By Dennis Detwiller, ©1998.
DATE: May 9-12, 1996
AGENTS: Malcolm, Marcus, Margaret, Nancy, Nick, Melvin (friendly)
SUMMARY: Investigation of serial killings near Great Neck and violent confrontation with agents of an unknown organization.
CASE STATUS: Open.
Alphonse, I’ve finished examining the body fluids recovered from the Great Neck ambush. Mixed in, obviously, is a liberal amount of the blood from our team; luckily, no one was lost. My guys did just right–outnumbered and outgunned, they somehow managed to repulse the attack. What’s strange is the blood from the bad guys. There was a lot of it, and Nancy was smart enough to grab some samples.
As for the ambush, here’s the report.
On 9MAY96 Cell M (with assets from Cell N) was investigating an anonymous telephone lead received by the New York FBI office. This tip indicated that a suspect in the “Killer Chiropractor” murders was holed up in a house in an isolated part of Great Neck, New York. The person who gave the tip had sufficient information to peak the interests of the team. Fearing the suspect would flee the scene, the team rushed to the site.
On a small wood-lined utility road, the team’s vehicle was forced into a ditch by tire spikes sprinkled on the road. Everyone but the friendly fled the car and began firing. Malcolm surprised an individual who was rushing the car but covering a flank, not expecting the targets to be conscious or mobile. His description follows:
The man wore a dark blue body suit–no insignia–with what I assume was a Kevlar vest, armored sections in his pants, and a black helmet. Some sort of imaging unit was over his eyes (much smaller than the IR rigs the U.S. uses). He carried a silenced H&K MP5 and was looking to the southwest away from me, where Margaret was already firing. Luckily, I had my 10-gauge ready.
Peculiar points here include the use of silenced H&K‘s and the expensive hardware reminiscent of special forces units. Melvin, the friendly on the scene, found a bloody portion of what he believes to be some sort of infrared imaging system consistent with Malcolm’s description (no serial numbers). He is working on the small assembly and a portion of what appears some sort of microchip presently, and will have his report into me by this weekend.
Margaret, Malcolm, Nancy, and Nick all performed exceptionally under fire, and I wish like hell we could recognize that somehow. In under three minutes, the firefight was over, with (apparently) no fatalities on either side, although the team’s car was severely damaged and both Malcolm and Nick were hit. Margaret, with her insane luck, was never touched and Melvin was smart enough to dive beneath the passenger side of the front seat behind the engine block. Nancy was busy calling for backup from beneath the car. I can’t say I blame her.
Now to the really strange part, the blood recovered from the scene. Blood and body fluid typing is my bread and butter. Here’s the rub:
The blood is not consistent with normal human blood types.
Here’s the other one:
It’s closer in structure to crocodile blood.
The blood recovered from the IR assembly had characteristics from both human and crocodile blood. This led to some strange extrapolation on my part, but try to follow me.
In 1977, some German researchers discovered that crocodile hemoglobin was exceptional in its capacity to retain oxygen and release it over longer periods than human hemoglobin. Hemoglobin, contained in the red blood cell, ferries oxygen throughout the body, feeding the organism (human or crocodile). Both types carry about the same amount of oxygen; the difference is that in the crocodile, that oxygen is released over a much longer time. The German team found this was due to the binding of bicarbonate ions which loosened the “grip” of the remaining oxygen from the blood cell.
The result: A crocodile can hold its breath for more than an hour.
Now the blood we have recovered seems to be both human and crocodile (only 12 amino acids remain to account for the difference), with the hypothetical result that such a human would have much more stamina, incredibly superior blood flow, and be able to hold his breath for an inhumanly long time. Instead of an hour (the crocodile has a very slow metabolism), I would guess more in the range of 20 to 30 minutes, tops.
This disturbing theory is I think, pretty solid. Who in the world could possess the technology to do something like this? This is science fiction, at least forty years ahead of what we have now.
I don’t need to spell out who I think is responsible for the Great Neck ambush. Only that an increase in watchfulness and preparedness is necessary throughout the organization. It seems we have competition.
Notes to me from Melvin and Matthew follow.
TO: Marcus
FROM: Melvin
DATE: May 18, 1996
Hey man, this is some weird shit. The portion of the imaging gear that Malcolm blew off that guy’s head is really, really high-tech.
I got it under the scope at work and I thought, “Hey, that’s some pretty simple wiring.” There was a metal (electrum) inlaid in a fine grid around the piece of plastic, which later didn’t turn out to be plastic at all.
Anyway, I tried to devise a switching system, but when I mapped it, it looked like gibberish. But then I was watching Star Wars that night, y’know when they’re flying over the Death Star and it looks real smooth, and you get in close and it’s all boxy and complicated? Well, I guess you can see where this is going . . .
I got the piece under the electron microscope and lo and behold there it was, chip routing at near-atomic levels. The stuff looked vaguely familiar (it is, after all, my forte), and I checked it out against a couple of government contractors with no match.
This stuff is weird, I don’t know how the current could flow down isolated pathways without flooding the whole metal grid. Maybe ion transfer or something like that. Anyway, a portion of the “plastic” went through the spectrograph and came back unknown. Whatever it is, it doesn’t have a petroleum base.
This stuff is maybe ten or fifteen years out (the chip technology, don’t know about the plastics) of what we have now. I’ll keep checking on the style of the design, and if I come up with something you’ll be the first to know. But for now, can I ditch this thing with Malcolm? It doesn’t feel quite so safe here anymore after Great Neck.
TO: Marcus
FROM: Malcolm
DATE: May 20, 1996
I just want you to know, I take responsibility for the Great Neck thing. I was just so damned sure we would get him, it was so much like Knoxville. I walked right into it, and I let my pride get in the way, but after banging our heads against the wall for so long I thought the team could do with being on the offensive for once.
Looks like I got my wish.
Anyway, listen to me, those guys were almost certainly U.S. special forces. You know my background, you know why I know. They were going to rush the car and take us out, one for each window. My man was distracted by Nancy (God bless her) and I managed to empty four slugs into him. He got up and ran away. If I hadn’t been in the organization for years I think I would have lost it right there. He got up and ran away after being hit four times by 10-gauge slugs at less than four feet.
We got lucky.
Well, Nick is recovering in Nassau Community Medical Center and the whole thing was rapidly covered up from on high (A?). Nick should be out within the week they tell me, and the ladies are just fine. Tell Melvin it’s all right to bring the doohickey over, I’ve got enough security around here.
Again, I know I let you down, I’m sorry.
