Something Bad, page 28
The priest wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “Also, the appearance of violent and sexual acts would increase in the entertainment industry and be accepted by this disjointed public, and this would spill over into everyday life. Using foul language would become acceptable in ordinary speech and behavior, and people would get hardened to seeing violence and sex, not only on television and in movies, but also in real life.” Father Costello took a deep breath.
“I can remember his very words. He said evening television shows, like I Love Lucy, would have either a violent or sexual story, if you can imagine that. When this happened, average people would become more violent, so a drive down the road would become a dangerous thing. People would be so nervous, a small thing like taking someone’s parking space would end in violence.”
Gabe covered his mouth with his open left hand and shook his head. Father Costello continued.
“Here’s the worst. In business and political worlds, success would be the only measure of value, and no one would care how that success was achieved. Money and power would be the driving force, and much more important than ethics and civility. On his organization’s graphs, he showed me how they used measures like a ‘citizen fear index,’ a ‘citizen violence index,’ and a ‘citizen civility index.” Things like that. Tell me, Gabe. Are any of his predictions coming true? I haven’t been in touch with the goings on of the world for some time. Please tell me they aren’t true.”
“Not around Boyston,” Gabe said. “People don’t lock their doors when they’re home, or even when they step out for a spell. If these are the goals of the organization, it’s not doing a very good job.”
“Well, remember, these are exponential functions.” The father’s voice was still cautious. “Hughes bragged that in about two or three decades the curve would be at the critical inflection point where it changes from the shallow slope to the steep one. That was twenty-five years ago. This could just be the beginning.”
Gabe felt the hesitation of fear, but also the intrigue of curiosity. “What happens then?”
Father Costello sat back in his chair. “Hughes became much more philosophical when he discussed where it would lead. He claimed that when the exponential reached the steep part of the curve, society would begin to implode.”
“What’d he mean by that?”
“In a way, he meant it would unravel from the inside. People would stop paying attention to laws, first the little ones, then the big ones. Eventually, the police and legal systems wouldn’t be able to keep up with the lawbreakers, so people would start enforcing their own laws. Then, the military would be brought in to help, and that would start riots and other forms of large-scale civil disobedience, and finally the whole system would collapse. The country would become vulnerable to attack by other countries, and warfare would result. He cited the fall of several societies, like the Greeks, Romans, and Mayans, as evidence that his organization’s system works. He was so proud of the overall plan, he kept referring to it as ‘the logic of evil.’ He said people expect evil to be random and emotional—without reason. His organization is exactly the opposite. Everything is based on calm logic and statistics, and emotion is supposed to be totally removed from its actions.”
Gabe ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled through pursed lips. “But I still don’t see why they’d want to do all this stuff?”
Father Costello shrugged his shoulders. “A lot can be made from chaos, both politically and financially.”
“Damn. You think all this is happening now? Seems a bit far fetched to me.” A feeling of panic swept Gabe’s torso. His mind jumped back to the strange gas station he visited on his first trip to Chicago. The liberal use of the middle finger. The man begging for change and the monitors in the convenience markets.
Recent events from the news came up: a U.S. President who lied about extramarital sex, officials at major corporations who fleeced shareholders and lied about it. More examples flew to the front row of his consciousness, but he stopped the parade by slamming his hand down on the table.
Father Costello jumped. “Something wrong?”
“No. My mind’s just playing tricks on me.” He rolled his head around, stretching his neck, and he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. The faces of Doctors Ewing and Freedman peered in through the glass pane of the day room door.
“It’s them two doctors who kept me from coming up earlier,” Gabe said. “I’ll go give them a piece of my mind.”
“No. Let me handle this.” Father Costello pushed his chair back and stood up. “Excuse me.”
The priest slipped into the hall and closed the door behind him. Gabe could hear him speak, but he couldn’t make out the words. But he could tell it was a one-way conversation. When the door opened again, he saw the two doctors rushing to the elevator. Whatever he said to them sure got their attention.
Father Costello walked to the table, but instead of sitting, he stood next to the window and stared out. Gabe pushed his chair over so he could see as well, and within a short time, the two young doctors rushed out of the building, climbed into a red BMW, and sped away. With their departure, Father Costello sat down.
“Now, where were we?”
“I got a question,” Gabe said. “You sure Deena Lee’s baby’s the one Thibideaux wants, and not some other one, like Teddy’s?”
“I don’t know this Teddy you refer to. Is he happily married? Is he religious?”
“Yeah. Teddy Jr. was just baptized. Thibideaux was there.”
