ESPION - the game of spies

[shadowbloodmoon]

The rush of chaos had slowly ebbed as more of the people that were on this level had been herded to the elevators to get to the surface. Between him and Carl, they had been able to somewhat keep the group from trampling each other. Jason thought about Carl's question for a moment. The last order he got from St. Claire was the message about a meeting on Thursday and to dig up some dirt from Italy. At the moment, it seems that dirt had been glassed over. AT least according to the message on the computer screen.

Jason thought for a moment, in between sending desk drivers on their way. The only thing we have to go on is this computer message. If something like that happened, the news would have it too.

"Carl, you have this? I have to go and check something. I'll be right back."

Without waiting for a reply, Jason headed back to the commissary, the only place that had a TV on this level. The thing was currently turned off. The place itself was deserted. Jason hesitated for a moment, knowing that if the message was true, what he would see is video of a mushroom cloud over what was left of Rome and pictures of the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the media liked to use those to compare what happens in a nuclear blast. Steeling himself for the worst, he turned the television on.

 

[Tonguez]

Marcus had managed to override the Espions automatic systems and that at least would keep the elevators working until they got all the non-required personel out of the building. All of them knew the standing orders in a Defcon event, they would scatter before making their way back in to a designated checkin.

Looking up Marcus could see the other Waves taking charge shepherding the lower level personel out to the elavators. "good work' he said to noone in particular "a few more minutes and we switch over"

The internal systems meant that Espion would be cut off from the outside and would become a selfcontained operations center. Marcus had never seen that in action but had heard rumours and legend about it. Of course only a Star could switch back once that had been done and with St Claire's disaapearance Marcus wasn't keen of having to rely on rumour and legend for his future wellbeing.

Staving off the switch as long as he could he turned his attention to St Claires office seeking out whatever clues he could on what might have happened. Did it have anything to do with Thursday. What were the files St Claire was focussing on and what if anything was contained on his computer.

Marcus sat down and tried to get into Espions best kept secrets

 

[Bobitron]

Rushing up the wide stairs that led to the UN, Elz was forced to jostle and push her way through dozens of faceless office workers. She finally made it to the main floor, and was greeted by a scene of chaos. The main floor of the UN was a disaster area, with diplomats and clerks running about with no obvious goals. Glancing towards the front doors, she saw the blue sky over New York through the gaps of the buildings. Well, that's a good thing.

Grabbing a running man wearing an impeccable blue suit by the arm, she spun him around to a stop. What's this guys name again? Liuzzi? Luzzia? She recognized him from the Italian ambassador Francesco Paolo Fulci's security retinue.

"What's going on, Liuzzi? Have you heard anything?"

Liuzzi turned his eyes, cold and grey, to stare Elz square in the face. She saw something there that instantly raised her guard; not really fear, but more of a complete lack of hope with an edge of terror at the inevitablity. "A small nuke went of at the Vatican. It wasn't large, probably man-portable. No one knows who is responsible. Most of the Vatican was wiped out, including the new Pope and most of the cardinals. Berlusconi's Maserati was passing by as it exploded. They haven't found a single living member of his convoy yet."

Liuzzi turned to leave. "I need to go. Fulci is waiting for me. We are leaving for Rome in 20 minutes." He pulled out a business card and hastily scrawled a number on it. "Call me later. I'll share whatever I can."

 

[shadowbloodmoon]

There it was. A crater was all that remained of the Vatican and its surrounding buildings. From the looks of it, the weapon had to be in the tactical range, probably something homemade. How they got it into the Vatican unchecked would have to be investigated, but Jason thought he already knew. That Berlusconi character had just returned to power and according to Race, all the mafiosos had bought up a ton of firepower from third party vendors. This was a bid for power. Somebody had pulled the reins behind this one. The question was, who had that much clout with them?

Returning to the main office area, he saw that Carl had finished removing all the unessentials. All that remained were him, Marcus and Jason himself. That and the current mess of computers, folders, overturned desks and other such things. Jason headed over to St. Claire's office where he saw Marcus furiously typing at the computer.

"Find anything interesting?" Thinking for a moment, he asked another question. "What did security say?"

 

[Festy_Dog]

Carl hung up the phone, and strode over to a computer. He assumed he had time enough to check a couple of things. The more he read, the more he felt he should be in Italy. That was where it was all happening at the moment. He couldn't really do much until he was told to do something though, and it had become painfully clear that St. Claire wasn't nearby to give any commands. Jason and Marcus were over in the Director's office, discussing something. Carl wanted to make himself useful, but none of his strengths really applied to the situation. He decided to give some thought to the political situation before they left the building.

