“To the future and a renewed world!” The others raised their glasses too.

“To the future and a renewed world!” they echoed.

Dawn was breaking over Manhattan Island and the sunrise painted the office on the one hundred and first floor of the New World Trade Centre with shades of pink and orange. The man sitting at the desk took no notice of the natural beauty flooding through the windows however… he had other concerns... two in fact, two insignificant insects named Saber and Howard. When Saber had threatened his power base, Nathanial Ravensclaw had reached across the world and plucked the old man from his mountainside hideout, but instead of cowering in fear like so many before him, Professor Julian Saber had callously destroyed his life’s work and retreated into his own mind. Ravensclaw pounded the expensive mahogany desk with his fist.
Damn him! Ravensclaw stormed. He had invaluable information that the Illuminati needed.

If it was true that Saber was behind The SIX, then Saber could apply that same process to his own carefully selected minions and grant them the powers he had given to those idealists! This was power that Ravensclaw would then control and use to the advantage of the Illuminati.

On May first, 1776, in Bavaria, Dr. Adam Weishaupt, a Professor of Canon Law at Ingolstadt University and a former Jesuit priest, formed a secret society called the Order of the Illuminati within the existing Masonic lodges of Germany. Since Masonry is itself a secret society, the Illuminati was then a secret society within a secret society or a mystery inside a mystery, so-to-speak. In 1785, the Illuminati were suppressed by the Bavarian government for allegedly plotting to overthrow all the Kings in Europe and the Pope to boot. This is what all historians generally agree upon. Everything else is a matter of heated, and sometimes fetid, controversy.

It has been claimed that Dr. Weishaupt was an atheist, a Cabalistic magician, a rationalist, a mystic; a democrat, a socialist, an anarchist, a fascist; a Machiavellian amoralist, an alchemist, a totalitarian and an ‘enthusiastic philanthropist.’ (The last was the verdict of Thomas Jefferson, by the way.) The Illuminati have also been credited with managing the French and American revolutions from behind the scenes, taking over the world, being the brains behind Communism, Hippies, Viet Nam, secretly worshipping Satan, cancelling your favourite television show and the Chicago Cubs endless losing streak. Some go so far as to claim that Weishaupt did not even invent the Illuminati but only revived it. The Order of Illuminati has been traced back to the Knights Templar, to the Greek and Gnostic initiatory cults, to Egypt, even to Atlantis. The single safest generalization one can make is that Weishaupt's intent to maintain secrecy has worked. No two students of Illuminology have ever totally agreed about what the ‘inner secret’ or purpose of the Order actually was (or is). There is endless room for speculation, and for paranoia, once one really gets into the literature of the subject, and there has been a wave of sensationalistic exposés of the Illuminati for every generation since 1776. If you were to believe all this sensational literature, the damned conspirators were responsible for everything that’s wrong with the world including the energy crises and the fact that you can’t ever get a plumber on weekends. Of course no one really believed that conspiracy crap nowadays...*

…except Nathanial Ravensclaw. He was a member of the oldest and most powerful group the world had ever produced and was one step away from ruling The Council of Twenty. Suddenly though, he was beginning to feel everything slipping through his grasp. Twenty people controlled everything on the planet, the money, the governments, and they should have controlled the population too. However, there was a disturbing trend growing in the populations of Earth, a subtle resistance to being led. It had started over six decades ago in the late 1950’s. Anti-war protests, counter-culture, a growing mistrust of governments and corporations. And now, the environmentalists were making real progress in awakening awareness in the masses. Seemingly out of nowhere appeared this Doctor Gregory Howard. Ravensclaw spat, the name tasted toxic, even in his thoughts. The worm had been contained, almost cut off from the world on a chunk of rock in northern Ontario. Now, all of a sudden, he’d burst loose with a vehicle that threatened the existing industrial base and The Council’s control of the oil and automotive industries.

The next shock was the Canadian Government openly endorsing the damn thing! DeLongiles and Johnson were of no use to him any more. Ravensclaw made a note to have them cut off and disgraced. Howard however, was becoming an even bigger thorn in his side. Free power schemes and now this talk of setting up another, more active research centre in Europe! Where had the man gotten this drive and energy? As little as six months ago, Howard had been completely withdrawn and now he was becoming a major player on the world stage. Ravensclaw had dispatched his most trusted aide, his own daughter to deal with him, and Howard had defeated her somehow. Now the man had the audacity to defy Ravensclaw personally. He was completely thunderstruck and he would not stand for it!

