Wednesday, 11 October 2000
James MacGuinness, the federal investigator for the postal service
who is looking into the team's mail problems, receives a package
addressed to the entire team. It was handed to him by the secretary
of the Deputy Director, Bruce Gebhart. The package contains a five
of hearts smeared in blood. The blood was applied to the card while
it was congealed.
This is too much for Blackthorne who immediately heads to Quantico
to continue the playing card investigation. Stone, Harlow and Munroe
travel to Houston to investigate the bonded warehouse there. They
discover that the slate definitely arrived at the airport in Houston,
and definitely went into the bonded warehouse in Houston. It had
to have disappeared en route to Brownsville in the truck owned by
Clive Fenner.
Fenner's company is in Kaufmann district of Houston. They visit
the company to obtain the tachographs of Fenner's fleet of vehicles.
They speak to Christopher Bennet who is cooperative. Only twenty
of the twenty-two tachographs are found, but the agents get the
one they are looking for. The driver of the vehicle that took the
artefacts from Houston to Brownsville was Enrique Solomones. He
did not go straight there, but made an unscheduled stop in Pasadena.
According to the firm, Enrique Solomones is a Cherokee, and a die-hard
traditionalist when it comes to his people. His address is thirty
miles away in Richmond, Fort Benz, but he has just taken two weeks
leave to visit his family in Mexico. He is not due back until 15
October. The agents get a warrant to search his house and head to
Fort Benz.
The house of Enrique Solomones's house is an finished shell of
a building on an isolated road. His pick-up truck is present and
hasn't been moved in at least one week (there is bird next under
the wheel arch). Searching the house the agents discover that someone
has been living rough there. In the back garden is an enormous square
of plastic sheeting. The agents hear murmurings beneath it and investigate.
Under the tarpaulin is a hole resembling an archaeological dig.
Solomones is in here, curled up in the foetal position. There is
a heavy smell of sweat and urine, and many dead animals and bunches
of herbs are littered about. There is a broken rod in front of Solomones
which is probably the rod from the museum. Jane rushes over to Solomones
but is too late. He is dead, and has been so for only a few minutes.
The agents phone Sheriff Blackfeather to interpret the symbols
on the ground and the ritual. He says it is probably a summoning
or binding circle of some kind. Blackfeather also translates Solomones's
last words for us. "Already free… already escaped…."
This does not sound good. Artemis Black things that Solomones might
have been trying to summon a Vengeance spirit of some kind. Black
says that he has some knowledge of the occult.
The agents alert the proper authorities. They then collect Solomones's
post from his neighbour, Debra Lee. Lee says that Solomones was
always singing a particular song. The agents recognise this song
as the same one that appeared on the video tape in the bonded warehouse
in Brownsville. Jane called Sheriff Blackfeather and asks for his
help in identifying the song. Blackfeather recognises it, but believes
the song should have a female counterpoint. He says he will check
with uncle, an ageing medicine man, who will know more about it
than he does.
Mid-West Campaign Index
| Previous Session | Next
Session
|
