{
    "title": "Tillman Investigation and Planning",
    "date": "2020-07-24 17:00",
    "reportcode": "GT/GH-200724-090260903",
    "url": "https://teeth.zarquan.fyi/reports/gt-gh-200724-090260903/index.json",
    "description": "△▼△TOP SECRET//SI//DGO△▼△",
    "content": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReport No:\u003c/strong\u003e GT/GH-200724-090260903\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\u003eLocation:\u003c/strong\u003e\nEl Paso, Texas\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSummary:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team continued surveillance of the Life Force facility and evaluated methods of stopping Esau Tillman’s activities and recovering children held there. Agents witnessed a young child being separated from a restrained woman and taken inside. Examination of Tillman’s journal disclosed his belief that childhood neurological damage allowed him to retain contact with an unnatural guiding intelligence while acquiring language. His writings linked that intelligence to the Teeth, the black rites of Bast, and the cornucopion described in earlier investigative material.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJesse arranged contact with an independent veteran operative. Pitzerelli returned an earlier inquiry but terminated the conversation without offering assistance. The veteran favored killing Tillman and entering the facility, while the team continued to consider interrogation and the consequences of reproducing the violence associated with Cornucopia House. A windblown brochure identified a possible source of assistance for the children and reintroduced an organization previously encountered by MASTICATE.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe session concluded with a proposal to relocate for detailed planning and weapons preparation. No abduction, interrogation, attack, or rescue occurred.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOperation Report:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOperational position and preliminary options\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt approximately noon on Friday, July 24, the team remained at its desert surveillance position after the earlier search of Tillman’s apartment. Materials already recovered included his journal, neurological articles, and a computerized catalog of individuals associated with severe abuse. Prior drone reconnaissance had identified a rear garage entrance adjoining the facility’s concealed section.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team reviewed a proposed staged traffic collision involving Smedley, followed by his detention, interrogation, and acquisition or duplication of his access credential. No complete follow-on plan had been established. Agents also discussed detaining Tillman and using the motorhome as an interrogation location.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMing’s thermite preparation was confirmed complete. Its use against an entrance would require time and would be conspicuous to anyone nearby. Other options discussed included planting drugs to cause an arrest; disabling air conditioning, electrical power, or telephone service; interfering with cellular communications; exploiting reduced nighttime staffing; forcing the garage entrance with the motorhome; and adapting the drone to carry a grenade. None of these measures was carried out.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanks objected to an uncontrolled armed assault on both practical and unnatural grounds. He questioned the team’s suitability for that operation and expressed concern that using violence to free abused children would repeat the process by which earlier agents became Teeth.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJesse’s scheduled contact\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShortly after noon, Jesse called Jerry’s burner number and instructed him to assume the conversation was being monitored. Using an agreed coded framework, Jerry reported that the target was at the expected location, children were believed present, and the target appeared to have harmful intentions. Banks supplied the additional assessment that the earlier pattern was repeating.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJerry described the facility as isolated from neighboring properties and conveyed the team’s limitations in conducting an intervention. Jesse indicated that she could arrange assistance. Through previously established location codes, she directed the team to a Waffle House at 10:00 a.m. Sunday. Continued observation of personnel and activity was encouraged.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePitzerelli’s response\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eApproximately twenty minutes later, Pitzerelli called the burner Banks had previously used to contact her office. His Monday message had supplied names associated with MASTICATE and requested a return call.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanks identified himself indirectly as belonging to an organization shared with Pitzerelli and as having handled reports concerning her former associates. He expressed concern about their unfinished business. After a pause, Pitzerelli stated that he appeared to have contacted the wrong office and ended the call.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team removed the handset’s battery and placed it in a Faraday bag. Pitzerelli made no further contact during the reporting period.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eObserved child transfer\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShortly after 3:00 p.m. Friday, a large black SUV with darkened windows entered the compound and proceeded to a garage entrance. The doors remained open during a disturbance, allowing the team to observe the occupants being handled.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA handcuffed young woman struggled free sufficiently to emerge or fall from the vehicle. A child approximately two or three years old was removed from her. The woman visibly screamed and resisted the separation, although the surveillance team could not hear her words.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePersonnel took the child farther inside the facility, forced the woman back into the SUV, and drove away. The team did not intervene. This observation confirmed the arrival of a very young child but did not establish the child’s subsequent location within the building.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgents reconsidered contacting the press. They raised concerns that publicity might cause detainees to be dispersed, prompt relocation of the operation, or attract observers who would complicate entry. No press contact was made.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanks also proposed investigating financial misconduct or manipulating financial records to provoke fraud or embezzlement proceedings against facility personnel. No such investigation or intrusion was undertaken during the session.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNeurological material\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMing examined the articles recovered from Tillman’s journal, using internet access provided through Ernie’s improvised communications setup to check unfamiliar material. The papers concerned brain damage and cases involving separation of the cerebral hemispheres.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTillman’s annotations asserted that an elderly woman at the children’s refuge had placed something inside the children’s bodies, damaging them in different ways. He believed his own injury had severed communication between the hemispheres of his brain.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMing found that the described symptoms were consistent with aspects of split-brain syndrome, provided Tillman’s account was accurate. The material contained no identified clinical examination, imaging, or other medical confirmation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTillman believed one hemisphere had learned speech and interpersonal communication through sustained conscious effort, while the other remained connected to a hunter or silent guiding presence. He considered himself unusual in retaining both capacities.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis writings contrasted his condition with that of Nika Chilikov, whom he described as having heard the same silent presence before learning to speak under medical instruction. He believed language acquisition had caused her to lose that connection. He assigned himself responsibility for communicating on behalf of the children, the Teeth, and the silent voice.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMing proposed that killing Tillman might disrupt the connections he appeared to maintain. Banks reiterated that such violence might instead draw the team further into the existing cycle.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eExtended journal examination\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver the following two days, Ming and Ernie read the journal more extensively. Its early sections also functioned as language exercises, documenting Tillman’s persistent difficulty reading, speaking, and understanding conversation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTillman recorded a strong identification with \u003cem\u003eSredni Vashtar\u003c/em\u003e. He attached significance to the similarity between his childhood name and that of the story’s child protagonist. He also connected the story’s animal with a ferret he remembered as his earliest beloved friend and protector. He described that relationship as mutual protection rather than ownership.