ESPION - the game of spies

[Festy_Dog]

As Elz approached Carl noticed her go through the motions of concealing the bulk of her weapons, and bulk they certainly had. It takes considerable skill for a woman to wield a pair of pistols the size of Desert Eagles. Carl learned soon after meeting Elz that she was easily capable of handling the pair of big .45s though, so it was almost reassuring to notice that she was carrying them now in wake of the chaos from minutes ago. That and she seemed to have good taste in gun manufacturers, which earned her points in Carl's book.

"Where to first?" she asked, "If there is nothing else to wrap up in town, I called ahead and have a UN jet waiting for us at La Guardia. We will have to share the trip with the Italian ambassador, Francesco Paolo Fulci, but it's the best I could get on such short notice. My guy in his security retinue has promised us seats. We have three hours to get there. With this traffic, that gives us about an hour to kill."

"I for one, wouldn't think ill of getting something to eat before taking a transcontinental flight, but if we have more important things to do a luxury like eating can wait I guess," Carl suggested, and his stomach's rumble was muffled by the engines of the procession of cars leaving the carpark at a seemingly glacial speed.

If he wasn't eating now then airport vending machines would have to do the job. Carl mentally counted how much change he remembered being in his wallet as he glanced around for a sign of Marcus.

 

[Tonguez]

Marcus frantically tapped away at the keypad on the outer doors and then obviously satisfied stepped back and followed after Elz grinning laciviously at the sway of her hips as she lead the way ahead of him. Marcus knew she was as deadly with a psitol as anyone he knew and so would never be so brazen in front of her - but from behind, well that was fair game.

Grinning at the fun of it all Marcus joined the crew and nodded when Elz indicated that she had arranged a ride to Italy for them.

"We'll need gear when we get to Rome" Marcus muses "Especially if we plan a trip through the alps. Do we know what the situation with our Italian contacts is like, its not going to be easy with the places crawling with police and military.
Maybe we should stock up on this side first..."

 

[shadowbloodmoon]

Jason nodded as he listened to Elz explain what she had done to get them transport to Italy and their investigation. Carl's voice interrupted his thoughts when it voiced his own concern as well. Jason hadn't eaten in some time.

"I agree with Carl. Let's grab a bite to eat, and then we can go and secure some equipment. Marcus, where do you plan on getting said equipment? You just locked us out of the building."

Jason looked at Marcus expectantly. He was still shaking his head at catching Marcus eyeing Elz's assets. She was a pretty girl, but they had more important things to worry about at the moment.

 

[Bobitron]

"I have a few contacts in Italy who can get us gear. I'm not too concerned; they should be able to get us anything we need. I helped St. Claire set up an emergency account in Zurich for circumstances like this. I'll have to check the account, but it should still have nearly $2 million in it after the Czech mission."

Elz once again dials a number on her phone, entering a complex series of passcodes. "All set. We can access it from nearly any post in Italy or Switzerland without issues. All of our names are on the account. They will ask a for specific piece of personal information as well as your ID to get anything out."

Putting her cell into a pocket, she crosses her arms and looks up at the clear sky. "Look at that sky. Hard to imagine what it looks like in Roma right now."

Elz shrugs her shoulders in a nonchalant manner. "No use dwelling on it now. Where should we go to eat?"

 

[Tonguez]

"Marcus, where do you plan on getting said equipment? You just locked us out of the building."

Jason looked at Marcus expectantly. He was still shaking his head at catching Marcus eyeing Elz's assets. She was a pretty girl, but they had more important things to worry about at the moment.

"Don't worry about geting back inside if we need to" Marcus grins in reply, a dopey grin which reveals that he knows he's been caught with other things on his mind "it may not be easy but there's always a backdoor somewhere, the trick is knowing where to find it...

Anyway" he continues as Elz makes her calls "the stuff we need can still be got before we get to the airport and if the contacts come through we should have everything we need on the otherside too. But just incase..."

Marcus pulls a PDA from his pocket then and his fingers quickly dance over the keyboard txting a message so an unspecified contact "there we go, should be waiting for us when we get to the airport. Okay McD's, Wendy's? KFC?"

 

[shadowbloodmoon]

Jason watches Marcus make one of his contacts. He was right of course, there was always a back door. No matter what you were trying to get into.

"All the money we make and you want fast food?" Jason sighed. He couldn't disagree with a quick bite to give them time to get where they were going. "I guess KFC will do. I could go for some popcorn chicken."

 

[Bobitron]

"All the money we make and you want fast food?" Jason sighed. He couldn't disagree with a quick bite to give them time to get where they were going. "I guess KFC will do. I could go for some popcorn chicken."

Elz nods her agreement. "Chicken sounds good. I know a little place where we can have some peace, though." They cross the street and turn south for a few blocks, eventually entering a building with a 'Home Cooking' sign above the door. "Papa Carlos! Hey, old man. You have a table for us?"

Ordering a collection of deep-fried goodness, she finds them a table. The crowds are thin, with most people too shocked and trying to get home. The small TV in the kitchen plays the same images over and over, a small mushroom cloud rising above the dome of the Colosseum, and then a wave of force knocking out the camera. Elz sighs and reaches over, turning off the set.

"OK. We have a few minutes, so we should talk this out. Let's go over what we know and see if we missed anything."

 

[Festy_Dog]

"It feels as though there's more to it. Was Berlusconi really the target when the Vatican was taken with him? How much collateral are we looking at?" Carl asks, before eating a mouthful of his food and continuing, "They certainly didn't need a nuclear device for the job though. It's like some kind of over-the-top show of power. Is there some kind of message being conveyed in the simultaneous destruction of the Vatican? It would be very interesting to see if anyone actually claims responsibility for this."

Carl found the matter to certainly not be as clear cut as he would have hoped, but perhaps the meeting of some of ESPION's highest ranking minds in that small diner could arrange the details of the event into a more coherent whole.

 

[shadowbloodmoon]

Jason nods as he listens to the group put the facts on the table, then he adds his own. "My people were telling me that the Romas, you would know them better as Mafia, had been stockpiling weapons and equipment in a large scale. This is something unheard of in some time for these guys. Whatever they were preparing for, they wanted it to be discreet because all the weapons were third party." Jason paused for a moment, gathering the rest of his thoughts.

"Berlusconi had secret contacts with the Romas. If my sources are correct, he had made a few deals to help get him back into power. We all know that there were more than a few people that wanted to prevent that from happening. My guess is that one of those groups decided to make a double statement. The Romas must have known about it because it seems they were preparing to fill a power vacuum. Somehow the two connect."

 

[Tonguez]

"So any sign on what side the Mafia is on?" Marcus ponders over a steaming bowl of mochacinno whilst waiting for his chicken "they have connections to the Vatican right? so its unlikely they would want to see the place destroyed unless something really major is going on.

I still don't know who this Boneta woman is or how a abandoned Monsatery of a 700 year old heretic connects to anything. But it looks like getting to Rome and whats left of Vatican city might be our only way of finding out.

Then of course we need to know how ESPION fits in and what the hell happened to St Claire"