"Hi guys, just got off the phone with Nightingale. Stewart's ambulance was traded for a Chevy Yukon, found later at a local airport. He says that there haven't been any takeoffs though, because of the fog. Um... Buzzard's replacement, Raven, should be arriving in the morning. Annie's here and undergoing... "treatment", but it'll be a while. I'll be over in a few - get your equipment ready to move, 'cause I don't think the hotel's a good place to be anymore."
Interstate I-15, Somewhere outside of Victorville, California: 2:33am PST
Mark "Raven" Calvery drives his rental car (Chrysler PT Cruiser) on the desolate I-15 highway. Being a straight shot from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, it's a relatively quick ride at 90MPH.
Damn...I didn't know these things could go this fast."
All Mark knew was from a cursory e-mail he got just a few hours ago. He was told to get a car and head out to the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas. He was given a map, keys to a rental, a temporary service pistol and a contact name/number by the name of Goose.
Still about 3 hours from Sin City, Mark was weighing the choice of calling his contact now or later...
You forget your training until you need it out in the field.
The beginning stages of rigor mortis aren't exactly a pleasant sight...especially for Jess. Buzzard's corpse is indeed starting to get that "not so fresh" feeling. Jess struggles to maintain her composure as the nausea sets in.
Brian begins to expound on a war story about this town in southern Bosnia...
"Eh..this is nothing. We were on patrol one night and...I swear the whole town must have been fragged by an artillery barrage."
"Okay, some bad shit went down. But you gotta look at the bright side. Jess's cover isn't blown (as far as we know), we've got one of the bitch sisters under lockup, and our mark is currently a hunted man at an airport. That's not bad for a cat burglar, a dillitante, a political flunky and a couple jarheads with funny accents. Let's get the plumbers in to handle buzzard, and in the meantime I'll look up this new guy's dossier, and brian can get us some coffee."
"Hear, hear, but if you mock my accent again, lad, you're catching a taste of righty and I mean it this time, 'flunky.'" Gavin jokingly flexes his fist at Harry.
"Time for me to be useful. Weapons check!"
Gavin runs through the team's weapons, making sure they're all in good order.
((OOC: No point in going through that IC unless something abberant comes up.))
"The funny accents all part of the strategy you see...we lul you into a false sense of security and before you know it...well, the super-spies have swept in and carried of all the pretty American girls. Fiendishly clever if you ask me."
Brian undoes his own pistol, checking it over for any problems.
"If I may...we've come dangerously close, three times now, to incidents of lead poisoning. Perhaps a sweep by the hotel to pick up some of the heavier merchandise is in order?"
The team stops by their hotel room to pick their equipment and weaponry. Artis calls up a contact in hopes of finding some heavier hardware if possible. The other end of the phone rings and rings for quite some time until it finally picks up. A rather scratchy and almost pre-pubescent male voice comes over the receiver.
Artis is able to procure a few long rifles and some shotguns for the opposition ahead. He gets back from the procurement and as he walks down the hotel corridor to the teams room, he sees someone (about 75 feet away) casing the door. The person is male, average weight/height. He is toting what appears to be a laptop briefcase and a small duffel bag.
Artis goes into full-defensive mode, ready to drop this guy in a heartbeat.
It looks like the person is pacing around the general area of the team's room door. He's trying to be nondiscript but is failing horribly. He puts down his duffel bag and pulls out what looks to be a phone. He dials...Artis' phone begins to ring.
Artis walks up to him, pull out his phone, and answers,
"Hello?", giving him a big ol' grin.
He appears a bit startled but reciprocates the "hello"
"Who's calling?", Artis asks with some degree of sarcasm.
-Err...um...Hi. It's me, Raven. I was told you needed some help.
"Oh, hey, great to meet you. I'm Goose - you're just in time to help us move", using the secret knock and enter the room.
-Uh..move? But...oh well. Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise. Here, take these towels."
-Huh..what? Isn't that illegal?...Oooh...terry cloth!
Artis gives a hastily intro of Raven to the rest of the team.
"OK, everyone's gonna have to sit with their bags, 'cause my trunk's full of guns right now."
OOC: For drivers, I made Artis (for obvious reasons) and Harry (he had the highest DEX)
East Lake Mead Blvd: 7:22am PST
The sun was just rising over the mountains as the team set off for the Agency safehouse with Artis and co. taking the role of lead vehicle. East Lake Mead Blvd seemed to be a bustle of activity and traffic for the first 5 miles outside of Vegas, but it slowed to a trickle as urban sprawl ended and the desert took over.
And it wasn't until the traffic faded into a few lone cars on the road when Harry noticed a black Cadillac Escalade is his rear-view mirror. He had noticed it earlier when the highway was two lanes in each direction, but passed it off as a stupid tailgater. But now that the road had narrowed to one lane each way, it seemed at least suspicious.
The Escalade accelerates, pulling along side the PT Cruiser. Tracy (of Annie and Tracy) is seen in the front passenger seat. She holds up what presumably is Buzzard's laptop, following by a piece a paper with a phone number on it. The Escalade then immediately falls back behind the PT Cruiser.
The driver of the Escalade sees Artis' intentions, slowing down a bit for the change in driving order. It seems to be keeping pace with the two cars, still not making any offensive manuevers.
Brian and Jess can see Tracy miming the gestures of,
"Here, dial the number and we'll see what this bitch wants."
Raven punches in the number and it begins to ring. He hand the phone back to Harry.
A female voice comes over the line.
"It took you long enough. Before we even talk, I just want you to know my sister's safety is paramount in any sort of negotiation. You have her and I have your laptop."
"Ahem. Your sister's safety? You have alot of nerve considering you just killed one of ours."
At this point Artis prepares for the first of many manuevers to go from prey to predator. Brian drops the safety of his MP5 and Jess chambers a shell in her her shotgun.
Tracy seems a bit frustrated, yet civil in her reply. The anger expressed in her initial words has been replaced with mediative tone.
(sighs)
-Buddy, you can have your damn laptop back. Despite great efforts to pry it open, your friend seemed to have at least activated the maglock on it. If you're wondering about the circuit board, we did the ozone test on it. It's intact. Now how about we talk about a trade?
Harry pauses for a moment while his passengers lock and load. His gut tells him that Tracy does seem sincere in the trade.
Both Agency cars are loaded for bear and ready to unleash hell upon the Escalade.
Unsure of what they have to bargain with, Artis calls up Stork for a status report.
Stork answers,
-Ahoy?
Sounds of what seems like a dentist drill fill the background.
"Hi, it's Goose. I was wondering how your patient was doing. It sounds like you're past the talking point, but we've got an offer to trade her for Buzzard's laptop. You could maybe use that to get info out of her."
The drilling sound stops.
Right, that may change things. I'll see what I can do...I'll call you back in 2 minutes.
Minutes pass by as the three cars skirt the boundaries of brinkmanship. Goose's phone rings.
Ok...I think we have a deal. Annie is willing to sing like a choir girl if you agree to the deal. However, she says Tracy knows more than she does...you might want to contact HQ. I'm not authorized to make deals like these.
"OK, thanks Stork."
Artis puts his phone down and is still torn between the choices. To give him a better perspective of the competetion, he arcs the rear-view mirror about...scanning the Escalade for signs of "modification". Being a wheelman, he can clearly see that all is not factory issue.
Armored for sure. Those ports of the hood are probably cannons, small caliber...maybe 7.62mm. Run-flat tires. Not too shabby.
Dieter
