Report #3270, Transcript Section #35
(Operation SANDMAN)
©1999 Shane Ivey

Keeper:
Last game, Lundquist, Rogers, and Kelley had gone to search the apartment of Tom Volker, recently-deceased head of investigations for the Breckenridge Corporation.

Keeper:
They had learned that a pair of FBI agents from the official task force had already been detailed for the search, but the team wanted to try to get there first or at least see if anything was missed.

Keeper:
The team also contacted Agent Donna Wang and her team of forensicists to arrange some crime-scene support and help their official cover.

Keeper:
In Volker's apartment, there was no sign of the FBI agents, but the team was bushwhacked by another snooper, an Arabic fellow carrying no firearms, just a knife--with recent blood on it--and a flashgun. The team took him into custody (always a nice euphemism for "had a chaotic shootout but managed not to get anyone killed"), Kelley established his Arabic skills, and that's where we paused.

Keeper:
So: What now?

(Cabot whispered to Keeper): In reading that transcript Shane, I was confused as to the nature of that flashgun - is it a dissorientation device along the lines of a stun grenade, or one of those otherworldly flashlight ray guns that nuked Kelley's SEAL partner?

(Keeper whispered to Cabot): It's not otherworldly--I hypothesized a low-powered laser blinder type of thing.

Rogers:
"OK we'd better check out the rest of the apartment." (Keeper whispered to JTRogers): Strangely, nope.

Lundquist:
"I think we need to get this guy out of here pronto, before the Police arrive."

Lundquist:
"They're on their way by now... That shotgun blast will have woken up the whole building."

Keeper:
Kelley nods. "What about the bulletholes in the wall?" He works the action on his gun to unjam it.

Cabot:
And back at the farm (safe house) I get to work on altering the physical appearances of those involved in the hospital snatch with the hair coloring and scissors I picked up on my way over from the storage site. (I intended to do this several weeks ago before I encountered the modem problem).

Rogers:
"I want to check what was in the room he came out of we haven't seen those FBI guys at al yet and there was blood on his knife even before mine."

Lundquist:
"I think two of us should wait for the cops whule the third takes our buddy here back to the safehouse."

Lundquist:
"Then we can feed the police a line about a skirmish with an Arab-looking guy and tell them he got away in the confusion."

Keeper:
Sounds good, Cabot--Danforth and Keen are actually a little impressed with your skill with the disguises.

Rogers:
"Shall we check the rest of the place and Kelly can take him back once it's secure?"

Lundquist:
"Kelly, you could clear your jam and put a few bullet holes in the stairwell wall to add credibility to that."

Lundquist:
"We do need to check the rest of the place out, right away... Rogers is right about that."

Keeper:
Kelley checks his weapon again and nods. "Sure thing. I'll do it on the way downstairs with Sunshine, here."

(Lundquist whispered to Keeper): to Kelly: "What's your cover name again? Smith or something?"

(Keeper whispered to Lundquist): "Carlson."

Rogers:
"let's just make sure there are no more people lurking around here first and should we check that door opposite?"

Lundquist:
"Yes. Definitely. Kelley, you get going... We might only have a few more moments. Rogers and I can handle anything we find here."

Keeper:
Kelley steps close to the prisoner and motions him toward the door with a few words.

Rogers:
"OK I'll check the appartment out." Rogers moves to the room the prisoner came from.

Lundquist:
"Don't let him get away... You want one of us to walk down with you?"

Keeper:
He seems to stumble over the instructions, interjecting them with English and punctuating with the long, silenced barrel of his submachine gun.

Keeper:
The man looks sullen and angry, saying nothing.

Rogers:
"Any trouble hit him."

Keeper:
Kelley shakes his head. "I think I'll be okay if we move quick. You, let's move." He opens the door and shoves the man out into the hall.

Keeper:
In the apartment, what are Rogers and Lundquist doing?

Rogers:
Rogers is checking out really carefully the room the recent assailant came from.

Lundquist:
Searching very quickly for very obvious stuff.

Lundquist:
(ie, bodies lying under the bed and the like).

