So now, there are less than seventeen hours before China’s secret war-weapon in space is ready. I’m in Tokyo where I seek counsel from the Japanese President who is a Master in the ancient practice of Cho. He can see visions of the future and might help us deter the new Chinese threat.

 “Thank you, Mr. President for seeing me on such short notice. I’m considering a massive show of force to topple the Chinese government. This would include rendering all their military assets harmless, dead in the water. I’ll also shut off power and communications for all of Beijing unless or until they capitulate.

“My President doesn’t know we have these capabilities. I trust you will honor me with your silence. I seek your counsel on the wisdom of these moves.”

He rose from behind his desk, walked around it, then leaned back against it, studying me closely.

“You are a very unique man, Mr. Bailey. I will honor your request for silence. Your goal to topple the Chinese government is admirable and achievable, but there are many paths leading to your death. This path you are considering will harden the Chinese leaders and cause great pain and death to many.

“There is a single path where you can achieve your goal. But it will also put you personally at great risk.

“Only the President of China can make your goal a reality. His only concern is maintaining power for himself. If you eliminate him, others will follow, and you will not achieve your goal. You know this, so you must find a way to change him.”

“But what could I possibly give the most powerful man in the world making him abandon his current position”

“Why must you give him something?

“What if you took something from him?”

I tried to think of something, anything other than his life, but I came up empty. I was stumped.

“I’m sorry sir, but I’m new to the spy profession and the powers I possess. You make sense, except you make no sense to me.

“The only thing I can take from him would be his life. My fear would be if I do this, in any way, the consequences would spiral out of control. I seek a bloodless coup.”

He gave me several minutes to come up with another answer, but none came forth. Finally. he spoke.

“You have not spoken about your abilities to alter the mind. You have not honored me with what you can do, but in one single vision, one path, I’ve seen this man have a change of heart.

“It made no sense to me. I was of the same opinion as you. He would have to die in order for the system to change, and I have seen visions of this happening. You are right. There would be much bloodshed resulting from his death.”

“So, please talk to me about this single vision, this single path where he has a change of heart.”

“This most powerful man has a change of heart and actually leads his country away from the method of governing he currently pursues. This vision made no sense to me. Then it occurred to me, you have not honored me with all that you can do, so of course, it made no sense.”

“Mr. President, Master of Cho, please forgive me. I’m still learning about many things, including this ability you have to see into the future. I was told by something, some spirit, some remote force, that I should have a conversation with you.

“Your counsel has helped me in the past, I thought it would be natural to seek your counsel again. I forget, I must tell you things, so I don’t limit you from seeing what can be seen. For this, I apologize. Yes, we have the ability to change memories.

“We’ve used it successfully in the past.”

“Then the vision now makes sense. But to do this will put your life in great jeopardy. There are more paths leading to your death, than there are leading to success. This is the choice you must make. No one can or should make this choice for you.

“Again, I tell you, there are more paths leading to your death, than those that lead to your success.”

As I sat in front of him, I wondered where he got this power and why he wasn’t using it more. He began once more.

“There is another, personal matter, you want to discuss.”

“Yes. You know about Ola. I believe you said her death had to happen for all of this to happen. I now understand your statement. Kim loves Cho and her Learnings. I’m grateful for this. She may become a Master herself and I wouldn’t want to deny her that.

“Diana believes she loves me, much like Ola. I do love her, but I am resisting because I fear she will meet the same fate as Ola. I fear my destiny is set and anyone who interferes with it, will be an obstacle which must be removed. Have you had any visions about either of these two beautiful ladies?”

“You are right about Kim. There may be a path for the two of you, but it is much later. Her path leads to becoming a Master, if she can stay alive through this transition. Diana is not so lucky. If you love her, as your friend Griffin once was, you will be conflicted.

“If you are conflicted, you will die. Your goal will not be reached. You know this. You don’t need my counsel for this. What you may want my counsel on is what you intend to do, not with any woman, but with yourself. I have seen visions, but they are very cloudy. I can’t help you until they come into focus.”

“What does it mean: cloudy, out of focus?”

“They are less likely to come to pass. The paths to these visions are unknown, so they take no form. They are shapes and images. That’s all I can explain. I hope this helps.”

