He paused, and both men walked in silence for a few minutes.
"Look, Frank," Gary said in a calmer tone of voice, "maybe that makes you think I'm cracked, or gone over the edge, or whatever. It don't matter, it don't even matter if you don't respect my opinion any more. But I wouldn't have stuck my neck out and said it, if I didn't believe it. Consider that, Frank, before you judge me for what I said."
Both men walked along in silence, Frank finally broke it.
"Gary," Frank said, "it wouldn't change a damn thing about the way I think of you at all. You're smart, Gary, a hell-of-a-lot smarter than you let on even...What it does change is the way I'm going to look at it. If you believe it, it isn't going to make me believe it, but it is going to make me look at it a lot closer."
They both fell silent once again, thinking, and once again Frank spoke.
"Hey, if I acted like a jerk back there it's only because I am. Hell I've known for a long time that I needed to change, Gary, way before this happened." He swept his hands around in an arc to include everything within sight. "It's time for me to change."
"I got a little testy too, Frank," Gary said, "and I'm sorry for that, but not for the way I feel. I really think we need to pull together, Frank... If we don't, it sure as hell ain't gonna help us, and we need all the help we can get."
"Let’s go do it then, Gary," Frank said calmly, "let’s go find Ira, and I'll listen, and not with a closed mind either."
Gary smiled. "Next time do I have to hold you down and beat on you to get you to do what's right?"
"Just try it," Frank said and laughed. "Of course I've been sitting behind a desk for better than twenty years, and you been working in a gravel pit... on second thought I'll pass, old or not you'll probably kick my butt."
They both laughed at that, and continued to laugh as they walked down the Street.
The War Memorial was packed when they arrived, and the minute they entered they could tell that something had happened. Jimmy, looking harried, waved them over and through the crowd to where he was standing with Ira Pratt.
"Big trouble, Guys," he said, once they were at his side, "that whacko in Watertown... well, come on, I'll show you."
Gary looked at Frank with a what-the-hell-now sort of look, Frank shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me," he said, as he turned to Ira. "Ira, how are you?"
"Been better, been worse," Ira answered, "you look a bit on the beat side, pulled a double guard duty I heard."
"Yeah, for all the good it did, didn't see much of anything...Actually that made me sort of nervous. They didn't come around at all, not even to toss insults like they were."
"When you see the latest recording I think you'll be able to figure that out," Ira responded.
Now it was Gary's turn to shrug his shoulders as Frank looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"You bein' secretive for a reason, Ira?" Gary asked.
"No, not a bit, I just figure the recording can explain a whole lot better than I kin is all," Ira answered.
Jimmy had an office in the back of what had been a small sound room, and as he walked in, and held the door, the three men followed him.
"Not everyone knows this," Jimmy said as he shut the door, "we managed to cut the transmission after only a few seconds." He walked to a small television set with a built in recorder, picking up a disc as he passed his desk, and inserted it into the machine. "Problem is, what they did see is all over the place now."
The television flickered then the tail end of the execution tape began to play.
"We already saw this..." Frank started.
Jimmy cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Watch, it's coming up." Almost as soon as he had spoken the execution recording ended, and the dark-haired young man appeared. Frank was about to object once more. He hated the recording, and didn't want to watch it, but he realized that this time the speech from the dark-haired young man was different. Jimmy turned up the volume as all four men watched...
"Howdy," the black-haired young man said with a wave of his hand, and a smile, "we are coming to you live from our newly decorated offices here in the former military headquarters of project Bluechip. Don't know what that is?" the young man asked sarcastically, although still holding the smile. "Well I wouldn't expect a bunch of hicks like you to understand that. First I would like to show you how well we have re-decorated."
The camera panned jerkily around the interior of a small room. On one wall a bank of video monitors showed various scenes of buildings, and Frank suddenly realized that the buildings were in Rochester, specifically the downtown area. He could make out people coming and going from the War Memorial building, as well as several other buildings.
"What the hell?" Frank started.
Jimmy quieted him with a wave of his hand and said. "This is where we cut the transmission, Frank, watch."
The young mans voice could be heard in the background narrating. They all tuned into the voice...
"Yes, as you morons can see, we are keeping track of you on a daily basis. We have our helpers among you," he giggled before he continued. "Ron, shall we show them how well we re-decorated?"
The camera moved from the wall of monitors and continued to
