Thriller The Sins of the Fathers

Rufus Jameson
St. Regis, Nepal

(GM approved post)

"Okay, if you wanna talk martian, do so when I am out, okay? You can keep your secrets, if you are so desperate ofr them. I just return the favour." His pain was getting to crawl into every part of his body, as he moved towards the bathroom. Before he could even finish up washing his face, the Butler . . . was it a butler, did Japanese have Butlers? . . . brought a nice David Hamilton suit. He began shaving, showering. He began to return to his former self. the one that had entered Nepal for the money. At least optical he returned to that person. Inside he knew there was no return.

[image=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e_TmvmQ9mmQ/TgvkodyHqBI/AAAAAAAAHTc/Gv4VfGSp4uw/s1600/emth_ZenSignature2_2548_2.jpg]

Rufus Jameson as he had existed three weeks ago was gone forever. Looking into the mirror he realized he could shave all he wanted, he could peel of his face itself, it would never look like the Rufus he had once been. "You sick little coward." he spitted at himself and made the foam for shaving vanish with cold water he threw to his face. "As if it was all happy and sunshine back then, hm? What have you lost? Complaining over life and why you couldn´t change anything over a glass of Whisky?" He stared at himself. "They got great whisky here, I am certain. And the thing that´s changed is you can change things, this time. This time it is you against the world and you got the element of surprise." He laughed at the thought and checked the gun. two bullets were left in it. No spare ammo. He simply had none left, after the firefight in the monastery. Until he got anything better he pushed it into the belt.

Lilith. He reminded himself to trust nobody. She had awaited him in Nepal and put her spell on him. He had been working for her more than anything else. they had slept with each other, but an unforgettable night was the worst kind of substitute for trust. Tempting, but really not anything to hold on to. After seeing the thing he was actually sure she got shot in the tunnel. And had no wound when they made love.

The Thing. Oh yes, the man up there on the mountain took 90 shots and still was alive and kicking. He had even changed his appearance. Had moved so quick Rufus never saw him moving at all. Was it more dangerous than Lilith? Another kind of dangerous.

The final lead in this was the best, obviously . . .


Jacob Zinsky. Poor Jacob. Killed and stashed away in a monastery in Nepal, where whatever he had done drove the monks to get a very different kind of diet. A german student of informatics. Computer sciences. What could a man like him know about the Change? everything he kept on being told. And everything was on his computer. So everything was here and now and all Rufus had to do was decode it.

How had Zinsky pieced it together? Accident was Rufus best guess. Wrong time, right place. That kinda story.

Yes, wasn´t it his story too? How big were chances for a pe from the big apple to be around when Kings get killed and the fate of the word is decided?

"Dammit, Rufus." He pushed over the jacket and pulled his gun to the back of his belt. Then he smiled atthe man in the mirror and stepped out. "So, why don´t you two get straight what you gonna tell me, hm? I think we are all kind off running out of time, aren´t we? I would like to work the case. To close it. To find out everything." He walked over to his computer. "So, I need money. That´s actually all I need. And hell of a portion of luck, but I think you are not good in that, either, are you? otherwise you would have been stuck with someone more impressive than me." He grinned. "So money?" He extended his arms. "At least the twenty grants that were in my pocket would be nice."

Tag: Sinre, Fin

 

Rudyard Vane-Tempest
The British Embassy, Tokyo

Rudyard automatically grabbed a pen and paper, preparing to scribble down notes in the shorthand he had developed while working at SIS. He had gotten as far as "Ghost. Spk Eng/Jap Acc. Hack" when the mysterious contact informed him that there were intruders in the embassy. They were two hundred metres away...and getting closer.

The pen fell from Rudyard's hand, and was swiftly replaced by his gun.

The woman spoke quickly and said a lot. Her final instructions were:

"Get your gun, turn off the light, point it to the door and keep me on the phone. When I say now, you turn on the light and shot the man. Understood??

Rudyard did not need to be told twice. He already had his own weapon, and he grabbed the American's as well, tucking it into the back of his trouser band. In two more movements he switched off the light and settled upon the edge of his desk, half-sitting and half-standing, his gun pointed directly at the door. Old training was kicking him, telling him to obey for the time being. He had no reason to trust this woman, but then he had no reason to distrust her either, and considering he had no idea what was happening, it was probably better to listen.

And then it occurred to him that if the attackers were approaching, his secretary would be directly in their path...

"Linda!" he cried, at the exact same moment as Ghost yelled "NOW!" into his ear. The door flung open.

BANG! BANG!

Rudyard's hands shook. An armed commando stood framed in the doorway for a second, before collapsing to the ground. There were bullet holes in his head and chest.

"Thisisinsane, thisisinsane," hissed Rudyard to himself, shaking his head frantically. "Thisisinsane!"

He picked up the telephone once again, while still pointing his gun at the doorway.

"Ghost? I need your eyes to get me out of here! What next?"

Tag: LordT

 

Chapter 1 ? An American Nightmare

Osprey, Approaching Washington D.C.

The Sergant looked at him and shook his head. ?your reputation? No actually never heard of you. But I heard of them.? He nodded to the other soldiers. ?Don´t let your eyes of the big one. McLuster? Got a bad reputation.? And now it was serious, this was no joke. The other teammates were potential trouble.
?Oh great.? Fuso smiled next to them. ?Drafted, promoted and doomed. Why do I feel like this is 45 and we´re defending Berlin?? He asked and nodded. Then he checked the radio the Sergant had given him.

As the osprey lowered ower the city and turned, they saw why so many sosldiers were actually needed. From Capitol to the white House and through the whole Government district, the city was covered by demonstrators. It certainly was the biggest demo the US had ever seen, making anti-Vietnam look like a sunday picnick.

