He didn’t miss a beat. “Is it important? I’ve only a few minutes left here until Gray and I are done.”
“Stop, now. You need to hear this.”
He stood, stretched, and actually focused on her now. “Ah, that’s better. I’m very close here. What’s your news?”
“It’s a dossier, prepared about seven years ago about a group called the Highest Order. I think this is who we’re looking for. These are the fifteen men from Pearce’s files.”
“The Highest Order?”
She nodded. “The information was lifted off the computer of a diplomat who visited the U.S. with a British delegation a decade ago. It’s incomplete, but at least we can get an idea of what we might be up against.”
He stood over her, hands braced against the ceiling of the fuselage. “Rather rude to invade the computers of a foreign delegate. Is that common practice? And how’d you do it?”
“The easy way. The Brit logged in to an unsecured wireless network in his hotel, and welcomed us right in. But no, this isn’t common practice. He must have been under surveillance and tracking software was put on his computer.”
“Who was the diplomat?”
“Well, he’s dead now. Callum Chatterton was his name. They were here to speak at the UN. He worked as a researcher in the office of Stuart Niles.”
Nicholas whistled. “Stuart Niles is now a leading member of Parliament, and would have your heads if he knew his people had been spied upon.”
“But he didn’t know. This is from the dossier: ‘The Highest Order was formed in 1714 before the death of Queen Anne by a small group of powerful Englishmen and Germans who did not want to see the son of the deposed James the Second make a grab for the crown when the crown should rightfully go to the Hanoverians because of the standing law forbidding Catholics to rule England, thus taking away the risk that England would again be plunged into bloody religious persecution. Through their efforts, the Jacobites were defeated in the rebellion of 1715 and the Hanoverian George the First was crowned king of England.
‘The Highest Order’s goal immediately shifted to stand as protectors of England’s supremacy. They were successful in maintaining England’s stability during all the revolutionary unrest throughout Europe in the mid–nineteenth century, an extraordinary accomplishment. They were succeeding admirably until the onset of World War One, which they fought to prevent but failed due to the extreme fanaticism of Kaiser Wilhelm the Second.
‘After the Great War, the group expanded to include members from America, and in the seventies and eighties, they added Israel, representatives from the Middle East, India, Russia, and China.
‘The members themselves are in positions of power in their respective countries, and are incredibly wealthy. They quietly effect change in their individual countries by open communication with other Order members, and exacting influence and pressure in the appropriate quarters.
‘Today, the Highest Order remains a small but powerful multinational group of fifteen high-powered men whose primary goal is to maintain the safety and security of the world by helping countries avoid wars and other destabilizing events.
‘In the beginning of the twenty-first century, however, it became obvious that a new element began to make inroads into the Order. Questionable actions were taken, deals were struck with questionable allies. They should be watched to ensure they don’t use their power to subvert the peaceful objectives of the Order.’”
She looked up. “They sound like something like the Trilateral Commission.”
He nodded. “And different as well, since the Trilateral Commission is a more public group and their actions are both well documented and incredibly controversial.”
Mike was nodding. “But like this Highest Order, the commission is also a consortium of influential leaders who work together to help the world stay safe.
“Nicholas, the Trilateral Commission doesn’t date back three hundred years, they’re newbies. Why do I have the feeling we haven’t even scratched the surface of what the Highest Order is up to?”
He said, “Because they’re supposed to be working for good, and they have someone like Manfred Havelock involved with them?”
“Exactly. You don’t seem terribly surprised by this.”
“I don’t? I am, I assure you.”
“Come on, Nicholas. I can see data running across that brain of yours like a stock ticker on crack. What’s going on?”
He focused on her. “Very well, it was something my father said when I called to talk to him about Alfie Stanford’s death. He said if Alfie’s death was murder, and had been committed from inside Downing Street, as we suspect it must have, it was a bigger situation than anyone could imagine. Then he steered me away, told me the Brits had it well in hand, and to stop thinking about it.” He turned to stare out the window, then he pushed the green button. The pilot’s disembodied voice came through the air.
“Yes?”
“I need to make a call. A private call. Will our security measures do an appropriate job scrambling the signal?”
“Absolutely. Use the phone in the arm. Hit nine. That will fully encrypt the call. Thanks for letting me know, it makes my instruments squirrelly while you’re connecting. By the way, we are now under two hours from landing.” He snapped off the speaker.
Mike looked at her watch. It was only 8:00 a.m. “He is breaking airspeed records. It’s one p.m. London time. We’ll be there by three o’clock, and we should have plenty of daylight to get north to the loch. Assuming they haven’t left without us. Assuming Adam has given them the exact coordinates.”