A Hunt (Attn. Alex)
On the surface this was deceptively simple, but when the Elder said she'd test him Ambrose was certain that meant more than a simple run and fetch. But, he wasn't going to jump to conclusions and go in guns blazing, nor was he going to go in unarmed either. A shoulder holster was neatly hidden under his sports coat. He wasn't terribly fond of them, but he could try being subtle.
Settling into his truck he studied the name and the address again. Not a lot to be learned there so he spent a few long silent moments studying his partner/supervisor. Far too flash, just the sort he wouldn't trust. On the other hand Mai had enough faith in him to send him on this mission, which counted for a great deal. That and it wouldn't due to have them suspicious of each other so let's do this, he decided and waited some what impatiently for him to get in so they could get rolling.
"When ever you're ready."Â?
'Pretty boy' he added silently to himself. See he kept his mouth shut, he could be civil. It was a little harder than usual, it had been a long time since Ambrose had a job like this and it brought back a lot of memories and it made him feel rather... intent. Once they were moving, had a plan, he'd feel better. He always had in the past.
The inside of warehouse would have been spacious except for the partitions and artificial rooms made within it. This entry section was wide enough though to hold at least a dozen people before it split off into narrow corridors leading to make shift areas.
Turning towards the two men, Stewart waited silently for an explanation as to why they were here.
Ambrose was still with him which was a small comfort. But the guard who let them enter the building just stood there, waiting.
That was either a good thing, or a bad thing. Or nothing at all. Or something. Alexander forced himself to smile. Everything is a test. You are doing the bidding of the Elder of the Hunt after all.
"Suitable rooms for questioning subject?" Alexander asked cautiously.
All things considered, he didn’t appreciate the silent treatment, but he wasn’t about to pick a fight either. Rather he waited to see what Slick here was going to do. This waiting thing was rather novel for Ambrose and he wasn’t sure he liked it. If nothing else he now knew even thinking about working for the Night had been a bad idea.
He nodded and moved ahead of them down the corridor to the left. Opening one of the first doors, Stewart stepped out of the way. Inside was a blank grey room with a table and several chairs. It looked very much like the interrogation rooms of the local police station, on purpose. There was a mirror with a viewing room attached to watch the transaction.
"If you need something more 'medieval' then I can get you another room."Â?
It was possible that the sleeping woman was another vampire or a trained spy or any of a number of things that might be hard to crack. They did have the facilities here to handle anyone or anything...for however long it took. Stewart was willing to set them up with whatever they needed, no questions asked.
"This will do fine." said Alexander.
"If you can provide them I would like a tape recorder and tapes. A small medical table with syringes filled with water and small vials. A briefcase and folder. any kind will do, filled with blank paper and some pens. A pitcher of cold water and three glasses."
Alexander paused as he entered the room.
"And a pair of handcuffs with the keys if you can. Thanks very much."
Either way it sounded like their door opening counter part was going to need some help.
“You’ll be alright if I give him a hand?”
He looked back to the other fella, and realized they’d not exchanged names or pleasantries, not that it mattered.
“Assuming of course you need one.”
He was about to turn and leave when the other guy spoke up. Helpful sort. That made his night easier, which so far had not been terribly trying, and he liked that. Stewart nodded and gave him a smile.
"Certainly, this way."Â?
He led them back up the corridor, through the entrance and down the right corridor. They came to a reasonable sized medical lab with a couple of operating tables,cabinets full of equipment, small freezer unit and other equipment that he didn't know the use of. Stewart found the small rolling medical table and laid out a few clean absorbent napkins spread out on its surface. He then opened a drawer and started pulling out the empty syringes. He held these out to Ambrose and nodded to indicate the sink.
"Three should be sufficient to your friend's purposes."Â?
