"Im here for an appointment with Mr. Hill."
The doorman twlla me in a slightly patronizing tone, "First door to your right, it will be open."
I wait for about a minute and then Mr. Hill comes in. Of mediocre height, compact and solid, a cunning smile and a rotund belly...
He shakes my hand vigorously, and I try to give him the best smile a man can ever give... a you-can-trust-me-but-I-can't-trust-you smile.
He talks me through the terms and conditions of the organization.
Using his desk to write on, I agree to the terms and conditions. Inconceivably in an instant marked by the scratching of a pen on a coarse paper, I sign away the contract.
"Good, good." He says, he thinks I'm one of them now that I signed the papers. I just need the money, nothing more.
He leads me out of his office and takes me on a tour.
And so the night begins with a complete biography of himself.
"To begin with," he says, "I am a Christian, and therefore opposed to abortion. Unborn babies are dying by the millions, and I feel compelled to help." He points his finger at a gruesome picture of an aborted fetus. It's absolutely horrifying and I understand why it move him. But I do not understand why he had to frame such pictures on the hall.
I pretend to look fine... however I can't help but push my temple against my hands.
He informs me proudly that he is a member of the Army of God, a shadowy organization that advocates killing abortion providers as "justifiable homicide." A number of attacks on clinics have been carried out in its name, but an organization like this would be best described as a virtual network rather than an actual organization.
I ask him more about the Army of God to keep the conversation going.
"-well it's not really an army, humanly speaking...haha," he sneezes before he goes on, "God is the General and Commnader-in-Chief. The soldiers, however do not usually know each other. Very few have ever met each other. And when they do, they're unaware of each other's status. That's why the Feds will never stop this Army. Never. And we have not yet even begun to fight."
"So a leaderless resistance network - with no central office and no known leaders involved in planning operations - is almost impossible for law-enforcements to penetrate and stop. But... despite the name, the network isn't actually leaderless, is that right?" I add in. I can see that he's clearly impressed with me.
After he finished explaining about the "swarm", I conclude that the prospect of swarming is not really the most frightening aspect of the virtual terrorist networks. It is, instead, increasing the availability of more powerful weapons usable by smaller groups, which would later lead to mass-casualty attacks that require almost no communication.
He stops there and invites me to the White Rose Banquet tomorrow, a charity dinner that is held annually to celebrate the save-the-babies movement and to honor the so-called "soldiers."
We shake hands again, but this time it's me who shakes vigorously. And another you-can-trust-me-but-I-can't-trust-you smile.
YOU ARE READING
One For Me, One For You
Mystery / ThrillerA young man finds out his long lost father is a professional killer. When his mother is murdered, the son is recruited into his father's old organization and trained by a man named Ivan to follow in his dad's footsteps.
