Chapter 24
TOM OWENS SAT at the table in the small, dark-paneled dining room.
All he wanted to do was eat a ham sandwich in peace.
The problem was that Ellis Warrenton didn’t care that he wanted to be left alone.
He’d been peppering Owens with questions about potential targets and how hard it would be to make another bomb.
The whole conversation made Owens miss his isolated cabin in the woods.
Ellis said, “We should probably move as quickly as possible. We have some momentum. They’ll be talking about the bomb we placed in the city offices for another couple of days, then the media will move off to its next pet project.”
Owens was saved the trouble of answering when Kimmy walked in holding a letter.
“This was in the mailbox for you, Tom.”
Owens realized Ellis was staring at him. Hard.
“Who did you tell where we were staying?”
Owens ignored him. A smile crept across his face when he saw the envelope. There weren’t many people who still called him Tommy. His brother and uncle were the only ones he could think of.
He opened the white envelope with his name scrawled across the front along with the address of the Airbnb. There was a short note. Tommy, hope this helps. Can I come visit? We worry about you. Love, Spencer.
Ellis raised his voice and demanded again, “Who did you tell we were here?”
Owens felt no need to answer immediately.
He took the money order his brother had sent and tucked it into his pocket.
Then he looked up at Ellis and said, “I needed some money, so I called my brother, Spencer. When I lived in the cabin, I got by on almost nothing. I didn’t realize that living in a city eats into your cash reserve so quickly, even if you’re not paying rent or for electricity. ”
Ellis leaned back and gave Owens a nod. “Everyone needs money. Doesn’t matter what your cause or interest is, it costs money.
Even we need operating capital. We might have to address that in the near future.
” He didn’t elaborate. Without saying anything else, Ellis stood up from the wooden table and padded down the hallway toward his bedroom.
Kimmy sat down next to Owens and put her hand on his arm. He’d never try to express any feelings of affection to the pretty blond girl. But he liked it when she showed him some attention. He liked it when she talked to him.
Kimmy asked, “What’s bothering you? C’mon, you can talk to me.”
Owens took a moment, then said, “This isn’t what I expected to be doing. I was trying to extend the warnings Ted Kaczynski gave to the world. He was right about so many things. People really didn’t listen to him back then. I hope people listen to us now.”
“We’re trying to make the world a better place. You can never be upset doing that.”
“Somewhere along the line I strayed from what Ted would’ve done. I use a lot more tech than he did. I may not have a phone, but I use computers and I watch the news on TV sometimes. I read newspapers online. I like to hear what they have to say, even if they’re usually spouting the same narrative.”
Kimmy took her hand off Owens’s arm when Ellis walked back into the dining room. That’s when Owens realized what they could do.
He turned to Ellis and said, “I know our next target. I mean, after we send the Virtual Spaces message.”
Ellis sat down in the seat right next to Owens. “Tell me.”
“It’s a ConEd facility. We can knock out the power grid, which will affect millions. The whole country will talk about it.”
Kimmy looked at him with hopeful eyes. “And we won’t have to hurt anyone.”
Owens thought through his plan quickly and said, “Probably not.”