Stewart chuckled and looked up in the cabinet for some small vials of actual Sodium thiopental, the barbiturate otherwise known sodium pentothal. Truth Serum. Messy stuff really. There were better ways to interrogate a human; the drug put a person in an waking coma state so it was hard to get complex information out of them. If you didn't know exactly what you wanted from the person then you might miss important speech or gesture clues that would lead you to something useful because you'd basically have a non reactive lump. If you did know what you needed then it useful enough as a quick method of retrieving the information without a lot of threats,violence or other fuss. He added another empty syringe and then wheeled the cart over for Ambrose to lay the water filled versions on the table.
He left these musings behind and set to filling the syringes with water. He jabbed himself in the finger once but soon got the knack. Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea, this game Alex seemed intent on playing. He still wasn’t sure.
“I guess we’ll see.”
That looked like everything, at least it did to him. Oh yeah, pitcher water, glasses. Hrmph, it could wait. Sometimes walking out in the middle of a bunch of questions and leaving a body wondering was effective. At least he thought so.
Thankful for the cart, which freed up both hands as he could lay his cane on it he headed back to the room they’d been ‘assigned’. It looked like Alex was ready to play this out.
“She seemed pretty damned compliant before.”
Alexander set the tape recorder and tapes down near Jessica, the folder, pens and pitcher and glasses down the other end of the table and the medical tray to the right of the table. Everything would be visible to Jessica.
Even Alexander's Gym Bag was placed unopened on a chair. Appearances were everything.
There was only one last thing to do. Alexander took the handcuffs and gently cuffed Jessica's hands behind the chair he had sat her on.
It was time to wake the sleeping beauty. Alexander motioned to the medical table and quietly asked Ambrose.
"Mind injecting Miss. Patterson in the right arm with the water vial Ambrose? make sure you release a little bit of water first. An air bubble in the vein will not do at all."
Alexander placed his coat and jacket over a chair and placed a blank cassette tape in the recorder. A record might prove more persuasive to the Elder of the Hunt than a straight forward report.
Dropping his refined English accent, Alexander slipped into a plain sounding, droll Mid-Western American accent.
He pressed record on the cassette player.
"Time is 10:45pm. Suspect is Patterson, Jessica. Agent's West and Townsend attending."
Alexander took a deep breath and nodded at Ambrose.
Showtime.
"Proceed, Agent Townsend."
He was becoming more and more certain Alex had a screw lose somewhere. At the very least they had two completely different styles. Still he bit back his own temper and tried to follow instructions, hoping she wouldn’t be able to move her arm too much if she came out of her little nap while he was trying to inject her with… water.
It was then that the bug bit her. A large and angry wasp from the feel of it. She tried to over and slap at it with her free hand...only to find out it wasn't free!
Coming awake with a start at the pain in her arm, Jessica's eyes snapped open. The room was not her's but the most immediate concern was the sharp sensation she felt. In the single minded focus of a person awoken by a disturbance, Jessica ignored her surroundings and looked for the bug that she expected to see on her arm. Seeing a needle and Mr Townsend instead, Jessica did the one thing a person should never do when they have a sharp metal object buried in their flesh.
She jumped. Then she screamed, loud and shrill and continued screaming. Total panic had set in and she started straining and moving against the handcuffs, kicking her attacker with the back of her heel as best she could while seated.
((OOC: Feel free to injure her worse or react in whatever way you think suitable for Ambrose concerning the needle... I'm not assuming anything either way, just that she was stuck with it. Depending on which arm you were sticking would tell you which leg she's kicking but either way, she can't kick very hard backwards...might have bruised...a human.))
"Suspect Patterson is awake. Mild discomforture."
Very understated, thought Alexander as he undid the safety clip of his shoulder holster and pulled out his Beretta Px4 Storm.
"Subject Patterson will react to the serum within a minute or so."
The automatic pistol was placed on the metal desk with a resounding click.
Alexander loosened his tie and carefully rolled up his sleeves, one at a time.
This was the part he enjoyed the most. Any fool with with a gun, weapon, or fists could beat the information out of an suspect, no matter how uncooperative they were. Alexander found it more entertaining and less messy to 'mind fuck' the suspect, as his less sophisticated brethren in London had called the interrogations on the Docks.
