Report #3270, Transcript Section #33
(Operation SANDMAN)
©1999 Shane Ivey

Keeper:
Rogers, Cabot, and the rest of the surviving team has gathered back at the safe-house. Lundquist remains at the FBI command post in Manhattan. It's just after nightfall.

Keeper:
Lundquist, tempers are still hot among the agents. FBI, ATF, DEA, DoJ, and Army are all represented, and a couple of State Department reps have recently arrived and begun asking questions.

Keeper:
Not to mention the NYPD, of course.

Keeper:
But with the massacres at TBC-NY and at the Dreaming Man hounfor, and the reports that perpetrators have escaped, nobody is happy.

Lundquist:
I act hot too, and work constantly to divert attention away from myself.

Lundquist:
I blame Breckenridge, the drug trade, the secret black helicopter people, and whoever else is handy. The important thing is to keep people thinking about them, not me.

Keeper:
At this point, it's not hard to do. Every group is following leads or apparent leads, looking into the backgrounds of the TBC agents involved and trying to ascertain the identities of the men who attacked the agents at the Medical Arts Center.

Keeper:
Then there are the terrorist reports. Some agents think it's bogus.

Lundquist:
I will try to suggest that the terrorist reports are NOT bogus... I will be very very subtle about this, and try to work it into conversations when opportunities arise.

Lundquist:
If they never arise, I won't mention it. I don't want to stick in peoples' minds as the guy who keeps talking about the terrorism.

Keeper:
Discussion does keep up about the terrorist calls. Several agents also play it up, looking for international connections with the TBC perpetrators; others are a little more cautious and want some other confirmation.

Lundquist:
I say a lot of vague things like "We certainly can't rule anything out" and "Let's keep an open mind about this".

Keeper:
Lundquist, things pass like that for two hours. There is constant confusion, discussions, repeated arguments over the same issues with different agents and officers.

Keeper:
Finally, ASAC Devereaux calls in the chiefs for another round-table meeting.

Lundquist:
Oh, good.

Keeper:
He collects you along with the FBI's local counter-terrorism chief, a DEA supervisor, and the supervisor of a Hostage Rescue squad that just arrived. Also present is an Army colonel and the two State Department representatives, and a Major Dowell from the NYPD.

Keeper:
The group is smaller than the last meeting, two or three hours ago, with several new faces.

Keeper:
Devereaux says, "All right, we've all had the basic briefing, right? Fine. Let's see where we all stand." He looks at the CT agent. "Bob, what's your impression, here? Does any of this match HAMAS?"

Keeper:
Bob--a forty-five year old agent with thinning hair and too many wrinkles for his age--shakes his head. "We don't have enough to go on, yet. But none of this sounds like a HAMAS op yet, or any other Muslim group we've dealt with. The MO has always been to use foreign nationals. That's the only way they trust each other."

Lundquist:
"It could be that whoever claimed responsibility is trying to divert attention away from themselves."

Keeper:
The senior of the State officers is Phyllis Dell, a sharp-eyed blonde woman about Bob's age, "That's a generalization, but the pattern's there."

Keeper:
The Army officer--Colonel Bud Roberts--looks at Lundquist and nods. "That could be. Your agents were attacked by pros, right? What was your impression of them, up-close?"

Lundquist:
"I'm sorry, Colonel." Rub my eyes, look tired. "Which incident? We were attacked on a couple of occasions."

Keeper:
He nods. "Understood. Let's start at the top, then. What was the first incident? Something by a church?"

Lundquist:
"I think the first incident was when we were being followed by an unmarked car. When we challenged them, they opened fire, and a gunfight ensued."

Keeper:
"Who were they?"

Lundquist:
"The perps refused to surrender, though we identified ourselves as Federal agents several times. They fought to the death. It was very strange."

Keeper:
The other State officer frowns. Devereaux looks impassive.

Lundquist:
"We've ID'd them as Breckenridge people. That's what got us interested in this place to begin with, before all this bomb scare crap cropped up."

Lundquist:
I look straight at the frowning guy from State.

Keeper:
He glances at you, looks away. Roberts ignores him. "Did you verify them for sure as Breckenridge? From Breckenridge records and full ID checks, I mean?"

Lundquist:
"We're working on it. Their records are a bit of a mess right now."

Keeper:
Devereaux says, "We've looked at two personnel records from suspects in the rooftop incident. Both checked out a former Special Forces."

