President Capone sat behind his desk in the Oval Office.
Across from him were the FBI Director, Charles Rusk, and the
Secretary of the Interior, Victor Ricci. He was going over the
news the two gentlemen had just finished telling him. He wasn't
pleased, not at all.
"You mean to tell me that terrorists are threatening to
poison the water supply of New York City if they are not paid a
billion dollars in gold coins by next Wednesday?" the President
asked, just to be sure he understood the news.
"In essence, that's correct, Mr. President. The letter
also said that if we changed our security arrangements in any
way, they would release the poison immediately. They also sent
along the next day's schedule for the guards. We're still trying to
find out how they acquired that." said Mr. Rusk.
"Did they say what sort of poison it is?" asked the
President.
"Yes. Somehow, they managed to acquire one thousand
liters of 2,4,7 tri-amyl-seronide, more commonly known as Inner
Beast. Only a tenth of a milliliter or less is necessary to release
the negative emotions of a human, making them react to
external stimuli as an animal would. The resulting riots would kill
thousands, if not more." said Mr. Rusk.
"Great. With the U.N. in New York, that would put the
world government in total chaos. Victor, Charlie, I need ideas.
Got any?"
Victor cleared his throat. "I do have an idea. You're still
on good terms with the Sagans, aren't you?" he said. At the
President's nod, he continued, "Why not ask for a loan of some
of their Velvet Shadows? If anyone can do the job discreetly,
they could. If we keep the knowledge of their involvement to the
three of us, it won't leak."
The President smiled at the suggestion. "Good idea,
Victor! One question, though. Have you asked The Guardian if
she could remove the toxin?"
"Yes, I did. She said it was a man problem, which
requires a man solution. The drug doesn't affect animals or
plants, only humans."
"Well, looks like I make a phone call." Jimmy said.
Sitting back in his chair, he threw a switch on his desk.
"Martha, on line." he said, addressing the American
Governmental Central Computer.
"Working."
"Please set up a videcon link with Prime Minister
DuQuesne, ASAP."
"Understand videcon link with Saganian Prime Minister.
Working. Will notify when established."
The president looked again at his advisors. "Hope this
doesn't take long." he told them. "Coffee, anyone?"
By the time the three men had obtained their coffee,
the videcon link was established. On the wall-screen appeared
the Prime Minister of Sagania, Brett DuQuesne.
"Good morning, Mr. President. I trust your daughter is
doing well?" he asked politely.
"Jessie's fine, Mr. Prime Minister. My wife would like to
know how she managed to lose 20 pounds in two weeks, but I
won't question the results. It's nice to see her at ease, and not
worrying about losing control of her powers."
"That's good to hear, Mr. President. About your
problem, rest assured you will have as much support as you
need to capture the terrorists before they can do any damage.
To that end, I have sent a senior VS officer to take charge of the
situation. She has all the resources she needs at her disposal to
help you."
Brett could not help smiling inwardly at the
flabbergasted expressions on the faces of the three men on his
monitor. 'Ah, the pleasures of foresight in statesmanship.' he
thought.
"How did you find out? I just received the letter this
morning!" shouted Mr. Ricci.
"Don't question the man, Victor. Just be glad he's
willing to help." said the President. Addressing Brett, he asked,
"When will this person arrive?"
Brett looked at something off-camera. "She's there
now." Pitching his voice louder, he said, "Show yourself, Mrs.
N!"
Appearing in the middle of the Oval Office was a woman,
who grew rapidly to about 5'7" tall. She was wearing the uniform
of an officer in the Saganian military, with four stars on her
shoulder boards. Saluting the President, she said, "General D.C.
Northrop reporting as ordered, sir!"
The President returned the salute without a word. Mr.
Rusk recovered his voice first. "How did you manage to get in
here?" he asked, his voice a harsh whisper.
"In your pocket, sir. You really should upgrade your
life-sign detectors at the entrances. I can get you a good rate on
a production run." she told the stunned FBI director.
Turning to the monitor, she said, "I take it I have a go-
mission, sir?"
