Missions of the Retrieval Team - The Girl with the Silvery Smile

[davedove]

Scene 15


Executive Officer’s Office, Great Hall of X Marks the Scot


I was sitting in Mike’s office after he had summoned me there. He had been very specific that I was to come alone. He was standing near the window.

“What’s this all about, Mike?” I asked him.

“I have some very special instructions to give you.”

“About our mission?”

“Yes, since it appears that Ivana Rulital may be involved again, I want you to keep an eye out for her.”

“I had figured that out for myself, Mike. Surely that’s not why you called me in here.”

“No, you’re right.” He hesitated a moment, staring out his window. Turning back to me, he sat down in his chair.

He continued. “This is the second time that Globo-Fashion has been stirring up trouble for us. Granted, this time it’s not specifically targeted at any of our members, but we have become involved anyway.”

“Yes, but we’ll stop her again this time.”

“And what about the next time? Or the time after that? Maybe it’s time we did something a little more permanent.”

“What are you saying, Mike?”

“I’m saying that maybe we should eliminate her.”

This comment rocked me back in the chair. “Mike, you can’t mean that. Sure, my team has had to kill in some of our operations, but we’re not assassins. We’re glad to help the League, but if you’re asking us to specifically target someone and murder them, we can no longer work for you.”

“No, of course not,” he sighed. “And I’m glad you said that. You should know, however, that the Moderators just had an emergency meeting where we discussed this very subject. Okay, we won’t ask you to target Ivana. However, there is another alternative. If you should come across her, I want you to capture her. With the technology at her disposal, she could quickly become very dangerous.”

“That we can do. In fact, it would probably be a wise move. Okay, if we encounter Ivana, we will do our best to bring her in. Anything else?”

“Just this, be very careful. With this new technology, her forces can be very dangerous. She no longer has to imprison someone to alter their thoughts. You could be subjected to suggestions and not even know it.”

“My team is always careful, Mike. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of this for you.”

[davedove]

GMan, I'm thinking you'd better take care if the next fashion show is in Denver. Things could get a little dicey.

The same warning could be applied to anyone who lives in that part of the US, say in the same state.

[Panache]

Gee I wonder which of the Mod Squad advocated using Lethal Force?

Somewhere in Norway, Freelander Sporrano tries to look innocent... and fails...

Cheers

Jamie

[SFCRick]

nice job

[davedove]

Scene 19


Convention Center, Denver, Colorado


As Miss Ritchgarl walked away, I sent out a message. “Ms. Starling, I need you at my location. Meet me over by the west wall.”

I then turned to the to kilted gentlemen with me. “Gentlemen, I need you to come with me.”

“What’s going on?” asked Livingston, as we moved toward the west wall of the room.

“Without going into too much detail, you have both been exposed to a mind-altering drug and you need to be treated.”

“What do you mean?” asked Erisianmonkey. “Nobody gave me any drugs.”

“The drug is airborne. You were exposed just by being in the area.”

“What, how do you know this? What were we exposed to?”

We had reached the west wall and I saw Ms. Starling approaching. “Gentlemen, what I am about to tell you is to be kept in strict confidence between us, agreed? It is a matter of importance to Xmarks.”

Both men gave their agreement, so I continued. “My associates and I are on a mission for the League of Moderators. We know that Miss Ritchgarl is involved in a plot to distribute mind influencing drugs and devices. By just being in her presence, you have been exposed.”

“Oh my God,” exclaimed Livingston. “What’s it going to do to us?”

“Mainly it makes you very susceptible to suggestion. Tell me, what do you think of Miss Ritchgarl’s suggestion about the satin shirts?”

“I think it’s a great idea. They would look great with our kilts.”

“And when did you start feeling this way?”

“Why, when Emma suggested it to us. It seemed like a fabulous idea.”

“Exactly, the drug allowed her suggestion to be accepted by you without question. Don’t worry though, the drug does not do any physical damage.”

Ms. Starling had now joined us. “What do you need me for?” she asked.

“These gentlemen have been exposed to hypnotin. I need you to administer the antidote.”

I turned back to the men. “Ms. Starling is one of my associates. Ms. Starling, this is Livingston and Erisianmonkey from Xmarks.”

“A pleasure to meet you gentlemen, too bad it’s in this situation.” She held up a small bottle. “In this bottle is the antidote to the drug. Like the hypnotin, it can be administered through the air you breathe. Hold the bottle up to your nose and breath deeply. The antidote will take affect shortly.”

Livingston took the bottle first and took a deep breath from it. Apparently, the smell was rather potent, as he grimaced and jerked the bottle away from his face.

“I’m sorry I didn’t warn you about that,” said Ms. Starling, “but it is necessary.”

After Erisianmonkey had also taken the antidote, he gave the bottle back to Ms. Starling.

“Gentlemen,” I said. “Since you are now involved, I am going to ask for your assistance.”

[Livingston]

Just let us know what you need, Mr. Dove and we will be more than happy to assist.

[davedove]

Scene 20


Convention Center, Denver, Colorado


After the main benefit, those of us with the special tickets were invited to remain behind. Miss Ritchgarl also made a point to specially invite everyone who was wearing a kilt to also remain, making good on her previous promise.

Ms. Thrush and I were the only members of my team who had the special tickets, so the remainder of my team left the building to ready our transportation. Livingston and Erisianmonkey were going to accompany Ms. Thrush and me. Ms. Starling had given Livingston the bottle of hypnotin antidote in case it was needed.

Ms. Thrush had formulated a plan and we all thought it was brilliant. She had on the choker that she had received. She explained that if Miss Ritchgarl were wearing her perfume, she would also be subject to the hypnotin. Thus, Ms. Thrush should be able to use the choker to influence her.