He stood and walked toward his door.

“I have one more question for you, Master of Cho. I’m torn, conflicted, because my President doesn’t know of this power to shut everything down. I know you will honor me with your silence, but my heart, not my mind, is conflicted by keeping this a secret from her. Am I wrong for keeping her in the dark?”

“She once knew. Now she wonders about something she thinks she never knew. Your motives were honorable. Only time will reveal if you have made the right decision.

“This also centers on our conversation about the Chinese President. I wish I could help you more. Your burden is a heavy one.

“But it is yours alone.”

On the way back to headquarters, I spoke to Griffin silently.

I know it’s safe to copy a memory to another person. We did that to Carson and the President so they know nothing about Cricket. In the old days, a hypnotist could give their patient a suggestion that when awakened, the patient had to comply with. Please research this and see if there is a way for ME to do that. This may be our only way to avert world-wide bloodshed. Make your research on this topic the highest priority for the entire Neuro team.

I will be ready to talk when you return to headquarters.

Griffin did his research and found a way that I could give someone a subliminal suggestion. I was now ready to hatch a plan I hoped would work and I hoped wouldn’t get me killed.

Chapter I – Executing a Plan

It was Diana (UK’s top agent and someone I love) who hatched the plan. She explains it to us and one of our turned Chinese allies listening in secretly from China.

“So, Bill is in Hong Kong, we need an excuse, but that’s the easy part. Chief (one of four Chiefs of Staff to the Chinese President), your intelligence people spot him and take him into custody. He’s not to be harmed because of the value he has as a hostage. Because of his position, you Chief, interrogate him.

“He has a message from his President to be delivered by him to your President. He’s hogtied to the gills. Your President decides Bill can’t harm him. Once he gets inside the room, we’re golden. Or Bill gets killed. I’d say it’s ninety-ten: Bill gets killed.”

Diana got up and walked out of the room, head in hands crying, torso convulsing with every step. Chinese Chief responded.

“If he’s delivering a message, that’s why he’s in Hong Kong. He wants to be captured. The problem is the minute he’s captured, and his President doesn’t know the plan, everything blows up. How can we be sure she won’t react?”

I spoke silently to Griffin and the ladies.

Griffin, this is your job. You can monitor me every step of the way and assuming I’m still breathing, when I tell you I’ve been taken hostage, you call the President.

And say what? Madam President, Bill has this hair-brained idea that he will change the Chinese President’s mind about their form of government. He has this all under control?

Griffin, where did you learn sarcasm? You’re an android. That’s not like you at all.

Well… I am sorry. I do not know what to tell her once we begin to talk. This is the first time I think the truth is not a good solution, and I cannot lie.

Okay, so we need to work on that part of the plan. Let me finish up with the Chief.

“I’m confident she knows me well enough to keep her cool, at least for a couple of hours. Griffin’s going to take all that heat anyway. Well, Griffin and Carson (top spy for the U.S.) that is.

“Tell you what. Let’s up the ante.

“We know about his secret weapon in space, Star-beam. And we know it will be online tomorrow. This is the last chance we have before he starts a war he can’t win.

“Find out what his most prized naval vessel is. We tell him we know about Star-beam; we threaten to turn his prized warship completely off, dead in the water. We’ll call ours Star-Trek.

“If that doesn’t get him into the room, I deserve to die.”

I chuckled but it fell on deaf ears.

Kim (Japan’s top agent, who also practices Cho) got up and left the room as well. I address the Chief.

“How soon can you get with your President?”

“Within the hour, but I have to work on my speech.”

“I’ll be wheels up in forty-five minutes. I’ll be in the lobby of the hotel where we first met, by myself, unarmed. Tell whoever picks me up, I’m over a hundred-seven-five-year-old. Be gentle.”

~ * ~

As the four of us made our way to the airport, Griffin made his case to go with me. I rejected it, telling him he should have expedited our brain transfer plans. He didn’t smile, neither did the ladies. Kim was next. Her good-bye was warm but professional. Diana’s; not so much.

“Let me go with you on the plane. I can’t do anything to get you to change your plans. I just want to be close to you for as long as I can. Just let me ride there with you. Please.”