Nathanial Ravensclaw was not used to being defied and he hated it. This non-entity had even alluded to his connection with the Illuminati, although how he had figured it out Ravensclaw really had no idea. Nathanial decided at that moment to take personal control of the destruction of Doctor Gregory Howard. He would enjoy every second of it very much. His other problem, to which he had just been alerted, was the mysterious destruction of the coca fields in South America. And it was not just a few either but all of them. The Drug Enforcement Agency of course denied any knowledge of it and he knew they were telling the truth. They had been firmly in The Council’s pocket since their creation. This was not blight either. The soil seemed to have no nutrients in it whatsoever. His observer reported that it resembled sand. Without the current coca crop, the world’s supply of cocaine would be totally exhausted in less than a month. This month was quickly becoming an unmitigated disaster, but how would he destroy Howard? This thought weighed most heavily on his mind and it was driving him to distraction.

Financially? He had used that method before, he liked it, faking patent assignments, deleting bank records and the like, but that didn’t seem satisfactory at all. The man was a maggot and he needed to be crushed, not just ruined. A scandal perhaps? No… he just wasn’t high profile enough. He needed to die and all that was connected to him had to die as well. That was the way to crush Howard and all that he and his AERI represented. Now, who could he engage to do the job, and to do it right? Howard had proven very adept at defending himself… those idiots he’d sent to Bonn had shown him that fact. He would need some research done on this and as soon as possible. Nathanial felt better now that he had decided on a course of action. He might even let his daughter come back to New York. He slowly relaxed into his chair. Yes, he felt better, he might even take another crack at Saber today. Scorpions perhaps, they could be very painful. Smiling, Nathanial Ravensclaw walked to the elevator to get some breakfast. By the time he got to the lobby, he actually caught himself whistling.

By ten am, the research department had come up with three possible candidates for the Howard job. All were among the best ‘eliminators’ currently available. Each one was an expert in multiple methods, and all of them were very innocuous. As for the two idiots from Canada, Johnson had been found floating in the Rideau Canal and DeLongiles had been implicated in his murder. Nathanial decided to have his chat with Professor Saber. He took his private elevator to the one hundred and thirteenth floor, a floor that officially didn’t exist… The Council had seen to that. He went to the cell where the Professor was being held and tapped in a code on the keypad. The door slid open and he found the Professor lying on his cot.

“Enjoying yourself Professor?” Ravensclaw asked with a note of disdain.

“Oh yes Nathanial, all of this free time to think,” Julian Saber smiled gently. “You would not believe some of the theoretical advances I’ve come up with. And to think, you will never get to exploit them, how sad,” he feigned a pouting demeanour.

“Julian, Julian, Julian… why do you continue to resist The Council? Together we could create wonders!” Nathanial shook his head in mock dispair.

“That you and your comic book villains would use to further dominate the free will and spirit of humankind,” Julian finished the thought.

“As is our God given right,” Nathanial bristled. “I really do not wish the interrogation sessions to get painful for you, but even I have a breaking point and I’m approaching it dangerously fast. Surely a logical man such as yourself can see the futility of resisting us?” he attempted to reason with his captive.

“‘Resistance is futile’, eh?” Julian chuckled. “Usually you just sound like a Ferengi, but now you’re beginning to sound like the Borg. Going to send in the drones?” Ravensclaw scowled.

“Joke all you like Saber, but I’m through waiting on you,” he gave an oily grin. “I brought some pets for you to play with. I’ll be back in half an hour or so and we’ll talk about antidotes, among other things,” Nathanial concluded ominously. He opened the door with his remote and pressed a code series on the keypad outside the door. Inside the room, small openings along the bottom of the wall appeared and several dozen black scorpions crawled out.

“Have fun Julian, and boys… play nice.” The main door slid shut as the Professor stared after Nathanial in disbelief. As he reached the elevator, Ravensclaw heard the first of what would be many screams and he smiled a shark-like smile. Returning to his office, he ordered his secretary to bring him a cup of coffee just as The Council phone line began to ring. He grabbed the receiver.

“Ravensclaw”

“How are you progressing?” replied the ancient voice.

“Things are coming back under control, Lindquist,” Nathanial responded smoothly.