"Hell." Fuso just pushed out. And he saw that already thousands of soldiers had established a security zone around the White House. And with a security zone, they meant a military security zones with MG-emplacments, cars, tanks and concrete made cover. Just as they hovered over the screaming crowd of people and down towards the landing zone a humvee was attacked with a molotov cocktail. It catched fire immediately and soldiers fired over the head of demonstrators.

Tag: CPL



The Warehouse, D.C.

(ooc: taking over SilentProphets character, as he is really busy right now)
Lydia smiled at her victims. The Baron was always so much more creative than she was. ?Get me a hot neelde and some wire.? She grinned at one of her henchmen. A follower they might call it. ?Time to show them the blessing of being mouthless.? She grinned. The gangbangers screamed in protest and met acquaintance with the rifles in their backs, as they hammered them to the ground.
?I know where the girl is! I know it!? One of them finally screamed. ?Great Baron of the dead, I know it. Spare my mouth and I will tell you!? He cried now. ?Please!?

Tag: Ramza



Chapter 3 ? The Shadow of the Lord

Fra´ Marcello´s apartment

The second he had spoken and entered the apartment he felt something was wrong. Fra´Marcello was an old man and the woman of the quartier regulary helped him with his household. He paid them for it in secret. Their men wouldn´t allow it usually, as they were simple people and in Italy that meant they were religious to the point where they were fanatics. But he did anyway. Florenza, his favorite neighbor stepped to Nicollo now. They were all sitting in the kitchen. Then a man appeared. A policeman. Florenza stepped in front of Niccollo: ?Padre, I . . . I am afraid your friend isn´t here anymore to receive your happy message. Fra´Marcello . . . had a terrible accident tonight. It looks as if he was reading in his study when this oil lamp he always used it . . . it seems to have dropped down and it set him on fire. He was brought to the St- Mary hospital about an hour ago. But the doctors, when they thought we did not listen they said it looked not good.? She started to cry. ?I am so very, very sorry.?

Tag: Peng


(ooc: posting for MoK as she didn´t since I approved - combined)
Ando Davorin
Hospital

Ando never thought what to do or doubted is actions. He didn´t hesitate or realize what was happening when his hand pushed the man?s gun aside. Two bullets meant for Mary?s head hit the wall and made the material explode in dust. The man who pretended to be a cop did not act surprised. He was a professional clearly and a professional always expected anything on a mission. The man grabbed Ando and the priest pushed his hand away, hit him in the throat in one fluid movement and then pushed the man towards his body ramming his knee into him. He hit him between the legs, which made even a professional loosen his grip, so Ando turned his ankle at his right hand and the weapon turned free, as the bone broke. Screaming the man collapsed a

 

Margaret Elizabeth Hadley
St. Mary's Hospital


Father Ando smacked the gun away at the last second. Two bursts exploded above Mary?s head. She shrieked, falling to her knees with her eyes closed tightly. She kissed her cross penchant as she chanted a prayer to God. Squinting her eyes open, she watched as the Father used an unexpected amount of strength on the cop. Mary flinched once she realized Father Ando stood with gun he had taken from the cop aimed right at him. He was so close to pulling the trigger, Mary could feel it in her blood. But he didn?t. Instead he held his gun steady, like a trained professional - Mary had heard the rumors - and turned to her to speak.

?Mary, out of here. He wasn?t alone. To the backdoor and then to the parking lot. Don?t stop, no matter what you hear.?

Mary nodded. Her eyes looked like those of doe in the headlights of a car. She shot out of the room. Three gunshots followed, and Mary watched the body of the cop buck with each bullet. Bless us, Father. You welcomed three more angels into your kingdom. I wish you could?ve gave me a little more time with the priest, but you have granted me life by putting Father Ando in that room with me. Thank you. She held the penchant tight in her fist as she maneuvered around people. All of them were in danger, if there had indeed been others lurking around. Mary had no doubt there was. Something about the man coming in there and murdering the doctor and nurse in cold blood was calculating. And the timing. The whole thing was fishy. No. . .bloody.

Mary finally got out into the parking lot. She continued to run until she got behind a car and waited for Father Ando. She couldn?t stop quivering in fear. Help me. Help me, Lord. Help me.


TAG: MoK, Fin

 

Ghost & Adam
Tokyo

She had calculated the risks in her head and there really wasn´t any safe way towards any of the doors. The teams were swarming all over the place nad she had not enough experience to even begin to guess their routes. No, she typed the command and all security doors closed. Lockdown. Should buy Mr. tempest a minute before the dad man´s partner showed up.

"Yes, yes. The guy you killed got greandes on him, right? Take the one that explodes from his belt, go to the corridor and then to the left until you see a window with security glass and no bars. You need to blow thge glass up." She sighed. Then she saw how the Thing appeared. It still looked like an embassy service force member of the US embassy. He was shot another time and snatched the mans neck as if it was nothing. Then it turned left. Even his own men feared him. She pushed the "record" function and turned to Tempest again. "And hurry, it is on it´s way. Blow it up, jump out and run. I´ll pick you up when the streetcams got you."

Her harddrive saved the reocrding how the thing shaped it´s change again. she wouldn´t get to see it until many ours later.

Tag: Winged

---

[b]Charles Weber & Thomas Schröder[/b]
[i]Streets of Hamburg, Germany[/i]

Charles was running out of hosts, he realized that. The D.C. host had died. Death had become an option. Suddenly, after such a long, long time he was mortal. To some extend mortal, at least. It was hard enough. He had these thoughts as he realized, that he should probably stop stopping cars by standing in their way. He raised his hand and breathed in.

Thomas on the backseat shouted: "Look out!" As he saw the man appear from nowhere and hoped the legendary breaks of the Porsche kept what they promised.

