Early one morning a few years ago, a nondescript man started on a journey to a foreign land. The man was dressed casually, and inexpensively, He carried an ordinary briefcase filled with secret papers. He passed unnoticed through airport security and customs. At his destination he was met by a special unmarked van. Besides the driver, the vehicle contained three of his compatriots, all heading to the same private meeting. He knew two of the passengers, one well, the other only casually. He didn’t know the third man, but he had heard of his reputation. Like himself, his fellow passengers in the van appeared ordinary, and no one would have guessed that each of them was in control of millions of dollars, euros or yen, and headed large teams of associates. They were all in their 50s or 60s and had become powerful leaders at their local bases of operations.
The van deposited them at a small rural resort that was to host this international powwow of about 70 such men and women. There was no security because this meeting was so secret, so unknown, that none was needed. There were no cameras, no press, no tourists, no outsiders. Few other people in the entire world knew that this meeting was even taking place, and they were not talking.
At the meeting the nondescript man listened carefully as the discussions and presentations of his fellow conspirators wove a complex thread of potential collaborations, financial management, and distribution of resources. Reports of progress, intelligence on issues of import were shared among all the participants. And then, of course, there were the private, even more secret, hallway tete-a-tetes between pairs and small groups of individuals, all designed to further the individual ambitions of each of the conspirators, while also moving their common agenda forward.
They naturally all knew that their discussions and decisions would have a major impact on the lives of millions of people all over the world. They laughed and joked, just like any ordinary social group would do, but behind their sometimes casual and jocular behavior, the seriousness and indeed fanaticism of their common goals was always present.
It sounds pretty ominous. And it is all true. I know because I was there. Yes, I am the nondescript man, one of the conspirators at this secret, totally unreported, never publicly discussed meeting in the quiet secluded mountains of a foreign country. I confess. I am one of THEM.
So who were we, and what were we discussing? Care to guess? I will give the answer in a comment later.
The Book of Works 
Love it! Just a wild guess, mostly from the timing and what I know about you… something to do with CFCs and ozone?
Not quite, but close
You were attending a workshop on Environment and Health at the International Environment Festival in Milan, Italy
Mike, good to see you here. But you are disqualified since you know too much. That was actually another trip, but again, very close.
Since two people have already guessed that the post is about a scientific conference, I might as well give the answer now. I used to attend 3 to 6 such conferences a year, and many were international. The post was referring to an international biomedical research conference on cancer research. The millions of dollars we each controlled was grant funding, none of it going into our own pockets, all of it going to support research laboratories. The leadership of associates are our teams of scientists, working at all hours for low pay and no recognition. And we were fanatics in our goals of trying to find ways to prevent or cure the disease.
So why did I post this? Because I hate conspiracy theories, and I wanted to show that what is actually a fairly noble thing can be painted to look like something else. I would venture to say that throughout history, the fear of false conspiracies has done as much damage as any real conspiracy.
That’s why I posted this.
You got me! Dislike conspiracy theories and love your story 😁
Ineke, good to see you here. I hope you are well, all things considered with the world these days.
You succeeded in your goal. It definitely sounded sinister, reading this, right up to very last line where my thoughts changed direction, feeling sure you would not be involved in anything sinister.
Thank Sheila, but there have been times when I could have easily been considered to be at least partly sinister. Not recently though. I hope.