{
    "title": "BLACK LANTERN Assessment of CONRADIN",
    "date": "2020-07-19 06:00",
    "reportcode": "GT/GH-200719-085260716",
    "url": "https://teeth.zarquan.fyi/reports/gt-gh-200719-085260716/index.json",
    "description": "△▼△TOP SECRET//SI//DGO△▼△",
    "content": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReport No:\u003c/strong\u003e GT/GH-200719-085260716\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLocation:\u003c/strong\u003e Calvert Exchange, Baltimore, Maryland\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAgents:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy Banks, Drug Enforcement Administration\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDr. Louis Ming, neuroscientist\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnst Baldkar, senior computer science analyst, RAND Corporation\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReverend Jeremiah “Jerry” Arnoldson, Federal Bureau of Prisons\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSummary:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe provisional analysis team continued its examination of the BLACK LANTERN document cache concerning the PARKER CROWN phenomenon and the online identity CONRADIN. The team established a documented chain connecting former Cornucopia House resident Conrad Hopko to Jacob Tillman, later Esau Tillman, and from Tillman to CONRADIN. Current evidence placed Tillman within Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations near El Paso, Texas, including a probable clandestine detention facility located at the Franklin Harvey Water Reclamation Plant.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team further identified connections among Tillman, the private security contractor Lafferty Youth Facilitation Force, ICE child-separation operations, Cornucopia House survivor Nika Chilikov, ghostwriter ScribeLife420, and two prospective ICE recruits displaying predatory or extremist characteristics.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the analysis, coordinated animal behavior occurred inside and around the secured office. Pigeons repeatedly struck an exterior window, rats gathered within the ventilation system, and a large rat swarm later entered the document room and attacked the agents. Blood deposited by the rats marked only the words “GO,” “TO,” and “HIM” across multiple documents.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team completed a preliminary identification of CONRADIN and began preparing recommendations for Agent Merrick’s scheduled Monday morning briefing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOperation Report:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe agents resumed analysis during the afternoon of the second day of their assigned weekend review.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgent Banks examined the BLACK LANTERN guidance concerning persons affected by PARKER CROWN. The available material contained no standing order to detain, terminate, or otherwise neutralize such individuals. The guidance emphasized caution and indicated that the Program lacked a reliable understanding of the phenomenon or an established response protocol.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team reviewed references to deceased MASTICATE member Matthew McCarter appearing on security footage after his confirmed death. The documents contained no formal theory involving duplication, temporal displacement, or multiple versions of McCarter. Relevant cross-references appeared to be restricted or redacted.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBalkar reviewed financial and employment documents connected to Jacob or Esau Tillman:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA 2016 federal tax return listed an El Paso, Texas, residence.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA 2016 income form documented freelance employment by Lafferty Youth Facilitation Force.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA 2018 tax-identification request originated from offices associated with the Franklin Harvey Water Reclamation Plant north of El Paso.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eICE appeared to be routing Tillman’s compensation through the El Paso Service Processing Center for work at an unlisted detention facility operating from the reclamation plant.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team identified Lafferty Youth Facilitation Force, abbreviated LYF and marketed as “Life Force,” as a registered private company owned by Kyle Lafferty and operated by his son, Chasen Lafferty. The company held subcontracting relationships with ICE.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe agents confirmed that Jacob Tillman legally changed his first name to Esau in 2011 at approximately seventeen years of age. Material written by Tillman’s father described Jacob’s childhood disappearance, recovery, severe language deprivation, later development, and the father’s religious conversion immediately before their reunion.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe name change was compared with the biblical account of Jacob and Esau. The agents noted that Jacob became Israel and served as the ancestor of the tribes of Israel, while Esau became associated with Edom and opposition to Jacob’s descendants. No direct operational conclusion was reached from the name selection.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team reviewed FBI interview material from Lee Jarnigan. Jarnigan identified CONRADIN as the man he knew as Tillman. Jarnigan had assisted Tillman in obtaining employment with ICE. He later contacted federal authorities after Tillman attempted to place two additional men, Alan Rapp and Terry Smedley, within the agency.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgent Banks located an investigative article concerning ICE activity at Providence Children’s Hospital in El Paso. The article reported the following:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eICE personnel removed infants from the hospital nursery during nighttime hours.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHospital employee Jacob Montgomery Baxter reported the removals to local police without receiving an effective response.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBaxter confronted a young ICE agent identified as Tillman while Tillman prepared accommodations for unaccompanied minors.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman stated that the children were unaccompanied because he had arrested their mothers for illegal entry.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman asserted that the arrests gave him responsibility for taking the children into protective custody.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHaitian and Salvadoran communities reportedly referred to Tillman as “The Babysitter” or “El Niñero.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eApproximately 700 children had been separated from their parents under the relevant policy, though the available evidence did not establish how many were personally handled by Tillman or where individual children were transferred.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile the agents discussed the child removals, movement was heard inside the office ventilation system. Agent Banks drew his weapon and moved away from the vent. Arnaldson illuminated the interior with a flashlight and observed a large rat immediately behind the grille. Additional reflected eyes revealed numerous rats farther inside the duct. The animals watched the agents before turning and withdrawing simultaneously.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShortly afterward, repeated impacts struck an exterior window six or seven stories above ground level. Balkar moved to an adjacent uncovered window and observed approximately fifteen to twenty pigeons flying directly into the covered meeting-room window. Most fell from view after impact. Several deflected from the glass and fell toward the street. The impacts ceased after the rats withdrew from the ventilation system.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgent Banks compared these events with the BLACK LANTERN description of PARKER CROWN markers. Relevant indicators included:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCases involving abused, deprived, captive, or terrorized children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePurposeful, symbolic, or coordinated animal activity.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePredators hunted or destroyed through animal, child, or agent proxies.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSurvivors of childhood abuse becoming later vectors, cultists, predators, or operational attractors.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAgents experiencing animal fixation, predatory impulses, sensory abnormalities, or heightened coincidence.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMessages delivered through coincidence or technological malfunction.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRepeated imagery involving mouths, teeth, hunger, meat, blood, and consumption.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team recovered the original employment applications Tillman had sent to Jarnigan. Tillman had instructed Jarnigan to complete or improve them. Residual metadata preserved portions of the applicants’ original answers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlan Rapp’s application included statements indicating:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe believed ICE personnel were conducting concealed activities “behind those walls.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe wished to be admitted into those activities.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe expected to exist “in young skin” within five years.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe described creating a heaven behind confinement.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe stated that he had abandoned plans for a school shooting after seeing a more enduring opportunity within ICE.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTerry Smedley’s application included statements indicating:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe blamed the loss of prior employment on a coordinated left-wing and media campaign.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe expressed white-supremacist beliefs.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe advocated the preservation of a racially “pure” American population.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe presented himself as aligned with militant nationalist causes.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBalkar conducted an extended automated search for information concerning Smedley. The search identified a Terry Smedley associated with a Midwestern militia and neo-Nazi organization. A journalist had infiltrated and exposed the group during the early 2000s. The available information was consistent with the applicant but did not independently establish identity beyond reasonable doubt.