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLater entries documented impulses and favorable coincidences that Tillman interpreted as guidance. He believed his purpose required following those events. He distinguished his own experience of divine direction from his father’s religious understanding and associated it with the experiences of other Cornucopia House children.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis college-era research combined theology, history, Egyptology, and occult literature. He invoked Bast and the black rites also discussed in Black Lantern, alongside material concerning Atlantis, Lemuria, and the Black Pharaoh.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Tillman’s account, a perpetually hungry, nameless god could be directed toward abusers but would consume its followers if its attention lacked another object. He believed its preferred prey consisted of powers and beings originating beyond humanity’s world. Human activity could draw its attention toward those targets.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTillman also developed an explanation involving quantum mechanics and particles comparable to Cortez’s cornucopion. Whereas Cortez had considered the possibility that another agency used the particles to influence events, Tillman identified the particles themselves as the nearest manifestation of his god within the world.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe journal and Black Lantern had been developed independently, yet contained numerous corresponding ideas. Both readers recognized disturbing implications in those correspondences. Ernie underwent a period of dissociation while reading, staring into the middle distance. Ming continued examining the material and initially did not notice Ernie’s withdrawal.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eImplications discussed by the team\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTillman’s journal supplied little concrete information about daily operations inside the facility or the treatment of the youngest children. It described the current undertaking as a spark intended to start a fire and bring the Teeth to him.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMing interpreted this as an attempt to provoke a violent confrontation. He proposed abducting Tillman and either killing him separately or transferring him to Program custody for neurological examination. He expressed professional interest in studying the claimed condition.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team postponed action until meeting Jesse’s contacts. Discussion distinguished Tillman from his suspected associates: agents believed his role was central but acknowledged that they did not know the full extent of the other personnel’s involvement or what occurred in the concealed section.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree persons of interest were identified, including Tillman and Smedley. Banks favored obtaining information from Tillman and potentially detaining all three. Jerry warned that acting against an associate first might alert Tillman and cause him to relocate. Agents also recognized that removing Tillman alone would not establish the children’s whereabouts or provide for their recovery.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSunday rendezvous\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team arrived at the Waffle House at approximately 10:00 a.m. Sunday. During breakfast, agents noticed two people sitting in a truck across the highway, facing the restaurant. Neither approached.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanks assessed that the pair might intend to follow the team to another meeting location. After approximately forty-five minutes, the agents departed and drove to a cemetery.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn older, bearded man wearing sunglasses, worn green cargo pants, and a black Harley-Davidson shirt approached them there. His appearance matched one of the truck’s occupants. Asked about his companion, he said the other man had gone to relieve himself. The companion did not join the discussion.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe man identified Jesse as the source of his referral. The team described the three persons of interest, its wish to interrogate Tillman, and its uncertainty about additional participants.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBriefing and disagreement over disposition\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe contact asked about unnatural capabilities and whether Tillman could be killed from a distance. The agents reported their belief that Tillman anticipated their arrival, received guidance from a voice, and might receive assistance from wild animals. Ming described the operation as a setup intended to produce extensive violence.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJerry warned that killing Tillman could leave abused children to repeat his actions years later. He also cited the fate of the preceding team as evidence that the intervening agents themselves might not survive the larger process.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the team proposed secure detention, the contact stated that he had no containment facility. He distinguished himself from the Program, described a long history of involvement in similar work, and said he operated independently. He rejected the belief that unnatural phenomena could be controlled and warned that the Program would not readily permit its personnel to walk away.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJerry explained that the team had been told intervention must wait until after the election because of potential political consequences. The contact expressed no surprise.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgents identified Tillman as an ICE agent operating at the black site. Surveillance had established that he spent most of his time there but occasionally returned to his apartment.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eErnie described a suspected wider network and transferred a copied USB drive containing information about it. The contact accepted the material and treated that network as a subsequent problem. Jerry warned that learning more about the phenomenon appeared to increase personal involvement and danger.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe contact recommended killing Tillman promptly and questioning a subordinate. He disputed the team’s suggestion that Tillman might be relatively safe to approach, emphasizing the unknown capabilities of the person organizing the operation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChildren’s recovery and Bridge of Hope\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team continued debating how to find and assist the children. Banks argued that intervention had to address their future as well as the immediate perpetrators. The discussion included therapeutic support and the possibility of Jerry assuming responsibility for their care, but no arrangement was established.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring that discussion, wind carried a brochure across the cemetery and unfolded it near Jerry. He retrieved it and read the name \u003cstrong\u003eEl Puente de la Esperanza\u003c/strong\u003e, translated as \u003cstrong\u003eBridge of Hope\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe brochure advertised immigration legal defense, assistance with detained relatives, and challenges to ICE abuses. It listed an El Paso office.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanks recognized the organization from a passing reference in Black Lantern. MASTICATE had previously contacted an associated lawyer, Alina Estevez, during its Los Angeles investigation. That earlier contact concerned people affected by a shooting at a neighboring childcare facility.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJerry drew attention to the coincidence and suggested that the organization might help the children. Banks supported making contact. No call was placed during the session.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eClosing operational proposal\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe team reconsidered waiting for Tillman at his apartment and questioning him there. Discussion returned to the journal’s final entry, which anticipated an arrival and addressed a reader already present.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe veteran declined involvement in an interrogation or close support for one. He offered instead to help plan an entry into the facility using the team’s surveillance of staffing and movements.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis preferred sequence was to kill Tillman from a distance when he emerged, then have the remaining personnel enter, inspect the concealed section, and determine what was inside. An extraction plan would be prepared beforehand.