That’s exactly correct. The rattlesnake has rattles for a reason, and he gives fair and honest warning.
But if you are too f-ing stupid to know what the rattle means, it dosn’t work.
Or, if they think they have enough anti-venom on-hand. As your story adroitly illustrates...
They don’t.
100% response from those I’ve forwarded this story to has been various equivalents of WOW!
Some focused on the happy ending and others expressed shock upon realizing the apparatus for identifying and locating “subversives” is already in place.