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo unique identification of Alan Rapp was obtained. Multiple persons shared the name, and the team lacked direct access to current ICE employment records.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe agents examined references to the names Cole and Clovis. BLACK LANTERN material identified Agent Cole as the Delta Green operative who originally directed Working Group MASTICATE toward the Cornucopia House investigation. The woman operating as Agent Cole later used the identity Crystal Killian in Florida.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClovis was associated with the childhood of Jacob Tillman. The agents found insufficient evidence to determine whether Clovis and Agent Cole were the same individual.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team also identified a recurring literary connection. Former Cornucopia House children encountered in Miami had formed a street cult using the name Shredni Vashtar, a figure from “Sredni Vashtar,” a story contained in \u003cem\u003eThe Chronicles of Clovis\u003c/em\u003e. The relationship among Clovis, Agent Cole, and this literary reference remained unresolved.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe agents confirmed that former Cornucopia House resident Nika Chilikov remained employed at the King Torino Children’s Refuge in Charlotte, North Carolina. No obituary or recent public report indicated her death or disappearance.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTillman had previously contacted Chilikov concerning her academic work and referred her to the ghostwriter ScribeLife420. Their known contact appeared limited, but both had resided at King Torino after the closure of Cornucopia House. The team possessed no direct record of their private communications.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team examined Chasen Lafferty’s public professional profile. Lafferty operated Life Force and had previously shared a residence with Tillman. The company supplied private security services, including a program called School Shield for elementary and middle schools.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA video associated with School Shield showed a Life Force security officer using a conducted-energy weapon on an elementary-school child, then restraining the child in handcuffs. The incident had recently received renewed public attention and caused Life Force to lose contracts. Additional complaints alleged unnecessary or excessive force by company personnel.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe agents discussed conducting surveillance of the Franklin Harvey Water Reclamation Plant and locating current residences for Tillman and his associates. The team possessed Tillman’s older El Paso address but had not been assigned field authority, operational cover, or a mandate to conduct an investigation outside the document review.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe assigned task remained to determine whether CONRADIN was Conrad Hopko and whether the individual constituted a threat requiring Delta Green attention. The agents agreed that the available evidence strongly supported both conclusions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt approximately 0100 hours Sunday, the team suspended analysis and established sleeping areas in nearby offices. Agent Merrick was expected to return at 0800 hours Monday to receive the findings.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt approximately 0400 hours, the agents awoke to extensive rustling, scraping, and movement inside the meeting room containing the BLACK LANTERN materials.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBalkar opened the meeting-room door. Dozens of rats filled the room. The animals immediately rushed through the opening and swarmed the agents. Rats climbed their legs, scratched exposed skin, and inflicted multiple small bites. The agents withdrew down the hallway and physically removed the animals from their clothing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rats did not pursue the agents beyond the immediate area. They dispersed through the office, followed walls, entered adjacent rooms, and disappeared beneath doors. Several dead or injured rats remained in the hallway.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe meeting room had been extensively disturbed:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDocuments and books had been scattered across the table and floor.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePapers had been torn, chewed, or partially shredded.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRat feces covered portions of the room and work surface.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSmall blood smears appeared on multiple exposed pages.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNo document appeared completely destroyed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBalkar examined the blood markings and determined that every marked word was one of three words: “GO,” “TO,” or “HIM.” Not every occurrence of those words had been marked, but no other words bore equivalent blood traces. When placed in sequence, the markings formed the message:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGO TO HIM.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe agents resumed preparation of their report.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe accumulated records established the following identity chain:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConrad Hopko was removed from Cornucopia House in 2001.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHopko was transferred with other children to King Torino Children’s Refuge.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAn FBI kidnapping investigation traced the missing Jacob Tillman to King Torino.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJacob Tillman was reunited with his father.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman’s father documented the boy’s later development through memoirs and an evangelical homeschooling enterprise.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJacob changed his name to Esau Tillman.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman used ScribeLife420 to assist with academic work and graduation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman maintained contact with Nika Chilikov and referred her to the same ghostwriter.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman developed a relationship with Chasen Lafferty and Life Force.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman entered ICE after receiving assistance from Jarnigan.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEmployment records placed Tillman at the Franklin Harvey Water Reclamation Plant.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJarnigan identified Tillman as CONRADIN.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCONRADIN’s communications and actions remained connected to Cornucopia House survivors, child detention, abusive institutions, and the recruitment of additional predators.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team concluded that Conrad Hopko, Jacob Tillman, Esau Tillman, and CONRADIN were the same individual to a high degree of confidence.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team also reviewed BLACK LANTERN’s historical comparison between PARKER CROWN and disputed accounts of the Black Rites of Bast in ancient Egypt. Those accounts described priests deliberately raising children under conditions of deprivation, pain, and terror. The children became bait for monsters, identified monsters for destruction, or drew human proxies capable of confronting them. At the end of their service, the priests acquired new children and perpetuated the process.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe pattern described a continuing chain in which abused children attracted predators and protectors, survived into adulthood, and became the agents responsible for creating the next generation of victims.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe only previously documented Egyptian-language connection within MASTICATE’s operational history involved Steel Monroe. During an encounter in Florida, Monroe experienced a vision and phonetically recited material later tentatively identified as Middle Egyptian. A recording or transcription of that event had entered Program custody.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe agents ended the session preparing to determine what findings and anomalous experiences would be disclosed to Agent Merrick.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAnalysis and Recommendations:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe identification of CONRADIN as Conrad Hopko should be treated as operationally sufficient. Further documentary review is unlikely to produce evidence materially stronger than the combined FBI, financial, educational, testimonial, and employment records already recovered.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Franklin Harvey Water Reclamation Plant should be considered a probable active PARKER CROWN site. Tillman’s employment, Life Force’s ICE contracts, reports of concealed child detention, and the recruitment of Rapp and Smedley indicate that the facility may combine captive children, institutional secrecy, ideologically motivated personnel, and individuals seeking predatory access.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn immediate external surveillance package should be established before any contact with Tillman. Recommended collection priorities include:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCurrent staffing and shift records for the reclamation plant.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eICE and Life Force personnel assigned to the site.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVehicle, prisoner, and child-transfer movements.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUtility usage inconsistent with the plant’s declared function.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMedical, food, sanitation, and bedding deliveries.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMissing-child records associated with El Paso-area family separations.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCurrent addresses and communications for Tillman, Chasen Lafferty, Alan Rapp, and Terry Smedley.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConstruction plans identifying concealed holding areas, tunnels, drainage access, or chambers outside normal plant operations.