Head Lock
by By Doolittle, Jerome
Category: Fiction , Mystery & Detective , Hard-Boiled

The Reverend Howard Orrin is on a pilgrimage, and he's just a few steps shy of his mecca. It would seem a long way from his family-oriented Virginia theme park, Lordland, to a seat in the Senate, but The Reverend has been riding the high-speed rails of the nineties - television. His ticket to Washington comes courtesy of his right-wing Life Force organization, trained to disrupt abortion clinics and snare major coverage on the evening news. But The Reverend doesn't count on one day invading the privacy of Tom Bethany, Vietnam veteran, former college wrestler, and champion of the lost cause. When Bethany's married lover, Hope Edwards, reveals that she's pregnant by him, he leaves Boston to accompany her on a personal visit to an Arlington, Virginia, clinic. When they are forced to run a gauntlet of The Reverend's vitriolic supporters and intrusive news cameras, which wreak havoc on the emotional state of a teenage patient, Bethany is fighting mad. But when Life Force shows up on Hope's doorstep, and the young girl solves her problems by taking her own life, Bethany is determined to get even.The charismatic Reverend has recruited Archie Weider, the savviest politico in the business, to help him reach the Senate and meld the Word of God with the law of the land. Bethany's not fooled by this charade; he's preparing a full submission hold to put the brakes on the good Pastor's wheels. When Life Force christens him the "spawn of Satan," a badge that Bethany sports with pride, he musters an ad hoc task force to convert The Reverend. Enlisted are Susan Freedman, a journalist who has seen a disturbing side of The Reverend and whose distaste for him grows with every media sound bite...teenage electronics whiz Roy Shipley, the only friend of the troubled young girl whose death has fueled Bethany's desire to even the score...and Wanda Vollmer, massage therapist and proprietress of Personal Leisure World, who harbors a very personal resentment of Life Force, and who jumps at the chance to assist Bethany in his crusade.As Bethany and his team conspire to topple The Reverend from his bully pulpit, they incite the wrath of a man intent upon serving both God and Mammon. In a city that rewards power over scruples, and convenience over faith, Bethany's got his own special brand of political persuasion, and a missionary zeal for the laying on of hands....