Report #3270, Transcript Section #51
(Operation SANDMAN)
©2001 Shane Ivey

Keeper:
Well, looks like we're all here for now... [crossing fingers]

Keeper:
So... Hold on, something I always wanted to hear said on TV:

Keeper:
"Previously, on Operation SANDMAN..."

Lundquist:
(cue picture of car blowing up)

Keeper:
And much angst and irritation.

Rogers:
and people running through woods

Keeper:
Come on... there were just a little bit of woods... hardly any woods at all in this campaign, if you think about it...

Rogers:
:-)

Lundquist:
More like the jungle. "You gonna diiiieeeee...."

Keeper:
I'm gonna watch you BLEED... yeah...

Keeper:
Anyway...

Keeper:
Last time we saw our heroes, several of them had been out of action for several days, while the others were holed up in the latest safe-house waiting for word.

Keeper:
Then, the missing agents showed back up again, one by one, apparently released into the woods near where they had been abducted, none the worse for wear. Physically, anyway.

Keeper:
Calling on DEA contacts, the team got access to a helicopter and crew to make the pickups over a couple of days.

Keeper:
Cue the present: about a week after the raid on the terrorists' farmhouse in Dutch Country. Lundquist, Rogers, Cabot, Kelley, and Barry Knight are back together at the safe-house in northern Queens, with the East River docks and Riker's Island in sight.

Lundquist:
Have I gotten a decent night's sleep yet?

Keeper:
In the past week, the nation outside has been coming to grips with the disasters that hit New York in the Breckenridge case: two dozen city cops down, the worst the NYPD has ever been hit; federal agents killed, a hospital bombed and civilians killed and injured, and a brief biohazard scare which nearly threw the city into riot.

Keeper:
To the national media, the case came together and was solved thanks to quick action by the FBI under the leadership of ASAC John Devereaux, whose agents used a network of confidential informants and lightning-quick response to catch the terrorists at their base.

Keeper:
Your names are mentioned nowhere in the news.

Keeper:
Most of the perpetrators responsible for the devastating series of attacks are dead; only a couple were captured alive, and those led to a few others, mercenaries from the middle east and renegade American soldiers out to set up an arms ring in New York, financed by drug money.

Keeper:
The case appears to be open and shut; but the lawsuits have hardly begun, and everyone expects inquiries to continue for a long time.

Keeper:
so... any questions?

Rogers:
Yeah when we got out of wherever we were - were we bugged at all?

Rogers:
I recall saying to Mr.L on the chopper via notpad to check us

Keeper:
You didn't find any surveillance devices on you, no

Rogers:
ok and we had medical workups?

Keeper:
Yes - all the abductees are clean and in good health, except for signs of fatigue, dehydration, and a few fading traces of having been dosed with a number of different types of drugs.

Keeper:
No signs of the weird stuff.

Keeper:
Anything else?

Rogers:
OK so we have a limited number of approaches left then, right Mr.L?

Lundquist:
What's up with DM? Is it still being sold on the street, as far as we know?

Lundquist:
Did the FBI get back to us on the key Rogers found at Volker's apartment?

Lundquist:
Is that Knight?

Lundquist:
(sorry, that was for Rob...

Rogers:
"last thing he was waiting to make a big buy"

Keeper:
DM hasn't been in the news at all since the massacre at the voodoo hounfor in Harfleur. There were early musings about it being related to the Breckenridge conspiracy after the shootings near Southside AME church, but nothing more has been made of that.

Rogers:
Do we have any news from Knight about the drug buy he was making?

Keeper:
The key from Volker's apt. was for a safe deposit box. You already checked it out. (game 42)

Keeper:
Knight scored a bunch of DM easy enough.

Lundquist:
Uh, I knew that.

Rogers:
where he keeping it - hope he far enough away from it

Keeper:
He's keeping it in a baggie, stashed wherever you want to stash it. The stuff doesnt' seem to have any effect just sitting around. Someone has to take it for things to get interesting.

