The Hill - BLACKBIRD book 5

6. viral

Gillian made solemn vows to interrogate Cooper one day and make her confess how the hell she did it.

"Let me handle the media," the Iron Lady said. And she certainly handled it.

Only thirty minutes later, Balken's face and truck were all over New England TV news outlets on TV and online. Under her orders, Kurt opened a Facebook page where anybody could find more pictures of Balken and all his known associates. Brandon and the rest of the techs in Boston joined Tanya and two local techs in Portland online to work together. They opened a zillion email accounts and flooded social networks with the subjects' faces and links to the page. In under an hour, #stopBalken was trending over the East Coast north of Washington DC.

There was a church in Portland where a famous black pastor preached on Saturdays. Cooper had Janowsky contact him and recruited him for the cause. By six p.m., even cats and dogs in Portland talked about the preacher's summoning to a special service that Friday night, to address his followers about racism and hate crimes.

Then Cooper made the master stroke and ordered all the techs to promote the event adding the hashtag #blacklivesmatter. It went viral nationwide before Cooper finished her tea. When she had a bunch of millions sharing the call from coast to coast, and four national news networks talking about it with crews on the way to Portland, she made her next move.

Tanya, Kurt and all the techs started sharing a call to all the white people in Portland, to gather outside the church for a symbolic embrace to the building during the special service. A human shield to protect African Americans from haters like Balken.

Two dozen black pastors all over the country called to special services that night as well, and at each of those cities, people called on their neighbors to shield the appointed temples.

Gillian fetched a coffee and sat by Brock's bed with her tablet to watch the show. All the trending topics on social networks started to change. By seven p.m., the top ten nationwide included #blacklivesmatter, #stophate and #notafraid. The number one, combined with all the others, was #stopBalken. Well, at least he would have something to show off in prison.

At seven-thirty, Cooper added the cherry on top of her pie: she had Janowsky send all his spare staff to the church. They couldn't carry anything to identify them as federal agents. They had to be there as ordinary citizens, coming in response to the human shield calling.

By then, TV crews lined up in a tight circle around the church. So the whole country watched live how regular people, just the guy or girl next door, met outside the church and lit white candles. So the pastor's followers entered the church...

"...flanked by these frail but brave flames, defying like brothers and sisters the closing darkness of night and violence."

"Son of a bitch," Gillian muttered. Ten to one, Cooper had something to do with the way reporters described the scene.

It worked miracles. People took the streets in Portland and joined the agents. Soon the human shield was so thick around the church, people covered the sidewalks and part of the streets.

So it was just natural that the police showed up to secure the area, right in time to stop a bunch of KKK hoodies marching on with torches toward the church.

Then the agents in the crowd produced flyers with pictures of Balken and his truck, and moved around, handing them out to everybody.

Cassidy and his cowboys arrived then, tired and cold, wishing they could have a hot shower, a steak with a beer and a comfy bed to sleep for a whole week. Not a chance.

The Tacs were sent all over the city to help the troopers searching for Balken's truck. Which was only fair, since they had let him escape in the first place.

Cassidy called Cooper, who was too busy manipulating the nation's public attention and didn't take the call. Tanya noticed his scowl and told him to sit tight, watch the news and wait for instructions. When Ron suggested to swing by the hospital, the girl's glare was enough to keep them in their chairs.

"Jeez, she's already a little Reg," Hank muttered.

So many people on the streets in such a small area, downtown, was just too tempting for the usual rioters and thieves, who decided to have some fun and do some business. The rioters knew the best adrenaline rush would be joining the white hoods to press on the police. They were assembled at a commercial street, so the thieves joined them as well. They just needed to hang around and wait for things to get nasty. In the ensuing mess, nobody would pay attention to broken shop windows. Professional scavengers, the reporters smelled blood on that side, which would get a better rating than the pacific crowd with candles outside the church, and came around too.

Cooper called Gillian. "Your team is at the agency. Call them over and dispatch the detail. Riots are about to begin."

"Yes, ma'am." Can I have your autograph?

Tanya took a break from her computer and finally explained the plan to Cassidy and the others. A minute later, Cassidy was on his way to the church. While Ron, Fred and Hank drove down the empty streets to the hospital.