Chapter 12-2
Room For All
Part 4
Stringham said, standing up. "After the last attack, we needed a new base camp to come up with what to do next. Everywhere we went, Crawford sent his people after us. We had one solution, and it was that we had to go back to square one. The kids and our families weren't safe in Highland. Even in Santaquin they hunted us down like animals looking for our boys and us. So, Hank had a crazy idea. Why hide when we could hide in plain sight? We needed a place where nobody would think to look for us. Which is where we are. Hank knew the families that lived in these cabins we were using. They were an older couple looking to rent out or sell the cabin and the surrounding grounds. So, Mr. Vincent pulled our resources together and bought this cabin and the other two up here. It had everything we were looking for and that was a little piece of safety.
"Yet it wasn't the only reason why we had chosen this location, we had been told that a large, but fairly isolated satanic group of crazy's, being almost a three to four-hour drive to Salt Lake City when the roads a clear of snow; that the Satanic Church has entrenched a base camp here that was using this area as a base camp to set up smaller ones along its routes. Like all churches and business's, they require money to fund their operation, or they go under and disappear.
"We had tried that route trying to get them to disperse in other places, but the moment we think they had. They would come back stronger than they were before. That's where the government was having its problem. They couldn't get in the inside without tipping them off. So, a friend of mine in Washington DC, who is a 4-star big shot, and knew me back in my military days. Remembered me that I could work miracles where others can't. Giving me anything I needed when I ask for it.
"Men, I can trust when the shit hits the fan, Like Tony here and Jenny who I happened to know personally because he too had become like a son to me. That I have taken off the street and nurtured him and sent to Texas to work out the bumps and he turned out to be another good old lad and a friend. Not only did he graduate with top honors in school, but he is also a military whiz kid and highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat. He is definitely the go-to guy for me, and let's just leave it at that.
"Anyway, so this church is located right smack down in the middle of the town in Heber, just a few miles or so from where we are. Like I said a perfect place to get the lowdown and see if we can actually do something useful. So, we set up our cover story good and tight you see, and go into town and have a good look around. We noticed right away that Crawford's people had been busy looking for us. Sending out posters of what the Rothwells and the Vincent's look like, and angrier than a hornet because our closest friends like the Rothwells and their friends have disappeared into the night. What's worst is we have taken his new bride and their would-be High Priestess. They accurately selected the best choice.
"Yet Crawford has had his sights on the Rothwells for a very long time. Because Mr. Rothwell has connections … real big connections regarding the prison system and some state influence with the people he worked for, hoping to use it to his advantage, whereas Crawford didn't. Plus, Mr. Rothwell was someone big in the church with lots of friends and influence. So, he wanted him, and he wanted him terribly bad. So, he starts small, using the knowledge that Shawn and his foster brothers have given him when they are having their little pow-wow in his office.
"The best part is they are just the kind of troubled kids he needed. Plus, he could use them as leverage to capture the Rothwells and get them on his side. He learned all Shawn's little dirty secrets and exploited them and brought them into the fold, and convinced them to do his dirty work, like raping Jody or letting his friends do it and use it as blackmail. But what he didn't count on was our boy Eric wasn't like the boys the Rothwells normally brought into foster. He attempted to bribe Shane and him, hoping to buy their silence, but it backfired spectacularly. I know old news, but it's worth telling.
"Yet he had invested too much into Shawn and Arthur, to let them go, so he decided if he couldn't get the Rothwells he would take Shawn and Arthur from him. Last week, he tried to buy them for a million dollars and give the Rothwells a free pass as long as they left the boys at their old digs and would send someone to pick them up. If not, he was simply going to take them and kill anyone that got in his way. So, we couldn't bring them here and hide them for long, and we still weren't able to get into their little club here, but money speaks louder than anything. So, we set up a shop here. I bought a local store in town, adding to my profile of seventy-five stores in total. It was my anticipation and belief that I would generate considerable profit from this endeavor. In addition, I have vetted the areas where others have failed and gained access to the secretive satanic occult to devise a plan to dismantle them.
"The idea was to go big, bigger than anyone has ever done. Flashing around cash like it grew on trees, using my friends with money and connections. I set up the Vincent's and the Rothwells to look like billionaires. I sent Crawford on a wild goose chase, spreading false rumors of their move to Saint George and reporting sightings throughout Utah and several other states. This deliberate misinformation made it impossible for anyone to determine their actual whereabouts.
"The problem being was Eric, and the agreement they had made with his mother. So, we created a separate disguise different from the rest. Depending on his location, he adopts different identities. Nate Carrion is the name he responds to when he is at home with his adoptive parents. On the other hand, when he is with his mother in Santaquin, he goes by the name Eric T Rothwell. The reason behind this is that the adoption is open, and it is common knowledge among everyone, including Crawford. Hence, the need to maintain these ruses thus far.
