George opened it quickly, wearing a triumphant grin. In this release, the Illuminati detailed its connections to international banking cabals and the Federal Reserve System.

Suddenly, another piece fit into the world's largest jigsaw puzzle, which revealed a mosaic of the ancient plan of world domination. Just in time for the weekend edition of Illuminati Watch, which Travis, his partner and protégé, would upload onto their popular conspiracy web site.

The press release even had quotes, such as:

"Domination of the Federal Reserve System is an ideal endeavor for our organization, ensuring that America's money supply stays in the hands of a few wealthy individuals under our control," said a spokesman for the Illuminati. "Therefore, we can swing inflation whenever we want to generate incredible profits." He added, "The next time you hold a dollar bill that buys less and less, look at the pyramid symbol on the back. That's us. We own the Fed. Ordo ab chaos."

The Illuminati was an organization of thirteen men who ran the world behind the scenes. They weren't satisfied with simply manipulating its nations like puppets, however; they craved direct rule so that they could abolish religion, private property and freedom.

You can find out more about them in any book about conspiracy theories in your local bookstore. But George had something no other conspiracy theorist had -- confirmation of their existence and a direct pipeline to their secrets. No more theorizing for him.

Once a month, sometimes once a week, George got a press release from them that detailed their plans. Getting the scoop on the world's most potent secret society from said secret society felt like cheating, even collusion, but America had a right to know.

He and Travis had started their web site five years ago, cataloguing real conspiracies that happened in history.

At the top of the site, a quote from Nietzsche happily declared:

JOYOUS MISTRUST IS A SIGN OF HEALTH

George researched and Travis posted documents about the radiation experiments the government conducted on people and kept secret for decades; the Tuskegee Study in which more than four hundred black men with syphilis were denied treatment so that researchers could study them; CIA LSD research on unwitting Americans and their recruitment of journalists to help them in foreign intelligence operations; Army germ warfare tests conducted on the populations of San Francisco, Minneapolis, the Pentagon and the New York City subway system; and the FBI Cointelpro program, in which they infiltrated and illegally harassed radical organizations in the 1960s.

For some reason, people believed that the government was too stupid to keep secrets, but all of these activities were kept secret until the Freedom of Information Act came along. The government, in fact, spends about three billion dollars every year protecting its secrets.

George felt that America had a right to know.

The site became popular, and they sold enough banner ads and merchandise to keep their little operation going.

Then one day the first mysterious press release arrived, addressed to him personally. The letterhead was crisp, heavy-bond paper and bore a gold pyramid logo with a red angry eye glaring from its summit. The press release declared that in two weeks a major national bank was going to collapse due to a rogue inside trader, shocking financial markets and causing a plunge in the Dow.

In the release, a spokesman for the Illuminati said, "The resulting turmoil in the markets, carefully orchestrated by our organization, will create opportunities for our proxy investment banks to perform extremely profitable hostile takeovers of a major media company and eight budding technology companies, thereby further smoothing the road for full-scale implementation of our nefarious dreams of the New World Order."

George laughed out loud at it for five minutes, chuckled over it for the next two weeks, and filed it away in his folder of all-time favorite crank mail. He almost crapped himself when it happened.

Then another press release arrived.

He and his enemy, the Illuminati, immediately developed a symbiotic relationship. They fed him great content, which Travis fleshed out, and they posted it on their web site. Travis was a master researcher and dug up little details that really made the stories come alive. George still didn't know why they picked him or why they wanted him to do it at all.

He wisely kept this relationship secret from Travis. He knew that his protégé looked up to him and he didn't want to shatter the kid's dreams. That's why he always got the mail.

Travis picked up the phone and heard the raspy voice he knew all too well.

I believe your friend has some good information, the voice said, about the Illuminati's connection to the Federal Reserve System and the international banking community.

"Yes," said Travis, waiting. "I've got the article on my desk here. George is out to lunch, so I can talk freely. I'm alone."

Good, good. I called because I can provide a few details.

The man he was speaking to called himself Deep Throat and he claimed to be an insider in the Illuminati. He hadn't picked the nickname as a joke; apparently, he was the Deep Throat who had leaked information to The Washington Post thirty years ago to bring down Nixon, another Illuminati move. Nixon knew his days were numbered because of the Illuminati, the people who had put him in power. That's why he was so paranoid, apparently.

Travis wrote everything down, thanked Deep Throat, and hung up.

He looked around nervously and began fleshing out George's piece for the new edition of the Illuminati Watch News. He greatly admired George, who had been in the conspiracy game much longer than him. Travis had first gotten involved with the site only because George was willing to pay him a few bucks under the table for web design. But George produced incredible stories, wrote thoughtful analysis and made far-reaching but accurate connections. He was a real wizard. Over time, Travis became a true believer.