Lundquist:
I check every room, bathroom, closet, etc in the apartment as quickly as I can.

Keeper:
The apartment has been ransacked pretty thoroughly. There are clothes dumped on the floor of the bedroom, papers strewn about, drawers and cupboards opened and emptied.

(Cabot whispered to Keeper): At the safehouse, we are tuned in to the relevant scanner frequencies, I assume.

(Keeper whispered to Cabot): Yeah

(Keeper whispered to Cabot): In fact, you hear a call about an hour after the others left: Dispatcher instructions for a patrol car to investigate a gunshot at an apartment building in Brooklyn Heights--the apartment building matches Volker's address.

Lundquist:
No dead FBI guys?

(Cabot whispered to Keeper): Got it.

Keeper:
Even with the mess, it looks like Volker kept a spartan home. You can tell he lived alone.

Cabot places a call to Lundquist's secure cell phone.

Keeper:
Lundquist, your phone buzzes...

Lundquist answers his phone. "Hello?"

Cabot:
"You have a patrol car inbound to your location."

Keeper:
There are a few family photos in the kitchen, a couple of young families, taken recently. There's a resemblence to Volker with the man in one photo and the woman in the other.

Lundquist:
"Okay, good... We figured as much. Thanks. I need to call the police now to maintain our cover."

Cabot:
Click.

Lundquist dials 911.

Keeper:
The photos are very sunny, vacation-type pictures. It's hard to tell how old.

Keeper:
The operator answers, Lundquist. "Nine-one-one, state your phone number please."

Lundquist states it. "This is Brian Lundquist with the Department of Justice. I need police backup immediately."

Keeper:
"State your location, please."

Lundquist:
I give the address, but I flip-flop two of the digits in it to send them to the wrong place.

Lundquist:
(hopefully, that will slow them down a little bit).

Keeper:
She still sounds bored. "State the nature of the emergency, please."

Lundquist:
I give a quick description of the suspect. "We were attacked. He's fleeing west on such-and-such street on foot."

Lundquist:
"My partner is injured, please send paramedics immediately!"

Keeper:
"Stay where you are. Help should be there in a few minutes."

Lundquist:
"Right. Tell the officers we're on the eighth floor, apartment 821."

Lundquist:
(or whatever it is...)

Keeper:
"Eight-two-one, yes sir."

Keeper:
Rogers, what are you doing while he's on the phone?

Rogers:
I'm searching the appartment as best as possible starting with the room the arab came out of

Rogers:
looking for computers, files disks cd-roms etc anything with info / correspondance

Keeper:
Make a spot hidden roll.

DICE for JTRogers: (1d100) = [ 65 ]

Keeper:
The intruder was in the bedroom. It's pretty barren. There's no computer; there is a file cabinet, but it holds only mundane accounting notes on utilities and bills.

Rogers:
Rogers keeps looking

Keeper:
Cabot, a few minutes after you call Lundquist, your own phone rings.

Cabot:
"Ghostbusters. . ."

Keeper:
"This is Kelley. I'm coming in with a captive who's due for interrogation. See if you can set things up."

Cabot:
"Roger that, what's your ETA?"

Keeper:
"Thirty minutes. I'm taking the scenic route."

Cabot:
"Clean room's already occupied, so it'll take a little rearranging here, but we'll be ready and waiting."

Keeper:
"Outstanding." Kelley hangs up.

Cabot:
Click.

Keeper:
Back in Volker's place: Rogers has not found anything interesting in Volker's bedroom.

Keeper:
Lundquist made the call to 911.

Keeper:
I'm assuming you still have the attacker's weapons, unless you sent them with Kelley.

Cabot:
Cabot gathers Keen and Danforth and begins to prep a rear bedroom by removing all furnishings and creating a bland, sensory-depriving environment. Then we begin to look for existing interrogation equipment such as restraints.

Lundquist:
I think those should go with Kelley.

Keeper:
You have plenty of stretch-cuffs and handcuffs, Cabot. The only full restraints are in use.

