Report #3270, Transcript Section #16
(Operation SANDMAN)
©1998 Shane Ivey

Keeper:
It's a chaotic night in Harfleur. Fire rages in what was the home of a little-known Voodoo priest, while police cars and ESU/SWAT vans and ambulances surround the place.

Keeper:
Two NYPD patrol officers and ten ESU officers are missing, presumed killed inside the burning house.

Keeper:
Two other ESU officers emerged from the house and are in ambulances being prepared to be rushed to the hospital.

Keeper:
Many of the police officers around are getting shaky, both from the unexplained disappearance of so many ESU officers and from the strange things that happened just before the fire, when Lundquist and his DOJ cronies (Kelley, Danforth) entered the house looking for an ESU cop they thought they had seen.

Keeper:
Right when the fire started, some exclaimed that they saw something strange inside, something large and dark and vague.

Keeper:
Then David Kelley came tumbling out of the front door. A couple of cops fired on him--they missed, luckily--as he tumbled down the steps, and others fired into the house at a half-glimpsed shape that seemed somehow deadly threatening.

Keeper:
The order to cease-fire was called almost at once. Lundquist and Danforth emerged unharmed, though Lundquist's head wound is taking its toll and Danforth is in shock from a fright he received inside.

Keeper:
And, the local precinct captain and Jessica Morgan, DEA agent, have approached Lundquist, demanind answers.

Keeper:
Rogers, Kelley takes your shoulder while Lundquist stalls them.

Keeper:
"We need to talk fast," Kelley mutters to you.

Rogers:
whipered "What happened in there?"

Keeper:
"Later," he replies. "Look, this is going downhill, fast. We need to put a lid on it, something heavy enough to keep the cops from looking too hard."

Rogers:
"I could make it a CIA case and close the area down but that will clash with our cover as DoJ agents." "What do you think?"

Keeper:
"Something like that. Listen, they'll fight and scream if they think CIA is trying to run something domestic. I have an Army cover I can reactivate. We can run this as an Army op, assisted by CIA and DOJ."

Rogers:
"Sounds better if I made this CIA we'd have obstruction like you wouldn't believe." "What's the cover?"

Keeper:
He nods quickly. His eyes dart to the captain and Lundquist. He looks pretty rough, but he seems to be thinking clearly.. "Better yet, you stay in cover as DOJ, and we leave the CIA out of it altogether. I'm Colonel Sam Dee, security officer with the Institute, USARMIID."

Keeper:
"We're tracking this Dreaming Man shit, but we found out it's already spread in New York, and we need to locate its source and users."

Keeper:
"If we go public, we'll get a panic. So we're keeping it quiet as hell."

Keeper:
"You with me?"

Rogers:
"Good, I can keep up the DoJ doctor line," "Let's do it."

Keeper:
"All right." He sighs. "You can do the talking, then. You're the medical resource for our team. We need to tell them we're bringing them into the investigation, and we need to give them some bullshit line to pursue while we do the real work."

Rogers:
"Captain, can I have a word please."

Keeper:
The captain--Capt. Elton Ramsey, 116th Precinct--is looking exasperated with the more and more unhealthy-looking Lundquist. He turns to you roughly. "What??"

Rogers:
"Due to the nature of the current situation I'm going to have to bring you and Agent Morgan fully up to speed on what's going on here."

Keeper:
He raises his eyebrows theatrically. "Is that so? I hope you start making some sense, then."

Rogers:
"This situation requires that I bring you both into this investigation."

Rogers:
"My colleague here is Colonel Sam Dee the security officer for USARMIID."

Rogers:
"The Institute ihas been tracking the Dreaming Man drug in co-operation with the DoJ in an effort to prevent it's widespread use."

Keeper:
Kelley nods.

Keeper:
The captain looks from one of you to the other. "Keep talking."

Rogers:
"We've just discovered that it is out on the streets of New York in a small limited manner at the moment, mostly surrounding the Harfleur area."

Rogers:
"Due to the radical nature of the drug it was felt that a small team would be more effective in investigating the source and closing it down." "Given the events of today that policy has changed."

Rogers:
"We are trying to avoid a panic situation people, if the effects of this drug became widely known we would have vigilanty justice in operation in a matter of hours, anyone even looking like a drug user would be in serious trouble"

Keeper:
The captain looks at each of you. "I don't believe this. How many dead men do we have here? Ten, twelve cops? Two dozen local citizens? All from your half-assed little operation?"

Rogers:
"That was the result of us blowing our cover to try and save a cop."

Rogers:
"Remember that please we are on the same side, the same side but not the same page at the moment."

Keeper:
Lundquist says, "We told ESU not to go in. Their captain wouldn't listen."

Keeper:
The captain takes an angry breath. "And what about the Breckenridge business? It hasn't been twenty-four hours since your little squad shot the hell out of three of their investigators."

Rogers:
"Captain we noted that these investigators were following us when we tried to find out who they were they opened fire on us. We acted in self defence."