[b]Tag: Hamburg gang[/b]

[hr]

[b]Louis Sanders[/b]
[i]D.C., crime Scene[/i]

(with Fins allowance I use Malone for this scene, too)

"Sanders." The man didn´t loose many words to introduce himself.

Malone came up from behind and nodded to Garret. "We got an address of his lawyer. Might actually be the person who heard it all on the phone." he whispered to his partner and then gave a half-hearted smile to Sanders. The CIA man looked around and folded his arms.

"Guess the patrol officers can check for blood. But I doubt the kid escaped. From what it looks to me, those guys did not leave anything to chance. Which means the kid wasn´t there or they took it. Right?" Sanders returned the smile of Malone and his was so icy, it made the cop look away.

"Listen, I might be able to dig up some info you can use. I mean, this case is of high importance to our nations security. So try to get something out of the witnesses and I´ll try to find out if my people got anything." Sanders sighed. This had become more complicated than he had expected. they had told him Weber would be a dangerous man to shadow. smart, perceptive, competent, highly intelligent. So he had prepared for a game of chess, not a boxing fight. Malone nodded. "yeah, maybe you could check if your guys did this, hm?"

"If we do this kinda thing, we don´t leave witnesses, detective." Sanders nodded and took out his mobile.

"So, I´d say the guy in the hospital first? You never know how long he might make it. then Mr. Prest, LLM?" Malone asked and looked a last time at Sanders. "Maybe we can solve the case, before Mr. Bond here declares it a secret."

[b]Tag: HS29[/b]

 

Janice
Schnelsen into the direction of the Autobahn

"What the . . . "

She hit the breaks just the second Thomas shouted out and brought the Porsche to a full stop right in front of the elder man who blocked the street. She stared at him for a long second and then she loosened the belt of her wepon and pulled the safety to "off". Breathing heavy she looked at Markus and then turned her head to give Thomas a long look.

"We should be careful. Most people I met seemed to be violent or simply insane." She sighed to underline her words and opened the door. He gun ready she stepped out of the Porsche, which never looked as elegant as you imagined it. These cars were simply to low to exit them with grace. Her hair fell into her face and she pushed it aside to have a clear view. For a second one hand left the gun, but it returned imediately. Janice held her SMG in front of her like a shield, but not directed at the man who was disturbingly calm. She would leave the talking to the others. For now she choose to keep an eye on the man and shoot him the second he behaved strangel. Well, probably not the first second, but certainly the moment he showed any hostility.

"Hello." Was all she said to keep up the most basic courtesy.

Then she concentrated on him fully, again.

Standard procedure. The member of the team with the most firepower covered the others. Hell, she had never imagined this anti-terror training would ever be of use to her . . . ever. Now she was happy she had actually given atttention, because she had thought the trainer was cute. She was a damned computer expert. Not a goddamned commando. But you could not choose your job whe the world went to hell, could you?

Tag: Mitth, LordT

 

IC: Markus J. F. Christianson
Hamburg

Silence, a golden and hard aspect of a life where there is either too little or too much brimming within. At least so he found it now, now that he suspected something based off of something he knew no one else in the car knew. ?Father?. That was a key, not the treasure room, not the end code, but the key. From a computer coder aspect it made sense to him, in every system there were bio software, well most, and with that a simple tweak like a key stroke in Windows changed things.

There was a passage in the Bible, where it related and even stated that the world is not made by things seen, nor important overall because of those things, but by things unseen. A few keystrokes, a few sweeping mental synapse firings to the source code and the world is altered. True any technology advanced enough seems like magic, Picard went on enough away missions to pound that message into the series, even being called god one time.

This was not the same though, this was more the Corps of Engineers when a semi-advanced race stumbled onto a technology that could reshape their world with their thoughts, and then the fallout and inability not to wish, not to desire something drove the world to the brink of self destruction. Only in real life he was not sure there was a piece of technology, not of any form they understood or could hypothesis just lying around. It was like God had left a piece of his Word lying around, hidden somewhat, but waiting to be taken by man when ready or unready.

?Yes.? He spoke to himself as the road streaked by, that was it. A memory, a fragment seemed to fit, if his mind was cascading into madness his old flat-mate while he had attended medical school had been a generally useless fellow, with an borderline obsession with comics. Always blabbing on about them this way or that, but there was a link through that when he had had it out with the man about comparing Q to some Spiderman guardian woman. Which was neither here nor there to him by itself, but he remembered when Q had given omnipotence to Will Riker to turn him into a Q. IF, and it was a very stupendously large if, ?father? was someone that found or stumbled onto that piece of God?s word. . .the human mind was never fashioned to reach out with that kind of omnipotence nor omnipresence!

Then the penguin in the back seat yelled, the tires screeched, and his seatbelt dug into his shoulder from the fast deceleration. Ah, crime-in-Italy! He was thinking nonsense while a man was in the middle of the road that they nearly ran over. Maybe a little music would clear his head? Oh, Laura was messing with her gun, luckily for the man in the road she apparently was a terrible shot.

Unstrapping himself from the buckled nightmare on low wheels he opened his door and peeled himself out as he pulled the handle for his seat to be able to fold forward. Incase Thomas would like to stretch out from the cramped rear. Looking on with saddened yet fevered eyes he looked on to the man in the road. ?Strange ?morning!? he said with raised hand returned in the older gentleman?s gesture. For all he knew it was part of the local customs that he didn?t know about.

TAG: LordTroepfchen, Sirak, and LordT

 

Chapter 1 ? An American Nightmare

?Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for thou art with me:
thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.? ? Psalm 23:4 (ERV)

IC: Joel David Shepherd
Approaching Washington, D.C.

?Hell.?

