A confident China plans to alter the world order
Border expansion for her burgeoning population is an essential element.
Bioweapons will be used as a first tester in the US
An underground laboratory. A claustrophobic liner. A trail of dead mistresses.
Karen Andersen, private investigator, stumbles across intelligence in a Liverpool University that an ultra-right faction of the CCP plan to release the hyper contagious virus on an unsuspecting New York City.
Heading out of Southampton on a luxury cruise, she has just seven days to disrupt the strategy. In the turmoil on board, Karen struggles to unravel the complexities.
The Secret War by Louise Burfitt-Dons was published digitally on June 21 2021. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour, I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you today.
Extract from The Secret War by Louise Burfitt-Dons
MS FONG’S FRONT room filled with the pleasant aroma of vanilla and
coffee beans. It was approaching ten o’clock and her favourite time of the
day. The Chinese tutor had decided that morning in March she would
resurrect Chairman Mao in her online classroom for the Liverpool High
School students.
Lizzy Fong was trendy, trim and a stimulating teacher. Internet learning
was no longer a big deal, but Zoom classes counted as a new thing. She was
running much later than usual because she’d done the neighbourly deed and
dropped off food to a pensioner under lockdown, unable to shop for
himself. There was plenty still to gather before lessons began. Notes,
quotes, pen, pad, props, and a tin of butter cookies.
Since her arrival in Liverpool from Beijing eighteen months ago,
Elizabeth Fong had been an enormous hit. Her sessions never bored because
they were always stimulating and unpredictable. The number studying
Mandarin to GCSEs was double that of the previous year. She sometimes
screamed, often swore, and even danced to music during her classes. The
teacher was never subtle. But it was all to get the sleepy kids engaged in the
learning process.
Lizzy Fong liked Zoom more now she was familiar with the software.
Coming together face to face using the meeting app was as simple as
wiping your nose. She’d sent the links with a password the night before, as
per schedule. The pupils came online like ghosts appearing from the dark.
‘Hiya, everybody.’ The popular instructor greeted her early birds with
open arms and a cheery wave. ‘How are you?’
‘Good morning,’ they chorused back. She expected full attendance, and
that’s what she had got. Almost.
‘Tony! Where are you, Mr Anthony? Tell your fans why you have no
clothes on?’ Lizzy Fong feigned alarm at the sight of the student’s naked
chest. Very Sarah Bernhardt.
‘What?’ The student leapt to his feet to show off the raspberry-print
chinos and made a quick pirouette. As he circled, laughter rippled around the internet classroom followed by loud applause and whistles.
Tony Gee,
the know-it-all who liked to be the centre of attention working off his
iPhone at a local sports ground, played to his public willingly.
‘Tony, why are you in the damn park?’ The students loved her street
slang. She made squinty eyes and crossed her arms.
Another profile lit up. Lizzy Fong counted fifteen participants now
amongst her audience who were mostly Chinese, British-born and clever as
hell. Come the summer, this lot will smash the exams.
Well, they would
have aced every single one of them if it hadn’t been for Covid-19 and the
bloody government who’d gone and cancelled the GCSEs.
They’d sure beat the academic crap out of the rest of the slackers in the
city, which meant big jobs and big bucks in the future.
Lizzy Fong sometimes dressed up as Mao Zedong when she covered
this subject. She was a talented actress and did an excellent job too of Lao
Zu, Confucius, Sun Tzu, Deng Ziaoping, and Aladdin. But today she’d run
out of time to dress up and wore black slacks and a plain red shirt.
‘Maoism is a philosophy Chairman Mao developed himself. Its
emphasis is on the military line to capture power.
He called it the Protracted
People’s War. The Leader liked to fight to get his way. What do you think of
that?’
‘All war is bad.’ One of the younger students asserted.
‘I agree,’ said another.
Recent films include Mother of All Secrets (2018), The Ex Next Door (2019, Lifetime) and Christmas in the Highlands Aka Christmas at the Castle (2020)
She stood for parliament in the 2015 General Election.
In 2001 Louise set up the anti-bullying charity Act Against Bullying.
The Missing Activist featuring a London Private Investigator was her first book in the Karen Andersen Thriller series.
She lives in Chiswick, West London with her husband Donald.
Twitter @LouiseBurfDons
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