Stan Mason - Stopping World War Three

The moment the aircraft crossed the threshold between sea and land I performed the sideslip manoeuvre with my heart in my mouth. The plane reacted exactly as my mentor had explained but it was one thing to talk about it and another to experience it. The controls almost wrenched themselves out of my hands and the blood rushed to my head as the aircraft dropped like a stone. Then every piece of metal around me seemed to groan and whine as it bent and shuddered angrily. I was extremely concerned about the angle of the aircraft for one wing faced the ground while the other reached up to the sky. The controls juddered fiercely trying to wrest themselves out of my grip but I managed to hold on for all I was worth. The altimeter sped around the dial much faster than I had expected and when I calculated the magic figure of forty feet I levelled off unsteadily, gradually pushing the yoke forward so that the nose pointed downwards. The ground came up at a tremendous rate. As the aircraft touched down heavily, it lurched on the uneven surface. I jammed my feet on the brake pedals causing the tyres to burst and the plane skidded all over the place in a shower of sparks. When it came to a halt, I leapt from the cockpit and sprinted as far and fast as I could before collapsing on the ground. The threat of the bomb created greater fear that the dilemma of landing the aircraft. It had been a reaction which suited the situation well.

I walked slowly to put more distance between myself and the plane, shading my eyes from the blistering sun and looked ahead. There was desert all around. Paradoxically, it was possible that I had survived the landing but would die of thirst and dehydration. I had to find civilisation but it was necessary to choose a direction. The sea was behind me. I could follow the coast. I scanned the horizon and then noticed a jeep in the distance moving towards me. I waited patiently for it to arrive. When it arrived, the driver, dressed in casual clothing, alighted and called out my name.

‘Mr. Scott!’ he shouted. I nodded hesitantly wondering whether he was a friend or a foe. ‘Commander Yasood sent me to fetch you. We picked up your communication with Air Traffic Control. It seems you were the victim of a vendetta.’

‘A vendetta?’ I was puzzled and intrigued to have been such a subject.

‘We understand Bross was your pilot. He’ s a cousin of

Chedda. He must have thought you had a hand in Chedda’s death and decided to exact his revenge.’

‘Well,’ I returned. ‘I thought there was a bomb located next to the pilot’s seat but it seems I was mistaken. I feel embarrassed having caused so much fuss about nothing.’

At that moment, as if it were on cue, there was the sound of a tremendous explosion a short distance away as the aircraft collapsed in a cloud of smoke, falling forward in a heap before our eyes as flames began to engulf it. We watched the blaze for a short while without speaking.

‘You’re very lucky, Mr. Scott,’ he muttered whimsically. ‘We need people like you on our side. Climb aboard. I’ll take you to the Commander.’

I got into the jeep and he drove off across the desert well versed in following solid tracks that I could hardly see. It was twenty minutes before we reached the rock in the desert with the interior designed by the 21st Century Crusaders. The driver produced a small remote control from his pocket and there was a smooth humming as the door opened automatically in the rock face. He drove directly to the underground car park and we walked along the corridor graced with flagstoned floors. I never thought I would return to this place but fate held otherwise.

‘I think everyone’s already here,’ commented the driver, putting a little extra pace in his step. ‘The car park’s almost full.’

We walked through the double doors into the large auditorium.

It was filled with capacity but this time there were face which were familiar to me. Commander Yasood stood on the podium about to address the audience. Commander Spring was seated in the front row. A few seats away sat Menel. And, as expected, there in the front row was Schmuel Musaphia.

‘Welcome Commander Scott,’ greeted Yasood amiably, causing everyone to turn in my direction. ‘I you will please take your seat here in front, we shall begin.’

I was stunned at the greeting but failed to make any comment.

‘Well,’ began Yasood facing his audience from the front edge of the podium., ‘thank you all for coming here today. We gather to celebrate a milestone in our master plan and I’m delighted to tell you that the second phase has been completed. You’ll recall that the first phase was the ‘formation’ of our organisation. The second is the ‘development’. The third is ‘operation’. In the second phase, we recruited some fine people and established ourselves in many countries in Europe. But most importantly of all, we have developed a weapon to give us superiority in terms of warfare… far greater and more powerful than anything produced before. We are still at the experimental stage but we are well on our way. At the same time, our intelligence network is becoming equal to all others known in the Western world. Before I continue with the details of our development, it is well to report that the caucus of Islam will find its seeds in Turkey. Islam in the middle of the sixteenth century was at its all-conquering zenith. Its spearhead, the Ottoman Turks, threatened to engulf Christianity. The might of the Ottoman empire, under the rule of Suleiman the Magnificent, was ruthless, trained to inflict savage cruelty on all those who opposed it. As a matter of interest, I’ll read to you his titles.’ He picked up a sheet of paper from the lectern beside him.’

“Sultan of the Ottomans, Allah’s Deputy on Earth, Lord of the Lords of this World, King of Believers and Unbelievers, Shadow of the Almighty Dispensing Quiet in the Earth.” He put the paper back on the lectern before continuing. ‘We don’t wish to have Lord of the Lords of this World governing us in the future. There is also another matter in contention with Islam. In Siberia, lies the greatest of all oil reserves the world has ever known. In our previous assumption we believed that Islam would rise in fifty years’ time when the oil runs out in the Middle East. With the advent of Russian oil coming the fore, the Arab states will find their markets diminishing within the next ten or twenty years. The dependency of oil from Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Libya will reduce considerably. There will be a great deal of malcontent amongst the people in that region. As a result, World War Three is likely to approach much sooner than expected. Such news is not encouraging. It means we must react faster than planned. We must be ready to meet the rising tide of Islam.’

He droned on for some time outlining details about the countries where the 21st Century Crusaders were now established, the development of the laser gun, and the plan for full operation. When his delivery came to an end, he received outstanding applause and then the audience stood up and mulled around the auditorium in discussion. My heart started to beat faster as I looked around to search for Jan but she was nowhere to be seen. Commander Yasood headed in my direction and drew me to one side.

‘I hoped you weren’t shocked when I introduced you as Commander Scott,’ he said apologetically. ‘That’s the good thing Schmuel Musaphia suggested would be coming your way. We want to recruit you as our Commander in the United Kingdom. it’s a tremendous challenge and you’ll really enjoy it.

‘Is that what it was all about?’ The blackmail… facing death half a dozen times, the abduction of my wife! All because you wanted to recruit me. Why didn’t you ask me in the first place?’