'Shit, I'm sorry man.' It was pathetic to see a man breakdown like this. It hurt to know I caused it, at least the cause for making him revisit the demons inside of him. Al whimpered in the back seat.
Karl shivered now like he was freezing. He was all cried out, but he wasn't back in his right mind. Through his labored breathing he said something. I thought I heard him say
'Newsman.'
'What's that Karl? Newsman? The media?'
'No, Newstrom.' He struggled to annunciate.
'News storm? What the hell is that?' Karl sat up. Without looking at me, he wiped his tears and snot with the back of his hand.
'Newstrom knows the whole story,' Karl said.
'The guy from high school?'
'Yeah, you talked about him the other day.'
'What about him?'
'We were best buddies and then he went over.'
'Over?'
'We lived like Marines-you know- Semper Fi and all that bullshit. Always true, my ass.' Karl started getting back to his right mind, such that it was.
'What are you talking about?'
'He sold out. He left the Corps and joined one of those 'private security' outfits. Mercenaries are what they are. Five times a soldier's pay and none of the rules. The only problem is when there's no war, there's a lot less work.' He wasn't looking at me; he looked straight ahead.
'What does it have to with all the conspiracy stuff?'
'Newstrom once told me the privates would always have work for us. That it wasn't just going to be Afghanistan or Iraq. That they would always going to have work for us.'
'That's a long way from conspiracy shit, isn't it?'
'Newstrom became an expert of all sorts of weird Black Operations shit. He knew how to handle POWs; he knew how to get people to believe what he wanted them to believe and, well, he was something else, too.'
'What?'
'He was the best at killing.'
I took a big exhale. I tried to follow what Karl said and trying to get my head from throbbing.
'Karl, I still don't get it.'
'After I got fucked up, Newstrom came for me. He thought I would join up with his private security deal, an outfit called Blackgard. I didn't want anything to do with it. He thought it was because I thought the work wouldn't have been steady enough.'
'Yeah?'
'Newstrom said one of the VPs told him something, with much more detail, about their plans for insuring they'd stay profitable.'
'And?'
'Do I have to spell it out for you?'
'Karl, what the hell are you talking about?'
'Duffy what happens every time there's an instance of domestic terrorism, or for that matter, domestic tragedy?'
'I don't know. The news covers it to death, people mourn, and everyone talks about it until the next thing. That's all you have talked about since I've met you.'
'Did you know earlier this week the senate approved another 100 billion dollars in defense funding?'
'No.'
'Exactly.'
'You're saying somehow somebody or group is engineering these things you're predicting for their own profit?'
'That's what I'm saying.'
'You got any proof?'
Karl stopped and took a heavy breath. He looked out the window, down at his hands. He took another deep breath and then looked at me.
'Newstrom came to Germany to visit me. He had some documents he wasn't supposed to have and he showed them to me. It outlined all the shit that's been happening.'
'The fire, the People's Church, the poison?'
'Yeah. It was all spelled out in detail. They had pages and pages for how the shit was going to be carried out, the strategy behind it, and how to identify the people who would do it'
'You mean this Blackgard is doing all this domestic terrorist shit?'
'They might as well be. They find people and groups who are whacked out and close to doing this kind of shit, and they get them going.'
'What does that mean?'
'It's the Black Operations stuff. Newstrom can take a group and amp them up so they're ready to take it to the next level. The result…well, we've seen the results.'
'And no one pins Newstrom or Blackgard.'
'Yep.'
' Newstrom showed you this document? Did you get a copy?'
'No. That's why I can't give you specifics. Newstrom has to identify the groups to carry the shit out. I got a sense of what's coming, but I can't say exactly when or where.' I took a deep breath and tried to sort this shit out
'Duffy, I wanted no part of it and backed out. The guys who run Blackgard caught Newstrom with the documents and confronted him. He told them I saw them. Newstrom signed on for life with them, so the secret's safe with him. They were pissed at him, but he was too valuable to lose.'
'And you?'
'I was still being treated for PTSD. Right around that time the doctor, good 'ol Dr. Theodore Martin, put me on medication.'
'I know that name from some where.'
'He's the guy on TV breaking down traumatic events and their psychological impact-what a crock.'
'What happened when you got on medication?'
'Since then I've been fucked up…crazy, scared, doing drugs, paranoid. Duffy…I was never nuts before. I mean the kid thing fucked me up, but I was sane. They did something to me after I knew about the plan.'
'So you think the VA conspired with Newstrom?'
'Well probably not systemically. Newstrom has wide connections. He probably only had to make a call to a doctor, who started prescribing shit he knew would scramble my brain. The funny thing is the doctor who came on board to prescribe me the shit, is now the guy you see on TV talking about the emotional effects of terrorism after each of these events occur.'
'The shrink commentator?'
'Yeah. Can you believe it?'
My head spun so fast and throbbing so hard I had no idea what to believe. The pieces fit together a bit more, but Karl was still nuts-even by his own admission. He was a smart guy. I guess crazy and smart will add up to pretty good stories. I didn't know what to think.
I did have one question though. 'So what happens next?'
'You remember Virginia Tech?' Karl said looking straight ahead.
'Yeah.'
'You remember Columbine?'
'Yeah.'
Karl took a deep breath. 'You ain't seen nothing.'