Fuso had it right. That was exactly where they were. The capital of the ?free world? had been turned into the Seventh Circle of Danté?s Inferno. He recalled from his European Literature class, that he took in High School, that the seventh circle represented violence and that the outer ring of the three was violence against people and property. I would soon turn into Phlegethon, the river of boiling blood and fire, guarded by the centaurs.

Are we to become the Centaurs? Patrolling the outer ring of the seventh circle shooting any ?sinners? who try to rise above their measure?

As he watched the protest get out of control near their LZ he was fairly sure that the psychopathic, trigger happy, disreputable McLuster was itchin? to get off the Osprey and start laying out some ?sinners?. Joel had a feeling that it was going to get out of control and fast. He simply closed his eyes and prayed. He prayed to the patron saint of soldiers, paratroopers, and police officers. He prayed to Saint Michael.

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle;
be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray:
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.

He drew in a long breath through his nose and forcefully blew it out the same way. Joel then, once again, picked up his rifle and double checked its readiness, making sure that a round was chambered just in case he would have to do the unthinkable. Take down one of his own soldiers to see that others were not harmed.

TAG: Fins

 

Charles Weber & Thomas Schröder
Streets of Schnelsen, Hamburg


The man grinned at Markus gesture, but there was nothing mischievous in his grin. He still felt the thoughts of Markus echo in the man´s soul. And he was immediately convinced he had made the right choice in seeking out him. The shock of the sudden loss o towards of his existence was still fresh in is mind. But the possibilities this opened were greater than he had expected. A new age had dawned and suddenly he had understood that one third of his existence had sacrificed itself for nothing. The key lay her. Exactly here he and exactly now he would play his endgame. The Endgame, as it wasn´t his alone. It was the world they played for.

He had to smile as the car approached. He smiled at his own thought. The world?

Charles had to admit that a few millennia among man had truly made him too much like them. He began to limit his mind to the extent his perception allowed him to. The world?

This was about existence itself. This was about the tiniest composition of parts so small humanity could never perceive them and how they were ordered by the two rules of space and time. This was about the Order Of Everything. And all other things were just details.

?The strangest of mornings, certainly.? Charles was improvising. He knew the plan but certain step had to be spontaneous, otherwise he became too predictable. This contact was one of those step and therefore he considered if he played the human for a while. It worked so well in Boston. But there wasn´t time for that, was there?
So he took the blunt approach.

?Markus, we need to talk.? He said and looked at the woman. Finally he looked at Thomas Schröder. Charles locked his eyes with him for a second, then his gaze returned to Markus. A creature relying on hiding the truth for so long spotted a liar easily. It was the evaluating look. The attempt to see, if the other bought the story betrayed most liars. Thomas was wearing it like a mask, all the time.


Tag: Mitth, Sirak

 

Rudyard Vane-Tempest
The British Embassy, Tokyo

"And hurry, it is on its way," Ghost had said.

It?

Perhaps English wasn't her first language. But she had displayed fluency in every other regard. It was just such a curious choice of pronoun.

It.

Bur Rudyard was in no mood to confront whatever "it" was, and so he grabbed the explosive as instructed. He now carried two guns and a hand grenade. He reflected with a wry smile that, in almost twenty years of working for British intelligence, he had rarely had the luxury of being so well armed.

He clipped the grenade to his belt, steadied his gun in his right hand and picked up his briefcase with his left. It held his laptop along with several identification documents and sensitive intelligence documents. Whoever or whatever the enemy was, he wasn't about to let them get their hands on his files.

As he turned to leave his eye fell back on the American, Clifton Moore. The man was still unconscious. He was so badly injured that he would certainly die without medical attention, and it seemed highly unlikely that the doctor would be arriving under the circumstances. If discovered by the intruders, the most that Moore could hope for was- what? A couple of days of life, perhaps? An even then, those days would be filled with pain. No doubt they would torture him.

The kinder thing would be to protect him from that pain.

"Blessed are the merciful," whispered Rudyard. "For they will be shown mercy."

He pointed his gun at Moore's temple, and fired.

And then he was running, out of the door and down the corridor. He almost ran past the turning, but corrected himself and headed left, sprinting towards the security glass. There were no bars, just as Ghost had described. Rudyard stopped at a safe distance from the window, pulled the pin from the grenade, and hurled it forward. The explosion rocked the ground beneath him.

Still holding his briefcase and his gun, and continually looking over his shoulder, he dashed toward the hole in the wall and jumped out into the street.

Tag: LordT

 

IC: Markus J. F. Christianson
Hamburg

The man replied in kind, and Markus felt a small smirk snail crawl up one side of his face. The man seemed to take them in, and then dropped a wallop onto the conversation, by using his name and saying they needed to talk. Talk?

?I appear to be at a disadvantage.? He simply stated in return, he didn?t know this man from Adam let alone enough to readily jump at a chance, but still he stepped around toward the front of the car, closing the gap as he looked at him expectantly for a name either from his own recollections or from the man. ?Still words rarely kill by themselves. ?What do we need to discuss??

It was an offered by-pass, after a fashion, for this stranger to state his name, interject a desire for privacy, or pull out a gun and try to start shooting. He doubted the last though, so very much so. After all he figured Janice and Thomas both would be ready to cover him in such an event, Janice for purer reasons he hoped, and Thomas for. . .self-love to use a recent cutting phrase.

TAG: LordTroepfchen, Sirak, and LordT

 

Charles Weber
Street of Schnelsen

He left his hands slightly extended to the side, so they all saw he had no gun.

