Читать книгу Coffin’s Game - Gwendoline Butler - Страница 11

There is not an average terrorist. Remember that fact.

They come in all shapes, sizes, ages and sexes. Do not think you will know one by the look in their eyes. You may live next door to one, or have sat next to one in the tube. One may be a friendly neighbour, or drive your local taxi. You could even have married one.

Do not believe that you will be able to read that face, whether it is one you love or hate. The face is a mask, the mask will not be dropped; love will not do it, nor hate, nor amusement; the wearer has been trained not to drop it. A terrorist who drops the mask is a dead terrorist.

As a genus they are not long-lived, owing to the hazards of the craft (Carlos Marighella, author of the guerrillas’ Mini-manual died young, shot dead). You will not find many old terrorists, although there must be some, probably sleepers, the hardest to spot. Occasionally a survivor, an ageing member, will be put into cold storage to be defrosted and brought up to room temperature if needed for use.

The terrorist may be a college graduate or relatively uneducated. But he or she will almost certainly be a person of some intensity. This might become apparent in conversation. Certain keywords like ‘state’ or ‘nation’ or ‘police’ might provoke reaction in the untutored terrorist. The trained one will know how to join in the majority view. On the surface. Any relationship will be on the surface. Truth need not come into it.

You will not know them by their table manners: if you ask them to dinner, they will not eat you. As far as possible they will have been trained to sink into the background. But this in itself is interesting to watch and may be a sign to make you alert.

Some terrorists are groomed to be front men. Shouters, these are called, and are probably the least dangerous of all, although this can never be certain. It may be that one of the chief functions of the shouter is to flush out your own sleepers.

Remember, there are no safe defenders of the faith, whatever the faith, yours or theirs. Conviction, whether inherited or taught, is always dangerous.

Alan Ardent