“Like I said before, if a child comes from a stable family, the percentage of successful training by Hughes’ organization is too low. They need around seventeen percent to maintain the exponential trajectory of their program. Also, with a stable family background, even for just the first few months of a child’s life, the ones that fail in their training don’t make good Triple O’s. They come back into society as normal citizens and don’t cause trouble. Hughes actually showed me another graph that plotted ‘individual training success potential’ against what he called ‘Triple O potential.’ The relationship was linear. The greater the training potential, the better Triple O the ones who fail turn out to be. So, Teddy’s child would be a total waste of time for the organization. If they invested time in him, the odds are he would fail training. Then he would go out and be useless to them because he wouldn’t be a functional Triple O. As far as Deena Lee’s child, my guess is that the father of her child was a Triple O. You see, one group of children with both a high success rate for training and a high Triple O potential come from one parent who is a Triple O and one who is not. That’s why they are targeted by the organization.
Gabe was angry he couldn’t open even a slim possibility that Cory Dean was safe. And he was still disturbed by the baby thing. “Why babies?”
Father Costello looked up from his notes and seemed to stare right through Gabe. “I remember Hughes’ explanation really well. He cited specific statistics, but I’ve given you enough numbers for now. It seems children are most vulnerable to being taken for a brief period in their early lives. They can’t be taken while they are totally dependent on their mothers, although to the organization, this includes only the first few weeks or months of life—usually until they are weaned. Even for the organization, the mother-child bond is important to establish or the individual will not acknowledge the authority of the organization, or of any organization for that matter. Taking them too early results in an extremely low TSR. Also, the children must be taken before they are of school age, around five years old.”
“Why’s that?” Gabe said.
Father Costello continued to stare beyond Gabe. “The way Hughes explained it to me, from birth through the beginning of school, knowledge is gained at an alarming rate. Young children are like sponges. They absorb everything. The organization wants to get them in this period so their training potential is maximized. But this is also the age of innocence. Their experiences are usually limited to those of family and immediate surroundings. As experiences are gained outside of the immediate family circle, there is also loss of innocence. In other words, they become exposed to outside influences that are both good and bad. Through these experiences, the children develop wisdom, but increased wisdom and loss of innocence go hand-in-hand. Hughes said the training potential of children who have reached this trade-off point drops precipitously because the balance between gained wisdom and loss of innocence is too variable, and impossible to predict. Now, if you put all of this together, the best time to take the children is when they are the youngest. That way, the organization will be all they ever know. They will have no memories earlier than those of the organization. It will be their emotional anchor.”
A crowd had gathered in the hallway outside the day room, all spectators clad in the white uniforms of nurses and orderlies. One of the men opened the door and entered, carrying a metal meal tray in each hand. He slid a tray in front of Father Costello, watching his reaction. He placed the other in front of Gabe.
“How about a snack?” the orderly said. “We thought you’d be getting hungry since you didn’t get much at lunch.”
Father Costello smiled. “Thank you.”
The orderly’s eyes widened and he gave a broad smile. “You’re welcome, and welcome back.”
“Thank you kindly.” Gabe’s politeness was ignored.
Father Costello turned to the gathering crowd and gave a backward flip of his right wrist. The observers immediately dispersed from the hallway. Gabe waited until they were all gone before he forwarded his next question.
“What can we do to stop Thibideaux from taking Cory Dean? He and his momma are both special to me.”
Father Costello’s expression turned pensive. “Hughes inadvertently gave me some hints about that when he was bragging to me. It all centers on baptisms. He can’t take the children after they are baptized, no matter how young or old they are. Baptism significantly drops both TSR and Triple O potential of children. So there is a small window of opportunity for Hughes, between the first sign of independence from the child’s mother and the baptism. Also, he can’t take a child unless one of the parents offers the child voluntarily. That’s why having a Triple O for a parent is so important. In a situation like Deena Lee’s, the Triple O parent is not around, so the baptism is the prime time to get the child. You see, in most baptism ceremonies, the mother passes the child off to the godparents. At that moment, the mother has intentionally given the child to the care of another, not just the body, but the soul as well. This is different than transferring the care of the child to a babysitter or teacher. Hughes really liked the symbolism of the baptism transfer. Anyway, at the time of transfer, Hughes makes something in the church fall on the mother, to either kill her or cause her to be severely injured. That stops the ceremony, and in all the confusion, he snatches the baby and is off with his prize. He claimed he came up with the technique, and that it was extremely successful.”
Gabe pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes tight. “Why don’t he just kill the parents straight away and take the baby?” He dropped his hand to the table and opened his eyes.
Father Costello thumbed through one of the stacks of papers in front of him. “They have specific rules about killing people. They have to maintain a low profile in society, so none of their people are allowed to kill a citizen directly. They have to do it indirectly, like causing something to fall on the person. So they always have a chance to escape.”
“Or like with lightning, or an earthquake, or falling rocks?”
Father Costello frowned. “Yes, if the recruiter had the power to make those happen. But the rules are specific on a few other points. Let’s see … oh, yes. Here we are. They’re not allowed to kill religious people under any circumstances.” He looked up from the papers. “That’s why I’m here. And they’re not allowed to kill children before they’re of school age. To take them during the age of innocence draws too much attention to the recruiters and the organization.”