"You can call me charles or Carl, whatever you prefer." He smiled. "I knew your daughter, you know that? And I knew your ex-wife. She actually worked ofr me and we became friends." He kept smiling, hten he reminded himself, that this wasn´t the chosen approach. Deception through truth was a method hard to shake. "I want to talk about the man you met. And I want to talk about you what meeting him made you. Probably we can talk about saving this world afterwards. This a big topic though and we might wish to get to know us a bit, before we tackle the comic stuff, right?" He smiled and then his smile grew a bit wider. "Wouldn´t Picard do the same?" He asked and the mind reading thing usually sold him to people. Well, he had more catched floating thoughts, but we catched was interesting enough.

Tag: Mitth, Sirak


Ghost
Tokyo, Watching the British Embassy

?Okay, you´re not yet out of it. They got two cars outside, take the left and run toward Shibuya. There should be a subway station in about five minutes. The rain is good, I think it can smell people. Just a theory, but . . . anyway . . . don´t talk to anybody or make yourself known. Get into the subway and then to Makashi-station. If you never makes it there, nice to be working with you.? She hung up and now turned her attention to the monitor. The man was safe for now. But the thing would sooner or later catch up with them and then she had to know whatever there was to learn. But looking at the screen he was gone. Simply gone.

No, he had changed shape. ?DAMMIT!? She yelled and began to rewind. It would be too late. The team was done with the raid. She had probably lost him.

She looked thorugh tapes, until her recognition program informed her that Temp had actually arrived at the point of their meeting. Only hse would obviously not be there. She called him.

?So, Mr. Vane-Tempest. Ghost has saved your life and if you don´t play this nice and cooperating Ghost won´t do it again. I know things, you know things. I´d say we both don´t know enough by a long shot. Maybe we can help each other, hm??

Was she recruiting an agent? Yeah. More or less.


Tag: Winged, Fin

 

Chapter 1: An American Nightmare

Osprey, Landing Zone


Fuso looked at shep and smiled. Praying to God seemed kinda strange to him. He wasn´t sold God wasn´t behind all this in the first place. But he did not say anything. Everybody had to choose what he believe in these days. Everybody had to find his own faith, he guessed.
They jumped out of the carrier and Sergeant Jacobs ducked down, showing the others to do the same. Then he made his way away from the still rotating rotors. To their left soldiers fired warning shots over the heads of the riot. Sgt. Jacobs gave them a disapproving look but then made his way to the command post. He talked to an officer who was handing out orders there. And when he checked the name on a list, he was told to wait. The tall man who promised to be trouble according to Jacobs came over to Shep and Fuso. ?Jenkins. Glad to be serve with you, guys.? He said and to complete the image of what people called a redneck, he seemed to chew tobacco. ?The other two are Miller and Friend. They´re good guys. Car sellers from Oklahoma city I believe. But both served time, but saw little action. I saw plenty of that. How about you? Saw the Sarge made you his right and left hand?? The way he held his gun showed he was ready to use it. And his look into the riot showed only disgust. He was pretty much the opposite of Fuso who looked, like he might belong on the other side of the fence.

The Sergeant greeted a commanding officer. He wore no insignia, but had the air of a commanding officer. ?Do these guys fear snipers?? Fuso said to his left, as he saw the man. The two discussed. Obviously the Sergeant wasn´t too happy with his assignment, but he finally returned to the crew. ?Okay, listen up. We get back to the Osprey and head to the East End. We got a possible hostage situation there. I´ll explain our orders on arrival.? He shook his head. ?You all were a bit out of service, but you better get back into the swing, fast. Looks like we will deliver a first strike at our enemy, today.?
Somewhere behind them, they heard shots. Handgun. ?WEAPON!? Someone shouted and then three or four assault rifles opened fire. If they hit the attacker the bullets would certainly go through him and into the crowd. Screams and calls for medics soon filled the air. ?CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE!? A young officer shouted to their right and ran towards the men.

?Or maybe the war is already going on!? The Sarge waved towards the Osprey and ducked again to enter. ?As I said, Hell.? Fuso only remarked and looked at the blood that began to spread from where the firefight had happened.

Tag: CPL

 

IC: Markus J. F. Christianson
Hamburg

Surprise. Normally something shouted at someone by hiding party guests, but also a rare emotion, not because of the lack of surprises in the world. Rather the lack of a person being able to cognitively feel the emotion with a shock inducing, adrenalin pumping, or artificial situational trigger. Currently it was mingled with curiosity, so a rare combination.

?Fear not, nor be afraid. Saith the Lord of Hosts. For I am with you.? That was in the Bible, old testament he believed but yet he wondered at the words of the one in front of him. It was an odd phrasing in the Bible, most took fear as fear and found the be not afraid addition as redundant, but then again in the old English fear could also mean awe, so do not be in awe nor be afraid held a different connotation of not letting this world or the things of it get to you either with awe or fear because God who is greater than all is with us. ?Though you are lower than the angels for little while, in the end you shall be raised up higher and put over them.? Something to that effect was also in the Bible and it echoed in his mind at the innuendo that this Karl was using. Well he was going with Karl for the spelling in his mind, as ?When in Rome?.

?You knew them both.? Then something clicked in his mind again, the old head of ESTI had said something about his wife working for someone, with someone outside of the University who provided the majority of her funding to tweak Bohmen syndrome children. The file on his daughter, had contained something of a link to his wife and someone. Could it of been this man or was he merely an employer from the university? He couldn?t be sure, or even know. But he knew what state his daughter genetically had been in prior to her abduction, and that was within the realms of normal prior to the Change despite her previously having been suffering from Bohmen syndrome.

