Play@YSDC

"It might take longer than that," said Jim. "I've been at it for well over an hour now. A screwdriver with gum on the end might have worked, but this lock is too damn small. The hole's just a tiny slit for the key, and a screwdriver wouldn't fit."

OOC,It will take about another half hour before [b]Jim[/b] gets to make another roll.

"Ok, stick at it," said Bill. "I'm going to talk to the LT."

He went in search of Yeager, quickly checking through the house until he found him. "Hendricks is trying to the desk open but all we've done so far is get something stuck in the lock," Bill explained. "You think we should just bust it open? He reckons it could be another half hour or more before he can get it open and we don't know when the wife will return."

Bill found John Yeager out behind the house, where he was standing watch.

"Well, I doubt she'll stay out all night, even though her husband will be away," he said. "With the lock messed up, there'll be no way to disguise the fact that someone's been here messing with it once someone tries to open the drawer. That probably won't be until morning and might not even be for days. Forcing the drawer would be more obvious, but there's still the chance it won't be noticed for a while. If Hendricks can't fix the damage in time, there's nothing to lose by jimmying it open and taking a look at whatever he's so eager to hide. Problem is, we don't know how long we have." He shrugged. "I'll leave it up to you."

Bill made his way back to Hendricks. "The LT says he's know idea how long we've got. I reckon you give it another fifteen minutes and if we haven't got it open by then, we jimmy it open and worry about the consequences later".

Hendricks kept working at it for another fifteen minutes, but he remained unable to repair the lock. "I know I'm close to getting this, Sarge," he said, "but I can't say for certain how much longer it would take. Do you want to force it now, or give it a little longer?"

OOC,If you force open the drawer, there's no need to roll anything. The two of you are easily strong enough to manage it.

Peering under the desk, Bill could see that the base of each of the bottom drawers, including the one that was locked, wasn't too sturdy. They could easily break their way into the locked drawer from beneath without the damage being immediately apparent.

Bill swore. "We've been going about this the wrong way!" he said, the exasperation clear in his voice. He tapped the underside of the desk and looked at Hendricks. "Can you pry this off so we can get at the desk contents and then we'll try and fix it back on again so it doesn't look like we've been?"

"Yeah, that's a great idea!" said Hendricks. He slid headfirst under the desk and pried loose the bottom of the locked drawer. Something fell out of it onto his chest. He pulled himself back out and showed it to Bill: it was a large, odd-looking electronic device:



"What do you make of this, Sarge?" he asked.

OOC,[b]Bill[/b], please roll Idea.

OOC,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4221624/]It's a head-scratcher - Bill studios the gizmo! (1d100=52)[/url] Success - Bill's idea roll = 60.

Bill took the gizmo from Hendricks and studied it carefully, looking for clues as to what its function might be.

Bill examined the device and saw that it seemed designed to interface with a telephone, such as the one on the desk. It looked like something he had seen once on Mission: Impossible or The Man from U.N.C.L.E., or some 1960s spy show. It might have been a scrambler, used to have a secure telephone conversation with someone on the other end using a similar device.

Bill picked up the phone receiver and tried it for size with the device. "It's a scrambler," he said to Hendricks, turning the item over in his hands, looking for any identifying marks or numbers.

"Is there anything else in the drawer? Paperwork, perhaps?"

The device was a perfect fit. It had a serial number on it, but there were no identifying logos or names on it to indicate who had manufactured it.

"I don't see anything else," said Hendricks. "Wait a minute...this isn't tall enough to be the entire drawer." He laughed. "It's got a false bottom! By getting in from underneath, we found what he was hiding."

"Great stuff," said Bill, clapping Hendricks on the shoulder, "Let's see what he was so keen to hide."

"The scrambler was underneath the false bottom," said Hendricks, "so I think he wanted to hide that the most. But whatever's above it might be important too." He slid out the false bottom, and a pistol and box of bullets fell onto him. The pistol was in a holster that looked designed to clip onto a belt. "Ah-hah. It's an M1911A1, .45 automatic. Standard issue, looks like."

Bill whistled slowly and took the holstered weapon from Hendricks. He drew the automatic and turned it over, checking it for markings. That done, he placed the gun on the desk and checked the holster, again looking for any markings that might identify where it came from.

"Any paperwork in there?" he asked Hendricks as he made his inspection.

Bill found a serial number on the weapon, as well as markings indicating it had been manufactured at the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts. Other than that, it seemed standard. The holster, which was sleek and made of black leather, had markings to indicate it was also made in Springfield. The clip was positioned so that the holster could be clipped to the inside of a belt, thus allowing it to be easily concealed underneath clothing.

"No, no papers," said Hendricks. "There's nothing else in that drawer."

Bill made a note of the serial number in his notebook then handed the gun and holster back to Hendricks. "Better get that back where it came from," he said.

OOC,Were there other locked drawers in the desk?