Keeper:
He adds, "We're not sure what to make of that."

Lundquist:
"Well, I think it's pretty obvious they got themselves mixed up in some bad shit, isn't it?"

Lundquist:
"Wasn't Tim McVeigh a decorated Gulf War vet?"

Keeper:
Devereaux nods. "Well, yes. But was there any connection between them outside Special Forces? They weren't stationed together at any time."

Lundquist:
"If that's the case then it must be something they got into after leaving the service. The obvious choice there is Breckenridge."

Keeper:
"So, you think the HAMAS calls were a smokescreen?"

Lundquist:
"I'm not willing to go there yet. It's just scary enough that I think we ought to take it seriously until we have confirmation otherwise."

Lundquist:
(I try to sound like a bureaucrat playing CYA)

Keeper:
The junior State officer--he looks about 33 years old, skinny and young-looking, with thick black hair--shakes his head. "We need to take it seriously, but I don't think it will pan out. We haven't seen any inidication except those calls that HAMAS or any other Islamic organization was involved."

Lundquist:
"Just the same, I'm not willing to rule that out without more information." I look right at him. "Are you?"

Keeper:
"No. I mean, it's worth looking into, but don't take resources away from the domestic investigation to do it. These guys were Special Forces, right? They know how to cover their trail with disinformation."

Lundquist:
"Mr Deveraux, can your people do anything with the 911 tape? Voice analysis or something?"

Keeper:
"They've been working with it since we recorded the calls. Results are inconclusive."

Keeper:
The Counter Terrism agent says, "Our man says it could be somebody faking an accent, but he won't promise it."

Keeper:
Deveraux nods. "All right. What's DEA's angle, here?" He looks at Special Agent Henley.

Keeper:
Henley says, "We're still playing catch-up. We've been tracing usage of the drug for a year, but it's been nothing major until now."

Keeper:
Dell says, "Where is it from?"

Keeper:
Henley shakes his head. "We don't know. It hasn't been worth too close a look, so far. That sure as hell changed this week."

Lundquist:
"I thought it had links to the Carribean? Jamaica or something? Has that been substantiated?"

Keeper:
Henley says, "It hasn't been substantiated. Usage has mainly been in the Haitian neighborhood where you ran into trouble, but that doesn't necessarily tell us its source."

Keeper:
Deveraux says, "Right. So, we're looking at American perpetrators all working for Breckenridge, at least some of them with Special Ops experience. We have a HAMAS call which may or may not be bogus. We have dead police and missing police. And we have a stealth-equipped helicopter. What the hell do we make of all this?"

Lundquist:
"We've got a group of perps operating with an absolutely unprecedented level of sophistication."

Lundquist:
"It all sounds like one of those bullshit news reports about the CIA dealing crack in LA or something."

Keeper:
The younger State officer nods. "With Breckenridge in the middle of it, for God's sake."

Keeper:
The Army officer snorts. "First it was Wackenhut, then Breckenridge. The UFO loonies will yell and scream any time we hire someone to do security."

Keeper:
As Lundquist is meeting with his people, Rogers and the others have converged at the safe house.

Rogers:
Ok myself and Kelly wanted to check out danforth and the others for the organism in case it migrated to them while they were transpoerting the FBI host.

Keeper:
Those tests take a while, but they finally come out negative. The FBI agent seems to be the only one infected.

Rogers:
""The FBI guy is in the seure room I assume?"

Rogers:
to Kelly "Well we're goig to have to arrange things with Mr. L and square up our stories with whatever he's giving the taskforce." "Then we're going to have to get lauging boy into a secure facility with technicians who know what they are dealing with."

Keeper:
Kelley nods. "We can keep him in the clean room for now. But I'll be happier if we can pass him on."

Rogers:
"I think we should secure our subject first, I'm going to contact Meredith about getting him moved."

Keeper:
"Good. As for our stories--Danforth's the real problem. If Lundquist's people decide he had somebody with a fake ID working for him, he'll be in hot water."

Rogers:
"We need to decide if he's going to be worth saving or if he turns up dead then."

Rogers:
"We can't have him wandering around until we're sure he's not on the tapes."

Keeper:
Kelley lifts an eyebrow. "Who, Danforth? Shit, you're quick on the draw tonight."

Keeper:
He glances down the hall, where Cabot and Danforth and Keen are in the main room, out of earshot.