“You know I can’t do that. This is hard enough and we’re on friendly soil. Hell, you’d probably knock me out or something so I couldn’t exit the plane. You stay here. If. No. WHEN, I’m successful, there’s going to be plenty of work to make the announcement and transition go smoothly. I need a sharp, stunning blonde to help make all that happen. It’s going to be fine.”

She didn’t cry, so there was a small level of professionalism, but I was having trouble breathing with the hug she was giving me.

She had one final plea which I rejected, so she left with this,

“I love you Bill Bailey. Please come back to me.

“I do love you so.”

“I will. I promise you, I will.”

What the hell, I’d either be dead for the third time or I’d be back. How could I lose?

~ * ~

First change of plans: I was met at the airport by what I would describe as Chinese CIA. They were very thorough in checking me out before putting me into their car. It was actually embarrassing to have a cavity search on the tarmac.  

Having passed the first test, I was immediately put on another jet, I assumed heading for Beijing. It would have been a lot faster to go from Tokyo to Beijing, but the plan was the plan.

I talked telepathically to our group during the flight, trying to keep everyone’s, including my own, spirits up. I kept reminding them that I was in the second leg of the plan and they hadn’t laid a glove on me. Griffin checked all communications and there was no word on me anywhere. This was good. No one other than a handful of Chinese CIA people knew I was a prisoner.

I exited the plane to a strong and unexpected gut-punch that took all the air out of my lungs. They threw something dark over my head and literally threw me into the back of a car.

Welcome to Beijing!

~ * ~

I’m now sitting in the Chinese interrogation room staring at a mirror. I liked being on the other side much better. I was having some trouble breathing. They may have broken a rib or two with the beating I got while in-transit. I wasn’t surprised, but wasn’t expecting it either. Thankfully, the Cho workouts built my torso muscles and kept me from really suffering too badly. I’d have to remember to thank Kim when I got released.

Yeah, right. A guy can dream, can’t he?

Using my memory access, there were four people on the other side of the mirror, one of them was the Chief, our turned friend and one of four Chiefs of Staff for the Chinese President. Griffin had updated my translator app, so I heard their memories in English. Two of the four were frightened about what was going on with their countrymen. Their memories were from conversations they’d had with others. They didn’t like it, but they were soldiers, so they had to follow orders. The third appeared to be a hardliner. None of them knew anything, other than the President was on his way and I’d been beaten enough. That was good news on both fronts.

A fifth person entered the room on the other side of the mirror. From his memories, I assumed it was the Chinese President. His memories revealed the Chief telling him I had a message from my President that must be delivered to him personally, face-to-face. The Chief had no other information other than to reinforce it must be important, they knew how close I was to my President (Emily). Other than being severely berated, the Chief appeared to be safe.

Griffin had fitted me with a telepathic booster of sorts and a special transmitting app in my implant. I thought now would be a good time to try out.

Griffin, can you hear me? Griffin, please come in.

I kept repeating this message because he had said earlier some adjustment might be needed to get around their security. After several minutes, I finally got a response.

Bill. Bill. It is so good to hear you. Please keep repeating your message, so I can refine our reception. You are coming in very weakly.

I complied until I heard.

Okay. That looks like it is the best we can do. Can you hear me alright?

Yes. Please tell Kim thank you. Her training routine saved me from several broken ribs.

Because this capability was new and special for this circumstance developed by Griffin within the last several hours, only Griffin and I could communicate, instead of being able to communicate with Carson, Kim and Diana, as with our normal telepathic communications capabilities.

She said, you are welcome. We want to know how you are?

I’m doing fine. They’re talking behind their mirrored window and I can’t pick up too much right now. If I had the new hearing you’re working on, it would’ve helped a lot. Can you hear what will be said to me in this room like you can with our normal set-up?

No. All this happened too quickly. We were only able to get your brain’s messages. If we had more time, we could have hooked up your ears, but this has all happened within a couple of hours.

Hey, don’t worry about it. This is great. How about the word leaking on me being captured, anybody else know I’m here?

No. All channels are clear of any news regarding you although the President will expect us to be checking in within a couple of hours. I suspect that is when everything will be revealed.

Well, I’m hoping in a couple of hours, this will all be over, one way or the other. Hold on. Something’s happening. Here we go.