?Sounds fair enough, if not overly strange enough, but we were in a hurry to follow this chap,? he made a small gesture behind himself to Thomas, ?to a location that might possibly be where my daughter is.? According to him. he added mentally. ?As for Picard, depends on the stage whether pre-Borg or post. Either way he did have a bit of a do-or-break approach I suppose.? If this fellow had access to a file as thick as ESTI probably did he wouldn?t be surprised if this fellow knew what his clothing preferences were, whether visible or un-visible part of the wardrobe. Then again if he had access to a file, or truly did know his wife. . .ex-wife, he would know more then even that. This wasn?t his arena, he wasn?t James Bond, Captain Picard, or Odo. No if he was anyone he was probably more like Q from Bond, Geordi,, O?Brian or Data, well maybe Data as a disconnected head as he didn?t have that strength.

TAG: LordTroepfchen, Sirak, and LordT

 

Chapter 1 ? An American Nightmare

?The Lord is known by his justice;
the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
Higgaion. Selah? ? Psalm 9:16 (NIV)

IC: Joel David Shepherd
Landing Zone

Joel followed Sgt. Jacobs exiting the Osprey and jumped slightly when the soldiers to the left of them fired off their warning shots. As the Sergeant made his way over to the Command Center Joel and Fuso were approached by the Redneck Troublemaker, Jenkins. Joel could tell by the way Jenkins handled himself that he was just itching to unload on someone. Shep knew he would have to keep his eyes on this one.

Both he and Fuso watched as Jacobs greeted a ?commander? in a sanitized uniform. ?Do these guys fear snipers?? Fuso asked about the ?commander?.

?Naw, the guy?s probably a ?Spook?,? Joel speculated, ?I saw his type all the time around Gitmo when I was down there. They think they are being slick by wearing fatigues, but really they aren?t foolin? anyone.? Obviously whatever acronymed organization the ?commanding officer? belonged to was running this operation and just changed their objective. They were mounting back up and heading to the East End to handle a possible hostage situation.

As they were mounting up to leave one thing lead to another and itchy trigger fingers got scratched. An officer got control of his men and medics began tending to the wounded. But it was too late, the streets were already turning red with blood.

[image=http://lastprice.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/blood-in-the-street.gif]

?As I said. Hell.?

Joel could not believe what was happening around him. The world was tearing itself apart. It was as if it was bent on destruction and he was the only one bound to stop it. The media had it right for once. This was Change. The world was changing into Hell!

TAG: Fins

 

Charles Weber
Schnelsen

The bible, of all things this man had to quote in his head, it was the bible. Well, Carl had never forgiven Tony spreading all those tales all over the world. It certainly had it´s advantages at times, but when did they ever weigh up the dangers?

?I don´t think you are in any hurry at all, are you? Markus. I got the feeling you already know what you will find, because you have been told what you will find. Maybe you wished it wasn´t a deal back then. Maybe you hoped these guys didn´t know what they were talking about, were you? Oh, I bet you came to realize that the power they possess is very real. And very strange. Much stranger than a guy standing here in an empty town wishing to have a little chat, right?? He looked at markus for a moment and then laughed. ?But you know what? I can help us both. Your friend there tells me where the girl is and I send in a chopper and an escort to bring her here. Faster than a car, even if it´s a Porsche, I´d say. And to make sure I don´t play you, you take me hostage so to say and we go into that house over there and have a little chat, what do you say?? Carl or Charles whatever you called him stared at Markus. His eyes did not only appear to pierce the man´s skin, they actually did. Reading emotions, thoughts, all those biomagnetic, electric signals a body was able to produce. He recognized the pattern immediately. And he immediately realized he had never seen it in such a configuration. I got a deal to propose, actually. And I really prefer to negotiate over coffee.? He looked at Thomas. ?So where did you say your friend is??

Thomas Schröder

The man ruined his plan. His back up plan and even the plan he was about to refine in his mind. Not that he was big with plans, but if he had one he didn´t like old men screwing with them. Thomas bit his lip. ?I don´t know who you are, Sir. You don´t really believe I give you the girl and my friend, do you??

His hand was still at his gun. He considered his chances to kill Janice and Markus so quick they couldn´t return fire and realized he didn´t even knew this man was unarmed. Three were to many.

Charles Weber

He changed his look to the young man and something was in his eyes. His focus shifted, away from Markus and towards the boy. He recognized the lies and anger immediately and not that he had doubted, but now he knew the girl was dead. He even knew who killed her. He even knew why. And that was something probably not even Thomas himself really knew.

?Well,? he smiled at the boy and turned back to Markus. ?Doesn´t matter. Kiel is empty. Totally empty and this is the street to Kiel, is it? So yes, I will ask my guys to look for two heat signatures. Harbor city, no cellar deep enough to hide those. So, you see? You got time now.? He took out his satellite phone and typed in his command. Meanwhile he already turned and made his way towards the house he had suggested.

Tag: Mitth, Sirak, myself, Fin

 

Ando Davorin
Hospital

He was right after her. The second the man hit the floor Ando was running. Why? The question was the only tihng that mattered. Why would anybody kill them? This wasn't some senseless lunatic on a killing spree. They were professionals. Had they not underestimated him, they would have killed Ando first and then everybody else. shots rang to his left. One to be exactly and the hissing of a silencer. Three hisses, then another three. Doubles taps with one to the head. Ando catched up with the nun and grabbed her, dragging her down behind a wheeled stretcher. "Pssst." He put his finger to his mouth and something inside of him regretted now he hadn´t taken the gun with him.

His mind raced through the scenario.

First shot had been the dying priest. Then everybody else. They wanted to kill this man and then all witnesses. But weren´t he dying anyway? It had to be urgent, to be important what this priest knew. So important they had to shorten his life by any second they could to make sure he did not tell it anybody. "Mary, Mary is it? What did the old man say to you? Did he tell you who these men are?" He asked her in his heavy accented Italian. The priest, the second shooter was certainly the priest. Screams from afar indicated he had stopped his charade now and was hunting. Them. Who else? The last possible witnesses. Mary had spoken to the dying priest, had she? She had spoken to him!

