Thursday 18 June 2009
Nemesis Play Thread 1
You set the centrifuge spinning with the vial containing the drug called Demon Blood to prep a solution for analysis and head on over to Brewers Hill. It is a cool evening, overcast and windy and you reach the precinct house just as the last of the red is fading from the sunset. The desk officer lets you through and offers you a coffee from the machine behind the desk.
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I smile, taking the coffee, ask her how her grandmother's doing now that they have her on the new medication, all the while looking for a good path through the desks of the large open-plan area to best get a look at the desks. All I need is a name... I plan to move quickly and purposefully, getting a look at all the information I can - computer screens, noticeboards with evidence and victim maps, open files, file covers - and then head back out.
ReplyDeleteThe desk you are looking for is obvious because of the missing persons leaflets pinned to the cubicle walls around it. You see lists of names and locations, most of which are from here in Brewers Hill in the last few weeks.
ReplyDeleteYou head back out with no fuss and the woman at the desk doesn't even look up from her paper work. It's dark outside and you can feel it will turn into a cold night.
I get a name that I can use, and head back out into the night, turning my collar up against the chill. Time to head to the Brewer's Market Station. I time it to get there around 9:30 pm, when the hookers will be working but not yet very busy. I'll approach a group of three or four, and say "Good evening, ladies." with a smile on my face.
ReplyDeleteThe women turn to you as one and make no secret of sizing you up for a moment and then the tall blonde in the middle of the trio says,
ReplyDelete"What can I do for you honey?"
Some homeless guys in the lot on the other side of the road are starting a fire in an old drum and a shady looking guy is leaning against a nice looking car (too nice for this areas population) about 10 meters down the road from where the women are standing. He is trying to make it look like he is not looking at you with interest.
OOC: The name that stuck out at you was Pamela Dean. She is 21 and has been missing for a week and a half. She was raised in a pretty nice neighbourhood on the otherside of the city. You got a quick look at her rap sheet and she has been picked up a few times for drugs and prostitution.
I smile winningly, and say "Well, I am looking for some warmth and comfort. Who wouldn't want that on a cold night like this?" I gesture vaguely at the world as I say this, and use my turn to look at the registration number of the car, consigning it to memory.
ReplyDeleteThen I refocus on the girls, lowering my voice: "but to tell the truth, I was looking for someone in particular. I haven't seen her in over a week."
I wait to see how they react to that.
The man leaning on the car takes out a cigarette and taps the butt on the packet as he looks away across the street.
ReplyDeleteAll three women look away from you when you mention you haven't seen her for a while. Looking at the ground, the blonde says,
"Who you lookin' for hon?"
A dog starts barking in a frenzy not far away.
I lower my voice and say "Someone the police haven't cared enough to find: Pamela Dean."
ReplyDeleteThe blonde sighs and scuffs the toe of her boot back and forth as she looks down at the ground, obviously struggling with what she should tell you. She looks up at stares into your eyes almost like she is looking for something. After a few seconds you see the corners of her mouth relax and she sighs again.
ReplyDelete"We haven't seen her for more than a week. She finished for the night and went home, but she never came back the next afternoon."
"So she was headed home. Which was is that? Which was would she have gone? I'm sorry that I have to ask, but Pamela deserves to have someone looking to find her, at least to find out what happened."
ReplyDeleteI shoot a surreptitious glance back at the guy by the car.
"And you ladies... I really believe it isn't safe for you to be out alone. You should get home, and get home together. Don't be out alone."
"She normally goes North along Trelair boulevard," she says, pointing.
ReplyDelete"Sometimes she crosses over to the el-train a few blocks up, but only when she is in a hurry or when it's light."
A dog starts barking frenziedly in the direction she is pointing. The homeless guys are talking loudly around their now blazing drum fire. A car slows down and the driver leans out to look at the girls and then drives on.
"Thank you. I'll find her, or find out what happened to her. Remember what I said: don't go home alone."
