| From: | Mike Broadwater <neon@******.backbone.olemiss.edu> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | The Hunted, pt. 2 |
| Date: | Sat, 28 Sep 1996 14:12:12 -0500 |
>>>>>[+++++Begin Video Recording
The office is spare and spartan, but at least has a window: it looks across
to more of the Pentagon, a sad bar of gray sky barely visible above the
building opposite. The man behind the desk is unexceptional in
almost every way: you feel that, five minutes after leaving his office,
you'd be pressed to recall a single distinguishing feature. A middle-aged
woman opens the door.
"Mr. Coppinger? A Major Hunter is here to see you, sir."
"Show him in."
The secretary walks out, and moments later, Blade enters.
"Please Major, take a seat."
Blade sits down before speaking. "Respectfully, sir. I no longer hold that
rank in any way. I'm just 'Mr.' Hunter. Though even that is not something
I acknowledge often."
"But you did, at one time, hold that rank?"
"That is correct, sir."
"Then I will address you as such.
I didn't ask you here, and have you go through that whole rigmarole with
Lt.'s DiAnno and Lynch, to argue about what title you should use. You are
here for a purpose. And it's a rather imperative one."
Coppinger pushes a button on his desk.
"Miss Winter, could you please show the Sergeant in with the item, please."
A voice buzzes back before the secretary enters with an armed guard carrying
a metal box hand cuffed to his wrist. The sergeant sets the box down on the
desk, and looks at Coppinger. Coppinger places his thumb against part of
the front of the box while the Sgt. places his against a part near the back.
A slight hiss of air being sucked into the box can be heard.
"Sgt., if you could remove the item?"
The guard reaches his hands into the box and pulls out a glass case. He
gingerly set it down on to the desk top, picks up the metal carrying case,
and steps near a wall. Focusing on the glass case, you can barely make out
what it contains. It seems to hold a lone leather glove.
"Thank you, Sgt.
Major Hunter, inside this case is one of the deadliest biological agents
known to mankind. It is nearly untraceable, and only barely curable. The
only reason we haven't been wiped out by it is due to the fact that it is
only contractible through contact with it and it's expense to create it. Do
you know what this agent is, Major?"
Blade's face looks unusually somber as he speaks. "Doom."
"That is correct. Careful testing has led us to find that this particular
sample came from a batch stored three miles under ground in a holding
facility in, well, it's not important where. Needless to say, it was in the
UCAS.
The contaminated item was found by another agencies field researcher by
freak accident after a rumor spread among the shadow community that someone
had tried an assassination attempt with the Doom agent. We were skeptical
at first, of course. But once we obtained the sample, we were positive of
what we found. And upon further research of our own security, what we found
was shocking indeed.
Major, it is very simple. One of the UCAS government's ex-employees was
secretly selling this to the highest bidder. How she was able to obtain the
substance in the first place, much less sneak it out without our notice, is
still under scrutiny. The fact, however, is that she did.
Since the discovery of the sale, the employee has managed to elude any
search for her. She left shortly after the Seattle incident."
"And you want me to find her."
"That's correct, Major. You come highly recommended."
"Why don't you just sic Lynch or Lilith on her?"
"As much as we would like to, this falls into a space that even Lynch's
standing won't allow him to enter. Alone at least. Technically speaking,
this is not our job. However, we feel it is our duty. And while often
times, that is enough, in this instance, it is not. You see, Major, one
must say what one is doing, and why they are sending an agent to God knows
where, for a purpose that no one is sure of. Especially now when every
agency is being gone over with a fine tooth comb and magnifying glass.
However, we do have a certain amount of, shall we say, leeway, to allow for
people such as your self to work for us. And we're also better off involving
an outsider at the beginning. You see, I find our continuing production of
the Doom agent... hypocritical. It's a weapon of no military utility,
violates international agreements we signed in good faith, and is only
useful as a tool for unsanctioned murder. Most of my agents share that view.
So, for us to be involved at the outset would be difficult, embarrassing,
even dangerous. If, though, we were to discover through shadow contacts that
a black-market source of Doom existed, it would be difficult in the extreme
for anyone to refuse us involvement.
Do you now understand the game of shadows and bluff we're playing here,
Major?"
Blade grins. "I guess I do."]<<<<<
- SIGANet DC <15:11:01/09-27-57>
