Most Likely to Succeed

Tom and Emily were good kids from caring homes. They did well in school and graduated from college. They are spiritually centered, loving, and kind people. They just have one hang-up together. They can’t seem to live and let live; not without exception. There are exceptions. They believe that no one should have to worry about being molested, raped, murdered, or sold. Independently they discovered that they can act on these problems and, at some point, that they should. Executing predators is an act of mercy; mercy for the victims there would certainly be in the future. Compassion is their code. There is no justice angle to what they do. No punishment, no vindication, no vengeance, torture, or payback. Only mercy for the future victims and for the subject himself. If the soul is so tormented or the mind so demented, why not set it free? As humanely as possible. No gratuitous, non-lethal suffering and no collateral casualties. No kids, spouses, coworkers, not even bodyguards. They single out offenders and turn them off, and it doesn’t bother them at all. Based upon their motive and technical execution, Tom and Emily are recruited by a secret society of men and women who share their views. The Group votes life or death on candidates and distributes the names to the assets that set them free. Might sometimes does make right. Like flipping a capsized turtle onto his feet, they simply exercise their inner obligation to choose the good and their ability to keep choosing it, one bad actor at a time. There is such a thing as a person who just needs killing. These unfortunates are slaves to their instinct to inflict unspeakable harms and they should, by any standard, be stopped. What supports such extreme prejudice? It’s the certainty. The absolute certainty that there are those among us who by nature are so maladjusted to peaceful living, so rehabilitation resistant, that they will go on feeding upon the anguish of others as long as they live. So live they mustn’t.