TOM OWENS SAT with the other members of the group in the living room of their Airbnb in Yonkers. The place
was a little old, but it clearly had once been an impressive house. The hardwood floors and the bricks around the
fir eplace made the flat-screen TV echo a little bit as they watched the fifth newscast of the day.
Owens felt a twinge of an odd emotion, perhaps jealousy, when Pry plopped down on the couch next to Kimmy.
The giant man said, “News again? Can’t we put on ESPN for a little while?” He nonchalantly slipped his arm
around Kimmy’s shoulders. She scooted a little farther away but didn’t move his arm.
Ellis said, “Shut up, Pry. This is why we’re here together. We need to celebrate Tom and his brilliant device. The
best way to do that is to watch these r eporters blab about what a tragedy it was and speculate about who could have
committed such a terrible act.” He flashed his trademark smile.
Not a single tooth was anything but perfectly straight.
Pry said, “Are we gonna send another email through a couple of different servers again, saying how we stand
against the government?”
Ellis gave a heavy sigh and said, “Jesus Christ, Pry. For the last time, we are not standing against the government.
We’re standing against tyranny.
Against oppression. Against how tech companies control us. How banks make it impossible to get ahead in life.
How cops are tools of tyrants.”
Kimmy said in a quiet voice, “That cop who died when her car exploded wasn’t necessarily a tool of tyrants. She
was married. She had kids. And what about the clerk who was caught by our bomb? We should consider them too.”
Ellis seemed flustered by the pushback. “You think anyone would pay
attention if we only destroyed dumpsters or placed bombs in empty buildings? Every re volution has collateral
damage. I’m not saying the cop was collateral damage. I’m saying all the shit they said on TV makes it seem like a
tragedy. Who knows what she did in the course of her workday.” He shook his head, then turned to Owens and said,
“I believe Tom here can make people sit up and listen. We’ve already seen he’s a genius. He hacked the security
system for the city office in about one minute flat. We got no limitations now. Do we, Tom?”
Owens said, “It worked out today. But we’ve got to make a much broader statement if we want to get the entire
country’s attention. We can do something even greater than Ted Kaczynski did.”
Ellis said, “We’re here to help you. Tell us what you need.”
“The supplies we got from the Army arsenal will go a long way toward me making more powerful bombs.”
Ellis said, “Could they blow apart something really strong?”
“Like what?”
“Maybe a really big safe.”
Owens said, “Why would you want to open a big safe?”
Ellis smiled. He ran his hand through his styled hair. He casually said, “Just curious. What would you use a big
device for?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’m looking at a couple of big targets. But for now we can use the device I’ve already finished.
There’s a tech company called Virtual Spaces. They have an office in Midtown Manhattan. It’s the kind of company
that other tech companies monitor. We could teach a really good lesson if we hit them next.”