Second shooter and other surprises

(Day 1, 11:45pm, The hunting lodge)

>Zenya tuned out the conversation, too distracted for the moment to have >anything useful to contribute. She sighed and stood up. "I'm going >outside to get some air," she announced, shooting a glance at Leo, but >not waiting for his reaction before heading out the door.

>Leo followed a moment later.

Jordan looked at them leaving, then turned to face the rest of the team.

"I don't know about you, but I'm beat. Perhaps we should try the device out tomorrow, instead of tonight. What do you say?"

They all seemed to agree. Vanessa looked as if she'd wanted to try the device sooner, but a sudden yawn made her think better of it.

The lodge had enough bedrooms for all of them, except for Jordan and Tom, who had to share. They were used to it though, since they'd been room-mates for a while at Edwards Air Force Base.

Before going to bed Martin browsed through his e-mails. One, that was addressed to Q from The Area 51 Group, caught his attention. The message said:

--Witness confirms: Ruby WAS the second shooter. Two down, one to go--

Martin chuckled. He had been right all along. Now if they could only find the third shooter, the one in the storm drain, they would have solved the JFK-assassination. Martin was almost certain the third shooter worked under orders from the NSA, but he couldn't prove it - yet.

He jumped a good three feet up in the air, when his cellphone suddenly rang. Martin wondered who that could be, at this late hour.

"Special Agent Reed, my name is Michelle Byers. I've been trying to get a hold of you all day. You see, I work administration at Station X. Your girlfriend, Emily Hanson, applied to join our division, a few weeks ago. Training Director Peters has just approved her application, but I can seem to find her anywhere. Do you have any idea where she is?"

"So Director Peters haven't heard?" Martin replied.

"Heard what?"

"Emily has been kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists in Israel. Both State- and Justice Department are working to get her out. If Josh has any high-level connections at all, I would appreciate if he used them now."

"I'm terribly sorry to hear that. I will tell Director Peters the first thing in the morning."

"I was kind of hoping you could tell him right now."

"He's away on a short business trip, but he will be back tomorrow. I will make sure to tell him then."

"Thank you! Bye."

Martin was hoping Josh Peters could use some of his influence to improve Emily's situation. Even if Josh couldn't, Martin was prepared to walk through fire, to get Emily back safely. He would even sacrifice the device.

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(Day 2, 5:20am, The hunting lodge)

Martin liked getting up early and today was no exception. He took a sweatsuit and a pair of sneakers out of his bag, got dressed and went downstairs. None of the others were up yet. Martin left them a note and went outside.

It was still dark and the forrest whispered from a soft, but rather brisk wind. Martin shivered. He had a hard time adjusting to the cold weather in D.C. and this was even worse.

he thought.

After two miles, the temperature in his body started to become acceptable. The small track he ran on was very quiet. Another two miles away from the cabin, he came across a small lake. He stopped for a while and looked around. A family of deer had just woken and was making their way down to the lake for some water.

he mused to himself.

He knew Emily would have loved being here. Even though she was a New Yorker, she had the heart of a country girl. She had spent many summers on her grandparents' farm in Fargo, Minnesota, especially after the death of her parents. He shrugged it off and headed back to the lodge. Finding his way back, was nothing short of a miracle. Martin was terrible with directions.

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(6:00am, back at the lodge)

When Martin got back, most of the team was already up. He guessed all the excitement prevented them from sleeping.

"Give me a couple of minutes to freshen up. I'll be down shortly," he said.

Unfortunately, the lodge only had two bathroom, so he had to wait for Zenya to get ready. For some strange reason, she had forgotten to lock the bathroom door, so he almost walked in on her. This wasn't like Zenya, but then again, she had been a bit out of sorts, ever since she and Leo got back from the motel.

20 minutes later they were all gathered around the kitchen table, munching away at the breakfast, Jordan had bought last night. Martin really liked Leo's coffee:

"Damn good coffee, and hot," he said, quoting Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks.

"Here's the schedule for today:" Jordan said. "Martin, you will be going into town to see your friend at the Boston PD. Do you want anyone with you?"

"Perhaps it's a good idea. Zenya, do you feel up to it?"

"Sure, no problem."