We first had to wait for the special session to end. Miss Ritchgarl and her entourage made their way around the room, speaking to everyone. She was probably making comments on different clothing combinations, influencing the minds of everyone she spoke to. Fortunately, after the benefit, that influence would be limited to those people in the room and wouldn’t spread to anyone else.

We stayed behind after most of the other guests had left. Miss Ritchgarl noticed us and came over to speak.

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re here,” she said. “I did so want to speak with you about those kilts.”

Ms. Thrush put her plan into action. “Emma, instead of standing around here, it would be so much better if we could go somewhere else to talk. We could sit down, have a few drinks, and talk all we wanted.”

Either the plan was working or Miss Ritchgarl really did think it was a good idea. “That would be marvelous,” she said. “Let me talk with the ladies on my staff.”

Ms. Thrush was quick to respond to that. “By all means, but they don’t need to come along. It would be so much better if we could speak with you alone.”

“You’re right, I don’t need them.” She stepped away to speak with her staff.

“That seemed to work well,” I told Ms. Thrush.

“Yes,” she answered. “I was afraid that she may have had a filter to block the perfume like we did. I guess she figured she wouldn’t need one.”

That did bother me. Why would Miss Ritchgarl allow herself to be subject to the effects of the perfume? She had to know that she would be subjected to its influence at the benefit.

Miss Ritchgarl returned to us. “Okay, I let the girls off for the rest of the night. Where should we go?”

“Let’s slip out the back way,” Ms. Thrush told her. “That way we can avoid the photographers.”

“Great idea, those paparazzi can be so annoying.”

Of course we didn’t tell her that our team was waiting for us. I had arranged for them to meet us at the hotel across the street.

The maze of hallways in the convention center led us to the delivery area. From there we could make our exit.

As we stepped outside, I was suddenly hit over the head and I fell to the ground. At the same time, Ms. Thrush was shoved backwards into Livingston and Erisian, causing them to fall as well.

As I groggily looked up, I saw Miss Ritchgarl being carried away by a large kilted man dressed all in black, except for two bright red letters on the back of his sweater – BM. Stretched over the top of his head was what looked like a large sporran.

Running alongside this man was another kilted man, this one wearing a black kilt. This one had on no headgear and this allowed his long blond hair to flow freely. They were running towards the open door of a delivery van.

Erisianmonkey was the first one on his feet and he took off after the two men.

The big man almost threw Miss Ritchgarl into the van and jumped in after her.

The blond man had to hesitate briefly before he could enter the van and this allowed Erisianmonkey to catch up to him. Just as the man jumped into the van, Erisianmonkey was able to grab the back of his jacket.

Unfortunately, the blond man simply let the jacket slip off of his shoulders and entered the van, leaving Erisianmonkey holding the jacket.

As the van sped away, the blond man leaned out of the open door and shook a rubber chicken at us. I heard him call out, as he drove away, “NOW YOU WILL NEVER STOP ME!!! I HAVE MY QUEEN AND I WILL RULE!!!!!” His maniacal laughter slowly faded as the van drove away.

[davedove]

Scene 21


Convention Center Delivery Entrance, Denver, Colorado


Ms. Thrush quickly activated her radio. “Thrush to flock, we’re at the delivery entrance. Dove is down. Prey has escaped and we need tracker now.”

She quickly turned to Erisianmonkey and pulled a large plastic bag from her purse. “Hold the jacket away from you and bring it here and put it in this bag.”

After he put the jacket into the bag, she sealed it and handed the bag back to him. “Hang on to this. Ms. Starling will want to examine it.”

She turned back to where Livingston and I were seated on the pavement. Livingston had been doing a quick examination of my head where it had been struck.

“How is it?” she asked.

“I don’t see any broken skin or bleeding, but I imagine he’s going to have quite a bump there,” Livingston answered her.

“How do you feel?” she asked me.

“A bit woozy,” I answered her, “but I should be okay in a little bit. Big Mikey really packs a punch.”

Just then the rest of my associates arrived. Ms. Swan quickly set up her laptop to monitor the tracking device that Ms. Thrush had managed to plant on Miss Ritchgarl.

Ms. Starling came up to us. “So, what happened?”

“It was Grant and his crew,” I answered. “They jumped us and took off with Miss Ritchgarl.”

“So, they’re working together?”

“I don’t think so,” answered Ms. Thrush. “It really didn’t look to me like Emma was going along willingly. She seemed to be struggling when Big Mikey carried her away.”

“This is going to change the mission,” I said. “Let’s head back to the hotel and we can go over the information we have.” I turned to Livingston and Erisianmonkey. “Gentlemen, I would like you to come with us. You may have noticed something that we missed.”

[Wompet]

As the van sped away, the blond man leaned out of the open door and shook a rubber chicken at us. I heard him call out, as he drove away, “NOW YOU WILL NEVER STOP ME!!! I HAVE MY QUEEN AND I WILL RULE!!!!!” His maniacal laughter slowly faded as the van drove away.

So, Emma Ritchgirl looks like a young Sissy Spacek?

Somewhere a large, shaggy dog cocks his head to the side at the thought of Grant's follies, then ambles off to use the jeweled collar he recently obtained in Toronto to get an extra serving of steak ...

[Erisianmonkey]

I love fiction. I get to be an active hero type! Yes! I'm glad Greg gave me the heads up that I was in this, as I haven't been on the forum much lately. Let's see, equipment check. Twin katanas, throwing knife, recently finished multi-pocket camo kilt, ranger vest loaded with various electronic gadgets. I'm ready for anything.