Mid-West Campaign
Session Fifty-Five

Tuesday, 1 May 2001 (continued)

Benedict thinks that the papers recovered from Hamblin's office may shed some light as to what is going on. However, no-one (including Ben) can see what it is. The agents believe there are three semi-logical avenues of enquiry open to them: they can continue to pursue this case and head to Tulsa, they can research Mary Butler or they can go poking around in the mine that stretches out below the farm that was once owned by the Westwood Charity. The latter may not be directly related to the current case, but any investigation into the Winterset Effect is worth the effort.

Soon after, the agents have parked their 4×4 in the barn where they entered a shoot-out with brain bug possessed cultists back in November. Only Jane was present at that time, and she can remember a tunnel along which Richard Quail fled. See case WNT075 for details. Taking various amounts of unfeasible equipment with them, Ben and Alex follow Jane into the mine.

Winterset is built upon loamy soil, and the soft earthen walls of the mine are fortified with wooden slats and supports. The agents travel slightly downward until they come across a bell-shaped chamber. The ceiling has fallen in here, almost entirely blocking the continuation of the tunnel on the far side of the chamber. Drake finds a car bumper in the muck on the floor, and in wrenching it loose flicks a face-full of viscous black liquid at Benedict.

Jane recognises this as the same oily black substance that Richard Quail coated himself with. She realises that this must be the chamber where Artemis Black briefly faced Quail before fleeing. On the agents' last visit here (during the week they cannot remember) they must have driven their car through an air-shaft and into this chamber. The car was recently winched out by Levin and his colleagues. That means that beneath the detritus on the floor must be the pool of black goo.

Drake examines the floor. Any pressure on the ground causes a dark liquid to seep up through the soil. Drake gathers a gallon of the stuff in a handy can he is carrying. He is then sent by Benedict to excavate a larger hole on the far side of the chamber. After an hour, Drake has managed to dig out a hole large enough to crawl so, but half-buries himself in the attempt. Jane tries to pull him free, but Drake manages to crawl through and finds himself in another tunnel, exactly the same as the previous one. Benedict and Jane soon join him.

The agents continue along the tunnel for about a mile until they come to a wooden wall that has been built across the tunnel. It seems to be made of the same wooden slats that enclose the walls. However, closer inspection reveals it to be made of a strange brass-coloured metal and painted to resemble wood. The crowbar is no use against this door. However, rather than forcing it, Alex discovers that it slides open extremely easily. The agents continue. Benedict stops and booby traps the door by wedging a live stun grenade in it. You never know.

After a short period, the agents come to a very large chamber. The ceiling is twenty feet high and the room is filled with office furniture. There are shoulder-high dividing walls, computers, files and an empty gun rack on the far wall. There is no back wall to the chamber. Instead, the room borders onto an enormous curving wall of obsidian that seems to continue into the ground to the left and right of the room. There doesn't seem to be any activity in the room. Jane turns on the lights. Several lights at head-height along the walls, splutter into a dim blue glow. This reveals that there are no other exits from this chamber.

Immediately, the agents go to work. Benedict wants everything of value taken from this chamber in short order. Drake finds a telephone. It is no longer connected to a network, but he hits the speed-dial and manages to recognise the beeps and turn them into nine telephone numbers. The computers require login details, so the agents just take all six base units. There are two filing cabinets worth of papers and photographs. The writing on the documents is a strange and consists of pictograms the agents have never seen before. They empty the cabinets and proceed to do a little forensic work and lift a number of prints.

Jane examines the obsidian wall. It is obviously part of a larger structure, but she is at a loss as to what that could be. She hits the wall with the crowbar but doesn't leave a mark. The resonance of the blow sends Benedict's senses reeling.

The agents begin to move their booty back to their vehicle, a process that seems to take forever. They are finished by 9:00pm. Benedict waits in the car while Jane and Alex return to the chamber. Alex wants to have a look at the generator that was powering the lights. He thinks there is something odd about it.

This definitely proves to be the case as he removes the safety panel and stares into an otherworldly yellow glow that completely entrances him. Jane tries to help him, but is also entranced by the strange light. The patient Benedict waits two hours before going to look for his companions. He telephones Schult at the west coast HQ and asks him to send in the cavalry if he is not back within a certain time.

Benedict manages to rescue his companions by throwing his coat over the light. The pair are extremely stiff, and feel as though they have just been snatched from a very pleasant dream. A blind-folded Drake replaces the cover on the generator and the agents decide to take the device with them to look at later. It is now 11:00pm.

Benedict is paranoid that the information they have taken from this chamber is going to be stolen from them, and wants to drive to Wichita immediately and put it in their vault. It is a sixteen hour drive from Winterset to Wichita. However, the others eventually agree to it. They do not check out of the guest house, and they leave Drake's sports car behind. Drake will return at the weekend for race-day anyway. By midnight they are on the road to Wichita.

Wednesday, 2 May 2001

Drake and Benedict share the driving between them. Drake manages to leave both Benedict and Jane in the rest area of separate service stations, but other than that the journey passes uneventfully. After an extremely exhausting day of travel, they arrive at the Wichita HQ at 8:00pm and lock the stuff up.

Given that Jane has to be in Washington on Friday for her date, Benedict is inclined to give everyone until next Monday (7 May) off work. However, before that he wants to look at the papers from those filing cabinets. Ben's appetite for paper work never ceases to amaze.

Jane and Drake lock Benedict in their most heavily fortified cell, in case the papers do strange things to him. Benedict maintains the original filing system, but notes blueprints, diagrams and photographs. He concentrates on the photographs - they all seem to be pictures and people and places from Winterset. By now, even Ben is tired and decides to call it a night. While leaving the cell, Drake accidentally kicks the electric door into reverse and squashes Ben against the wall. Ben has a black eye and superficial cuts and bruises. He opts to spend the night at HQ.

Thursday, 3 May 2001

Jane speaks to her current landlord regarding a larger apartment to cater for her, Danielle and the baby. The only thing on offer is a little out of her price range, so she decides to carry on looking for the time being.

Jane telephones Todd O'Connell to find out whether Dani has forgiven her for their argument of last Saturday. Todd says that Dani has probably recovered enough that she won't just slam the phone down on Jane. Jane tells Todd that she is going to be in New York at the weekend, so she hopes to drop in and make things right with her sister. Todd asks why she will be on the east coast, and Jane can't think quick enough to tell him anything other than the truth. She says that the date is "nothing special" and then proceeds to tell him the details of the president, the opera and so forth. She receives a stony silence and they end the conversation awkwardly.

Danielle is still particularly acerbic when Jane phones her. She comments on Jane's date and the circles that she is now moving in. However, she is still evidently hurt and the approaching due date is doing nothing to mollify her mood. Jane agrees to come and see her on Saturday morning and work things out.

Alex Drake leaves Wichita by plane and returns to Winterset. Saturday is the day of the big race and he wants to be there to compete. Meanwhile, back at HQ, Benedict is the only one doing any work. He has run the nine phone numbers that Drake identified from the speed-dial in the subterranean office.

The first is an international phone exchange; the second and third are unregistered mobile phones; the fourth, fifth and sixth are public phone boxes - one in Phoenix, Arizona, one in El Paso, Texas and one in Pensacola, Florida; the seventh and eighth are car phones - one registered to Elberto Juaress and one to Louis Green; finally, the ninth is a satellite phone not covered by the USA's database.

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