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe also allowed for the team conducting an off-site interrogation before the intervention, provided it did not alert the facility. His own participation would remain limited to the subsequent action.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJerry reminded him that the copied network information would require attention if the team failed to survive. The contact acknowledged that responsibility. The meeting ended with his proposal to find a private location for detailed planning and weapons preparation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAnalysis and Recommendations:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe intervention may constitute part of the mechanism under investigation.\u003c/strong\u003e Tillman’s stated desire to summon the Teeth, Banks’s concern about repeated initiation, and the resemblance to Cornucopia House support treating a successful assault and a successful ritual as potentially overlapping outcomes. A-Cell should evaluate the intended aftermath as closely as the initial violence. The relevant Black Lantern question may concern succession rather than survival.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTillman’s death cannot be assumed to terminate the phenomenon.\u003c/strong\u003e His journal presents him as an intermediary, while the catalog indicates activity extending beyond one facility. The independent contact’s proposal addresses an immediate organizer; it does not establish what happens to existing victims, other perpetrators, or the force Tillman believes he serves. Follow-on investigation should remain separately resourced.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe neurological hypothesis remains unverified.\u003c/strong\u003e Tillman’s self-description offers a possible explanation for his combination of language and continued contact with the silent presence. It is also an account written by a subject who considers himself uniquely appointed. Any consideration of detention or examination should account for the contact’s warning about unknown capabilities and the absence of an established containment destination.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe journal should receive restricted handling.\u003c/strong\u003e Its correspondence with independently produced Program material and Ernie’s dissociative episode justify treating further study as an exposure decision. A-Cell should distinguish necessary operational facts from cosmological material and monitor the two readers for continuing impairment. The copied drive’s contents should be inventoried before further distribution.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Bridge of Hope recurrence warrants a controlled inquiry.\u003c/strong\u003e The brochure appeared precisely when the team lacked a solution for the children, and it linked that solution to a prior MASTICATE contact. Chance remains a sufficient explanation for the physical event. Within the pattern described by Tillman, however, useful coincidences may also function as instructions. A-Cell should verify the organization’s practical capacity without treating convenience as evidence of safety—or association as evidence of complicity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChild recovery requires an independent plan.\u003c/strong\u003e The team has direct evidence of a toddler entering the facility but lacks a verified internal location, total count, transport arrangement, or receiving service. A-Cell should arrange medical assessment, protective care, identification, and longer-term observation. Tillman’s expectation of a continuing cycle makes the period after extraction operationally significant.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProgram intentions remain unresolved.\u003c/strong\u003e Pitzerelli’s refusal to engage and the reported election-related delay establish an absence of assistance, not proof of hostile intent. The veteran’s suspicion of a trap for older agents introduces a second, incompatible security concern. His identity, affiliation, companion, and actual resources should be verified before the team relies on him.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe team remains divided on the action most likely to advance the target’s aims.\u003c/strong\u003e Its uncertainty is substantive: interrogation, assassination, rescue, and containment each address a different part of the problem. A-Cell should establish a common objective and decision authority before intervention. Otherwise, Tillman may obtain the one result his journal consistently anticipates: agents arriving with enough knowledge to recognize the pattern and insufficient agreement to depart from it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\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\u003eOpening recap: the search of Esau Tillman’s apartment\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe previous session ended with the team investigating Tillman’s sparsely furnished, barely occupied apartment. Its principal purpose appeared to be giving him a private place to identify and collect information about abusers.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman maintained a spreadsheet in which accounts of extreme cruelty were organized and color-coded. His laptop had no security.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler raised two possible explanations for the unsecured computer: Tillman might have believed nobody would discover his work, or he might have wanted particular people to find it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team also recovered Tillman’s journal. Andy Banks had checked its latest entry first and found the words: “They are coming. You are here.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy understood the entry as referring to the team, but could not determine whether they were the “they” or the “you.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNearby entries showed that Tillman had been looking for the Teeth, particularly the missing and deceased members of MASTICATE.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe journal contained years of entries extending back to Tillman’s high school years. Its crude handwriting made it difficult to read.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePrintouts from neurology journals were folded among its pages. Dr. Ming would need to interpret those materials.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe immediate questions facing the team were how to stop Tillman’s operation, whether they could rescue the children inside the Life Force facility, and what they could do with the prisoners afterward.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReviewing the incomplete plan\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy recalled a proposed first step: arrange a minor vehicle collision involving Smedley, then obtain his access card. The discussion included kidnapping and questioning him and copying his security credentials.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team had not settled on a reliable sequence of actions after that initial move.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey anticipated that making someone disappear would create a limited window before his absence from work prompted questions or a welfare check.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePrevious proposals had also included making thermite and obtaining drugs that could be planted on Tillman to get him arrested.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler confirmed that Ming had already manufactured the thermite using the team’s improvised laboratory in the camper.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe thermite would not provide an instantaneous breach. Melting through an obstruction could take as long as a minute, and anyone on the other side would have an opportunity to notice what was happening.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy remained concerned that a violent assault would continue the pattern through which people became Teeth.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe also doubted the team’s suitability for an armed attack. Even apart from the unnatural implications, these were not the people he would ordinarily choose to assault a federally affiliated facility.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler identified a possible source of drugs through Andy’s DEA access, but no drugs were obtained and no attempt to frame Tillman occurred.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe team’s position and available approaches\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe current time was established as approximately noon on Friday the 24th. The investigation had been underway for almost a week.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team remained with the motorhome in the desert after returning from Tillman’s apartment.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler reminded them that their drone reconnaissance had revealed a garage entrance at the rear of the facility.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry confirmed that this entrance was associated with the concealed corner of the building that particularly concerned them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing wanted to begin by understanding the neurology articles. His earlier failed roll meant he could not simply skim and recognize the material; he needed time to read and cross-reference it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe motorhome’s isolated position was discussed as a possible place to question a captive.