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The Investigation Continues....
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Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Feb-6-2007 02:27



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Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Feb-6-2007 02:33

New York City--

(At the War Department's New York Field Headquarters Complex....)

Dave wound his way through the Hospital, through a maze of corridors, down several floors, until he reached the basement. He made his way through a series of underground tunnels buried deep beneath the War Department Complex, finally arriving at the Department's Headquarters building. Making his way back upstairs again, he travelled through another labyrinth of corridors and offices, finally reaching a corner office.

Knocking briefly, he entered to find a number of agents already gathered around a conference table. The Department's senior commander in New York, Assistant Secretary of War Admiral Louis Peterson, sat at its head, poring over various reports.

Lou looked up from his paperwork as Dave sat down at the far end of the table. "Ah, you're here. Good. How're our kidnap victims doing?"

Dave sighed heavily as he poured himself a mug of coffee from a carafe on the table. "One's recovering nicely, the other's not doing so well. The male, Barry Grant, was well enough this morning to be transferred over to the Broadway for the rest of his recovery. The woman, Jas Mushu, had a setback during the night. The thoracic artery I repaired a couple days ago started hemorrhaging overnight. Pete's in the O.R. right now, working on her. It doesn't look good."

Grim silence permeated the room as everyone contemplated Dave's news. Lou sighed heavily, his lean face deeply-lined and troubled. "Damn. I'm sorry, Son. Is there anything we can do from this end to help? D'you wanna head back down there?"

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Feb-6-2007 02:35

Dave shook his head tiredly, "Not really, no. There's nothing I can do that Pete's not already doing. I came over here to check in for a bit."

Lou peered at him over the top of his glasses, "You sure? When's the last time you slept?"

Dave laughed wearily at that, "It's been a while, Lou, but I'll be okay. What've we got on all this?"

Lou raised an eyebrow derisively at that, but let it go, "Uh huh." He then turned to address the other agents to start the briefing.

First up was the surveillance the Department was conducting on the warehouse where Barry had been held. The kidnappers had fled shortly after Jas had snuck in and surprised them, but the Department had maintained a team near it to ensure that they had indeed left it for good. Surprisingly, the Department’s team had seen two men enter the warehouse earlier this afternoon. The watchers were now waiting to see where these men went when they left the warehouse again.

Next, the group discussed the trap they’d set up at Mount Sinai. While Barry and Jas had been recovering at the Department’s hospital, located in their complex, they’d sent decoy agents over to Mount Sinai to impersonate Barry and Jas, in the hopes that the kidnappers might try and break into Mount Sinai to finish the job. So far, Sinai had been deluged with visitors and well-wishers all wanting to see the two ‘patients’, but there had been no attempts to kill or re-kidnap either of them. This mission was also ongoing.

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Feb-6-2007 02:37

“Which brings us to the breaches we had here at our hospital,” Lou said gruffly, “What’s the latest on Mr. Grant’s ‘visitors’?” Dave spoke up at that, “He said the woman’s name was Violet Parr, with two R’s. Said he had no clue where he’d met her.”

Lou looked at him over the top of his glasses again, then turned to another agent. “Uh huh..We get anything outta that bellhop who delivered those flowers to Grant, Annie?”

Annetta diNapoli, a middle-aged, blonde, eternally perky woman, glanced up at Lou from her notes and smiled, “Yep, he said the whole thing took place over telegraph, and he never met the lady. Said she paid for the shop’s most expensive African violets with a wire transfer. We did get an address from the wire transfer, though. Came from a private residence in London. I wired Doug and Charlie in London. They’re tracking it down now.”

“We have a description on this Parr woman?” Lou rumbled. A second agent, Nicholas Henderson, spoke up at that, “We did better than that, Boss. We’ve got pictures of her. Y’know that the Hospital has four entrances, and two of them, the front Main Entrance and the Emergency Room Entrance are both guarded. The other two, the tunnel entrance from the headquarters complex, and the Service Entrance, are locked but not guarded. People coming in those entrances need a key to get in, or a lock-pick in Ms. Parr’s case. When she came in the Service Entrance, she probably didn’t count on the pressure plates we built into the first twelve feet of the entranceway. Those plates trigger four different cameras to fire whenever someone steps on them. They cover the whole entranceway, so unless you’re a bird, there’s no way around them. Documents and Identifications just got through processing the latest batch of film from the cameras. Here she is.” Nick passed out a sheaf of black-and-white photos to the various agents.

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Feb-6-2007 02:39

The pictures showed a slender, dark-haired, olive-skinned woman with light eyes, smiling slightly, and a scarf wrapped around her neck.

Everyone studied the photo briefly, then Lou looked up again, and peered at Annie over his glasses, “Good. Get copies of this on the milk run to London tonight, please, Annie.”