A man entered the room pretending to be the President.

It was a double who looked like the pictures I had on file, but when I retrieved his memories, I could tell he was an imposter. He strutted around the room a couple of times before coming to a stop across the table from me.

“Mr. Bailey. I’m so glad to finally meet you. What message does your President have for me, that can only be delivered by you, to me?”

“If you were the President of China, which I know you’re not, I’d be happy to tell you.”

“I am the President. You will give me your message, or I will have you tortured like you have never been tortured before.”

He slapped me across the face with an open hand. He was glaring at me as if he were going to continue slapping me around, but one slap was all I received. He strutted around in front of me a couple of times again, before coming to a stop on my right side.

I looked directly into the mirror, knowing the real President was on the other side, and spoke.

“Okay. I’ll tell you what. Here’s a part of the message, and I know the real President can hear me. You have a secret weapon, Star-beam. It will be ready for operation within, I think it’s down to about ten hours from now.

“Mr. President, behind the mirror, please contact the pride of your fleet in the Pacific Ocean. I believe the English translation of its name is Rising Sun. We will leave one channel of communication open to it, so you can talk with them. Our secret weapon, Star-Trek will render this, your most prized vessel in your Naval fleet, completely helpless three minutes from now. That should give you enough time to contact them.”

Griffin, start the clock. three minutes, then leave only the communication channel open. Otherwise, shut everything down, everything on that boat.

Will do boss.

“Mr. President, behind the mirror. My President doesn’t want anyone to die, so this is just a demonstration of what our Star-Trek can do. We could blow it up, but we’d prefer to talk to you personally. Please contact this ship and you will see a demonstration of the power of our secret weapon. You must know, we can do this to your entire fleet, so please come meet with me and we can avoid any unnecessary bloodshed. Please Mr. President.”

I waited. After a while, the imposter stomped out of the room. Finally, Griffin replied.

We’ve just turned it off. Good luck Bill.

Thanks buddy. I’ve got a feeling I’m going to need it.

After several minutes, the Chief (our friend who has been turned) came in. He stormed the room and slapped me around a little, demanding that I tell him the message. He was one hell-of-an-actor. The blood on my nose and mouth can attest to that.

“By injuring our vessel, you have just committed an act of war, We will retaliate with more might than you can ever imagine.”

He went on and on for a good five minutes strong. With my hands bound to the table, I bent over at the waist to get the blood off my face, wiping it on my arm. After I didn’t respond to all his rants, he hit the pause button. I replied.

“In five minutes, our Star-Trek will return your ship to its original status. But, if you try to use any of your weapons, the ship will be destroyed. Mr. President, I don’t believe you want it to be known around the world, this most prized vessel in the Chinese fleet is totally useless or has been destroyed, so I’m asking for you to please come sit with me for a discussion. Please, Mr. President.”

The Chief left and no one came back in.

Griffin. Have you turned the lights on for the ship?

That will happen in one minute according to our plan. Are you making any headway?

Yeah. I saw the Chief, our Chief. He left me with a bloody nose. A pretty good performance and at least we know he’s alive and with his President. It could be a whole lot worse.

I will monitor their weapons. What do you want me to do if they try to fire one?

You can mess with their guidance systems, so have whatever they fire, if they fire anything, circle around and come within fifty yards of their ship.

As you command, boss.

Someone came into the room who I didn’t recognize. I didn’t have Griffin’s facial recognition software, so I just waited until he said something. I searched his most recent memory and found he had just spoken to the real President. I went backwards in his memories and surmised that he was some kind of interrogator.

“So, you’re Bill Bailey. We’ve been looking for you for some time.”

I’d had enough, so I cut him off before he could really begin. I gave him a subliminal suggestion.

You’re going to convince your President that he should talk with me. I am no harm to him, and he will want to know what it is that I have for him.

Instead of continuing, he immediately got out of his chair and hurried to the door. I sat looking at the mirror for what seemed to be thirty minutes, but was likely five or ten minutes at most.

Griffin. What the hell is going on?

Nothing from what we can see. They have not shot any weapons and they do have all their power back. I guess we are waiting on their President to make the next move. Are you still okay?

Yeah. The longer I sit here, the more nervous I’m becoming. Have you checked all the communications channels recently? Does anyone know I’m here, other than us girls?

