The Blackfire Protocol by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 30

But as in all things tragic, life goes on, and in time, campus life would returned to normal as would Frank’s. Over the next few months his studies became more difficult, but now in his third year his favorite class was political science. He took it as an elective, and as the class continued, Frank developed an affinity for the ideas behind fascism, especially the psychology of the mind of a dictator. Secretly, he began reading Mein Kampf. He knew no one would understand his curiosity for it and, when away from his apartment, left it well hidden. By now his political ideals had taken form, and the more he read of what he believed to be Hitler’s master work, the more his ideas took shape. But he found the most fascinating aspect of the book was the last chapter, Hitler referred to as ‘The Final Solution’. By the time he finished the book, he found his idealism complete and started wondering if Hitler’s ideas might be carried into the modern era. He knew that the Jews were never an issue and that Hitler had used them as a scapegoat, blaming them for the downfall of Germany’s economy. Yet, he saw the poor as an impediment to a healthy economy, something to be excised. The question to him was what to do and how to go about doing it. But his studies pulled him back, calling to him as one calls a loyal dog.

Since meeting Betsy, college had become a pleasant experience, with lengthy periods of studying broken by a few hours of almost violent sex. It was the perfect arrangement—no one expected anything

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from the other. To say they were friends wasn’t really true. They were acquaintances, meeting occasionally for a night in bed, feeding their needs, and pleasing each other. That was all; they were given their respective commitments to academics, each having a specific goal for their life. He was now in his fourth year and would soon begin studying for the LSAT test. This was a critical point in Frank’s life, as it is the single determining factor on whether he got into law school or was forced into a different field. To him, there were no other options. Law was the only thing that mattered—there was nothing else. He would even suspend his visits to Betsy’s apartment in order to prepare himself, and he could not apply for graduate school without a passing grade. But several weeks later, he found him in a testing room surrounded by security cameras. The watchful eye of academic honor was upon him as he began the test, and several hours later he had completed it. After leaving the testing room, Frank tried to find out what his scores were, but was told it would be at least two weeks until they were mailed out.

The time he spent waiting was nothing less than agony. Betsy felt it too as they spent a night together lying on her bed. Too tense for their usual bedroom romp, they engaged in conversation about any alternate plans should they be excluded from law school. Frank had none, counting on both his intellect and habitual studying. Betsy, however, had a plan ‘B’. Should she not be able to qualify for law school, she planned on journalism, knowing that she only needed to pass the GRE exam. Through this

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field, she could still work in environmentalism, exposing truths, lies, and corruption. She was quite aware that the government was holding back on the development of solar energy in order for certain politicians to maintain their oil investments. Widespread solar energy could power the entire country, but possibly force the oil industry into collapse. This would be catastrophic for those wealthy enough to be heavily invested while the rest of the country thrived on an electric economy.