Free Operation Damocles by Oscar L. Fellows Page A

other displaced Americans who shared our beliefs and customs, just as the Jews, Latinos, Blacks, Vietnamese, Chinese, Cubans, Italians and Poles do in America, wouldn’t we be resented by the indigenous population, and treated as enclaves or cults of deviants?”
    “Not in the true meaning of the word, Beverly, no. These criminals think that the government is persecuting them. They are retaliating against mainstream society because they think that is the only way to change the government.”
    “I want to change the government, too, Dr. Taylor. I want the public to take back control of it from the civil servants. For all I know, you may secretly feel the same way, and just be putting on a pro-government act in order to ease the government’s suspicions about you. Does that mean you could do something like that—kill a bunch of people? I mean, could you, Dr. Taylor, be a closet paranoid who is just putting on an act to appear as a normal, mainstream member of society?”
    Taylor eyed her defensively, trying to recover himself, subdue his anger. “Of course not. Maladjusted people have typical behavior patterns that identify them to the trained professional.” He lost control momentarily, throwing up his hands. “Why are you attacking me? You sound as if you are defending these people.”
    Watkins, coolly, “I’m certainly not defending the killing of innocent people, I’m simply trying to find out what the underlying causes are. Why do you feel that I’m attacking you? Do you feel that I’m out to get you in some way, Dr. Taylor?”
    Taylor eyed her warily before responding. “I don’t know. Are you?”
    “Are you paranoid, Dr. Taylor?”
    “This is ridiculous.” Taylor was beginning to bluster, his face red.
    Watkins, still calm and studious in her regard, “Are you becoming disgruntled with me, Dr. Taylor?”
    “Look, I didn’t come on your program to be publicly humiliated.”
    Said Watkins, straight-faced, “I know you didn’t, Dr. Taylor, you came on my show under false pretenses. You claimed to have some useful insight regarding an event of national concern, and what I’m hearing is dogmatic, biased drivel.
    “I already have an opinion as to why this event has taken place. It is retaliation for the increasing unbridled attacks by police and federal agents on citizens who have committed no crimes against society. Citizens whose property has been confiscated and whose lives have been ruined without so much as a chance to be heard. It is because of policies that encumber and restrict and tax a population that has no other recourse. Freedom is under siege by our government. The rights of the individual are being stripped away in the name of ‘saving the children,’ ‘anti-terrorism’ and the ever-popular ‘war on drugs.’
    “Though the official stance is that these are the acts of terrorist kooks, we all know why this is happening. I’m trying to ascertain why, at this specific time and place, someone feels that change is so urgently needed that they are willing to kill millions of people in order to bring it about overnight. The weapon is here, now, but even the government acknowledges that it could have been put up months, or even years ago. Aside from the technology of the weapon, there is a sense of timing—an underlying knowledge that the public is not privy to. The new federal administration seems to be in some kind of internal upheaval. Agency heads are dropping like flies, and whispers are everywhere, but no one seems to know what is going on. All these events evoke the suspicion that something critical is about to happen. What do you think it is?”
    “That’s what I’m telling you,” Taylor expostulated in frustration, pounding his fist into his hand to the beat of his words. “It’s insanity! There are secret forces at work. They want to overthrow the government. They want to start a civil war. They want a revolution and a return to some mythical nirvana of the