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRapp’s application suggests an expectation of bodily transformation, rejuvenation, or replacement through access to confined children. His reference to “young skin” should not be treated as rhetorical without further investigation. Smedley’s background indicates ideological motivation sufficient to conceal or participate in mass abuse without requiring unnatural influence.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLife Force should be investigated as more than a commercial intermediary. Its access to schools, juvenile facilities, ICE sites, and children creates a distributed acquisition and screening network. The company’s documented use of excessive force may represent normal institutional brutality, deliberate conditioning, or both.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe coordinated pigeons, ventilation rats, rat swarm, and blood message satisfy multiple PARKER CROWN indicators simultaneously. Their timing demonstrates responsiveness to the agents’ analysis. The phenomenon became active when the team identified Tillman’s connection to detained children and ceased treating the assignment as a purely archival review.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“GO TO HIM” should be considered a directive from the phenomenon rather than reliable intelligence. Compliance may place the agents into the protector-predator cycle described in the Black Rites of Bast. Refusal may produce further coercion. Any deployment should proceed with the assumption that PARKER CROWN is attempting to create or complete an encounter.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll four agents sustained direct animal contact and penetrating wounds. They should receive discreet medical examination, rabies prophylaxis, tetanus assessment, toxicology screening, and monitoring for infection, behavioral changes, sensory abnormalities, sleep disturbance, animal fixation, compulsive hunger, dental symptoms, and predatory ideation. Biological samples from the rats and wound sites should be secured under Program custody.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe damaged BLACK LANTERN materials should be photographed before cleaning. Blood, hair, tissue, feces, and rat carcasses should be collected separately and tested for genetic uniformity, disease, environmental origin, and evidence that the animals came from a single colony. The distribution of blood markings should be reconstructed to determine whether the message was produced through coordinated movement or subsequent selective interpretation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe agents should disclose the full animal incident to Agent Merrick. Omitting it would remove the strongest evidence that PARKER CROWN had detected and responded to the analysis team.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNika Chilikov should be placed under passive surveillance but not contacted until the El Paso site is secured. She remains the only readily located Cornucopia House survivor with a confirmed relationship to Tillman. Contact could alert CONRADIN or activate another segment of the chain.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Black Rites of Bast comparison suggests that Cornucopia House was not an isolated origin point. It may have been one iteration of a self-renewing process. Tillman appears to have moved from victim to custodian and recruiter, using existing federal policy and private detention infrastructure to recreate the conditions that produced him.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWorking Group MASTICATE’s previous exposure should be reviewed before any surviving members are assigned to El Paso. BLACK LANTERN concluded that MASTICATE had become part of the PARKER CROWN cycle. Sending those agents directly toward Tillman may satisfy the phenomenon’s desired pattern.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA separate, compartmentalized surveillance team should confirm the site before MASTICATE or the analysis team is committed. That team should receive no information concerning the blood message and only limited PARKER CROWN context. Divergence between the behavior of informed and uninformed personnel may clarify whether prior knowledge increases susceptibility.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Egyptian-language material produced by Monroe should be compared against the Black Rites of Bast sources. Any lexical overlap involving children, bait, hunting, teeth, hunger, guardianship, or succession should be escalated to A-Cell.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Program should assume that the investigation is no longer observing PARKER CROWN from outside. The office incident indicates that the phenomenon has identified the current agents, communicated through local fauna, and initiated pressure toward direct engagement.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cdetails \u003e\n  \u003csummary markdown=\"span\"\u003eSession Notes\u003c/summary\u003e\n  \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe session opened with a summary of the investigation conducted so far by the newly assembled Delta Green analysis team.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team consisted of:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDEA agent \u003cstrong\u003eAndy Banks\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNeurologist \u003cstrong\u003eDr. Louis Ming\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eComputer scientist \u003cstrong\u003eErnst Balkar\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBureau of Prisons chaplain \u003cstrong\u003eJeremiah Arnaldson\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe four agents had been brought together as strangers and placed in a secured WeWork office to examine the extensive \u003cstrong\u003eBlack Lantern document cache\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheir assignment was to determine:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhether the online figure known as \u003cstrong\u003eConradin\u003c/strong\u003e was actually \u003cstrong\u003eConrad Hopko\u003c/strong\u003e, one of the children rescued from Cornucopia House in 2001.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhether Conradin represented an unnatural threat significant enough to warrant further Delta Green action.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheir examination of the Black Lantern analysis had revealed that \u003cstrong\u003eParker Crown\u003c/strong\u003e was probably not an isolated supernatural incident.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBlack Lantern analysts instead described Parker Crown as a recurring cycle involving:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAbused or imprisoned children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAdult predators.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDamaged survivors of childhood abuse.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnimals exhibiting unusual or coordinated behavior.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eActs of punishment, revenge, predation, and consumption.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe analysts believed that Working Group MASTICATE may have become part of the Parker Crown cycle merely by investigating and confronting it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Black Lantern material further suggested that Delta Green was no longer observing Parker Crown from outside the phenomenon.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Program had already become entangled in the cycle, and whatever intelligence or force existed behind Parker Crown was probably aware that Delta Green was investigating it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents had also uncovered a connection involving \u003cstrong\u003eNika Chilikov\u003c/strong\u003e, another survivor of Cornucopia House.\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDuring Operation FIFE LIFT, Nika had employed an academic ghostwriter using the name \u003cstrong\u003eScribeLife420\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eScribeLife420 had been referred to Nika by Conradin.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis demonstrated that Conradin had been in at least limited contact with another Cornucopia House survivor.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA roster of the children rescued from Cornucopia House showed that, by 2020, nearly every known survivor was dead.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe sole survivor whose whereabouts remained completely unaccounted for was Conrad Hopko.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe available information increasingly suggested that Conrad Hopko and Conradin were the same person.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFBI interviews with \u003cstrong\u003eLee Jarnigan\u003c/strong\u003e indicated that Conradin had operated under several identities, including \u003cstrong\u003eJacob Tillman\u003c/strong\u003e and later \u003cstrong\u003eEsau Tillman\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJarnigan had assisted Tillman in obtaining employment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJarnigan eventually reported him to federal authorities after Tillman attempted to place two disturbing associates inside ICE.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJacob Tillman’s documented childhood contained major contradictions.\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis father’s memoirs portrayed Jacob’s recovery from profound childhood language deprivation as miraculous.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCritics of those memoirs alleged that Jacob had spent years being moved among abusive institutions.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe available records did not resolve those contradictions, but they reinforced the sense that Jacob Tillman’s history had been repeatedly rewritten or obscured.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJeremiah Arnaldson reviewed the biblical story of Jacob and Esau because of Tillman’s decision to change his first name.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJacob and Esau were brothers in the Book of Genesis.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJacob was the figure who later received the name Israel and became the patriarch associated with the tribes of Israel.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEsau became associated with Edom and was remembered as an adversarial figure in the biblical history of Israel.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe choice to abandon the name Jacob and adopt the name Esau therefore appeared potentially meaningful rather than arbitrary.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents also recalled that Jacob Tillman’s father had written several memoirs centered on:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis own religious conversion.