“Really now, what can you tell me of Colombia, or for that matter, all of South and Central America?” Lindquist raised his voice in anger.

“I haven’t had the time to fully review all of the reports, but it seems like some sort of artificial soil blight. So far, it seems suspiciously selective in that it has only affected areas under coca cultivation. Food crops and other natural plantings have been unaffected. I suspect sabotage…” Nathanial began calmly.

“FOOL!” Lindquist screamed, “Of course its sabotage! We need to know by whom and what means. I’ve had reports of the same blight in our opium operations worldwide too. In under a day, two of our major revenue streams have been effectively crippled!” he croaked savagely.

“I hadn’t heard about the opium crops Lindquist. I would direct my suspicions towards The SIX. It’s just the sort of heroic nonsense they’re capable of,” Ravensclaw attempted to soothe the older man.

“The SIX? The SIX? I’m sick to death of hearing about them. Have you cracked Saber yet?” the old man continued his tirade.

“He’s just visiting with some of my pets right now…” Nathanial smiled into the phone.

“Just make sure he lives,” the heat was beginning to cool from Lindquist’s voice. “As long as he’s alive, we may have some luck, but he’s useless to us dead. Remember, he’s more important to us than you are. If he dies, you’ll join him. I’ll speak to you later and try to have some useable information for me,” Lindquist terminated the call and Ravensclaw listened to the hum of the open line for a moment longer. He replaced the receiver in its cradle just as his assistant brought in his coffee.

When he had calmed down and finished the coffee, he buzzed her again and told her to have the doctor wait for him outside special projects room twenty three with the antivenin. Saber should have had time to think over his intransigence by now.

St. John (pronounced Synjin) Lindquist was the current leader of The Council of Twenty and had worked hard to get where he was. St. John was disappointed with Nathanial, as he’d been grooming him to take control of The Council when he passed on. Now, as he sat in his office in the villa on the Spanish coast and scowled, he wondered what would be next… the tobacco crops? It felt like they were fighting the wind, never knowing where the next attack would come from, and no way to mount a defence. Damn it to the seven hells! They needed the information that Professor Saber had in his head and instead of concentrating on this simple fact, Ravensclaw was losing his mind over this non-entity Howard.

“Peste!” He swore aloud as he lit a fresh habañera and thought.

The U.N. Secretary-General was due to visit him tomorrow and he decided that a U.N. censure against The SIX was in order. Those so-called heroes would not want public opinion going against them, now would they? Maybe even a Papal edict? Public opinion was so easy to sway with the controlled media. He had learned that much from Murdoch. The sheeple would think whatever he wanted them to think. Lindquist chuckled and poured another glass of Sangria. Maybe now he could enjoy his day.

Natalia Ravensclaw lay beside the swimming pool of the Beverly Palms Hotel and worried. Why had she run? She was made of sterner stuff than this, surely, but that evening in Bonn had horrified her… to be seen with that… that barbarian? How could he have done that to her, in a public place, after he had seemed so cultured when they were at the Mayor’s party in Parry Sound. How could she have made such an error in judgement? Was she actually that shallow? If she were, she would have to ruthlessly eliminate that trait. She had to be steel, like Daddy, if she was going to take his position when he moved into the number one chair of The Council. She had to temper herself, like the blade she had been training herself to be since she discovered who her father really was. Softness, compassion and love all had to be burned away until she was pure steel… beautiful and deadly. When next they met, Gregory Howard was the one in for a rude awakening and a nasty surprise. She arose from her chaise lounge and began a series of Tai Chi exercises to clear her mind for the task that lay ahead. Los Angeles would now become the anvil that would shape and complete her. Presently, her mind cleared and she felt and saw nothing.

Richard DeLongiles sat trembling in his northern Quebec retreat, an RCMP service revolver and a box of cartridges open in front of him on the crude wooden table. He could hear the barking dogs… or was that in his mind? Ah well… it didn’t matter, the police would be here soon enough. He could not go to prison. He would not live long there and his death would be brutal, they would see to that. How could everything have gone so wrong, so quickly? He couldn’t talk, they would just think him crazy and his life in an asylum would be just as short, his death just as brutal. No, he would die like a man. If anyone were going to take his life from him, it would be he and he alone. Richard picked up the pistol and loaded it with exactly one cartridge. He steadied it against his chin and pulled the trigger…

To Be Continued