The First Seal is Broken – part II

An Isolated Incident I, II, III; The First Seal is Broken I

Three operations and another half dozen officers of the law that weren’t going home again. The Corrector Novus Occidentis (CNO), whatever and whoever they were, had announced themselves with a simultaneous media blitz – as precise and calculated as every one of their attacks. And initially, just as mysterious – the FBI was absolutely stymied trying to tie together how it was done. There were no known organizations – not even ones the agency hadn’t been able to penetrate that appeared to have any of the requisite competence. Each agent who came to that realization had a moment where it became hard to swallow – a little tug of fear that tightened the throat.  It had always been so reliable – any organization could be identified, infiltrated, subverted and then prosecuted; this was a very different beast.

The digital sweeps, thanks to extensive cooperation from the NSA (and the assurance that none of this would end up in any court of law), had produced either so much data as to be useless or nothing when all of the filters were applied.  The most extensive surveillance of the internet, everything that crossed it, and nothing that even hinted at the communications of this group.  If there was a signal it couldn’t be detected through the noise.  The few tracks that did exist quickly led to dead ends.  Worse, the media blitz had given them the opening to create public awareness; now the government was answering questions (that it couldn’t answer) rather than directing the media in what to say. That was to say nothing of the questions from the Hill and the White House.  The political aspects were as bad, if not worse, than the actual loss of life.

The message from CNO was clear:

We are the Corrector Novus Occidentis.

We are the arm of justice that strikes the corrupt.

The corrupt have captured the fortress,

that is the people’s trust in our institutions.

The corrupt have to face accountability,

before trust can be properly restored.

The legislative branch created asset forfeiture – it legalized stealing.

The executive branch used this against the innocent as well as the guilty.

The judicial branch turned two blind eyes –

one on forfeiture, the other on qualified immunity.

Nor is this the only transgression against the Constitution and the People.

What choice did you leave the citizens of this country?

You created and sustained grievances with no redress;

thus, we are the redress.

There are none who are not accountable for what they do.

Accompanying this statement had been video snippets of the officers from all of the incidents, that were edited to incriminate them, in the public eye – some posted where they couldn’t be taken down or blocked. These were going viral, which was just damnable – the public being betrayed by what they saw and heard. Of course what the officers were doing was legitimate, there were laws they were upholding, even if it could be spun as legalized robbery. But no one who saw them could avoid just how bad it did look, even knowing the men talking were now dead. Were they really doing their duty? They sure seemed to take pleasure or at least have no remorse for taking money where there was no crime. Even Frank Regan found this disturbing and he hadn’t been disturbed by the reality of how agencies were flat out profiting from this.

No physical traces and nothing on the virtual side that wasn’t deliberately put before them, left the FBI in a state of frustrated impotence. It was like chasing ghosts.