NRPG : trying to slot martin's phonecall somewhere inside jordan's busy schedule
RPG :
>Day 1 1410 Car Park
>"I had rented a little cottage there for the past few months, under an >assumed name. All the important things are there. The landlady is a cranky >old woman, which means that she don't tolerate any mischief on my side, >which also means that she will not let anyone suspicious near her house."
>"You win some you lose some." Jordan commented.
>"Have to agree on that."
Just then, Jordan's phone rang. Before he could identify himself (a pretty unnecessary habit), a familiar voice spoke on the other end.
>"Jordan? Leo here. Martin and I ran into some trouble."
>"What kind of trouble?" He asked, lowering his voice.
>"Someone had placed a bomb in Tom's car. We both made it out in time, but >the car is scrap."
>"The detonator looks like something the CIA would use, but I need to have a >closer look to be sure."
>"OK, we'll talk more when you get to Tom's place."
>The phone call had Jordan worried. Someone wanted to make sure the device >Tom had, would never make it to the Public.
He snapped shut his phone, to find Tom looking at him.
"Trouble?" He asked.
"Not really. I'll explain later."
The explanation seemed to satisfy Tom, or maybe his trust in Jordan was more than ever, but he never probed any further.
>There was silence after that, and Tom turned on the radio to some country >music, and sang drunken-sailor-style along with it. Tom saw Vanessa's weird >expression in the mirror, misinterpreted it, and tried to explain.
>"Bad habit. Singing kinda keeps the worries away, for a while."
>She frowned deeper, then looked again into her mirror.
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Day 1 1510 Fitchburg, MA
>Tom reached out and touched a barely visible piece of hair near the >knob, "I guess I haven't had any visitors recently."
>"I think that paranoia is rubbing off on you," Jordan said.
>"Maybe," Tom shrugged, "but I think I like being paranoid."
"Its a huge sacrifice on my part, by the way," he added, massaging his crowning glory.
Tom then brought out the 'holy grail' and attached some probes on Jordan.
>"Wow!" Jordan exclaimed.
>"You see it?" Tom asked.
>"Yeah, it's like I've got a heads up display projected on the back of my >eyeballs."
>"Select the little car icon."
>"How?"
>"Just think at it."
>The lights on the truck lit up. "Now project yourself into the car," >Tom encouraged.
Jordan did, and Vanessa found the car moving towards her general direction, as if it was operated by remote control. It came to a stop at the tip of her left heel, and she wondered if Tom was going to instruct Jordan on delivering a bite on leather and toes. He did not, and the car beat a retreat without even bothering to U-turn.
>Jordan was looking out at the stars when he detected something close >by. Something was approaching, "Tom there's someone else here!"
>"Where?"
>"Close by, coming fast. What do I do?"
>"Shut down the link," Tom suggested.
>"How?" Jordan asked.
>Tom swore, and reached over and pulled the probes from Jordan's head.
>Jordan leaned against the kitchen counter breathing heavily.
"What happened?" Vanessa asked.
"I don't really know. There was all this conversations all around, and then suddenly I just sense someone approaching. Its like one of those prickling sensations when you felt someone coming from a direction you did not know."
"Someone, or something," Tom corrected.
"You ever experienced something like this before?" Jordan asked his old friend.
Tom shook his head.
"Unfortunately no. There was once, though, that I felt something like a subtle touch, as if someone, or something, was tapping me on my shoulder. I got scared, got off, and when I tried again, nothing happens."
Vanessa found the way Tom said 'someone, or something' with such ease rather unsettling.
"So who were these presence? Humans?" She asked.
"I don't think so. The technology was too advanced for our knowledge, unless the government was hiding things from us. I would guess that original users of this system is extra-terrestrial, but somehow, the device got onto the hands of humans. "
"The someone I felt approaching. I think its human." Jordan added.
"Why?" Tom asked, surprise on his face.
"Its too fast, too focused. All the other presences I felt are far away, and ignoring me, or perhaps unaware of my existence, but this presence, seemed to be very focused on coming forward immediately. As if it knows my true identity."
Tom paused for a while, as he let Jordan's message sank in.
"Jordan, does it occur to you that perhaps those presence are totally aware of your presence, and wanted you to get a feel of the system, and of them before trying anything else?"
Jordan was about to reply, when his handphone rang again.
"Stern."
"Jordan, this is Zenya. Tom's house was searched just before we arrived. He escaped in an unmarked car." She then told him about the attack at the basement.
"You all right?"
"Yeah. A basement attack is nothing compared to jumping through a window of flying bullets." She joked.
"Where is Martin and Leo?"
"They had just arrived. In a new car. Tom's Honda was bombed. "
"I know. Zenya, hold on." Jordan covered the mouthpiece of his handphone and told Tom that his house was searched.
"Anything important you wanted from your house? I believed its time you shifted base."
Tom recited a few necessary items, and Jordan conveyed the message to Zenya.
"Zenya. Listen to this. Do a quick search of the house just to see what you can find. And get the things that Tom wanted. Leave quietly, and we'll meet you back at the Knight's Rest Motel." He ended the conversation, and summarised everything for Tom and Vanessa, including the bomb on Tom's car.
"Two unmarked cars for them, and one Washington car for us. Two different groups? You have any idea who is so interested in this thing?" Vanessa asked Jordan as Tom searched for a big paper bag and stuffed the ziplock bag and its contents inside.
"Almost all the government agencies that you know exist. And a couple that you don't."
"I'm ready to go," Tom informed them as he tucked the paperbag under his arm.
"Will this thing work everywhere?" Vanessa asked Tom, ever curious, as they walked down the stairs to the ground floor.
"Almost everywhere. But not as good if its near any water body though. And not when the device is pointing at the general direction of a large body of water. There will be a decrease in the reception like static interference on radio frequency."
"Oh great, now we have a device that are built by entities that did not take into account water interference because most probably they did not have any liquid substance on their homeland," Vanessa joked, as she opened the door and led the way out, her gun ready but out of sight. Jordan let Tom walked between them, and they got into the car, and left for the motel.
regards,
Lee Sau Woon aka SA2 Vanessa Lee
NRPG : handing baton over to you guys.. no use letting jordan and vanessa
have all the fun
NRPG : its 25th dec rite now in singapore, and i'm at home! merry xmas!!!!
8) 8) 8)