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis efforts to recover his missing son.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis portrayal of himself as an exemplary father.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAccording to the memoir, Tillman’s father underwent a religious conversion in a truck-stop chapel shortly before seeing his son for the first time in seven years.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents noted the possible religious symbolism surrounding Jacob’s name, his father’s conversion, and Jacob’s later adoption of the name Esau.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAndy Banks examined the Black Lantern material for instructions about what agents were expected to do when they identified a person affected by Parker Crown.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy wanted to know whether the Program had an explicit policy requiring the elimination of anyone believed to be a Parker Crown vector.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe made a HUMINT check while reading between the lines of the reports.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe material contained no clear order to arrest, kill, or otherwise neutralize a Parker Crown subject.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe practical guidance amounted to a warning to exercise extreme caution.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe absence of direct instructions implied that the Program did not understand Parker Crown well enough to know how it should be contained.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy asked whether the documents contained any warning about encountering an interdimensional duplicate of a known person.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe reports contained no speculation about alternate dimensions or duplicate individuals.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe only relevant anomaly was the fact that \u003cstrong\u003eMatthew McCarter had appeared on security footage after his confirmed death\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDelta Green possessed a body identified as McCarter through DNA, but the Black Lantern files did not explain how he could subsequently appear on video.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAny additional Delta Green analysis of that footage appeared to have been redacted or withheld above the agents’ clearance level.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eErnst Balkar began closely examining tax and employment records associated with Jacob and Esau Tillman.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA 2016 federal tax return placed Tillman’s residence in \u003cstrong\u003eEl Paso, Texas\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA 2016 Form 1099-MISC listed freelance income from an organization called the \u003cstrong\u003eLafferty Youth Facilitation Force\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIn 2018, a Form W-9 requesting Tillman’s Social Security number had been sent from the offices of the \u003cstrong\u003eFranklin Harvey Water Reclamation Plant\u003c/strong\u003e, north of El Paso.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe records suggested that ICE was routing Tillman’s pay through the \u003cstrong\u003eEl Paso Service Processing Center\u003c/strong\u003e for work performed at an unlisted detention facility operating from the water reclamation plant.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents concluded that the facility might be an undisclosed ICE detention site or black site concealed within or adjacent to the water-treatment complex.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eErnst successfully used Bureaucracy to identify the organization listed in Tillman’s employment records.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnst rolled 29 against a Bureaucracy skill of 50.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Lafferty Youth Facilitation Force was a registered private business.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe company abbreviated its name as \u003cstrong\u003eLYF\u003c/strong\u003e, allowing it to use the name \u003cstrong\u003eLife Force\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLife Force was owned by \u003cstrong\u003eKyle Lafferty\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe company was administered by Kyle’s son, \u003cstrong\u003eJason Lafferty\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAlthough the agents did not possess the underlying contract details, the records indicated that Life Force subcontracted with ICE.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman’s work history therefore connected him to:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA private youth-security contractor.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eICE.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA concealed detention operation at the Franklin Harvey Water Reclamation Plant.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe combination of youth facilities, immigration detention, and Tillman’s Cornucopia House background immediately appeared significant.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe agents confirmed that Jacob Tillman had legally changed his first name to Esau.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe name change occurred in 2011.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman was approximately seventeen years old at the time.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe change was not mentioned in his father’s published accounts of his life.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJeremiah emphasized the biblical relationship between Jacob and Esau.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJacob was associated with Israel, while Esau was associated with Edom and opposition to Israel.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents considered the possibility that Tillman had deliberately rejected the identity his father had imposed on him and selected the name of Jacob’s rival brother.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe team discussed the evidence connecting Conradin, Conrad Hopko, Jacob Tillman, and Esau Tillman.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConrad Hopko was the only Cornucopia House survivor whose current fate remained unknown.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLee Jarnigan had known Conradin as Jacob or Esau Tillman.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJarnigan had helped Tillman gain employment with ICE.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe available FBI interrogation material made it clear that Jarnigan identified Conradin and Tillman as the same person.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents’ working hypothesis became:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConrad Hopko survived Cornucopia House.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHopko was subsequently identified or presented as Jacob Tillman.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJacob later changed his name to Esau Tillman.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEsau operated online as Conradin.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe remaining problem was assembling the records into a sufficiently rigorous chain of evidence for their report.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAndy Banks located a document concerning missing children and ICE activity in El Paso.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe document was an article published by \u003cstrong\u003eJacobin\u003c/strong\u003e and written by journalist \u003cstrong\u003eMontgomery Baxter\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBaxter had been working at or investigating activity around the \u003cstrong\u003eProvidence Children’s Hospital in El Paso\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBaxter reported that ICE personnel were removing infants from the hospital nursery during the night.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe reported the activity to local police, but no meaningful action was taken.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBaxter later confronted a young ICE agent identified as \u003cstrong\u003eAgent Tillman\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman was preparing a suite intended for unaccompanied minors.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhen Baxter asked how Tillman knew the children were unaccompanied, Tillman explained that he had just arrested their mothers for illegal entry.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman stated that the mothers were guilty of a crime and that it was therefore his duty to take custody of the minors for their protection.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAmong Haitian and Salvadoran communities, Tillman had acquired the nickname:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“The Babysitter.”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“El Niñero.”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe article placed Tillman directly within the Trump administration’s family-separation system.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe records cited an estimated total of approximately seven hundred separated children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents did not know how many of those children had been personally seized by Tillman.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey also had no information about where the children taken through Tillman’s operation ultimately went.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe evidence nevertheless showed that Tillman had deliberately entered a government system that gave him access to vulnerable and forcibly separated children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAndy connected Tillman’s actions to statements Lee Jarnigan had attributed to him.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJarnigan recalled that Tillman wanted to work inside ICE for reasons that did not originate within the agency itself.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman had spoken of wanting to:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGet inside the organization.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eServe something outside it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChange the institution from within.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents considered this consistent with the Black Lantern description of Parker Crown.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman had placed himself inside an institution with access to children in captivity, deprived of their parents and legal protection.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents increasingly suspected that the family-separation system was being used to recreate some aspect of Cornucopia House on a much larger scale.