Chapter 1
Jerry Johnson was tired after working overtime at the plant. He really didn't mind the overtime; in fact he always could use the money. Since he had retired early from the Navy he never minded earning his living. All the money he made just supplemented his small Navy pension.
Except when he worked a lot of hours and got tired his leg hurt and it reminded him of all the things he had lost when he left the service. It had been his career, in fact. He had been the youngest Chief Petty Officer in the Navy at that time attached to the SEAL unit. Even though most of his training consisted of hard physical activity along with very strenuous mental exercises, he loved the training. He loved putting himself on the limit each and every day. But that was left to another time and place so he settled himself into the seat as he was driving along. He reached down and flipped the radio stations trying to find some music that would help him along. Nothing seemed to help from country to rap to dance music. He flipped and stopped and listened for a few minutes to a talk radio station. All they were doing was talking about the epidemic of drugs and how it was destroying the moral fiber of the country. And even though he agreed with this, the talk show format only upset him because its main purpose was to get you aggravated so that you would listen. But they did mention that the President of the United States would be giving a speech in just a few minutes that would focus on this problem the day before Independence Day. There was a debate on this talk show on whether this was going to be a declaration of war on the drug problem in the United States. This made Jerry Johnson smile to himself. New wars ... they were always declaring war on something in this country. The war on poverty, the war on drugs, the war on alcohol, and each and every time it was a great speech followed with a lot of smiles and handshakes. Then rapidly the problem would escalate back to where it was without even a dent in the road. Well, it would probably be interesting to listen to the President's speech, but Jerry really had no interest in listening to a President that he did not vote for and who had never served in the military. So, Jerry reached over and found a tape that he had listened to off and on ever since his discharge form the Navy over two years ago. It was just soothing sea sounds and light music.
It was so calming and relaxing. He knew this would be just what he needed to help him over his tiredness and depression. So, he popped it into the tape player and drove on. Just as he was really getting into it he looked up and noticed the flashing lights of the train crossing. "Damn!", he thought. "This is just what I need. A freight train and I'm not far from home." He looked over and saw the light from the locomotive and knew it was too close to try and beat it, plus the gates were down and the last thing he needed right now was a ticket for trying to beat a freight train. So he just settled back, put on his parking lights and turned up the music. "Well," he thought, "maybe I can relax a little bit." Just as he was settling in, the train engine went by. Across from him on the other side of the tracks, a truck had pulled up, its lights shining right in Jerry's eyes. Fortunately, the train's speed began to pick up, its wheels clicking on the steel rails, while causing a strobe effect on the lights opposite Jerry's car. The click, click, click and the light flashing in Jerry's eyes reminded him of the Navy for some strange reason, so he just settled back even more comfortably in the seat and watched.
Deep in Jerry's mind something was beginning to happen. The neurons and the dendrites in his brain were firing in an old familiar pattern; something he hadn't seen in several years. The lights flashing in a periodic rate, the clicking and the soft music all took his mind back to something years ago that consciously Jerry Johnson was not even remotely aware of. It only took a matter of moments and Jerry Johnson was beyond consciousness ... beyond sub-consciousness ... into a deep state of hypnosis. He was almost somnambulistic with an expressionless face, eyes blankly staring. Mentally he felt alert ... aware. But the flashing light took on the effect of a strobe light, pulsing deeply to the back of his brain. The music from the tape deck continued to play softly in the background. The tape within had been stolen from the Navy while he was still on active duty. He was unaware of the subliminal messages lurking below the soft tranquil music and sea sounds. He was also unaware of the hidden messages placing his subconscious on auto-pilot ... kicking it into high gear. This was a familiar state, one that he had been comfortable with a few years ago while he was in his SEAL training. It had been a long time since he had experienced these familiar sensations.
The brain never forgets. It remembers and it is ready. It had waited years for this program to kick back in. Plus, consciously Jerry Johnson longed for those days, and this only heightened the effect. The aftereffect escalated ... mounting higher and higher due to the strobe in his brain ... the music ... the subliminal messages ... all working together in a synergistic effect. He was in such a deep state that he didn't even notice that the train had passed by and the truck on the other side had already passed by. He was just sitting there totally calm and relaxed and totally focused as the music played. Traffic was light due to the lateness of the hour. Abruptly there was a whirring sound as the tape ejected from the player. One of the advantages to modern tape players was that in order to protect the tape mechanism, any crimp or catch in the tape would cause an ejection. Suddenly the sound of the radio blared the intro to the Presidential Address with an official spokesperson saying, "The President of the United States."
