Play@YSDC

OCC- Herein we will begin our first episode of JTF- Special Operations.

OCC- I suspect that federal agents get an alert via a pager. I'll allow you all a chance to speak to your character's response and home life.

ICC-

As an agent, the job means you can be contacted at any time, any where for immediate duty. You break from an uneasy slumber to the sound of a text message. A glance at the clock. It isn't even 7 am, Monday, March 15, 2021.

IMMEDIATE and urgent - You have been assigned to a Joint Inter-agency Task Force headed by Assistant United States Attorney Claire McKenna. You are to proceed immediately to an active crime scene located on the corner of 77th and Dumont Avenue in Brooklyn. You will be briefed on your role and responsibilities by Asst. US Attorney McKenna upon your arrival. This is an indefinite and priority assignment and are relieved of all current responsibilities for the duration of this assignment. You are expected within the hour."


The text message indicates that the message is been sent by the US Attorney General's Office, that the message has been cc'ed to your immediate superior. You are also aware that over the past few months there have been increased deployments of agents to ad hoc basis to such joint inter-agency task forces, normally supervised by an Assistant United States Attorney.

McKenna? You don't know her personally. An A US Attorney. Some vague memories. Terrorism... organized crime... political corruption.. bad cops... cult killing... Wall Street crooks...

You look out the window, see rain drops reflected. So much shit in a city you'd think everyone would drown in it.

Many in federal law enforcement had become discontented or disenchanted. Rumor have been circulating of a massive shake-up among the federal bureaucracy due to persistent concerns raised by the President's administration of Deep State efforts to undermine his government. Legislation favoring a bureaucratic restructuring had been held up in Congress, now suffering paralysis due to political divisions. Purges of long-term federal employees had increased since the election, especially of those considered potentially disloyal to the President or to their duties. Email and other electronic communications had grown.. circumspect and cautious. "Watch your back," was the advice whispered in stairwells, in private meetings and discrete conversations as a mood of paranoia had crept into the federal bureaucracy and law enforcement.

A cold drizzle was coming down outside, a late March rain of a long winter of a city desperate for a reluctant spring to arrive. It was the kind of rain that would seep into your clothing, get under your collar, chill you to the bone. The city lights seemed captured in the early morning overcast that met the morning mist rising off the cold city streets.

The bug had come back to New York for the third time. The first had passed like a wave in November as the summer protests had given way to the election protests, and the virus had used those demonstrations to spread like a fire on a windy day. Many of those taken taken in the second wave had been those who has survived the virus during its initial sweep of the city. The third wave had come later in the winter, hiding in winter cold and flu, but this time its victims were those who had suffered the secondary effects of the virus- unemployment, homelessness, despair. On Hart Island, mass graves had been used for those COVID dead that had gone nameless or unclaimed, until there was no more room, and the government had been forced to cremate and scatter the ashes into the East River.

It had been a year for the record books if anyone kept records of bad years. New York City was starting to look like it did back in the 80s, when crime was jacked up on crack and the murder rate reached levels that, in some Third World country would suggest civil war.

Bite the Big Apple, don't mind the maggots.

The sun isn't even up. Maybe it won't rise today.

No matter. The job calls.

ICC- Claire McKenna-

The phone ring and before the ring can stop, Claire is awake and bringing it to her ear. Her eyes are still closed, but she knows from the tired in her body that it's still dark. "McKenna" she says, her voice stifling a yawn.

The woman's voice on the other side says, " This is a priority call, can you verify your security code please?"

Security call. New procedures mean greater security checks and verification, not just on-line but over the phone. She responds to the question.

The voice responds, "Please hold for Principle Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Chief of Staff Jonathan Barrett." She looks at the digital clock on the cable box. 6:03 am. He's calling from DC and answers to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, who in turn answers to the Attorney General.

A few minutes pass. Clare is aware that the man sleeping besides her has woken up, looks the time, and turns on the light, momentarily blinding Clare with the sudden glare.

"Clare Mckenna?" Comes the voice on the other side.

"Speaking sir." She responds

"Barrett here. Sorry to wake you up. But something has come up that has caught our attention." The man looks at her to see what's going on. She signals with her yes not to ask. He shrugs and walks over to the bathroom.

Barrett continues. "We got a situation in Brooklyn that I need you to see to pronto. Might be nothing, probably nothing.... but it might be something, we just don't know yet. We also to bring a team together to check out the details and get ahead of this thing. We got a car and a marshal to pick you, should be outside pretty soon. How soon can you be there."

"Within the hour, probably less." She responds. "It's national security?"

"Could be." Says Barrett, "or some other cluster fuck one of our foreign friends might of got themselves into. You answer to me on this and I want it kept tight for now. Don't need to stir up the press. Could be anything. Could be nothing. But if it is something, we need to keep a lid on it. The politics might be bad for us. These days, well, I don't need to tell you that we need to be sensitive on politics."

She can hear the man in the bathroom making water into the toilet.

"Understood sir." She responds. An Assistant US Attorney had been assassinated only a few weeks ago in Texas for what appeared to be political purposes. Protests in NYC had been met with violent crackdowns, but still the protests continued, and had turned violent in kind. The government deadlocked between Congress and the President, meant the Covid crisis, economic downturn, and social unrest went unaddressed. With political institutions failing to resolve social tensions, social conflict shifted to the streets.

"Good. We're pulling a joint task force together now from across agencies as we want to keep it all through our offices. Remind the investigators that leaks will be prosecuted to the highest extent of the law. They'll be called within the hour. You can meet them on site. Better that way, keep it out of the office for now. Keep it ad hoc and a joint effort."

"National Security designation?" She asks.

He pauses on that question, "Let's just keep it ambiguous for now and see what happens."

"We're to take jurisdiction on this matter? It's our case?"

"Not yet. At the moment this might be nothing. If the federals take the case, it might draw the papers, who'll come at it like flies go to shit. Let the locals take the lead on this and if it gets..... complicated, we can take the case." He instructs. Claire detects a note of tiredness and impatience.

She tries to get a bit more detail. "Can you..."

But Barrett cut her off. "We are sending a file with you with the details. Keep me updated."

The phone hangs up.

The man walks back into the room, still naked, grabs for his pants.

"Make some coffee. I need to get to Brooklyn in an hour."

"At this hour?" He asks.

She doesn't answer as she gets up and walks to the shower. She showers quickly, gets dressed, with dark pants, sweater. Coldest part of the day and she can change into something more formal at the office. Grabs her laptop bag.

Downstairs, he's got a cup of coffee waiting in a ceramic Starbucks travel mug as well as a buttered croissant. She takes it from him, kisses him quickly and offers a smile, says "Grab some breakfast on the way out. I'll call you later when I get a moment."

Outsider her apartment, there is an SUV waiting, the engine on, the window tinted black, no markings on the door. As she opens the door, the Marshal steps out and opens the door for her. The Marshal is Cheryl Wade, who has driven her before. Marshal wade is a fairly new federal Marshal and has been tasked with detail providing security for the US Attorneys after the recent assassination of a Assistant US Attorney. Young, African American and a New Yorker brimming with confidence, but new to the force, it's no surprise that Wade has been tasked with the detail of being her driver and guardian.

The cold and wet doesn't seem to bother Wade, but McKenna can feel the March chill biting her cheeks, and the damp weigh down. Outside the air is misty and dark, the air grey and moist and cold. She quickens her already fast gait.

Claire offers a quick thanks as she gets in the back of the SUV and opens the laptop. Marshal Wade pulls out into the street.

"Where too Marshal?" Clare asks as she logs in to her laptop.

"Dumont Ave and 77th." She responds.

"Queens or Brooklyn?" Asks Claire.

"Brooklyn but on the border. It's a place known as The Hole." Says the Marshal. "To be blunt, Ma'am, it's kind of a shit hole of a place. I mean literally. God knows why you want to go there. We should be there with 30 minutes."

Mckenna opens the encrypted file on her laptop and begins to read through the case.

An early morning fire consumes a building. Multiple FDNY (Fire Department of New York) go to respond. A massive explosion before the fire companies arrive, causing significant area damage, with fatalities among neighboring residents. Reading it, McKenna thinks its probably a crack house, or some abandoned building that some heroin addict has been using as shelter and allowed to catch fire. Perhaps its a local meth lab that exploded...

She keeps reading, looking at the files of the members of the Task Force Team, reviewing them quickly. Outside, the city streams fast as Marshal Ward drives her through Brooklyn down Atlantic Avenue. McKenna hardly notices Brooklyn passing by outside. The city is waking slowly. A few years ago, there would be more traffic, but so much of the city has shut down due to the virus.

McKenna turns to the property records. A three story building, windows boarded up and graffiti. It's an old picture. She checks the ownership.

Property of the Government of Saudi Arabia.

Fuck.

The car descends and Clare can hear the car splashing through what sounds like an enormous puddle. "We're here." Says Marshal Wade.

ICC Tony Lapis

Tony Lapis is awake when the call comes in, exercising in the basement of his home in Jamaica Estates. His son, Michael is spotting as he benches another set of 200 lbs. Since schools shut down last year, morning exercise had become part of the ritual, with a mix of weight lifting and aerobic activity for both Michael and Cecily. Cecily is working out on mats nearby doing yoga exercises.

His son peers down on him. "Come on Dad, you can do more weight than this."

"It's not the weight, kid, it's the repetitions." Says the older Lapis.

"Nonsense, you are just getting old." Says Michael, "body breaking down with age."

"Not the age but the miles."

The alarm ends the banter. Tony racks the weight and checks the message. The kids pause watching their father, who looks at them after reading, "Duty calls."

Cecily, at 13, laughs, "That's what Brenda says when she needs to take a shit."

"Cecily. Language." Says the father, already going up the stairs.

Sorry Dad."

"Yeah, just don't let your mother hear you say that."

"Hear what?" Asks Marie, in the kitchen.

"Kids being kids." Says Tony. "Getting called in early."

"Now?" She asks as he goes past her for the stairs.

"Yep, to Brooklyn. Near East New York, Astoria, Ozone Park."

"A shit hole. Bring your rubbers, it's going rain.' She calls after him, "I'll get your coffee and something to eat for the road." she says, as he vanishes upstairs.

Twenty minutes later he's dressed and heading out the door, grabs the bag lunch she hands him and gets a kiss for her efforts. "You kids be good. Don't forget your masks."

He gets in the agency car, a blue Chevy Malibu, sets his GPS and 25 minutes is pulling into The Hole. He can smell the smoke and see the sires through the haze. The smoke seems to have settled like some vaporous sulfuric gas among the buildings, the streets the people. The police have already begun to block the streets, and he can see squad cars from the 73rd precinct are parked, their tires deep in flood water.; HIs car moves through the flooded street like some nocturnal creature and he expects at any minute that the car will sink beneath the fetid water.

One of the local cops shines his flashlight at him and he holds his ID to the window, reluctant to open the windows. "Wherre's the US Attorney?" he says loudly so the cop can here.

The cop points further down the road. "Park down on the side. Fire trucks and ambulances still moving through, and try not to sink in this shit so we don't gotta tow ya out. Attorney is near the black SUV with tha Marshal."

Lapis nods his understanding and he drives forward. Vision is distorted by the smokey air that mixes with morning fog. Up ahead he can see the sirens flashing but can't make out the site of the fire from behind the fire truck or the ambulances. Windows blown out everywhere by the blast concussion. He can see paramedics checking for wounded among the trucks and he notes at least one truck on its side further ahead.

He pulls next to a dark SUV and gets out. A federal Marshal steps out from the drivers seat as a passenger steps out from the rear seats. Claire McKenna is wearing a baseball cap and a coat but he recognizes her from a narcotics cases a few years ago.

"Agent Lapis." She says.

"Assistant US Attorney." He replies. "What do we got?

"Looks like a fire in the building down on the corner set off something exploded before these FDNY guys got here" She says. "The blast seems to have snuffed much of the fire out. But the fire marshals are investigating."

"So why us. Let the locals take it. I got a couple pending..." He begins, in the hope of pointing out he's important for gang-land
.
"Because the house supposedly belongs to the Saudi Government."

Lapis looks around. "Saudi's? Here. Why would they bother?"

"That's for you to figure out, Agent."

"We taking jurisdiction?"

MxKenna shrugs, "Not yet. Not till we know more."

ICC - Harry Shibatu

The buzzing of his pager on the coffee table wakes Harry and he reaches out blindly, scrabbling across the surface until he finds it and hits the button to restore the silence. He yawns and lifts the pager so he can read the message, blinking myopically against the backlight, but the letters won’t focus.

Sighing, Harry reaches for his reading glasses. He sits up on the couch and scans the message. “About time!” he mutters to himself. He’s been stuck doing paperwork since his transfer from Seattle and the news of something different comes as a relief.

He stands and pads quietly over to the bedroom door. It’s shut so he knocks quietly but there’s no response. After last night’s row he doesn’t really expect anything else but there’s still a gnawing ache that won’t go away. His marriage is in trouble but he doesn’t know what he can do to fix it.

Turning away, Harry steps over to a second bedroom door. The door is ajar and from inside comes the sound of his young son, Tyler, snuffling in his sleep. Harry stands there a moment longer before reluctantly pulling himself away and heading to the bathroom to wash and get ready.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry is dressed and scrawling a quick note to his wife to tell her about the early call. He tries to think of things to say but in the end he just settles for “Sorry!” even though he doesn’t think it’s his fault or even know what the row was really about.

Harry lets himself out of the apartment, quietly closing the door behind. Down the elevator to the basement car park, he finds his Chevy Traverse parked in the corner. He checks it over before setting off - recent experience in Seattle showed he can’t be too careful - punching the address into the satnav as he emerges onto the early morning New York streets, already teaming with traffic...

ICC - Jakob Kaminski

Jakob stares out of the window of his top floor, brownstone apartment, watching the city lights reflecting and refracting from the droplets of moisture that trickle down the window. Some were fast, some slow. Some accelerated and decelerated, depending upon impurities in the surface of the glass, but they all got to the bottom in the end.

He glances down as the pager rattles on the window cill. Reaching down, he picks it up and reads the message. He was briefed about his new role the previous week so the message isn’t unexpected but he is still a bit apprehensive about his new role. Agents and specialists being thrown together on some sort of inter-agency brief? None of the team in the lab had had much to say about it so their names haven’t get come out of the hat or they’re just keeping schtum about it.

Jakob is already dressed so he closes the notebook he’s been browsing and locks it in a wall safe. He heads for the door, picking up the factory fresh, FBI-stencilled, wet weather gear he’s been issued and heads out the door. Locking up carefully, he glances up and down the street as he steps out the front door, then heads over to his car - a 2017 Mini. The car fires up noisily in the still quiet street before Jakob pulls away and on his way to the crime scene.

ICC - Jackson Conroy

Conroy crouched down by the shore of the Hudson, filling small plastic vials with samples of river water, and the odd tiny crustacean. One by one the vials were secured in a metal briefcase. Conroy had managed to badger his way into some post-grad science research at NYU, analysing the pollutants in the old river.

He stood up and admired the view, still dark except for various nighttime artificial lights. Conroy tried to get a feel for the interconnected life here at the river, small animals in and near the water, plants growing.

What Conroy certainly felt was wind and cold. And this was despite the fact he was wearing a big old military surplus jacket, scarf and a beanie, his untied hair hanging down to his shoulder blades.

Behind Conroy was Washington Heights. He liked it here. He could afford a tiny one bedroom apartment at the very top of an old tenement. And he could walk to the old river.

His plan this morning was to leave early and drop the samples at the University on the way to work. With that in mind, the Ford Fusion hybrid was parked a few feet away. His thoughts were suddenly derailed by the message. Conroy quickly took stock. He had all his equipment. Jeans, sweater and jacket would have to do. He quickly stowed his sample case and started the Ford up. As ever, his first thought was that while he admired its ecological cred, he wished it were a helo.

ICC - Javier Gonzalez

6am and Javier found a street vendor selling coffee near the Brooklyn Bridge. He grabbed a cup and settled back in his warm car to admire the bridge in the gloom.

Five years straight working South of the Border as a DEA agent. He'd been back with the FAST teams in Arlington a few short weeks, still felt like a foreigner. Opportunity had come up to follow through in NYC with a few enquiries from his South American days.

He'd stalked through the available work cars till he found a slightly battered Jeep Wrangler. Perfect. Common and anonymous but still fun. He could be a farmer, a businessman with a sense of adventure, or just a good old boy in the Jeep. Who just happened to have a padlocked pelican case chained to the trunk interior and filled with some interesting equipment.

Javier seized the moment to drive from Arlington to the Big Apple for fun. He'd had a nice dinner and a few drinks in Spanish Harlem, spent until the small hours in an all-night diner chatting up the Puerto Rican waitress, then slept in the car down by the water. Had to waive off an NYPD patrol with the badge but they didn't complain. Turned out, it was so damn cold he had to leave the engine running and the heater on. Better find some place to stay tonight, he thought.

Coffee gone, Javier pulled out a toothbrush, paste and bottled water and quickly brushed his teeth by the side of the Jeep. Then the message came through.

Javier considered his appearance. North Face black coat, sweater, 511 pants. And an NYC baseball cap. Hadn't shaved in a day. Oh well. He cranked up the GPS and headed off.

OCC- Nice posts Phil and Snapper, glad you both are enjoying the creative writing. Couple quick thoughts for you both. Nice opening posts. Overall thoughts, the feds are frequently depicted as driving black SUVs but realistically that's not likely to happen. Most of the cars are bought on federal moneys allocated and through GSA - government service agency. One thing for sure, likely that the cars are American and not European or Asian imports. It's not the quality so much as the contracting rules- buy American.