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eImmediately after the agents discussed Tillman’s abduction of children, they heard movement inside the office ventilation system.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe noise consisted of scratching and scrabbling in the ducts.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy drew his weapon.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe had taken seriously the Black Lantern warnings concerning anomalous animals and did not want to be surprised by an attack.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe sound seemed to come from something relatively small rather than a person moving through the ductwork.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy remained on the far side of the room, keeping distance between himself and the vent.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe agents then heard impacts against the exterior window of the meeting room.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe first impact was a single heavy strike.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt was followed by several more.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe impacts quickly became a rapid succession of blows against the glass.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBecause the meeting-room windows were covered with an opaque film, the agents could not see what was striking them from inside the room.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe office was six or seven stories above ground, eliminating most ordinary explanations involving animals reaching the outside of the window.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eErnst left the meeting room to investigate from a nearby uncovered window.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt was dark outside.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnst initially had difficulty seeing the source of the impacts.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe eventually identified the objects as pigeons.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe birds were approaching in ones and twos and flying directly into the meeting-room window.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMost struck the glass and disappeared from Ernst’s view, presumably falling immediately.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSome deflected from the window, allowing Ernst to watch them plummet toward the ground.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eApproximately fifteen to twenty pigeons struck the building during the incident.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheir behavior did not appear accidental or limited to a single confused bird.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnst remained at the window and observed the repeated impacts until they stopped.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhile Ernst examined the pigeons, Jeremiah investigated the ventilation duct.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJeremiah shone a flashlight through the slats of the vent.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe made a successful Sanity roll and lost no SAN.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe obtained a clear view of a large rat immediately behind the vent.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAs he adjusted the angle of the flashlight, the beam reflected from numerous additional pairs of eyes deeper inside the duct.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe eyes appeared small and beady, leading Jeremiah to assume that they also belonged to rats.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe rats did not immediately flee from the light.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey remained still long enough for Jeremiah to examine them and for them to appear to examine him in return.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAfter a prolonged moment, the rats all turned at the same time and scurried deeper into the ventilation system.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe movement left Jeremiah looking at a mass of retreating rats.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAt approximately the same time the rats withdrew, the pigeons stopped striking the window.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAndy reviewed the Black Lantern list of recurring Parker Crown indicators in response to the animal activity.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe listed indicators included:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChildren being held in conditions of abuse, deprivation, captivity, or ritualized fear.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnimal attacks or animal behavior that appeared purposeful, symbolic, or coordinated.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAdult predators being hunted or destroyed by animal, child, or agent proxies.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSurvivors of childhood abuse later becoming vectors, cultists, predators, or operational attractors.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAgents experiencing heightened synchronicity, animal fixation, predatory impulses, or sensory abnormalities.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMessages being delivered through coincidence or apparent technological malfunction.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRepeated imagery involving mouths, teeth, hunger, meat, blood, and consumption.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe current investigation already contained several of these markers.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman was connected to children being held in captivity.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe pigeons and rats appeared to be behaving in a coordinated fashion.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe timing of their activity corresponded directly to the team’s discussion of Tillman and the missing children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy made a Sanity roll and succeeded, suffering no SAN loss.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDespite remaining composed, he continued to treat the animal activity as a possible manifestation of Parker Crown rather than an ordinary infestation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhen Ernst returned to the meeting room, he reported what he had observed.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMultiple pigeons had deliberately flown into the same exterior window.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe birds had approached individually or in pairs.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey had continued striking the glass until the rats withdrew from the vent.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJeremiah reported that numerous rats had been watching the team from inside the ventilation system.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents noted that the pigeons and rats had ceased their unusual behavior at nearly the same time.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAlthough several agents attempted to dismiss the incidents as ordinary urban wildlife, the coordination and timing made that explanation increasingly difficult to sustain.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe team returned to identifying the two men whom Tillman had attempted to place inside ICE.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe names were:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTerry Smedley\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAlan Rapp\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe relevant material was recovered from Lee Jarnigan’s confiscated computer drives.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman had sent Jarnigan blank ICE application forms and instructed him to complete them in a way that would allow Smedley and Rapp to be hired.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJarnigan extracted metadata from the PDF files.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThat metadata preserved earlier versions of the applicants’ answers.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents therefore possessed what Jarnigan believed to be the applicants’ original, unedited responses.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe agents read Alan Rapp’s original ICE application answers.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhen asked why he believed he was a good fit for ICE, Rapp wrote that:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe had seen what the organization was.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe knew what its members did “behind their eyes” and “behind those walls.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe believed they were already doing what he wanted to do.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe wanted to be let inside.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhen asked where he saw himself in five years, Rapp wrote about:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBeing inside “young skin.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBecoming “resplendent” like the people already inside the organization.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe world changing.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJoining with them to forge “a heaven behind bars.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhen asked whether a current or former ICE employee had referred him, Rapp wrote that:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe had lost his nerve concerning a planned school shooting.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe had then seen Tillman and ICE.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheir work inspired him to imagine something more enduring and long-term.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRapp’s answers implied:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA desire to occupy or wear another person’s young body.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAn expectation that ICE concealed a secret purpose behind its official operations.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAn interest in prolonged institutional violence against captive children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA previous intention to commit a school shooting.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe agents also read Terry Smedley’s original application answers.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSmedley claimed that he had left his previous employer because he had been targeted by:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAn extremist left-wing misinformation campaign.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe liberal media.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIn his additional comments, he thanked what he called the “real American patriots” running the country.