Chapter 37

The United States Penitentiary
Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX)
Florence, CO

Spencer

It was better this way.

After Kat had blown up the dome in much the same way as she had in the 75th games he had punched the Hiker's Spot she kept on her quiver, sending their location to Garcia. Ten minutes later they had been surrounded by Jeeps and SUV's and everything else that had been handy. He'd had the distinct pleasure of seeing Jack run back to Hotch, and had brought Henry to JJ himself. Both boys were safe and sound, if terrified by their ordeal. But they were receiving therapy, and over the long term would be fine.

While they had been returning the boys Rossi had caught up with Kat and Jo. He'd quickly gotten their stories straight, and hid Kat's Mockingjay bow in the back of the FBI vehicle. When the US Military asked, the plan to blow the dome had been his idea and had been performed with a bow they had found in the church. His credentials as a scientist and an engineer were known to the Military, so they didn't question the story overmuch, and Jo and Kat were allowed to return home, still believed to be civilian college students.

The US Military had indeed made all that technology disappear, right down to the smallest wasp and mockingjay. They had also vanished the men who designed and built it all, their labs and computers along with the men from the current time who had worked with them. Most of those men had not understood what they were doing, and had been placed in ordinary prisons, but the Gamemakers had been brought here, to be kept in solitary for the rest of their lives, until the Military had more questions. The Military had found the Gamemakers under the Arena itself, had spirited them away before the FBI could realize what was going on, and for that, Spencer was quite thankful. Kat and Jo would have killed them on sight and damn the consequences, and those men could not die.

But he did have some questions for them. And he had the clearance and credentials to come here to ask. It was better this way, Spencer thought as they brought Pontius Fossman and shackled him to the seat on the other side of the table, my wife and her friend can't kill him now.

Fossman looked a bit shell shocked by his sudden reversal of fortune, but he was not an unintelligent man. When Spencer showed him the erasable page in his notebook, the page that said that they were being recorded, Fossman nodded with a look of utter understanding. When Spencer showed him the symbol that he had doodled on the front, the crested bird with the arrow in its beak, it had no meaning to the watchers, but to Fossman it immediately established background and baseline. So Spencer could get right to the point in very few words.

It had come to him on the way in here, how they had gotten here, and why. Spence started with confirming his theory, "Clemency?"

Fossman's smile grew brighter. He tapped his nose and pointed back to Spencer.

Now the how made sense, and the why. But the overarching reason, why the Dark Days, why the Games themselves, why the Districting and the placing the Shock Doctrine plan in place, all that still eluded him. "Why all those kids?" He asked Fossman, knowing that the watchers would think of the kids in Mexico, but Fossman would know he meant the Games.

Fossman cocked his head as if confused that Spencer did not know. "The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation."

Spencer's blood ran cold. Now he understood.

He rose from his seat and banged to be set free.

Gideon's Cabin
Outside the Shenandoah National Forest

Spencer

"You lost me." Morgan said.

They were all in the cabin, the only place safe from prying eyes, the team along with Jo and Kat, and Spencer was trying to explain his theory. "Okay starting with the how, we already determined that it had to have taken a massive amount of power to send those men back here."

"Yeah, a power plant's worth." Morgan agreed.

"But I'm telling you, the Coalition had the power plants under control." Jo insisted. "They didn't go that way."

"Not all the power plants." Spencer brought a map up on the board he had acquired for tonight. "Based on the description of Thirteen you both supplied, that it had a massive underground system even from the original shock, that it was an area known for graphite mining, and that it had access to both nuclear materials and nuclear weaponry the most likely location would be Toronto, Canada. The PATH system is a 17 mile long web of tunnels, connecting 4 million square feet living and work spaces under the city, designed to keep the city running in case of massive blizzards."

"Or aerial bombardment," Rossi nodded.

"In addition Eastern Ontario is the only place in North American where graphite is currently mined."

"Does Canada have a nuclear arsenal?" Hotch asked.

"No, but both the US and the UK have based missiles there at different times." Spencer replied. "It wouldn't be too much of a stretch for them to have been some there that could be captured by the Canadian military. And there are four nuclear power plants on the shores of Lake Ontario, all of which would have been easily accessible from Toronto and any one of which would have provided enough power to open a time hole."

"And Thirteen wasn't part of the Coalition." Jo admitted. "They went back to being their own country almost immediately after the war, so we weren't watching their power facilities. But why would they do this?"

"Not them," Spencer replied, "Alma Coin. Probably as soon as she realized what technology they had captured from Snow."

"But why?"

In response Spencer looked over at Kat. "Remember how I planted that paper to help Peeta?"

Understanding dawned on Kat's face, immediately followed by bone deep anger. "First causes. Something has to be brought into the world in order to be found later. She sent them back to get the Games on record."

"Of course," JJ groaned. "Every weapon and tactic they used is being recorded in a military database somewhere."

"And when this other group takes over the government they'll find it." Rossi nodded. "And when the time comes they'll use it."

"But why Coin?" Morgan asked. "I thought she was one of the good guys."

"She was power hungry." Jo told him. "The Rebellion put her into power. We Rebelled because of the Games. No Games, no power. She was securing her own position." She turned back to Spencer. "And Fossman and his friends went along with it to avoid the gallows. Hell, Coin would have been dictator for life had she not crossed Ol' Sparky here."

"Okay, it all fits." Morgan nodded. "But how do we stop it?"

"By figuring out what started it." Hotch replied. "Who starts the coup? What brings them together?"

"Theocratic Dominionisim," Spencer replied.

"Theocrat," Rossi muttered, clearly thinking.

"Theocratic Dominionisim represents one of the most extreme forms of Fundamentalist Christianity thought found in the U.S. Its followers are attempting to convert the laws of United States so that they match those of the Hebrew Scriptures. " Spencer warmed into lecture mode. "They intend to facilitate this by using the freedom of religion in the US to train a generation of children in private Christian religious schools or at home using curriculum provided by the movement. In addition they follow what's known as the Quiverfull philosophy, encouraging families to have as many children as physically possible. Numbers of children in the double digits is not unknown causing an almost geometric increase in followers over the decades. Later, their graduates will be charged with the responsibility of creating a new Bible-based political, religious and social order.

One of the first tasks of this order will be to eliminate religious choice and freedom. Their eventual goal is to achieve the "Kingdom of God" in which much of the world is converted to Christianity. When the movement began back in the 1970's they believed that the power of God's word would bring about this conversion peacefully. However successive generations have been increasingly looking to the use of military tactics to force conversion of the legal system."

"Insert Shock Doctrine here." Morgan muttered