Espionage

In the middle of the forest there was an old army camp, where leaders from many countries from around the world were holding a Top Secret Meeting. They got their food fresh, daily, so they took different routes each day and had to be careful where they were travelling.

When they went down to the river to have a wash, they had to make sure they weren’t being stalked. The water was clear and fresh and many animals went down there to have a drink the water and it didn’t appear to affect them, so they knew that the water was good to drink.

(more…)

James was out for an early morning stroll with his dog Hamish.  The dog started barking loudly.

James called out to Hamish, “Come here boy!” but the dog ignored him and went in leaps and bounds down the cliff.  James had to sprint to catch up with him.

Reaching the bottom of the cliff the dog started barking loudly again. James dashed after Hamish to see what he had found; and lo and behold, on the jagged rocks below was a body bent and twisted and covered in blood. Crabs were crawling over its face.

James couldn’t believe what Hamish had found.  Had the man fallen off the cliff or was it murder?  Should James touch the body to see if there were any gunshot or knife wounds on it, or should he leave it to the police?

James decided to use his mobile phone and call 000.  When the police answered, James described what he had found and where the body lay, 300 metres below the Ocean View car park.  There were steps leading down the side of the cliff to where the body lay.

On arriving at the scene, Sergeant Alexander Bailey, the head sergeant of the Aberdeen Police Force, who had the face of a bull dog and a voice to match, partitioned the area off and proceeded to inspect the body.  He roared in a loud gruff voice, “Get this mutt out of here!”

James called out loudly to Hamish, “Heel boy. Come here!” “HEEL, BOY!” he said in even a louder voice. Hamish slunk to James and sat down beside him. James patted him and said “Good boy!”

(more…)

A loud KABOOM! Split the quietness of the air.  The ground shook and shuddered beneath our feet.  Eric started to shiver and shake.  In a flash, he was down on his hands and knees crawling under a wooden, garden bench.

It was a beautiful sunny day.  I had driven around to pick up my friend Eric from the Prince Henry Hospital, where he was a patient.  He had a day-leave pass so that I could take him for a pleasant drive to a pretty little park in the country.  Little did I know there was a quarry nearby and on that particular day, they were blasting gravel in the quarry for road re-surfacing.  In the 1960’s we had not heard of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).  With a lot of persuading, I managed to coax Eric out from under the bench and we moved on to find a quieter location.  We drove back in to town, ending up at the local Botanical Gardens.

The blasting in the quarry had brought back vivid memories of bombs exploding all around Eric whilst he was on active duty in Gallipoli and the horrific experiences he had encountered on a daily basis that forever seemed to haunt his mind.  He continued to share his war-time experiences with me, including how they were told they had landed on the wrong beach and the Turkish soldiers were already dug in on the cliffs above waiting for the barges to land. Then they opened fire on our soldiers as they disembarked, with many caught out in the open, unable to reach cover.

Eric had no visible wounds, but we couldn’t see the pain he held in his head.  Vivid, traumatic nightmares and flash-backs haunted him and tormented his mind, including hand-to-hand combat using bayonets and then hiding from the enemy.

(more…)

“I say Old boy!” Colonel Blake sharply retorted, “Are you positively certain of this young fellow, Kai Lam? Can we really trust him for this job? I know I’m just the secretary of the Association, but . . . . . ?”

“No buts!” Major Nate interrupted, “Haven’t you read his file – his experiences and his character up until his current entrance into the Association? Here, read through these classified files on his life and you will understand where this man comes from. He is the perfect candidate for the job!”

The Colonel sat down at his desk and began reading the file on Kai Lam.

At school Kai Lam was an excellent student. He was a lot smaller and of a shorter stature than the other children of his age, and he was constantly tormented about his eyes and appearance. From a very early age, he realized that he would have to stick up for himself, and learn to defend himself.

Kai Lam’s parents realized his predicament and had him enrolled for lessons at a local gym for after school tutoring. Here he learnt judo, karate and body building. His parents knew that for a slightly built person, martial arts were a handy skill for one to possess.

At eighteen years of age, Kai Lam joined the army. He thrived on the discipline, challenges and tasks set before him. The Drill Sergeant roared out orders left right and centre and pushed Kai Lam to the limit during his basic training. Hunger, pain and suffering became his best friends.

“Come on you useless lazy layabouts!” the Sergeant roared, “get those 10kg packs on your back and get a move on! We’ve got twenty kilometres to trek today, kindergarten kids would put you all to shame!”

(more…)