Jim was always very quick to do things, and in the evening, he called back.

At that time, Tommy was setting up a grill in Stephen's backyard to grill meat, trying to help Stephen prepare dinner to influence the other party, so that he could sell his dream to Stephen and trick the other party into taking the money out.

"Your Miss Vixen and her two colleagues are trying to make a name for themselves by investigating Wika, a religious organization in New England." Jim was on the phone talking about what he knew.

Tommy was holding the phone in one hand and the brush in the other, smearing amber honey on the roast, and when he heard Jim's words, Tommy pouted, "Is that a variant of Christianity?" ”

"I don't know, Robert said it seems to be some kind of witch religion or something, most of the believers are women, TV and newspapers have already reported on this issue last week, the lawyers of the Wika organization have approached TV stations and newspapers and tried to shut them up, but apparently no one listened, are you sure you want Robert to trouble that girl?"

"It's as easy as killing a chicken for a few fanatics in that kind of religious organization, and it doesn't seem to matter which side dies, so I think it's safe to have Mr. Page take her on vacation in Los Angeles and stay away from that kind of investigation." Tommy finished and hung up.

Stephen, who was feeding the dogs the sausages Tommy had worked so hard to bake before, glanced at him, "Even dogs don't like the food you bake, Tommy, I'm sure humans won't die if they eat it." ”

"Have you ever heard the name W-I-C-C-A, Wika? Stephen? Tommy frowned slightly and asked the other party.

Stephen repeated the words Tommy had spoken, chewing gum in his mouth for a moment, then shaking his head, "No, I'm sure I don't know the woman with that name." ”

"It's not a woman, it's a religious organization, it's better to stay away from a strange religious organization like the United States, the cost of their crime is lower than that of blacks, and the low-level believers are equivalent to free killers in the middle and upper echelons of the church, and they can also bear all the charges and go to prison with firm faith." Tommy didn't expect Stephen to hear about the religious organization active in New England and call Sophia:

"Sophia, let Mr. Page go on a business trip, fly to Worcester, Massachusetts, pick up Zoe for a vacation in Los Angeles, Broadie has a new play, which has a role based on her as a prototype, and I hope she will help choose the right actor to play herself, Mr. Page knows Zoe, and he met each other at David's wedding."

Stephen heard Tommy ask someone to pick up Zoe and said next to him, "Need help, I'll have someone pick up your Mr. Paige?" My father's '82 Gulfstream III was parked at Los Angeles Airport, and he thought the interior was too bad and too small for a long-haul intercontinental flight, so he accompanied my mom to Paris in Air France first class. ”

"Let Mr. Page wait at the company, and Stephen's men will pick him up and take him to the airport." Tommy was not polite, after speaking, he hung up the phone: "Didn't you say that your Lao Tzu didn't get a dime inheritance, Gulfstream 3, that thing my future father-in-law also has one, and the basic model will also cost about seven million." ”

"Just like I was admitted to Stanford by my own ability, my father also earned this money by his own efforts, please, he was the assistant secretary of health to two presidents, and went to several pharmaceutical companies as a board director or chief executive officer, and earned some salary casually, how could it be enough to buy a small plane as a means of transportation, not to mention that he bought second-hand goods, originally this plane belonged to the owner of a pharmaceutical company, but after paying the money, he lost interest, so he transferred it to my father at half price."

"The collusion between officials and businessmen in the United States makes you describe it as kind and beautiful as a fairy tale."

"So, Zoe is looking for trouble when she meets the other party?"

"I'm not in trouble at the moment, but I feel like she's going to have to stay away from those stupid religious believers, and I don't want to see Zoe in the newspapers being dissected by cultists like Hollywood actress Sharon Tate." Tommy continued to roast the food, and said in his mouth:

"Those brainwashed fools, ignorant and fearless, will do anything for the sake of bullshit beliefs in their hearts, but it doesn't matter, Mr. Page will bring Zoe safely, he is very organized and efficient."

……

Worcester, Massachusetts, morning, a common café.

In the innermost booth, Zoe opened her recording gear, spread out her notebook, held a pen in her hand, and stared at the woman opposite.

The woman sitting across from her, about thirty years old, with a sad complexion, dressed in cheap clothes, and like Zoe, had black hair, but without Zoe's hair color it looked black and smooth, and her hands were constantly clenching her fingers on the table, pursing her lips vigorously.