"Yes, General. All assets you requested are available to
you, including Baker Romeo Six. They are awaiting you at
location 87202. Use Channel 6606 for your mission. Report to
President Capone directly with any problems and successes on
Channel 7660. It's tied to his direct line. I authorize full mutual-
aid. Mr. President, will you confirm?"
The president had, by this time, recovered his voice, as
well as his composure. "I confirm full mutual-aid." he said.
General Northrop smiled. "Good. That will make my job
easier. Better get started. Good-bye, gentlemen." she said, then
she shrank to invisibility.
The president addressed his advisors and Brett.
"Gentlemen, we have nothing to worry about. The Velvet
Shadows are on the job, in the interests of international amity.
Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. I will call you again soon."
"I look forward to the chat. Good day." At that, the
monitor went dark.
A few minutes later, Diane materialized in the
conference room of the Saganian Embassy in New York City.
Waiting there were the fifteen people assigned to her. Ten of
them are aquatic-capable; they were going to check the water
pipes. Three are detailed to try to infiltrate the terrorists. The
other two are the telepaths that are able to link them all
together. For over an hour, Diane went over the mission plans
with the teams. When she was certain that they all knew their
jobs, the teams scattered to their starting points.
After three days, the tunnel teams had found nothing,
while the terror team had managed some success. Thanks to
some of the advance information that they had, they managed to
find the weak point in the security systems for the city water
supply. They planted a bug in the terrorist's organization-
specifically, Edwin Chambers, the multi-talented shapeshifter.
Thanks to his fly-on-the-wall monitoring, Diane was aware that
they had managed to manufacture the toxin through some back-
door access to an official government replicator. They referred
to their government source only as 'Mr. Inside', which made
tracking a little tough, but she had her suspicions. Acting on
them, she called Chad Chambers, Edwin's older brother and one
of the best hackers in VS, to track down her suspicions. Knowing
the location of the toxin, she decided to go ahead and take it.
The storage site was a small town east of Binghamton,
New York. The invasion took place in the early morning hours,
trying to catch the terrorists unaware. For the most part, they
were successful. However, one of the terrorists was awake, and
managed to spray three of the assault team members with the
drug.
Two of the team members, Jackie Simmons and Tom
Lahr, required force to be restrained. In Tom's case, extreme
force was required. The third member to be hit was Shawn
Smith, better known as Blood Rose Six. The drug seemed to
have absolutely no effect on him. He happily took out the fool
with the spray gun, gleefully removing his hands at the elbows.
Diane got word of this while she was overseeing the
capture of the remaining terrorists. "Shawn! Report!" she yelled
into her radio.
"All's well, General! Situation is secure!" Shawn replied,
laughing.
"What's so funny, Shawn?" Diane asked, totally
confused by his response.
"Everything! This is so much fun! Hold on- be right
back!" Diane heard the sound of a fist striking a chin, then a
soggy thump. "All clear now, Skipper! Tom tried something
dumb, but he's okay now. I feel so good! Who's next? How about
you, Terry?"
Diane made a quick decision. Calling HQ, she ordered
the injured transported back for treatment. After that was taken
care of, she had the terrorists transported to the local sheriff's
office, along with her next-senior officer, Major Terry Whitmore,
for booking. When that was taken care of, she called for a
hazmat removal team to clean up the junk. Then, she went to
the sheriff's office herself to await federal officers to take the
terrorists into U.S. federal custody. Finally, after all the I's were
dotted and the t's crossed, she called President Capone and
requested a meeting with him, the Interior Secretary, and the FBI
Director. It was set for 3 that afternoon.
She used the time productively, transporting the rest of
the team to VS HQ. She checked over Chad's findings. He looked
at the financial records of the terrorists and a few other people.
Finding the correlations she suspected would be there, she
obtained multiple hard copies of the evidence, and verified that
her U.S. Federal law enforcement commission was still in effect,
according to the terms of the mutual-aid treaty. Thus armed, she
headed to her meeting.
This time, she arrived at the White House in a more
conventional fashion, transporting first to location 87209 [the
Washington Embassy], then by transfer booth to the White
House security entrance. She was escorted to the Oval Office.
There, the designated people were waiting. After
pleasantries, she handed the folders to the men and began
talking, describing the assault on the terrorists and events
leading up to the assault. Then, she got to her key point.