Snapper- Javier is likely to freeze his ass off in a Jeep Cherokee in NYC in March- it gets below freezing most night. A rainy night can easily turn icey and your car becomes encased in a ice cube. IF he doesn't have a permanent place to crash yet he can probably find a cheap long-term hotel room in Queens or Brooklyn for long-term business stays. Chances are the government contracts would have some arrangements for long-term residents and permanent hotel rooms. My guess is Javier got there early and had a night out in the cold. He will want to check in or crash with a friend and not repeat that experience. Given our setting and time, things in NY have gotten dicey to remain on the streets at night.

About Conroy- remarkable things have been happening in NY harbors. The Hudson River is a mess- https://www.riverkeeper.org/water-quali ... ollutants/ with PCBs basically infecting everything that lives in the river from 50 miles above Albany. Given the other substances its amazing that people still fish that river. More on the Hudson- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_River#Pollution . The East River, a saltwater waterway that links NY harbor with the Long Island Sound, is another waterway with a history of environmental damage- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_River . Seriously, New Yorkers often thought that the only thing floating in the waters around NY were dead bodies. A few decades back we had syringes wash up on the beaches of Long Island (famously mentioned in Billy Joel's We didn't Light the Fire) and I recall a case of body parts being dumped in the river. Despite all that, wild life has been returning. Wild beaver have been identified in the Hudson and Harlem Rivers and many of the waterways around NY are cleaner than they were 30 years ago. Part of that has been improved environmental standard as well as the declining use of the Port of NY and reduction in local heavy industry. New York State environmental regulations have probably improved and the city has made inroads at improved environmental standards even as Trump's administration has rolled- back Environmental Protection Agency regulations.

Philulhu- Nice posts. He can probably afford a brownstone building, probably Brooklyn. A lot of families still in NYC. In the 1980s a lot of folks moved out of the city for the suburbs, and NY is a bit remarkable in that the suburbs are not that far if you drive in. Lot of families in Staten Island (but that means a long drive or you are taking the Staten Island ferry to NYC. Surprisingly perhaps NJ isnt' too bad, but you'll need to either go through Staten Island or take the tunnel or notes on burbs- https://www.niche.com/places-to-live/se ... etro-area/ and https://www.6sqft.com/5-of-the-best-sub ... york-city/ but a lot of families are staying in NY. Some of the better parts of the Bronx, Queens - but NYC is damn expensive. Also, kids often use mass transit to get to school in the city.


ICC- Claire Mckenna checks her watch quickly. The others will be showing up soon. She had gotten there early, will give some basic instruction and then back to the office and back to work.

Marshal Wade had been playing NPR on the radio. McKenna hadn't been paying close attention, but had let the news run. So far this fire hasn't drawn attention of the local news. Instead they are talking about the latest news. Protests had turned violent in the Bronx for a third night as buildings set on fire. Tensions between the mayor and the police unions. Economic recession to last 3-4 years, could be cut in half if a low cost vaccine can be found but Center for Disease Control worries about mutations of COVID-19 hiding in yearly flu. Tensions heating up between Vietnam and China, China and India, China and Taiwan, North Korea and South Korea. In Yemen....

"Marshall put on CBS News radio and let me know if this fire is on the news radar." She asks.

Wade turns the channel to WCBS, Fires in the Bronx as protests turn violent.

McKenna turns attention back on Lapis who is seizing up the situation outside. "What do you think?"

"Hard to tell." Says Lapis. The police and fire sirens cast phantom lights everywhere but harsh lights flood through the haze from the center of activity, the center of a once fiery maelstrom that had shattered the dark with fire and power enough to knock over trucks. Now only the brilliant white light remaining like the echo of a supernova. "Whatever blew as big enough to knock trucks over. Might be lucky that the trucks around the building caught the blast or the damage might have been more extensive.

The radio buzzes a story of the mayor and police union in dispute over proposed police reforms.

"We are here to assist and observe for now." Says McKenna. "Let the local police do the heavy lifting. But we need to move fast and let's not draw attention. Let's figure out the Saudi connection on this. Could be this is a local arson so better leave it to the locals."

Lapis nods. "An arson investigation of a property payed for by Saudi Arabia."

Lapis steps in as an ambulance rolls past, its rotating lights flashing but its siren stifled. Cops are moving around the perimeter but can't be made out, black figures hidden by the smoke and haze. Less clearly, fireman are still moving about the scene of the fire, putting out any lingering flames, their activities hidden by the brilliance of the spotlights.

Wade is also watching. She's looking not towards the center, made brilliant by the spotlights in the haze, but around the perimeter, beyond the cops. Figures moving about in darkness, gathering in clusters, keeping distant from the police, for now. She is barely paying attention to the news. Covid cases on the rise again but increased numbers of homeless suffering from the "mysterious sleeping coma" are taking up hospital space.

"Cops here are not interviewing witnesses." Notes Lapis. The cops seem to be forming their own tight groups, maintaining a security perimeter to keep the fireman and marshal safe from the locals.

"They aren't from here." Says Wade, "Don't know the people, no connection, no network. This isn't their place and they know it."

"Probably why the mafia liked to dump bodies here, no cops and no one gives a shit." Adds Lapis. He turns his attention back to McKenna. "Ms. McKenna, just to let you know I am involved in on-going investigations."

"I am aware that you've been assigned to a narcotics investigation in conjunction with a NYC squad. Is that correct?"

"That's correct. We've got a a potential turf war kicking up in the Bronx and the investigation is on-going."

McKenna nods, "Then hopefully this will be resolved quickly, agent, and return to your investigation." McKenna concludes. "In the meantime. Take a look around and report back in 10 what you see."

McKenna feels impatient, a need to stretch out form the car. The car feels stuffy and the air smells scorched, traces of burning embers and chemicals. But she needs to wait for the rest of the team and she knows Wade would caution against leaving the SUV given local risk factors.

Lapis nods and walks away from the SUV and towards the scene, thinking more about the Bronx investigation but making mental notes of what he sees.

Cops have already erected barricades and are directing traffic. A paramedic crew was checking the inhabitants of a truck that had rolled over. Another crew was trying to remove the shell of an automobile that had pinned a African American woman against bottom of a dump truck turned on its side. Lapis shields his eyes so he's not blinded. More ambulances, police cruisers.

A police inspector is instructing policeman. The local cops keep looking into the dark as if expecting some violence to come roaring out of the night. There are not many cops present, most from other precincts offering support but who will melt back to their own protests as soon as the fire inspector leaves. A sudden protest, sparked by local discontent, and a wave of locals armed with improvised tools could storm through. It's happened before, a few months ago in East New York.

A cop approaches him to ask for some ID, so Lapis flashes his badge before the cop speaks. "Feds taking jurisdiction here?" Asks the cops.

Lapis ignores the question. "What happened?"

"Three story buillding use to be here got blown to shit is what happened." Says the cop. "Almost took some of New York's Bravest with it."

"Gas explosion?"

"Maybe. Fuck what do I know. Got the Arson unit coming down but right now its BFI doing the investigation." says the policeman. " Big fucking blast though and right up into air. Can tell by all the bricks and mortar all over the place. See the trucks? Lucky this didn't happen elsewhere. or damage would have been really bad. But here? People think some kind of forgotten waste blows up in place no one cares about. Who gives a fuck about the Hole? Place is like some black hole or somethin'. "

Lapis looks at the blast. It looks like the building was lifted up out of the grown and then came crashing down on its foundation. Bricks and wood and mortar are scattered and still warm.

"Anyone in it?" He asks.

The cop shrugs. "If they were, they ain't walking out of that. Certainly people around it though. Sleeping in these trucks. More than used to be. This place... never good. Place was emptying out for years. Only old timers stayed. Too fucking dangerous. But then people started coming back last couple of years, before Covid for sure. Mostly homeless folks that don't want to go to the shelters. Can''t find anywhere else probably. "

Lapis eyes the cop, "You patrol down here??

"The hole, fuck no. No one comes down here unless they gotta. These days gotta be careful. And this place.. people disappear down here. Besides we got enough problems in East New York."

"So no regular patrols?" Lapis asks again. No local patrols means no Confidential Informants, no networks, no contacts, and nothing to build an investigation.

"Got to speak to the Sergeant about that." Says the cop. "That would be Sergeant David Ruffini."

"And the detective?"

"Not here yet. But likely Joey Pacesee" Lapis knows that the precinct detective is likely to be here first but if homicides are involved, it will fall to the Brooklyn Borough homicide squad to investigate. They normally have 48 hours on a case before it gets turned back over to the local detectives. That will put pressure on the homicide detective to close the case fast.

The house is rubble, collapsed. Small pockets for fire illuminate like bits of burning charcoal. Three abandoned dump trucks are turned over nearby, like dominoes that fell over in some child's game of contrived chain reaction.

Lapis considers speaking the the FDNY investigators but decides the inspector is too busy to bother as is the sergeant of patrol. He returns to the SUV.

As he does, he sees a familiar face, Detective Chris Dowd, in a NY Port Authority pass by and park. He is about to turn to speak to Dowd when he sees something else in the haze. A horse and rider emerging from the darkness, the horse gentling trotting towards the scene of the fire.

ICC-

As Lapis watches, the horseman, still hidden in the dirty mist, stops his horse and looks behind him. A swirl of blue and red lights, and the siren chirps quick. The horse jumps a step but the rider has it under control, puts a hand to its side to calm it, and then lets the horse gait to the side.

A brown four door sedan with its lights attached to the roof, pulls by, kicking up mud from the road. The rider watches the car go by as does Lapis. The car proceeds towards the crime scene until it pulls to a side before the police perimeter. The driver is in plain clothes, probably one of the detectives.

Lapis sees the horseman remain on the side of the road as something big moves through the dirty mist down the road. It moves like some slow prehistoric slug, in jerks and spasms down the muddy road.

A figure steps up next to the horseman, who bends down to exchange a word, even as he moves his horse further to the side of the road until he too disappears into the grey mist.

The large slug like vehicle emerges through. It's a police command center, finally coming down to the scene of the crime to help in the coordination. Big, wide and fat, the vehicle seems to consume the road, but it moves from one side to the next, its driver trying to find the dry earth of the road surface in a neighborhood long since abandoned by road crews. At one point the vehicle sinks to one side and then a jet of muddy earth shoots up from behind a tire as the vehicle rocks back and forth before finding solid ground.

Lapis is next to McKenna's SUV, careful to step as far away from he street as possible, not only to avoid the bus but any mud it might kick up. He can almost feel the wet earth surrounding is galoshes, and the cold winter is making it feel like he's walking through ice water.

Wade is listening to the radio and the police band, keeping updated. Her eyebrow raises as Lapis approaches. McKenna looks up from her laptop where she's been getting updates.

"It's a mess up there. Fog and smoke, can barely see and the air isn't right. The fire crews are finishing up and the FDNY investigators are there checking out the scene. Besides the police perimeter, the local precinct is just arriving." He nods at the police command bus that is passing them. "The local detective is..."

"Detective Joseph Pacesee." Says McKenna, "A ten year veteran of the force, twice decorated but suspended on 5 different occasions for wrongful conduct, twice for excessive violence. The command Is Terrence Robinson, who's been on the job for only 2 years."

Behind the van other units approach. The first is a two door Honda Accord with another individual dressed in a plain clothing. A second unit is a van from the Arson and Explosion Squad followed by another from Forensic Investigations. Both units pull over near the SUV.

Wade shakes here head. "In this mess, those folks are going to have a hell of a time."

"They are still pulling out people from the wrecks." Says Lapis, "When the house blew up, seems the concussion from the blast knocked a number of local trucks. Paramedics are moving some a car from a woman. Blast knocked over dump trucks. Lucky that the FDNY hadn't gotten to scene or we'd have lost a few."

"Bad enough. We got at least 9 locals killed because it seems one of the trucks caught fire and no one could get out. And then we got some 30 in the hospital, 11 in critical." Says McKenna.

She doesn't have to say that this makes it a homicide investigation. McKenna continues. "Most of the injured were living in nearby trucks or other housing units nearby. As for the fire, no witnesses if it started inside the house or outside. People aren't talking. Brooklyn Homicide has assigned William Moreland on the case, but he seems the only investigator so far... no redball on this one. Interesting. "

The Arson and Explosive follow the Forensic Unit towards the site of the fire.

Lapis says "Mooreland is good people. I've worked with him before. But he'll be worried that we take the case out from under him."

Wade nods. "Local police don't like it when they think the feds will sweep in."

McKenna is putting on her rubber galoshes. "Well hopefully it won't come to that, but could be that house had something inside that blew it to up, and if the Saudi's were storing explosives, than we need to make sure this stays quiet." She takes a drink from her coffee. "The others should be here soon."

OC- Snapper and Phil, good time to be arriving. Your agents would converge on McKenna's SUV and you should be able to make out the vehicle not only because of its appearance but because of the government license plates. Handy, can you take your character from call to the scene? I'll be posting some pics for our NPCs.

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

Kaminski makes good time and is soon flashing his ID through the car window to one of the perimeter beat cops, who moves a barrier to one side to let him through. He takes in the PCC and spots the black SUV with two people in conversation, one of them busy pulling on her boots. He guesses that’s Attorney McKenna, though he’s never met her before.

He finds a space to park and pulls over. Like McKenna, he pulls on a pair of boots and picks up his weatherproof jacket with the FBI patches from the back seat of his car. Locking his car, he checks the road and crosses over. ”Attorney McKenna?” he checks. “Jakob Kaminski, Criminal Investigation. I’ve been assigned to you.”

ICC - Javier

A dark colored Jeep Wrangler sped through the outer perimeter of the crime scene, driven hard. Occasionally, it came to a splashing halt by a uniformed officer and Javier flashed the badge hanging around his neck. This is why God invented 4WD, he thought.

Spying the black SUV, and continuing to drive like it was WWII and he was a marine on a Pacific island, Javier splash landed close by. He ducked around to the trunk, threw the DEA raid jacket on over his North Face - it was seriously cold compared to Latin America - swapped the NYC for a DEA baseball cap, changed shoes for waterproof boots. A black face mask was left around his neck.

Wardrobe sorted, Javier headed over to the SUV, politely rapping the "shave and a haircut" knock on a rear window. He held up the gold badge around his neck. "Gonzalez, DEA, I was paged." He gave Kaminski a friendly nod then pulled a battered packet of cigarettes out and lit up, apparently oblivious to the background smoke. He offered a cigarette to Kaminski.

Lee Shaftoe is already wide awake when the call comes, having just finished breakfast. He had gotten into the habit of waking up at 0500 every morning in the Marine Corps, and he had kept it up afterwards. He tends to go to sleep early too, so that he is still well rested in spite of getting up at what most people thought of as an ungodly hour. Once he gets the call, he quickly writes a note for Lisa, who is still asleep. He's not about to wake her up prematurely, as she normally won't be up for another hour or two. Then he gears up, gets in his black Ford F-150, and drives to the scene.
When Lee arrives, he shows his badge at the perimeter and pulls up near the SUV. He emerges from the vehicle and walks up to the growing group. "Shaftoe reporting for duty, Ma'am," he says to McKenna.

The call wakes Miranda Waterhouse out of a sound sleep. She hastily throws on some clothes and her winter coat, grabs her laptop, makes a coffee for the road, and heads outside. She gets behind the wheel of her green Dodge Charger and drives into New York. Living in an apartment in North Jersey as she does, it takes her a little while to get into New York, and she's the last one to arrive. She puts on her mask, gets out of the car, and joins the rest of the team. "Hi, I'm Miranda Waterhouse," she says.

ICC - Conroy

Conroy drove cautiously through the weirdly unbusy city, keeping half a lookout for urban incursions by wild animals. He wasn't expecting miracles but in other cities, deer, wildcats, and even bears had been seen downtown.

Even more cautiously, he navigated past check points, uniformed NYPD, and other emergency workers in the disaster zone. This was not the sort of crime scene he was used to. Spying the SUV and other vehicles, he parked the Ford Fusion hybrid with a distinctly electric whine.

Conroy wandered over to the others. With long dark hair, a short manicured beard, a beanie, scarf, a green West German army surplus jacket, jeans, galoshes, he looked more like he should be protesting the war in Vietnam or reading poetry in Greenwich Village.

He nodded but didn't introduce himself, just gazed at the devastation and sniffed the air suspiciously. "Wow. I didn't think this part of New York could become any more of an ecological disaster but I was wrong. What is that smell?" Prompted, he pulled a colorful, Fibonacci patterned face mask out of a pocket and put it on.

IIC - Harry Shibatu

Harry hasn’t the easiest journey over but at least it has taken his mind of his issues with his wife. As he pulled up to the barriers, he’s already looking around, taking in the surroundings and the hubbub of activity.

Pulling in behind another government issue vehicle, he quickly pulls on his waterproof and flicks up an umbrella for good measure. Checking for traffic, he looks both ways before crossing over and joining the rest of group waiting for instructions. ”Harry Shibatu,” he says, by way of introductions and waits for the briefing to start.

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

Kaminski thanks Javier but declines the offer of a smoke. Lifting the corner of his own mask, he pops in a couple of Altoids instead.

He glances around at everyone in their face masks. Adopting a John Wayne voice with a barest hint of an Eastern European accent, he says,”What time is the stage coach coming through?”

ICC- Her rubber boots on, McKenna steps into the muddy street. It's been raining for days now and the road feels it weight of accumulated waters with no-where to go. The water offers a chill she can feel throughout her feet.