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe group revisited the idea of disabling the facility’s air conditioning to make people come outside. Ernie objected that staff might leave while keeping the children locked inside in the heat.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOther possibilities included disrupting communications, cutting power or telephone lines, and taking advantage of the smaller number of personnel present at night.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry suggested that the motorhome might be capable of forcing its way through the garage door.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie recalled the proposal to attach their old grenade to the drone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler agreed that Ernie’s technical skills could support an attempt to build a release or activation mechanism, provided he had tools. His relevant skills included Microelectronics at 40%, Electrician at 30%, and Mechanic at 30%.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNo drone modification, utility disruption, or forced entry was carried out.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie remained interested in capturing Smedley, but the group also remembered that Jesse was due to make contact that day.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJesse calls Jerry\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler called for Luck rolls from Jerry and Andy to determine whose phone rang first. Jerry rolled higher.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShortly after noon, Jerry received a call on the burner number he had left with Jesse.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe recognized her voice. Before discussing the investigation, she told him to assume the call was being monitored.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry reported in indirect terms that their target was where they expected him to be, that the children were probably there as well, and that they were confident he had bad intentions.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAt Andy’s prompting, Jerry added that the pattern appeared to be repeating.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJesse used a party metaphor to establish whether the situation involved the sort of threat they handled and whether intervention could become difficult to contain.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry described the location as relatively isolated, far from its nearest neighbors, and not exceptionally fortified. He also made clear that their team was poorly suited to an assault.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJesse said that she knew some “party planners” who might help.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler established that Jesse and the team had previously arranged coded names for several possible meeting locations around El Paso.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJesse directed them to the “party supply store,” meaning a Waffle House, at 10 a.m. on Sunday.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team would meet the prospective assistance there.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJesse encouraged continued surveillance, emphasizing that additional information about the facility would be useful.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry ended the call.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAntonia Pitzerelli returns Andy’s call\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eApproximately twenty minutes later, Andy’s other burner phone rang.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis was the phone he had used on Monday morning to leave a message for Antonia Pitzerelli.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy had retained it rather than discarding it after Baltimore.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis earlier message had named the original MASTICATE personnel and requested a callback. He had been trying to reach someone above their existing contact because he feared the situation was not being taken seriously.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePitzerelli sounded tired and asked whom she was speaking to.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy knew from the Black Lantern file that she was associated with the Program.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConcerned about speaking openly, he described himself as someone belonging to another organization she was also part of and who had handled reports concerning her former associates.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhen she asked whether he worked for the Attorney General’s office, he said that he worked for a different organization.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePitzerelli asked why he had called and left a list of names.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy said that he was concerned about unfinished business those people had been dealing with.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAfter a long pause, Pitzerelli told him that she thought he had called the wrong office, apologized for the confusion, and hung up.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy became concerned about the phone being traced. The group agreed to isolate it in their Faraday bag, with removing the battery also discussed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePitzerelli did not call back again during the session.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eContinued surveillance: a child is brought into the facility\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe group decided to remain at the observation position and continue watching until Sunday’s meeting.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShortly after 3 p.m. on Friday, a large black SUV arrived and was admitted through the gates.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIts darkened windows prevented the observers from identifying its occupants.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe SUV entered through a garage entrance. The doors remained open long enough for the team to see activity inside.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA young woman in handcuffs was in the vehicle with a small child, approximately two or three years old.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe woman struggled free enough to fall or wrench herself out of the SUV, creating confusion.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrom their distant observation point, the team could see her screaming and panicking, although they could not hear her.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe was trying to prevent the personnel from taking her child away.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe child was taken farther into the facility.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe woman was forced back into the SUV, which then drove away.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler clarified that the vehicle had used the facility’s front-side entrance. This observation did not reveal the contents of the concealed area associated with the rear entrance.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOver the preceding days, the team had seen other arrivals and departures. Activity was intermittent rather than constant, but there had been multiple drop-offs and some apparent pickups.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDiscussing publicity and conventional criminal charges\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie raised the possibility of informing the press, since the team had accumulated information about the operation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy doubted that bad publicity would meaningfully constrain the people in authority.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe group considered the possibility that attention would cause the children to be dispersed and Tillman’s operation to move elsewhere.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy also observed that publicity might attract protesters and other observers, making a later covert entry more difficult.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNo contact with the press was made.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy proposed another route to arrests: finding or creating evidence of financial wrongdoing involving the facility.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe asked whether Ernie could access payroll or reimbursement systems and establish apparent embezzlement, such as Tillman taking money or claiming reimbursement for purchases that had never occurred.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe intended pressure would come from Life Force itself if it believed its money was being stolen.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie expressed interest in the idea, but the discussion paused for Ming’s findings. No financial records were accessed or altered.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMing interprets the neurological material\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing had spent enough time studying the articles and checking references through Ernie’s improvised Stingray hotspot to understand their subject matter.