Mid-West Campaign
Session Ten

Monday, 16 October 2000

Agent Stone decides to take medical leave he is entitled to after having been involved in a gun fight. He leaves Pasadena for Tahiti. A seventh playing card arrives in the post addressed to Black. It was intercepted on its way to Blackthorne in hospital in Virginia by the inspection division and the postmaster's office. It is the three of spades encased in plaster with a crude crucifix imprinted into the top of it. Black does not yet understand the significance of this card. Agents Munroe and Black return to Brownsville where they are reunited with Agent Harlow.

Soon after their arrival Special Agent Reece Romero arrives in Brownsville. Romero is with the Inspection Division and is currently working on case S89 in New Orleans. She wants to know why the team did not report to New Orleans for debriefing as they were ordered. Of course, Blackthorne never passed on this message, so the team plead ignorance.

Romero briefs them about the Joker killings thus far. It appears that each card evidence response has received (after the first) related very specifically to the death of an FBI agent. In order: SA Peter Bakowski was set into concrete on an I-97 bridge outside Little Rock, Arkansas. SA Arnold Ibreak was crushed in car crusher in New York. SA Alan Joy was roasted in an industrial glazing furnace in Flagstaff, Arizona. SA John Leigh was bled to death in an abattoir in Chicago, Illinois. Leading agent Phil Strott was injected with molten tin in Birmingham, Alabama. SA Dave 'Daffy' Jones was plastered into a wall in Miami, Florida.

In all these cases the FBI agent died only hours before evidence response received the card. Romero wants answers. What is the link between the Joker and Evidence Response?

By a process of elimination it is deduced that Artemis Black is the most likely connection to the Joker. The first card received on 26 September bore the legend: "B, the game has begun." This was intended for Artemis, and not Joshua as was originally supposed. Reece Romero shows the three a letter, recently received from the Joker. She wants to see if it means anything to Artemis.

Follow this link for the full text of the Letter from the Joker.

Reece says that the warning is being taken very seriously. She wants some answer as to how Artemis Black is involved. Frankly, so does Artemis Black. Artemis wonders if it can have anything to do with Damian Snapes. Snapes was the last serial killer Artemis brought it before he was transferred to the mid-west evidence response team. Snapes changed his modus operandi at the last minute which resulted in the death of special agent, Carol Hunter, whom Black had personally placed in danger.

Timeline note: Artemis and Jane now interview Louis Sneddon-Small. These events are chronicled in session 11. If you want to read events in a strictly chronological order then use this link to jump session 11.

With BV004 tying itself up nicely, Artemis, accompanied by Romero and Nathan Harlow leave Brownsville and travel to Chicago, Illinois to interview the serial killer, Damian Snapes. They arrive to find Snapes is in a terrible mental state. Snapes obviously knows about the Joker, and seems frightened of him. Artemis begins to form the opinion that the Joker somehow possessed Snapes in the past, which is why Snapes acted so against character just before he was caught.

The pair do some digging to see if possessing serial killers of the past is a common trick of the Joker. They discover that the letter the Joker sent to the New Orleans FBI is almost identical to a letter received by the New Orleans police in the 1890s - a letter sent by a serial killer known as The Axeman. The Axeman was active between 1889 and 1891 - was he also the Joker?

They continue to look for other historical connections. Was there a significance to the death of Carol Hunter? It is revealed that Carol's grandfather was Alfred Brickman, director of the FBI in the 1920s. Brickman was later indicted on charges of corruption. Is there a clue there?

Artemis and Harlow begin inventing increasingly less plausible theories about demonic possession and the transmigration of souls that completely freaks out Romero. She returns to New Orleans. Artemis and Harlow return to Brownsville.

Timeline note: the following morning, Artemis and Nathan fly to New Orleans. The remainder of this session follows their adventures there, while the rest of session 11 follows Jane's efforts to clear up the bonded warehouse case. Refer to the Timeline of Events for a detailed chronology.

Tuesday, 17 October 2000

At FBI headquarters in New Orleans, Artemis and Nathan seek out Reismaus. Before they can do anything about case ES174 they are approached by the Senior Special Agent Wyatt Waymen - head of the Joker investigation. He explains that the Joker's letter has been taken very seriously. Every member of the FBI in New Orleans will be in a hired hall listening to a live jazz band at midnight. Only a skeleton crew will remain at HQ, and jazz music will be piped in the building. He asks Artemis and Nathan to help. The pair volunteer to remain at HQ in the evening in case anything happens. They spend the rest of the afternoon bumming around the New Orleans office and speaking to local agents like Phil Anderson.

In the dark hours leading up to midnight there are only five FBI agents at headquarters. Giles Kitty is the armoury, Sam Snift is in the evidence locker and Robert Merlan is in the security booth with Harlow. Artemis Black is walking the corridors. All of them have personnel stereos just in case. Harlow has set up his computer to record everything. He even has an personal oxygen supply, as many of the Joker's previous victims seemed asphyxiated. Midnight comes and goes.

Wednesday, 18 October 2000

At precisely 00.15 all the lights and power in the building go out. This is not a normal phenomena. The battery-powered torches and personal stereos also die; even the light from the stars and the moon outside seemed to have been muted. At the same moment music from Beethoven's Für Elise can be heard all around. Black who is caught in the corridors in the darkness retraces his steps to the evidence locker. Inside he can hear a terrible disturbance. He can feel blood seeping from under the door. Sam Snift is obviously dead.

The music changed to Barber's Adagio for Strings as Black heads for the security booth. Inside the booth is total darkness. Harlow is wearing his oxygen mask. It is obvious that there is some other force in the room besides Harlow and Agent Merlan. Something takes a swipe at Harlow, he dodges manfully for several minutes. Taking two shots at the steel door with his hand cannon. Outside, Black can hear the shots imbed themselves in the lock. But the door does not give and he cannot open it. Inside, Harlow eventually finds the emergency door release but it doesn't work. Suddenly something very sharp cuts off one of Harlow's fingers. Then a second. Harlow panics and fires wildly. He shoots and kills Robert Merlan. More of Harlow's fingers are cut off. He is cut across the stomach and can feel his innards being ripped away from him. He watches as he is slowly eviscerated.

Outside Black is pounding on the door but cannot get in. Suddenly the commotion inside the room ceases. Then the music changes again to Bach's Toccata in Fugue. Thinking the Joker is now after him, Black runs for the exit, eventually finding it. Outside the building the power to his telephone came back on. He made a call to Senior Agent Wyatt Waymen (who is in charge of the Joker case). The call was logged at 00:16. Only one minute since the lights went out, although Black was convinced that more time must have passed than that.

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