Wade moves a bit away to keep an eye on the people. She glances down the road at the other cars and police now moving towards the suspected arson. Still few people out, but she can almost feel them, all around, hidden behind the doors and windows of dilapidated houses, sheltering in nearby trucks.

McKenna eyes the arriving agents and welcomes each as they come through. She offers' them a firm handshake and meets each in the eye. This maybe a temporary assignment or a long-one, but these agents have been called together because the country feels it needs them and the matter is one of significance, even if that may yet be mysterious. There has been an explosion, involving foreign actors, which hints at some terrorism or worse. There a strong hint of potential violence involved and more violence to expect, and these investigators may bear the brunt of it.

"Welcome agents. Glad you all could make it and join us in such lovely environs." She nods. "We've got a situation here that will probably require your combined skill set to solve, thus a joint task force has been called. The building that went up in flames and then blew up was bought by Saudi Arabia about 7 years ago. Why would they buy in such an up and coming area? Don't know. This morning FDNY responded to a call that the building was on fire, and shortly before they arrived, the building exploded causing considerable collateral damage and loss of life to this neighborhood. Happily no fireman were killed in the explosion although several locals were. Nine dead, 30 hurt and 11 critical. The house got lifted up and basically dropped but not before it knocked the hell out of just about everything around it."

"So far, it looks like an arson. We've had a lot of arson of late, mostly protest related and a lot of it in the South Bronx, Co-Op City. Some in Brooklyn, mostly East New York, the projects, Rockaways. Except, you'll notice that there aren't any protesters. In fact this is a community that has seen any protest at all. Probably because the place is usually flooded. So if it was arson, we can probably discount that this was some BLM action or any antifa struggle."

Wade is also aware of the relative silence from any crowd. No one is out there calling out "Defund the Police" or "Fuck the Police" or "Kill the Pigs." The relative silence from the local community is, in its own way, unsettling.

"Excuse me Ma'm" Lapis interrupts to offer something, nods to the others and re-introduces himself, "Tony Lapis, DEA." Then he continues, "According to the local patrolman I talked to this place doesn't get much police presence at all, no regular patrols or community outposts. The local police, 73rd precinct, avoids this place."

McKenna pauses, considers it, "We''ll need to investigate that a bit more before we can dismiss a connection to police corruption or violence, but if so, it's a strange choice of targets. At this point we can't rule out anything. End of the day, we wouldn't probably be here if it weren't for the fact that it's an arson on property owned by the Saudis. So additionally, it's a case of potential national security so maximum discretion is required. A US ally may or may not have gotten themselves in a bit of trouble on this one, but the consequences can be global and it may impact our foreign policy in the Persian Gulf. The government has enough to concern itself with Saudi Arabia and Iran escalating without bad news with a Saudi connection coming from NY."

She pauses but doesn't have to remind them that the 9/11 attacks were hardly forgotten but rather, are memorialized in the memories of New Yorkers. Hard to pass the area without seeing the museum and memorial only a few blocks away from the federal offices.

She continues. "We need to figure out what happened, who did it and we need to do so with maximum discretion. For the moment, at least, we are here to assist local law enforcement. If the matter is one of a local crime, fine, we'll let the locals sort it. Could be this was just a local arson and the more our hands are on this, the more likely the press will catch wind of a story and, next thing we know, we got 'fake news' to clean up and we'll have to answer to for something that didn't happen. So, we need to maintain a soft presence. We're here to help and our interest is limited. It is a priority that this remains out of the news.
We need to remind the local police that as well."

Lapis asks. "And what if its more than an arson, ma'm."

McKenna nods. "Then we close the local investigation, take jurisdiction and proceed, because chances are it would fall to us anyway. Right now, that's not been authorized."

McKenna pauses before continuing, but she's been given explicit orders from the chain of command to impose maximum secrecy. "Discretion has been mandated. Let me also remind all of you that you are, by oath of your position and by the law of the US not to allow any leaks of any kind to the press on this. We need to maintain highest protocols of secrecy and discretion. No leaks. Washington has been very explicit. We are to control the information here. Failure to control the narrative will be met with punishment. It will be personal: your career and jobs would be the start. Washington has been explicit in their warnings. They will prosecute to the extent they can any violation of your obligations to maintain secrecy in this matter. Let's be clear, people, the President has been wanting to plug the leaks with extreme prejudice so let's not give him excuses to royally fuck our lives."

It's clear from those watching that McKenna isn't too happy to be passing on the threat from Washington. But since the election, they've all heard the stories of former civil servants being convicted on revealing secrets to the press and now doing time in federal prison. Only a month before the President had been threatening to send "leaders to Gitmo." One former National Security Advisor had been found in a cell handing from a rope.

McKenna continues with the instructions. "Let me be clear. If this is terrorism, than the case is ours, and we take point. If it's just narcotics, then we assist with the international connection. If that's the case, than this is probably going to go DEA anyway. If we are seeing serious political corruption or organized crime, than it will likely go FBI, and if what we are seeing is human trafficking in any kind of systemic way, or gun smuggling, than it's ours. But if this is just teenagers lighting up a house, or some business owner torching a house, or an insurance fraud gone bad, or someone lighting a fire for payback for some infidelity, leave it to the locals. Here's the test, if you're seeing this thing blow up so that the matter is one of national security or regime security, for example corruption at the highest government levels, it's our case. If there's doubt, let me know. Ok, so a sitrep? Lapis, what do we know?"

Lapis speaks up. "Alright, what we know so far. Unclear what time the fire was set or who lit it. All we know that is the house exploded before FDNY could put it out. The fire is basically out now and most of the fireman are gone, but paramedics are still treating wounded and pulling out bodies. This is territory of the 73rd precinct, Fire Inspectors are already poking through the rubble and NYPD's Arson and Forensic units have recently shown up. But the site is a mess and there is a good chance most of the evidence either got blown up, burned up or got washed away. Unclear if there are any bodies in the rubble of the house yet, but they'll figure that out soon. Brooklyn Homicide unit has been called in but only one detective, William "the Bunk" Mooreland. As per procedure, Brooklyn homicide has the case for 48 hours before it gets returned to the 73rd precinct detective, a fellow named Joseph Pacesee, a ten year veteran with some disciplinary issues. Command of the 73rd is Terrance Robinson. Sgt David Ruffini is the sergeant who has been coordinating police until the command bus came in just a few minutes before you all arrived. The fire inspectors are still investigating. The crime scene is probably a mess and evidence has been lost, but its about as fresh as its' going to be. "

McKenna looks at the assembled group of investigators and nods to the African American marshal. "This is Cheryl Wade, US Marshal, who is currently my appointed guardian due to the recent security changes. I'll ask for Wade to remain my personal security for the duration of this investigation, but she's not been assigned to this case."

Wade smiles at the others but stays quiet.

McKenna turns her attention back to the others. "Let me be clear, investigators. You've been assigned to this task because of your varied skill set. While the Joint Task Force is presided by an Assistant US Attorney, I'm just the attorney overseeing the investigation in order to resolve any possible jurisdictional issues. While you may answer to me, this investigation is yours. My job is primarily to see that the investigation is carried out and that any legal issues that might arise are efficiently and effectively resolved in compliance US law. I imagine most of you have work you'd rather be doing, so let's wrap this up as quickly as we can and get back to our normal work. As far as the federal government is concerned, our interest here is simply the Saudi connection. But we want to know "Why are the Saudi's here? Why were they targeted? Who lit them up? Why the building exploded? We'll proceed from that point on. Hopefully we'll have this resolved by the end of the day or tomorrow and you can get back to your normal duties."

"Any questions?" She asks.

IIC - Harry Shibatu

Harry puts up a hand and when McKenna looks his way, he asks, ”Do we have any witnesses, ma’am?”

IC -

The air tastes burnt, the flavor of soot and ash, incendiary, captured in wet mist. The mist coats everything, wet droplets forming on just about any service that offers the slightest purchase. As the mist collects and condenses, it deposits the grey ash and soot that leaves behind a lingering wet stain.

McKenna smiles at Harry, "Agent Shibatu,. I swear, every time I hear 'ma'm' I think I am turning into my mom. Ms. McKenna is fine, Agent. And to answer your question, so far I don't believe any potential witnesses have been identified. It is possible that there were eye-witnesses. Certainly there are many at the hospital who were injured in the blast so ts possible that someone saw something. But whether anyone will be willing to talk or share with the police, I don't know. If they don't, it could be because they don't trust the police or their are afraid of something that will punish them if they do. I believe policemen are probably taking statements from the injured at the hospital now just as I expect they will be trying to collect statements from just about everyone in this community. The local detectives will review and follow-up. But it's uncertain that anyone will have anything to say."

Wade says "People around here look like they believe in extreme social distancing. Especially from the police." Her eyes are still looking out, watching and waiting, as if expecting something wicked to come out of the grey, ashy mists.

Lapis adds. "East New York has been a problematic area for a long time, lots of crime, drugs, homicide. Most of it is policed by the 75th precinct, but this community is 73rd. East New York was once murder capital of city and local efforts at redevelopment that worked elsewhere never really took here. There's been trouble here since last year's protests with the cops getting more paranoid and defensive as the local community getting more aggressive. It might not look it here but the police are on the defensive. Murder is on the rise all over Brooklyn. Still..."

"No crowds." Says Wade, "No belligerent crowds, no flying bottles, no Molotov cocktails. Its unusual, not like other places. Weird. People are staying back, out of sight. But they are out there, alright, you can catch a glimpse of them, can almost feel them watching you."

Lack of real police penetration or presence of the community probably means that chances are the local detectives have few if any confidential informants, but there might be other cops who have connections in the community. People will be reluctant to speak to outsiders, distrustful and paranoid, not only of the consequences from the police but from others in the community. In such a community the police are not seen as protectors or public servants but an occupying army and the children that get in trouble are likely to be dragged away to serve in some caged jailed in a distant prison upstate New York,their meager means keeping those they love outside their ability to visit.

Finding witnesses will perhaps be easier than getting them to talk. Getting witnesses to provide useful information will require gaining the trust of those who have a long history of reasons not to trust the police or outsiders. Maybe they can find someone's Confidential Informant who might offer some info in exchange for money to feed their addiction. Or perhaps some kind of intermediary who might serve as a bridge, or perhaps a resident so entrenched in the community that they aren't afraid to speak. or someone with an agenda.

Meanwhile, forensic evidence might offer additional revelations.

A hidden sun is greying the skies overhead and may yet burn away the mist which seems to be lifting out of the neighborhood.

McKenna looks at the group, "Other questions?"

ICC - Javier:

Javier speaks up. "Javier Gonzalez, also DEA. I'm wondering if this was the mother of all drug cooks gone wrong? I'm happy to try talking to the locals. Get a feel for the lay of the land. They might be more willing to talk to someone who's not NYPD. Or make a trade. Maybe I'll speak some Espanol..." He shrugs amiably, flicking his cigarette butt into the water. "And the more cigarettes I give away, the longer I live."

OOC:   Does Javier know Lapis? They have similar career histories.

ICC - Conroy:

"I'm Special Agent Jackson Conroy with the EPA, call me Conroy." Conroy is ready for the usual smirks from the more hard-assed agencies represented at the little gathering.

"I've got my field kit in the car, thought I might get down there and help the forensics folks, take a few chem samples. I'm wondering what we're smelling. Perhaps it's just the smell you always get when you blow up part of The Hole?"

OOC:   Chemistry roll to take a preliminary guess at what the team is smelling?

OOC- apologies for delay. Tried to post last night and got automatically logged out and lost the message. I've posted a lot of the links (but I fear not all of them) to the reference thread, including info about arson investigation, the location of our blown up house, the neighborhood, general info about state and local environmental protection and, because of our mysterious horseman, wanted to verify that the local stables hasn't been flattened.

As for the scene, you can imagine that police have blocked off traffic at least one block in any direction from Dumont and 76th street, but also that many of the fences that were in the area have been knocked down. The police mobile hq has inched closer to the site, so are now parked in one of the otherwise empty lots on two sides of the building (the two story white building currently on google earth - sorry residents that I blew your house up in this story!) Our SUV is probably parked inside the police lane on Dumont and 75th street. The block behind us is Drew Street and a bit more busy, so that's probably where you pulled in.

In response to Conroy/Snapper's question- the smell is largely the cinders from the house that went up in flames as well as the smell of various fuels that probably went up as well. Whether those smells come from the house or the vehicles nearby is unclear. The atmospheric conditions of the grey misty fog that is rising up, mixing with the smoke, cinders and ash of the fire, is distorting your vision, staining everything with a greyish blackish ooze, and leaving behind the nasty scent. To make matters worse, the rain has increased flooding (which might have actually helped put out any fire that wasn't extinguished in the explosion, but it has lifted all sorts of waste (including human and animal). The water is brown and muddy, but also littered with particulate matter, heavy metals, petroleum, and human waste. Ok, I have to admit, just thinking about it makes me think of vomiting. To say it stinks would be an understatement. It's a good thing that you have a mask on or it would be getting into your nose and lungs.

This far away from the site, its hard to tell if all the smells are related to the fire itself. NYC has had lots of atmospheric problems. You can refer to the DEP link on air pollution to see that particularate matter, sulfur and ozone are common problems. The Hole's is surrounded on two sides by busy local highways, and the geography of the sink means that a lot of the heavier than air gases are likely to sink into this community (much like mustard gas would sink into the trenches and foxholes during World War 1)


ICC- McKenna addresses Conroy, "That's a good idea. Remember, Agent, we are here strictly to assist, not to take over. We'll need soil samples and air samples, as well, and there might be some traces of fire accelerators present. If you push the locals too hard they are likely to clam up, so go easy. Remember, we have an interest here because the property was foreign owned and we're just trying to ascertain a connection. But you might remind them that this is a matter of significant discretion and any leaks on their part might mean they lose a valuable retirement. Remember what happened to McCabe for being on the wrong side of the administration. ? "

OC- McKenna is referring what happened to McCabe. For more- https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics ... -trump-fbi

ICC-
Lapis turns to Gonzalez, "You're the agent just transferred from Seattle, right? Sorry we haven't met yet. The agency had me running around the South American offices before returning here and I've been spending too much time in the Bronx ever since." Offering his hand for shaking. "You're right, this could be a Meth fire. With all the restrictions on immigration and flights, a lot of the Meth that used to come in from Mexico has slowed, so we've had a recent uptake in local labs. So we've had a few of these jokers trying to produce home-grown ice burn up in a fiery explosion."

Wade chimes in, "Yeah but good luck getting these folks talking." Her eyes pass over the area, "These people are not likely to trust the police, federal or local, and they aren't probably going to share much. Not in their interest. In a place like this, the locals are likely to speak to one of their own, not some outsider trying to police. And this place.... it's weird. No crowds, no protestors, no outrage, nothin. But you can feel them watching you. But to them, you are an outsider."

The investigators are not unfamiliar with communities that are socially marginalized or have long been victimized.

They can expect that any canvas for witness is likely to be frustrating and not bear much fruit. Over the past year, the distance between police and communities of color have increased, and not only in those places that have been a hotbed for protest. The police have normally found it difficult to break into such communities to speak to witnesses and when witnesses do come forward, you have to watch for any hidden motivations. Those who come forward are doing so, perhaps because they are hoping the police will offer a solution to their problem, not necessarily to help solve a crime.

For those living in such communities, the police and federal agents seem more like an invading army, bent on temporary occupation but not interested in leaving significant improvement to their lives, but to resolve a problem then leave, and in the process abandoning the people and allowing any local grievances to fester. It's not wise to talk to the police. One becomes a snitch, a traitor and problem, even for those not engaged in crime. People don't trust you because you've gone over to the other side, you're not one of them. And if police don't follow through, and usually they don't, those with grievances are likely to act, to settle a score. Given the risks, it's just not worth it. Not like the police really care, in any event.

So given the risks, why do the dangerous thing and speak to a cop?

It is possible that there might be a confidential informant, someone that the police have already recruited and is placed in this community that might offer some local intelligence. But that will require local cops and trust.

It might also be possible to find some kind of conduit, a go-between, some local authority (however informal) who is willing to step into that place between the police and the community and act as intermediary. Someone with a reputation in the community, some social capital for credibility, and the ability and willingness to help out.

Either way, it will require leg work.

No one ever said the job of an investigator is easy.

McKenna nods, "Could be there is a drug connection here. Could be the Saudi's are that stupid, or perhaps they are making Meth and selling it to fund something. It's a possibility, but if it is, kind of stupid if they think they won't get caught. Perhaps if they are they might be thinking of hiding behind some diplomatic immunity. But they would know better and it would just be a stall for time or an effort to limit the consequences. But we won't know till we find out. Any other questions?"

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

Jakob shakes his head.

Pulling his mask free of his face a little way, he says, ”I’ll put in a call to the local ER. See if anyone has made their way there? If it was meth, there’s a good chance of people getting burned.”

Wade speaks up. "Chance are they brought the victims to the two nearest hospitals, so probably Jamaica Hospital or more likely Brookdale, which is closer. I can check in from here. Probably got evidence on the bodies up at the blast site itself."

McKenna, "Alright, no other questions? Let's go say hello. Wade, you can stay here as I think the site is safe enough. Make the calls please. Agent Kaminski, you may want to speak to the local forensic team before you go visit any victims. Agent Conroy, there has got to be some scientific evidence the EPA might be able to dig up that has bearing. If you gentlemen need to gear up, please do so. We're going to probably need some physical evidence before this is resolved and time is running, gentleman. " McKanne begins to walk, carefully through the cold muddy streets towards the big slug of the Command vehicle, really little more than a converted bus.