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe denounced “cancel culture.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe wrote that a white and racially pure American people had to be preserved for generations.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUnlike Rapp’s strange and possibly unnatural language, Smedley’s application consisted primarily of explicit white-nationalist ideology.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents nevertheless considered him dangerous and wanted to determine what had frightened Jarnigan during his background check.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSeveral agents attempted to identify Terry Smedley through open-source research.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eInitial Search rolls failed to locate a convincing match.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnst asked to use Computer Science instead of an ordinary search.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe proposed writing a script that could perform a broader automated search and classify the results.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnst rolled 37 against a Computer Science skill of 80 and succeeded.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBy this point, the agents had been working well past midnight and were increasingly tired.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnst completed the script and allowed it to run through available records.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe script eventually located newspaper articles from a Midwestern community.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe articles identified Terry Smedley as a member of a local militia and neo-Nazi organization.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA journalist had infiltrated the group and publicly exposed its members.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe incident occurred in the early 2000s, when the group still attempted to conceal its membership.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe organization belonged to the tradition of violent far-right militias that admired or emulated Timothy McVeigh.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe discovery explained Smedley’s claim that he had been attacked by the left-wing media.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe “attack” had been the public exposure of his participation in a neo-Nazi militia.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe agents attempted to identify Alan Rapp but obtained no definite result.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAlan Rapp was common enough as a name to produce numerous unrelated matches.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team lacked sufficient identifying information to determine which result, if any, belonged to Tillman’s associate.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDelta Green may have possessed access to ICE employment data, but that access had not been granted to this team.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents therefore could not confirm whether Rapp or Smedley had actually been hired by ICE.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe team reviewed the different names involving Cole, Clove, and Clovis.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eClovis\u003c/strong\u003e had been associated with Jacob Tillman as a caretaker.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAgent Cole\u003c/strong\u003e was identified in the available material as the Delta Green agent who originally placed Working Group MASTICATE onto the Cornucopia House investigation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA woman operating under the alias \u003cstrong\u003eCrystal Killian\u003c/strong\u003e had also been connected to the case.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe timeline did not rule out a connection between these identities, but the agents lacked enough information about Crystal Killian’s background to establish one.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe files did not provide a definitive explanation for the repeated use of similar names.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA search for connections to the name Clovis produced information about Cornucopia House survivors in Miami.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA group of children whose behavior matched that of the Cornucopia House survivors had ended up in Miami, Florida.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWorking Group MASTICATE encountered those children there.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe children appeared to have organized themselves into a street cult.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe name \u003cstrong\u003eShredni Vashtar\u003c/strong\u003e had been used in connection with the group.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShredni Vashtar was a name taken from \u003cem\u003eThe Chronicles of Clovis\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents could not determine whether this was a direct clue, a deliberately selected literary reference, or another repeated coincidence within the Parker Crown pattern.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe agents revisited the connection between Nika Chilikov and Conradin.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNika Chilikov had also been a resident of Cornucopia House.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe had later been encountered by Working Group MASTICATE during an incident involving a bear attack.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConradin had contacted Nika because of her academic thesis work.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheir known communication appeared limited.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConradin referred Nika to ScribeLife420, who had previously helped him with his own academic work.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents possessed no direct records of the conversations between Nika and Conradin.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheir knowledge came primarily from:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMASTICATE’s debriefing notes.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNika’s statements during an earlier interview.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCopies of her thesis materials.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNo additional documents in the Black Lantern cache showed a sustained relationship between them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eErnst searched current public records for Nika Chilikov.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHer name was uncommon enough that she was relatively easy to locate.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe was still listed as an employee of the \u003cstrong\u003eKing Torino Children’s Refuge\u003c/strong\u003e in Charlotte, North Carolina.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnst found no obituary or news report indicating that she had died.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe therefore appeared to be one of the few Cornucopia House survivors still alive in 2020.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe agents investigated Jason Lafferty and Life Force through professional and public records.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJason Lafferty was listed as the chief executive of Life Force.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe appeared unusually young for his position.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOther records indicated that Jason and Tillman had previously been roommates.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJason’s public professional profile did not mention that personal connection.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLife Force advertised several security services.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOne of those services was called \u003cstrong\u003eSchool Shield\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSchool Shield provided security personnel to elementary and middle schools.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents located a two-year-old video that had resurfaced and attracted renewed attention in March 2020.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe video showed a School Shield resource officer:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUsing a Taser on an elementary-school student.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHandcuffing the child.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe child appeared to be approximately eight or nine years old.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLife Force had reportedly lost contracts after the video became public.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOther complaints alleged that Life Force personnel regularly used more force than necessary.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJason Lafferty’s professional profile consisted largely of conventional self-promotional corporate language and did not acknowledge these incidents.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBy late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, the agents had assembled a coherent operational theory.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEsau Tillman was likely still working for ICE in or around El Paso.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Franklin Harvey Water Reclamation Plant was a real and publicly visible facility.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSatellite imagery showed the plant at the edge of the city.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe records indicated that an unlisted ICE detention facility operated there.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman’s 2018 tax records provided a residential address in El Paso.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLouis Ming proposed that a future team could:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLocate Tillman’s residence.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConduct surveillance on the water reclamation plant.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIdentify personnel entering and leaving the facility.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDetermine whether Tillman, Rapp, or Smedley were still employed there.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team had not, however, been given field-operation cover identities or authorization to conduct surveillance.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheir formal assignment was limited to analyzing the documents and deciding whether Conradin was Conrad Hopko and whether he represented an unnatural threat.