He uprighted a discarded chair and sat in it. Eastern politics was what he focused on but St. Claire had force fed him everything else he wanted him to know. Berlusconi had been killed in the explosion apparently, but it would seem the explosion itself originated from within the Vatican. Who's enemies was he looking for? Berlusconi had a slew of enemies, which naturally came with being so disliked, and trying to pin down who did it would take considerable time. With the recent attention on him, people would assume the explosion would have been meant for him. If it wasn't, he was an ideal red herring. Carl decided to do some digging into enemies of the Vatican, and the new, or rather, now deceased Pope's past once things here had settled down.

"I think I'm making some progress with that nuke!" he called across to Marcus and Jason.

 

[Tonguez]

Returning to the main office area, he saw that Carl had finished removing all the unessentials. All that remained were him, Marcus and Jason himself. That and the current mess of computers, folders, overturned desks and other such things. Jason headed over to St. Claire's office where he saw Marcus furiously typing at the computer.

"Find anything interesting?" Thinking for a moment, he asked another question. "What did security say?"

Looking up Marcus siad nothing for a moment his face seeming almost blank before he refocussed and saw Jason standing in the office doorway

"security? - oh security. I haven't heard from them" Marcus replied realising what had been asked "sorry I'm just trying to work out what St Claire was focussing on, the files are a bit jumbled but there's a file on the italian 'Berlusci' or whatever his name is.

This one mentions a Na Prous Boneta, female, no picture. St Claires written a note that links her to the Monastary of St Olivi. I was just working on the maps not long ago, its in the Swiss alps the Nazi's used it to hold POWs for a while and the partisans used for a while too.

So is it true? " he pauses then taking a deep breath to steel his nerves "has The Vatican been destroyed by a nuclear blast?..."

 

[Bobitron]

"So is it true? " he pauses then taking a deep breath to steel his nerves "Has The Vatican been destroyed by a nuclear blast?..."

Elz peeks her head around the corner next to Jason. "Looks like it's true. I called a couple of my people in Rome, but haven't gotten a response yet." Elz's forhead wrinkles as she grimaces. "My grandmother is going to be inconsolable."

"NOCS is going to be going nuts right know, but I'm going to try and reach Lt. Beccia at the HQ. We served together in the Balkans for a while, I know he can be trusted. It might take me a while."

Elz backs away from the doorway and starts furiously dialing numbers on her cell, barking out short conversations in Polish, Russian, Spanish, and Italian.

 

[shadowbloodmoon]

Jason was just getting up the nerve to let Marcus know that yes, the Vatican was gone, along with most of that small city-state, when Elz returned and answered for him. "Yeah, what she said. It's gone." He paused. "I've never heard of that woman, but do you think we should be paying a visit to this monastery?" Not expecting an answer right away, he looked over at Carl seeming to make some sort of progress.

Jason nods as Elz tells them what she is going to do. Perhaps her contacts will tell her some information that he can add to his. He decided to play his hand. "Carl, Berlusconi had contacts within the Romas. You might want to follow that train of thought."

Jason turned back to Marcus, this time expecting an answer. "Feel like skiing the Alps?"

 

[Bobitron]

Elz wraps up her call and walks up to Jason and Marcus. She speaks loud enough so that Carl can hear as well.

"Good news. I talked to my guy in NOCS. He was reluctant to part with any info, but a few choice words opened him up quickly enough." A small, sly smile expressed her satisfaction. "He said that they had been watching Berlusconi's detail because of a few recent threats from a couple different sources, including a strange one by an extremist Christian group. When I mentioned Boneta, he was stunned. Wouldn't say another word over the phone. He said he could meet us along with a contact from the Stern unit of the Bern canton. I'm to contact him later for the place in Switzerland, somewhere in the Alps. The man's name is Lt. Armin Barillon. He was working with the Italians regarding the case."

She raised an eyebrow and paused. "Olivi? He was a prophet of the apocolypse, right? Some sort of rebel monk who talked about the Church and the Pope being Babylon or the antichrist?"

 

[Tonguez]

She raised an eyebrow and paused. "Olivi? He was a prophet of the apocolypse, right? Some sort of rebel monk who talked about the Church and the Pope being Babylon or the antichrist?"

"Thats him Marcus nodded in affirmation tried as a heretic but let off after some clever arguments. It was after his death that his tomb was destroyed and his followers were persecuted. That was mainly in France though, which probably explains how the monastary survived. Its been empty for a couple hundred years though, with only sporadic use until the Nazi's moved in during World War two. New activity started about three years ago and the watchdogs have been keeping an eye on it"

He paused then trying to get pass the encrypted codes in St Claires security systems "skiing the Alps might be fun..."