Jakob can hear Wade calling in to the hospital from the SUV , "Brookdale ER please?....... Brookdale ER, this is Cheryl Wade, US Marshal's Service. You've been getting victims from East New York this sevening from the Dumont Street fire? ..... Yeah, that's correct.... Is there anyone I can speak to about the injuries..."

As they approach the bus then can see, on the corner the roped in debris of the still smoldering fire, black smoke continuing to rise from the masonry and the wood. One of the men who is probing the fire steps away and towards them, also making his way towards the command bus and their pathways cross. The man removes the gasmask as he steps away from the smoke, and dons a Covid Mask. He sees McKenna and the other agents approach.

"John Salvaggio, FDNY, Fire Inspector." Says Salvaggio, holding out a grimmy glove to McKenna, "You one of the detectives?"

"Assistant US Attorney McKenna" Says McKenna, ignoring the outstretched hand, "Sorry, but got to court later today and, yeah know, your hands. We're here to help. What happened?"

Salvaggio shrugs, "So far, a bit hard to say, but I'd guess there is enough fire damage here to suggest that something got lit and stayed lit despite the wet and rain. Could be electrical started something, but it could be fuel ignited. Hard to say. The house used to have two garages and there was a van parked in one and sedan in the other, but what is amazing is this place had a basement too."

"Why amazing?"

"Given the location, the basement probably should have gotten flooded, so our thinking was that the water leaked in, mixed with something, creates an unstable mix and blew the house up. The explosion came from beneath the house, not the ground floor or the top floor, which is a good thing or we'd have a lot more dead bodies and a lot of this area would have gotten flattened. As is, the explosion came from underneath. The fire damage is significant for the heat it created but the building is mostly masonry, mortar and bricks, reinforced like, and strong. Looks like someone reinforced the masonry recently. The old mortar would have just exploded out and we'd be picking up bricks a few blocks away. But that didn't happened." The Salvaggio stops for a second and looks back at the house. "The explosion lifted the house, elevated it off its foundations even as it blasted out. Like the ground floor and second floor were some giant cap or cover of an explosion that couldn't stop the blast from happening but it could contain it. The pressure from beneath lifted it up and then dropped it back onto the basement. Probably fell 6-10 feet down, and that force broke the entire building up and turned it to rubble. In the process a lot of the fire got put out, and I think the rain did more to extinguish it than the hoses from the fire crews."

Salvaggio shakes his head, turns back towards the command vehicle. " I've been fighting fires 20 years, and on this job for 13 more, and this is weird. A fire might have set off the explosion but.. whether it was fire or heat that set off the explosion, don't know. Most of the construction looks like typical stuff you'd find used in most construction around here over the last 50 years, but there are these bricks...

"What about the bricks" Asks McKenna

Salvaggio's hand is nearly at the command vehicle and says, "Well, they ain't from here or at least they weren't made typical...."

He opens the door as someone calls in from the site. "We got bodies! And we got guns too."

Salvaggio shrugs, "No surprises there. Building was occupied but now looks like we got a homicide."

Salvaggio enters followed by McKenna. The command vehicle looks like a cop's dream of a RV. Inside they can see a number of the police are discussing operations. Sgt Fuffinni is on the radio talking to patrol units in the area, nods to McKenna and Salvaggio as they enter the car followed by the others. Detective Pacesee is conferring and updating Detective Bunk Mooreland and Captain Robinson.

Robinson looks up but before he can speak McKenna says, "Assistant US Attorney Claire McKenna, from SDNY. We're here to help, not to take jurisdiction." She offers her hand. "We me are a group of agents, also here to help."

Robinson pauses before accepting the hand, but its more out of politeness than warmth. "That's kind of you but why the interest at all, Counselor?"

" Because the got flagged for being foreign owned, Captain, bought about 7 years ago by one of the UN missions."

"In the Hole?" Asks Pacesee. "Why would anyone want property here?"

"That's what we need to find out, Detective, and why I am here." Says Mckenna. "Chances are that it's just a fire, perhaps even an arson, and maybe the actual owners aren't involved. Could be the local consulate bought and is leasing it out to help make expenses, or maybe its storage, and this is just a fire, maybe accidental maybe intentional, and it's your business.. or maybe their were running a terrorist operation in a place no one gives a crap about but close enough to Manhattan and close to the cargo terminals at JFK that they could store guns and explosives for another terrorist hit, and so it becomes my problem. Whatever this is, we need to know and quick." McKenna pauses for effect, "And I don't need to tell you that I need to keep this quiet until we figure out what this really is about. This is possibly national security gentleman, and we've got foreign interests in place, so we need to keep this strictly quiet or the Attorney General tells me there will be Hell to pay to any involved. We clear?"

Robinson shrugs, "Well if the feds want it they can have it, take the jurisdiction."

McKenna shakes her head, "Not if we don't have to. We make a big entrance and the press finds out, we'll lose any advantage in keeping this quiet, and that might slow us down and complicate matters, Captain, and we can't afford that now. Besides, it might not be a global issue but a local concern, your business. As I mentioned, we are here to help."

Mooreland shrugs. "We got homicides here and its more than I can handle, and it's not like we are getting help from the homicide squad, which has its hands full with recent killings. All the same, I could use the help if we're going to run this down in the next 48."

Outside the van-

Lapis has been following the others, and as he approaches the van Detective Chris Dowd also approaches the van.

"Agent Lapis? Dowd from Port Authority PD Criminal Investigations." Down offers, "You here on a narcotics investigation?"

"Sure I remember," Shaking his hand, "honestly, I am not sure. I've been up in the Bronx and just got pulled into this assignment. Luck of the straw. We were thinking might be a meth fire."

Dowd shakes his head, "If it was, than it was a hell of a lot of chemical that lit the house up. Could be that they were producing but if so, I didn't see any evidence during my investigation. "

A female patrol officer passes by the two men speaking and heads into the command vehicle. From outside they hear the officer say, "We got some bodies in the house, and it looks like guns too."

OCC- Ok players. I've moved this a bit along. Some thoughts. I would encourage that the team begin to split up. Jakob Kaminson and Jackson Conroy should probably be collective physical evidence. Wade is currently calling up the hospitals to find out the condition of victims thus far brought in. Waterhouse should be doing some background checks on the property records of the house and perhaps even local properties. Could be the Saudi's own more than just the ruin. I assume Shaftoe, Gonzalez and Shibatu are with Lapis and McKenna at the command post? Folks feel free to ask questions, Dowd, Salvaggio and the officers inside the command vehicle might be able to answer some questions.

IIC - Conroy:

Conroy reels a bit from the list of seemingly contradictory requests from the AUSA. He decides the most constructive thing he can do is get down to the scene. And away from the AUSA.

Conroy ducks back to his car and rummages around until he finds his EPA raid jacket, which he throws on. Next are some strong latex gloves. Then he clips his badge to the front of his belt and grabs the portable evidence collection kit, which is in a good quality but used-looking shoulder bag. Bag over shoulder, he heads down towards the explosion site, looking for CSI types already collecting evidence. Anyone he encounters, he greets with a polite nod and "Conroy, EPA."

He's thinking samples of explosive or chemical residue are his first priority, followed by water and soil samples from the close proximity of the exploded building. He makes a mental note to check later for known toxins commonly found everywhere in The Hole so he can rule them out.

ICC - Gonzalez:

Javier gets restless easily and decides he's not needed with the AUSA and her entourage. "I'll see if any locals want to play go-between."

Javier pauses to grab a spare pack of cigarettes out of the Jeep. He pulls out his battered smart phone, hits 'record' on the voice memo recorder, and shoves it back in a top pocket. This is a standard precaution he takes to record conversations that might be important later. Javier clips a police radio to the back of his belt and turns it on low volume. He shoves the earpiece and throat mike attachment in a jacket pocket for now.

Javier picks his way through the detritus, mud and groady water to the distant figures of the local people watching the disaster response.

His approach will be simple and direct. He offers everyone - adult-ish - a cigarette and says, "Hi there, I'm Javi Gonzalez. I'm looking for anyone who's willing to speak for you all and can help us figure out what happened here. People have been hurt and we want to make sure it doesn't happen again." Then he repeats that in Spanish.

Javier's "antennae" are well and truly up. He is very alert for anyone who may become dangerous, but equally anyone giving off subtle signals they may want to assist - but perhaps assist privately. He is well used to informants' needs for privacy in their interactions with authority.

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

Jakob held up a hand to get the attention of the officer who had mentioned bodies. ”Can you show me what you have found?” he said. ”In fact, if you can hold on a moment, I will fetch my bag from the car.”

He stepped over to his car and lifted a bag from the trunk, which he swung over his shoulder. Walking back to the officer, he pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and asked her to show him the way.

IIC - Harry Shibatu

Harry walked down towards the site of the explosion looking for two things, a 7-11 and any other buildings with clear line of sight to the building that had blown up. There were taller buildings to the East and West but he wasn’t sure whether they would have been close enough for anyone there to have seen anything, but it might be worth a try.

OOC,Exactly which building is the location of the explosion?

OCC- The building destroyed was the one noted on the corner of 76th street and Dumont Ave in Google Earth- https://earth.google.com/web/search/76t ... 0RONURnEAI The building is the white two story long building with garages on either side. That building is now a rubble. The bodies will be found among the wreckage. There was, as the Fire Inspector has pointed out, a basement (which is kind of amazing given the area is low and prone to flooding). Note that there are high rise apartments in the distance and that there is the back of a stripmall in the other direction. Also note, busy thoroughfares on either side of this neighborhood. There is a dinner relatively close by (Lindonwood diner) but not in direct visual line with the site of the arson. You might have better luck with the McDonald's which is probably the nearest eatery.

ICC-
___
In the police command vehicle- MNcKenna speaks with the NYPD

McKenna nods. "Captain, my folks are here to help and we'll leave this to you. Our concern here is mostly related to owners of the building and any involvement they might have with the fire. If there is evidence of terrorism, let us know. Likewise, narcotics or other international criminal behavior. This is a matter of national security of the US and our diplomatic efforts abroad. We need to keep this investigation discrete until we know for sure then proceed. So all the federal government is asking that you keep us updated and keep it quiet, and we'll help anyway we can."

The local NY investigators look to each other and nod agreement. Robinson says, "I'll let you know first thing Ms. McKenna, provided the information flows both ways. If you find out anything pertinent on your end, you'll let us know as well. Agreed?"

"Agreed, Captain. Let me know how I can help." Says McKenna.

Sgt. Fuffinni interrupts them. "Looks like we got a body in the rubble."

The Captain and the two detectives leave the van, followed by McKenna.

__
Outside the van- Lapis speaks with Dowd

Lapis steps aside to confer more privately with Dowd. "You are investigating the site?"

Dowd nods, "Yes, but its on-going. But with all we got, might be good for DEA to get involved." He gestures for Lapis to follow him away from the command vehicle and out of earshot from the local police.

Lapis follows but when Dowd stops he asks, "Well we're involved now. So chances are the US Attorneys Office will ask for your records anyway. What do you got?"

"Yeah and it might be a good thing too. We were following up on a request from Interpol to keep an eye on some containers moving through King Abdul Aziz Port in Damman, Saudi. Seems a commercial outfit, Red Wind, had been shipping some containers all over the world. Most of the containers are nothing unusual and nothing illegal. A lot of goods from MENA, some from South Asia and Southeast Asia. Nothing to major or illegal, at least at first." Explains Dowd.

"Probably clued in DEA too." Says Lapis, "But that explains why the Port Authority was called in."

"Right" Says Dowd, "But we're talking a lot of containers. Abdul Aziz is the second busiest port and there are a lot of containers moving through, so DEA let us take point on this. But CIA was also interested.
Thing is some of those containers had been moving narcotics and small arms to different parts of the world, often ending up in war zones. At first it seemed that the containers might be moving goods for the Saudi government, supporting their interests and operations around the Persian Gulf and other regions. But what tipped off INTERPOL was a German raid on a terrorist cell in Munich had received its weapons in a container believed to be moved by Red Wind A bust of a Somali outfit in Manchester revealed a load of khat, tramadol, captagon, hash and even hagigat and weapons that were linked to a shipment from a container believed to be coming from Red Wind. Those are narcotics popular in the Middle East but also popular. So chances are the crew in Manchester were selling these drugs to Middle East expats who were looking to satisfy a craving for something they got at home. So Interpol gets involved. Investigators out of Rotterdam put trackers on some of the Red WInd Containers to build a case, to figure out where these things were going."

"So far I've heard nothing about this investigation" says Lapis, "But that doesn't mean much. Could be just keeping the investigation secure until something shows up. Has anything popped in the States?"

Dowd shakes his head. "So far we've had containers come through Long Beach, LA, Seattle, Norfolk, Miami, Houston.. Nothing. Most of those containers ended up in the usual places, but all over the world and for the most part, totally legit. We had a couple come through the port of NJ. Others are flown through JFK on commercial flights. Most of them check out. So far, most of those cargo have had nothing criminal."

"So maybe Red WInd isn't shipping illegal substances on purpose, but merely putting the cargo on ships and planes, moving them from one port to the other. Simple service provider with no dirt on its hands." Suggests Lapis.

"This is a cargo company. They all got some dirt on them, and they all want to make it seems they got their hands clean." Says Dowd, "At least that's been my experience."

"And that brings you here?"

"Actually THAT brings me here." Down points to one of the trucks, now knocked on its side near the blast site. "That's a Red WInd owned container, meaning that whatever is in it came out of King Abdul Aziz."

"Narcotics?" Asks Lapis.

"Could be. That came in by plane three nights ago from Saudi. And another came through here about three weeks ago from the Container Port in Jersey." Says Dowd, who looks around, " Hide a truck and a container in a neighborhood full of abandoned trucks... it's a bit like hiding a needle in a pile of needles."

___

Conroy and Kaminski approach the crime scene, looking for physical evidence-

Conroy and Kaminski return to the command vehicle having gathered their gear and return to the scene. Even with the rising sun, the area remains clouded with a hazy mix of atmospheric moisture and ash filled smoke. As they gather their gear, another ambulance passes by carrying away another one of the injured. They can feel the warmth of the recent fire still in the stone and masonry that they near the police line and enter the crime scene.

A local police officer guarding the site warns them. "You'll want to wear gas masks if you're going in their. Got some evidence of toxic substances."

The female patrol officer had gone inside the command vehicle to tell the others inside of the dead body. As they approach they can see McKenna, observing from the other side of the police line as Robinson, Salvaggio, Pacesee and Mooreland, their hands covered with gloves and wearing booties, donning face masks with oxygen proceed carefully into the arson site. Nearby one of the NYPD forensics experts and one of the Arson and Explosives experts are inspecting a body that lies broken under a pile of bricks and masonry.

One of the explosives experts points to the body. "Looks like burns for sure, exposure to heat, but I'd guess this one died from the concussion of the blast or the weight of the masonry that fell on him." He points to the mangled frame of a metal bed and tattered mattress. "Probably was sleeping and didn't even know the blast happened. I am guessing on the second floor. Blast knocked the whole floor up into the air, and when it came down it all collapsed."

Salvaggio nods. "Chances are we got more bodies under this."

"Probably" says the Explosive expert. "If I were to guess this looks like a professional demolition job more than an arson related explosion, based on the scatter of the debris field."

Conroy and Kaminski both notice that the damage around the blast seemed more due the concussion of the blast, but there is actually relatively little scattered debris from the explosion. Rather, it seems as if the explosion pulled in most of the house, burying the basement area.

________

Javier seeks a witness-

Javier moves further away from the crime scene looking for witnesses. In the hazy morning, visibility remains difficult but he can make out that the people are generally mixed. Latinos, African-Americans, Whites, most of them look ragged, few are washed, dirty clothing, unkempt hair, traces of drug addiction and homelessness.

They seem to be watching from a distance, staying well aware of the police line and police, curious but cautious, shying away from contact.

Most of the people move away as he approaches, pulling away, sometimes hurriedly, afraid to speak to him or to be spoken to.

One man, White, his hair long and a raggedly long beard, turn and walks away, saying. "They blew up my home man... Where the fuck am I supposed to live now man... Fucking knocked the truck off its wheels.... Agnes and Joe in the hospital already.... Fuck this man... Fuck this.."

One African American woman, her skin dark and her eyes wide, watching the police, notices him approach, asking question, ignores the offered cigarette offered, ignores the questions. "My baby is dead. Just like that.. Don't mean nothin... Don't mean nothin.... Ain't nobody care... Probably better dead than livin like this..."

Javier notices a man on horseback trotting down one of the lanes circling at a distance, watching. The man stops, talks to one of the locals for a few minutes. Javier notes the man is dressed like a cowboy, and even from a distance he can see that on his saddle is a holster with a lever-action rifle and the man has a holstered pistol that looks huge. The man notices Javier and tips his hat to him, then returns his gaze at the crime scene.

__________
Harry looks for a restaurant, and perhaps a camera and video-
Harry checks out google maps for a better sense of the location, notices a nearby McDonald's on Linden Boulevard a few blocks away, as well as a diner, Lindenwood Diner, that is across Linden Boulevard, but in the opposite direction. There is another diner, the Ozone Diner, but that's probably too far and on the other side of the Linden Mall. From what he can tell from Google maps it doesn't seem either site would have had a clear view of the site of the crime scene. But there could be witnesses. In the further distance, is the Brooklyn Queens Nursing home and further away, an old subway station and apartment buildings.

OCC- here's a link to the google map.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/76th+ ... -73.859456

Wade Calls in an update

Each of the investigators receive a message from US Marshal Cheryl Wade, who had called in the local hospitals.