Tag: Spy, Fin

 

Janice
Hamburg

She stepped behind Markus, now letting her gun hang to her side. She gave thomas a look though, which she hoped he understood to be careful. "That is Carl Weber, I believe. A Germany born billionaire. He invested into your wifes research. He was her sole investor, actually." Janice wondered how much markus should know. but then she decided that there wasn´t room for lies anymore. "He was also rumored to be her lover."

Tag: Mitth, LordT

 

Baron Samedi
Warehouse in the D.C. West End

Baron Samedi grinned a grin that might as well have been two miles wide. The grin of a cat who'd caught the mouse. "Ah, I see one of the bastards is not so foolish! Give your thanks to Bondyé, because great distant god tells me that you have passed the immense test laid before you. You have shown that you do not seek to be silenced. Your mouth shall be spared." For now, at least. Baron Kriminel could be a tricky bastard when he needed to be. "As for the rest, well, how about this nice guy standing right next to you, hmm? We will stitch his mouth first, to better aid your own. Is that not fair? Let it not be said that Baron Samedi takes without giving. But let it not be said that Baron Samedi does not threaten without action, no? Ah, but pawol anpil pa leve le mo. Sorry, I am used to speaking to my followers, you do not know the Haitian. A lot of talk will not raise the dead."

He turned to his Mambo. "Spare this one. Begin stitching up the others. Make sure the fool bastards scream nice and loud like right before hand." He turned back to the man who had caved in. "We gotta get all their voices out properly."

TAG: Fins (Prophet)

 

IC: Markus J. F. Christianson
Hamburg

The man spoke to him, to his broken heart that yet bled upon the memories so cherished. He spoke of the deal, a deal of lies and innuendo that would never bare worthy fruit. The man did not speak of death, but it was implied as sure as the laugh as he looked at Markus after mentioning the power of those he had met. A lackey and a cog in the Change.

Another deal, disparage one to present another. Was that the third or fourth oldest trick in the book? He didn?t know and didn?t care, but this promised to save time when time was considered of the essence. It was an offer he couldn?t refuse without denying his hope.

Thomas protested, Janice fed him ESTI?s hidden line on this guy, and he was left to ponder. If nothing else the man was right about his hurry. Access to a satellite basically negated a need to just as the waves of vanishing change did. ?Ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? echoed in his brain at the regard that Karl gave Thomas. Jack Nicolson. Why that connection was made he did not even care to wonder.

He had no ill will to his ex-wife anymore, not truly as she had done right by their daughter by and large. Even if she had hired a creature that wasn?t even human according to it?s chromosomes to watch their daughter. So the financier route was little more than a note for history, and a piece to the puzzle of how this man was able to do what he did.

Turning he shrugged to Thomas and Janice before moving to follow Karl. Odd, shrugging, the last time he had done that had been in ESTI headquarters after downloading a viral aid onto their servers.

?Send the team to Tarp-en-bekstr. 55 to investigate for a trail if you would.? In case it is correct, and this man is a billionaire he could manage it. He wondered and pleaded inside that it was not so, but yet he found himself nearly resigned to that predicted death. If not for a promise, for Janice, he would give up pretences and seek only the killer. If the thing responsible was still here, and if not, he would study and wait. Beyond her and possibly his brother now, he had little to tie him to this world.

A chat he had time for, for coffee he had even more. ?We already shared the love of a woman, why not a cup.? He idly thought as they went to the house. It wouldn?t really be stealing anyway, unlikely the owners would mind especially if they left the place in order.

TAG: LordTroepfchen, Sirak, and LordT

 

Margaret Elizabeth Hadley
St. Mary's Hospital


Father Davorin yanked her down, shushing her as they waited. Mary couldn?t stop quivering. Too soon, Father. I can?t die so soon. Mary continued to clench her penchant,

"Mary, Mary is it? What did the old man say to you? Did he tell you who these men are?"

Mary tried to think back to that conversation. It seemed to trivial now, especially since she had almost died not seconds ago.

?Well, Father, he said something of that nature. He kept whispering something about the shadow knows. And then he said things about how the Umbra Domini knew the truth, and that the world and the Christians needed to know.?

Mary remembered what came next well.

?Then he died. Then the doctor died. Then the nurse.? She put her hand in her face and silently sobbed. ?What is going on? Can you tell me that, Father? What is happening??


TAG: MoK, Fin

 

Charles ?Carl? Weber
Some house in Schnelsen

The door to the house was open. Well, someone had broken it. So maybe they wouldn´t find a computer or a TV set in there. Carl or Charles as he called himself now, had little use for any of both. He checked his news as he entered the house. The Vanishing was rapidly spreading infecting all of Germany and most of France, Poland, Czech and the Swiss by now. It didn´t change anything. Hamburg was still the point of origin. And it was therefore Hamburg was the key. He skipped through notes of his servants. Less and less of them replied.

Then he finally dialed Diana´s number. If everything had worked according to his plan she was now on the ?Albatross? on the sea near Hamburg.
When she replied he couldn´t help but smile. His plan had worked and now at least some of his core resources were protected from the Change for now.

[image=http://www.trdefence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/rmk-marine-lpd-design-turkish-navy.png]

?My dear, I need you to get that helicopter into the air and make a recon run over Kiel. We look for a little girl and her adult companion. Report to me when you find them. And a team to Laura Blohm´s address in Hamburg, if you can get hold of any. I know pretty difficult these days, but see what you can do. The search for Finkman is over. I found him.? He killed the line without any word of goodbye and went to the kitchen, almost ignoring Markus for now, as he assembled what he needed to make a coffee.
?The power system of Germany is remarkable, but I doubt we will have electricity for much longer. I assume a man so long in Government service is used to drink his coffee black? Because the household we´re raiding here seems to have no sugar of milk.? He activated the coffee machine and then watched it make coffee. He breathed in and out.
It was one of those moments were the fate of all involved changed. If they liked it or not.

