Land of Entrapment Read Free Page A

internal effort.
    “But what if you think they might commit a crime?” she pressed.
    I frowned. “What do you mean?”
    “I don’t think she really wants to be with Cody or his group. Not anymore, anyway. She calls about once a week and she’s vague about where they are, but some of the stuff she says makes me think that she’s waking up to what’s happening here. And if she really did totally buy into Cody’s message, why is she still calling her dyke sister?”
    “What does she say to make you think she’s not on board?” I leaned back in my chair, mentally calling up my research files.
    “It’s not so much what she says, it’s how she says it. She’ll say that she’s fine and everything’s fine and she doesn’t want me to worry about her and then she’ll say weird shit like if I think it’s wrong to take money from corporations and give it to struggling Americans.”
    “What?” I furrowed my brows in thought.
    “Remember I told you that back in the late eighties I was involved in ActUP! And QueerNation and all those groups that protested Reagan’s response to AIDS?”
    “Yeah.” I had done that, too.
    “Okay, Megan knows I did that stuff and she knows that I rag on corporate interests and I’ve told her that if you believe in something, you should fight for it. Except I never thought she’d believe in the supremacy of the white race, especially after knowing you and what you research.” Melissa paused for a moment. “Anyway, she asked about belief and what it might take to make you believe something. I told her that belief was a really powerful thing but it could also work against you and it could make some people do bad things, things that hurt others. And she said she had to go and she hung up.”
    I tugged on my chin, listening.
    “I asked her why she just doesn’t come home and she said that she has something to do that’s bigger than herself but something in her voice... I don’t think she wants to be part of it anymore.”
    “Do you think she’s being held against her will?”
    “I don’t know.” Melissa sighed. “Pressure from a group...”
    “Cult.”
    She looked at me, surprised. “Is this a cult?”
    “What my research shows is, yes. White supremacist groups are like cults. There’s usually a charismatic leader who convinces others to follow his—the leader’s usually male—example and then the underlings perpetuate the message and actively recruit outsiders. The group controls access to information through whatever means, whether peer pressure, threats to tell the leader, appeals to your convictions, things like that. You’re indoctrinated with the beliefs of the group through constant repetition and constant reinforcement.” Jesus, I sound like a documentary.
    “The group controls information?”
    “Yeah. And eventually, you come to think that any outside news or information is suspect and part of the larger conspiracy that the group’s leaders and indoctrinated members are trying to convince you is real.” I ran a hand through my hair. “See, not many people think of white supremacists as a cult so there isn’t really a network of de-programmers.”
    “People who get you out of a cult.” She reached for her iced tea, avoiding my eyes.
    “Exactly. It’s an approach to white supremacists that I’ve been digging around in for the past couple of years especially. Anyway, de-programmers help those who leave the groups adjust to real life outside the cult. However, even if you do manage to leave the movement, it takes a long time to let go of what it did to you.”
    Melissa’s shoulders sagged. “So I can’t do anything until Megan either commits a crime, comes home on her own, or winds up hurt or dead somewhere?”
    I wasn’t sure how to respond to that so I kept my mouth shut.
    “That’s total bullshit, K.C. That is total fucking bullshit.”
    “Megan’s an adult.”
    “She’s a hostage!”
    “Maybe. Maybe not. Cults...” I paused,