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Post by Jordanna on Jan 25, 2009 0:00:08 GMT -5
"Thanks," Proteus murmured demurely.
Vance put a hand on Daws' elbow. "Let's go. Handy is about the fastest carjacker--excuse me, car-borrower--there is. He'll be along the street any minute with whatever he's found."
The pair stepped out of the office and began to walk slowly down the street, and Vance shrugged. "What do you want to tackle first: Caddy's science babble, or Cole's overwhelming affection for us?"
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Post by skybright on Jan 25, 2009 0:05:39 GMT -5
"It's a headache either way." Daws said with a resigned shrug. "I suppose Cole's place is a little bit closer."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 25, 2009 0:25:26 GMT -5
"Cole it is. While we're at it, we might as well let him take a look at the papers Proteus lifted, too." Vance made a face. "He probably won't know what any of it means either, but maybe there's a telephone number or a name he'll recognize."
When they had walked half a block farther, a rather old but well cared-for gray Ford pulled up to the curb alongside them, and Handy leaned out the window. "Your ride's here."
Smiling crookedly, Vance opened the front passenger door for Daws. "Handy's nothing if not patriotic. He only steals American."
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Post by skybright on Jan 25, 2009 0:33:49 GMT -5
Daws chuckled as she slid into the passenger seat and double-checked to make sure her tail was out of the way of the door. "If only everybody had his principles." She said dryly.
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 25, 2009 0:40:08 GMT -5
Handy had given up the driver's seat to make way for Vance, and now made a face at his leader in the process of clambering into the back seat. "I resent that. It ain't stealin'--they'll get it right back when we're done with it. With money for the gas we use, even."
Vance shrugged at Daws and pulled away from the curb, then handed her the stack of documents Proteus had given them. "Hang onto those... You know, I didn't get to study 'em too close, but one of those pieces of paper looked blank."
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Post by skybright on Jan 25, 2009 0:48:35 GMT -5
"Really?" Daws raised an eyebrow and glanced sideways at Vance, then turned her attention to the papers and began thumbing through them with a thoughtful expression.
"Huh." She held up the blank sheet in question with a quizzical expression. "Could just be an extra sheet, I guess -- unless the bad guys are using invisible ink. How cloak-and-dagger of them."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 25, 2009 0:57:11 GMT -5
Handy leaned forward from the back seat to squint at the paper himself. "Hey--maybe somebody used the sheet on top of it. You ever seen in that old episode of 'Columbo' or something, where he rubbed over it with pencil dust to make the writing show up?"
"The impressions on the pad." Vance raised an eyebrow and grinned at Daws. "You see why I keep him around?"
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Post by skybright on Jan 25, 2009 1:05:47 GMT -5
Daws grinned wickedly. "I do indeed."
She dug her hands into the pockets of her trenchcoat. "I'm pretty sure I've got a pencil stub in here somewhere . . ."
After some digging she produced a few subway tokens, a box of matches, a crumpled and nearly-empty pack of cigarettes -- and, finally, her pocket notebook and a pencil, which she held triumphantly aloft. "Got it."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 25, 2009 23:56:15 GMT -5
"Great. We'll try that trick once we get to Cole's place." Vance half-grinned at Daws. "Pencil dust in his apartment will give him something else to complain about."
When they arrived at Cole's apartment building, Daws employed her lockpicks on the back staircase. They made their way up to the Mayor's apartment, and Vance knocked on the door.
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Post by skybright on Jan 26, 2009 0:02:54 GMT -5
It took only a moment before the door cracked open and Cole glanced out past the security chain. The mayor sighed. "Hello, Major. Miss Dawson, Mister McCartney."
He closed the door partway long enough to slide the chain open and then gestured the trio into the apartment. "I rather expected you to show up."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 26, 2009 0:10:45 GMT -5
"Yeah." Vance stalked into the apartment. "I'm sure you know what happened. The good news is that Proteus got out of the clinic alright. But the bad news is, he got a look at the man who planted the bomb--and it was one of your Health Department agents."
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Post by skybright on Jan 26, 2009 0:14:16 GMT -5
Cole turned from bolting the door with a startled expression. "What?"
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 26, 2009 0:26:11 GMT -5
"Proteus saw it all. A little bit ago, he showed us what the guy looked like." Vance shrugged. "Maybe you'll know him... Regina, give him the picture."
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Post by skybright on Jan 26, 2009 0:33:31 GMT -5
Daws fished through the handful of paperwork she'd carried up with her and held the polaroid out to Cole. He took it and examined it with a puzzled frown, shaking his head.
"He isn't one of mine." He said after a moment. "I told Doctor Albert and Agent Thayer to take along employees they knew they could trust -- and neither of them had any duplicitous intentions." He shook his head. "It seems someone managed to gain their trust."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 26, 2009 0:54:59 GMT -5
"That's just charming." Vance dropped himself heavily on the sofa. "Getting us his name might be some help, but the problem is, we don't know who he was working for--if anybody. He could've been from Tiernan, or the MCF, or just a lone anti-'cure' nutcase. Either way, the odds of his turning up for work again are pretty microscopic."
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Post by skybright on Jan 26, 2009 0:59:18 GMT -5
"No doubt." Cole sighed. "There are several health department employees in the hospital right now -- we can see if he's among them, but I doubt that. At least two of the clinic employees are missing, and one of them was killed in the blast. I'm sure I don't have to tell you what kind of a public relations nightmare this thing is turning into."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 26, 2009 1:16:17 GMT -5
"Yeah, no doubt. Only don't forget this situation is a little more complicated than your average mutants-against-treatment hate crime--and this guy may have known the whole score." Vance scowled.
"As for the two missing employees, one of 'em would be Beaudry, the guy Proteus was impersonating. He got injured and couldn't keep up his act, so he had to get out of there. And he took one of the other playactors with him--a girl. Steph something. She helped him willingly, and now we're stuck looking out for her, too. By this time, Nate's got her in Mutietown with the real Beaudry."
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Post by skybright on Jan 26, 2009 1:23:30 GMT -5
Cole nodded. "I suppose two fewer casualties is something to be grateful for -- even if we can't make that public knowledge."
He frowned and sank onto the nearest chair. "No doubt all of this played merry havoc with what Proteus was there to do in the first place?"
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 26, 2009 23:02:05 GMT -5
"To put it nicely." Vance scowled and shrugged. "But it looks like he picked up a few loose papers here and there. He wasn't in a condition to tell us much, but he handed 'em over to us. Regina, show the man what we've got."
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Post by skybright on Jan 26, 2009 23:45:29 GMT -5
Daws handed the sheaf of papers over to Cole -- keeping hold of the single blank sheet, which she held up with a shrug. "All that, plus this one. May be nothing, but we figured we'd give it the pencil-stub treatment and see if we can get anything -- maybe it's been written on top of."
Cole nodded, his attention already focused on carefully reading through the sheaf of papers Proteus had taken.
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