Rogers:
Does he know who the dealer is he got it off and could he find them again?

Keeper:
Sure.

Rogers:
"Mark, what do you say to going and bagging us a dealer and making him talk?"

Lundquist:
"I could do that."

Lundquist:
"Start working our way up the food chain."

Rogers:
"I mean all of us together.."

Rogers:
"after all there are a lot of DEA agents around at the moment we could make use of"

Lundquist:
"Well, let's see what Knight has to say about this dealer of his."

Rogers:
"ok"

Keeper:
Knight shrugs. "Ain't much to say. Peppy Hekman, lowlife who sold the shit to your friend Anton Royce."

Rogers:
"Think it will be much trouble to grab him?"

Lundquist:
"What's he got for security? Any goons or the like?"

Keeper:
"Nope. He's a working man. He'll be out on the street, as long as we don't make too much noise coming up on him. Look like a bunch of cops and he'll run, though."

Keeper:
"Goons, yeah, it looked like a couple hanging around."

Rogers:
"How heavily armed?" "Best guess"

Lundquist:
"Most of these dealers do," said Lundquist knowingly.

Keeper:
"Looked like pretty typical gangsters, to me. I'd guess they have a couple of guys with your standard pistols and what-not, maybe some heavier stuff in the car if they need it."

Keeper:
Kelley says, "Are we looking to bust him out in the open like the cops, or go after him more sneaky than that?"

Rogers:
"So it could get bloody quickly - we need to establish control fast if we go in like cops"

Lundquist:
"Sneaky. No offical crap. It will just come apart on us if we get caught anyway."

Keeper:
Kelley smiles grimly. "You don't want to bring Devereaux back in the loop?"

Rogers:
"Better have Kelly standing by with some firepower if it goes to hell though."

Lundquist:
"Deveraux? I was gonna recruit him into DG next week."

Rogers:
"Looking to replace me Mark?" Rogers laughs

Lundquist:
"No, me. I need a vacation."

Rogers:
"You can rest when your dead."

Keeper:
Cabot shakes his head. "What about our buddies from the woods? Are we gonna do anything about that?"

Lundquist:
"Yeah, they told us that in law school. So, where does this Peppy hang out?"

Lundquist:
"What buddies?"

Rogers:
"What can we do?"

Keeper:
"Gold-tooth and his boys." He affects a bad Southern drawl: "You all don't tell nobody 'bout us, now, y'hear?"

Lundquist:
"If I knew where they were, I'd wack em right now."

Rogers:
"Me too almost got them in the cell but the gassed me"

Keeper:
"I don't know what we can do... that's what I'm asking. Do we just carry on like nothing happened, like they said?"

Lundquist:
"I noticed that guy didn't grab me... He musta known better."

Rogers:
"No one wants to tangle with a lawyer"

Keeper:
Kelley grins. "He saw how you treated those boys in Breckenridge. He don't want none."

Lundquist:
"Damn skippy."

Keeper:
Kelley says, "But he has a point. Do we just keep on like this, report to Meredith and Alphonse, and hope for the best?"

Lundquist:
"We'll have to carry on. We'll increase security however we can. But the only other option is to just give up and go away, and I don't feel much like doing that."

Rogers:
"We should have something to report" "But as aprecaution we should e-mail Meredith and Cell A about gold tooth"

Lundquist:
"I do think we need to report to Meredith. And Alphonse. Hell, they might even know who this guy is... Southern accent, gold tooth... He ought not to be too hard to pick out of a lineup."

Keeper:
"Well.. speaking hypothetically, here... we could shut them out. If our buddy with the tooth wants us to keep reporting to Alphonse, maybe it's because that's where he's gonna get his intelligence."

Lundquist:
"Huh. You mean compartmentalize."

