63

In the cramped BBC van, Gunther Glick takes over the computer while Chinita Macri watches skeptically. Glick searches the BBC database and finds that the network has run multiple stories in the past decade about the Illuminati, challenging Macri’s assumption that the subject belongs only to tabloids.

Glick walks Macri through historical references that reputable outlets have connected to the Illuminati, including Winston Churchill’s 1920 warning about a worldwide conspiracy and Woodrow Wilson’s comments about hidden organized power. Macri remains doubtful, comparing such claims to folklore and conspiracy myths, but the sources make her less comfortable dismissing the subject outright.

Glick continues with examples involving Cecil Rhodes, Rhodes Scholarships, Masonic influence in British public life, and broader alleged links to Galileo, European sects, Marx, and the Russian Revolution. Macri objects to the more sensational claims, especially when they touch people and institutions she respects, but she recognizes that BBC reporting normally requires careful verification.

When Glick shows Macri a recent Wall Street Journal reference to an Illuminati-themed computer game, the discussion shifts from history to the group’s popular modern image as an anti-religious conspiracy. Macri asks what the Illuminati have against Christianity, and Glick says the hostility extends to religion in general, with the Vatican now apparently singled out.

The chapter ends with Macri still questioning whether the caller who contacted them is truly an Illuminati messenger planning to kill four cardinals. Glick, hungry for a major story, openly hopes the claim is true, revealing his ambition and lack of concern for the human stakes.