At her nod, he turned back to Nick, “Let’s also get this out to the local flatfoots in the City here, and all the exit points throughout the Eastern Seaboard. Airports, train stations, harbors, the works. Hell, wire the Mounties to be on the lookout for this woman. She may try to slip into Canada.”

“You want her listed as a fugitive, armed and dangerous, Lou?” Nick asked.

Lou studied the picture for a moment, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, then glanced over at Dave, “Grant said she was trying to warn him, not attack him?” Dave nodded at that. “She only fought off our guys? She didn’t assault Grant?” Dave nodded silently again.

Lou tapped his photo absently with a finger. “Let’s not give away our hand just yet. List her as a witness to a federal crime, possibly in danger herself. Locate and track only, don’t apprehend.” Nick scribbled a note down on his notepad, then nodded at Lou.

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Feb-6-2007 04:21

“Fair enough,” Lou muttered gruffly, “Anyone have a line on our other s’pposed visitor, the vent guy?”

A third agent, Jeff Brannon, spoke up then. “My guys in Evidence were able to lift a palmprint, a right thumb and index print, and two partials off that wine bottle that Breit dropped off. The palmprint belongs to a detective out of Shanghai who’s on Omega’s cleared list. The thumb, index, and partials belong to a different person.” He studied a file for a moment. “Name’s Joseph, Joey ‘Danger’ Danakowski. Polish immgrant from just after World War I. He’s on LHI’s payroll here in New York.”
Lou eyed Jeff over his glasses briefly, then turned an eagle-eyed glare to Nick again. “Find him, Henderson. Go talk to LHI’s local head here, Auguste Giron. He should know where this guy Danakowski is. I wanna know why his guy came bargin’ in my building without knocking.”

Nick scribbled on his notepad again as the others laughed softly at that, “Gotcha, Boss.”

“Anything else, people?” Lou asked briskly.

Annie handed him and Dave another file then. “Yeah, Lou. The autopsy came in this afternoon on that woman who was killed on the sidewalk outside the hospital a few days ago. The coroner id’ed her as a Nona D. Dictrich, known locally as Nonaddict for some reason. Documents and ID has her emigrating from Germany with her family at the turn of the century. There were reports from possible witnesses that she was killed with some kind of dart that they thought came from the hospital. The coroner’s disputing that. He says that she was killed from a cyanide overdose. He found a miniature flechette embedded in the woman’s neck that had a hollow shaft that was filled with potassium cyanide. In effect, an assassin’s permanent tranquilizer dart.

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Feb-6-2007 04:25

He was also able to determine the projectile’s trajectory as being sharply downward, right-to-left, and front-to-back. His report says it entered her neck just below her right ear, severed the carotid artery, and lodged in her fourth cervical vertebra. With a flight path like that, the barb would’ve have to have been fired from the upper stories or the roof of the investment firm that’s next to the hospital on the east side.”

Lou grunted softly, “Huh,” then looked at Dave, “What d’you think, Son?”

Dave studied the autopsy report, then looked up at Lou, his eyes bleak, “Somebody wanted to make damned sure that this woman was dead. The flechette alone did enough damage to kill her inside of five minutes, the poison was overkill. She was gone in less than a minute. The question is, why. What’d be so important about this woman that the killer would use something this sophisticated?”

Lou nodded, “Good question.” He turned to another agent in the group, Daniel Sparrowhawk. “Dan, take a team and go find out. Look into her background, who might have wanted to kill her, anything related to Department business. Go turn some rocks over and see what comes crawling out.” Dan nodded silently.

Lou eyed everyone broodingly, then said gruffly, “Okay, people, let’s hit it. We’ve got people at risk, and no idea who’s after them. We need answers, and we need ’em yesterday. Get going.”

With that, the agents left for their various teams to carry out their assigned duties....

Yuri Lurkinfertrubl
Yuri Lurkinfertrubl

Feb-6-2007 04:52

Yuri leant back, wiped the sweat from his bald pate, and slipped the heavy radio headphones from his ears.

Zese Americanz, he thought, they talked so much and yet did so little. He was not sure whether he should be angry at ze time he had wasted listening to their endless prattle, or whether he was embarrassed at how long and how successfully zey had thwarted HYDRA.

It was not an easy zing to understand. Their agentz were like cartoon cutoutz; parodies of goodness and virtue. Ze women beautiful and smouldering; ze men all steely eyed and chisel jawed. Yuri adjusted his wooden leg with the hook that covered the stump on his right arm, and closed his one good eye; ah for ze days when he was home in Transylvania where ze women had faces like potatoes, and ze men and children were grateful to be reminded of food. He laughed quietly at his little joke.

So ze girl Violet Parr had come out from ze shadows eh. That would surprise no-one except ze Americans. She was young and weak, and had to run to that slack-jawed fool Grant. Bah, Yuri sneered. It was about time she was dealt with. It was time they were both dealt with.