"I've called in both Brookdale and Jamaica Hospital. All the criticals went to Brookdale as well as 9 less critical. Twenty one victims in Jamaica. Local police are taking statements of those who are here but so far little evidence. Most of the dead were killed by the blast and were sleeping near the site of the blast, including 3 squatting in a building near by and two in a car that got rolled over in the explosion. The other dead because they bleed to death because of flying glass or they got hit by flying bits of masonry that pieced their trucks. Most of the critical are suffering wounds caused by flying masonry, metal shrapnel from the blast that pierced the sides of nearby trucks. Most of those injured seemed to have gotten tossed in the trucks they were sleeping, a few are cut up from broken glass or pierced by flying masonry or steel. Most of the injured so far were either in nearby buildings or sleeping in vehicles when the blast happens. So far no one witnessed the person who started the fire. That said, investigation is on-going and the hospitals are pretty busy with the influx of wounded. No reports from the local ME on the dead."

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

”I want to get a closer look,” said Kaminski. He calls over to the command vehicle and gets one of the officers there to bring him a mask.

He swaps his COVID mask for the black rubberised gas mask, wishing he had shaved that morning as the straps were tightened and the seal rubbed against the stubble on his jaw. He put his hand over the ventilator to check the seal and, satisfied that nothing was leaking in or out, he moved up to examine the body. He knelt on his haunches, not touching the body, but carrying out a careful visual check to see if the evidence supported the A&E expert’s initial assessment.

OOC,Can Jakob try a Forensics roll?

IIC - Harry Shibatu

Harry made a note of the eateries. Given their locations, he wasn’t expecting any witnesses but it would be worth checking any CCTV recordings to check for anyone arriving or leaving the area at speed around the time of the explosion. He’d ask if the local PD could check it out.

The blocks on Eldert Lane looked to be too far away and, although you couldn’t discount an old coot with a high-powered telescope keeping an eye on the ‘hood, it seemed unlikely that anyone there would be close enough to have seen anything of note. If nothing else came up, it might be worth leafleting.

The offices above the retail units at the corner of Dumont and 78th looked more promising. He didn’t expect to find people working there at the time of the explosion but their was likely to be security staff on the premises this close to The Hole. Calling in his location, he set off in the direction to find someone to talk to.

ICC - Conroy:

Heading the warning and having a professional respect for all toxins, Conroy hunts up a gas mask. As soon as he is ready, he heads back to the blast site again and his original objectives. If he can find one, he'll grab a toxic gas detector too.

ICC - Gonzalez:

This was always a long shot but it had to be tried. Still, the locals seemed too lost to be any help to Gonzalez. Then he sees the cowboy. Now there's something you don't see every day, he thinks. Gonzalez raises an index finger to the corner of his own baseball cap in reply to the cowboy's hat-tip. Turning back to the locals, he fishes out half a dozen business cards and leaves them on a bench. "If anyone thinks of something later, get in touch."

Gonzalez starts making his way towards the man on a horse. He raises a hand in friendly greeting but is keeping a close eye on those weapons. "Hola, vaquero."

OOC:   What's Gonzalez' understanding of gun laws in NYC? Would citizens normally need a permit to carry a firearm in public (I assume)?

OCC-- As per rolling dice... at this point, given the nature of the investigation, you can feel free to see if you are noticing anything exceptional or different. Honestly, I need to get use to using the dice roller we have on the board.

Gun laws in NY- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_ ... Overview_2

ICC-
Kaminski and Conroy

Agent Kaminski looks at the body. The skin has been darkened and ashen, and there seems to be signs of exposure to heat and the fire, but the cause of death of the body seems to reflect the damage done due to the weight of bricks and mortar. It looks as if the man's body was broken in multiple places. The neck twisted and broken and injuries to the skull from bricks. The arms and legs seem bent and bones are protruding from the skin. Numerous heavy objects had landed or fallen. Physically, the injuries seem to match those who have been killed by the crush of weight. Yet the body is relatively high on the debris field, only slightly beneath much of roofing material that seems scattered about. A toxicology report may later reveal if the man had consumed any toxic agents or had consumed a narcotic or some other substance, but that will require some time at the Medical Examiners. The man had no shoes on, seemed be wearing sweat pants and a sweat shirt, and was perhaps asleep in bed when the explosion occurred. He is bearded, his hair is dark, and it seems one eye is partially opened and blooded. The man's is stained with soot and ash from the fire, but a quick cleaning would reveal that the man was of a brownish complexion, probably Middle Eastern. He's early middle ages, lean, muscular. There are other scars on his body. From the look the scars look like wounds, one that might be from a knife, two from what appear to be bullets. A large scar seems to have been a tattoo that was removed, perhaps by burning the skin.

Mooreland says, "Probably more bodies under here. Look Egyptian to you?" He asks Kaminski.

Robinson speaks into a radio, "We got to bring in the dogs to see if they can tell if there is anyone still alive under all this brick."

"Our air samples suggest nothing dangerous in the air. You can bring in the dogs." Says Salvaggio says.

A few meters away, Detective Pacesee says, "Looks like we got another body here." The Detective is looking under a long sheet of sheet roofing, "I am guessing female.. late 20s..."

From the other side of the building. "Got one here too... or at least a foot." calls out one of the Arson and Explosives investigators. "Oh, and looks like a gun too."

"Sgt Fuffinni," Says Robinson, into the radio, "We're going to need dog crews here asap."

Conroy meanwhile begins collecting air samples before soil samples and runs a quick test on air quality. He does find strong traces of particulants, asbestos, lead, sulfur, methane, propane and petroleum in the air, but no poison gases of any kind. Many of these gases would correspond with an explosion and there seems to be a gas leak, probably from a broken pipe. A lot of the materials seem to be the burnt residue of building materials that have yet to fully settle. One wouldn't want to remain at the site for an extended period of time as there would be damage to one's lungs, but there are no urgent or immediate threats.

As the smoke continues to clear and day dawns, more light reveals the site. The building was a long white structure that has collapsed, On either end were garages, whose roofs have collapsed and the cars are have been pushed away from the center of the blast. There was a sedan in one garage as well as a taxi, and in the other was a windowless van. The side of the van has been crushed in and the taxi seemed to have been picked up from one side and turned over, pressed against the sedan. The house itself was old, the roofing a mix of metal and aesbestos roofing tiles, common in NY. Most of the construction seems to be wood, brick and cinder block construction, and was painted over multiple times. They can see the ruin of various pieces of furniture, beds, book cases and draws, mostly cheap wood, IKEA, or old used and antique. There doesn't seem to be much in terms of personal belongings, but more might be buried beneath the rubble of the ruined building.

______________

Harry on Dumont-

Harry mentions his requests to a local police office as he continues down Dumont Street. He hears the cop say, "Yeah, I'll pass on your request, no problem" And then as Harry is nearly out of ear shoot he thinks he hears, "Fucking feds can do their own fucking work." When Harry looks back, he can see the police officer calling in the request on his police radio.

Proceeds towards 78th street and Dumont, he passes a three story building to the left and a yard to the right that had been fenced off, but garbage truck had been knocked over, taking out the fence. From the other side of the fence, an old man is looking around at the activity, he seems to be wearing the suit of a security guard, and behind him, Harry can see a number of school buses parked next to each other. Chances are the lot was used as a parking area for a local school district.

Trucks that had filled the empty lot between 76th and 77th street had been knocked over and an ambulance crew is working to remove a person. A small group of people are on the corner outside the three story house. They speak among each other but get quiet and watch as Harry approaches. There is a police unit on the corner, and two policeman keeping the line. The light of an ambulance on the corner bounces of the trucks, people, street.

Past 77th street, wire fences run along the property lines near the street and itself filled with cars, buses, vans and other vehicles. Inside those vehicles, Harry can see people watching as things unfold outside. An old man steps from outside one of the trailers, a small terrier mutt walking at his side. The man is dressed in an old coat, sweater, jeans. He looks at Harry walking past and calls out, "What the hells going on down there? Who set that damn fire? Local kids?"

Harry knows that at 78th street Dumont runs up against the back of the large building. From the street he can see the windows have been blown out, even from this distance. To the left the road continues to a dead end, and to the right it goes towards Linden Blvd, a major thoroughfare in the area.

OCC- Does Harry speak to any of the people he sees?

___

Gonzales and the cowboy

The cowboy gives his horse a nudge and proceeds towards Gonzales, stops near by and says, "Howdy. I'm assuming you are local law enforcement looking into that fire down yonder? I understand damn thing lit up the night before it exploded. Kind of surprised it didn't do more damage, really. All things considered."

The cowboy is an older African American man, a greyish beard and glasses frame his eyes. He's wearing some old blue jeans and a pair of cowboy boots, and a long duster of a coat. "My name is J.B Cooper, but my students usually call me Dr. Cooper or Professor Cooper, I teach over at Colombia on matters of American History. I am also a member of the local chapter of Federation of Black Cowboys, formerly head quartered a few blocks from here. These days we still keep some of our horses at the stables after the government turned the stables over to another organization. But the local chapter has been a regular in these parts for a long time, calling the Hole our organization's home."

Gonzales can actually imagine the man in a class room.



Cooper looks down at the fire. "Can't say I'm surprised about the fire. Probably local kids set it but that's no surprise. Local folks never did to their preaching and trying to convert folks when they started. Then with all the gossip, can't say they were a popular organization even when they were engaged in the community."

____

Lapis and Dowd-

Lapis looks at the truck. "Only three nights ago? Then there is a chance that whatever came in might still be inside."

Dowd nods. "And as we got an arson connected, bodies on the scene, we don't need a warrant to search the truck."

The two men proceed to the turned over truck and inspect the back door. Chained and locked. Dowd says, "No worries." He proceeds to jimmy the lock as Lapis watches.

IIC - Harry Shibatu

OOC,He’ll talk to the security guard and the old man.

”Good morning,” says Harry, with a casual wave of greeting to the security guard. ”Did you happen to see what happened here?”


Harry smiles inwardly as he sees the older man approach from the trailer. This could go one of two ways - it could be useful or the old guy could just turn out to be bat crap crazy.

Harry gets down on his haunches and making a clicking noise, put his hand out towards the terrier. Looking up at the old man, he smiles and says, ”Good morning, sir. It really is too early to tell as we’ve only just started our investigations. Do you happen to know anything about the people who were living there?”

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

”Arabic. Not Egyptian,” corrects Jakob absentmindedly, as he examines the body further. He looks up at Mooreland. ”Sorry, I mean the correct terminology is Arabic. Egyptian refers to someone from the country of Egypt and isn’t a description of appearance, per se.”

He points at the large burned area. ”This would have hurt,” he says. ”I wonder why it was removed?”

Jakob doesn’t wait for an answer but stands and moves over to the body uncovered by Detective Pacesee. Again, he drops to haunches for a closer look...

ICC - Gonzalez:

Javier nods back in friendly greeting. "Special Agent Javier Gonzalez, DEA. Good to meet you, professor. I'm part of a bunch of different law enforcement agencies here trying to make sense of this."

"I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't heard of the Federation of Black Cowboys but then I'm a Florida boy." He shrugs and smiles.

"Prof, you may be the only reliable witness we've found so far. Can I ask you a few questions?" Javier pulls a pocket notebook and pen out of his jacket.

"A bright flash and then the explosion? Was that just the time it took the sound to travel or do you think the flash in fact came first?"

"And can you tell me a bit about the people who were living in the building? Sounds like you had an idea what they were like. Anything you can tell me will help, we just want to understand what happened and stop it happening again."

OOC:   What can Javier tell about the makes of the professor's weapons? Do they seem like antiques or possibly reenactment props?

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy, satisfied he's got some basic samples, starts looking for any unusual materials that might be evidence. He begins with a methodical clockwise circuit of the edge of the building's remains. He double checks no one is left, alive or otherwise, in any of the vehicles that were in the garages.

Javier Gonzalez and the Cowboy-
OCC- If you are interested in the Geronimo story- https://thepulsepensacola.com/2015/10/g ... pensacola/ I actually visited this place a few years ago. Beautiful beach but pretty harsh prison.

IC Cooper nods and looks at Javier. "Florida, hunh? Well they got cowboys down there too. You know they kept Geronimo and his Apaches in a fort in Pensacola, Fort Pickens... damn hard place that. Local business people lobbied for Geronimo and his bad thinking they'd be great tourist attracts. Apache's lost some 95% of their population in a few score year. Geronimo's last words were of regret that he surrendered. Said he should have fought to the last man. He was probably right too" The man muses, perhaps recollecting an old class lecture.

He pulls the horse back a bit as it snorts, calms the animal with a soothing hand. "Well I can't tell you much about the fire itself. I am up early, a habit from my days in the class room, but with the Covid virus, well I am teaching on-line no matter of what that idiot Trump has to say about it. I tend to check on the horses at the stables but we're over the other side of Linden from here, and I was taking old Lucky here for a morning walk. That must of been before 5, and I could see the light coming up from here, lighting up the sky. The fire trucks were blasting by, sirens going off, and then turning off into the neighborhood. Those big heavy fire engines need to navigate careful given all the mud and the fact that the rod comes down some 30 feet down. A fire engine passed me by as I was coming in. But the stables are a few blocks in the opposite direction and surrounded by trees. I figure it was a fire probably from a truck or something and I intended to check on what was happening. Then, as I was getting Lucky ready, there was an explosion, big one too, and it scared the horses some. I was able to calm them down and then finally got Lucky settled enough for a ride out here to see what's what."

Cooper looks around, "I'm down here regular to take the horses for a morning ride so the locals know me and most of the folks around here are new. Since the virus hit the city and a lot of people lost their jobs, people have been coming in to the Hole looking for shelter. Lots of abandoned trucks and cars, so it's a good place to take shelter, even in winter, but damn cold. My thinking was some of the squatters had lit an abandoned house on fire and somehow, that fire had gotten out of control and lit something up, a fuel line or something. It's been cold so a lot of the folks who used to be here have moved to warmer places, but you can't be too hard on the squatters, given government cuts on homeless shelters. These folks, most of them got evicted because the government wouldn't protect renters out of work, and they are living hand to mouth."

He looks about and pats his sidearm. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. Some of these folks are very desperate and it isn't very safe. Just a warning, a lot of these folks don't trust the police for good reason and most are armed. Got to watch your back around here. But winter cold will kill ya just as dead as a knife blade. So my thinking, someone lit a fire and lost control of it."

He turns and looks past Javier back towards the ruined house. "Except that don't fit the story. That building wasn't abandoned to no squatters and it wasn't a trap house or a crack house either." He shrugs. "Used to be a religious center, not exactly a mosque but Muslims would go there to worship and they'd do community stuff for awhile. Give out free meals, lunches, provide education services... although that was mostly teaching Islam. They weren't bad folks really. A small group of folks, I think from the Middle East, Persian Gulf. They came in shortly before we lost our license over the stables, so we were gone for a bit before we were able to return. But as I hear it, the folks there did mostly community outreach, trying to get people to become Muslims."

"Which was probably the thing that causes a bit of trouble. See, a few blocks from here is another religious center, Christian but African Christian, and they didn't take to the Muslims spreading their faith in the neighborhood. Of course locals could have breakfast in one house of worship and dinner in the other, so it was pretty good for them. But the Christians didn't take the new comers none and there was some... shall we say bad feeling, between the different church people. Nothing too explosive, but then the rumors began about the Muslim Center. Someone put graffiti on the building, people gossiping. This went on for 3 or 4 years, and then the local religious leader supposedly went home. I talked to him a few times. Holy man, no doubt, but not a bad fellow and seemed like he a sincere desire to help the neighborhood, but by then he was just getting nasty looks and a lot of locals were staying away."

"MInd you, a few years ago, there weren't many people in the Hole. Most of the old-timers had moved out for better climes and those that stayed were fairly tight, a group of survivors willing to live in a place most people stay away from. Hell, not even the police like to come down here, which is good if you want to be left alone."

"So the religious center closes up for awhile, a few months for sure. I think they had a security guard living inside to protect the property but that was about all. Then, some months go by and folks start showing up again. Cars parked in the garage, lights on inside at night. But not like the last bunch who were trying to convert locals or spreading the word of Allah or offering to feed poor folks. No, these new people keep to themselves, don't talk to no one. Mostly Middle Eastern, I think, but not all. Some Black folk, White Folk, Asians. People walking by here noise from side as if there is some kind of construction happening inside, but the windows get painted over so no one can see inside. People come and go but no one knows what's going on inside."

"The African Christians lose interest because no one is trying to convert their flock to some other God, but gossip begins to pick up among the older folks. " He shakes his head. "I guess its normal that people are suspicious of those who keep secrets, but its easy for gossip to become slander."

Harry Interviews people on the street.
OC- we'll start with the security guard of the buses-

IC The security guard looks at Harry. "People who lived here?" He thinks about it a few minute then adds, "Used to be some kind of religious thing, I think, Muslims, maybe. I don't know. Don't live here. But that place closed a few years back and now something else, not sure. I figured the Muslims sold and some new folks moved in but I don't see them much. Lights on inside and some cars in and out of the garage. Pretty quiet... keep to themselves. Nothing crazy..

"What happened? Did I see it? 30 years I was on patrol. Of course I saw what happened here. Who do you think called in the fire department?" He shakes his head.