"The terrorists government access was only referred to
as 'Mr. Inside.' If you will turn to the final chapter, the one with
the gold tab, you will see the steps I took to determine just who
this 'Mr. Inside' is." she told them.
Diane smiled inwardly as the men turned the pages.
One of the folders was different from the others in that last
chapter.
"General Northrop, how can I verify the truth of this
data?" President Capone asked, with just a trace of alarm in his
voice.
"Ask Martha. I had her paralleling my investigations,
with Carl's approval. She was with me every step of the way. The
proof is there, and frozen, pending my final arrest in this case.
She's watching you now."
The president glanced up at the ceiling. "Martha,
verify." he stated.
"Accuracy of all information in final chapter of General
Northrop's report is confirmed, Mr. President." the computer
said, responding to the presidential command.
The President looked at the other two men in the office.
Victor was calm, while Charlie was nervous. Turning to Diane, he
said, "You may proceed, General."
Diane walked over to the Secretary of the Interior. "Mr.
Ricci, I hereby place you under arrest. The charges are aiding
and abetting terrorism, illegal use of a U.S. government
replicator, manufacture and distribution of a proscribed chemical
with intent to harm people without their knowledge and consent,
employment of said chemical against sworn officers of the
Saganian Government on loan to the U.S. Government under the
provisions of the Mutual-Aid Treaty of 2044.
"Mr. President, I request the use of your Secret Service
detail to place Mr. Ricci into custody."
"Granted." the President called for the detail. The
Secretary of the Interior just sat there, unable to move, frozen
with surprise.
Finally, he spoke. "How did you find out? I took all
steps to make things untraceable!"
Diane smiled, and it wasn't a pleasant smile. "You may
have ordered Martha to delete all transactions, but a skilled
technician can find the traces. You forgot that I had full access,
and I had permission to call in experts. The VS has experts, and
not all of them are Sagan-enhanced when it comes to
computers." she told him as he was being searched and
handcuffed.
As Victor was being led away, President Capone said,
"Oh, by the way, Victor. You're fired, as of this moment."
Afterwards, the FBI Director asked Diane, "What gave
you the clue?"
"Two days ago, the terrorists received a call from 'Mr.
Inside'. I had a bug with the terrorists at that time, and I
managed to trace the call. Once I found that it originated here in
Washington, from the Secretary's office, I started the probe into
his affairs. It helps that he was clumsy in his erasure
techniques."
"One last question, General." the President said. "How
are the people that were affected in the raid? I'm told they took
a particularly heavy dose of this 'Inner Beast'."
"Under sedation and undergoing detoxification at this
time, Mr. President. Thank you for your concern, sir.
"Now, I must be going. Pursuant to the Mutual-Aid
treaty, with the conclusion of the emergency, I now renounce
this special commission, along with the rest of my team. I won't
take up any more of your time, Mr. President. We will keep you
informed of the team member's recovery, if you like." At his nod,
she saluted smartly, turned, and left.
Her next stop was transporter location 74698, better
known as VS HQ, for debriefing by the 'Full-Color Rose Bush', as
it was called. The Black, Grey, Gold, Silver, and White Roses were
present in person. [Specifically, Raven Somers, Esther Martin,
Christian Somers, Wilma Carrington, and the Prime Minister.] It
had been a long time since the whole Rose Bush had convened.
She, in fact, had sat on the Bush the last time. [She retired as
Grey Rose five years before.]
For an hour, Diane defended her actions in the case.
The questioning was detailed, but non-hostile. She explained
how she had taken the information that Chad had acquired to
prove that Mr. Ricci was indeed the mysterious 'Mr. Inside'.
"It turns out that Mr. Ricci is heavily in debt to some
powerful figures in the American Mafia. He came up with this
plan to pay off his debts, and accrue a sizable profit for himself.
He planned to release the poison at an unannounced time,
hoping to catch his debtors unaware." she reported.
"How did you come by this data?" Wilma asked.
"I gave Chad a free hand in information-gathering. He
hacked in to Mr. Ricci's personal system and read his diary."