Zoe slowly pushed the coffee in front of the woman: "Drink some coffee, you can relax yourself, I promise you are safe now, Sylvia, no one knows that I came to see you." ”

The woman named Sylvia took a few sips of coffee, and under Zoe's encouraging gaze, she finally spoke slowly:

"The high priest and the prophet have said, "Don't speak to anyone about the affairs of the church."

Almost at the same time, Zoe's pen immediately began to take notes in the notebook.

"Even their parents, or even their husbands, can't tell them anything about the church." The woman's eyes looked around warily as she continued in a low voice.

As she wrote, Zoe asked, "Why can't you tell your family?" ”

"They said that because the world was ignorant and worried about telling them the truth, they would mistakenly understand that Wika was Satanism or Luciferianism, but Wika was completely different from those cults, and someone had accidentally leaked it, and then when she went to the assembly again, as she told a lie to deceive the high priest, the candle flame on the altar suddenly turned green, which meant that the person who leaked the secret was no longer our initiate, she was taken away by the law enforcers in the sect, and we never saw her again."

"As I said in last week's investigative journalism program, it was magic tricks, and we found out that your prophet used to work with a magician as an assistant when he was released from prison in his early years, and during that time, he learned a lot of magic tricks, and then disguised those magic tricks in front of you."

"Yes, I was shaken when I saw the news." Sylvia raised her head and looked at Zoe cautiously, "Your report convinces me that the Prophet did not summon the gods at all during the previous great ceremony. ”

Zoe continued, "What do you mean by the Great Ritual?" ”

The woman lowered her head and took several sips of coffee in a row before she said in an extremely slight voice: "A fertility ritual in the religion, where the gods are united with the believers, and the prophet will summon the gods to descend on him, and then unite with the believers. ”

After listening to Zoe, it was obvious that the facial muscles were beating slightly, this big ceremony was really unintentional, more than half of the cults in the United States would use similar excuses to deceive female believers into dedicating their bodies, but there were always women who would be deceived:

"How often do you say the big ceremony?"

The woman was silent for a few moments before giving an answer: "Once a week, each time the high priest picks out five of the most devout believers to participate in the ceremony. ”

"How many times have you been singled out to participate?" Zoe asked.

"Five times, I haven't participated in it since I turned 30 and I haven't made a big donation again, and the last time I attended a big ceremony was three years ago."

"What is it about you that shakes and doubts about the Great Rite of Wika?"

"After you said that those spells were magic, I began to try to think about possible doubts, and then I remembered something that a true god would not do."

"What's the matter?"

"I once accidentally saw the Prophet secretly taking some medicine, and in hindsight, my husband had also taken the same pill in the past two years, so I don't think it is possible that the gods may need to be sustained with the help of certain drugs in order to complete the union with the five female believers."

Zoe first looked at the woman in front of her dumbfounded, and only after making sure that the other party was not joking did she record what she had just said.

As soon as she was done, her phone rang, and Zoe made an apologetic gesture to the other party and answered the call from a colleague: "What's the matter?" I'm researching. ”

The woman couldn't hear what was said on the other side of the phone, but she saw Zoe's eyes widen visibly: "Holiday? Are you kidding me? For safety reasons, my show is temporarily suspended? What are the security considerations? What do the police say, it was the people from Wika who did it? So, I can't do anything? ”

Soon, Zoe hung up the phone with an angry face, and Sylvia on the other side stared at Zoe nervously: "What happened?" ”

"My department received a gift box, and after opening it, it was found that it was a timing device, and my colleagues at the TV station were so frightened that all the staff evacuated, and the police arranged for someone to disassemble it, only to find that there was no bomb inside, only a box of chocolates." Zoe said irritably:

"Before the conclusion of the police investigation is released, for safety reasons, we are asked to suspend all behaviors that may cause follow-up reactions from potential suspects, such as continuing to investigate Wika, to put it simply, I am on vacation, according to the speed of the police investigation, the vacation will be at least two weeks, it is obvious that it should be the people of Wika who are trying to intimidate us, and the gift box does not have any threatening words, it is chocolate, even if the police come to the door, there is nothing they can do, they can be said to be enthusiastic viewers to give the TV station a box of chocolates."

In the public telephone booth outside the café, the bald Paige in a smoky gray jacket saw Zoe hang up the phone, and immediately dialed her number, looked at Zoe's back in the café, and said:

"Ms. Zoe Winters, I'm Lott Page, Mr. Tommy Hawke's driver, and he asked me to pick you up and take you to Los Angeles for the casting of the cast in Mr. Stephen Box's new film Judge Advisor, Electric, I asked the TV station you work for and they said you just started your vacation."

(End of chapter)