Rogers:
"If that was true he would want us to keep reporting in otherwise we become an unprdictable element for him"

Keeper:
"We can keep reporting in. We just don't have to tell the truth."

Lundquist:
"Yeah, but then what happens to us when he finds out?"

Keeper:
"Speaking hypothetically, here, like I said."

Rogers:
"If we are going to compartmentalise I say cut meredith out of the loop - I for one don't believe osbourne had a car accident"

Lundquist:
"Yeah, that whole thing still stinks, but Alph vouched for her."

Keeper:
He shrugs. "I don't know. I guess that depends how tight Alphonse is with our new friend. Will A-cell bother to notice and get upset if we start sending incomplete reports? Under the circumstances?"

Rogers:
"Ok but we need to cut one person out of the loop and if we cut out Meredith we can find out if its her or Cell A thats compromised"

Rogers:
"If we go through her to Cell A it could be either of them if we go direct and gold tooth still knows about us well its Cell A and not her"

Keeper:
"Tooth said to keep reporting to Alphonse. To me, that says they cut a deal at the top."

Rogers:
"What about a back up plan - some insurance"

Lundquist:
"Well, shoot... Maybe gold tooth just wants us to start cutting A-cell out though?"

Keeper:
He shrugs. "Maybe I'm reading too much into it, I don't know. But I think our buddies from the woods are neck-deep in Breckenridge shit, and I don't want to feed them any intel for free."

Keeper:
"You think he'd tell us all that just to get us not trusting Alphonse?"

Rogers:
"We could keep reporting to Meredith, and A cell, editing our reports for cell security which we can justify after our run in with the guys in the wood... And have complete reports on a computer ready to mail off to Cell A and a few other people if we're betrayed."

Lundquist:
(Keeper: Yeah, I got em.)

Rogers:
"Say the New York Times."

Lundquist:
"I say we find whoever is behind all this and put a cap in their ass. I know Danforth's down, eh Danno? Danno?"

Rogers:
"We should just be ready for the possibility"

Lundquist:
"It might behoove us to get a little quieter in our dealings with DG. But I agree, we need to be able to document our reasons for it in case we get caught later."

Lundquist:
"I'm not sure feeding them disinformation is a good idea at all. What if we get taken out and some other cell has to come pick up where we left off?"

Keeper:
He shakes his head. "Yeah, that's the price... But, that's why we'd keep a backup file, right?"

Rogers:
"We'd need some where secure and a method to get it into the right hands - Danforth is there any online method for that?"

Keeper:
[Danforth's off in intensive care someplace, Rogers...]

Rogers:
[who'sour computer guy?]

Lundquist:
"Maybe we should just be wide open about it? Go to A-Cell, tell em about our meeting and our concerns."

Lundquist:
"Let them work on restablishing security instead of us."

Rogers:
"Yeah but if we do that and they are selling us out we're in the same position"

Keeper:
[Computers: Barry's the closest you've got to a hacker at this point - did a lot of that in the army years ago and is still surprisingly up to speed]

Lundquist:
"Well, I'm not sure I buy it. Why would they sell us out? Sure, we've been damn clumsy... But we're still the best chance they've got to figuring out what's going on here."

Rogers:
"So is the computer thing possible? I'm thinking a delayed e-mail thats only sent if we don't reset a clock or something"

Rogers:
"They'd sell us out in a heartbeat if they could get something important to them I'd bet"

Lundquist:
"I say it's more likely that goldy wants to get us distrusting our real friends."

Rogers:
"Thats true, but how does he know about cell A and uncle Alp then?"

Keeper:
Kelley shrugs. "All I know is, we don't have a clue what that Breckenridge op was supposed to accomplish or why so many people got killed in it. And now we're tight buddies with them. I'm wondering how comfortable we need to get with that fact."

Rogers:
"What have the searches of Breckenridge turned up anything at all?" "Any clue if they are linked to DM?"