Keeper:
Kelley took the knife and the flasher, then. What are you doing as Rogers searches the bedroom, Lundquist?

Cabot:
They'll do. We drag a hard-backed kitchen chair into the room and place it in the center of the room, facing away from the door. I also look to the windows and address any privacy issues I see arising from them.

Keeper:
The windows aren't a problem. The blinds stay drawn on them, and there's no direct view of the next house over in any event.

Cabot:
To Keen: "Go put a large pot of water on to boil." To Danforth: "Grab a couple of insidious-looking kitchen utensils and a clean syringe and bring them in here."

Keeper:
(And they're equipped to prevent eavesdropping--double-paned in plastic to reduce vibrations that a laser could pick up.)

Lundquist:
I collect my shotgun and get Rogers' attention. "Are you ready?"

Keeper:
Keen and Danforth look at each other, nod soberly, and go to work.

Rogers:
"I'm good to go, yeah."

Cabot goes to the bathroom, retrieves a white towel and places it over a nightstand that is set to the periphery of the chair against the wall.

Keeper:
Danforth returns with a thick corkscrew attachment from the blender, and a couple of metal pasta-gadgets with lots of tines. "I'll check Rogers' gear for a syringe."

Keeper:
Lundquist and Rogers--what next?

Lundquist:
"Okay, here's what we're going to do: we'll get into position right behind the door to this apartment."

Cabot:
"Great." I neatly place the selected "torture" items on the white towel and begin to gather equipment for a serum test. Once gotten, these too are placed on the nightstand.

Lundquist:
"Then we'll rush into the hallway and kick the door of the place opposite down as quickly as we can."

Lundquist:
"We'll move in fast and hard, and see what we find. Okay?"

Rogers:
"OK want me to take care of the door?"

Lundquist:
"Yeah, if you would, please."

Cabot:
Lastly, to Danforth: "You got any old extension cords, you don't mind giving up?"

Keeper:
Danforth says, "Sure." He fetches a couple from his workstation area in the main room.

Rogers:
on your signal i'll move and kick the door down.2

Lundquist:
"Go!"

Rogers:
rogers moves towards the door shotgun at port arms abnd kicks it hard

Keeper:
Rogers, you give the door a solid kick and it flies open inward, twisting the metal doorframe out.

Keeper:
The door slams hard against the wall and sticks, the doorknob jammed into the plaster.

Lundquist:
I'm right with him with my Benelli shouldered and ready, SWAT-style.

Keeper:
Inside, the apartment is dark. You feel a light breeze. You see a living room to your left, around the corner, with a bedroom adjacent to it.

Cabot:
One cord is set aside as an additional restraint device. I cut the the female end off the other and pare back the insulation to expose the wires within with my leatherman. I DO NOT plug it in yet, but place the male end near an electric outlet in the room.

Keeper:
Rogers, you smell blood.

Keeper:
Cabot, Danforth watches in fascination.

Rogers:
Rogers is looking around for targets and feeling more and more paranoid

Keeper:
Rogers and Lundquist, you move into the dark main room. There's a little light from the windows, ambient light from streetlamps outside and below.

Keeper:
The place is nice, pleasantly furnished, tastefully decorated, with clean off-white walls and modest prints and a few deco accents. Lundquist looks for an open window.

Keeper:
You see no one in the main room or the kitchen. You see into the bedroom: it looks like things are more in disarray, and a window stands open to the fire escape railing. The breeze blows from there, stirring the drapery.

Keeper:
A door is closed to your left, near the bedroom door.

Rogers:
rogers moves to the closed door to open it or Mr. L

Lundquist nods to Rogers to open it, covering it with the shotgun.

Keeper:
Rogers pushes the door open. It's the bathroom: dark tile floor, white walls, white porcelain, a mirror cabinet above the sink, shelves, bathtub. A night-light shines in a wall socket. The bathtub curtain is drawn over it. You see a foot sticking out from the end of the curtain.