Rogers:
"Yeah just thinking worst case, but I think we won't need to, Once I've spoken to Mr. L we'll know how much damage control will be necessary... quick question do we still have that torch here or did it go out to the lab yet?"

Keeper:
"The thing we got off our first Breckenridge spook? It went to Quantico, right?"

Rogers:
"Damn, oh well I'll need to find something else for Danforth to do I suppose he can babysit the FBI guy and stay out of aight."

Lundquist:
(Did we give the flashlight away? I thought we kept it...)

Rogers:
"well lets get Danforth babysitting this guy full recording on the room he's in though." "And I'd like to get a sample of his blood and see what happens when we injest the DM dug into it."

Keeper:
Kelley says, "Yeah, Danforth needs to sit tight until Lundquist wants him. Meantime, we need to fix his ID. I don't know, maybe we can doctor his fake records in the Justice records a little. We need to be able to say that the guy who was at the hospital wasn't the guy with Lundquist's team."

Rogers:
"OK, I'll request that Meredith does that asap, and I'll route it through the secure servers."

Keeper:
He yawns. "Good. What else?"

Rogers:
"Well we may as well see if we can come up with anything in the way of a way to attack this thing that dosen't involve napalming whole city blocks" rogers smiles bitterly.

Keeper:
"Attack what thing? What's our strategy, exactly?"

Lundquist:
(you can field that one, Rog)

Rogers:
"We're going to have to wait for MARK to report in before moving beyond the safehouse but untill then I want to attack that think in the FBI guys blood with all the chemical we have, we've got BIGs here so we'll be safe"

Rogers whispers to Keeper:
Bilogical Isolation Garments

Rogers:
"If you can go and set that up with whoever will help you I'll phone MARK."

Keeper:
"The rubber suits, yeah. But that's not a strategy, that's a tactic. What's our strategy?"

Rogers:
"Damage Control at the moment, and then Offence I want to go to the Security Heads house and check that out but I want to go Mob handed in case of trouble."

Keeper:
"What else?"

Keeper:
"We need to step back here and look at the big picture. Where are we heading?"

Rogers:
"We're heading into a massive trap as far as I've got this figured, at every turn we've had avenues of investigation surgically removed, we need to get together and plan out next phase of operation just the three agents and then decide ehat our strategey is we can't do it with just the two of us." "Look what's happened at the hospital with peopl out of the loop."

Keeper:
"Yeah. Okay. I'll get Cabot and draw some more samples from the victim. You call MARK."

Rogers:
"We're going to treat it like any problem and brake it down into pieces and solve each piece, which means untill MARK gets her and we can think strategically I'm going to attcak what i know and that's the biology of this organism as best as I can."

Keeper:
Lundquist: Your meeting is just breaking up.

Lundquist:
Righto.

Keeper:
No major conclusions were reached, but there was rough agreement to look more closely into the military backgrounds of the Breckenrige agents who were involved here and to do some initial foreign investigation of the HAMAS angle, to rule it out or follow-up later.

Lundquist:
Good enough. I think it's time I slipped away, to head back to the safe house for coordination and some sleep.

Rogers dials Agent MARK

Keeper:
Deveraux does approach you a last time. "Lundquist, we still need an incident report from your people at the hospital. Make sure they get over here."

Lundquist:
"Will do."

Keeper:
Your phone buzzes in your pocket, Lundquist.

Lundquist:
"Excuse me for a moment." I step away to answer it. "Lundquist here."

Keeper:
Devereaux nods. "And get some rest once you get that done," he says. He steps away.

Lundquist:
(Jeez, do I look that bad?) :-)

Rogers:
"Michael here, can you talk?"

Lundquist:
"Yes, how are you?"

Rogers:
"Great, just great, we need to get things sorted out when can you get back here?"

Lundquist:
"Shortly, I expect... Within an hour or so."

Rogers:
"OK, watch out for the traffic it can be a killer."

Lundquist:
"I'm sure OSBORNE is laughing at that, somewhere."

Rogers:
"Just be sure it dosen't happen to you MARK."

Lundquist:
"Right. Be seeing you."

Rogers:
"BSY."

Keeper:
Outside the clean room, Cabot and Kelley are zipping up their bio-suits.

Rogers:
Rogers joins them saying "OK be carefull take no risks"

Rogers:
"Well maybe some risks."

