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Old 03-06-2018, 09:11 AM   #232
Icelander
 
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Default Hypothetical Objective Metrics

Anderson: “Warren Otis?”
Richardson: “He’s the truck driver Taylor killed in Decatur, Georgia on the Fourth of July, 2011. Just so you don’t forget why your boy was in Ft. Leavenworth.”
Anderson: “Ah, yes. Of course. The unfortunate Warren Otis. It would probably be interesting to see what Onyx Rain has in its classified files on the case against Taylor. No apparent motive, of course. Nothing that would ever be placed in evidence about Project Jade Serenity. But having witnessed the sensory acuity that Taylor displays, is it really so far fetched that he could have known, somehow, that Otis was going to drive his truck into a parade full of children?”
Richardson: “Yeah. It is. Super-senses aren’t going to help you detect evidence that isn’t there. Otis was an ordinary guy, no connection to any extremists, hell, no political or religious views he didn’t share with most of his neighbours. No money problems beyond what anybody might have from time to time, always managed to stay current on his mortgage. Even had modest savings when he died. No gambling problems and been on the wagon twenty years. Married, six kids. No Earthly reason he’d want to drive into a parade crowd on the Fourth of July and kill a bunch of innocent kids he didn’t even know. Not a shred of evidence to suggest he ever so much as thought about it, either. Taylor shot him for no reason and that’s a fact.”
Anderson: “I defer to your expertise, Agent Richardson. All I know about that case is what I read in the papers. So maybe Taylor’s reaction and the unfortunate results for Otis arose from a side-effect of Taylor’s heightened senses. Ordinary combat veterans sometimes exhibit hypervigilance as a symptom of PTSD. With sensory input far more detailed and richly textured than what the human brain is wired to handle, I would not be surprised if there were a few glitches. That seems more credible than a man of Taylor’s temperament and psychological profile suddenly becoming indiscriminately homicidal.”
Tex: “You seem awful sure ‘bout Taylor’s lamblike nature, doc. Considerin’ that your boy confessed to murderin’ two men last night.”
Anderson: “You asked for my professional judgment of the mental state of Chase Taylor and any psychological risk factors connected to it. I happen to be in a very good position to make such a judgment; having had access to all of Taylor’s medical records for an extended period of time, conducted weekly in-depth diagnostic interviews with him for almost a year, observed him in a high-stress situation and around people he has strong emotional responses towards. Would you gentlemen agree that this puts me in a position to evaluate his mental state?”
Tex: “As much as any feller can fathom another, I reckon, long as his hat’ll fit ya an’ you can tell where his boots pinch.”
Richardson: “We’re asking you because we believe that your expert opinion is of considerable value, Doctor. You may be assured of that.”
Anderson: “In my opinion, then, Chase Taylor is not irrational, homicidal or abnormally violent. He confessed to murdering Warden Tyrrell and Dr. Cotton because he believes that having desired their deaths, for reasons which ought to be obvious in light of his feelings for Ms. Bell and the abuse she suffered at their hands, he committed a mortal sin by taking their lives. By a strict reading of Christian doctrine, that may be true. I am not sure that this is a majority opinion or that Onyx Rain can reasonably demand adherence to the same strict standards of morality as those by which Taylor judges himself. There is a saying in Texas, I believe, about the justice of hanging horse thieves, but not necessarily all those who commit unlawful killings. Can you recall it, Captain Trevino?”
Tex: “’Round those parts, folks reckon that there ain’t no horses that need stealin’, but allow that there might be a few fellers who stand in need of killin’.”
Anderson: “Theft of a horse might no longer elicit a visceral response from the average person, but make the universally condemned crime something along the lines of the abuse which Ms. Bell suffered in this place, and I think that a comfortable majority of Texans, and Southerners in general, might consider Dr. Cotton and Warden Tyrrell the sort of men who stand in dire need of killing. Even a Connecticut Yankee might be tempted to express qualified approval for summary justice in such a case.”
Richardson: “So, you believe that Taylor’s actions here were an aberration, brought on by the terrible nature of Cotton and Tyrrell’s crimes against a person of whom Taylor feels possessive?”
Anderson: “Actually, no. Taylor might believe that he acted out of a primitive desire for vengeance, but I think that revenge was ultimately not the deciding factor. Taylor killed these two men not because of what they had done, but to prevent future harm. I simply do not believe that Taylor is a danger to anyone who does not pose a legitimate threat to him or to someone under his protection.”
LCDR Dao: “You almost sound like you admire him.”