Cabot:
Once Danforth has retrieved a syring or two, they, a scalpel, and two specimen plates are also placed on the nightstand. If the wattage of the lightbulbs in the ceiling lamp are marginal, I look about the safehouse for some really bright ones. If found, I replace the bulbs in the room with the brighter, higher-wattage ones.

Rogers:
Rogers opens the door (and has to close the library now guys scuse me)

Lundquist rushes to the bedroom window, and looks outside, first up, then down, with the shotgun.

Keeper:
The fire escape is empty, Lundquist. You aim up--see only the overcast sky and the lazy fall of raindrops--and down, to the small back yard of the building and the other yards and townhouses nearby. You can see the street through a gap in the buildings across from you.

Lundquist:
Crap... "Rogers, follow and cover me!" I hiss, and move out onto the plarform.

Keeper:
Cabot, you get the brightest bulbs for the interrogation room. The lamps glare in the small room.

Lundquist:
I go up quickly, to the roof, if I can.

Cabot goes to his suitcase and removes three balaclavas and hands one to Danforth and Keen, putting the third in his back pocket. "When our guest arrives, put these on."

Keeper:
The fire escape rattles noisily as you step onto it and head up, Lundquist. The metal stairs are slick in the rain, but the corrugated metal offers good friction. In a couple of minutes you've reached the rooftop: it's a flat area bounded by a three-foot wall, cluttered with pipes at foot level, with a massive shed containing the water tower.

Keeper:
Keen and Danforth take the things and tie them for an easy fit. Danforth, asks, "What do we do when he's here?"

Lundquist:
Look about quickly... Maybe there's a wet footprint here or something?

Keeper:
Make a Spot HIdden roll, Lundquist.

DICE for Lundquist: (1d100) = [ 34 ]

Rogers:
Rogers will have done whatever Mr. L told him to

Keeper:
There's plenty of water in puddles, Lundquist, but no footprints.

Cabot:
"We'll take that as it comes. Just try not to say much when he get's here and if you have to say anything, try to alter your voice a little. Regardless, act like you're professionals and know what you're doing."

Lundquist:
Damn... Lundquist trudges back down to the apartment and calls Agent Wang.

Keeper:
They nod. "Yeah, no problem."

Keeper:
She answers quickly, Lundquist. "Wang, FBI."

Lundquist:
"It's Lundquist. Where are you now?"

Keeper:
"In the car, down the street from Volker's apartment. Are you all right?"

Lundquist:
"Yes. I'm afraid we have some more work for you though."

Lundquist:
"You had better come on up. Bring all your gear."

Keeper:
"On the way."

Keeper:
Rogers, Lundquist, what are you doing in the meantime? The smell is strong from the open door to the bathroom.

Lundquist:
I guess we should take a look...

Rogers:
"I'll go first this smells medical"

Lundquist:
"Careful not to touch anything, unless they're still breathing..."

Rogers:
"I'll be carefull touching them even if they are still breathing" Rogers smiles

Keeper:
You draw back the bathtub curtain. Inside are two bodies in night-clothes, one piled roughly atop the other; clothes and bodies alike are torn and stained. In the top body, you can see that his throat has been cut roughly, and the abodmen has been opened up and gapes wet in the dim ambience of the night-light.

Keeper:
Beneath him is a woman's body, also cut open. Gore chokes the tub, but the water has been turned on to trickle softly into the tub and down the drain.

Rogers:
"Better keep that suspect in good shape if you want to keep in the task forces good books I think, if these are the missing FBI agents."

Lundquist:
I pull on a surgical glove and kill the water. "These aren't the FBI people... Probably the apartment's residents. Wrong place, wrong time."

Keeper:
Cabot, the sensor alarms signal when Kelley drives up and parks in the garage behind the house.

Rogers:
"Ah hell let me have a look at the bodies." Rogers puts on some surgical gloves and does a quick visual exam to see if anything is missing.

Keeper:
Rogers, roll Medicine.

Cabot:
To Danforth and Keen: "Show time."

DICE for JTRogers: (1d100) = [ 9 ]

Keeper:
Nothing's missing, Rogers. Shining a penlight on their flesh you can tell the victims were tied down, first; they were probably killed in that position with knife wounds to the temple and heart. It looks like the evisceration and throat injuries were post-mortem.