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents agreed that their conclusions were effectively:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYes, Conradin was almost certainly Conrad Hopko.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYes, he represented a threat that Delta Green needed to investigate.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe agents decided to sleep before preparing their formal report.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheir Program contact was expected to return at 8:00 a.m. Monday to receive their findings.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt was approximately 1:00 a.m. Sunday.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents reasoned that Tillman’s activities had continued for years and that waiting until morning would not materially change the situation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey set up cots and sleeping bags in offices near the meeting room.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe office was extremely hot because the air-conditioning was not operating effectively.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnst selected an interior room without an exterior window.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe checked the vent and confirmed that the slats were too narrow for a rat to pass through.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe used the vent lever to restrict the airflow.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnst slept with the light on.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team obtained only intermittent and uncomfortable sleep.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAt approximately 4:00 a.m., the agents were awakened by noises from the meeting room.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey heard:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRustling.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eScrabbling.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClattering.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe movement of many small bodies.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe meeting-room door was closed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe quantity of noise made it clear that numerous creatures were moving inside.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents gathered in the hallway outside their temporary sleeping rooms.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnst approached the meeting room and opened the door.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOpening the meeting-room door revealed that the room was filled with rats.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEveryone with a view of the room was required to make a Sanity roll.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA successful roll caused no SAN loss.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA failed roll would have caused the loss of one SAN.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDozens of rats were running frantically throughout the room.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAs soon as Ernst opened the door, the rats surged into the hallway.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey swarmed around the agents’ feet.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey climbed up the agents’ legs.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents felt the rats scratching and biting them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents attempted to knock the animals away and retreat from the doorway.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOnce the agents moved away from the meeting room, the rats did not pursue them as a unified swarm.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eInstead, they dispersed throughout the office.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRan down hallways.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFollowed the edges of the walls.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eScrambled beneath doors.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVanished into the larger office space.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSeveral rats were killed or injured when the agents kicked or struck them during the attack.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe injured animals remained in the hallway after the rest had scattered.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe agents discovered that the rats had deliberately disturbed the investigative material.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe papers and books arranged across the meeting-room table had been scattered.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSome pages had been pushed onto the floor.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMany documents had been chewed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShreds and tatters of paper were distributed around the room.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRat feces covered portions of the table, floor, and documents.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSmall smears of blood appeared on several exposed pages.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe material did not initially appear to have been completely destroyed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe damage was extensive enough that the team would have to reorganize and carefully inspect the evidence.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe agents examined themselves after the attack.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAll four had suffered numerous small wounds.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe scratches and bites were concentrated on:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheir lower legs.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheir thighs.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheir hands, depending on how they had attempted to knock the rats away.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe injuries proved that the earlier animal behavior had escalated from observation and intimidation to a direct physical attack.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eErnst noticed a pattern in the bloody marks left on the documents.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler called for an Intelligence check.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnst rolled 65 against an Intelligence score of 80 and succeeded.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAt first, the blood looked like random smears made by rat paws or bodies.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAs Ernst examined multiple pages, he realized that the marks repeatedly crossed individual printed words.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe marked words were not random.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEvery word marked in blood was one of the same three words.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe words could be arranged into the message:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Go to him.”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNot every printed occurrence of “go,” “to,” or “him” had been marked.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHowever, every word that had been marked belonged to that three-word message.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe pattern appeared across multiple separate documents rather than a single page.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnst carefully reviewed everything that had been left exposed on the table.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe same pattern held throughout the damaged material.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe rat attack had therefore delivered a direct instruction to the agents through the documents they were studying.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDespite the attack and the message, the agents continued preparing their report.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey still lacked field authorization to travel to El Paso or arrest Tillman.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey intended to recommend that another team locate and investigate him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey considered whether to disclose:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe coordinated pigeon strikes.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe rats watching them from the ventilation system.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe overnight swarm.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe bites and scratches.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe bloody message instructing them to go to Tillman.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheir eventual level of candor would be decided when they presented their findings to their Program contact.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAndy continued assembling the definitive chain linking Conrad Hopko to Esau Tillman.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe records established that, in 2001, Conrad Hopko was removed from Cornucopia House.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHopko and several other children were sent to the \u003cstrong\u003eKing Torino Children’s Refuge\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAt the same time, the FBI was conducting a kidnapping investigation concerning a missing child named Jacob Tillman.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe investigation located Jacob at King Torino.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJacob was subsequently reunited with his father.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis placed:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConrad Hopko at King Torino.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJacob Tillman at King Torino.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBoth children there at the same time and under circumstances indicating that they were the same person.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe connection also explained how Jacob would have known Nika Chilikov, who had likewise been placed at King Torino after Cornucopia House.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFBI records therefore connected Conrad Hopko directly to the identity Jacob Tillman.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe later records traced Hopko and Tillman through adolescence and adulthood.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJacob’s father published memoirs about recovering and rehabilitating his son.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe father also operated an evangelical homeschooling business.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThose materials documented Jacob’s apparent development after years of severe language deprivation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJacob eventually developed enough spoken and written language to attend college.