Standing up quickly he glanced around ze room; the bodies of James P. & Martha Dadsworth, the previous tenants, lay where they had dropped to the floor, their heads shrouded in a death mask of swarming flies.

Yuri inhaled ze invigorating stench of death and gasoline one last time as he struck a match, flicked it over his shoulder, and shut ze door behind him.

Violet Parr
Violet Parr
Thespian

Feb-6-2007 10:06

Miss Violet Parr was taken aback as she reviewed her bill. She was preparing to check-out of the Broadway Plaza, and was surprised and to a greater extent suspicious by the bill she was presented with at the front desk.

“Excuse me Sir, there must be some mistake… The last I checked my bill had exceeded $10,000.”

“I’m sorry Miss Feathers? Did you say $10,000?”

“I did indeed.”

“That is not possible Miss Feathers. We don’t charge that kind of money for our rooms. Your stay has not exceeded two weeks, and you stay in the hotel’s least expensive room.”

“That was what I said! But the receptionist that was here yesterday had informed otherwise: that I needed to pay around $10,000.”

“That number is ridiculous Miss Feathers. You clearly must have misunderstood.”

“I did not…” All of the sudden a realization dawned on Violet Parr, and she felt nauseous. Nevertheless, she managed to continue the conversation with a question. “May I speak with the young lady that was here yesterday? I believe her name is Lucy. It is a matter of great urgency Sir.”

“I’m afraid I cannot help you there Miss Feathers, Lucy has resigned yesterday evening very suddenly. The manager is very upset with her for not giving proper notice, and we have not been able to reach her since…”

The rest of the conversation was to her a blur. She managed to settle her bill, grab her suitcase, and stagger out of the hotel lobby: she felt like she was going to be sick. She recalled Miss Quadir whom followed her with the scarf. Could she be working with that Lucy? Tracking her down? Even worse… planning to harm her? Could it possibly have anything to do with the conversation she overheard the last time she was in New York?

She made a frantic decision in a moment of weakness. She grabbed her notebook and ripped a few pages out of it. She shredded the pages into pieces as she walked with quick steps… She needed to feel safe… She needed to be in London.


Yuri Lurkinfertrubl
Yuri Lurkinfertrubl

Feb-7-2007 16:28

From his vantage point on the roof opposite the Broadway Plaza Hotel Yuri watched the girl Violet Parr leave the building through the telescopic lens of his rifle. Finding the girl and Grant had been ridiculously simple. It was almost as if people were leaving signs so that he might follow the little story that played out before him.

The wind gusted and he had to steady the rifle on it's stand again.

In any case it was all over for zis one, Yuri grinned as he pulled back the bolt on the rifle.

A horse whinnied in the background...

Two things passed through Yuri's mind at this point. One, 'It couldn't possibly be (but he knew it 'was')', and two 'how ze hell had he gotten that damned horse up on ze roof'.

Yuri let the girl leave his field of sight. She would have to wait for - how did ze cursed Americans say it - 'a rainy day'. He rolled over and leant heavily on his good arm so that he might stand to face an old foe.

"What Ho! Yuri old man", cried Darling Dan of the Canadian Mounties from astride his great dappled mare, his silver pistol gleaming almost as brightly as his snow-white smile in the midday sun.

'Mountie', Yuri spat. Dan's horse whinnied and tossed back it's head baring it's teeth. Yuri instinctively grabbed his wrist where the damned animal had bitten through it.

'Easy there Prudence', Dan laughed slapping the horse good-naturedly on the neck. 'He's quite 'armless you know, old girl'. Dan smiled broadly, 'Just my little joke Yuri, old bean.'

Yuri screwed up his face in disgust, 'I am laughing on ze inside, I am sure'. Ze only thing worse that ze cursed American Secret Agent was ze damnable Canadian Mounted Police.

Darling Dan had been chasing Yuri for what seemd like an eternity. There history was a long and chequered one, one Yuri did not feel like dredging through at this particular moment in time. But the sight of Dan still filled every pore of his being with the loathing and disgust.

Yuri Lurkinfertrubl
Yuri Lurkinfertrubl

Feb-7-2007 16:29

'So', Dan said quietly, breaking Yuri from his reverie. 'How's the leg old chap? Thought I had you last time, you know.'

Yuri knocked on the wooden leg and shrugged. Dan winced, 'Another one, eh? Arm, eye, leg. Doesn't this tell you something old man?'

'Yes', smiled Yuri, adjusting his eye patch, 'You should learn to shoot straight'.

'Now, don't forget Prudence', Dan said slapping his mounts neck again.

Yuri looked at Prudence, imagining her as a horse shaped stack of tinned dog food, 'Oh no, one never forgets ze Prudence'.

'So', Dan said quietly again.

'So', Yuri replied, and he stepped back off the edge of the building and plummetted towards the ground...


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