No, all is calm, except for Kim. She has been deep in meditation. She just now called her President. I cannot hear what is being said, but it seems likely they are monitoring the situation with their Cho capabilities. She cannot communicate with you, can she?

Interesting. She can’t, but maybe her Master, the President can. I’ll get back with you.

Kim had taught me how to meditate, but I wasn’t very good at it. Since I was all by myself and I didn’t know how long this was going to last, I decided I’d try to relax and see if anything came to me. I closed my eyes and began to control my breathing as she had taught me. After some period of time, I don’t know how long, I had a thought. Not a message, but a thought.

Reach out with your mind to the President.

As soon as the thought hit me, I did just that. I sent a subliminal message aimed into the mirror.

Mr. President, talk to Bill Bailey.

Not knowing if it was getting through or not, I sent it several times until the door opened. I searched his memory and it was the real President.

To say I was shocked, would have been an enormous understatement. He came around the table and sat facing me. Immediately, I sent another subliminal message.

Bill Bailey is your friend. He will not harm you and you will not harm him.

As soon as he sat down, he turned to the mirror and shouted.

“Why is this man shackled. He’s my friend. Get in here and take care of him.”

As men scrambled to free me and asked if I needed anything, I sent another subliminal message.

You will believe Bill Bailey and follow his advice. He is your greatest friend. You will follow his advice. You will become the greatest statesman in China’s long and distinguished history.

Hoping that the messages would last, I started a conversation with the Chinese President.

“Mr. President. It is an honor to meet you, sir. I’m here to help you become the greatest statesman in China’s very long and distinguished history. As you remember, I am your great friend. I need a couple of things before we can begin. Are you ready?”

“Of course, I’m ready. Why wouldn’t I be? What do you need, my friend?”

“I need to know where the Professor is, and I need for you to instruct him to shut down Star-beam and to fully cooperate with Griffin who will be contacting him. Can you do that for me?”

“Of course.” He turned to the others now in the room. “Bring me a device immediately.”

Someone ran into the room with a device. He called the professor and gave him instructions to abort readying Star-beam. I gave him instructions on how to reach Griffin and he relayed them to the Professor, telling him to get with Griffin immediately and give him any information he requested. He got some push-back, but when the President raised his voice, everything fell into place.

While he was doing that, I got ahold of Griffin silently.

The Professor is going to be getting ahold of you and he’ll give you whatever you need. Get the information. Get the Neuros on it and let me know when it’s been neutralized.

I wasn’t really sure how much of the subliminal suggestion would take, so as I talked, I reinforced each message subliminally.

“Mr. President. You will go down in history as the greatest leader China has ever known. You’re going to preside over a peaceful transition of government that will be historic. Your people will praise you and your enemies will become your friends.

“I will help you make this transition. I will bring you several of my other good friends to help you with the transition. Your people will worship you and your leadership. Are you ready to begin?”

“Of course, Bill. What do we do first?”

Still following a dual path of talking and subliminal suggestions, I continued.

“Mr. President. You will have people who will attempt to turn you away from your destiny. We need to identify people you can trust and keep them close to you during the transition. The Chief of Staff who was in here a few minutes ago should be your ONLY Chief of Staff. He will surround you with patriots who will see to it that your destiny is achieved. Can you call him back in?”

He once again, shouted at the mirror and suddenly, our Chief entered the room. Totally bewildered and amazed, the President told him he was his only Chief of Staff from this day forward. I continued using the dual messages.

“Mr. President, I believe your new Chief needs to immediately surround you with patriots to help you achieve your goal. Sir, we need someone from your military to also be at your side. With your Chief and your General, you will be able to move your great nation forward. I believe the Chief may have a General he trusts. I’d recommend you go with his suggestion and get him to Beijing immediately. Do you agree?”

“That makes perfect sense. Chief make it happen. I’m anxious to get this started. How do we begin?”

“Mr. President, the first thing I believe we need to do is empower the Chief to get your guards organized to protect you from people who might want to do you harm. Chief, can you take care of that immediately? How long do you think that will take?”

“Yes, I can do that. It should take me about forty-five minutes to assemble our group. May I use your device, Mr. President?”