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe articles concerned different forms of brain damage, particularly cases in which the connection between the brain’s hemispheres had been severed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman had annotated the articles, and related notes appeared in the journal around the pages where the printouts had been stored.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman believed that he suffered from split-brain syndrome.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis writings attributed this condition to something done to him in childhood by the old woman who ran the children’s refuge.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe described her as having put something inside the children’s bodies, breaking them and tearing them apart in different ways.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIn his own case, he believed that this had severed the connection between the two halves of his brain.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSome of the lifelong difficulties he described were consistent with split-brain syndrome, assuming his account was accurate.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler emphasized that this was Tillman’s self-diagnosis. There was no indication that he had received an official diagnosis, an MRI, or another examination confirming it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing judged that Tillman had studied the medical material seriously enough to understand it reasonably well, but his conclusions still rested on his own observations.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTillman’s explanation for his ability to speak and hear the “quiet”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman believed that one side of his brain had developed the ability to speak, understand language, and connect with other people.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe described language as a skill he had deliberately learned and still had to concentrate to use.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe believed that this language-capable side remained separate from the other side of his brain.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe other side, according to his account, could still hear the hunter that guided the children and remained connected to what he called the “quiet.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing asked whether Tillman thought this was true of the other children as well.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler explained that Tillman considered himself unusual or unique.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman referred to Nika, whose name the team had encountered in the Black Lantern material. He believed that she had once heard the same silent voice, but had lost her way after doctors taught her to talk.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman wrote that he alone could hear the children, the Teeth, and the silent voice.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe therefore believed that he had to speak for all of them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe first renewed argument about killing Tillman\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing suggested that, if Tillman’s unusual condition allowed him to connect the people involved, killing him might cause the operation to fall apart.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy objected that killing was itself part of the recurring pattern.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe pointed to the team’s animal bites and the prospect of using violence to free abused children as signs that they were following the same sequence that had drawn others into becoming Teeth.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy believed that responding with violence could pull them more deeply into the phenomenon.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe group did not resolve this disagreement before continuing its research.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMing and Ernie read the rest of Tillman’s journal\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWith time available before Sunday, Ming and Ernie undertook a more complete reading of the journal.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe journal also served as a language exercise book.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThroughout its entries, Tillman practiced reading, speaking, and understanding speech.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe material reinforced the impression that ordinary conversation was a laborious activity for him, dependent on conscious effort and learned techniques.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie noted that this matched what ScribeLife420 had previously said about him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman appeared to have spent much of his life working to communicate with other people.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTillman’s childhood memories and attachment to “Sredni Vashtar”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman described a powerful emotional reaction to the short story “Sredni Vashtar,” which he first read as a teenager.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe attached particular significance to the similarity between the fictional child’s name and the name he himself had used in childhood.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe did not regard that resemblance as a simple coincidence.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe initially failed to recognize that the story’s animal was a ferret.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOnce he understood that connection, it became especially meaningful to him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe wrote at length about a ferret who had been his earliest and most beloved friend and protector.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe did not describe the animal primarily as a possession or pet. He regarded their relationship as a partnership in which they protected each other.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis childhood reflections repeatedly returned to the presence of a guiding force.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe contrasted his father’s understanding of God and divine guidance with his own experience, asserting that his father did not truly understand what such guidance meant.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman believed that he and the other children from Cornucopia House understood it in a way other people could not.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTillman’s study of coincidence, religion, and the occult\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDuring college, Tillman used the opportunity to study the force that had influenced his childhood.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe cataloged strange impulses and coincidences that worked in his favor.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThese incidents were numerous, and he regarded them as intentional.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe believed that fulfilling his purpose required following those impulses and allowing the force to place him where he needed to be.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis writing combined theological speculation with historical and occult research.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLike the independently compiled Black Lantern document, Tillman’s journal discussed the Black Rites of Bast.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe studied Egyptology and other mythologies, identifying parallels with his own experiences.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler distinguished the occult accounts of the Black Rites from reliable historical scholarship. Tillman drew on material that circulated in occult writing.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis research extended to mythical Atlantis and Lemuria.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe described an ancient, persistent power: a nameless god that had warred with the legendary Black Pharaoh, Nephren-Ka.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTillman’s account of the nameless god’s hunger\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIn Tillman’s understanding, the nameless god was always hungry.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIts hunger could be directed toward people who tortured and harmed the innocent.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIf its attention was not diverted elsewhere, it would consume its own followers.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman believed that its strongest appetite was for inhuman things and powers beyond ordinary human understanding.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe described such entities as lurking in the shadows.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHumanity’s role, in his account, was to “light fires in the darkness” that would draw the god’s attention to those threats.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe intended result was that things which would otherwise consume humanity would themselves be consumed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThese were presented as Tillman’s beliefs and conclusions, rather than independently established explanations of the phenomenon.