Keeper:
"Not in the papers or court documents. It was just a big smuggling ring, nothing to do with our drug at all. As for reality... well, that's a good question."

Lundquist:
"Kelley, what did this guy tell you that's really got you so worried? Specifically."

Rogers:
"Any of our friendly forensics team help with the clean up work and turn up anything with a bouquet?"

Lundquist:
"Seems to me he made some allusions, but nothing that really changes things for us."

Keeper:
Kelley shakes his head. "The whole situation's got me worried. What were they doing with Breckenridge? What were they doing at Southside? Why'd we have to bust open their whole damn operation?"

Lundquist:
"They who?"

Lundquist:
"These funny agent-men?"

Keeper:
"Gold-tooth. We know what we're doing here and why WE want to get to the bottom of this drug. What the fuck are THEY doing here?"

Lundquist:
"Reverend Zeke thinks they're selling it."

Lundquist:
"Er, thought."

Keeper:
"So why'd Goldie turn us loose again?"

Rogers:
"Yeah but is it them in terms of Gold tooth and his goons or someone making a fast buck when they are supposed to keep it secret?"

Rogers:
"Which would explain gold tooth turning us loose to fix his problems for him"

Keeper:
Kelley looks at Rogers. "I'm not sure I follow you."

Lundquist:
"I gotta admit, it does bug me a little that you're all still alive, and free to boot. No offense."

Rogers:
"And if we find his problem it will be a big opportunity for us to get some intel on what gold tooth and breckenridge are up to"

Rogers:
"Surprised me too after I tried to bust out and some comments I made to the guy"

Keeper:
Kelley says slowly, "So you think Goldie wants us to bust some of his own people for him? Is that what this is about?"

Rogers:
"Well all his people know that we're coming now if anyone wants a way out they will try us - he then scoops us up and them and erradicates his problem and presumably us as well - would explain letting us go."

Lundquist:
"Look, from what I've been hearing, it sounds like a breakdown in communications security. They told y'all to 'report' to Alphonse. To me, that sugests that they can read our mail more than anything else."

Lundquist:
"The only problem with that is the fact that they let you go."

Rogers:
"If we're not here the mole for want of a better word has no one to break cover to go to - this way Gold tooth only has to watch us rather than his people"

Lundquist:
"There's something else. Something you said, Cabot, about how goldy complained about casualties."

Lundquist:
"That Hoder-thing we talked to said something similar, about how the agent-men lost some people. We ought to follow up on that."

Keeper:
Cabot shakes his head. "He didn't say a thing to me about casualties."

Keeper:
Kelley nods. "But you said that girl mentioned them, Lundquist. That Justine. Didn't she say something about some of their boys turning up missing?"

Lundquist:
"Yeah, Justine, not 'Truth.' She said they went down in the line of duty, as I recall."

Keeper:
He shakes his head thoughtfully. "So what the hell does it all add up to?"

Lundquist:
"I dunno. Anything in the news that would jive with some super-agents going down? A shootout or big unsolved crime or something? Besides the ones we caused, I mean."

Lundquist:
"It might not have been in New York."

Rogers:
"You don't think it Dm effects do you? Remember we still have that weird ass bit of technology I tried"

Keeper:
"But we would have heard about it if it was in the news."

Rogers:
"Not if it was another junkie death in an alley somewhere"

Lundquist:
"Yeah, that's what I'm asking. It's been a hectic couple of days. Is there anything we missed?

Keeper:
Knight says, "Nothin' like that. If there was anything big, the news would have jumped on it."

Keeper:
Kelley says, "Besides, we're talking about before all this shit went down, right? You ran into this girl in Volker's apartment, right after the big shitfest at Breckenridge."

Rogers:
"I could check my CIA contacts to see if anything has slipped past the press

Lundquist:
"Yeah. It was before the Breckenridge raid."

Keeper:
"Can we get at Justine or her boss?"