Rogers:
"as we explained at the time."

Rogers:
"Do you want to know about the problem or have some more arguments?"

Keeper:
He shakes his head again. "Unbelievable. How many times is it gonna take for you assholes to quit this crap. This is MY precinct! You come in here with guns blazing, and now you want me to get in line and play nice??"

Rogers:
"Yes we do or we can just take the whole thing out of your hands."

Rogers:
"I want to work with you we were supposed to meet Agent Morgan and discuss the situation with her then bring the police into the loop events have overtaken us."

Keeper:
Morgan interjects, "And why did you wait this long? Do you think you could have gotten a clue when a gangster killed that reverend, that maybe you might want to tell the DEA about it?"

Rogers:
"We had our appontment with you yesterday when we were going to brief you and bring you up to speed on the investigation and discuss options." "Events have forced us into a bad situation here." "The dead reverand for instance the drug may be directly involved in that given his strict anti drug stance and his speeches."

Rogers:
"Shall I explain?"

Keeper:
"Please do."

Rogers:
"The reason for the USARMIDD interest in this drug is one of it's side effects." "It makes people very open to suggestion if used someone with a strong enough personality can bend a person to their will making a very dangerous situation."

Rogers:
"Combine that with the ruthless nature of Drug Dealers and we have a potential for Chaos which untill now has only been known in Latin American countries"

Rogers:
"This drug could be seen as a threat to national security so we have been assigned to deal with the situation as effectivly as possible."

Rogers:
"All the peopl who were killed tonight were on the drug, we tried to arrest then even fired warning shots, nothing worked we weere going to be overwhealmed it was a survival situation and we had to survive."

Rogers:
"They were being directed by one man who just ordered them to attack us, we need to find out who this individual is" glances at burning building, "or was."

Keeper:
The captain runs a hand through his hair.

Keeper:
Kelley adds, "Captain--Agent Morgan--this operation is classified. We've encountered more resistance than we expected. Now, we want your help."

Rogers:
"That's correct."

Keeper:
The captain shakes his head again. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this," he says. "But I'll listen to you for now. So, what the hell is going on in there? What are my people going to find when they start examining the bodies?"

Rogers:
"This building will need to be sealed off until we can get appropriatly equiped medical teams here."

Rogers:
"They will probably find a lot of corpses to be honest."

Rogers:
"Most will be users of the Drug I should imagine." "You may get some weapons."

Rogers:
"I don't want anyone going in there without USARMIID ok'ing it however. can we get the press cleared away as well?"

Keeper:
"Then it sounds like you're done here, right? I mean, was this where the stuff came from?"

Rogers:
"We don't know if this is where it was manufactured or just a holding site, that's what we're going to start checking now."

Rogers:
"Excuse me I need to check on my colleague's injuries"

Rogers:
scoots over to Mr. Lundquest

Rogers:
"We've got a bit of a situation here and no mistake." "I've brought the police and the DEA into the loop, nothing else to be done we couldn't stall them in this level of fuck up."

Keeper:
They look at each other.

Keeper:
He says, "Just give them something to keep them busy."

JTRogers checks over Mr.L

Rogers:
"I'm going to have to get them doing something to stop them becoming to curious about our investigation. Shall I get them to go over Breckenridge Corp"

Rogers:
"Because we've alrready got an investigation going on them and it would be interesting to see what's changed since that started."

Rogers:
"what they have moved to hide etc"

Keeper:
"I don't know," he says, wincing as you poke his skull. "Breckenridge sounds deep. Better give the cops something where they aren't going to find anything we'll need to keep quiet."

Rogers:
"I'll get them to press their sources of street info for anything concerning DM, and get them to compile a report on encounters they've had with it dates times etc."

Keeper:
He nods weakly.

Rogers:
"Did you request the orange suits earlier We are now under USARMIID controls could be usefull to have something like that arrive to kill off the curiosity about what's in the building?"

Rogers:
"I think when it stops burning I'm going to grab a suit and go in with Kelly."

Rogers:
"I'd better get back to them now, mind your head nothing much else I can do sorry." "Best saty off the mobile's with the media sitting there, do't even want to risk an intercept of coded chat at the moment talk about suspiscous."

Rogers:
"Captain Ramsey, Agent Morgan"

Keeper:
"Yeah," he says.

Keeper:
Ramsey steps over with Morgan.

Rogers:
"I have a few things I need."

Rogers:
"Up to this point we've been operating in an information vacume, we need to get information that you have about the Dreaming Man Drug to try and build up a picture of the current situation"

Rogers:
"Find out where it has been used, by who etc."

Keeper:
"Jesus," says Morgain, exasperated. "You idiots didn't even develop any intelligence or research before you came out here and started shooting people?"

Rogers:
"No we developed unofficial information, now we need your official data to make our picture complete or at least completer."

Keeper:
"Terrific," she says. "I'll convey your request to my supervisor. Anything else?"

