Getting the truth out of Bea was like pulling teeth. Her undeniable loyalty to them was obvious and everything she volunteered was circumspect. For all we knew, her cooperation and confessions were given with the sole purpose of misleading us. Like any effective investigator, we asked a few control questions where we already knew the truth.
From that simple deduction method, we gauged the factualness of her responses and established a ‘statement dependability baseline’. If we had caught her in significant lies, it would’ve cast serious doubts about the questionable disclosures we couldn’t independently verify. While not fool-proof, It was a good sign that she was admitting the truth in matters we had already verified.
Having access to an insider was a golden opportunity for us but the whole scenario was precarious at best. Our window of interrogation was too short. We weren’t prepared to kidnap her indefinitely. Doing that would have opened up another level of logistical problems. We had to act quickly to extract as much data as possible before they missed their official ‘go between’. They’d surely become suspicious if she didn’t ‘check in’ at their predetermined time or place.
I had a roundtable meeting with the senior members of the organization to discuss what our next move should be. The situation was so new and fluid that it felt odd for Beatrice to not be there. Of course our ‘guest of honor’ was safely locked away in the security room. It cut me to the quick that we had a malicious infiltrator in our ranks. One who’d been actively involved in assisting the very enemy we were trying to expose and destroy. There was an important lesson to be learned from such a humiliating experience. Never underestimate them again. I drew from that mistake and posed some tough questions to my esteemed colleagues.
“Do you think we can accept what she tells us at face value? Even if we decide we can believe most of her disclosures, how can we be sure there aren’t important details still being withheld? She’s not likely to volunteer anything significant on her own. I feel she could be coerced into telling us more important details of their species, if we only knew the right questions to ask. It’s one thing to truthfully answer what we put before her. We’d be lucky to achieve that from an enemy combatant but so far she seems to be honest with us. It’s quite another thing to expect full disclosure and transparency. Beatrice is not going to volunteer relevant details out of the blue. We have to figure out those things and ask her, point-blank. Lastly, how long can we reasonably expect to hold her before ‘the Lemurians’ notice her absence? They surely have an agreed upon plan in case her cover is compromised.”
“Make no mistake, keeping anyone restrained and in custody is highly illegal.”; Our legal expert advised in relation to my last question. “Not only is the interrogation itself illegal; it would definitely qualify as torture under several federal statutes. We aren’t law enforcement officers and have no state-sanctioned or elected authority to perform these acts.”
I glared at Jim Campbell with a furious intensity which must have startled several observers at the meeting. He immediately sought to reassure me that he wasn’t against what we were doing (on principle). Only that we were breaking several felony laws and could come under heavy prosecution for our illegal actions.
“We would be labeled as a terrorist organization by the FBI because they don’t believe us yet. Someone will come looking for her eventually. When that happens, we will be in ‘hot water’ for false imprisonment and other federal felony charges. As your legal advisor, it is my duty to remind you and everyone present how serious kidnapping is. Even under these extraordinary circumstances.”
I looked at the man in stunned disbelief. We were at the edge of proving a worldwide conspiracy of murderous lizard-like humanoids, and he was concerned about legal consequences! Clearly, the full impact of our discovery hadn’t registered with some people; but it did trigger a vital follow-up response.
“I’m not criticizing you, or against the proceedings, Megan.”; He tried to reassure me. “Nothing could be further from the truth. I fully support this mission and recognize how crucial it is that we coax the truth out of Beatrice. We ALL do. I just wanted to make it clear that we’ve went rogue. We surpassed serious ideological lines. We’ve rapidly transformed from a philosophical grass-roots, conspiracy exposure organization; to that of radical, violent activists. It’s all happened at such a head-spinning pace for us that we are still trying to come to grips with the abrupt transition. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we truly ‘believed’. Honestly we did, on an intellectual level; but we didn’t REALLY believe. If you know what I mean. Now we are starting to understand the absolute hell you went through with these monsters and what has to be done about them. We just need some time to process it all.”
All of a sudden, the elevated level of seriousness hit me too. I realized how much danger we were in. I’d been so gung-ho to find out what she knew, that I forgot how much they wouldn’t want her to speak! The last time damning evidence was about to be revealed to the public, they slaughtered everyone present to stop it from being released! As harmful as Greg’s announcement would have been to the Lemurians, proving Bea’s involvement with them was far more devastating. They would come for all of us!
“Unfortunately we don’t have time for everyone to adjust to their new level of ‘activism’. We need to move her immediately.”; I exhorted the team. “Not because I’m worried the police will raid this facility and take us to jail. As soon as the Lemurians realize that we’ve uncovered their espionage, they will assault the whole compound and kill everyone here who could be a witness. It’s obvious now why they always seemed to be two steps ahead of us. It’s because they were, and Bea was their secret liaison. I’m enacting protocol 14.”
I looked around at the room full of highly agitated, confused people. It was one of countless memos I had circulated during the past year. Maybe I could forgive them for overlooking the strategic plan but unfortunately Beatrice would still remember it. Since she knew, they probably did also. I had to scrap that idea and find a plan she wasn’t privy to. That wasn’t going to be easy. She had been involved in just about everything.
“We have to immediately relocate to a safe rendezvous location which Beatrice doesn’t know about. The secrecy of our headquarters here has long ago been blown. The only reason everyone present in the room isn’t dead yet is because they were extracting valuable intel about us through their double agent. That is over now. The location of our new headquarters has been ‘whispered on the wind’ several times. Those of you who understood my little hint, tell no one else where it is. Protect your families and make sure you aren’t followed.”
Less than two hours after relocating to the new classified location and destroying our on-site records, the old facility was breached. An army of determined Lemurians raided the old headquarters and ransacked the place. We were smart enough to live stream the whole assault on hidden cameras. The live feed went viral immediately and was watched ten million times before our server crashed from too much traffic.
To say we got out in the nick of time was an understatement. For the astute members who decoded my vague clue to the new headquarters and escaped with their lives, they were absolute believers now. It was real in the grittiest sense of the word.
mymindfudge 