Lundquist:
"The guys at Breckenridge weren't the first to 'go down in the line of duty.'"

Lundquist:
"How? There's that Club place... What's it called?

Keeper:
"Apocalypse. Upper east side."

Lundquist:
"Yeah. The one from Hoder's file."

Keeper:
"You think we can find her there?"

Lundquist:
"We might find Hoder's friends."

Rogers:
"Worth a try"

Lundquist:
"I'm more inclined to just park a Ryder truck out front though, if ya get my meaning."

Lundquist:
"Reporters in this town need somethin to write about."

Keeper:
"Yeah... so do we handle that first, or do we take care of business in Harfleur? Dealers and gang-bangers and all that."

Lundquist:
"I say we go with the gangstas first."

Rogers:
"Club would seem to be less trouble than taking on the gang bangers"

Rogers:
"Unless we're ready to move on the gangsters that is"

Keeper:
"Well, we can be real quiet with the gangsters. If it's just one guy we want, we case him, get me and Cabot and Knight going covert, and disappear his ass."

Lundquist:
"Yeah. That's what I'm picturing here."

Rogers:
"OK so shall we do that - then we can try that bit of technology on him and jack him on DM if he don't sing"

Lundquist:
"Whereas, with this club, we've got a known contact with some spooky shit--we don't know what we're dealing with there."

Rogers:
"OK lets go grab us some poor dealer then"

Lundquist:
"As for questioning him, I say we get some bags of o-negative, put em in a cooler chest, slap some labels on them that say BIOHAZARD/HIV-INFECTED and threaten him with a transfusion."

Lundquist:
"You can run an IV, right Rogers?"

Rogers:
"Yeah but why not just use him to test that thing I tried but this time on someone with DM in his blood - see if that affects it - I couldn't get it to do shit remember."

Lundquist:
"Let's get him to talk first, then use him as a guinea pig."

Rogers:
"ok but thats our threat not HIV infected blood - may as well learn something from him"

Lundquist:
"Good enough, but if the DM isn't bothering him enough let's switch to fake-AIDS blood. That scares the shit out of these gangsta types."

Rogers:
"Your the expert there."

Lundquist:
"Well somebody needs to go pick up Peppy. Weren't we going to do this a long time ago, back before the Harfleur shootout?"

Rogers:
"Seems like years ago after the last few days" "But yeah lets go get him"

Lundquist:
"Kelley, you need me along on this one?"

Keeper:
Kelley nods. "Yeah, a long time ago... Knight, you've got the urban surveillance skills. You be responsible for shadowing him until we know where he lives, where he goes, and where we can grab him without anybody noticing. Hallway of his building, his girlfriend's building, something like that."

Keeper:
Kelley shakes his head. "You still got that lump on your head, Brian. Rest up while you have the chance. Rogers, you want to come, keep him healthy if he puts up a fight?"

Rogers:
"Sure Kelley could use some action after the frustrations of the last few days"

Lundquist:
"I'm going to do some digging on the computer, see if I can find anything that might account for goldy's missing men."

Rogers:
"Try passing that request up the chain and see if we get anything in addition to your research"

Lundquist:
"Do we want to be sending anything up the chain right now? I was going to table that decision for a while."

Rogers:
"You can phrase in non specifically but I'll leave that call to you"

Lundquist:
"Okay."

Keeper:
"All right. We nail down the take-down spot, then Rogers and I will get out and take care of it. Cabot can help Knight keep watch. Are we bringing him back here?"

Lundquist:
"You got another safehouse we can use?"

Keeper:
He smiles wryly. "Not unless Devereaux's done with the old one."

Lundquist:
"Yeah. Remember, everybody check for tails this time..."

Rogers:
"Yes mother"

Keeper:
Kelley shakes his head as he gets up. "They never let you forget..."

Keeper:
Knight heads out in one of the rental cars for the recon. He says give him til tomorrow night or so to try to make the grab.