Soon: Chapter 35: It’s Going Down…Or Not

TW: violent death, torture, fake suicide

Jae, having crawled over enough broken glass for Paul, at least for one night, heads off to unpack.  And Paul goes to talk to Ranold.

Ranold is doing his best Sherlock Holmes bit, wearing a “burgundy smoking jacket,” because he rocks.

You see, while Paul was eating Cheesy Gorditas and writing Bold Manifestos with the zealots, Ranold and Bia were tracking Grace Dean, the hydrologist.  When Grace was called by Lois to come in and talk about the water system, Grace then called a few of her friends to go with her.

One of them was a NPO informant.

OH.

OH SNAP.

“Our plant was heading out for a business meeting.  Grace said not to worry and got someone else.  Of course, our informant called us.  But by the time we got someone to Grace’s office to follow her, she was gone.”

But the…

What kind of crappy operation is L.A. running here, that a “business meeting” of an informant would take precedence over a Christian terrorism plot like this???

DAMMIT HARRIET JOHNS, LEARN TO TRAIN UP YOUR INFORMANTS GODDAMN

So when they find that Grace has left, the NPO, including Bia and Ranold, just camp at her home until she gets back.

Making Bia and Ranold much better spies than Paul or this stupid L.A. informant are.

And then they do what should have been happening to Christians throughout this entire book: they torture Grace for information and then pull the Obviously Fake Suicide trick.

In the interests of not being too depressing, I will skip the gory details.  Suffice to say that they make it look like Grace slit her wrists in the bathtub.

Paul fought to stay impassive.  Monsters!

Oh, YOU’RE a one to talk, Mr. Let’s-Dessicate-the-Entire-City.  Monsters, indeed.

Please note: I am not saying that Bia and Ranold aren’t monsters.  Indeed, this kind of barbarism (and keep reading) is just what I would expect to see from an atheist dictatorship created in the mind of a RTC.

I’m just saying that Paul is a big, fat hypocrite.  Also, in addition, as well.

“Here’s where you come in, Paul.  Before opening her veins, Grace was repeatedly submerged to, shall we say, aid her memory.”

That is so horrible.

And again, exactly what I would expect from a Jenkinsian-atheistopian secret spy ring.

WHY HAS THIS NOT HAPPENED UNTIL CHAPTER 35 OUT OF 36???

“Balaam blindfolded her with a silk scarf—a nice touch.”

Um, why is it a nice touch?  If it had been a linen scarf, it wouldn’t have been as atheistopian?  I don’t get it.

“Each time Grace came up she gave us a little more about the cell near the port.  She only had first names, but she had a good description of the ringleader, the one who had all the questions for her about the water.  Seems he was from Chicago—an outside agitator.  Get this.  He called himself Paul and told her he had been blinded but that God had restored his sight.  She even saw his navy blue sedan.”

YOU GUYS

THIS IS IT

RANOLD IS ON TO PAUL—HE KNOWS EVERYTHING

“Paul, do you deny being that man?”

HERE IT COMES

“No,” Paul said.  He stood with fists clenched, trying to keep from erupting.

AND JAE IS HERE SO WHEN PAUL KILLS RANOLD TO ESCAPE HE’LL HAVE TO TAKE HER WITH HIM AND SHE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW HIS SECRET YET

“No, you’re not?  Or no, you don’t deny it?”

OMG AND THE STINKY FISH CHRISTIANS MAY ALREADY BE DEAD AND PAUL HAS TO WARN THEM BUT WHAT IF IT’S TOO LATE

“Hi, Daddy!” Jae said.  She rushed to her father, flung an arm around his neck, and kissed him on the cheek.

“Jae!  Honey, I—”

“You both seem so serious.  What’s going on?”

“Oh, just arresting your soon-to-be-ex-husband for conspiracy to commit terrorism, aiding the enemy, and being a practicing religionist.”

“Just business.  What are you doing here?”

“I missed my husband.”

Yeah, I’ll just bet Ranold buys that.  But Jae tells him that she and Paul are “totally patched,” and then she wanders off.

Wow.  Jerry Jnekins almost had to write a tense action scene there.

That was close.

With a pat on the head and a glass of warm milk, Jae wanders off to bed like a good little girl.

Leaving Ranold to “explain” what his theory really is:

He thinks Paul was infiltrating the enemy all by himself.  That is, without orders from either him or from Harriet Johns:

“Paul, you have humiliated me—and even more, yourself—with your arrogance.  What made you go off half-cocked like that on your own?  Did you think you could compete with me?  With Balaam?”

Sigh.  I just don’t even.  As usual, veteran agent Ranold is only half-right.  Yes, Paul is insanely jealous of Bia.

BUT HE IS ALSO A NOT-SO-SECRET CHRISTIAN DAMMIT RANOLD

“So you just thought you could make a big score all by yourself?  You thought you had to go an extra hundred miles because you failed in San Francisco and Gulfland?  I can understand that, Paul.  But we all have missions that go belly-up.  A real soldier accepts it and moves on.  Or was it your bleeding heart?  You disapproved of our tactics and thought you’d bring in these renegades in cuffs instead of coffins.  Well, that’s not how it works with terrorists.”

Little does Ranold know that he’s talking to the biggest terrorist of them all.

Except maybe for God.

Ranold then reveals that the NPO raided the Stinky Fish Building and no one was there, which makes no freaking sense.  So, these dozens of believers just go there every day after work, drawing no suspicion at all from the actual fishermen and dock workers?

Yeah, sure.  Fine.

So, the NPO will be raiding the port on Sunday, “these people’s big meeting day.”  Har.

And what does Ranold have in store for Paul after his treason and terrorism “meddling“?

He’s going to report him to his boss in Chicago!

*gasp*  *choke*

Paul is relieved (as well he might be) and heads off to do more super sekrit squirrel spying.

Because he’s so good at it.

…

I’m sorry, I just am so disappointed in Ranold.

GORRAMIT