The attack plan was proceeding smoothly. Snakefoot/Stalwart scheduled it to coincide with a massive pro-choice rally. “Thousands of babykillers and babykiller supporters will be on hand,” he told the twins. “The perfect time to strike -- to begin our offensive.” What he didn’t tell them was that it would also be a major coup for his Chief and Screwtape; thousands of unrepentant babykillers harvested at one blow, without the chance to seek forgiveness, redemption. Pull a fast one on the Old Bully. No deathbed conversions this time.
“There will be two bombs,” Snakefoot/Stalwart explained. “--the first just a small one. When they rush in, some out of curiosity and some to aid the victims of the first bomb, POW! the second one wipes out thousands.”
Jerry swallowed hard. Joey felt sick.
----
The next few weeks were spent in intensive training with the bomb makers. “It’s a very delicate fuse,” Stuffelwaithe explained. “The two bombs are intricately connected. One false move, and wham. You set the fuse, then you get your butts out of there. Got it?”
Snakefoot/Stalwart made them go over the plan again and again, to make certain there would be no screwups (no Screwtapes-up, as he thought, mischievously). There was the floorplan of the abortion clinic. The names of the “doctor” and his assistants. The precise time the fuse was to be set, to ensure maximum casualties.
----
Revenge day. Jerry was ready to reap the whirlwind. He would make them pay; those who tried to kill them; maimed them.
The bombs were secured in a medium-sized moving truck, spray painted gray to make it appear uninteresting and arouse no suspicion. It was modified so Jerry could easily control it with one hand. The twins were to park the truck in front of the abortion clinic where the pro-choice rally was to take place.
“‘Choice.’ That’s rich,” Snakefoot/Stalwart snorted. “How they pervert the language! What horror does that dissembling word ‘choice’ disguise? They ‘choose’ to crush the skulls, burn off the skin, suck out the brains of innocent babies. How would they react if I ‘chose’ to chop down a tree, drive a gas guzzler, refuse to recycle, say an unkind word about blacks or gays? They would be outraged at my ‘choices,’ wouldn’t they?"
"I don't know," Joey said for the hundredth time. "Can we really take all those innocent lives? Is this just revenge?"
"Innocent? You think they're innocent?" Jerry asked, unbelieving. "Look at us! We bear their mark! How many more will they maim and kill if we don't stop them?"
"We want to protect lives, but we're taking lives," Joey said. "What they do, what they condone is wrong -- but aren't we just as guilty?"
"This is war," Jerry said. "We are fighting to save lives. We are killing the ones who are killing with impunity. In war there are casualties. Collateral damage. They've got to be made to see what they have done; what they are doing. They think they are on the side of the angels! They don't even recognize the suffering of their victims! Their victims are unseen, unheard. When we scream, we scream in silence! Nobody hears, so nobody cares!"
It was time. The twins made their way to the truck. Jerry settled in behind the controls. Silence weighed them down. Their internal gravity swallowed everything -- words, breath, -- thoughts trapped in a black hole from whence nothing could escape, not even prayers.
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