Rogers:
Can I tell if they were awake or not?

Rogers:
and if the wounds are consistent with the knife we recovered from our suspect?

Keeper:
Yes. The head injuries are surrounded by cuts; they each probably thrashed a lot before their pithing.

Cabot:
"Keen, secure the back door to the house while Kelley brings him in. Connor, keep your eyes on the surveillance cams out front to be sure they weren't followed."

Lundquist:
"You know, I think our patsy is going to be killed in a shootout with DoJ agents attempting his arrest."

Keeper:
You don't have the gear to take precise measurements, Rogers, but the wounds might be consistent with your suspect's knife.

Rogers:
"Could be a good way to go two innocent victims find him breaking into Volkers Appartment, he offs them and then we come across him."

Rogers:
"After we've had a talk with him of course."

Keeper:
Danforth and Keen get up and do their jobs. Kelley brings the suspect in at gunpoint: the suspect is hooded and gagged, with stretch cuffs binding his hands tight to his belt and on his feet more loosely, allowing him only enough slack to walk with baby-steps.

Keeper:
Kelley keep the barrel of his MP5SD trained on the upper torso of the captive. "Where do we want him," he asks.

Cabot:
In an falsetto voice: "Honey, you're late for dinner. You know I like when you call when you're going to be late." I lead them to the prepped bedroom.

Keeper:
He laughs and directs the captive with the barrel of the gun.

Keeper:
The captive stumbles slowly, blindly into the room.

Cabot:
"Forgive us, sir, we don't usually entertain." We sit him in the chair, binding his ankles to his wrists behind the chair and encircling his torso with the extra extension cord.

Keeper:
You can't see his expression through the hood, but he is tense and rigid.

Cabot:
A gag is placed in his mouth and his hood is removed. I gather the others behind him, out of his sight, so he can be left to ponder the purpose of the blender and spatula.

Cabot:
Is there a surveillance cam in this room?

Keeper:
You take his hood off; Kelley already had him gagged. He stares at the far wall and cranes his head left and right.

Keeper:
There is a camera in the room, yes.

Cabot nods to the others to step outside and shuts the door. "Connor, don't take your eyes off the cams on this guy and the clean room with the fed. I dial Lundquist.

Cabot:
While it's ringing, I lift my balaclava and ask Kelley: "Any problems in transit?"

Lundquist:
answers his phone. "Lundquist here."

Cabot:
"Papa Bird, this is Momma Bird, the egg is in the nest. Any instructions before we begin cracking the egg?"

Keeper:
Kelley shakes his head. "It was quiet. Easy ride."

Cabot nods at Kelley.

Lundquist:
"Yeah, possibly... Can I talk to the delivery guy real quick?"

Cabot:
"Roger that. " Cabot hands the phone to Kelley.

Lundquist:
"Hey there... We're a bit concerned about the possibility of a reappearance of the visitor we had the last time we questioned somebody."

Lundquist:
"Maybe you could brief Cabot on that incident?"

Cabot:
"Hey, Keen. You know what? I'd feel alot better if you grabbed on of those flame-throwers I brought with me and stood by in case our guest behaves . . .unusually."

Keeper:
Kelley says, "Will do. Any thing else?"

Lundquist:
"Yeah, put the other guy back on."

Keeper:
Kelley hands the phone to Cabot.

Keeper:
Keen finds the flamethrowers and looks them over.

Cabot takes the phone, "Hello." To Keen: "You need a briefing on that weapon?"

Lundquist:
"Hey, do what you have to, but try to avoid damaging the package too much there... We're going to have to hand the remains over to the proper authorities at some point, and we don't want to raise to many questions."

Cabot:
"Well, we're already violating his civil rights as it is. . ."

Keeper:
Keen nods but waits for Cabot to finish on the phone.

Cabot nods to Kelley to bring him up to speed on the flame-thrower.

Keeper:
Kelley takes Keen aside and discusses the finer points of napalm application.