?So, before we go into our topic it would probably fair to clear the table and get on an equal ground, right? So do you have any questions, Mr. Finkman? Anything that my limited yet considerable pool of knowledge might enlighten you about??
Questions told a lot about men, didn´t they? His questions had betrayed him time and again.

Thomas Schröder

He followed the others into the house and stayed near the entrance. The elder man obviously was pretty sure of himself. Something less disturbing than it would have been a few hours ago, probably. What surprised Thomas was, that actually he called the helicopter. He was sure this man knew Thomas was lying. Not because there was any sign of it, just because he . . . was a liar himself. Yes, he saw it in his eyes. There was something a normal human would consider coolness. But a monster as Thomas was knew another one when he saw it.

?I think I´ll wait outside, make sure they don´t steal our car. And Mr. Weber, the address is Wrangelstraße 48. There we wanted to meet, Robert and me. I just hope he made it.?

Turning he looked at jancie if she wanted to come. This Charles didn´t make the impression that they were welcome to this conversation.

Charles Weber

He nodded as the younger man declared to leave. Of course he would. A predator sensing a superior killer in the room. That was probably not what Carl was, but a simple creature as this man had to see him that way.
He turned back to Markus. ?And although your wife might have had feelings for me, gratitude mainly, I assume, there was no . . . intimacy between us. You shouldn´t trust the spies info. If the only tool you possess is a hammer, all problems in the world have to be nails, you know??

Tag: Mitth, Sirak

 

IC: Markus J. F. Christianson
Hamburg

That look, that had been what had triggered the association to Jack Nicolson?s Batman character quote! Will that solved that conundrum, if only they were all so easy, and if only they bore a hint of truth.

Karl led them inside, talking on a phone, making arrangements for Markus? request and the proposed re-tasking of a satellite. Spoken in no uncertain terms he was sure, even if he could not make out every word used. Following like a forelorn old dog he shadowed Karl from room to Kitchen. The fact that the door was busted and the implications washed over him like water off a ducks back. The Change had already passed through here, it mattered little and the problem was someone else?s.

Karl remarked on the power situation, and all he could do was nod. He mentioned his service to the government and he noted that the file theory was little better now. ?Black is fine, haven?t worried about an ulcer all year.? it was a remark to the Change, and one about his family. He had loved his daughter so much, he stopped caring about himself in some respects, used to be he kept a thermos of cold milk to add to his coffee to prevent an ulcer, all year he had never thought of ulcers nor thermoses of milk.

The man offered answers, simply ask the questions and he would supply the answers he could. He could feel his own eyes moisten, not to cry, no he had promised about that, but that offer so soon yet took him back if for a moment to ponder the questions he had asked someone else not so long ago. A compensation for loss, and he couldn?t help but wonder. What would this cost him? Already it was too late to turn back, like many fictional characters before him and many real ones he had to forge ahead now. Forge ahead for the simple fact that he was beyond turning back, again.

Thomas said he was leaving and he remember how Janice liked her coffee, if that first meeting had not been pretense, so he motioned to Karl for three mugs with a simple point and holding up of fingers. He doubted she would leave anyway with her sense of duty to ESTI, duty even to kidnap children and terrorize them.

Karl added then of his ex-wife and how nothing had happened between them. A part of sighed at that, perhaps she had remained celibate since their divorce just as he had. Maybe, and now he doubted even if she hadn?t there would be no proof left in this world turned Mad in the very definition of the word.

?A few Karl, I have a few.? He nodded as he watched the coffee pot, listening to the sounds it made. In world so silent that simple noise was like a sirens call, especially after noting that it might be the last cups available for today of that blessed stuff.

Lifting his head he looked Karl head on for the first time since entering the house, ?Why is the populace seemingly lost reason?? His mind flashed to the police station, sneaking past the deranged humans acting animalistic to the alpha predator extreme. ?How do you know so much about me?? best to solve the riddle of knowledge now then leave it a mystery. ?Would you share what you know about non-human chromosomal life-forms that share the same general form?? Might as well address the facts of Laura while he was at it, and go for broke. ?What is the Change, the trigger, the perpetuating factors. . .the cause, the why, and possibly the where??

If he was to label his own opening salvo?s of questions, he would once more note the number four and once more struggled not to weep. Not to give in to so basic an emotion and physiological response, he was able, but the knowledge that the number was no longer true as it had been upon first utterance to the last request of questions yet plagued him.

TAG: LordTroepfchen, Sirak, and LordT

 

Ando Davorin
St. Mary Hospital, Roma

The routine kicked in. Duck, look, take cover. Left, right, then turn to the partner and listen instead of look. Any sound, anything.

Hisses in the air. Silenced weapons going of. Ando´s mind has long registered the truth they deal with professionals. And he wouldn't surprise them a second time. The nun talked something about the shadow knows and things like that. He didn´t understand a word. Then the Umbra Domini was mentioned and ando shot her a look.

"Umbra Domini."

He repeated. Latin for the Shadow of the Lord. He had heard this name once before, only once in all his life. And by now he had considered it had been a hoax, a joke or a very tasteless attempt to lure him out of priesthood. "I don't know. Mary, I do not know. But I think they were after the dead priest. We are only witnesses. And these kinda guys don´t leave witnesses." He turned around once more. The second man had obviously taken another floor and God alone knew what he was doing there. But ando had to get Mary out. Taking her hand he pulled her after him towards the exit.

Tag: Spy