,” she had said as he had come up behind her and wrapped his arms around her while water lapped against the yacht. Her scent mixed with the smell of the clear blue sea was almost aphrodisiacal.

“My lovely lady,” he replied as her hand went around behind his head and pulled his hair before turning around to look up him. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds.

As she set about kissing him on the lips, sucking him deeper and deeper into her mouth while flicking out her tongue, he stopped her for a moment. The fact he had done so upset her.

“Have I done something wrong?” she had asked concerned.

“No,” he had replied with a serious look. “My darling, I just want you to let me put this on your finger,” he had said as he lifted her hand up to his chest before showing her the beautiful large pink pear shaped diamond ring on a rose gold setting that he had collected from the famous Bond Street jeweler and somehow had managed to keep hidden from her the day before.

The significance of his actions immediately caused Nara’s eyes to water.

“Oh, … My T-h-o-m-a-s, yes!” she said, answering him before he could ask her.

“Will you marry me?” he asked anyway, determined to have his moment.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! My, My Beautiful T-h-o-m-a-s,” in Turkmen she replied excitedly as she reached up into his face with hers before kissing him over and over again, sucking his lips and licking his mouth hungrily as she went.

St Ageranus School, Somerset

Sitting concealed among dense underbrush by the school’s playing field quietly observing the growing crowd of parents, teachers and children was the former security chief of Adwalland’s Interior Ministry.

This last month had been incredibly challenging for him, a wanted man by the United Nations and now vilified by the world as a war criminal of the worst kind, meant that they had only just managed to escape from Adwalland.