"The Colonel’s Secret Sauce"

Silver Avenger Maria Chow is forming a new agent team at the San Francisco PRIMUS Base, chosen from among PRIMUS’ top intelligence and assault agents. 

Intelligence Agent Friday Brown (Kirk Lund) is a SF veteran who has recently distinguished herself on a number of cases.  She is fond of extreme sports, martial arts and handsome men.  Friday is an attractive African-American woman in her twenties.

Intelligence Agent Virginia Miller (Tracy White) Is a former USAF fighter pilot who joined PRIMUS several years ago.  She comes to SF from Hudson City, where she was on Avenger Richardson’s staff.  Virginia is knowledgeable about VIPER. 

Intelligence Agent Thomas Riley (Matthew Mactyre) hails from South Dakota.  He has an engineering degree from Duke and joined PRIMUS not long after graduating.  Like Virginia, he was an agent on Avenger Richardson’s Hudson City staff.  His area of expertise are the organizations Chessmen and Raven.  He’s a very handsome man in his late twenties. 

Assault Agent Tex Johnson (JT White) joined PRIMUS after gaining his petroleum engineering degree from Texas A&M.  Initially assigned to the Fort Worth base, Tex came to the attention of Avenger Webster, also an A&M alum.  Tex is well known among assault agents for his ongoing research into developing a kinder, gentler Tequila for those who have undergone Cyberline.

Assault Agent Terry Kestler (NPC) is also a SF veteran who, until recently, served on one of the assault squadrons.  She’s thrilled to have the opportunity to do real investigative work.  Terry lives in Palo Alto and commutes in daily. 

Intelligence Agent Walter Doran (NPC) always wanted to be a PRIMUS assault agent, but alas, he was not tolerant to Cyberline.  He hasn’t let that stop him, however, and he has a reputation for being a fierce hand-to-hand combatant, regardless.  He’s a bit of a kiss-ass.

**

            The 2001 Paranormal Medicine Conference is being held at the Moscone Convention Center.  Paranormal Medicine has been recognized by the AMA as a distinct specialty, and residencies are now offered at three schools: Emory, UCLA and Johns Hopkins.  The SF PRIMUS Base physician, Dr. Stella Bergamante, has been widely published in the field and will be presenting a paper based upon her research into the heightened immune systems of assault agents.

            As a favor to Stella, Avenger Chow has asked her staff to attend the conference, where PRIMUS Medical is maintaining a booth.  Though this trip is more for public relations than security purposes, the agents check out equipment none-the-less.

            The agent in charge of maintaining equipment is Harris Perkins, a former assault agent who lost his left leg in combat with VIPER.  He’s a stickler for procedure but has a weakness for attractive young ladies.  

            The agents set off in two cars.  Tex allows Friday to drive his famed Cadillac convertible, which she does, and very quickly.  Tex takes the opportunity to speak to Stella a little about Cyberline and the effect it has on the body, a preliminary for asking her about his Tequila project.  Stella also confides in the agents that she’s looking forward to the conference for another reason.  A man she attended medical school with – and used to date – is going to be presenting a paper shortly after hers, and that night they’re planning on having dinner together.  Just as friends, she clarifies.

            Agent Kestler takes Agent Brown aside and asks if it’s true if Friday is really seeing Agent Doran.  When Friday tells her that she’s not, Kestler is vastly relieved.  “Everyone’s talking about it, but I couldn’t believe it.  He’s such a creep!” 

            The agents wander the convention room floor and gather loot, such as clipboards with the anatomy of the human body, cloth bags manufactured by drug companies, high-tech splints and the ubiquitous pens and bouncing balls with flashing lights inside.  Soon, however, it’s time for Stella’s presentation to begin.  With the help of Agents Miller and Brown, Agent Johnson follows along with Stella’s talk, in the hopes of being able to impress her later with how much he’s absorbed. 

            After she finishes, Stella is concerned.  Her friend, Dr. Paul Wagner, isn’t present, and his presentation – on the influence on retroviruses on the increasing numbers of paranormals --  is due to start soon.  She calls his hotel, but there is no answer.  As the Argent is but two blocks away, she, along with Agents Johnson, Miller, Brown and Riley, head to it to find out what’s happened to him.  Agent Kestler is listening to another presentation, and Agent Doran is nowhere to be found. 

            Agent Brown gets the room number from a helpful member of the Argent’s staff: Room 2341.  When the elevator doors open, there is an intense and cool breeze coming from down the hallway, and Agent Miller feels something brush against her arm, though she sees nothing. 

            The door to room 2341 is wide open and blocked with the body of Doctor Wagner.  He’s lying face down and the back of his head is missing. 

            Agents Johnson and Miller sprint down the stairs in an effort to arrive before elevator 5 can reach the lobby, but by the time they run down the 23 flights of stairs, it’s already gone again.