“Wait a minute, Father.” Gabe was excited. “That last part. I think I have something there. If I recall correctly, everyone in Press’ family was killed except his daughter. She was three or four. They was killed by lightning. And the family that was killed by an earthquake—all killed except a daughter, also three or four. That fit with what you’re saying?”
Father Costello nodded. “That would fit.”
“Hold on.” Gabe’s excitement faded as quickly as it had come on. “It’s not all good. Another family was killed by a twister. All dead, including a young one under five. That screws up the whole thing.”
“Was there anything unusual about that last family?
Were they religious?”
Gabe thought for a few seconds. “Now that you mention it, they never came to church. They kept to themselves. People had it they was non-believers. That make a difference?”
“All the difference in the world,” Father Costello said with a smile. “The one exception to the under five rule is if the family is atheist or agnostic. They don’t bother to spare those children. Kind of ironic, I think. And they’re not interested in them as recruits for training. For some reason, their TSR is dismal. I can find the number if you want it.”
“That’s okay, Father.” Gabe held his hands up in a double stop sign. “No more numbers.” He slapped his palms flat on the table. “So you’re saying Thibideaux’s going to snatch Cory Dean when Deena Lee hands him off to Teddy’s wife—she’s the godmother. And then Thibideaux’ll bring harm to Deena Lee? How about if Deena Lee doesn’t give Cory Dean up during the ceremony? If she just holds him through it. Thibideaux can’t get the baby, right?”
“Sorry, but that won’t do it. Even if she doesn’t give up the child physically, she does it symbolically. She agrees to give the child’s soul to another, and not just to the godparents, but to God—that’s the main theme of the ceremony. That’s when Hughes steps in—when the child’s soul is given, but before the ceremony is complete. That’s what excites him about the plan. He said it feels like he’s snatching the child from the very hands of God. Besides, if Deena Lee holds the child while Hughes pulls off his trick, there’s a chance the child will be hurt as well.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t have the baby baptized,” Gabe said in frustration.
Father Costello straightened in his chair. “No, that would be worse. There are many other ways to get a child before school age. If you can get through the baptism, the child will be protected from apprehension. You need to find some way to prevent Hughes from getting the child at the baptism.”
“How can I do that? You got all this information, but no ideas?”
Father Costello looked down at the notes and shook his head. “I’m afraid I don’t have an answer to that one. It’s something you’ll have to think of. Hughes seemed to think the system was infallible.”
“So you can’t give me any more help on this?” Gabe said, nearly pleading.
“Sorry Gabe. I didn’t come out on top in my experience with Hughes, so I can’t give any definitive hints.”
Gabe felt sick. All this information, but no solution. On the other hand, there had to be some answer in there. He’d just have to think about it for a while. But another matter edged into his mind.
“While I’m here, Father, I have one more question for you.”
“What’s that?”
Gabe adjusted his position in his chair so he could comfortably lean forward with his elbows on the table.
“What’d you do to get involved with Thibideaux, or Hughes, and make you keep quiet for all this time?”
The priest seemed to experience a wave of recognition, then resignation. “I guess it’s part of my penance to explain it to you. Please don’t think less of me. Try to see the higher goals of my actions.”
“I’m not sure what you mean, but I’ll try to see it your way.”
“Thank you.” Father Costello looked down at his hands, and his shoulders slumped. He took a long breath and let it out slowly. His eyes stayed on his hands. “I became involved with Hughes because of something I did, which was a moral failure on my part.” He paused again. “I became romantically involved with a young girl from Rother County. She was only sixteen at the time and she became pregnant with my child.”
Gabe’s eyes opened wide and he leaned farther forward. “So you do have a child?”
“Let me finish, Gabe. This is very difficult for me.” Father Costello seemed to be getting smaller. He took another long breath. “I wasn’t Hughes’ primary target. But when he found out about us, he recognized what a great prize my child would be to the organization. You see, the mother wasn’t a Triple O. My child became a highly significant secondary target for Hughes and his organization—a CSC with a Priest for a father was a trophy of the highest priority.
Gabe wasn’t sure how to react. Priests were human, but they weren’t supposed to do that kind of thing. But even that didn’t justify Thibideaux trying to swipe the child. He felt a light twinge in his abdomen. He pictured a grown Cory Dean, snatching babies for Thibideaux’s organization.
“When the baby was born, and still in the hospital with the mother, Hughes came to me and told me most of the information I have relayed to you today. I guess he couldn’t resist rubbing it in. He also gave me a warning. He told me he could detect a baptism from tens of miles, so I wouldn’t be able to baptize the child in the hospital and avoid his plan for apprehension of the baby. He also told me that once a baby was born, he could detect its heartbeat, so there was no way I could sneak the baby out of the hospital without him knowing it. He told me I would just have to accept the fact that my daughter would become a high-ranking member of his organization. He viewed it as the ultimate irony.” Father Costello took another deep breath, but didn’t let it out right away. “I couldn’t allow my child to be used that way, so I had to find a way to defeat Hughes regardless of how drastic the method.”