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe legally changed his first name from Jacob to Esau.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe employed ScribeLife420 to help complete his academic work.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWith that assistance, he graduated.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThrough personal and professional connections, he became involved with Jason Lafferty and Life Force.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLife Force’s ICE contracts gave Esau access to the immigration detention system.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEsau was subsequently placed at the Franklin Harvey Water Reclamation Plant, where ICE appeared to operate an unlisted detention facility.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe participated in the family-separation program and personally took custody of children after arresting their mothers.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents had no reliable record of what happened to those children after Tillman took them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe team identified numerous ways in which circumstances had repeatedly favored Tillman.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis identity had changed several times.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRecords from his childhood were incomplete and contradictory.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe transition from Conrad Hopko to Jacob Tillman had been poorly documented.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis father’s memoirs provided a simplified and self-serving narrative that obscured much of Jacob’s earlier life.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe later name change from Jacob to Esau further complicated efforts to trace him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDespite this fractured history, Tillman encountered almost no resistance during his ICE background investigation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eICE either failed to locate his contradictory history or chose not to investigate it closely.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe obtained access to a system containing large numbers of captive and vulnerable children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents considered this accumulation of improbable advantages to be another likely indication of Parker Crown.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe agents’ principal conclusion was that Conradin, Conrad Hopko, Jacob Tillman, and Esau Tillman were the same person.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe FBI records linking Hopko and Jacob at King Torino provided the strongest identity connection.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJarnigan’s testimony connected Jacob and Esau Tillman to Conradin.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eScribeLife420’s records linked Conradin to Nika Chilikov and Tillman’s academic history.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTax, employment, and journalistic records placed Esau Tillman inside ICE’s El Paso operations.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents concluded that the identification was supported to a high degree of confidence, even though no single surviving document explicitly listed every alias together.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe agents also concluded that Tillman represented a serious unnatural and operational threat.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe was a survivor of Cornucopia House.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe displayed several Parker Crown indicators.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe had deliberately embedded himself in an institution that imprisoned and separated children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe had unexplained influence over hiring and background investigations.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe attempted to recruit Alan Rapp and Terry Smedley, both of whom were overtly dangerous.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis activities corresponded with coordinated animal behavior directed at the investigators.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe rat swarm delivered a direct message telling the agents to go to him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team’s likely recommendation was that Delta Green:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLocate Tillman.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eInvestigate the Franklin Harvey facility.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDetermine the fate of the separated children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIdentify and locate Alan Rapp and Terry Smedley.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eExamine Life Force and the Lafferty family’s involvement.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePrepare for the possibility that the El Paso operation was a deliberate recreation of Cornucopia House.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Handler provided one final connection from the Black Lantern analysis concerning the historical origins of the Parker Crown pattern.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBlack Lantern analysts had compared Parker Crown to a largely discredited account of ancient Egyptian religious practices associated with \u003cstrong\u003eBast\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe relevant tradition was called the \u003cstrong\u003eBlack Rites of Bast\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAccording to the historical account, priests of Bast:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTook children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRaised them under conditions of torture, deprivation, and terror.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUsed some children as bait for monsters.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUsed other children to attract or identify people capable of fighting those monsters.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe system created a repeating chain:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAbused children attracted monsters or predators.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe monsters drew in hunters, protectors, or avengers.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThose people became entangled in the same cycle.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAt the end of their service, the priests found more children and began the process again.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Black Lantern analysts believed this pattern strongly resembled what had occurred around:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCornucopia House.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe quiet children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWorking Group MASTICATE.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe later lives of Cornucopia House survivors.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConradin’s apparent use of separated immigrant children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents inferred that Tillman might be rebuilding or continuing the same system at the El Paso detention site.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRather than merely abusing children, the operation might be creating the next generation of bait, predators, monsters, and agents who would perpetuate Parker Crown.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe team searched MASTICATE’s previous experiences for other Egyptian connections.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMost of the Skoptsi and Magna Mater material remained redacted or compartmentalized.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe clearest Egyptian connection came from a prior incident involving \u003cstrong\u003eSteele Monroe\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDuring the encounter associated with the unnatural biker or “Rider in Yellow,” Monroe experienced a vision or hallucination.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAfterward, he phonetically recited words resembling \u003cstrong\u003eMiddle Egyptian\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMiddle Egyptian was not a living spoken language that Monroe should ordinarily have known.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe recitation had been recorded.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eScholars later attempted to interpret the sounds and tentatively identified them as Egyptian.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe recording was believed to have eventually reached Assistant U.S. Attorney Antonia Pitzerelli.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis incident suggested that the Egyptian material in the Black Lantern report was not based solely on abstract historical comparison.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAt least one earlier MASTICATE operation had produced an apparently genuine and unexplained link to ancient Egyptian language.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe session ended with the agents preparing to decide what they would advocate when presenting their findings.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEach agent needed to determine:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow strongly to recommend immediate intervention.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhether to request authorization for an El Paso operation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhether Tillman should be surveilled, detained, or treated as an unnatural threat.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow much of the animal activity and bloody message to include.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhether the message “Go to him” should be treated as guidance, manipulation, or a trap.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team had completed the analytical portion of its assignment.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheir findings showed that Conrad Hopko had survived under the identities Jacob and Esau Tillman.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe had embedded himself in ICE and gained access to hundreds of separated children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe investigation itself had triggered increasingly direct Parker Crown manifestations.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe next step would be presenting those findings and deciding whether Delta Green would send agents to the Franklin Harvey Water Reclamation Plant in El Paso.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\n\u003c/details\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n"
  }