Thursday, 3 May 2001
Benedict receives an internal memo from Artemis Black. It states
that it is his unfortunate duty to report that Joshua Blackthorne
is standing down as Assistant Special Agent in Charge. Black sites
Josh's relapse at a recent International Symposium of Psychology
after which Josh had to be rushed to hospital and have his perforated
colon reinflated. Benedict is once again in charge of the team.
He wipes his hands of the smarm that was oozing out of the memo
and goes to move into his new office.
He is just clearing Josh's belongings into a big cardboard box
when he gets a second memo informing him of the creation of the
North-east evidence response team. Based in Augusta, Maine, the
team has jurisdiction over New England. The team comprises Assistant
Special Agent in Charge Doctor Justin Turn (an historian and cryptographer),
Special Agent Penelope Jones (cartographer and survivalist) and
Special Agent Yamamoto Harding (a psychologist of the Black school).
All of them are newbies to evidence response and Benedict despairs
at their life expectancy.
In his office, Benedict can hear a faint whispering in a foreign
(oriental) language. He can hear the sounds of hammer on iron and
is most perplexed by the arid orange/yellow sand that is blowing
into his office, borne on an inexplicable wind. Immediately, he
casts his mind back to the mass grave of railway-worker slaves the
Wichita HQ is built upon - a grave that was disturbed when the Blackcave
was excavated, and by Drake's ill-advised necromancy. It seems evidence
response have a ghost problem. He gets his gun and the enchanted
silver dagger and heads down to the Blackcave to investigate.
Below ground the sounds are louder, and the sand is deeper. A tumbleweed
blows across in front of the coffee machine. He hears voices and
tries to record them on tape (they do not register). "Benedict?
Why aren't you working, boy?" comes the unwelcome redneck drawl
of a nineteenth-century slavedriver. Benedict cannot see him, and
cannot seem to pinpoint where the voice is coming from. The redneck
cracks a whip at Benedict, all the time insulting him. Benedict
tries to locate his attacker, but cannot see him, and now he can
feel the whip hit him across the back.
Using his supernatural abilities, Benedict grows feelers and compound
eyes, and he believes he can now identify where his attacker is
standing. He attacks with the magic knife, fumbles and sends the
weapon thudding into a wall several feet away. Again he feels the
whip. Deciding to cast caution to the wind, Benedict armours up
and causes long (Joker-like) claws to grow on his hands. As he does
so, he is sensible of a second spirit entering the vicinity. This
spirit smells differently than the redneck. The second spirit picks
up the magic knife (it appears to levitate into the air) and plunges
it into the redneck. Benedict sees the sand turn red with blood
and then the Redneck vanishes. "Thank you, Papa Legba"
says the second spirit, before it too leaves.
Benedict is exhausted and has been whipped within an inch of his
life. He checks the security record just to prove that he hasn't
been imagining things and then goes upstairs and collapses on one
of the beds in the dormitory. He will not stir again for several
days.
Jane's plane lands in Washington at about 4:00pm. Unexpectedly,
she is met by chauffeur who says he has been asked to conduct her
to the Belmont Hotel. Although initially suspicious, Jane agrees
and is taken to an extraordinarily swish and expensive suite on
the sixteenth floor of one of Washington's more exclusive hotels.
Jane is completely overwhelmed by these events. The fact that she
is meeting a man for a date for the first time in nine years is
freaking her out, as is the obvious expense Michael Levin has gone
to already. Then she receives a note asking her to dinner at 8:00pm.
She telephones her sister.
As always, Jane does not get much sympathy from Dani. The more
Jane talks the more jealous Dani becomes. But Jane doesn't feel
as though she is in an enviable position. She doesn't know Levin
that well, and even after Apache Joe's death she is not sure she
is ready for this. She also tells Dani of her conversation with
Todd, and how poorly it went. Dani tells Jane that she should tell
Todd she isn't interested in him and put the poor man out of his
misery. Dani advises some physical exercise to take Jane's mind
off things. Jane hits the gym, although she has to deal with a rather
annoying personal trainer.
At 8:00pm Jane is back in the limousine heading to meet Michael
Levin at an exclusive French restaurant. There is a gift for her
in the car: a diamond bracelet to match the necklace she is wearing.
Jane becomes momentarily concerned about this whole turn of events.
What if Levin's interest in her is part of some complicated plot?
What if it is all part of the Game? Is the fact she is falling so
easily for all this why Simon called her the team's weakest link?