"What methods did he use to get in?" this from the
Gold Rose.
"I don't know, sir. That is his domain, not mine."
The White Rose spoke for the first time. "Thank you,
General Northrop. We will deliberate your statements, and will
inform you of our decision in this matter."
All five members of the board went quiet, as they
entered a telepathic rapport with each other. After about ninety
seconds, the White Rose spoke.
"It is the decision of this board that your actions were
in concert with the provisions of the U.S.-Sagania Mutual-Aid
Treaty. You have prevented a tragedy from occurring, a tragedy
that would have had disastrous consequences to world peace.
Our congratulations to you, General."
"If you want to leave War Heaven and come back to
active duty, just ask." said Raven.
"Raven, I'm glad that I was asked to do this job, but, I
don't want to do this full-time again. 90 years of service, over
80 of them active, was enough for me. I like being the
Commander of War Heaven- that way, I get to test some of
Kevin's new solidographic toys!"
"As you wish. Go home, Diane, and thanks! My best to
Kevin." Raven said to her long-ago pupil as the rest of the Bush
went back to their duties.
After the debriefing, Diane went over to the hospital
building, to check on her team members. Dr. Brzinski being
unavailable, she found one of his aides, a Dr. Laurel Thanos.
"I would like a report on the conditions of Jackie
Simmons, Tom Lahr, and Shawn Smith, please." Diane asked.
"Jackie is under heavy sedation, as well as dialysis. She
should be released in two days. Tom is also under heavy
sedation and dialysis, as well as being treated for a pulverized
jaw and a severe concussion. Expect him to be laid up for two
weeks, maybe more."
Dr. Thanos paused for an instant, then continued.
"Shawn is confusing us. He took a direct hit with a concentrated
dose of Inner Beast, but, he's not enraged. In fact, he's
extremely happy. Combative, but happy. Fortunately, he's very
amenable to suggestion, so, he's in a private room, waiting for
the drug to wear off. If you want to see him, you may, but wear
this." Laurel handed Diane a rain slicker.
"Why this?"
"You'll see. Go ahead- he likes company. Room Six."
Taking the slicker, Diane went to Room Six. Looking
through the window, she saw Shawn in bed, playing with a small
child. Quickly, she entered, fearing for the little boy.
Shawn looked up as she entered. "Hello, General! How
are you?" he shouted, laughter evident in his voice.
"Who's the boy?" she asked.
"My nephew Ryan. He likes to play with his Uncle
Shawn, doesn't he?" he said, tickling the little boy, who giggled.
Diane noticed that Shawn's birthmark was glowing a flourescent
pink, a shade she hadn't noticed before. "Hey, Kyle, watch this!"
Shawn gestured with his left hand and arm. There was a
loud whistling noise, followed by a wet splat as a large pink
cream pie appeared out of nowhere and landed squarely on
Diane's head. Both Shawn and Kyle laughed loudly at Diane's
disgusted expression. "Tag! You're it!" he laughed.
Shaking her head, Diane said simply, "Get better,
Shawn. I'll be in touch." Then, she left the room, dripping pink
whipped cream.
Outside the room, Diane met Shawn's sister Mahree,
better known as Mrs. Prime Minister. Looking at Diane and
pointing at the still-folded rain slicker, she said, "Weren't you
warned to wear that?"
"I was, but I wasn't expecting that. What's wrong with
him?"
"Apparantly, the drug removed his inhibitions about
pranks and jokes. He's willing to fight, but he won't dare while
Kyle's with him. Just send me the bill for the uniform cleaning,
General." Mahree said.
"No need. Just give me a towel." After Mahree gave her
one, Diane looked up and down the hall, then said, "Watch."
Her soiled uniform vanished, showing Diane wearing a
rather revealing bikini. She toweled herself off, then the uniform
reappeared. Pointing to studs on her bikini, Diane explained,
"Thought-controlled solidographic projector. Never need to
worry about being caught out without proper clothes." She
concentrated, and she was wearing her General's uniform again.
"Feel it."
Mahree did. "Feels like satin!" she exclaimed.
"Just a solid illusion, courtesy of my husband's genius.
Birthday gift."