            One of the hotel room’s windows has been shattered, with most of the glass lying inside the room.  A suitcase is open on the bed and a notepad sits beside it.  Inside the suitcase, the agents find:

• Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
• Epidemiology: Basis for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion by David F. Duncan
• The Rough Guide to San Francisco, with a Yahoo! Map stuck inside, giving driving directions from Winnemucca, NV to the Argent Hotel
• A pair of binoculars
• A stethoscope
• A S&W .357
• A brown glass jar with liquid inside
• A plastic bag with two syringes, two needles, an EpiPen, alcohol swabs, Band-Aids and tri-antibiotic cream
• A CD hidden in a shirt labeled “Archive”
• Clothing and Toiletries  (The can of mousse really is a can of mousse)

The nearby notepad has a page which has the following information on it:

• Speech @ 1:30, Moscone rm. 328.  10 minutes early, yes projector
• 775-888-0339 call before 4 Max Harris re: calculations check numbers rerun & report
• Stella 415-333-8521  1753 Bay Street 

Also on the bed are two models of organic substances, which Stella thinks might have been props for his speech.

The agents do not find Wagner’s laptop computer or the text of his speech.  [And no one opens the brown glass jar to sniff the liquid.]   Stella tells the agents she knows very little about what Wagner’s been doing recently, just that he was working for a private firm somewhere in the West, that he’d been doing research on retroviruses and paranormal powers, and that he’d called her out of the blue to say he’d been following her research and he’d be in town for the conference – would she like to get together to meet and talk? She had agreed, and they were going to have dinner that night.

            While the agents discuss their findings and Stella calls for an ambulance and local law enforcement, the wind picks up in the room – and suddenly a figure in a white bodysuit and helmet materializes on top of the desk.  Agent Johnson orders the doctor – who is closest to the man – to get down.

            The figure in white then targets Agent Johnson and Agent Miller, who are closest to the body – and the door.    He legsweeps Miller but fails to hit Agent Johnson, who then shoots him with his heavy blaster.  Agent Brown executes a perfect kick, beautiful in form, and connects with the figure…but it ends up hurting her foot more than she thinks it hurt him.  A blast from Agent Riley’s blaster sends him to the floor in a slump. 

            The agents get him in suppression cuffs and Agent Riley removes as much of the equipment as he can.  He was wearing a small backpack, which contains several odd grenades, some immediately indefinable electronic devices – and Wagner’s laptop. 

            The laptop boots into Windows 98, and they discover that there are no documents on the laptop itself, though his Internet Explorer browsing history is there [Yahoo! Maps is among the sites cached.]  The CD they found in the luggage contains several encrypted files. 

            A PRIMUS Assault Squad arrives on the scene and a vehicle specialist in a “Sherman” arrives soon after, to escort the unconscious man in white to the luxury of a PRIMUS holding cell.  The agents continue their forensic work, and then depart for the base. 

            When Agent Kestler arrives, just as they do, she tells the agents that she’d headed to Room 328 to listen to Dr. Wagner’s presentation, not knowing that he was dead, but was surprised to find the speech had been cancelled.  She did a little digging and found someone who said she’d spoken to the doctor, and that he had said he was sick and would be unable to give the presentation. This apparently happened hours beforehand.  She also learned that Dr. Wagner listed his place of employment as Knight Biotechnical in Winnemucca, NV.  Knight Biotech built a facility in the area in 1996, and it employs several hundred people. 

            Agent Miller looks up the 775 number and learns it is the phone number of a Reno cocktail waitress named Charlene Davis.  She and Agent Brown dial the Reno number, and a woman answers.  Agent Miller asks for Max, and a moment later, a man’s voice answers.  He greets her, then asks, “What’s at the movies?”  When she doesn’t answer, he asks once more.  When she doesn’t respond to his satisfaction, then, he hangs up the phone. 

            In his work in Hudson City, Agent Riley has seen equipment like that used by the mysterious man in white before, used both by Chessmen and Raven agents.  However, both of those agencies always indicate who they are by an insignia on their costumes, and there is nothing on this man’s suit to show whom he might have worked for.   Agent Riley advises Avenger Chow that if the captured man is a Chessmen agent, they should expect a rescue attempt.  She agrees and contacts Base Commander Alan Thurmond, who promptly places the base on alert; additional assault and Iron Guard units are scrambled.     

            Agent Leon Harvey, the SF Base’s forensic chemist, reports that the liquid in the jar is Cyberline.  Preliminary bloodwork shows Wagner had the stuff in his veins, as well.  He believes that Wagner had been injecting himself regularly with Cyberline.  He also confirms what Agent Brown had hypothesized about the body, that something exploded from inside Wagner’s head.  Agent Riley points out that higher agents of Chessmen are known to contain something called a “Cortex Bomb.” 

Computer Specialist Wong goes to work on the encrypted files and says they appear to have been encrypted with a 512-bit RSA key.  The key is on the laptop, but the passphrase is unknown.  He’s trying to both back-engineer the passphrase and brute force it.  He thinks it could anywhere from hours to days using the MATRIX system.

            While our agents are making plans to pursue the leads in Nevada before they cool, Avenger Chow and Base Commander Thurmond call an emergency meeting in the conference room.  Present are:

• All the agents who were present on the scene, plus Agent Kestler and Agent Doran
• Avenger Chow, looking angry
• Base Commander Thurmond, looking annoyed
• Agent Harvey, looking glum
• Doctor Stella Bergamante, looking worried and tired
• Legal Counsel Meriel Morrissey, reading her notes
• Public Relations Specialist Kitty Cochrane, fixing her lipstick

And last but not least, on the speakerphone is Colonel Avery Vasquez, Director of Intelligence Operations from PRIMUS HQ in Washington, DC.

EPs & BPs to be assigned at the conclusion of the story arc.