Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

Never underestimate the power of sticking to your story. On the other hand, if the jig is finally up, it may make sense to surrender to the forces of the law without a struggle? and once you do so, you must stop speaking altogether except to state that you wish to speak to your attorney. If you're only gathering information, the law you actually broke is probably quite small; oflien, security guards vrill just kick you out of the building and tell you not to come back. Then again, if you can be tied to an act of hard-core property destruction that just took place, you'll want to put into action some of the tactics covered in the Evasion recipe on pg. 234.

Complications If you're going undercover, you must appear to be normal come hell or high water?^but when that becomes utterly impossible, you might as well try the opposite. If things are only slightly weird, people will tend to search for a logical explanation for events. If things are so strange that they are off the charts, people may do their best to ignore them^?that's a standard response to cognitive dissonance, as psychology students learn. Accordingly, one should either be completely undercover, or, when one's cover is blown, go aU the way Once, while fleeing through the woods from riot police, a friend and I came to a road traveled by law-abiding civilians. At first, we pretended to be wholesome . r, .? young hitchhikers, and everyone smiled but passed us by. Soon, the police were closing

J70 in, and our nervous behavior freaked out the one driver who nearly picked us up. Real-

izing that our situation was too desperate for any pretext, we frantically flagged down an old couple and explained to them that we were anarchist fugitives from the nearby

anti-globaHzation protest, who were being chased by the poHce as we spoke and needed a ride as far away as possible at this very moment. While at first stunned, they immediately let us in the car. Once inside, we normalized the situation by talking about the weather, and they dropped us off with a smile.

Another good rule of thumb: quit while you're ahead. If you have reason to believe that the situation is about to go horribly av^rry, get out. Don't fear being abrupt?just do it. If you think you just need to cool off, to check on some data or re-establish your security, make a brief and reasonable excuse, such as going to the bathroom or on a family vacation, depending on the time frame you're working with; in the moment of calm that provides, you can figure out where you stand, and whether you dare go back.

There are two types of people: those who have good intuitions, and those who do not. Through experience, ascertain which type you are, and rely accordingly on gut feelings or rational calculations. It is often useful to go undercover with at least one other person, so you can compare notes and balance out each other's fits of paranoia and delusions of invincibility. If you operate mainly by intuition, bring along a rational thinker, and vice versa. If you are working with a partner who is nervous or panicking under the stress, engage in small talk, tell a funny story, be relaxing to be around.

Speaking of having a partner, nothing makes for a good cover story like being in a generic love-struck heterosexual couple. This pretext enables everyone to assume they already know what you're up to, not to mention why your palms are sweaty and you keep whispering in each other's ears. And just what are you two doing atop the courthouse, on this portentous night? "Oh, officer, I'm so sorry," you gush, cologne in the air and hpstick on your neck, "we just came up here to . . . admire the view!"

You can wear thick, opaque pantyhose over tattoos to obscure them and your identity

Infiltration 311

Counter-Surveillance

Infittration

312