“They want to identify us individually,” said the SOS. “Maybe track our movements?”
Benita took another bite of cold beef and smeared it with horseradish sauce. “I don’t think so. They don’t care what civil people do. But since they found those murderers in a hurry, my guess is they can screen for certain traits if they need to find a murderous militia or someone with a dangerous virus, like Ebola.”
Chad grinned. “What a system.”
The SOS frowned. “So you don’t think it’s universal surveillance?”
Benita shook her head. “Why would they want to listen to millions of people talking about the weather and taxes and how their kids misbehave or how rotten their job is? They said they needed to find out what causes woe. Then they need to stop it. If someone causes no woe, I doubt that person ever gets looked at.”
“You don’t see it as an infringement on liberty?” the SOS challenged her again, not angrily but demandingly. She wanted an answer.
Benita felt heat behind her ears, a flush on her cheeks. Wine did that to her.
“Well, back home, Madam Secretary, my husband had a lot of liberty. He had the liberty to knock me around. He had the liberty to drive drunk, no matter what the judge said. He had the liberty to invade my peace and steal my money and kill innocent people with his car, and the law didn’t stop him or punish him. The judge had liberty. He had the liberty to sentence Bert to house arrest and to sentence me to act as his unpaid jailer, even though I was an innocent bystander and Bert both outweighed me and didn’t mind hurting me.
“The judge also had the liberty to put me in jail for contempt if I made a fuss about it. He told me so when I spoke up in court to tell him I couldn’t keep Bert at home and off the liquor. He said Bert was a working man and needed to get to work, and he said this even though he knew I was the one who supported the family.”
“That’s rotten,” said Chad feelingly, his face quite red. He pressed his lips together and looked elsewhere. Benita wondered fleetingly what part of what she had said had upset him so.
Seeing an attentive audience, she went on, “Now, me, I had a lot less liberty than Bert or the judge. I didn’t have the liberty to live peaceably in my own house. I didn’t have the liberty to keep the fruits of my labors. I didn’t have the liberty to tell the judge in court what I thought of him, and the ACLU didn’t rush to my defense so I could. It hasn’t rushed to the defense of the innocent people Bert may end up killing because the judge wouldn’t jail him and I couldn’t keep him from driving.
“So if somebody said to me, can we put a mark on you and on your kids that will keep Bert from driving your car, or stealing your daughter’s stereo for drinking money, why, I’d say, mark away!”
The SOS shook her head and said in a strained voice, “I can understand your point of view, Benita.”
Benita gave her a hard look, noticing for the first time just how tired and worried both women looked. “You’re upset about something specific. This supper isn’t just a get-together. What is it?”
They sat for a few moments, not speaking, then the FL said, “The president has been getting strange reports. Chad knows about this. A group of lumbermen disappeared in Oregon, along about the time the envoys came. Three men were killed down in Florida in a totally inexplicable way. Just today, word filtered up that there was another inexplicable death, or disappearance, in New Mexico. There are other, less specific reports . . .”
Benita frowned. “When you say a group, how many?”
“We’re only talking about fifteen fatalities, total, and the last one is presumed, though personal effects were left at the scene. But then, this afternoon someone brought our attention to World News items on CNN. You watch it?”
“Sometimes,” said Benita.