"Kindly restrain Miss Patterson, Mr. Townsend." said Alexander as he crossed his arms, and stared at Jessica coldly.
“Shut the hell up woman.”
It was force of habit, instinct. He just couldn’t tolerate the sound and manners became expendable.
The ‘gun’ Alex pulled earned a contemptuous look but Ambrose didn’t dwell on that as he was being ordered to restrain her. Good now Alex –was- losing it. She was already hand cuffed and sure as hell not going anywhere. Oh good lord they were going to play ‘good cop bad cop’ this could take all night.
“I’d say she’s pretty well restrained. Loud but restrained.”
He glowered at Jessica willing her to shut up and stay shut up, at least until they had some questions for her.
Her screams quieted to hiccuping gulps of air and she noted that Mr West's accent was not nearly so charming when he said things like "subject and serum"Â? That's it, no more Bond movies before bed time! This was crazy.
Glaring up at Mr Townsend who told her to shut the hell up.. Jessica yelled back.
"The tell me what THE HELL is going on!"Â?
Despite being the one who just shoved a needle in her arm, the American was now the least menacing one of the two. He was 'normal' and still seemed something close to human; she'd have told someone yelling hysterically to shut up as well. It made sense. The crazy Brit with the....gun, not so much.
"You will relax now, Miss Patterson."
Alexander stared hard at the defiant woman.
"You have been brought in for questioning Miss Patterson. You are suspected of aiding and abbeting, and/or helping in the planning and execution of a terrorist activity. You remember the Mayoral Party and what happened Miss Patterson. Now is your chance to cooperate."
This was business now, nothing personal. Alexander continued to stare into her eyes.
"Mr. Townsend has administered a mild truth serum agent to ensure that you cooperate. You will answer any question that we ask truthfully."
(ooc - remember that Mr. West has dropped his English accent. He sounds like Joe Average American citizen now)
Oh damned did he have to say terrorist? That word sent people right off the deep end these days, as if the woman wasn’t hysterical enough at it was.
“Do you do all the booking for your company? Meet all the clients?”
He hadn’t wanted to do a good cop bad cop routine and sure as hell never would have picked himself as the good cop but if he could give her something to focus on a life line she might be better able to assist them.
Aiding and abetting a terrorist organization? What the hell was he talking about? The Mayor's ball? Did she know who was responsible? Maybe there was something she should piece together and this was her dream's way of forcing her to figure it out.... pretty fucked up plan if you asked her.
Turning to Mr Townsend, She frowned thoughtfully.
"Yes, I do all the booking. I cannot think of anything odd.... "Â? His next question though did give her something to think about. "Well no..I have one or two very eccentric clients. Some refuse to do business except through an assistant and even some that demand we prepare everything ahead of time and simply delivery it immediately to their specified location."Â?
It was an odd practice, almost more odd than the original demands made by these two, but enough cash up front showed people to be truly serious. No harm ever came from the arrangement and she always figured they were for some influential people who were throwing parties they would rather not be seen attending or something of the like. Jessica had always been proud of her company's reputation for professionalism and privacy which was premiere along with her top quality food and service.
"I am not sure that helps though....what does that have to do with the Mayor's ball?"Â?
((OOC: See she got around to noticing now that she's not screaming.. this is her rationale for complying to the commands given which is probably pretty obvious but its also why she's not behaving normally ))
"So you handle all the bookings on behalf of your clients. Who was the client that hired you to cater for the Mayor's function?"
Alexander straightened and ran his fingers through his hair.
"And were there any special requests, anything out of the ordinary about the client or the order?"
Staring at Miss Patterson, Alexander recycled his earlier commands.
"You are completely relaxed Jessica. You will continue to co-operate."
((ooc - gotcha! ))
But they were getting somewhere. She wasn’t screaming and she was answering questions sensibly. That and Alex seemed to be settling down too, thank god for that. It was bad enough that Jessica might be irrational he didn’t need his partner in this operation getting out of hand too.
He stood back waiting for the next answer. He didn’t jump in again trying not to over load the gal seemed ideal.