“Of course.” He handed the Chief his device and the Chief went wild on it.

“Mr. President. I believe we need to address those in this facility to assure they will pledge their support for you and all your efforts. Can you have those in the other room and the guards in this building line-up in the hall so they can pledge their support for you and you new direction?”

He shouted into the mirror and as they assemble in the hall, I gave each of them the same subliminal message.

You will enthusiastically support the President in his efforts to change the government of China. You will assist the Chief and support his efforts. You will not harm Bill Bailey or any other foreign person that comes to visit and help your President in his efforts.

Twenty minutes into making sure those all around us didn’t kill us, I got a message from Griffin.

Star-beam has been neutralized. They were in space and they were different that anything we’ve seen before. Because of that, we might not have been able to protect against them.”

Get all the tech information so we can defend against them in the future, then blow them up.

WHAT?!

You heard me. Blow them the hell up. You now know how to communicate with them, right?

Yes.

Then have them self-destruct. If he ever wakes up, I want them gone.

For the next half-hour, the three of us worked around the interrogation table discussing possible plans for the transition. The Chief was prepared based on our prior communications, but without knowing how this would happen, there were several gaps as he explained what might be the best approach.

I had him start making a list of those in the government and military who needed to be convinced (with subliminal suggestions) in order to assure our safety and the success of the transition.

He worked diligently on the device he had, accessing several files known only to himself. There were well over five dozen. He grouped them and scheduled them to visit the President in groups of one dozen each, throughout the morning.

We left the interrogation room, which happened to be in the President’s office building and went to his office to continue our planning. As soon as we got above ground, my normal telepathic communications worked.

Diana was first in line. Bill. Bill my love. Bill. How are you? Are you okay? Tell me what’s going on. Are you hurt or anything? Griffin said something about a possible broken rib. Are you okay?

Listen I need to make this quick, so we can take full advantage of it. Kim. Thank you and your Master. I got your message. It helped turn the tide. Please tell your President. Also, ask him if we’re on the right path. Diana. Get ahold of Carson and ask her to send her transition plan to Griffin. I don’t want anyone besides us four to know about this. So, makeup some excuse. It’s still pretty delicate here. Griffin. Can you now monitor what’s being said?

Yes. We can use this, our normal method of communications from now on.

Get the Neuros and bring everything back up to normal in transportation and everything else we disrupted. I want everyone in China to wake-up happy. Who’s the closest Neuro to Beijing?

I am.

Get here as fast as you can. I’ll have the Chief have someone waiting for you at the airport.

Kim spoke, Bill. You need us as well. Please don’t argue, we don’t have time for it. Diana and I will be with Griffin on the plane. You can’t do this alone. That hundred-seventy-five-year-old brain needs rest. My President said there are many challenges ahead, but you are now on the right path.

Alright. I’ll see all of you in a couple of hours. Bill out.

One hour later, our turned Chinese Naval General showed up with two dozen military personnel. He must have taken a super jet!

“Can all these people be trusted?”

The General replied. “Yes. They are all loyal to me. I briefed them coming here and we shouldn’t have any problems with any of them. I trust these men with my life.”

“Okay. The Chief is assembling people we need to make this work, in groups of about a dozen. I need them taken to an office where I’ll be making sure they are all onboard. Don’t ask me any questions, just make sure they get into the office I’m in and make sure no one shoots me for the first thirty seconds. Have you got it?”

“I’ll coordinate with the Chief. I’ll have one of my men take you to the office when the first group arrives.”

“Great. Send a detail to the airport. Griffin, Kim, and Diana will be arriving within the next hour or so. See that they’re safe and bring them here immediately. Alright?”

“Aye-aye sir.”

He saluted and I smiled. He then gave me a hug and said thank you. Very non-military.

Carson. This is Bill. Are you there? It took a minute before she answered.

Hey. What’s up? I was asleep. Where are you?

I’m in Beijing and I need you to grab your stuff and get here ASAP.

WHAT?! Bill. What the hell are you doing in Beijing and why would you want me to come there?

I need you to promise me something. I know it’s going to be difficult, but I need your solemn oath that what I’m about to tell you, isn’t shared with anyone. Particularly Emily.

Bill. If you’re in Beijing, are you a prisoner, or hostage? What the hell is going on?

