DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Zeke Broda (Grease Monkey / Mechanic)
Ivy Guinness (Outsider / Nurse)
Oz the All Knowing (Mystic / Entertainer)
Nigel Thorne, VC, DSC (Thrill Seeker / Explorer)
At the last minute, Nigel has a change of heart. Instead of pulling the trigger, he pulled out a grenade and, leaving the pin in, throws it at the fleeing guard. Which hits the man in the head and knocks him out cold. The team drags the unconscious man back into the office and ties him up. But unfortunately the other guards have heard and come to investigate. Oz, hiding in the bathroom, manages to fast talk them into leaving, impersonating the guard and saying he's just having some stomach issues. Once the guards leave, Zeke sneaks back out into the warehouse and moves to the edge of the piled crates. Beyond he can see the big bay doors overlooking the river, in front of which are posted four more guards. Above is a large gantry crane, controlled from a small mezzanine in the upper right corner. There is also a large covered hatch in the floor, and a set of stairs going down.
Assuming the information or proof they are looking for is in the basement, the team hatches a plan. They decide to start a fire in the office to draw off the guards, then sneak downstairs. The plan partially works; the fire does attract a few guards, but two remain by the bay doors. So the team charges in, guns raised, and successfully intimidates them into dropping their weapons. Marching their captives before them, the team goes downstairs. Where they immediately run into two more very alert guards. A short gun fight ensues, with one guard going down right away, and the second shot as he ran towards a glassed-in control room at one end of the warehouse. And now the team sees what fills the rest of the space: suspended from the ceiling are huge pressurized canisters. Tubes run from these canisters and flow into huge glass pipes, six feet across and a hundred feet long that contain hand-sized mutated mosquitoes, flying in a green cloud. Airlocks at the end of each tube allow access—in a couple of these are the near-mummified remains of bodies drained of their bodily fluids.
Momentarily there is commotion upstairs, sounds of running feet and the firing of Tommy guns. Figuring they're sprung some sort of trap, the team quickly examines the control room. It is full of dials and gauges of a type that even Zeke can't quite understand. There is also a radio, which Nigel picks up , hoping he can use it to delay the people upstairs. It links, however, to Caduceus headquarters. So Nigel has inadvertently alerted the whole organization to the break-in.
Zeke figures out how to turn on the gas, and starts to over-pressurize the mosquito chambers, meaning to break them and hopefully kills the bugs. At about the same time, a group of men in trench coats and carrying Tommy guns burst into the lower level. Not knowing who they are but assuming the worst, the rest of the team opens fire with gun and grenade, cutting down a few while Zeke sets a dynamite charge to blow a passage out into the East River. His plan is to open an escape route and flood the basement at the same time. The first works, but the water flow is pretty slow and it's likely the mosquitos are going to escape the building. But as the team climbs back into their rowboat and starts back across the river, they hear another round of gunfire and then the warehouse goes up in a massive fireball. At least they've left no tracks behind ...
The team makes it's way back to their hotel, and wait to see what happens next. They read about the explosion in the newspaper, as well as an article identifying them as the 'rogue' team that attacked the Caduceus headquarters a few days earlier. But perhaps the most interesting piece is the announcement, buried on the back pages in the culture section, that the Cobra Crown is about to go on display at the India Museum in Calcutta! Now they really need to get the Serpent Scepter!
First step is to get back in touch with their Mafia connections, to tell them what the team learned at the warehouse (i.e. there are no illegal drugs there) and see what their associates have learned of the Serpent Scepter. After a few days in hiding, their usual driver Lucio knocks on the door and bundles everyone into his car to meet with their handler, Bonventre. Oz hypnotizes their driver, and learns that as far as Lucio knows, the meeting is a safe and friendly one. They arrive back at the Green Garden Cafe just after dark. This time there are just a half dozen mafioso soldiers, and Bonventre sitting alone at a table in the back. He greets the team and offers them a drink, then gets down to business. The tell him their tale, giant mosquitos and all. He does not seem too surprised by that news, and the team learns the trenchcoated men at the warehouse were part of Bonventre's crew, sent to back up/check up on the team. He seems nonplussed by the deaths of his men; just the cost of business.
Pressed to fulfill his end of the bargain, Bonventre pulls back a curtain hiding the end of the bar nbehind him, revealing a very bloody and bruised man tied to a chair. On closer examination, the team realizes it's actually a disguised serpent man. Bonventre thanks the team for the warning that his organization might be infiltrated, and introduces Martino Bresciani aka Hlysa. This was the 'man' who altered the family to the possible presence of drugs in the Redhook warehouse. Bonventre reveals Hlysa works for some organization called the Inner Night, headed by Rose Meadham. His job was to stir up trouble for Caduceus, but Bonventre didn;t learn exactly why. As for the Serpent Scepter, Bonventre tells the team it was stolen from their plane by a man called Canning; and that both Joshua Meadham and Canning have just this day left for Calcutta on urgent business.
Bonventre offers the family's help in getting the team to their plane and out of New York, probably for good. And a short time later, the de Havilland Dragon is in the air and headed for Calcutta ...
No comments:
Post a Comment