Jose helps
Vanessa get to her seat, and the two leave ABC behind them. They're just driving off as the first Tribal police show up. The other cell would have its work cut out for them tying all these loose ends up.
Drake calls and after hearing
Vanessa's own report, instructs them both to return home. The mission was over, for now.
***
Over the next few days the story of the ABC terrorist attack emerges. A scientist working for the company apparently blew the whistle on unethical dumping of chemicals into The Milk River, endangering both Canada and Montana's water supply. A few agents from the FBI were sent in to investigate the claims, given evidence that the facility was also producing illegal drugs and a front for much of the methamphetamine boom in the west. Leaks also were given to a local far left environmental group with a strong anti capitalist bend. The group assaulted the facility with heavy weaponry, intent on revealing their crimes to the world at large. In the chaos many of ABC's employees were killed, including head of the Gemstone facility
Ray Turner and top research scientist Dr.
Emil Metreux. The Sapphire production facility was also badly damaged. An FBI agent on the scene named
Andre Giger bravely gave his life, and together with security they managed to eventually repel the attackers. But the damage was done, and when whistleblowers at the facility confirmed a few days later that the company was manufacturing illegal drugs and overhyping their wonder drug Reverol, the outcry was immense; within a few months ABC was bankrupt.
More esoteric programs such as Phenomen-X reported tales of German speaking assailants and questioned the official story given by the press, but given they reported this in between blocks on Elvis being alive and Bigfoot stalking the wilderness few believed them.
No sign of
Galt or
Crisp was ever found, though if
Vanessa was diligent she would find reports of some sort of car jacking a few minutes from ABC. This was a highly unusual crime in general for rural Montana, but nothing ever came of it.
A week later the press were briefly occupied with tales of another attack on the offices of a publication: The Ecotopian in Berkeley. A few armed men went in there one day and shot everyone in the office with the exception of editor
Fiona Lin-Wei, who was abducted from her home the very same day. A manhunt eventually found the shooters belonged to a far right group known as The Bear Flag Republic; led by one
Howard Pringle: or as as had fashioned himself,
Horst Jaegermeister. He was arrested and used his trial as an opportunity to rave about all sorts of enemies real and imagined, and call for a race war. He and his associates were sentenced to life without parole. A canvasing of his property found the half eaten remains of
Lin-Wei, and she and her staff would be immortalized for their devotion to the environment; a Lifetime movie was out within the year.
Even
Vanessa can't be sure how much of the story had really been told, but
Drake emails her and
Jose one day and offers them brief comfort.
"
Believe it or not, this is a win."
Whether that was enough for
Vanessa to tell herself was up to her. If she still wanted to marry
Malcolm, she could. She could try to have a normal life. But she knows that one day her phone will ring again, and the mission will take precedence. And she also knows that sooner or later she likely won't be coming back from one of them.
OOC: I'll try to have an ooc recap up today or tomorrow explaining anything you guys missed and what was going on. In short though, you guys were able to prevent the absolute worst outcome of zombies overrunning ABC, so well done. |