The Power of Twelve (19 page)

Taking a deep breath, casting one last look at the flowers and foliage that she cherished, Inéz closed her eyes and began to meditate. In a few minutes she had reached a deep state of relaxation. She had studied many different forms of meditation—from TM, as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, when she was a young girl to the more sophisticated meditation techniques taught by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's The Art of Living organization to exotic forms of meditation taught by Tibetan Buddhist masters. In the end, she had settled on her own very simple form of meditation, which
allowed her to focus on gratitude and blessing all life forms on planet Earth.

“Thank you” was what she would normally think, but this time she actually heard the words—and they were not coming from her mouth.

“Thank you,” she heard again. The voice was warm and soothing and had a graceful cadence that was not her own.

“Thank you for taking this time to meditate and to listen,” the voice continued. Inéz detected a slight accent but could not place the origin. She just knew it was not her own voice speaking.

“I have come to ask you a great favor, and I was hoping you would choose a quiet spot where I could explain the nature of my mission,” the voice continued.

Inéz opened her eyes and looked around. A squirrel had found some peanut shells that a hotel guest must have dropped earlier in the day and was gnawing at the shells. “How sweet, she thought as she observed the squirrel. Just then she realized that the voice that had been talking to her was without a body.

“You sound quite lovely, but please identify who you are and what you want,” Inéz requested. “I have sometimes heard voices while in meditation, but never so loudly and clearly. Are you a spirit come to advise me?”

“I am a being from another planet. You could call me a spirit, but on my planet I have a personality and a body. My name on my planet is Lily. Like you, I am dedicated to creating beauty and am considered an expert at creating harmony. In recognition of my innate ability to create beauty, I have been appointed a member of the Council of Twelve,” Lily started to explain.

“The Council of Twelve? What kind of council is that?” Inéz asked.

“The Council of Twelve is a special advisory group created by The One who created the known and unknown universes to advise and intervene to ensure that the harmonic laws of the universe are allowed to evolve and assist in creating higher consciousness in all universes.”

“That sounds delightful,” Inéz said with her natural joy. “Does such an organization really exist?”

“Yes, the Council of Twelve is quite real, and if you were on our planet I might have nominated you to serve, as you seem to have similar skills in creating beauty and harmony,” Lily responded.

“It is so kind of you to acknowledge my dedication to creating beauty and harmony. I am so proud of what we have been able to do here at Chateau Mcely to preserve the best of beautiful architecture and gardens here on Earth,” Inéz commented. “But please explain your mission and why you have chosen to come to me at this time.”

“There is an important project that requires my presence here on your planet, and I need to borrow a body so that I can complete my mission,” Lily started to explain. “You are ideally suited not just because of your love of beauty and harmony but because of your efforts to assist Project Wake Up by making Chateau Mcely the hub for the project. In the process, you are attracting some of the most powerful and dedicated members of the Illuminati to the Chateau, and it is vital that I communicate with these leaders to warn them of the need for immediate change in their plans to dominate your planet.”

“The Illuminati?” Inéz questioned. “Are you sure such an organization exists? I have heard rumors about them, but none of the powerful men and women who have come to events at Chateau Mcely have ever revealed themselves to be members of the Illuminati.”

“I can assure you that the Illuminati exist,” Lily calmly stated. “I can further assure you that more than twenty of the members have been guests at Chateau Mcely just in the last two years. You have access to very powerful people, more powerful than you realize.”

“If I let you borrow my body, what happens to me?” Inéz's asked next.

“Nothing really will happen to you. You will still be you. For a short period of time, I will also be you, or at least I will be sharing your body with you. I will not be able to actually do anything without your approval, since you still control your body, but I will have specific suggestions to make to you and when possible will direct your actions in ways that will assist our mission,” Lily explained.

“Will my daughter and husband be able to tell that I am no longer only me?” Inéz questioned. “I love them both very much and could not accept being absent from either.”

“I actually prefer that you explain to Jim who I am and why I am here, though think it best you not mention anything to your daughter or anyone else,” Lily responded.

“If that is the case, why did you not just come to Jim and me together?” Inéz asked.

“As a walk-in I must have permission from the personality who agrees to share his or her body. It was not prudent to introduce myself to Jim until you have accepted me and our mission.”

“I see. And are you sure that I will still be able to be with my daughter and that she will not be aware of any change?” Inéz queried with a mother's vigilance. “Nely is very sensitive and I fear she might detect your presence and be concerned.”

“We cannot always predict how others will respond, especially with children,” Lily admitted. “However, if Nely shows any concern at all, I promise to help explain to her why I am here in a way that a child can understand. I will even agree to depart if Nely so wishes.”

Inéz reflected on Lily's soothing words and the calm sincerity in her voice. She was not sure why, but she trusted Lily, whoever she was.

“All right. You have permission to use my body while you are here on Earth,” Inéz agreed. “What happens next?”

“Just stay seated and I will enter. Go back to your meditation and accept my thanks for your generosity. Before your meditation is complete, I will be within you.”

Inéz returned to her meditation. She thanked the universe for her wonderful home, for her husband, for her daughter, for the gift of life, and even for the flowers and the squirrels. Just before emerging from her state of perfect calm, she felt a tingling throughout her body. Again she heard a voice with a special cadence that was not her own: “Thank you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL MANKIND

I
N THE EIGHTEEN YEARS that Arnold Wheeler had served as the Grand Light and Keeper of the Code, he had not once felt such a large test lying before him. With the help of his staff and relationships with world leaders, he had never felt seriously challenged. His primary objective was to retain control of the world economy and ensure that the Illuminati continued to hold ninety percent of the wealth on the planet. With the development of his new GMO initiatives and chemicals that aided only his crops while destroying all others, he felt closer than ever to complete world domination. And yet he had a dawning awareness that just as he was reaching his ultimate goals, he had to be more vigilant than ever.

