Chris Lawler 'One Of A Kind'

CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Mi6

  Chris was suddenly jolted from his dream like state and looked across the table at Uncle Harry, who was still sitting in front of him, flicking through the pages of his folder. Once again Chris broke his code of silence and opened his mouth and slowly spoke, telling Harry that he had covered just about every single moment of his life so far. About the only thing he had not covered was what was to happen to him next.

  “Oh, I could also fill you in on that part of your life if you liked, I’m especially interested as to why a guy like you with a brilliant military history, would go off the rails as they say. I’d like to know why you chose that particular track to follow, and how did you think it would all end up.”

  Now it was Uncle Harry’s turn to be caught completely off his guard, as Chris asked, “What department are you representing”. To which he replied “Mi6”. Chris pushed his luck a little further, and asked, “What is the difference between Mi5 and Mi6”. Now it was Chris’s turn to be caught off guard, as Harry went into great depth and detail to explain.

  Mi stands for Military Intelligence and the differences between the two organisations is vast. They are answerable to different departments and completely different people. The Mi5 answers to the Home Secretary. This was an indirect confirmation of the organisation's focus on domestic as well as external threats. While in contrast, Mi6 answers to the Foreign Secretary in part due to its exclusive focus on external threats. The two organisations have their headquarters in different locations. Mi5 is based at Thames House. While the offices of the Mi6 are located at Vauxhall Cross in London on the banks of the river Thames. Sometimes referred to as SIS the ‘Secret Intelligence Service’

  The budget and operations of the Mi6 are understandably cloaked in secrecy. While in comparison, Mi5 is relatively more transparent. In order to fulfil its mandate, Mi5 concentrates its focus on several key areas, terrorism, both domestic and foreign that takes top spot on its list of priorities. This is partly due to the rise of global terrorism as a serious challenge to the security of the United Kingdom and its interests globally. To effectively respond to these threats, the organisation spends a large percentage of its budget on non-domestic counter terrorism. The rest of its budget is shared out almost equally between counter espionage and domestic terrorism. Mi5 also works to counter subversion and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

  To put it in layman terms, Mi5 is for domestic intelligence, and Mi6 is for international intelligence. Put crudely, Mi6 are ‘our’ spies while MI5 is there to catch ‘their’ spies. It gets a little more complicated in that Mi6 has its own ‘counter-intelligence’ section.

  'Mi5/Mi6' were the original designations given when both organisations came under the War Office, now the Ministry of Defence. Although their official names were acquired during the 1930s.

  Harry sat back and took a deep breath, after rattling off their history in one go.

  Chris was quick to answer Harry “Must be good, if you are telling me so much fine detail, that I’m inclined to believe you.”

  Eventually Harry who by this time was looking Chris straight in the eyes told him “You are a person of great interest to us.”

  “Oh and why is that” Chris asked.

  “We know, and like what you have achieved so far in your life.”

  “Therefore, we would like to offer you a position within our organisation, that of Mi6.”

  “When do I start?” asked Chris.

  “As soon as you sign along the dotted line,” replied Uncle Harry.

  Then upon his command a secretary entered the room carrying what looked like some sort of document. She walked over to Chris and placed it on the table in front of him. Then without even reading the small print, or hesitation, he scribbled his signature along the bottom of the document. He then slid it over to Uncle Harry.

  Chris then leaned back and took a deep breath, as a broad smile appeared on his face. He placed his hands firmly behind his head and neatly interleaved his fingers feeling good with the deal.

  For the first time he made eye contact with the secretary, and to his amazement it was Emily.

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  Coming Soon