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe journal’s connection to the cornucopion\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman eventually linked his religious and occult conclusions to quantum mechanics.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis writings arrived at a theory resembling the cornucopion.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler contrasted this with David Cortez’s earlier interpretation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCortez had considered the possibility that a person or power used the cornucopion particle to influence or control events.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTillman instead believed that the particles were his nameless god, or the closest manifestation of its presence in the world.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis research was thorough and his writing persuasive.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe correspondence between his journal and the independently produced Black Lantern file made it difficult for Ming and Ernie to dismiss everything as invention.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFollowing those connections led toward an understanding of reality that was deeply hostile to human existence.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMechanical consequences of studying the journal\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing and Ernie each gained 1 point in Occult and 9 percentage points in Unnatural.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBoth succeeded on their SAN checks.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDespite those successes, each faced a loss of 2d6 + 1 SAN.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing rolled the minimum loss of 3 SAN.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe chose not to project that loss onto a Bond, explaining that he had considerably more SAN than strength in his Bonds.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing reported a resulting SAN score of 67.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie initially rolled a loss of 10 SAN.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe projected onto a Bond and rolled 2, reducing the SAN loss to 8 and reducing the Bond by 2.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe projection also cost 2 Willpower, but the Handler said that the available rest would likely restore it, so there was no need to retain that reduction.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie’s SAN fell to 51.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBecause he lost at least 5 SAN at once, Ernie experienced temporary insanity.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler described Ming and Ernie reading together in the camper. As Ernie processed several pages, realizations overwhelmed him and he stared into the middle distance, dissociating for a time.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing continued reading and considering the material without initially noticing Ernie’s withdrawal.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat the journal says about the current facility\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing asked whether the journal explained Tillman’s current operation at the ICE facility.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler said that Tillman did not appear especially interested in recording its practical details.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eInstead, Tillman described it as the spark that would set the fire.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe connected it to what had brought him into the world and brought his god’s Teeth.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe hoped that the Teeth had been able to feed the god and wrote that he needed to bring them there.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing interpreted this as evidence that Tillman wanted the team to kill him and unleash widespread violence at the facility.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe worried that a large confrontation would be precisely the outcome Tillman was arranging.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing suggested that kidnapping Tillman and killing only him might be a lesser evil than a broad assault.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConsidering capture and Program detention\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team knew where Tillman lived, making an off-site abduction a possible option.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing proposed capturing him and then approaching their original Program contact with a living subject whose brain might have an unusual condition.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe thought the Program might want to examine or study Tillman.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing also expressed his own professional interest, as a neurologist, in studying someone with Tillman’s reported condition.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSuch an arrangement might allow them to avoid killing him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie argued against acting before meeting Jesse’s contacts, since the meeting was only about a day away.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe group agreed that the newcomers’ capabilities might change their options, particularly if they had experience capturing people.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry pointed out that removing Tillman would not, by itself, resolve the children’s situation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing doubted that the operation would continue in the same way without Tillman.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe group distinguished Tillman’s apparent unnatural role from the other participants, whom they suspected might be ordinary abusers.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy emphasized how much remained unknown: they had not established the full extent of anyone else’s involvement or what was happening in the concealed room.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing also suggested that Tillman’s disappearance could bring investigators to his workplace and prompt questions about the facility.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDeciding to wait for Sunday\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe group agreed not to attempt an abduction on its own before the meeting.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing wanted capturing Tillman to be their proposal to Jesse’s contacts.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy initially discussed taking both principal suspects, and the Handler reminded them that there were technically three individuals of interest.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy favored capturing all three, while identifying Tillman as the primary target.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry warned that taking one of the others first might alert Tillman and cause him to relocate.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey considered the possibility that removing Tillman first could frighten the others or leave them unable to continue the operation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy argued that questioning Tillman would help them make an informed decision about what to do next.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team also recognized that its surveillance had now directly confirmed the arrival of a child in the age range that concerned them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSunday morning at the Waffle House\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe group arrived at the Waffle House at 10 a.m. on Sunday.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey had been given no description of the people they were meeting and assumed those people would know how to recognize them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEveryone except Ernie succeeded on an Alertness check.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing rolled 5 against 20; Ernie rolled 43 against 40.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie focused on the menu while the others looked for signs of their contacts.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNobody inside the restaurant appeared particularly interested in the team.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAcross the highway, in the parking lot of a small retail strip, the observers noticed two people sitting in a truck.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe truck faced the Waffle House, and its occupants remained there throughout breakfast.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheir position was conspicuous enough that the group became confident they were watching the restaurant.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy succeeded on a Criminology check and recognized that the arrangement could allow the contacts to pick up their vehicle and follow them elsewhere.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe truck’s occupants made no attempt to approach them inside.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team finished breakfast, spending approximately forty-five minutes at the restaurant before leaving.