Monday, 1 January 2001 (continued)
New Year's Day
A barely conscious Artemis takes charge of the situation. He tells
the local police that the dead body of Apache Joe is in fact a killer
hired by friends of Mao Sei Ben who were out for revenge. Ambulances
arrive and begin to tend to the wounded at the scene. McKraken is
officially pronounced dead.
Crondheim, Todd, Bruce Campbell-Robson and Mike Colefield soon
arrive. Todd is concerned about Jane who has been running on autopilot,
dispassionately searching the crime scene. Jane refuses to go to
hospital with the other agents and chooses to remain. Artemis, Drake
and Benedict are whisked away to hospital leaving Dominic in charge.
Todd remains with Jane while Dominic and Ecks conduct a search
of the area. They cannot find any vehicle that Apache Joe might
have used. They do discover a hold-all in a near-by dustbin. It
contains a first aid kit that includes four vials of an unknown
clear liquid, spare guns, ammo clips, duct tape and a roll of non-sequential
banknotes.
Jane snaps out of her reverie, determined to carry on with the
task at hand (unhealthily so in Todd's opinion). She says that she
has to autopsy Apache Joe's body as soon as possible in Wichita.
The body is bagged up and shipped out. Dominic is keen to pull the
west coast team out of Texas as soon as possible. He doesn't want
to draw undue attention to this event. He orders Todd to accompany
Jane to Wichita so that she is not alone (the Joker Protocol). He
then tidies things up in Temple and plans on giving a full report
to Artemis by phone from Beverley Hills.
Todd babbles comfortingly during the flight and soon Jane is scrubbed
and ready to conduct the autopsy. It is rather chilling how Jane
manages to remain detached from what she is doing as she conducts
a perfect autopsy. They discover a number of things. There is a
hammered dog-tag in the killer's shoe. The body has gone through
some serious punishment and is covered in old scars and bullet wounds.
He broke his leg about two years ago which directly relates to an
inactive period in his killing spree.
Despite Todd's protests Jane works like a robot. She analyses the
body's blood, semen also the liquid in the mysterious vial. Dr Ecks
contacts Jane with news of the vial. He says that the liquid is
an unknown chemical related to PCP. It is a combat drug that heightens
reactions and reflexes, and lasts between 30-45 minutes once in
the system. It is essentially an organic version of the green mineral
that gave Benedict and Nathan their powers. There is no obvious
link between the mineral and drug other than the way it works. However,
Gabe said that there was a link so Jane knows that they must search
for one.
Tests conclude that the killer is indeed a non-secretor. Jane runs
his fingerprints and surprisingly an identity comes back. Apache
Joe was a marine called Gunnery Sergeant Albert Johnson. He was
killed in 1991 as the result of an accident at a firing range on
a Texas Range base. He is buried at Fort Worth military cemetery.
Tuesday, 2 January 2001
It is now dawn, Jane has worked all night and doesn't know what
to do next. She phones Artemis in hospital and tells him all she
has discovered. Artemis wonders if Albert Johnson really died back
in 1991 and was actually possessed by the Vengeance Spirit that
Enrique Solomones summoned (case BV004).
Artemis telephones Rock Mulholland and asks him to use his military
contacts to see if he can find out more about this matter. Rock
had heard of Albert Johnson's death. He describes the gunnery sergeant
as "fucked up". His family had a big military history
and he was last in the line. He was an non-commissioned officer
and he hated the marines. Rock says he'll talk to a friend and help
fill in the blanks, on Artemis's expense account.
Locking the body of Apache Joe in the freezer Jane and Todd go
and have breakfast at Juicy Lucy's diner. They go back to Jane's
apartment to get some rest, and Todd discovers Nathan's enormous
porn collection that is still in Jane's spare room. Jane cannot
sleep after the events of yesterday. Todd secretly sedates her and
she doesn't wake for eight hours.
After a blazing row with Todd, Jane's resolve begins to crack.
She tells Todd that she is ashamed of herself. She says that Vitrano
was right about her, that at the end she put her own glory ahead
of the safety of the team. Jane realises that there is nothing else
she can do on the AJ case. She is tired, an emotional wreck and
still badly wounded. She can't face any other cases and the reality
of what has happened is slowly sinking in and she realises that
she doesn't want to be alone. The only person she can really think
to turn to is her sister, so she calls Danielle and arranges to
her to New York to spend some time with her. Todd tags along, and
Jane is quite welcome for the company.
Late in the evening Jane and Todd arrive at Danielle's apartment.
Dani thinks that Jane has come to give a progress report regarding
her errant husband Greg. Unfortunately this is not the case, and
Jane confesses that she hasn't really done much of anything about
Greg. It finally gets too much for Jane and she breaks down. Dani
is shocked to see Jane this way. Jane tells her that she's seen
several colleagues die in the past few weeks. Dani tries her best
to comfort her big sister.
Wednesday, 3 January 2001
Jane remains in New York. Danielle senses there is more to Jane's
depression than she is telling and eventually the subject gets on
to Apache Joe. Jane lets slip more than she probably should about
her involvement in the killer's apprehension and Danielle gathers
that Constantine Perez was not Apache Joe, and that the real killer
was shot dead by Jane and her team on New Year's Day.
Jane refuses to go into any more detail about the matter. She makes
Danielle promise not to tell anyone about her involvement in this
case. Danielle promises, but for the first time she has the impression
that Jane is involved in something that is really quite dangerous.
She becomes utterly convinced of this when she sees the extent of
the wounds to Jane's body. She insists that Jane goes to hospital
straight away.
