Free The Extinction Code by Dean Crawford Page A

all shadow of doubt that they needed governments to protect them, needed armies and navies and air forces to protect them, needed the skill and knowledge and prestige of well educated men to lead them to safety, needed water and electricity pumped to their homes, food in their supermarkets and fuel in their vehicles. Fears arose and were duly cultivated by Majestic Twelve to ensure the allegiance of the masses: the Cold War, The Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, the Gulf War, the War on Terror, global warming: anything and everything that could be created to ensure that the people felt as though the enemy were already at the gates and only the might and expertize of the government could save them…
    Kruger knew that he sat among the most powerful men on earth: powerful not because they were wealthy but because they knew precisely how the vulgar crowd , as Niccolo Machiavelli had once described them, were always “taken by appearances”. The growth of the Internet and the information age, far from hindering this process, had given it even greater reach as the truth was lost amid the inane ramblings of millions of citizens all clamoring for the truth even though they would not have recognized it had it rose up and slapped them across the face. Just as once had hundreds of Jews been subdued beneath the barrels of a handful of German Wehrmacht, simply because of the uniforms that they wore, when they could have risen and overpowered a few soldiers in moments; just as civilians even now suffered beneath dictatorships in so many countries, or cowered in apartments afraid to step out onto streets ruled by gangs, so the citizenry continued to fail to realize that it was their own inability to unite that kept them in chains. Hitler could never have reached power without the complicity of ordinary Germans; gangs of street thugs would be crushed in days by the might of the citizens living in houses across every city on earth; dictators would fall easily were the people, including the military, to form a true alliance of peace. Kruger knew that the Defense Intelligence Agency presented little threat to Majestic Twelve. He was more concerned with events like the Arab Spring where truly courageous, ordinary people had risen up and overthrown dictators like Muammar Gaddafi.
    ‘We must choose our twelfth member,’ Kruger said to his companions. ‘For too long we have been without a full compliment, and Victor Wilms is now either dead or in the hands of the Defense Intelligence Agency. If that is so, he may very well remain beyond our reach.’
    ‘And able to turn on us,’ said another of the men. ‘And of course, you have not yet even mentioned Aaron Mitchell.’
    Kruger shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Mitchell, once their most talented assassin, had performed a remarkable volte face and become perhaps their most feared foe. His sudden reversal of allegiance was a prime example of one individual rising up against an oppressor, except that in this case Mitchell knew nothing of Majestic Twelve’s true intentions and thus was motivated purely by revenge, in itself a powerful threat.
    ‘Mitchell’s whereabouts are unknown, and as far as we are aware he has no knowledge of our identities.’
    ‘As far as we’re aware,’ a British man named Hampton echoed. He sat bolt upright in his seat, his hands resting on an ornate cane that he used more for show than anything else, the former Etonian as spritely as any man half his age and his clean jaw adorned with a broad, silvery moustache. ‘As far as we were aware it was impossible for a man to escape from a security max prison, but Mitchell achieved it. What else are we aware of that might also be incorrect, Samuel?’
    ‘A great many things,’ Kruger admitted, ‘but we are neither omnipresent nor omniscient. Mitchell has chosen his path and sooner or later it will bring him to us. When it does, we will be prepared to eliminate the threat that he represents and continue with our