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMoving the meeting to a cemetery\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry suggested finding a nearby cemetery where they could park and walk around.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe group drove south from the Waffle House in northern El Paso and entered a cemetery toward the outskirts of town.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAfter they had walked around for a while, a man approached.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe appeared to be around sixty, with a beard showing some gray.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe wore old green cargo pants that were frayed and stained, a black Harley-Davidson T-shirt, and sunglasses.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA cigarette hung from his mouth.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis appearance and silhouette matched one of the people seen in the truck.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe second person was not visible.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhen Ernie asked where his partner was, the man said that he had gone to relieve himself.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe newcomer surveyed the area, checked that the team was alone, and said Jesse had told him they had an operation underway.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe invited them to explain the situation there in the cemetery.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe team briefs Jesse’s contact\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy explained that they had three individuals of interest.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey wanted to question one to determine whether the problem was limited to those three, then potentially take the others.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry emphasized that they wanted the perpetrators stopped and could not allow the principal target to resume his activities.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe newcomer had understood that the investigative work was already complete and that the team had identified people involved with things they should not be handling.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe asked about the targets’ powers.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAs an example of the sort of danger he meant, he asked whether they knew a secret word capable of making someone’s skin fall off.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team could not give a clear inventory of Tillman’s abilities.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy explained that Tillman probably knew they were coming, but that this might itself be part of his unnatural capabilities.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing described the situation as a setup: Tillman was drawing people toward him, and a spectacular attack could fulfill his intentions.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe children’s presence was also emphasized as a reason they could not simply destroy the location.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe contact favors killing Tillman at a distance\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe man sat on a tombstone and lit a fresh cigarette from the one he was finishing.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe asked whether they knew the range of Tillman’s abilities and whether he could be killed from a distance.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe group acknowledged that a distant attack might be possible, but Jerry argued that it would not necessarily solve the underlying problem.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry explained the concern that Tillman wanted or needed to be killed for the pattern to continue.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe suggested that the children currently being abused might repeat Tillman’s actions in roughly ten years.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing observed that postponing the problem for a decade would still be a substantial delay, while acknowledging the uncertainty.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry also pointed to the previous team’s fate as grounds to fear that they themselves would die.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie stressed that he had a family he wanted to return to.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe newcomer asked what they expected to do with Tillman if they did not kill him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team proposed detention at a black site.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe contact explains his position\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe man said they were confusing him with their friends in Washington.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe had no detention facility available; the only equivalent he offered was a dark hole.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry objected that none of the people they had dealt with had explained matters directly, leaving them uncertain about whom they were working with.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe newcomer accepted that criticism.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe said he was becoming convinced that the team was not there to expose older agents.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe described himself as someone who had been doing this work for a long time and had seen changes in the organization.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe disapproved of the people the team had worked for because he believed they thought unnatural forces could be controlled.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis own experience had convinced him otherwise. His approach was to keep destroying such things until they could no longer be found.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhen addressing whom he worked for, he said that he worked for himself.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe suggested that the team appeared to have walked away from its previous organization and warned that it would not simply allow them to do so.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNevertheless, he approved of their decision to address the present threat.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry explained that their prior handlers wanted to wait until after the election because of the possible political consequences.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe newcomer regarded that explanation as consistent with his view of the Program.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eExplaining Tillman’s suspected abilities and network\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing told the contact that wild animals might help Tillman, although he did not claim that Tillman directly controlled them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team also described the voice Tillman believed he heard.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry thought Tillman might not be especially dangerous in a confrontation because he wanted the confrontation to happen.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie suggested that this could mean Tillman would not resist.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing countered that Tillman might fight if doing so would produce greater carnage.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry then made the practical complication explicit: Tillman was an ICE agent operating at a black site.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler confirmed that Tillman spent most of his time at the facility, but occasionally went home.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie described Tillman as gathering abusers around himself and trying to create a distributed network connected to his god.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe presented possible manifestation or increased access for the entity as the team’s interpretation of that network.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe newcomer was willing to act against ordinary perpetrators as well as those with powers.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhen he asked whether they had intelligence about the wider network, Ernie supplied a copy on a USB drive.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie retained additional copies.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe contact accepted the information as something to address later, after dealing with the immediate organizer.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe danger of learning more\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry warned the newcomer that learning about the phenomenon seemed to pull people farther into it and increase their personal danger.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe explained that the current team had already been affected after reading extensively about the case.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe newcomer said this was part of the reason he had arrived wanting a simple answer about whom to shoot.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhen Jerry pointed out that he had asked them to explain their investigation, the man accepted responsibility for inviting the additional information.