“Eugene, what is going on up there? Tell the driver to take a side street. We will never get to our meeting with Mackenzie Hardy the Third on time at this rate,” Arnold ordered, frustrated that he might be late to one of the most important meetings of his life.

Eugene got out of the car and saw, down a few blocks, that a major demonstration had erupted in the streets of Dublin, where he had accompanied Arnold for this critical meeting. He surveyed the
situation for long moments. He could see thousands of demonstrators, mostly women, but many men as well. They were calling for the immediate ouster of the Irish secretary of agriculture and the outlawing of all GMOs. He returned to the car and reported back. “It's another one of those Full Feminine Power Now demonstrations, just like the ones we witnessed earlier in the week in London, New York, and Paris. This time I am seeing placards for Project Wake Up as well. There is no way we will get through this mass of people, and the side streets are just as full.”

“What the hell! Tell the driver to turn around. We'll go back to the airport and take a chopper to Mackenzie's estate instead and wait for him there.” Disgusted with the delay, Arnold immediately called Mackenzie's private cell phone.

“Mac, there's another one of these demonstrations going on. We can't get through, so we'll meet you for dinner at your estate instead. Will that work for you?”

“That will be fine, Arnie,” Mackenzie Hardy the Third responded. “I'm looking out the window of my office and I can't believe the mass of people below. They had predicted this demonstration might have a few hundred people. I think there are more than twenty thousand.” The awe left his voice and he became more businesslike. “No need to rush. It will be a couple of hours before I can get out of here myself.”

“We will need a good two hours. See you then.” Arnold hung up the phone and looked out the window at the demonstrators. He was confused by one of their issues. There had been a few newspaper leaks about his GMO initiatives, but news had been leaked before and nothing significant had ever happened.

“Eugene, what is going on here?” Arnold snapped, not wanting an answer. “How can people take any of this Project Wake Up or Full Feminine Power Now crap seriously? Don't they know that the world needs cheaper food? There are seven billion people on this planet. If these protests shut us down, half of those people are going to starve!”

Three hours later, Arnold was sitting down to dinner with Mackenzie Hardy the Third in the main dining room of Mackenzie's forty-room estate outside of Dublin, overlooking acres of green grass and the hills beyond.

As Arnold sipped his champagne and dug into his first course of smoked salmon and caviar, he turned to Mackenzie with a smile. “Your grandfather was a great man. It has been years since I have visited you here at your home. I remember with fondness coming here as a very young man for meetings with my father and your father and grandfather. I have wonderful memories of those years.”

“I was just a toddler when you first visited, but I remember those days with fondness as well. I guess the only good that has come from the nuisance of these demonstrations is that it created a reason for you to visit us here at Maloney Castle. I trust you will spend the night,” Mackenzie invited.

“No, I have to get back to California and then meet up with George in Texas to be sure the new crops are going in. Yet I will be flying back with George to Prague, and I can come back after those meetings. I should be less rushed by then. I do enjoy spending time here at Maloney Castle and wish I could come more often.”

“You are welcome anytime,” Mackenzie confirmed. “Tell me, what are you going to be doing in Prague?”

“I'm glad you asked. The developments outside of Prague at Chateau Mcely are actually the reason for this visit.” Arnold's face turned down in a grimace. “A group of nobodies—mostly from California, of course—have hooked up with Jim and Inéz Cusumano and have created a movement called Project Wake Up. I did not take this organization seriously at first, but I am starting to see signs that it is catching on. Jim and Inéz, as you know, have contacts with many members of the Illuminati. At one point I was even thinking of inviting them to join us as full members.”

“Yes, I have stayed at Chateau Mcely on numerous occasions,” Mackenzie acknowledged. “They are charming people.”

“They may be charming, but they are also insane,” Arnold broke in. “They have brought in Horatio Rhinegold, Wolfgang Roter, and even some of the members of the Illuminati to support their cause. I wanted to warn you that they may be planning to approach you. They seem harmless, but these demonstrations prove that their cause may in fact be dangerous. I have decided to infiltrate their movement and discredit it, and I may need your help.”

“Whatever you need, I will provide,” Mackenzie reassured him. “My grandfather explained to me why he had appointed you the Grand Light and Keeper of the Code. He felt that no one else had your grasp of business or the ability to maintain and grow the absolute economic and political control necessary to ensure that the families of the Illuminati will continue to rule.”

“I am clear on our purpose and confident of our continued success,” Arnold continued, “but for the first time in many years I have a sense of unease. We must be more vigilant than ever to protect our interests. The 2011 riots in Greece, the chaos in Egypt and the Middle East last year, and now these Full Feminine Power Now demonstrations are unsettling.” Arnold was on a roll and he let the full flush of what he'd been thinking lately pour out. “We can crush movements easily when we can isolate or co-opt the leaders, but these new movements seem to have no leaders, or in the case of Project Wake Up, leaders who seem immune to our powers of persuasion. We must be ready to take more drastic measures if necessary, and I wanted to be sure that you were aware, even though Project Wake Up at present seems insignificant.”

“You know I abhor violence,” Mackenzie responded, “but I have full trust in your decision and will support you in whatever way you require.”

“Thank you,” Arnold said, and then an ominous tone entered his voice as he spun out the further reaches of what he'd been contemplating. “I may need access to some of our mini nuclear devices and perhaps some of our untraceable biological weapons as well.” Arnold had finally broached the real reason for meeting with Mackenzie Hardy the Third. “Of course,” he hastily added, “we will only need to use these resources in case of an emergency. As always, we will focus on using our powers of persuasion to avoid violence.”