Quiet Government Men synopsis

The Quiet Government Men. Chris Cauwood 98,000 words 300pp

Taylor, member of a failed disaster team, flees the rising sea flooding a panic stricken England. Hurricanes, a super storm christened Noah, cause huge disruption and destruction.

He is rescued and recruited by a mysterious organisation, ESO, the so-called Earth Survival Organisation. ESO is prepared, has been preparing for years, and moves in to oversee the rescue and recovery. Taylor is a quiet unassuming competent and technically minded man but he makes an enemy.  During the evacuation to higher ground in Europe he is separated from his wife and two children. He must call on his past, reawaken resources he’d long put behind him to survive and reunite his family.

Synopsis. Part One.  Taylor is trained for the recovery by ESO.  His family are trapped behind the resurrected Iron Curtain. He must bide his time.

Part Two. Back in England, Taylor is part of the advance teams sent to rebuild and renew the shattered economy and structure of the country. Inland is hostile; ESO are not welcome. The climate is changed; a sub tropical environment. They live in the improvised fortress, Dome 3.  Daily, the teams are often attacked both by mutated hive insects and bandit survivors; the Scallies. The administration of the laboratory bases and bio farming “Tubes” is adventure in itself.

After one strange encounter he is unfairly accused of murder. There is no proof although his general demeanour, attitude to pompous authority and two hospitalised thugs imply that Taylor could reasonably be called a dangerous man; a threat.

The hint of behind the scenes effective people – the quiet government men – occasionally surfaces. Now, Taylor finds himself forcibly interviewed by a high-ranking ESO man. “Join us and all accusations can disappear”

Part Three. On probation, Taylor joins as a quiet government man with a team of young sociologists. He gets them out of a tight corner. He learns of the darker side of ESO and how they are losing effective control at the extremes of their influence. Inland, in high ground Wales, a self-sufficient group have successfully set themselves up. They suffer no apparent threat from the wild people. A mystery, arousing suspicions pointing to a disturbing conclusion.

Further into Wales proper introduces him to the Welsh Border Defences where he befriends an ex army sergeant major, Jones. Jones and his Colonel are old school; they guard the past as fiercely as they guard the present. Taylor’s arrival seems to break some of these bonds.  Taylor and Jones discover a plot to attack the self sufficient group. Back at the Dome, Taylor’s laboratory base is attacked by the wild people. He must return there. His old Dome 3 teammates are captured, held hostage.

The Scallies are organised. By a renegade Quiet Government Man who plans to attack the Dome in order to achieve exactly what the local ESO have failed to do. Taylor must stop him; the backlash will be bloody and disproportionate, but how?

After an explosive and exciting finale, the wayward leaders of Dome 3 are stopped. The attack is prevented; the Scallies are mollified and will eventually become integrated. Taylor receives good news of his family and all would be neat and tidy but…Taylor made an enemy back when the storm was at its height, and he’d forgotten about him…

[end synopsis]

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Taylor Two, in draft, allows the interested reader to see other parts of the UK and Europe. From the wilds of Iceland, source of the hydrogen for the huge transport Zeppelin airships, to sub tropical Scotland where the new plantations grow on the wild hills. Across France, where the ghetto encamped refugees fight to escape, on to Geneva, seat of government, where even the quiet government men fall foul of politics and ambition.