Rogers:
"Yes, we need to keep as much information about the drug out of the press as possible."

Keeper:
"Oh, I see. A cover-up." She nods. "So, anybody you need assassinated while we're at it? How about some blackmail?"

Rogers:
"Get all your informers, snitches and lean on them hard if we've contained the spread of this drug here great, we can't risk it becoming widely available, anything concerning this drug must be given top priority."

Keeper:
Ramsey crosses his arms and listens.

Keeper:
Ramsey shakes his head again. "Unbelievable," he repeats. He walks off, yelling for his subordinate. "Lieutenant! You need to talk to the press. They grabbed an undercover officer and killed him, here. That's what brought us over . . ."

Keeper:
Morgan watches as Ramsey walks off.

Rogers:
"This is not a cover up, I just want the nature of the drug kept a quiet as possible, a person is smart, people are stupid and easily panicked, you can use the name but don't for God's sake reveal what it does, just make it a new version of something."

Rogers:
"If you want to avoid lynchings."

Rogers:
"I'm going to get some more people out to this circus."

Keeper:
She still looks dubious. "Something is wrong as hell here," she says. "I'll talk to my supervisors, and I'll let them decide if this is a snowjob, or if we need to cooperate."

Rogers:
"Mr Dee!"

JTRogers walks over to Kelly

Rogers:
to Agent Morgan "Look this isn't the best time to explain it to you and I'm not the best person I'm the team doctor our principal investigator is sitting down with concussion and our boss is wounded, I don't have time for this crap, talk to your supervisors and we'll talk again I'm sure!"

Rogers:
"Boss, we need to get some chemical suits out here, I want to go through that house fast but we need the suits to protect our cover story"

Keeper:
Kelley says, "I can get some suits out here. It will take a few hours, though."

Rogers:
"Let's get on that then"

Keeper:
"Meanwhile, what's our next move?"

Rogers:
"As far as I see it, we've got to get into Breckenridge to find out what they are doing, but it's pointless just charging in we need to interrogate the guy in the hospital first."

Keeper:
He nods. "First, let's get someplace secure. I want to go over what we know, and Lundquist there needs to lay up and rest. So does Danforth."

Rogers:
"we've also got to find out if the vodou reverend is really dead, what happened in there really?"

Rogers:
"We also need to get the team fixed up."

Rogers:
"We need somepeople to secure this site first, I'm not keen on leaving it to the police at the moment"

Keeper:
"We don't have people to secure this site. This is the middle of the city. We can't just quarantine it."

Rogers:
"No that's going to look very suspiscious isn't it, let's head home and sort things out."

Rogers:
"Let's go and get the USARMIID team to notify us when they are in position and we can get out here then"

Rogers:
Rogers smiles, "Better try and rent a car huh."

Keeper:
"Wait--you want a real USARMIID team? That's going to be harder to arrange than just my cover and some equipment."

Rogers:
"can you get everyone together I'll just go and give the captain a contact number for us and we can head out."

Rogers:
"Not a real team just guys with the id's and the equipment which will keep our cover alive"

Rogers:
"This duplicity gets harder and harder."

Keeper:
He shakes his head. "Ask your cell leader," he says. "I don't have the pull to bring in manpower. You already have people in the hospital, right?"

Rogers:
"OK we can sort it back at home, lets' go."

Keeper:
He nods and takes a glance back at the house. "Wait."

Keeper:
"Did you tell them to keep their examiners out of the rubble?"

Rogers:
"I did metion it one or two times, I can go and stress the point if you want."

Keeper:
"Yeah. If they get inside the place, it might be real hard to keep a lid on this thing."

Keeper:
"Make sure they don't poke around inside," he says. "If they get inside the place, it might be real hard to keep a lid on this thing."

Rogers:
"Ok I'' go and talk to the captain when he's done with the press then we can go."

Keeper:
He nods slowly.

Keeper:
The captain is already standing in front of the glaring lights of TV news crews. Cameras are rolling.

Keeper:
"This has been a terrible tragedy," he says. "We don't know why Officer Leroy Lemonde was killed, and we don't know why his killers attacked other law enforcement officers who came to investigate. We can only hope that our investigation will uncover the truth quickly."

Keeper:
Reporters shout: "Captain Ramsey!" "What about the SWAT team that was--" "Is it true that this was a secret CIA operation?" "Captain, how many died in tonight's raid?"

Keeper:
Ramsey holds his hands up. "We do not have accurate figures yet, but we will make them public as soon as possible"

Keeper:
They shout again: "Captain, is there any connection to the other recent violence in this area?"

Keeper:
The captain says, "I cannot comment further at this time. We are investigating this terrible tragedy and we will announce the results as soon as possible. Thank you."

Keeper:
He steps away, ignoring the other shouted questions.

Keeper:
Kelley tells you, "Look, you take the others back to the house and sort them out. I'll stay here and watch the site until we get the assets to inspect it."