In the afternoon, Jane, Danielle and Todd go to hospital and Jane
is given the once over. As Jane suspected there is nothing that
can be done except let the wounds heal by themselves over time.
Thursday, 4 January 2001
Realising that Jane needs cheering up more than she needs an interrogation,
Danielle returns to her stock personality and begins ribbing Jane
about Todd and how he seems completely besotted with her. Jane says
that she's noticed it too, but denies she has any feelings for Todd.
Danielle doesn't seem to believe this and starts to flirt with Todd
to make Jane jealous. The only real result of this is an incredibly
embarrassed Todd.
Danielle also takes the opportunity to tell Jane of what happened
at the wonderful Munroe Family Christmas. Edward seized the moment
and told their father that he is married and has a child. Suffice
to say that the father went ballistic and an enormous argument ensued.
He said how thoroughly disappointed he is in all his children and
then threw Edward out. Danielle tried to defend him and now both
of them are banished from the home, leaving Jane in the peculiar
situation as being the only child welcome through the door.
Danielle also tells her sister that the stress of the situation
was too much for their mother. She was had a nervous breakdown and
spent the new year in hospital. She is back at home now and apparently
feeling much better. Jane determines to go and see her mother.
[Timeline Note: Jane spends several days in the New York
area, visiting her mother and catching up with family members. These
events are chronicled at the beginning of session 43. This session
continues when Jane flies back to Wichita.]
Monday, 8 January 2001
Jane and Todd fly from New York in the morning. Todd takes the
connecting flight for Los Angeles in Wichita and returns to work.
Jane heads back to headquarters to discover a rain-soaked packing
crate outside - the west coast team fedex-ed Joshua back to Wichita.
Jane hefts the packing crate inside.
Meanwhile, Artemis checks out of the hospital in Temple. Before
he can go he is corned by Doctor Reed, the hospital administrator.
He promises that the American Medical Association will support Black's
political campaigns.
Artemis, Benedict, Chuck and Drake return to Wichita. Jane has
unpacked Josh and is trying remove the Father Christmas outfit that
has been spray-painted onto him. She has also glued his finger back
on. Artemis sets in motions plans for the building of the supercomputers
in the HQ, Chuck makes several pertinent suggestions.
With case S73 now almost
over, Jane asks Artemis they could try again with her psyche sessions
that were so comprehensively abandoned back in October. Artemis
agrees, but is somewhat distracted by Artemis Black's New Year
Madness that is currently playing on the television.
Later he gives Jane the psyche evaluation. He warns her that this
will be a very difficult time for her. Everything Jane has done
for the last eight years was building up to Apache Joe's death and
now it is over. Jane understands this and is keen to transfer her
relentless nature to Vitrano and Lavin.
Rock Mulholland's report into Albert Johnson appears, along with
AJ's file records from the army. The fingerprint on the files is
identical to the one Jane took from the corpse. Private AJ was a
highly trained marksman with a talent for electronics and mechanics.
He was killed when he was handed a weapon service by Private Clive
Dunnit. AJ had no family and no next of kin - his parents died five
years before he joined the military. He was pronounced dead at the
morgue by the base surgeon, Major Joseph Kipling. Kipling conducted
a standard autopsy and AJ was given a closed casket funeral. Jane
absorbs the information, but this doesn't explain AJ's link with
Vitrano and Lavin.
They also receive word from Yates regarding Joshua's condition.
The curse has to be removed by the person who cursed him (Veronica
Cunningham). The curse will be broken if she dies, but if she curses
Josh with her dying breath then he will remain a statue forever.
They switch on the computers and immediately gain two new cases:
WHTF003 and
WYN083. This
brings the team's number of outstanding cases to nine. Artemis is
happy to ignore these cases for the time being. He wants look into
the Dynamicorp case (TL348)
because he thinks that it is important. Jane reminds Artemis of
Levin's warning about Richard Quail and that the Twin Valley Farm
is only fifteen miles from their HQ.
Artemis agrees to look go after Quail tomorrow. In the meantime
they finish up some paperwork at HQ. Chuck is given an anti-brain
bug pill and begins to look at Gilgoolie's computer. Benedict steps
behind the team's small X-Ray machine. Jane sees some evidence that
the some green secondary nervous system that Ecks and Todd described
Harlow as having is visible in Benedict. Benedict attempts some
ill-advised tricks to see how far his new powers can take him (they
already healed all the damage he suffered at the hands of Apache
Joe). However, he only succeeds in causing himself a lot of pain.
Jane looks at the necklace that Levin gave her. The lily carved
upon it is a Japanese lily called the Yuri. She wonders why Levin
gave it to her. Could it be useful against the brain bugs? She determines
to take it with her to the farm.
Artemis hypothesises that there might be something strange about
the location where the Wichita HQ is built. The west coast HQ is
obviously very significant. On the day she begged for five million
dollars, Ashamiko told Black that the east coast HQ is the home
to a friendly poltergeist who defended the team against mobsters.
Black is determined that there is something special about their
cowshed in the middle of nowhere. The team researches. They find
that the HQ is on the site of a brutal revolt by Chinese and black
slaves against the continental railroad. However, beyond that they
find nothing.
Artemis telephones Mike Barnes, the accountant from the Copperhead
Mine in Casper. It is a battle of the Smarm, but Artemis prevails
and Barnes agrees to be Artemis's accountant and do something about
that $23m in shares that is hanging over Black's head.
On the television is yet another programme about Artemis Black.
This one announces that Victim Schmictim has now sold over 8,000,000
copies. A reporter called James Price determines to find out the
truth behind the Artemis Black phenomenon and the man himself. He
advertises a "Truth" special appearing on the Fox network.
Mid-West Campaign Index
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