Ever since the United Nations was granted general police powers by the member governments, the Office of the Secretary General had become responsible for international policing. At various times, the General Assembly had expanded and redefined the OSG´s roles, mainly during the periods when the Charter was revised and expanded.
Today the OSG, in addition to police powers, had responsibility for assuring what might loosely be referred to as “freedom”. Freedom meaning: freedom of the press, of expression, peaceful assembly as well as the various freedoms guaranteed in the original UN Charter. As a result, the world today was reasonably peaceful and citizens were about as free as they had ever been – and much more than at intervals in the past.
No one was certain whether this would last, of course, but it was OSG´s job to keep an eye on things. Its mission was to leave things alone unless local law enforcement could not deal with problems.
Pru went through the routine. She took out her remote to suck the text of the non-disclosure agreement, and then read it on the com and transferred her signature codes to it. As she uploaded the final document, the red banner on the com screen disappeared. She looked at Terry again.
“We have two major tasks,” he began. “First, we operate the Neo-Tantra schools worldwide, teaching our philosophy and practice. It is a profitable business and the profits are re-invested. The business is mine as sole proprietor, and I´ve been running it quite a bit longer than since I´ve had a connection with the OSG. That´s only been the last four years or so. Of course, if that connection becomes public knowledge, I´m pretty much out of business. As it stands, Neo-Tantra is an interesting and challenging business that I think you´ll find worth your time.
“The other task is what we do for the OSG. It´s our job to gather and evaluate intelligence from various areas around the world. Our primary focus is to identify and monitor organizations that plan terror activities or that support or aid such groups. We´re also interested in dealing with corruption, censorship, repression or other activities that are ‘contrary to world order´. We try to be careful as we do this. We don´t want to invade privacy and do our best to avoid doing it.
“Our Neo-Tantra people aren´t the ones who go in and round those fellows up. Mostly, we identify and monitor – that´s risky enough. Our people try to gather information, as far as possible, without exposing themselves to the risk of joining these groups – it´s not in our interest to lose valuable people or to appear to be involved with subversives. We have many methods for tracking these activities from a distance, and we quickly turn leads over to the OSG for follow-up. You´ll learn about that if you join us.
“The reason for the combination of these two activities is that Neo-Tantra gives us a pretty innocent entré into most developed societies, and we get a lot of input from our students that often turns out to be useful on the ‘other side´. That´s how we got into this in the first place: one of our Neo-Tantra schools started hearing rumors. We reported them to the OSG and that resulted in some interesting discoveries by the enforcement people.”
Pru took advantage of a pause. “I can see how things work together. What do you want from me?”
“I´m a little unsure, myself,” Terry replied. “At first, I had you down as my eventual replacement in running Neo-Tantra.”
“As I said before,” Pru interrupted, “you hardly know me.”
“I´ve done a lot more research than you know about, Pru. I´m aware of the work you did with student groups in China, and of the wide circle of admiring friends you have in Morocco. In fact, if you decide to come in with us, I´d suggest you visit your folks for a week or two before you report for duty.”
“Arabic is my weakest language, Terry.”
“From what I hear on the ground, it´s good enough to make you a respected member of the ladies in the souk. That´s good enough for me. We don´t need you to go undercover.
“But, we´re wandering. I want you to take on the operation of Neo-Tantra as Chief Operating Officer. I´ll continue as CEO until you´re sure of yourself.” He mentioned a substantial salary and benefits package that represented a big boost in Pru´s income. “Before you start, you´ll need to take our three-week intensive course in Neo-Tantra. That will give you a start on the background and understanding you need to have to run the company.”
“What about the ‘other side´, as you put it?” Pru asked. “There´s a certain amount of communication between the two, isn´t there?”
“Yes,” Terry admitted, “there has to be. We can´t put up a Chinese wall between the two activities, and you need to understand how that communication works as well. We don´t want our Neo-Tantra people to be under suspicion, or it would ruin the whole thing, not to mention putting them at physical risk.”
Pru poured more water into her glass. “You´ve mentioned putting your people at risk twice. Is there really that much risk, and why are you so concerned about it? Isn´t it just a part of the job?”
“There´s risk in getting out of bed in the morning – and risk in not getting out of bed. Neo-Tantra´s main emphasis is in bringing its benefits and values to our customers and in helping them improve their emotional and sexual relationships. If we can gather intelligence while doing it, great. We have to be certain that one function does not destroy the other. I told the Secretary General that I won´t expose my people to unnecessary risks. I don´t consider physical risk an acceptable exposure for them. Period.”
Pru knew there were problems with that response, but before she could address them, Terry rose and beckoned to her. “It´s about lunch time. Let´s go get some food. That will also give you a chance to look at our people, too.”
He led the way into a bright, clean and friendly cafeteria where they joined a line of others waiting to be served. Everyone, other than Terry and Pru, was dressed casually – kilts and flashes only, and the kilts were in a variety of cuts, styles and colorful fabrics. There were also a number of men and women who wore pareos in brilliant patterns: the garments were wrapped around the waist and usually quite long as opposed to the short kilt with its access to the ubiquitous knife. There was no possibility of easily reaching a knife for self-defense when wearing the pareo.
The atmosphere was happy and friendly; there was a wide variety of food and it smelled wonderful. Pru took her loaded tray to sit at a table with Terry. Others came and sat with them, and chatted while they ate. The food was excellent, the company good. Pru found herself enjoying the experience.
A young woman dressed in a pareo sat at their table, smiled at Terry and turned to Pru. Her flash said simply, “uncommitted”.
“Are you thinking about joining us?” she asked. “Not too many people come here all dressed up. I hope you don´t feel uncomfortable.”
“Not at all,” Pru answered, “it´s nice to see such a good environment. Tell me, do you live here in the compound, or do you commute?” Pru was still somewhat disturbed by the events of her arrival.
“I´m only staying here for a short time, taking an advanced Neo-Tantra course,” was the reply. “I´m from the Pacific CA – that´s where I teach. It´s nice to be here once in a while, so I can go into a different CA and see some of the sights and shows. It´s a nice change.”
Terry said, “When we were coming in this morning, we got shot at. I think it gave Pru something to think about.”
“I´ll bet it did. Have you been OC before?”
Pru answered, “Actually quite a bit in a lot of places. But I haven´t been shot at.” She chuckled ruefully. “At least not in quite a while.”
The girl looked impressed, and Terry put in, “I´d imagine that was when you were trekking in The Yemen. They shoot at everyone there.”
Pru stifled a sharp response, deciding to take her surprise in stride. “Yes, it was. Fortunately, we escaped unhurt. I did call the guy a few bad names, though.”
“In fact, you and your friends returned fire and wounded one of the attackers, driving them off to cover,” Terry added. “We got the story from the wife of one of the attackers, who was one of our students.”
Pru swallowed hard. “I knew you got around, but …”
The young woman touched Pru´s forearm. “Terry doesn´t often brag like that. I think he´s trying to impress you. I suspect he wants more than just your body.”