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDisagreement over whom to interrogate\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie proposed neutralizing Tillman’s associates, capturing Tillman, questioning him, and then disposing of him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe newcomer broadly agreed with stopping the group but rejected the suggestion that Tillman was safe to approach.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe considered the organizer the person most likely to possess dangerous knowledge or abilities the team had not anticipated.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis preferred approach was to kill Tillman quickly and question one of his subordinates instead.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe wider list of contacts could be investigated afterward.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing suggested that, if the subordinate knew little, the immediate operation might end with Tillman.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe contact cautioned that such situations were rarely clean.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie acknowledged the lack of attractive alternatives, but Jerry continued to insist that they needed to find the children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe unresolved problem of the children\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team considered whether Tillman might already have sent children elsewhere.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey had his list of contacts, which could provide leads if that had happened.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie also noted their working theory that Tillman needed the children together at the facility.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry described the operation as an attempt to create another Cornucopia House.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie hoped that eliminating Tillman and his associates would end their influence over the children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe questioned whether the team had the resources to get the children out.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy insisted that something had to be done for them because they could become the next generation in the cycle.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe conversation turned toward their future care, including therapy and the possibility of the Reverend taking responsibility for their upbringing.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNo arrangement for the children’s care was established.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErnie again asked about the contact’s absent companion. The man deflected the question, and the second person remained out of sight.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJerry finds a Bridge of Hope brochure\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDuring the discussion, Jerry noticed a piece of paper blowing across the cemetery lawn.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt fluttered and unfolded nearby, close enough for him to read.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe paper bore the name “El Puente de la Esperanza,” meaning “The Bridge of Hope.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSmaller text identified the organization’s work as immigration legal defense.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry spoke Spanish and could read the name without relying on its English translation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe brochure offered assistance with immigration status, relatives detained by ICE, and locating missing family members.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt explicitly criticized ICE’s abuse and misuse of its powers and offered help challenging those actions.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry picked it up and showed it to the others.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe described its arrival as another of the coincidences that seemed to accompany the case.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRecognizing the organization’s connection to MASTICATE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe name prompted recollection of MASTICATE’s earlier Los Angeles investigation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe previous team had dealt with Alina Estevez, a lawyer associated with the organization.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe had supplied useful intelligence while representing people affected by a shooting at a daycare in a neighboring unit.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler clarified that the connection had appeared briefly in the Black Lantern file, even though it was incidental to the main operation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy, who had studied that file especially closely, could recognize the organization.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe brochure listed an El Paso office.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe earlier team had also known that Estevez was based in El Paso and had encouraged her to return there from Los Angeles.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry did not necessarily remember the earlier connection himself, but recognized that the organization’s work might make it useful for helping the children.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy pointed out that the organization had been mentioned in their files.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe recommended contacting Bridge of Hope to determine whether it could help with the children after their removal.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNo call to the organization was made before the session ended.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReturning to the possibility of questioning Tillman at home\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team revisited whether Tillman should be shot from a distance or confronted at closer range.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing felt that, without an option for long-term detention, the precise method of killing him might not make much difference.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry suggested that Tillman’s isolated, little-used apartment could accommodate questioning without attracting attention.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team could wait there for him to return.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMing favored the prospect of interviewing him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Handler reminded them that Tillman appeared to anticipate their arrival.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy recalled the welcoming quality of the journal’s final message.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe exact words were repeated: “They are coming. You are here.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe newcomer said that questioning Tillman was the team’s business and offered a phone number for contact.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndy proposed having him remain outside with a scope and a signal while the team conducted the interview.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe man refused to be anywhere near the interrogation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe contact’s proposed next step\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe newcomer offered to help plan entry into the ICE facility.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team’s surveillance had given them information about personnel movements and shifts.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry clarified that children were definitely inside; the uncertainty concerned what was happening to those in the concealed area.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe contact agreed that they needed to inspect that part of the building.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis preferred sequence was to wait for Tillman to come outside, kill him from a distance, and have the others ready to enter.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOnce inside, they would assess what they found, with an extraction plan prepared beforehand.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIf the team insisted on questioning Tillman elsewhere first, he wanted the facility operation planned in advance.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProvided the interview did not alert anyone at the facility, they could proceed with the strike afterward.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe reiterated that he would not participate in the questioning.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJerry reminded him that he now had the list of Tillman’s wider contacts to pursue if the team did not survive.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe man acknowledged that responsibility with a nod.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe suggested finding a private place to work out the plans and prepare weapons.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe session ended at that point. The team had acquired an armed ally and a possible source of help for the children, but had not yet captured or killed a suspect, entered the facility, or carried out a rescue.\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"
  }