Nate Carrion and his brother Jared assumed the identity of John Carrion after being in a car accident with Tony, Eric's newfound best friend, who has just been released from the hospital. By presenting genuine paperwork and statements from medical professionals, I can substantiate the reality of a medical advancement that has resulted in the partial restoration of leg function for all three boys who were previously paralyzed from the waist down. This breakthrough holds the promise of complete recovery for them in the future.
"But it is slow and ongoing and could take months or years before they will regain full use or partial, but so far it seems only hopeful. Eric as Nate lost the use of his left eye from the accident, but has gone under the knife and will recover most of his eyesight with the use of a pair of glasses, which make it so he can participate in school here as Nate, and his brother Jared as John.
"Tony appears to integrate into the high school environment seamlessly, blending in and assuming the role of a student undercover as their bodyguard alongside Jenny. Who will be hired on as the new school history teacher and teaching hand to hand combat on the side which all of Nate's friends here will be enrolled in? Like Jake and Adam, Eli and the girls and his three Highland friends once they move into their new homes next week and Hanks four kids. Coach Brady has taken on the new job as head coach while the other coach had been persuaded to take an early retirement, and will be working as a physical therapist during the off-season. So that's the cover story.
"Moving on to what we have learned so far, and to show that the threat is real. After discovering the church, we flashed our cash, and they took the bait. We were invited to attend our first Black mass. The video I am going to show you is not for the faint of heart, but it will show what we are up against and why we are doing what we are doing to help stop it with the help of many of our friends."
Stringham put on the second tape and sat down pushed the play button. The room went silent. Not even Paul didn't make a comment other than the fact; "they killed and ate him. Please tell me it's only make-believe?"
Stringham said. "I wish, but no Paul it's not, but I want you to see something from a different angle and I'll do it in slow motion."
He quickly punched in some numbers, and the video caught our famous woman taking out the High Priestess. Stringham stopped the video and said. "This time I want you to watch the High Bishop and the High Priestess ignore everything else." He played frame by frame; they still couldn't see it. It was too small for everyone to see it.
Tony passed around enlarged photos of what they were looking for that they had blown up. Everyone gasped, seeing that the girl was forced to kill her grandfather at knife-point. If she didn't do it, she would die, and another member of her family would die as well. It was one photo I had never seen before, noticing that two of the people had a knife being jabbed in the back of her brother and sister. Then was gone the second the girl screamed and killed him as they watched the High Bishop finish it by slashing the man's throat, then watched her being pulled off the altar away from the audience being kicked and beaten repeatedly right before the real High Priestess had been taken.
Stringham finished the tape and took it out and explained it, and the ritual regarding how they feel about rebirth and killing the old and sick that can't be cured. He then explained the reason why Tony, Jared, and I became billionaires to protect us, from them doing that to us. Having to explain to Paul all over again … that at the time, Jared I was too weak from the poison Gloria had given us and hadn't had the time to recover fully, but with the cover story, it allowed that to happen. Yet it worked too good and became a much-needed distraction. He then got ready to put in the next tape as he explained the Texas incident and dealt with our Shawn and Arthur's problem of not being able to take them with us here.
Stringham said. "We had gotten word from an old friend of mine in Texas that needed their service, uncovering the recent outbreak of dead students. That disappears soon after they had been found dead by assumed suicide, but when they tried to locate their parents, they too had gone missing or had had some sort of tragic accident. The police stated it could be that parents were so overcome with grief that they also took their own lives and their children's homes. Yet when they investigated them, and the reports just went missing and the evidence with it." Stringham said. "In favor of finding out what had really happened, with the knowledge that it sounded like the very thing that we were investigating in several locations. People disappearing for no reason, mass suicides, everything that fits the bill regarding the SRA occult that we are investigating.
"The Headmaster was willing to provide Mr. Rothwell's son Shawn a full-ride scholarship that included boarding and schooling for him as well as behavior therapy, hoping to help Shawn with his many said issues for troubled teens like him. The school ranks among the top ten for dealing with these kinds of problems. After I had mentioned that Mr. Rothwell was looking for a school that can handle the problems that Shawn had and his unique sexual desires and getting involved with Crawford and his occult idolisms.
"We were told that this group was small, and it was still trying to get a foothold, but being that they were so isolated that it hasn't had a chance to grow like the one here and in the neighboring cities and towns nearby. Our problem was we needed information. Every time we had gone in our sources would dry up. We tried implanting them, but became too difficult. They would either turn them away or kill them, again making it look like an accident.