Lundquist:
"Yeah, but I'll smooth it over so that he won't complain about that later. Just don't leave suspicious looking damage if you can help it."

Cabot:
"Maybe a minor arythmia from a few jump-starts, but nothing a good cardiologist can fix. Got it, we'll be gentle. Listen, I'm curious to see this guys reaction to that narcotic we've been dealing with as well as our other guest. How soon till you'll be back?"

Lundquist:
"It might be a while. We're going to be tied up with the forensics people here. Your guest tied up and gutted a couple of innocent bystanders, just in case you were tempted to feel sorry for him."

Lundquist:
"If you need us urgently for any reason, just give me a call."

Cabot:
"That's it, no dessert for him. Hurry home. It's always good to have medical professionals standing by when one engages in this sort of activity."

Lundquist:
"Be there as soon as we can. Bye." Hang up.

Cabot:
Click. To Kelley: "I've got hot water and electrocution therapy standing by, plus a few kitchen utensils of questionable application. Initially, though, I'd like to rule out the guy hosting that shit we ran into last time, so that stuff's in there as well. Am I missing anything?"

Cabot:
To Danforth: "What's he doing in there?"

Keeper:
Kelley shakes his head. "The preparations look fine. You need another piece of the briefing, though."

Keeper:
Danforth keeps watching the monitors. "Nothing. Sounds like he's trying to pray past his gag."

Keeper:
Kelley nods and heads to the other room, where the hardware is stacked.

Cabot:
"Can you get sufficient volume on that to hear it?"

Keeper:
Danforth shrugs. "The gag's still in. He's just making noise." He turns up the volume: "Mmmm-phmmmm-hmmmph..."

Cabot:
"Make a recording anyway." I move with Kelley to the adjacent room.

Cabot:
"What's the story?"

Keeper:
Kelley shuts the door and talks quietly. "This won't take long. Last night we had to interrogate another suspect. This one was drawing some... strange... designs on the apartment building of a principal in the investigation. Some strange effects had been involved. Anyway; this geek last night seemed to--channel--somebody during the interrogation."

Cabot:
"Can you elaborate on the 'somebody' part, here?"

Keeper:
Kelley shakes his head ruefully. "Unfortunately, we don't have much to elaborate with. The voice was a woman's. She said she works for some kind of local synidicate. She'd only call herself 'Truth.' She basically wanted a partnership, and she threatened to turn our secrets out to the press if we didn't cooperate. Lundquist gave her a bullshit answer to buy time, and she said she'd have her people catch up with us to get a report."

Cabot:
"But you're saying the suspect was a male, correct?"

Keeper:
"Correct."

Cabot:
"Spooky. Hmmm. Okay, I'll bear that in mind if Farouk in there starts gender-bending."

Keeper:
"Good idea. That's about it."

Cabot:
"Listen, Connor and Oliver looked a little starry-eyed when I was setting up the interrogation room. Let's leave Connor to his video surveillance and let Oliver serve as security outside the room with the blow-torch while you and I work on the guy."

Keeper:
Kelley nods. "What's the kid, 24? He talks tough, but you don't see this kind of stuff working computer networks every day. We'll keep an eye on him."

Cabot:
"He looks Arabic. You fluent?"

Keeper:
"It's been a few years, but I can bet by. I'm hoping our friend in there knows enough English to fill the gaps."

Cabot:
"Well I don't speak it at all, so if he starts prayin' to anyone or anything but Allah, gag the son of bitch again, okay? Maybe we can get enough on tape to have your contacts analyze the content."

Cabot heads to the interrogation room. "Connor, get everything on audio amd video. Keen, you sure you know how to fire that thing up? There is zero room for error if we need you with it." I myself take a flame-thrower.

Keeper:
Keen nods. "Aim low, don't waver, and finger off the trigger if I'm not burning something."

Cabot:
"Good enough. If we hollar you come runnin', ID your target before you let loose and make sure all friendlies are out of the way. And remember, that thing has limited juice, so don't go crazy. We don't need to burn our safe house down."