Deadly Game by Michael Caine

Author:Michael Caine [Caine, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Published: 2023-09-15T17:00:00+00:00

20

What is true power? As the ship ploughed through the ocean, furiously churning foam and spray in its wake, this was the question that occupied him.

From the prow, he looked eastward, the trade winds gripping his face, towards a horizon of infinite possibility. Now was surely his moment. One for which he had prepared, fought and spilt blood for in so many places and for so many years.

But what was the power he sought? Wealth? Of course, always money. There was no such thing as ‘enough’, and those who believed such nonsense were usually destroyed by the natural selection of the marketplace. Money’s only honest instruction to those who acquired it was ‘more’.

Yet he knew that was not the authentic essence of his plan. It had so many levels, each of which would reveal itself only at a moment of his choosing. He would fool them all.

If not money, then what? Status in society? No, that wasn’t it. The sudden deference that comes with the first phase of true success: the phoney friends, the women, the cars and the yachts and the helicopters and the invitations to elegant homes … All that was welcome enough, a sensual surge for the newly empowered. But the excitement faded fast enough. The platinum playground, you soon learned, was much too full to be considered truly exclusive. And the hedonism, sycophancy and cosmetic grandeur, all that quickly lost its appeal if you were a man of substance. A man who aspired to greatness.

That was the heart of the matter. How to achieve greatness, real greatness.

As he thought about the past few weeks, and the path that had brought him to the middle of the sea on a boat bearing great treasure, he realised suddenly, with total clarity and precision, how such power was secured. And there was only one way, really.

Not money, love, spectacle, prestige. Not cash or bullets or even freedom from the dreary rule of law (an expensive privilege, it had to be said).

No, it was fear. Fear. Only fear would give you true control. Only terror would make other men bow to your will without question. Would make them scuttle out of your way before you even moved. Dread was what he required in others.

And soon they would all dread him. They would fear his will. They would fear the fire that he could conjure, as if from the skies.

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