Page 68 of Psyop Kings

I’ve seen this man before.

Where?

I close my eyes again to think. It only takes a few seconds and I remember seeing him at a charity event at Veil Media Group headquarters. I’d been about fifteen when I’d seen the man. His shiny, bald head stuck out to me. He also had beady eyes that covertly studied everyone in the room. It creeped me out.

After a search of past charity events at my father’s company from several years ago, I come across photos from the event. Sure enough, there’s a picture with him and my father.

Ted Preston.

On a new rabbit trail, I dig into Ted. I’m desperate to piece all these people together. I feel like they fit somehow—I just need to figure it out.

Ted, according to what I uncover, is a humanitarian consultant for international stability. Whatever that means. To me, it sounds like a made-up profession.

How does a person even come into such an obscure job?

I discover his old, abandoned LinkedIn profile and learn Ted was once a National Security consultant for the US Department of the State over twenty years ago.

What if Ted is with the CIA or FBI or some undercover agency? Maybe he was looking into Solomon.

My mind reels, wondering how someone my dad knew could be someone Solomon also knows. I’m about to give up for the night when I find an old picture of Caius.

Not Caius Crowne.

Johnny Caius McElroy.

In the picture, he can’t be more than sixteen or seventeen. Though young and wearing a worn-out hoodie and jeans, he still has the cold stare, even back then. The photograph also features Ted Preston, with a full head of hair, and a much younger Orion Crowne.

A Humanitarian Gift to the World: Crowne Unity Project is Born

The title of the article flags a memory for me. I’d seen something similar written in the pamphlet I’d found in Megan’s dorm room. CUP’s mission had been somewhere along the lines to transform and uplift people who’d been left behind in modern society.

Like a troubled foster kid? Is that what Caius was and why Orion adopted him? To “transform” him into something better and more valuable to the world?

It’s all connected…

The article is from a local, no longer in print, newspaper based in Reno, Nevada, called the Reno Local Ledger. Another search lands me on a boys’ group home, Reno Umbra Center for Boys, in the area with ties to none other than Ava Herring. If I had to bet, Caius came from this particular group home.

So Dad knows Ted Preston, a man with a questionable job title. Sketchy Ted has also known Caius since he was a broody teenager and the guy obviously had connections with Orion. Solomon, too, was photographed with Ted, which makes me question who Ted really is now that I know that Solomon’s a murderer. Solomon, an investor in Orion’s company, is an acquaintance of Ava, who happens to be a CUP mega donor but also behind the ownership of the boys’ home Caius most likely came from.

Are they all part of some huge, complicated human trafficking scheme?

Was Caius taken too?

Or, Romy, you’re connecting dots that don’t match, desperate for answers to questions you’ll never truly have.

A sick feeling twists in my gut. The same men who kidnapped me, played psychological games, and messed with my phone could very well be responsible for all the information I’m uncovering.

This could be another stupid psyop of theirs.

My head aches at that possibility that all my mental gymnastics could be a calculated attempt to brainwash me into thinking what they want me to think.

Why, though?

It doesn’t make sense.

There’s no way they could have known I’d go searching for these things. They’re not inside my head. I’m being paranoid.

With a steadying exhale, I shoot Theo a text.

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