"I am doing my rounds around 5 in the morning and I see the mosque or what-eva-da-fuckit-was lit up like a candle. Half the side of the building up on flames, which is kind of amazing, ya ask me, as the building is mostly brick and mortar and being all wet, how the fuck does it burn so much, but what do I know, I'm just old cop. Was one for nearly 40 years! Retired 10 years at 63 and I am still working here. Why? Because if I stay home my fucking wife drives me up the fucking wall asking me to do all sorts of shit. "

The old man shrugs, "Anyway, I don't usually do night shift, ya understand, but the guy who usually does this, Sanchez, had to take off. His wife is in labor. Do the math, Covid baby. He can't get anyone to cover for 'em and I'm not without my sympathy. His wife comes from Puerto Rico and I don't blame him for making a baby with that one. So I figure, eh what the heck? Anyway, I end up doing a double because, ya know, the wife, and I figure this is a chance to spend some time with out her asking me something, driving me nuts, so I can get some peace for a night and think and get paid too. I am in the office, on the couch taking a nap and I can smell it, ya know. I figure maybe someone is burning a bus, so I come out here and the building is aflame. I go inside to call the fire department and the 911 puts me on fucking hold and then I tell 'em we got an emergency, a big fire over here, and she takes my info and says she'll call the fire department send the units. I figure better check it out and go see the buses. Sometimes people come in at night and sleep in the school buses at night. I wouldn't mind it but some times they piss and crap inside, so you got to watch. Chase 'em out,ya know. But this night shift crap isn't good. I am getting to old for it."

"I go to check the buses and then everything gets bright, and I am getting knocked on my ass. I hear it, BOOM. I think it would bust my ear drums. My ears are still rigning. All the glass shatters on the buses. The buses fucking rock on two wheel I swear they were going to fall on me and crush me like some fucking bug. Never heard anything like it. Ringing still in my ears. I am flat on my ass thinking the bus is going to flatten me into the fucking ground. Never experienced anything like it and I am on the force nearly 40 years. "

He points at the truck. "That fucking truck has been out there for years getting rusty and now it'sin the yard, took out the fence and everything. People could come through, ya know. So I go back, call the boss, tell him what the fuck happened and telling we need more guys. 'More guys? He says, "At this hour? Fuggettaboutit. ' he says, 'Yuz in Charge.' Guys got the brains of like a can of Spam. Now I got to make sure no one comes in and pisses in the buses. Good thingI still got my sidearm. Don't know what they are going to do about that fence and that garbage truck.. Jeezus what a fucking mess."


Kaminski and Conroy

Mooreland nods, "Yeah, ok. You're right about the Arabic thing. That scar looks like it was painful. Looks like a bad burn and must have hurt."

Kaminski turns to the girl that Detective Pacesee is checking on. He has removed some of the fallen roofing from her body, but she remains half buried in the debris. The woman was slender, young, attractive. Like the man, her skin is covered with burnt ash. Her hair was cut short but still had a distinctive curl and she had startling green eyes. There is a nasty wound to her head where a large piece of brick or mortar crashed into her skull. The whites of her eyes are bloody red, perhaps from the wound. There is blood on her mouth where she bit her lips hard. She is wearing undergarments, panties and a slip, but the slip is has been slightly torn. One of her arms is twisted around her body in a terribly angle. There is blood and what appears to be brain matter on a nearby chunk of concrete. Despite the ashes, grime and soot, Kaminski can see she had freckles on her once pretty face. Her head is rolled back at an oddly impossible angle, a broken neck. A few feet away they can see a twisted bed frame and a thin mattress, some torn sheet and burnt bedding.

Parchese is taking notes. "What do you think? Another one who died when the house collapsed?"

The investigators are all mindful to try to do as little as possible to disturb the crime scene, but all are also aware that the more people in the scene the more likely evidence might get damaged and lost. Robinson leaves the site to confer with a dog team that is coming up. McKenna is watching from a distance and moves to talk to Robinson but neither Kaminski or Conroy can hear what they say.

Conroy can see that the body remains buried but a foot is visible. One of the investigators is bagging what looks to be an automatic handgun for evidence.

The windows of all the cars have been blown out. The taxi looks like a typical NY cab, a car that would have easily blended into the busy city streets. The Sedan is an expensive Audi, a car with a heavy price tag that impresses, not the kind of vehicle one would expect in a neighborhood like the Hole. The van seems stoved in on one side, but Conroy can't see how or why. Like the Sedan and Taxi the vehicle looks empty of life but there are number of crates in the van. and Conroy can see on one side of the vehicle is written "'Kumar and Harold Cleaners' .

Lapis and Dodd -

Continue to struggle with the lock. Dodd seems persistent and Lapis grows impatient.

You want me to try?" Offers Lapis.

"No... I got this." Says Dodd, who continues to struggle with opening the lock.

OOC:

Mr Welsh, are you happy if I suggest a ret-con, namely that our Federal investigators hastily arranged a group messaging service. Signal and WhatsApp are the ones most often used - perhaps unofficially - by law enforcement here in Australia. Signal is supposed to be better and most secure I believe. (There may well be some more official option for US Federal law enforcement.)

Also, do the investigators have a radio channel to themselves?

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy messages the team the good news that there is not poison gas at the explosion site, with a note of caution that the air certainly isn't that healthy for long term exposure. He passes on the registrations of all the vehicles, hoping someone like Wade can check up on them, and emphasises the expensive Audi.

Intrigued by the physical anomaly, Conroy heads over to the dented van. He is well aware from his army days that big explosions can have some unexpected results but nevertheless, there should be an explanation for how the big dent happened. Rather cautiously, he looks in one of the crates in the back of the van.

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez jots a few brief notes. "Well, I guess the people we want to start with are the group who moved in most recently to that building, after the Islamic prayer centre moved out. Do you know any names associated with them? Like a name for their religion or club or business or whatever it was? Or even a person involved?"

Gonzalez is still conscious of the fact the cowboy professor is carrying weapons.

Firearms,Gonzalez has a skill of 70% in Firearms which may assist in identifying the weapons. Let me know if you'd like a roll.

Inside the command vehicle, Miranda Waterhouse is sitting down and using her laptop to access property records. She checks on the ownership records of the building to find out what she can not just about the current owners but also the previous owners and the circumstances of the sale, and she also looks to see what other properties in the region the owners also have.

"I'll go check out the body," says Lee Shaftoe, following the police and McKenna. While his forensics skills aren't the best, he may have some insights.

IIC - Harry Shibatu

Harry listens patiently as the old guy beefs about his wife, his job, his boss, before moving on to what he had seen and heard during the night. As the security guard recounts the explosion, Harry pulls out his phone and starts making notes.

When the old guy had finished, he says, ”You said there was a smell, before the explosion?”. He scrolls back through his notes. ”’...and I can smell it, ya know.’ Was there anyone out of the ordinary that you could smell? Fuel? Accelerant?”

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

Jakob moves closer to the girl to examine her more closely. He pulls out a penlight to help him see the girl’s neck, looking for any signs of bruising.

OOC,Does the fact that she has a broken neck and the head injury seem odd to Jakob?

OCC- Response to Snapper?

Hey Snapper. That's a wonderful question and I am not really sure. I found this- https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/ ... swat111708 which suggests a radio link closed to command, at least for FBI SWAT. But someone else included this list as basic FBI gear that would probably be consistent across other agencies. That list included "Bulletproof vests, shotgun, a fully auto version of M-16, Glock 9mm, backup Glock 9mm, extra clips and bullets for all weapons, flashlights, gloves, evidence gathering kit, two-way handheld radios, ear pieces, Baseball hat that says F.B.I. on it, Blue nylon jacket with FBI in yellow on the back, binoculars, night vision, cell phones, laptop, tear gas, pepper spray, knife, club, window breaker, Credentials, cash, maps, I-pad, battery chargers, megaphone, FBI/Government credit card, DL, bulletproof shield, etc…" and then someone else mentioned "cell phone."

If I were to venture a guess, most of communications among agents is on some kind of cell phone for most purposes, perhaps also with some kind of texting service that is maintained via encrypted software to maintain secrecy. Such a device would allow agents to blend in and be convenient and practical while maintaining government privacy. Shall we go with that? I would imagine some more closed communication system would make sense for tactical needs, but I think for the moment, some form of standardized cellphone service with a texting service would make sense. I've posted on OCC if you folks want to chat and discuss.



Conroy-

OCC- Registrations are usually kept on small cards in the US but there would be a license plate and a sticker on the window for inspection, normally a tag on a license plate. Registration cards are sometimes kept in the glove compartment but also in a person's wallet next to their driver's license. Vehicle Vin numbers are often found inside the car door though the print is often damn small.

IC Wade responses to Conroy's call, "I'll check on those registrations and tags. Give me a few minutes. "

From the look of it, it seems something big had rammed the side of the van, perhaps a vehicle, but if so, Conroy can make out none of the paint that should have been left behind as the metal vehicles collided.

Despite the morning sun, Conroy needs a flashlight to inspect the back of the van. Indeed, he can find no traces of any paint or other residual from whatever did the damage. It is also possible a body had hit the vehicle's side and had left nothing behind. In the back of the vehicle, Conroy finds the crates contain mostly tools for construction and building ranging from carpentry tools to shovels and a pickaxe. The tools seem dusty with a reddish soil that looks almost dusty, as if it hasn't seen water in a long time. As his flashlight passes over the back, he sees a hardhat, belts with tools, an array of mechanics tools, power saws and drills, but he also notes that there are a few large military type crates, the kind that might have been once used to move weapons.

Perhaps something is in the trunk of the Audi as well?

Before he can act, Wade calls a response. "Looks like the Audi and van are both still listed to Islamic Center of East New York. The taxi was owned by someone named D. Panipati and the address is a Post Office Box in East New York."

Gonzales and the Cowboy-

The gun looks like an 1851 Colt Navy Revolver, a gun popular in movies but also famous Western gunslingers. The lever action rifle looks like a .44 Henry Rifle. Both old antique guns that carried a deadly reputation. They are either originals or well done vintage reproductions.

JB Cooper shakes his head. "They was Muslims. But the newer folks mostly kept to themselves. Probably wanted some of the tension to dissipate with the local community. Mind you, we lost our access to the stables about that time and I was busy at the university, so didn't ride these parts much, but as I recall, the names of the place was the Islamic Center of East Brooklyn or maybe it was the Islamic Faith Center of East New York, something like that. The man in charge was named.... Khan.... Mohammad Khan I think. I spoke to him a few times passing by, but not much. He seemed alright and I think his attentions were fine. Nice of him to offer free meals to those living around these parts. Of course he was trying to convert people, but even so, it seemed he was sincere. Even had a part-time health clinic to help out those around here, which was more than the Christians did. I asked him why he came here of all places, and he simply said, it was where Allah wanted him to be. Religious folk are like that, more or less, they get to believing something and the faith takes them were it does. But he left a few years later and I don't think they did much converting, and the center shut down. I think someone tore down their sign outside during those times. It was quiet for a few months, and then folks started to come back. But they were not social and I don't think I saw them but a few times leave the building."

"But mind you, I just take the horses down these parts every so often for the exercise. The Black Cowboys have been here for awhile, been our organization's home, and its hard to leave home. Folks around here see me riding high with my horse, six shooter and rifle, and I am regular, so they start thinking if the law isn't coming here, perhaps the black cowboy will do the work for him. But I am just passing through. The other cowboys might know more, but we've been riding through here less and less over the past few years. Cooper shrugs.

"Still, I hear they were bringing stuff in and the locals saw that there were cars coming and going, usually at night but then this big semi shows up in the day and there are people moving things from the truck to the house, but again, not much else. There were lights on inside, lights on but no one see them much.... Maybe they were as suspicious of everyone in the community as the community was of them?"

He pauses a bit. "If it was me, I think you should talk to some of the long-term residents. Most of the new people, the squatters, aren't bad people but they are suspicious and for good reason. But the older folks, the long-time residents, well.. they are the folks who know about where the mafia hide the bodies back in the day. They are not likely to talk to the local police, who never give a damn, but they might be persuaded to talk... with the right introduction."

Shafto on the scene
OC- Handy, I am assuming your are thinking about the other body.

The police investigator is bagging what looks like a damaged 9 mm Browning pistol. and he points to the foot and says, "There" The foot is mostly buried and Shafto can see the toes out of the dirt, bloody and somewhat torn, perhaps from falling bricks. The toenails were painted red.

Kaminski-

Kaminski is careful inspecting the neck, but based on the bruising of the neck, it seems broken from falling debris. In conjunction with the sounds to the skull, her bitten lip, it seems as masonry from the roof and hit her hard in the head and upper body, injuring her skull and her neck at nearly the same time. The body does remain partially buried under twisted roofing and bricks, so he cannot yet inspect the rest of the body.


At the blast site

Robinson moves away from the site and motions to the dog handlers to come forward and the dogs, two black Labs, approach, noses in the ground searching for a scent of life.

It doesn't take long before something grabs their attention, their tails wag and they begin to bark, attention at a spot in the ground. "We got something! A live one!" Says the handler.

Robinson calls out, "We need to get teams here to dig. Be careful, the site is unstable."

Harry and the Security Guard-

The security guard nods. "Yeah, the fire, I can smell the fire.. but there was more, like a fuel or something, like a tar or gasoline and rubber cement. That's why I thought maybe one of the buses had caught fire. Reminds me of napalm from back in the 'Nam, when I was there back in '70. Planes came in and lit up a hole plantation but we couldnt' find one body. Not one.... But this. yeah, like but the same. Similar for sure."

Miranda at the command center-

Miranda tries to focus on what she sees on her laptop and ignores what she hears outside, but the sergeant of patrols is sending messages to the local units and trying to remain in contact with the precinct headquarters, makes the call on an update about the dog, and then, when the dogs seem to smell a live person, there is a flurry of activity that the police need a crew to help remove the debris so they can recover a live body.

Her property records show that the property was bought at auction from Kings County (Brooklyn) about 9 years ago, in 2012, by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for use by the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations, Ambassador Faisal Al-Hegelan with the intended purpose of public diplomacy and support for the UN mission. It seems that the Saudi's got the building for very little money as the property had been subject to County auction for over a year before it was bought.

The building had been turned over the county for failure to pay local property taxes. It had previously been bought, with cash, in a foreclosure sale in 2009 by a Delaware-registered real estate company, after the prior owner, a New York state rental company went in default in 2007, during the financial crisis. The prior owner had owned the building since 1992, when that company had bought the building and land in another foreclosure sale. Before that, it seemed that the building was originally built in 1976 as a small multi-unit, multi-family residence built on a site that had experience a fire in 1968, when the property was abandoned. Before 1968, the property was a garage and fuel station for a trucking company, and the fire apparently was the result of a some kind of explosion due to the mechanical failure and leaks with the fuel tanks. No one was injured as a result of the fire The garage had been in operation since 1952. Before that, the site had been part of a larger parcel of property that included much of the Hole, which was only subdivided in 1946, after World War 2. Older records suggest that one time it was part of a farm.

Further investigations suggest that the property had been used as office and meeting area of the Islamic Center of East New York and many of the documents and initial agreements for operation had been signed by the local manager Abdullah Mohammed Khan, A Saudi National but American Permanent Resident who had received Permanent Residency after working and studying at the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Studies in Fairfax Virginia. Immigration documents reveal that Abdullah Mohammed Khan returned to Saudi Arabia in 2017 and has not returned to the US.

IIC - Harry Shibatu

”Napalm, eh?” He doesn’t offer any comment, but just makes another note on his phone.

Closing his phone cover, Harry pulls out his wallet and fetches out a business card. Handing it to the security guard he say, ”You’ve been really helpful - thank you. If anything else occurs to you, my cellphone number’s on the card. Call me any time, my answering service will pick up if I can’t take your call.” He touches a finger to his brow in salute and heads on down the road.

As he walks, Harry keys the ‘send’ button on his communicator. ”Guys - it’s Harry. I’ve got a witness who thinks he may have smelled napalm before the explosion.” He releases the key as he draws level with the old man from the trailer.

Harry gets down on his haunches and making a clicking noise, put his hand out towards the terrier. Looking up at the old man, he smiles and says, ”Good morning, sir. Do you happen to know anything about the people who were living there?”

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

OOC,Is moving the rubble to see more of the girl an option?

OOC - Conroy:

Apologies, that was a translation mistake with use of "registration". In Australia, the term is generally used to refer to the letters/numbers on your car's licence plates. I would have been better to say Conroy passed on the license plate details. No biggie, job still done.

ICC:

Conroy has a quick peer in the military-style crates to make sure they're empty. He takes a sample of the red dusty powder for later analysis.

He heads over to the Audi and looks for a way to pop the trunk. (If necessary, he'll break open the driver's window with a nearby handy brick and pop it from there.)

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez messages the team that a new group or possibly a splinter group seems to have moved into the destroyed building after the Islamic centre moved out. And he is following up on community sources with assistance from a local identity.

"Professor, can I ask a big favour then? The long time residents will know you. Could you make a few introductions for me?"

"Also, I have to ask. I admire the authenticity of your cowboy era firepower, but doesn't it upset the NYPD you carrying those weapons around openly? Not that it worries me."

Miranda lets the rest of the team know the results of her search and then continues to look up information, this time to see what other properties in the Tri-State area are owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. What she's hearing from her teammates leads her to believe that this was a deliberate act, and that there is a chance it could be repeated at any other nearby properties of the KSA.

"If it's okay to disturb the scene and there's no risk of collapse, I'd like to dig the body out," says Lee. Almost certainly female, but I'll have to see to make sure, he thinks. I wonder who she was and what she was doing here. If we're lucky, she'll have some ID on her. Good thing I came here; this was tailor made for my strength.

Harry investigates witnesses.