She puts all these thoughts out of her mind when she meets Levin
in the restaurant in his private "boof".
The evening with Michael passes very pleasantly and they keep talk
of work to a minimum. Levin is independently wealthy. He is heir
to the Levin Fortune (a serious amount of cash made from oil in
Texas and Alaska). His grandfather still lives, and Levin receives
a monthly allowance - a seven figure monthly allowance. They compare
family histories. Levin's grandfather lives in Texas, his father
is dead but his mother still lives in Orange County. He has one
sister, Mary-Ann who married and works in the company. She doesn't
seem very good at business and was once sued for $50,000,000. Levin
offers to set up a trust-fund for Dani's child and then apologises
for being crass, he is used to solving his problems with money.
The truth is that Levin is a lonely man. He has been in this "business"
for over a decade, his work is his life and he seldom gets the opportunity
to meet anyone. Jane tells him that she hasn't been on a date in
almost ten years - that she didn't even realise this was a date
until her colleagues pointed it out to her. But Jane is lonely as
well. The two of them have more in common than Jane thought.
Friday, 4 May 2001
In Winterset, Drake signs up to the big race on Sunday. There seems
a great deal of interest in the race considering the size of the
track. But maybe that has something to do with Winterset.
Early in the morning in Washington, Michael Levin arrives to collect
Jane. He has brought photographs of Jane's last meeting with President
Bush (from the week she cannot remember). Artemis Black is in all
the photos. Apparently, he told the president that Jane was his
secretary. No such cover-story for her today. She is there as Michael's
guest, and he is there as a representative of the Levin fortune.
Levin pauses to point out the contents on the shelves of the Oval
Office. Bush has a copy of Victim Schmictim on the shelves.
Jane gives an involuntary shudder.
At the White House Jane meets the president and many other bigwigs.
She meets Robert McDaniel, Senator for Michigan and a very wealthy
man. Many of the woman present seem to have taken an immediate dislike
to Jane. This is evidently because Levin is such a desirable catch
and they are jealous - but the whole idea of anyone being jealous
of Jane is so alien to her that their attitude has the agent complete
befuddled.
After a few dull speeches during which the president invents seven
new words, the pair fly to New York and listen to a selection of
songs from famous operas at Carnegie Hall. Then it is off to a party
at the Russian Embassy. Jane is a big hit with Russian ambassador
Gregor Lubchov, and she joins him in a vodka drinking contest. After
several hours only Jane, Lubchov (who Jane insists on calling "Lambchop")
and the head of Lubchov's secret service are still standing. Levin
is leaning against a nearby wall on the verge of passing out. Jane
excuses herself from the ambassador who has been utterly delighted
with her company and returns to her date.
Saturday, 5 May 2001
By 3:00am, Jane and Michael are at Madison Square Garden, following
Jane's suggestion that they go ice skating. However, Levin is flagging
and Jane goes back to the hotel with him. They are sharing a suite.
The pair finish the evening in the communal room with coffee. A
peck on the lips turns into a more lengthy embrace, but Jane doesn't
fight it. She returns to her room alone, and Levin collapses on
the floor next to his bed in an unconscious heap.
After breakfast, Jane smokes the last of the one hundred cigars
she promised Ghede. It worries her how much she has come to like
them, but she trusts in her willpower to stay off them. She agrees
to meet Michael on Sunday morning to see some art galleries and
then heads off to her sister's place, where she tells Dani everything
that happened. Dani greets her sister with a copy of this morning's
New York Post that has Jane on the front page with the president.
Dani is a little put out that Jane turned down the offer a trustfund
from a multi-millionaire, but Jane placates her by discussing what
will happen when Dani moves to Wichita. Jane attempts to lay down
some ground rules about living with Dani. She wants her sister to
appreciate how dangerous her job is. But Jane sounds too much like
their father and Dani isn't listening any more.
Sunday, 6 May 2001
The big race in Winterset starts a little after dawn. Drake speaks
to fellow racer, Murray Williams, who tells him that the race will
be run over sixty laps of the small course. The rules are: don't
hit anyone else, and don't refuel your car. Williams give Drake
a large green helmet. He says that everyone who is racing for the
first time gets to wear one. Drake jumps in his car and everyone
starts their engines.