By the way Dao says this, Dr. Anderson confirms his earlier suspicions, that the Navy SEAL officer has profound reservations about what he might be called upon to do in light of the implied threat from Onyx Rain to Taylor. One of the more melancholy ironies of fighting men is how often even those who might find themselves instructed to kill one another find a much deeper sense of spiritual kinship with fellow warriors than their civilian masters.

Anderson: “I did not say that. Whether he is considered as a fortuitous accident of self-reinforcing psychological factors that resulted in an almost ideal recruit to the Special Forces or as the product of experimental chemically-augmented training methods, Chase Taylor is a remarkable specimen. Personally, however, I am with Professor Tolkien when he said: ‘I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.’”
Richardson: “In this particular case, your own life?”
Anderson: “I am grateful that Taylor was here on Jewell Island, certainly. I believe that his particular skills and overdeveloped sense of protective obligation toward others contributed materially to the successful resolution of the situation. No doubt it has occurred to you that the violent mutiny of more than twenty trained men with military weapons was resolved in a remarkably fortuitous manner for Onyx Rain and the people at risk. More lives might have been lost if Taylor had not been here. My own probably among them, as you say. But I am trying to give an objective analysis, nothing more.”
Richardson: “Right. Well, by your objective analytic metric, can Taylor be trusted to obey orders well enough to function as part of an undercover team in Mexico?”
Anderson: “That is hardly my field.”
Richardson: “Let me put it this way. If you were going to Mexico as part of an undercover team tasked with convincing Vargas and the AWOL Special Forces team to accept conditional immunity, would you trust Chase Taylor to handle your security?”
Anderson: “Without reservations. In the extremely implausible hypothetical scenario that I should ever find myself willingly doing anything so spectacularly dangerous as going on an undercover operation to a foreign country to deal with some of the most lethal commandos trained by the US military as well as the terrifying head of the most lunatic, murderous cartel in a country full of breath-taking villainy, I would want Taylor or someone very much like him by my side.”
Tex: “I reckon we’ve got good and bad news for you, doc.”
Richardson: “Your contract with the Department of Homeland Security did not specify a time limit on your consulting duties.”
Anderson: “I believe that the nature of my employment was fairly precisely defined, however, and I do not recall agreeing to serving in the capacity of a federal agent, spy or covert operator.”
Richardson: “You’re right. We can’t force you to go. All we can do is ask. You say that Ms. Bell needs extensive therapy and that she needs to be around people she trusts. Well, how many people do you think that is just now? As you reasonably reminded us, Ms. Bell regards most everyone from the US government as her enemy. How likely is it that she’d trust anyone we assigned as her handler? She does need someone to provide psychological counselling and teach her coping mechanisms, but if you will not go, I don’t see how we’ll manage that.”
Anderson: “Indulging further in your hypothetical, if I agreed, who else would be going?”
Richardson: “There would be a senior federal agent leading the team, a Special Agent Ilana Rubio. The team would consist of Ms. Bell, to approach Raul Vargas safely, and Agent O’Toole, whom she requested specifically as her assigned protection. There would be a potential benefit of having Chase Taylor present while making the offer to his former comrades-in-arms. Unfortunately, the accusation made by Ms. Bell and the risk of Taylor going off the reservation make it all but impossible to send him.”
Anderson: “I believe that if I were to speak with Ms. Bell, I could clarify what lies behind this allegation. In any case, I would trust Taylor around Ms. Bell rather than O’Toole or, indeed, any soldier or policeman unknown to me. Taylor can be trusted to do his duty, to the best of his ability, in the performance of any task he views as compatible with his honour and conscience.”
Tex: “And if he feels the task he’s given ain’t compatible with his tender conscience?”
Anderson: “I suspect that Taylor would die rather than serve any dishonourable cause. Of course, before dying, he might kill anyone whom he saw as trying to make use of him for evil purposes. That is a risk that I would be most unwilling to assume, no matter what protections I had in place.”
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