ReplyDeleteI'm going to head in the direction that was indicated, north along Trelair Blvd. However, when I get to the corner of Brewer's Market and Trelair Blvd, I'm going to duck into the shadows and wait a while, observing the women, and the man who was standing by the nice-looking car. If he heads in their direction, I'll stick around and see if I need to get involved. If he doesn't do anything, then I'll head north and look for spots along the route that would be good places for an ambush.
The dog (further north) barks frenzidly for a full minute and then tails off into the occaional loud warning bark. You watch the man from the shadows for a little while and the only thing he does is light a cigarette and adjust his position on the car.
ReplyDeleteYou head off along Trelair noting a few possible places for ambush, but also noticing that it is a residential area and so not perfect for an undetected crime. The dog has also stopped barking.
Further along Trelair you can see the beginnings of light industry. You know that this area known as Clairvale is full of factories.
I recall her address: was she in Clairvale or on Trelair? I also try to work out from the sound quality where the dog might have been: was he on the main street? Or was he further north again?
ReplyDeleteOOC sorry about the wait. The Chinese government hates blogspot.
ReplyDeleteShe is a few blocks over (parallel to Trelair) and on the other side of Clairvale. The dog was just around here you think. Maybe one building further along or so.
The frenzied barking bothers me. I take a few moments to center myself, isolate where I heard the barking, and what other sounds there were. Was the dog in the house or the yard? I go that way, quietly, trying to see if I can see anything out of place that would bother the dog.
ReplyDeleteIf I find or notice nothing, I head in the direction of Clairvale.
You move down a path between two small blocks of flats and can see the dog. It is a large German Sheppard and looks well looked after. It is sniffing around the bottom of a fence that is in the direction you were going, albeit off to the side a bit.
ReplyDeleteRelying on that way people just accept me as familiar wherever I am, and hoping it extends to animals, I move to the fence where he is sniffing, and look at the dog (injured, uninjured, curious, disturbed) and the fence (damaged, undamaged, stained, clean). I intend to go over the fence if I don't notice anything on this side.
ReplyDeleteThe dog looks at you and then goes back to the fence. There are a lot of scratch marks on the fence and some blood. It looks like this is all the work of the dog and you suspect that it was trying to get at something that was on the other side of the fence.
ReplyDeleteI slip on a pair of gloves, hop up onto the fence, brace myself at the top to get a look down, then drop down on a free spot of ground.
ReplyDeleteThe wind has picked up a little and you are on a street that is mixed businesses and residential. There is no one around, although you get the feeling you are being watched.
ReplyDeleteI take a moment to center myself, try to see if I'm just uneasy or if I really am under observation.
ReplyDeleteI then look for clues.
The feeling fades after a moment, but you here movement in the industrial complex across the road. You take a good look but don't see enything. You cross the road and peer through the gate, but still nothing, then a loud crash followed closely by a gun shot. You don't spot the muzzle flash, but get the idea that it came from an area that is filled with the pipes, storage tanks and catwalks that make up a chemical processing section of the factory. The section is large, at least few acres and it is tightly packed with pipes in all directions, almost like a forest.
ReplyDeleteI move forward fast but light on my feet, trying to stick to the shadows.
ReplyDeleteYou vault the fence easily and make a quick series of short rapid dashes from shadow to shadow, avoiding the security lights. Another muzzle flash but no noise came from the third level of a series of catwalks surrounding some processing equipment. You turn to get a better look and you see movement there. Someone (person shaped) is moving fast in the dark up there, directly away from you on the fourth level of the catwalks.
ReplyDeleteNot only was the person fast, but they looked quite big and bulky.
Steroid bulky, or fat bulky? Watching him/her, I move to the nearest ladder or set of stairs, and start to climb.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely muscly bulky. You start climbing and when you almost reach the third level you stop as footsteps are quietly hurrying in your direction. You peer over the edge in time to see two uniformed men with strange (high tech looking) guns, advanced nightvision gear and ballistic armour moving past your spot. They head up the stairs just near you to the fourth level.
ReplyDeleteThere is a scream from somewhere up there too. It is agonised and mercifully short. As the men hear the scream, they halt for a moment, look at each other and then head up the stairs.
Moving as swiftly as I can without making too much noise, I climb to the fourth level (if that's the highest).
ReplyDelete