Drake qualified in last place, but as soon as the race starts he
begins to move up the field. He is in the middle of the pack by
the time he reaches the first bend, his sports car moving effortlessly
to his deft touch. By a quarter of the way around the course he
has moved up to fourth place with only Carl Stuart, David MacClaran
and Murray Williams ahead of him. By half way around he has moved
up into second place, but the leader (Carl Stuart) is pulling away.
As the race continues Drake begins to think he will have to be happy
with second place, as there is no catching Carl. But then the leader
spectacularly misjudges a corner and spins off the course! The finish
line is Drake's for the taking, but Murray Williams inches closer
and closer. It is a photo-finish, but in a complete reversal of
his usual fortune Drake has won! How he loves Winterset!
Drake is given a trophy only a head shorter than he is, and $5000
worth of vouchers for the local autoshop. Lucy Nelson and the other
drivers congratulate Drake for an amazing race as he drenches them
all in champagne. He celebrates for much of the day before returning
to Wichita in the evening.
Jane leaves her sister's house in the morning and meets up with
Michael Levin. They spend an agreeable day hitting museums and art
galleries before they part company. He has to head to Lake Superior
and deal with a Signai-related problem, and Jane has to return to
her own job in evidence response.
Monday, 7 May 2001
An extremely happy Jane and Alex arrive back at HQ in the morning.
They are swapping stories about their weekend when they hear snoring
coming from the dormitory. The find Benedict in the same position
he was when he collapses on Thursday. His shirt is still bloodied
from the whip marks. Benedict tells Jane and Drake everything that
happened. Jane takes him down to the medical bay, carefully removes
his shirt and bathes his wounds. He will definitely scar. Drake
tries to shovel away all the sand littering the HQ, but it seems
to replenish itself. Obviously, sorting out this haunting is moving
up their list of priorities.
Jane telephones Artemis Black's office. Artemis is current in South
Africa, but she asks his secretary (Richard Justice Williams) if
he can recommend a good exorcist. The secretary is rather abrupt.
He says that Valerie Hudson chose the location of Wichita HQ for
a reason, and that the team should take advantage of the situation
just as the west and east coast team have done. Jane reports this
to Ben and suggests that he and Drake use peyote to travel to the
spirit world and sort out the ghosts. Maybe they can organise a
spiritual slave rebellion, and get the Negro and Chinese ghosts
on their side. Benedict doesn't want to agree, but can't think of
a better idea.
As Jane whips up more of the drug, Benedict and Drake look at information
taken from the mine in Winterset. The information seems to be in
two distinct parts. There are star maps - pictures of the night
sky taken over Winterset. But circling some of the stars they seem
to form notes very similar to the Requiem for the Broken.
What this means the agents cannot guess. There are also many occult
symbols that look very similar to those found on Hamblin's time
travelling door. These are linked with pictures of many Winterset
families (including the Lewises). Aside from deciding that this
information was collected by the 'mystic' Signai, they can come
to no further conclusion.
Benedict does discover that the bodies of Juaress and Green were
identified at the Westwood Charity farm in Winterset following the
rescue of Elayna Lewis on 15 November 2000. It is no wonder, therefore,
that their telephones are not working. However, none of the other
numbers Drake identified are working either. On a seemingly unrelated
note, Drake notices that the number #2 on the FBI's most-wanted
list is a man called only "Raphael".
Jane has finished the drug, and administers it to Benedict and
Drake. It takes Drake a while to intone the ritual but eventually
the pair of them vanish to the spirit world. Drake's clothes in
the real world (and spirit world) change to a traditional Cherokee
get-up. The pair find themselves in the spirit world version of
Texas. Drake commands his coyote spirit-guide to lead them to Wichita.
Benedict prays for guidance and summons an extremely ominous looking
storm until Drake tells him to stop.
Drake is of the opinion that Benedict needs his own spirit guide
while he is here. The 'walk' from Texas to Wichita seems like weeks
to Benedict (and a small diversion to fetch water is weeks more)
but Drake seems aggravatingly perky, and from his perspective only
hours have passed. Benedict is unwilling to summon a spirit guide
in case it is against his Catholic religion. However, he does try
to become more in tune with the place, and opens himself up to spirit
habitation. Drake warns him against this.
The pair can now hear the sounds of rail workers. The moment is
upon them. Drake summons a massive spiritual tomahawk (in this and
the real worlds) and the pair begin to incite a rebellion against
those nasty rednecks.
Mid-West Campaign Index
| Previous Session | Next
Session
|