From behind the fence, the small dirty colored terrier wags its tales as it approaches the gaps in the fence to smell Harry's outstretched fingers. The dog begins to sniff with curiosity, tail now straight an stiff, back sand neck stretched forward so its wet nose can do its work. The dog stops sniffing, pulls back and then a snarl turns into a series of angry barks at Harry. It's a clear warning not to come over the fence, that Harry will be seen as an enemy and the dog will do its best to tear into the man's calves with bloody tooth, and would rip his legs apart and eat the man from foot to head if it could. Yet the dog does not rush the fence, but seems to understand that Harry would need to cover over, as if inviting Harry to attack so it can pounce.

"Shut up, yeah stupid dog." Says the man to the dog, but it seems to heed the owner. "Shut up damn ya, SHut UP! Ya hear me, ya mutt! HEh HEh!" Says the man, but dog continues until the man stomps his foot down near the dog, and the dog stops, looks at the man, gives what might be considered a moan or a grunt of displeasure as it quiets its barking but not the growl, glancing up a the man's scowling face.

"No, I don't want to hear that from you, ya hear!" Says the man, and the dog lays down, its eyes darting from its owner to Harr.

When the man seems confident the dog will quiet, he looks at Harry. "Don't mind the dog. He's a good dog but a bit over-protective, which is probably a good thing around these parts. He can't help his nature and, truth is, he's a racist dog. Don't like Asians, Hispanics, Black Folk, well except them cowboys but because they give him bacon bits, Arabs, White Folks, and really don't like the religious nuts, Po-lice. Hates winos, junkies, crackheads and crack whores, but hates midgets most of all. Might be called an equal opportunity hater by nature. "

He looks down the street. "Fire happened early in the morning. Dog walk me up to see it. Didn't see nothin when I came out but I thought I spelled gasoline or something. Than there's a a sound. Like a big "Womp" Place went up fast and I seen it when the fire happened. Like someone lit a match and parts of the house went up like some kind of fuel was lit. Fire crawled up the side of the building and it all like weird color, orange and yell, and perhaps blue even some purple like. The building was wet cause of all the rain we had but that fire just rolled all over the building, mostly first and second story but all around, garages too."

He nods, "Was kids no doubt. I saw them from here. Cause not so clearly because of the dark and all. My eyes ain''t like they used to but I could make out a couple of em, and I seen one was damn close to the fire when it went up, probably got himself burnt or singed by the heat. Young uns, not liking what's been happening and blaming it on them Arab motherfuckers living in that house trying to turn people into Muslims or whatever iz they be doing there."

"Fire was kind of pretty there. I thought I could rainbows like in the puddles near it eve and the fire had these funny colors. But I could feel the heat from here. A lot of the first floor burning, black smoking rising along the sides. I came down off the porch, dog goin' nuts. But the fire didn't go long. Maybe 10 minutes or so.. then the explosion."

He shakes his head. "Force of it knocked me on my ass, I tell ya. Dog too. I saw the house lift up as the ground floor seemed to almost blow itself out. I see the house lifting up like straight up for a moment before it comes down and a cloud of dust and dirt, all that concrete breaking up I bet. Looked a bit like 9/11 and when the twin towers came down, or like you see when they demolition one of them old building. The building goes up, kind of hangs there and then falls in on itself like all the beams holding it up just blew out. But all sorts of burning stuff got thrown around and out, little fires all over the place cause of all the burning concrete. But with all the rain, everything was wet so most of that fire was already burning itself out as the fire men showed up. They got here as the smoke was clearing. and they didn't have much to put out as the damn building has all collapsed."

"Be surprised you find anyone living in there with that explosion. They evacuate all the people out of a building before they blow, but that one.. I don't think so. There's been people in side there for past couple of years. But that's a bad place.. People died in there before. Turning it into a religious place, for Muslims, ain't goin to make it better. Those folks in there, not like the Muslims tried to covert a few years ago. This new bunch keep to themselves, don't talk to no body. If it weren't Muslims you'd think a gang was holed up inside waiting for an attack, like a fort or a castle or somethin. And they was. Christian folks down further never took to 'em much, raised a whole big fuss about trying to get converts. Not even local Muslim Brotherhood folks or Nation of Islam brothers ike em much. Those folks are Saudi Arabs. Old school, Wahabi folks. Not going to happen, not with the Christian religious center. They make nice at first. Invite people in for lunch and dinner, learn about Islam and religion. But these new people. they are another thing altogether. No outreach, no talking to people. Just doing their business. Not friendly. But everyone knows bad shit happening inside there. They known it.. So no surprise, folks around here going to want them out, and probably put the idea inside some young uns to go and torch the place. "

Everyone at the Blast site

Everyone at the crime scene hears a loudspeaker. It’s RObinson . “We got a body here people and need to get to it quick, so move quickly. Try to recover what evidence you can now. But we need to get to the live before we worry about the living.”

The policemen begin at the crime scene begin to dig up the fallen masonry from around where the sniffer dogs had signaled.

“We need to get more people here, get some picks and shovels. Be careful as the building is still unstable.”
The investigators know that this means that the crime scene will become increasing contaminated as more people descend to dig up to recover whoever has survived the blast.

McKenna and Wade-

McKenna, watching from the sidelines realizes there is little she can do from here and send a message to the others. "Investigators, I am heading out and to the office. Wade will remain in touch and you can relay to her any updates as we proceed, and she'll update me. If you need help, send me a message and I'll see what I can provide. Hopefully we'll have you gentleman a location to use pretty soon."

She puts in a message to the Peterson that she'll get whatever help he needs and asks to remain in the loop, and that national security requires continued discretion.

McKenna leaves the crime scene, walking carefully around the flooded areas when she can, as she returns to Wade, waiting at the SUV.

Miranda checking the records-

A quick review of the records indicates that the Saudi Mission to the United Nations has actually been buying property throughout New York, New Jersey, Connecticut area and beyond, including New England areas and the Middle Atlantic. The properties include beaches houses on Long Island, a large estate in the Catskills and another further away in the Adirondack mountains and in the Poconos Mountains. Some of those properties had been used for religious centers or cultural centers, but other properties seem to be leased out. The properties are often bought in joint venture with Saudi and US firms. There is a warehouse in New Jersey and some property near the airport. These purchases have been going on for decades. It will take days to work through all the documents to find connections.

Before turning to the Saudi records, Amanda takes one more look at past owners of the property at the Hole and comes away with an couple of interesting finds. Among the most interesting are these.
Apparently, the property has been sinking for years and NY geologists are not sure why. It seems this was an area that had not been inhabited by indigenous Americans for hundreds of years and while nearby subway excavation has revealed some Indian artifacts, most of that was over 1000 years old before Europeans first arrived.

It also seems that at some point in the 19th century, one of the residents of the area had been a local priest, Ephraim Winslow, who had dug a church in the area and that the man ran the church until his death at the age of 74, when he was found underground, apparently having died digging a crypt under his church. The news paper story has few details, so if Amanda wants to pursue those details, she will need to dig a bit more and that will take time.

Amanda remembers a lesson from her college days. Computer searches will only get you so far. One can collect a lot of data quick, but good data will take some time and effort to put together.

Dowd and Lapis-

Both Dowd and Lapis have heard Peterson. “This can probably wait.” Says Dowd, ‘But if there is someone still alive, chances are they can’t”

Lapis nods, and both men go to assist in the recovery of the person buried under the house.

Kaminski, Shafto and Conroy at the crime scene –

Conroy hears Peterson and notice the men moving towards the dogs begin to pull away bricks and motor if only to get to the live body beneath. Conroy glances back at he crates and can’t help wonder what was inside there. They look big enough for assault rifles or even some kind of light weapon like a shoulder fired missile or rocket, or even a light machine gun.
There is dust, ash, and soot inside the crate that was perhaps the result of the blast, so he can’t make out if anything was buried in the sand. He can’t help but notice how much of the dust is reddish, sandy and very dry, as if the sand had not seen moisture in years. As the day brightens he becomes increasingly aware how much reddish dust seems everywhere. Perhaps it was the bricks that blew apart?
The windows of the Audi have been blown out, and he can see the lever for the trunk. Inside the car he notices, again, the red dust which seems … everywhere.
For some reason, Conroy has an image in his mind of a sandstorm in a red desert. A whirlwind spinning, a vortex pulling everything into it as it dances across the desert looking for something to consume.
And the image vanishes.

Conroy takes a moment to reflect. Does he open the Audi trunk, continue to inspect the military crates, help dig up the survivor under the house, or take another course.

Kaminski knows the body can be recovered from the blast site. Although the woman seemed to have died when the building exploded, perhaps from the concussion, from the best he can determine without more internal study of the body, is that she was killed when the building collapsed. There is little evidence of burn damage. It is possible there was smoke inhalation but that would perhaps be found with soot or ash in the nasal nose or mouth with later evidence from the lungs. Given the amount of ash on her body, it is possible that she died by breathing in too much smoke. It is also possible that the woman would have died of cyanide poisoning, perhaps due to the burning of plastics when the house went on fire. Kaminiski notices redness in the eyes, but whether her eyes were irritated by some other toxic, is unclear. Another possibility might be that the fire basically consumed what oxygen was available before the blast and she was overcome with carbon monoxide poisoning
Truth is that there might be multiple potential causes and all might have A toxicology report might suggest this, but that will require more careful examination. Except that many of her wounds also show sign of bleeding, and Kaminiski knows that normally dead people don’t bleed much. The evidence suggests that her cause of death had more to do with wounds caused when the building collapsed upon her, breaking her bones and cracking her skull.

One thing is for sure, the entire site might be turned over as the police and rescue workers begin to dig out a potential survivor. The body of the woman remains partially buried and it is possible to recover the rest of it. It will need to be moved, of course, for inspection. As he searches the body, still seeking evidence of some harmful exposure to heat or burn, and finding none, he is able to move the partially bodied just a bit and notices, behind the slip she was wearing a burn mark, similar to that of a man. As if she had once had something there, and had used some kind of acid to burn the image away.
Kaminiski, mindful of the activity that is building as more rescue workers move in the area knows that it is common for an arson scene to be contaminated, that physical evidence will be lost, and that that loss is being accelerated in order to put the lives of the living over the bodies of the dead. Still he can’t help but reflect. Two bodies, in the same house, dead by the same event. Two people of what appears to be different ethnic origins, one Middle Eastern and probably Arab the other European Caucasian, a man and a woman. Both young and good looking and both with a similar burn mark that would seem to cover up something neither wanted revealed.

Shafto’s inspection of the foot notes how the foot seems to be covered with black ash and soot.

The inspector looks at the foot. “Whoever she was, she’s dead now, so I don’t think she’ll mind much. This building was three stories and a basement before it collapsed and now it’s not even 1. Body ain’t going to unbury itself. In the meantime, I got to help recover the living.”

Shafto works carefully to remove the broken mortar and brick that surround the food, trying his best to conserve the remains he finds. But as he continues to dig he sees the ankle had been twisted in a strange angle, broken in several places, the bone of the leg protruding. As he moves further and deeper, he finds the calves and leg burnt and damaged, until, before he gets to the knee, he finds himself without more of the woman’s body. Before he finds the knee, it seems the leg has been virtually torn away from the knee by some terrible force. The body had been decapitated, as if in a terrible explosion.
Three bodies had been found dead, 1 seemed to be alive but buried. How many more bodies would they find in the ruin?

Gonzalez and the Cowboy.

“figured you’d ask that.” Says JB, “As most of the locals are not going to talk to you much. Hell, most still might even if I do introduce you, but can’t hurt.”
JB nods at the police. “Cops are getting a bad reputation these days, but not all are bad, in my book. A few rotten apples can ruin a barrel, and the local police has more than a few rotten apples in that barrel, mind you. But you being a fed and all might make a difference. There is more than one crime in these parts and my experience is that the local police, well, let’s say there is more than just a bit of indifference when it comes to these parts. There’s a reason the mafia used to leave bodies here. Probably still does. Give it a ponder a moment. You dump a body in a place like the hole, do you do it because the cops don’t carry to patrol these parts, the people don’t talk, even if the people do talk, the police won’t listen and chances are the mafia comes to your home at night for making trouble. Sometimes people just don’t talk to the police because they know it won’t make a difference and just might get them killed. People might not trust the police might have good reason not to.”
JB turns his eyes back on Gonzales for a long moment, the way a professor might look directly into a student to make a point, “Maybe you are here to uncover more than one crime, you know. Might not just be a blown up building that needs to be solved but some of the other crimes that go unseen, never get reported because those with power in these parts like it that way.”
“As for my guns, well, can’t do much trick shooting and showmanship if I can have weapons, can I? These are licensed antiques and being a historian myself, well, these are exceptional. I got a license, and it might be grandfathered, but its still good. The local police know about the Federation of Black Cowboys so if they see a Black cowboy riding a tall horse with a 1851 Colt and .44 Henry Rifle that is near 150 years old, I suspect they know to leave all alone.”
As for who to speak to, “I’d start with Tyrone Epps. He’s doesn’t like White people much but you being Hispanic he might take to. We can move on from there.”

OC- Snapper, I might be playing a bit fast and loose with the rules on JB’s guns, but years, when I was an undergraduate studying US history, my teacher came into class dressed as a cowboy and in the space of 15 minutes must have removed nearly a dozen handguns and a few knives from his pockets that were period pieces, so I’m going to guess JB’s guns are licensed as firearms and antiques. Also note- NY Penal Law § 265.00(14). A license is not required to possess, collect or carry an unloaded antique firearm. However, a license is required to possess, collect and carry antique pistols. JB has a license.

Miranda reports her latest findings. She has some good leads, but it would take a long time to hunt them all down. They might find something at the scene that would narrow down her search and tell her which leads are relevant. She isn't the strongest, but she heads down to the scene where the live person has been found to help however she can.

Once the announcement is made that they've found a live one, Lee Shaftoe leaves the dead body to go help rescue whoever it is. The corpse isn't going anywhere and isn't going to get deader, but the survivor's life is at stake. Whoever it is is also likely to know more about what happened here than they do.

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

”Give me a moment,” murmurs Jakob, as much as to himself as anyone else.

He fetches his cellphone out of his pocket and slides his finger up the screen to activate the camera. He quickly snaps a series of images of the girl’s eyes and her scars. With space being tight, he crabs over and takes a photo of the scarring on the male victim.

”I’ll get those circulated and we can see if anyone recognises them.” he says, then looks up and realises that he is talking to himself as everyone else is trying to rescue the person trapped under the building.

OOC,Edited as Conroy had moved away.

IIC - Harry Shibatu

Harry nods as he makes notes. He looks up as the old man finishes speaking. ”Bad shit, eh? What sort of shit are we talking about?”

OOC - Conroy:

I'm not sure Conroy is close enough to Kaminski to help him out if Conroy is in the remains of a vehicle garage.

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy, intrigued, rubs some of the red dust between thumb and finger, sniffs it then cautiously tastes it, spitting it out after.

Chem Roll?,Can Conroy make a chem roll to try to roughly guess what the red dust is?

He decides he can't leave the military crates unchecked so heads over and has a look in them with the assistance of his flashlight.

OOC - Gonzalez:

I'm completely completely unfussed and quite happy with your explanation for the guns. Gonzalez will be satisfied that no issues will crop up if the NYPD see the professor and his ironmongery. Frankly, US gun laws are all a complete mystery to us Johnny Foreigner types anyway.

ICC - Gonzalez:

Decision made, Gonzalez nods to the prof. "I'm more than happy to try to solve a few other crimes along the way, bring some long forgotten justice for these people. Doing my small bit to help the poor and minorities helps me sleep at night. Let's go with your recommendation and speak to this gentleman, Tyrone Epps."

Snapper wrote:OOC - Conroy:

I'm not sure Conroy is close enough to Kaminski to help him out if Conroy is in the remains of a vehicle garage.

OOC: Oops... didn’t spot that Conroy had moved. I’ll edit my post.

OCC- Sorry for the delay folks- Grading week and some admin nonsense. Also had some mistypes with the names before but you folks seem to have carried forward.

Kaminski is close enough to Conroy to see what he's up to. The house is somewhat L shaped with a garage on either end, but the layout isn't so important at the moment. Unlike other parts of the building there wasn't much structure over the garages and apparently no basement below, so access to the vehicles is a bit easy.

Gonzales is right to be concerned about the fact that someone is brandishing some weapons as does Cooper, but then again, the guy does look like a cowboy on horseback riding through the apocalypse. Also the Black Cowboys are regularly part of NY area events and parades, not just offering educational lessons but regularly engaged in community events. There may be some class issues as well, as these folks are riding horses which, in NY, is often a more middle to upper class activity. The local cops also know the stables are relatively nearby. If Cooper isn’t being harassed its possible that its because the local police recognize him and have left him alone.

Search and rescue operations in NYC- https://www.nytf1.org/ Composed of members of both NYC's Police Department and the Fire Department of NY. Suffice it to say any specialized equipment is arriving as members are called to respond.

One thing you may wish to consider is that most of your are moving in different directions. You may want to step back, update each other and confer, then coordinate next moves, especially as a lot of the search and rescue work will probably be turned over to local fireman and police who are trained for that work. That said, you have some time left before the digging begins to gather any further evidence.

IC- At the crime scene-

Robinson calls out to the others. “We’re going to have to clear the area for search and rescue who will be coordinating rescue efforts. So watch your step, tread lightly. Investigators, gather what evidence you can.

He turns to consult with the fire inspectors and local officers of the fire department and EMT, speaking to Ruffini about coordinating the arrival of the new unit. Robinson calls in the radio, “What’s the hold up with the Search and Rescue?”

“Most of the Search and Rescue teams have been caught up with the riots in the Bronx. But a light team of 24 are scrambling up now. They should be here within 15 minutes.” Responds Rufinni.
“Make sure they have easy access coming in.” Says Robinson who turns to Salvaggio, the fire inspector and a number of the fireman.