"We tried hunting down Crawford and the people he represented, but it was like chasing our own tails. The moment we had him, and his people pinned down, they would move them or scatter them. We trap them and they would trap us always ending up back at square one. So, we had no choice this time but to leave, and that's how we ended up here, learning that this time we have found a way to get inside.
"So, we came up with a plan of action using our resources even ones that are not normally used like some spiritual help from Eric's ghostly friend. That most people would think we are crazy except for those inside this room have seen these two in action. He comes in handy for going on a scouting mission, and comes back with reliable information, using our young friend here as a link to him and us. I won't go into it because I am not exactly known how it works, but I have been told that it has taken them years to do what they can do now.
It is common for most individuals, including ourselves, to dismiss those who appear to be speaking to themselves, assuming that they may be perceived as mentally unstable. Despite this, I have been given with the honor of having a deep acquaintance with Eric for a significant span, granting me exclusive insights into his demeanor. Since his parents moved to Santaquin, I encountered him wandering the streets, visibly famished, clad in ragged attire akin to that of a destitute individual, and bearing the visible signs of a severe beating that left him resembling a fighter after a challenging bout. I took him in, and he became a son I never had.
"So, I know for a fact he's not crazy, and I have seen him, and his friend Jeff do some amazing things. We'll talk about that later, so you can see that the reason why Eric is acting the way is in this next video, because he was given the impossible job of playing Shawn, using their special gifts. Which we will go over after this or during dinner, providing you still don't think he's crazy like a loon."
Stringham put on the tape and then said. "I had fitted Eric's and Jared's wheelchairs with hidden cameras as we had done as a test run during the black mass we had just watched. So, forgive the quality of it. We have worked out the kinks since then." He played the tape Showing me entry for the first time as myself before I became Jacob Farnsworth. Everyone laughed at the bad boy and my mother and Grandma were eyeing me as if they had never seen me before. My Mother and Grandma and many of my friends had seen me fight before, but not the parents inside this room as they too looked at me as if had never seen me before. I was only glad it was the G-rated one, not showing the boys fondling me as they dressed me in my borrowed robes.
Stringham got up and took out the video and said. "Again, this is not for the faint of heart. They don't kill anyone this time. We like to call this the Black Wedding. I have taken out some of the scenes that aren't important, but will show them to his mother and our two Bishops privately, because of the nature of what has taken place and why, but no one else, because it is a private matter that not even confidentially agreement will be recognized. Until they have seen and met with the Bishops and before you ask Paul, the answer is no. I am only going as far as the point they have been wedded to each other and the ritual of blessing them for their god so they can have children.
"Which brings me to the next falsehood; yes, the girls are pregnant, but according to my doctors that they are anywhere from three to six weeks pregnant. At the time, the only individuals who were aware of this were Eli, Rhoda, Rhoda's best friend Jackie, and their father. According to Eli and his father, their mother had tragically passed away less than two weeks prior. They deliberately did this to seize their father's position as High Bishop, a power play to force him from his throne; however, as you've seen, release only follows service when someone can no longer prove their worth, due to age, illness, or deformity.
"They would have murdered him in cold blood as they did to the little girl's grandfather and forcing her to have his child; regardless of if he is incapable of fathering any more children. It's there way of giving them back to their god for the hope of rebirth, yet if the girl doesn't become pregnant with said child, it proves that their god is angry with her and isn't worthy to have children to take his place, so they kill her as well. Tony and his team saw to it that the girl and her family were relocated, given new identities, and well cared for, and modern medicine prevented her pregnancy with her grandfather's child.
"We would have done the same for these two girls, but it was too late, and we weren't a hundred percent sure we had captured everyone during the raid when the wedding took place. So, we decided to take a note from their Dads playbook and recreate it here, but only bigger. Plus, make one hell of a mess of paperwork, that there is no way they would be able to figure out what has taken place.
"So here it is … everything you will see is real, mostly? And we'll talk about it so you can understand how some of it was done. Again, we have edited so you're not going to see beyond the wedding and birthing ritual. That again is only for the parents and their Bishop. If they want to make it available after they have seen it is up to them first. So don't ask Paul."
Stringham pushed play and while grandma and my adoptive parents smiled seeing my mother reach for my arm noticing no burn marks, and breathed a sigh of relief. Stringham stopped the tape after we had all gone to the bathing tent. He motioned me and my friends forward so they could see our arms as he explained the trick. He then replaced the tape and said. "This is what we have learned so far as you listen to some of their confessions, including their father the High Bishop." He let it play until the tape had finished. By the time they had listened and watched everything, it was nearly 5 pm.