"Good, I think you'll like DeShawn."

Jordan interupted their little chat: "OK, back to business. Jim and Leo, before we do anything else, you will secure the premises. When we're set, Vanessa will be first to try the device."

Vanessa smiled like a little girl on her first Christmas. She couldn't wait to try the device. Martin felt bad for missing out, but at the same time he looked forward to meeting his friend again.

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(Day 2, 8:10am, Boston Police Dept., 7th Precinct)

Martin and Zenya walked up to the front desk. A small woman of Hispanic origin sat behind the huge telephone switchboard.

"Good Morning. How may I help you?"

"I'm Special Agent Reed and this is Special Agent Gorky. We're here to see Lt. Fredricks. He's expecting us."

Martin had called in advance to let DeShawn know they were coming.

"Third floor, across the office landscape and then the second door on your right."

The two agents took the elevator up to the third floor. Before they could take two steps out of the elevator, a huge black man appeared in the back of the office landscape. He was holding a college size football in his right hand.

"Flash, go deep!" He yelled out to Martin. Martin, who knew the routine, ran towards the vending machines. DeShawn threw the pass across the heads of everyone in the office.

"I've got it, " Martin shouted. He had to make a dive for the ball, in order to stop it before it slammed into the water cooler. Somehow, he managed to catch the ball, spin around and land, in sitting position, in a chair. The chair, obviously not used to such rough treatment, broke and sent Martin flying. He was back on his feet in an instant, showing everyone the ball. Some of the men applauded, but Zenya wasn't impressed.

"Flash Reed, as I live and breathe," DeShawn said as he walked up to Martin and gave him a hug. "And, who is this? Your girlfriend?" he said, pointing at Zenya.

"This is Special Agent Zenya Gorky. Zenya - meet DeShawn Fredricks, the best damn linebacker to ever play for USD."

They shook hands, before DeShawn invited them into his office.

"So, what can I do you for today?" He asked jokingly.

"I was hoping you could tell us who has sent this." Martin removed the letter from his pocket and handed it to DeShawn.

"Follow me down to the crime lab, and I'll see what we can do."

"I trust this is handled discretely," Zenya said.

"Certainly, Janet is 100% trustworthy."

Janet proved to be a very stunning woman in her mid-twenties. She had long blond hair and a body Martin found hard to ignore, despite trying.

After running a few tests, she managed to pull two sets of fingerprints from the letter. One set, of course, belonged to Tom.

"Let's see if we can find a match on the other set," Janet said while tapping at the terminal in front of her. "Ah, here we go: The fingerprints belong to a high-school kid in Torrance, CA, named Mark David Carter. He was arrested a month ago for minor possession of a controlled substance, in his case two joints of marijuana. The judge let him off with a warning. Does the name ring any bells?"

"Do you have any information on his parents?" Martin asked.

"I'll have to run a cross-check on his social security number. One moment."

Regular police officers couldn't do that, but DeShawn had managed to secure a few high priority pass codes, from a friend in D.C. He allowed Janet to use them from time to time.

"Mother: Nicole Carter-Jones. Same address as the kid. Married to a John Jones."

"And what about his father?" Zenya was beginning to lose her patience.

"Father: David Henry Carter, Sergeant, USAF. It says here he died six months ago in an accident."

"Thanks man," Martin told DeShawn, "you're a lifesaver."

"Anytime!" DeShawn replied.

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"Do you mind stopping at McDonald's before going back to the lodge. I'm feeling kind of hungry."

Zenya stared at Martin.

"We had breakfast not four hours ago, plus we had doughnuts at the station. How can you be hungry now?"

"I'm still growing, I guess." Martin said, knowing quite well he was among the oldest in the team.

They both started laughing, breaking some of the tension they had been experiencing.

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[NRPG:] I have been very busy this past week. Hopefully, this post will make up for my absence.

Kind Regards,

Krister Persson

SA-1 Martin Reed, Team Zulu, The X-Files PBeM RPG (XFRPG).
D'arcon and Adrian, Cleft Warren, DragonLands PBeM RPG.

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Check out my homepage at: http://www.algonet.se/~kris_mia/

"Proceed boldly and with stealth" - Sally Solomon (3rd Rock from the Sun).