Jerry Johnson sat erect in his seat, ready to receive whatever instructions would be required. Something had happened. He was turned on ... he was ready. The President's voice cut clearly over the airwaves. His speech followed the same pattern as all the previous Presidents. The topics ranged over the problems facing the United States and how we have to pull together as a nation to overcome these difficulties. He listed the many things that had happened over the past thirty years and that how in some instances we had made some improvements but most of the time nothing much had happened. Then he started talking about the drug problem in the United States and how it was basically tearing apart the moral fiber of the country. He said even though every President since the 1960's have all given lip service to the war on drugs to reclaiming America's streets, nothing much had been done. He continued speaking about his plans to make this the number one priority for the country and that we had to face it as a nation because it wasn't just the drug use that was ripping us apart, it had become an industry. The illegal drug industry was the strongest, most profitable, and the most violent industry this country had ever seen. Gangs had taken it over. Gangs that had made the inner cities their battle grounds. You could not drive at night. Drive-by shootings were common. Now it had escalated into drive-by bombings. The country was in turmoil. Terror reigned supreme in the cities, and it was now spreading out into the suburbs, no one was safe. We must tackle this problem of drugs and gangs. Only by tackling the drug empire by dismantling the local street gangs could we begin to make a dent in the problem. He said this was a war, the "moral equivalent of war" and that we must make it our primary objective to stop these criminals, to dismantle the gangs at whatever cost, to do what we have to do. It was our primary objective. We had to do this for the safety of our nation.
Just at that moment a truck pulled up behind Jerry Johnson, almost hitting him, and laid into its air horn. Jerry was startled awake, turned to look behind him, and saw the truck. He quickly began to pull forward. He was disoriented, he couldn't remember the last few moments. As soon as he crossed the railroad tracks he pulled off to the side of the road. The truck driver angrily blared his horn, bellowing out his frustration by calling Jerry every foul name in the book. Jerry was unaware of the driver's irritation. He sat on the side of the road for several minutes as he tried to regain his composure. The radio continued blaring as the President ended the address, but Jerry's mind was reeling. However, something had already happened. The program had been set. He had received his specific instructions with the code words needed for him to begin the process. At that time Jerry Johnson sitting in his car here in the suburbs of Chicago felt something inside of him shift almost like an audible click. His consciousness passed from him and he was in an altered state. This was something psychologists had talked about for years but had never been able to prove ... the theory of a deep somnambulistic state that leaves you wide awake and alert but not quite the person you were before. He sat there for another few moments, put the car back in gear and drove on. Jerry Johnson was in the zone. The mission had begun.
Jerry entered into the zone, a frame of mind where time seems altered, it's like when you almost have an accident, things seem to slow down on the outside while you're going fast on the inside, the same state that athletes work so hard to get into. He remembered the way they taught them to enter into this state back at that advanced psychological training.
First they had them get very relaxed, then:
Find a time in your life where time moved very slowly. Examples are: sitting in a boring class or lecture where time drags, minutes seem like hours. Stuck in traffic. Waiting for bad news. Waiting in a doctor office, or in a dentist's chair.
Pick one of the events and step into the experience, relive it as much as possible. Look for all the little things.
Vision: Is your vision narrow or open, focused or blurry? Are the colors bright or dull, textured or flat, 3D or not? Is the vision moving or still? Are you in the picture, or do you see it through your eyes?
Hearing: Are the sounds loud or quite, clear or muffled, close or far away? What about internal voices or sounds, where are they?
Feelings: Where is your center? Are you internally or externally focused? Is it hot or cool? Light or heavy? How are your chest and stomach?
Smell or taste: Do you notice anything here?
He remembered that they called these perceptual differences submodalities, how your brain codes your experiences.
He remembered that they then had them make a fist and let a color come to mind that represented this slow time.
They then thought of a time when time flew by, went very quickly, in a good way. Like when you're at a party and enjoying it, or a sporting event that went great, or being with someone you love.
Again find the Submodalities of this experience.
Vision: Is it open or narrow? Are the colors bright or dull, are they moving or still? Are you in the picture, or do you see it through your eyes?
Hearing: Are the sounds loud or quite, sharp or dull? Muffled or clear? What internal sounds? Where are they?
Feelings: Do you feel light or heavy? Warm or cool? What about your stomach and chest?
Smell or taste: Do you notice anything here?
Now make a fist and let a color come to mind that represents fast time.
Now, slowly bring your fist together and let the colors merge, where you will be fast on the inside, but everything on the outside will seem in slow motion. Then let your brain lock in this ZONE experience.
As Jerry redid the exercise on the side of the road, he would stay in the zone for the duration of the mission.