Can you give me your promise?

Yeah. Sure. You’re scaring me. What’s going on?

I’m with the President of China.

YOU’RE WHAT?

I gave him a subliminal suggestion that he’ll trust me and change his government. I honestly don’t know how long it will last, but right now it looks good. I need your beautiful face here as quickly as you can get here.

I’ll be there in less than two hours. We can talk when I’m in the air.

Nothing to Emily, right?

This may be the biggest mistake of my life, but if you’re in Beijing and this doesn’t work, we’re toast anyway. We’ll check in with her tomorrow, or the next day, or sometime. I’m on my way.

I went to the Chinese President’s desk where he and the Chief and General were going over plans. Again, using dual messages, I began.

“Mr. President. This legacy you are planning right now, will live forever in Chinese history. Is everything going alright?”

“Bill, my friend, if you say this is the right thing to do, I’m all in. These gentlemen are helping me, but I OWN it. I will deliver it and my people will follow me.”

“Mr. President, my friend, these two gentlemen speak for me. I hope you trust them as if you were talking directly to me. If you don’t mind sir, I think I’m going to go sit on that comfortable-looking sofa over there. General, let me know when the first group arrives.”

Now you have to understand, I have a thirty-five-year old’s body, but the mind is sixty-nine and it’s been a very long day, over thirty-six straight hours. I’ve got to make sure this is going well, and nothing falls through the cracks. A little comfort for an old mind can’t hurt anything, right?

~ * ~

As I began to relax on the sofa, I was amazed at the activity going on around the room. It was obvious to me, the General and Chief were going full speed ahead. From all I could see and hear, we had made the right decision to add these two to our team.

The President’s office was much larger than a couple of conference rooms, very well decorated with furniture and paintings from different times in China’s history.

The Chief, General, President and several aides were situated around a large oval table in the middle of the room. As something was agreed to, the aide would run it to someone to execute. All seemed to be progressing quite nicely.

Or so I thought. Suddenly, I watched as a dozen armed soldiers broke through the door.

Discharging their rifles into the ceiling and shouting in Chinese, I couldn’t understand them with my translator app, that was strange, but I could see they were angry and extremely aggressive.

Once inside the door, they broke-up into three smaller groups, one headed for the Chief, one headed for the General, and one headed for the President himself all stationed around his large conference table.

They pulled the Chief away from the President beating him about his head and body while taking him to a corner of the office. Shouting all the way, the Chief did everything he could to get them to release him and get on with the plan. Arriving at the corner, they had him get on his knees, now beating and kicking him. He was protesting loudly and waving his arms in the air. He appeared to know them and pleaded for his life. Bam! Bam! Bam! They shot him in the head.

Simultaneously, the General was pulled from his seat with one man under each arm as they moved him toward the door. They beat about his body with the intruder’s weapons and fists.

He was giving them orders, but they were ignoring him; laughing at him and disrespecting his rank. He then began shouting for the men he brought with him to rescue him. Instead, he caught a rifle butt in his teeth. Now bleeding profusely, they finally dragged him into the hall and propped him against the wall. Machine-gun bullets ripped him apart.

The last group remained at the table and were beating the President with their fists, shouting how they weren’t going to let him get away with changing the government. They were calling him a traitor and much worse.

Some were pleading with him, while others took out their anger by smacking him both open handed and with a closed fist.

One man on each shoulder grabbed his arms and pulled in opposite directions as if he were to be nailed to a cross. A third man grabbed him by the hair and yanked it back suddenly, now screaming at him.

The man holding his hair looked down at him. He spit in his face, then took a bayonet and slit his throat. Blood pulsated everywhere, covering the President and his desk. All the men were now laughing.

Then they turned to me. With big smiles on their faces, they fixed their bayonets to their weapons. They were chattering something I didn’t understand. They kept marching slowly and deliberately toward me.

I tried to shut them down with my memory access, but they kept marching closer.

I tried giving them a subliminal suggestion, but they kept marching closer.

For some reason I couldn’t get up and out of my chair.

My arms and legs didn’t work as I struggled to stand, so I could run, escape.

Three of them surrounded my chair. They all raised their bayoneted weapons together and counted down from three. Three, two…