| Subject: chapter 5: (some profanity) |
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sb
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Date Posted: Thursday, July 15, 11:36:19am
In reply to:
S.B.
's message, "The Progeny of Four" on Tuesday, June 29, 02:58:59am
The ambulance pulled into an alley and almost immediately afterward a Section team dressed as construction workers put up a road barrier to block off the road. In the alley a Section van awaited the transfer. The back of the ambulance opened and two other operatives, McDaniel and Kenmore, exited. Davenport, the team leader appeared from around the side and hurried them along. “How is she?” he asked, glancing briefly at the blanket covered body on the gurney the two men were unloading.
“Out,” McDaniel answered. He and Kenmore transported the body quickly to the waiting van and loaded it in.
When it was done Davenport checked in with Section. “The package is secured. We’re coming in.”
“That’s a roger,” Birkoff answered, and signed off.
Davenport thumped the roof of the van to signal the driver they were ready to go and then settled down. He watched silently as Kenmore pulled back the blanket that covered the woman’s face and checked on her pulse. His first impression was that Section had scored a beauty this time. Then he recalled that she’d been in prison for killing a police officer. Beauty and the ability to kill in cold blood; Section would love her.
“Think she’ll make it?” Kenmore asked, as he settled down on the bench next to McDaniel.
“I hope so,” McDaniel replied, grinning suddenly. “I’d love to get a piece of her.”
“You’d better not let Taylor hear you say that. She’d cut off your balls and feed it to you.”
McDaniels chuckled and closed his eyes. “A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. Besides Taylor and me, we don’t have anything exclusive going on.”
“And I suppose that’s why you pulled that little stunt when she went out with Edwards?”
“Hey man, Edwards had it coming to him. The man just doesn’t know when to call it quits.”
“Will you two shut-up,” Davenport warned. He used the ensuing quiet to check on the other members of his team who were following in a second van. When that was done he settled back and closed his eyes to get some sleep.
“Maybe she’ll end up on our team,” McDaniel said, nodding toward the gurney.
“That’s if she makes it through training,” Kenmore answered.
“I think she’ll make it, unless she turns out to be a wacko like that Angie chick was.” McDaniel shook his head. “Man, now there was one seriously deranged woman.”
“Yeah, too bad it took sacrificing Al to figure that out. Did you hear what she did to him before she finally killed him?” Kenmore shuddered. “Guess that’s why they tell you that you can’t date other operatives. You’d better be careful with Taylor that she don’t go ballistic on you like that.”
“Shoot, I’d f-----g blow her head off if she ever tried something like that,” McDaniel declared, and Kenmore laughed.
“If you two don’t shut-up,” Davenport growled, “I’m going to shoot both your heads off and save Taylor the trouble.”
**
Birkoff frowned as he stared at the data flowing across his computer screen. He reached up and scratched his head and then jumped when he heard Madeline’s voice right behind him.
“Is something wrong, Birkoff?”
“N-no.”
Madeline turned to the study his computer screen.
“You’re doing a black track on Davenport’s mission. Is there a problem?”
“Not really… Well, I’m not sure exactly, I don’t think it’s anything.”
“Explain.”
Birkoff began typing commands into the computer that pulled up tactical commands and corresponding computer activity of the mobile unit. “Here,” he said, pointing out a blip in the sequence of codes. “I don’t know why there’s a break there. There shouldn’t be one, and yet there it is.”
“Is it external?”
Bifkoff nodded after a moment. “It could be… It wasn’t from anything the mobile team did, and then again it could be nothing that anyone did.”
“Have we been compromised?” Madeline asked, cutting to the core and Birkoff shook his head.
“No. I’m pretty sure we haven’t. I disconnected from all external lines just in case and run a thorough check on the whole system; we’re okay. This break in sequence just seemed odd to me so I wanted to check it out.”
“Could someone be tracking the mobile unit?”
“No... That would have left a traceable pattern, and the break in sequence would have been more significant. There’s nothing else irregular here except that one break and it’s possible that it could have been a technical malfunction that caused it.”
Madeline stood a moment and reviewed the screen as Birkoff continued to type. Davenport’s team was on their way in with Nikita...
“What’s the possibility that someone on the inside is tracking the unit?” she asked suddenly, and Birkoff looked up at her with a curious expression.
“You mean from within Section? It’s possible but not likely. You’d still leave a trail.”
“What if it was someone who had clearance?” she asked, glancing up at Operation’s office.
Birkoff swallowed, suddenly feeling as if he were treading somewhere he didn’t want to be. “It’s possible… If you had the right access and passwords… and you knew what you were doing… you could get in and out without leaving a trace.”
Madeline ran over the possibilities in her mind. The only people who had access were Operations, herself, and Birkoff. Operations didn’t have the technical skill to break into the system, and it didn’t make sense for him to do so anyway; she didn’t do it, and Birkoff was the one who discovered it. So who did that leave?
She turned and gave Birkoff a smile. “Let me know if you find any other anomalies,” she said. “And let me know when the away team arrives.”
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