Testing the Hook

The car could have been asked for quietly, by the exit — “which is why it wouldn’t do”. Simon needs not a car but a measurement: will Jacob agree in front of Craig and Priscilla, where the price of agreeing is highest? A public “yes” cannot be written off as tactics — it proves the hook is set fast.

This is classic manipulator logic: don’t believe words — run experiments with a rising price. And note where Simon got it: this is exactly how he himself was tested for years — how much he could take, where he would break. He did not invent this instrument. He inherited it.