Keeper:
"Risks? In this operation? I thought we were safe as could be."

Keeper:
They fix the seals on their masks and nod. They open the door and step inside.

Rogers:
"Yeah you are just don't drink the water, Kelly do we have anything flamable that we can use against this thing if we have to?"

Keeper:
Cabot nods toward the living room. "Flamethrowers, as requested. Bring one over here and I'll carry it inside."

Rogers zips his suit up and follows them in carring his equipment and the flamethrower.

Keeper:
Rogers, Cabot and Kelley enter the clean room. The FBI agent is strapped down and still comatose, looking much worse for the wear.

Keeper:
Cabot holds the flamethrower, to allow Kelley to hold the subject and Rogers to take the samples.

Keeper:
"All right," he says, "Go ahead."

Rogers:
"Just hold still if you can".

Rogers injects the syringe and draws a blood sample into the toughened plastic syringe

Keeper:
You pull the sample easily and without incident.

Rogers:
"Ok don't worrk Agent we'll get you fixed up."

Rogers:
"Let's get this into the work area, and test it."

Keeper:
They follow you out of the room.

Rogers:
"OK Cabot keep that flame thrower pointed at the sample at all times when I'm working on it." "If I start to run fry it."

Keeper:
"Will do."

Rogers:
"Kelly, get some of the DM drug but remember it effects keep the BIG on but be very quick when you get it."

Rogers gets some of the sample and with exquisite care siphons it into 4 secure test vessles

Keeper:
Kelley brings test tubes with samples of the DM drug.

Rogers:
"Ok I'm going to look at one sample under the microscope, put the DM drug out of its proximity range about 6ft If I remember correctly yes?"

Keeper:
"That sounds right. But does it do anything on its own? I thought it had to be in a host to be active."

Rogers:
"I'm planning to introduce it into this sample once I've seen it under a microscope before hand"

Rogers:
"Yeah your right about it needing a host but I'm just being paranoid here."

Rogers:
"Ok here goes keep these things covered and have a fire extinguisher standing by."

Keeper:
The DM sample seems inert under the microscope. It is mostly a loose conglomeration of ugly blackish-green shapes. They are unrecognizable as organic cells.

Keeper:
Looking at the sample from the FBI agent is trickier. The substance seems to almost seamlessly insinuate itself in the blood cells in trace amounts.

Rogers:
"Right here goes I'm injecting the DM into the sample from the FBI agent."

Keeper:
You've never seen the effect before.

Keeper:
Kelley nods.

Rogers:
"Wonderfull something else unique."

Keeper:
Rogers injects the DM sample into the sample from the agent. Under the microscope, the blackish globules swirl into the blood sample and collide with blood cells... then the cells merge. The blood cells and the black globules meld together jerkily, forming an entirely new mass.

Rogers:
"Get ready something strange happening here!"

Rogers is ready to run and jump for cover.

Keeper:
The cells seem revitalized; where both samples were inert before, they are now dynamic, as if you were looking at a living system rather than a recently-taken sample with no source of nutrients.

Rogers:
How active is this thing is it getting motive?

Keeper:
The sample remains microscopic, just a dot on the plate to the naked eye.

Rogers:
"This things looks like the DM was a snack to it I may have just fed it."

Keeper:
Kelley and Cabot glance at each other.

Rogers:
But is the sample moving more than before.

Keeper:
"So? What's that mean?"

Rogers:
"Well if DM is the food for this thing that would mean this could be a seperate organism, and that the thigs we encoutered are not like the addicts outside Breckenridge"

Rogers:
"What if DM is like a vitamin supplement which activates this other organism, if you don't have the organism in your blood stream you just get addicted but if you have it you are in control?"

Rogers:
"New age Angel Dust." Rogers smiles

Keeper:
"Well... Shit. Were any of the Breckenridge guys using DM?"

Rogers:
"I don't know but I wouldn't be surprised after all they were piloting an illegal project weren't they, what if someone decided to make a little profit on the side by selling the drug to people who couldn't make full use of it?"

Keeper:
"Yeah, maybe. This is over my head."

Rogers:
"It would explain how they were that fast the celss in this sample went ballistic when I injected the DM instant superman, plus if coming off this is hard for addicts imagine the pain someone who has this other organism in their blood stream would have."

Rogers:
"Instant loyalty."

Rogers:
"To whoever holds the DM supply."