Missions of the Retrieval Team - Kilts in a Cage

[Livingston]

Jamie, I sure hope you decided to send some others out to follow Mr. Dove.

[The F-H.C.A.G.]

Jamie, Snip...

Thank you for getting it right! Dave, who is this Jaime you keep talking about? Jamie would have called in an air strike long ago and gotten rid of all those, not already killed by myself. Dave, haven't you ever seen The Avengers?

Be well,

[davedove]

Thank you for getting it right! Dave, who is this Jaime you keep talking about? Jamie would have called in an air strike long ago and gotten rid of all those, not already killed by myself. Dave, haven't you ever seen The Avengers?

Be well,

Ah, but I have seen that Jaime is a man of honor and would not endanger any innocents that may be in the area, namely the captured villagers.

Now, if he knew the villagers were safely out of the area......

[davedove]

Scene 30

Yucatan Wilderness

After the General disappeared into the wilderness, the guards motioned for us to stand together.

My mind was racing. I didn’t see any way for us to get out of this situation, or at least not all of us. I began to slowly position myself forward of Ms. Stork and Coemgen. Perhaps when the shooting started, I could buy them a few seconds.

The guards raised their rifles. I braced myself to try and draw their fire.

Suddenly, the trees exploded with action. Dozens of poorly dressed people burst forth and swarmed over the guards, overpowering them.

A man stepped forward. Although he showed the strain of being overworked and underfed, I could still see the strength of his spirit shining through.

He extended his hand to me. “Are you all right?” he asked in Spanish, but with an odd accent.

“Yes, thank you,” I answered. “We are grateful for your timely arrival.”

“We are happy to come to the aid of the beautiful woman who befriended my aunt, Rosalina, the same beautiful woman who freed us from our captivity.”

Ms. Stork stepped forward to greet the man, speaking with his dialect. “I am Rebecca. You must be Miguel. Rosalina spoke of you.”

“Miss Rebecca, I am so pleased to speak with you and so pleased I could help you. After we escaped the General’s compound, those of us who were strong enough stayed behind to help those who had helped us. I am so sorry the General got away.”

“Do not apologize,” I said to him. “We owe you our lives.”

“As we owe ours to you,” he said. “But we can help you one more time.” He pointed to the west. “The busses you arrived in are about two kilometers in that direction.”

We thanked the villagers again, and crossed through the wilderness to the busses. Oddly enough, inside the busses, we found not only the keys, but all of our gear as well.

Coemgen searched through the gear and pulled out his pith helmet. He sighed as he placed it on his head.

“I say,” he said, in an accent a deep as any Georgia gentleman, “I do feel much better now.”

Ms. Stork and I both laughed at the pleased expression on his face.

“Ms. Stork,” I said, “find the phone and contact the team. Have them come to our location with medical assistance. Meanwhile, let’s take these busses back to the others.

Each of us took the wheel one of the busses and we drove them to where Jaime and the others had gathered.

As we approached I saw him direct the others to cover on the side of the road. He crouched down with a rifle and kept it trained on the bus as I pulled up.

I stopped the bus alongside him and opened the window. Jaime relaxed when he saw that I was driving.

“Anybody need a ride?” I asked.

[davedove]

Commercial Break

Great Hall of X Marks the Scot

We hear a voice from down a hallway. “Arlen, do you have the figures for the budget yet?”

A man with close-cropped hair comes running down the hall with a notebook.

Form the other end of the hall we hear another voice. “Arlen, I need that book on pre-Roman highland culture.”

Another voice calls out. “Arlen, do you have that information on the fabled stinging butterfly yet.”

Yet another voice calls out. “Arlen, I need the comparative analysis of the schemes of the different Bond villains now.”

The man looks completely harried from all the different requests, and looks like he doesn’t know which way to turn.

We hear the narrator’s voice. “Have you ever felt this way? Do you have so many requests for information that you can’t keep up? We have a way to help.”

The scene changes to a close-up of a handheld computer.

The narrator continues. “The new Intelli-Quest from Freelander Electronics allows you to access your records from anywhere in your office. Its wireless interface connects to your office network from anywhere in the building and displays the response to your query on the handheld screen. No longer do you have to leave that important meeting to return to your office, simply because you forgot something, or your boss asks for something you didn’t anticipate.”

The scene changes back to the man in the hallway and we hear another voice. “Arlen, where is that treatise on medieval Scottish music?”

The man pulls out his Intelli-Quest and punches in a query. A few seconds later, he calls out, “Right here, sir.”

The scene changes back to a close-up of the handheld.

The narrator speaks. “The Intelli-Quest from Freelander Electronics, all your information at your fingertips, always.”

[Standard]

Man I need one of those.

[davedove]

Scene 31

Roadway on the Mayan Riviera

After loading the rest of our group onto the busses, we drove out of the wilderness until we got to the main road to Cancun. We had just pulled onto the highway when the helicopter appeared in the sky, flying south towards us.

A familiar voice came over the bus radio. “Dove, Stork, this is Starling. Is that you we see coming up the road?”

I picked up the microphone. “This is Dove. Yes it is. We’ll pull of to the side. Set down near us. We’ve got some wounded aboard.”

“Roger,” she answered. “Setting down near you. I’ll see you on the ground. Starling, out.”

We pulled the busses to the side of the road. The helicopter approached and landed as safely as it could. When it touched down, Ms. Starling opened the door and jumped out, followed by Ms. Hawk and Ms. Raven.

We in the busses helped our wounded out so they could be loaded onto the helicopter. I saw that Dee had finally regained his senses.

“What happened?” he asked.

“According to the others, you took a pretty good blow to the head,” I answered.

“The children?”

“They’re fine. Grant and his men got them out.”

Ms. Starling came up to me as the wounded were being loaded. “Sorry we couldn’t get here sooner,” she said.

“You’re here now. The other two are in the back of the last van.”

I got Jaime’s attention and he grabbed Coemgen. The two men joined us behind the last van. Ms. Stork opened the door from inside. Lying on the floor were two bodies, covered in sheets.

“Who were they?” asked Ms. Starling.

“Two new members,” answered Jaime. “Michael Newface and Peter Recruit. They had just joined on the cruise.”

The four of us loaded the two men as discretely as we could onto the back of the helicopter.

“Okay,” I told Ms. Starling, “Get them to care. We will take the busses with the others to Cancun and arrange transportation.”

“No need,” she said. “I contacted the other Moderators. Todd is bringing the Saltire down to transport you all to the Great Hall.”

“Good work, I’ll see you there.”