Salvaggio doesn’t wait for the questions. “No risk of live wires. Electricity is cut and we got no evidence of fuel lines. We got axes, picks tow cables whatever is needed to pull stuff up but best we can tell most of the challenge will be all the brick and mortar. The top two stores have basically collapsed on top of the basement, so we’ll need to dig that out to get to whoever is buried beneath.”

“How long can we wait?” Asks Robinson.

Salvaggio shrugs, “Hard to tell, be we can perhaps get some air hoses down. We got microphones in some of the vehicles we can send down as well. But you can expect much of this area will be turned upside down to get down there. “

Detectives Pacesee and Mooreland turn to each other, “We need to collect whatever evidence we can find and quick.” Says Mooreland.

But Pacesee’s attention is on another apparently older homeless man who is at the end of the street, behind the police line.

He turns to Mooreland. “Give me a minute. I might have some info.” Pacesee steps away from Mooreland and heads to the man.

Lapis and Dowd see Shafto and Waterhouse approach and pull them aside. Lapis looks at both, “In a few minutes there will be search and rescue operations and this place will be swamped with fireman and policeman pulling up rocks. We need to gather up what evidence we can. But there is a truck over there.” He points out the large trailer truck now knocked on its side, “Which is connected to this building and the people inside and might be tied to narcotics or terrorism. Do you want to check it out before this place becomes filled with first responders? “

OCC- Shafto and Waterhouse are actually facing some choices. They can help uncover the person buried, but fire crews and police crews are already arriving for that work. It is unclear if they will arrive with enough time. There is also a need to continue searching for evidence that will likely get damaged as a result of the search and rescue efforts, and then there is the business of opening the truck and seeing what was inside.

IC – Conroy investigating-
Conroy can hear the others gathering nearby and the increased activity that is beginning to take place. He has heard Robinson call out in the loudspeaker. He reasons it is unlikely the recovery efforts will happen under the garage as, best he can figure, there is no crawlspace or basement underneath. Rather, it feels like he’s walking on a concrete slab.

He puts the red dust to his tongue and tastes. It’s dirt, sandy but fine. It is possible that is brick that has been turned to sand and dust, but it would take a chemical analysis to figure out the source of the red dust. But the composition looks strange. He knows from his time in Virginia that there was a lot of red brick used there, but this seems different, as if it were dust that had long been without water or precipitation, like sand from a desert.

Yet as the day brightens, he can’t help but note there is a lot of it. Yet from the rubble of the building, it seems the construction was more of a grey cinderblock that had been repeatedly painted over. It is possible the red sand isn’t native to the area.

Leaving the trunk of the Audi still closed, he turns to the military crates in the van. Both crates had their lids removed and knocked aside and Conroy notes that, here too, the red dust has seemed to seep inside. Casting the flashlight beam into the crate, Conroy notices something else. Loose ammunition. From a quick look he sees what appears to be cartridges of different caliber: 9 mm ammunition, Shotgun shells, .308 or 7.62 X 51 rounds, .45 and 5.56 mm.

Kaminski
His attention focused on Conroy also notices the cars in the garages. He sees the van has been partially stoved in but a quick glance over at the cab and the Audi indicate that neither vehicle had been fully investigated. The cab lies on its side pressed up against the Audi in the garage, both covered by what he notices is a reddish dirt and dust.
In fact, as the light breaking through the overcast and the haze over the crime scene chases away the shadows of the morning, Kaminski notes the reddish dust seems to be everywhere, coating most everything.

Harry and the old timer-
The man stops and thinking about Harry, looks past them at the ruins from the fire and explosion, they eyes the other people in the street, casts his eyes down the street to the end and then looks down. He mutters “Bad shit.”

“Bad shit has always been a problem in the Hole. Always. Why the mafia dump them bodies and why some of the bodies they dump here still not found. Bad shit like the people died in that house before those Muslims moved in, when it was used by junkies and a crack house, and then even before that, people got murdered in their back in the late 1970s. It’s a bad place that, probably always been.” The man stops and considers Harry again.

“But it ain’t just the history, ya see. The people who moved in their recent, no one really sees ‘em much. They keep themselves. Come and go as they might but they don’t interact with the locals, least we can see. Cops in these parts don’t care either. They don’t patrol down here. Lots of folks coming in, squatting, living in these abandoned trucks. Some getting high at night, some just lost. They come here because they lost everything. If not from that damn Covid, maybe it was the economy, maybe it was the politics… bad fucking year in all sorts of ways. Lots of new people coming into the Hole over the past year. Some come and go, some stay for long. Us old timers, we don’t see em all, don’t keep count of em. But we listen. This is our neighborhood and you got to know your neighbors, even the new ones.”

He shakes his head.

“Some folks come and leave. Some been coming here because they got no where else to go.” He says. And he looks at Harry. “But some of them.. they disappear…. I mean like they get lost forever like. Like the Hole just… disappeared them.”

He looks up the road. “And this happens after they show up?”

Gonzales and the Cowboy-

Cooper nods at Gonzales, “Well be careful with the local police as its unclear who are the good ones and who are not. Most of the local police have been here a good long time. Crooked police act like predatory animals. They feed on whatever they can until there is nothing left then move on. Could also be that the corruption gets passed along, one crooked cop at a time. But who do you trust?”

Cooper gently walks the horse further away from the site, not waiting for Gonzales to follow, until he reaches a gate behind which is an old trailer. “Tyrone, you in there? Come on out Epps, I got someone I want you to talk to. I know you didn’t sleep through that explosion”

An African American man eventually walks out of the trailer, “JB, what do you want? “


“Perhaps you can offer some info to this man.” Says Cooper, “ a bit of local current events.”

“The fire and explosion that woke me up? Bullshit. What do you think I know about that?” Says Epps.

“More than most” Says Cooper, “Come on and be cooperative.”

“Fuck I want to get involved. Not my business.”

“You already involved and it is your business” responds Cooper, “And you are not going to get it sorted on your own.”

“You really want me to talk to the police? What the fuck they ever do for us?” Epps shakes his head.
“Not local police but federal.”

“Same federals who are breaking heads in Portland? Chicago, DC, New Orleans, Altanta…”

“Yeah I know, a lot of cities. But this one is different than the local police.”

Epps eyeballs Gonzales before turning back to Cooper. “Oh a Hispanic police?”

Cooper shrugs, “Brown lives Matter too, brother. Besides, what do you got to lose?”

Epps eyeballs Gonzales. “OK convince me why I should speak to you.”

OC- Epps is reluctant to speak so you may want to role to see if you can convince him to talk.

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy grabs his cell phone and sends a quick audio update to the team:

"I'm looking at military type crates in this van at the site, no weapons I can see but leftover ammunition, various calibre. Enough to make me very nervous."

"Also, there's a lot of dry red dust here that does not belong. I don't know where it's come from but it's weird."

"And finally, I think we are about to have the crime scene invaded by the rescue teams." Conroy takes cell phone photos of the inside/outside of the crates he found ammunition in, and a close-up of various loose rounds inside a crate, and sends them to the others.

Conscious of losing the crime scene, Conroy hustles over to the Audi and pops the trunk.

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez regards Epps evenly. "Sir, my name's Special Agent Javier Gonzalez, DEA. I won't pretend all law enforcement are perfect and I suspect the only law enforcement you've met for a good while have been far from perfect."

"What I can tell you is I want to help. Drugs are like the red blood running through pretty much all crime in the US. That's why I'm in the DEA, one of the few agencies that can still hold its head up proud these days. I want to help ordinary Americans like my own family. I want to help you and the other people living here by stopping this happening again."

"But for me to help, I need to hear what you know about this."

Persuade 50%,[dice]0[/dice]

Charisma 60%,[dice]1[/dice]

OOC:
He's likeable but not the greatest piece of oratory ever from Javier.

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

Kaminski pockets his cellphone and steps over to where Conroy is checking out the Audi. His shoes crunch on the sand underfoot. He looks down and says, ”Where’s this stuff come from? There’s a lot of it about...”

Conroy has already got the Audi covered so he squeezes past him and approaches the cab. He pulls out a flashlight and he shines the beam through the windows, illuminating the interior of the vehicle with a sandy-red flecked glow.

IIC - Harry Shibatu

Harry pauses for a moment, looking down at his notes. ”Disappeared? What do you mean by that?” He pauses for a moment, the looking at the old man he probes further. ”Where did they disappear to?”

Lee Shaftoe is already at work trying to rescue the person trapped under the rubble. "Whoever's in here may not live long enough for the search and rescue people get here," he says, "and I'm more than strong enough to dig. We could save this person's life, and I don't have to tell you how important having a living witness is."

Lacking Shaftoe's strength, Miranda Waterhouse leaves the rescue effort to him and starts photographing and gathering the evidence in this area before it gets trampled and destroyed. The truck can wait. She fills in the rest of the group on what they've found so far.

Conroy at the Audi-

Conroy is thinking a bit about the military cases, the red dust, and the shell casings. He has an insight, his mind on how remarkable the dust feels, so dry, as if it hasn't experience rain in years. It is as if the dirt had been dried out, all the moisture cooked out of it.... or as if it had come a long distance from some distant desert.

Conroy finds the lever for the trunk in the front, pulls it. But hut the trunk doesn't pop. He comes around and checks the trunk and doubts the level of dust on top of the trunk is enough to keep it down. Perhaps dust has gotten into the latch itself. Conroy reaches his fingers under the edge of the lift and feels the trunk is stuck by some sticky substance, yet it gives without much effort and finally pops open.

There is blood on the latch and parts of a plastic bag that seemed to have gotten caught in the latch. There are other bags inside the car but Conroy can only see the one that is ripped, and the contents are almost impossible to distinguish but Conroy knows the smell. It smells like blood, tissue and death.

Javier, the cowboy and Epps

Epps looks at Javier. "Drugs? Shit. You mean the meth heads? Sure we got cooks in the Hood, hiding out in one of the trailers and selling to the local kids. I had one of them kids telling me he was seeing shadow people when he was high. But the drug you are worried about here isn't chemical but ideological and spiritual."

Cooper looks to Epps, "You telling me its the meth heads lit the fire."

Epps shakes his head. "Could be but it wasn't meth that made 'em do it. Nah man... what you have here is a battle of spirit and form."

Cooper turns to Javier and explains. "Epps here was a student of anthropology and religion when he was a student way back."

"That's right. Why I got an NSEP in grad school and then got picked up for Africom." Says Epps. "You got to tell him my whole c.v.?"

Cooper shrugs and lifts his hands up. "AIn't my story. But this man needs to know about what's been happening in these parts and why there might be a fire in that house that used to be a Muslim worship center."

Epps nods. "Hell man, there's been bad feeling in the Hole ever since they did set up a Muslim center, but most of that came from the Christians and that church a few blocks away. But that spiritual war has been happening for years. Nah, this was probably sparked because of the people they have gone missing."

Epps turns to Gonzalez, "The simple explanation is usually the right one, so if you want to know what might be driving this, I'd guess it was the people that keep going missing from here. Mostly its been children, some old folks, drug addicts, drunks, crack heads, prostitutes... forgotten people no one really cares about. They come and go from here, and no one really notices when they are gone." Epps turns to Cooper. "You know this."

Cooper shakes his head. "I've heard a few people have gone missing and the police..."

Epps snorts, "Police don't care about these people. Damn police too busy with all the other shit that's happening and it ain't like they ever gave a shit before. And you know why."

"Mafia pay offs?"

"What else? When the mafia needs to leave a body, they leave it in the dump, in a swamp, and were the police are in no rush to find it . And the police don't come because they get paid to look elsewhere. Meth cooks, trucks of contraband, stolen trucks that get abandoned. Cops don't come here to protect and you got a lot of people who disappear and no one cares. People here are prey, and what does prey invite?

"Predators." Says Cooper.

Epps nods. "If you got enough prey, a crocodile can live with a lion, can live with a hyena, can live with the leopard. Because everyone got enough to eat so they don't fuck with each other. Or so you'd think but in the natural world predators kill each other. Hyena will kill a lion cub if it gets the chance just like lions will wipe out hyenas."

Kaminski-

The cab has been turned on its side against the Audi, so inspecting it takes a bit of movement around the car. Searching the car windows, the front looks much as most cabs Kaminiski had used. There is a plexiglass window and a meter in the front as well as an incense burner. On the side is taxi license that says Ali Rabbani and there is a picture of a young and handsome man, which looks like the man Kaminiski had inspected earlier. From where Kaminiski stands he can see little int the backseat but that's partially because the stains on the window and what looks like reddish smokey dust floating in the air in the back seat.

Harry and the old Timer

The old timer looks at Harry. "Son this is the Hole. People disappear forever. The mafia left more bodies here then they ever found out. But historically, the people who disappear are not many, and who is to say if they just didn't move off somewhere else." He gets quiet as his eyes turn back towards the ruined building. He grimaces, reluctant to say more, shakes his head.

"But we've had more people here over the past few years... and more people are disappearing too. Disappear and gone.. People go to sleep in the same truck and then is gone when the rest wake up. And I'd they disappear in there," nodding to the house, "and never come back."

Lee Shafto-

Salvaggio shrugs, looks to Robinson, "We can at least get started. Electricity and gas is off."

Robinson nods, "Fine but be careful."

Meanwhile other fireman are closing bringing pry-bars, picks and shovels, beginning to clear out the rubble to get to the person below.

Shafto sees one of the fire trucks pull up

Mooreland and Parchese are noting to the others about preserving evidence.

The fireman are clearing away rubble when Shafto hears someone calls out. "Body parts. Someone got a bag for this?"

Miranda photographs-

Miranda keeps taking photographs, even of the body parts that are being removed from ruined house. She notes that both Kaminiski and Conroy are working around the audi and the taxi cab. But she can also see Lapis and Dowd, stepping away as more of the fireman close in on the dig site where the rescue workers are trying to retrieve the body. Lapis motions to Miranda to come closer so they can speak. When she is near he says, "That trailer over there was parked outside the house and carried a container from a company for South Africa. This company has been connected to terrorist networks elsewhere, so it might be a good idea to get some pictures of the truck before the Saudi's try to stop us from opening it up."

IIC - Harry Shibatu

Harry looks at the old man for a long time. He’d seen some crazy shit in the Middle East - women and kids blown up, buddies losing a leg to an IED, even a couple of ISIL guys turned to red mist when the bomb they were planting went off too soon - but the old man’s flat, matter-of-fact description of people just disappearing, has shivers running down his spine.

”I’ll talk to the local PD and we might get you to look at some pictures. Would that be ok?” he says, thinking of the thousands who went missing in the city every year. ”Perhaps you’ll find someone you know...”

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

Kaminski has his cell phone out again and is snapping images of the Cab, getting in close to take a photo of the driver’s ID. Satisfied the snaps are clear, he turns to the back door of the Cab. He checks his gloves, pulling the cuffs further down past his wrists and carefully tries the door handle.

He feels the tension in the springs, like the Cab is subtly giving him the brush off, telling him he doesn’t look in the back and that he’s going to be better off not knowing what made that stain in the back window...

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy reels back a bit, horrified and swearing to himself. He quickly grabs his phone and sends an audio message to the team:

"We've got some real Hannibal Lector stuff going on in the trunk of an Audi in here. It's full of bags. One bag is torn open and I think it has body parts in it. Or I guess they could be animal body parts. The other bags are not empty."

Conroy snaps a phone photo close up of the open bag and sends it to the team, then a second one the trunk's entire contents.

Turning around he looks for any CSIs. "Forensics! We might have body parts in here. And not caused by the explosion!"

Conscious of not overly disturbing the scene, Conroy takes out a pen and carefully has a poke in the opened bag, looking for indications if these are human remains or not.

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez, despite the grim circumstances, can't help but enjoy the interplay between his two unexpectedly intelligent and educated witnesses. He regards them both with a slight smile.

Offering around his Cuban Cohiba cigarettes before lighting one himself, he waits for a natural break in conversion then addresses Epps.

"Sir, the National Security Education Program and Africom? Were you in the services?"

"And I guess the real question is who was the last predator to move into that building." Gonzalez points a thumb back at the demolished structure.

Though the firemen are there now, Lee continues to help clear the rubble, figuring that his assistance will help get to the survivor faster. He takes care not to destroy evidence in the process.

"I'm on it," says Miranda, hurrying over to the truck and starting to photograph it, making sure to get the license plate and the VIN.

Harry and the Old Man-

The Old man steps back from Harry as if Harry has just reminded him of something... noxious. "The local police?... Nah.. No way. I'm talking to you now and all I got to say is what I hear. Police... Shit.. You think the mafia could bury people here without the police knowing it? You think the police care about the Hole? Police never care for the Hole. This place is abandoned by the police. They don't care, never have... never will. People coming in here.. they lost too. Maybe they just move out and go somewhere else when they figure what's here. Maybe they just left and didn't tell anyway. Like some men do to the women they sleep with, or like women do to the men, ya understand? I am telling you only what I am hearing... that people...just gone. Sometimes they leave behind their stuff and they're gone. Maybe they go out for a walk, called up or awaken by something... like a whisper in ya ear when you are sleeping and you wake up and you get called out of that abandoned truck or RV or house or whatever you sleeping in and you walk off into the night.... and don't come back. "

The man seems a bit lost in what he's saying, as if he's struggling with the phantom of an idea that he can't put his finger on. Then he turns his head back to Harry. "The police? They don't care, they don't come here... maybe they know better. These people just.... missing. They are nobody to them. Nobody important disappearing, just lost people. None of the old-timers vanish. Not the people with roots here. Just the transients..... Those are lost people to begin with. To them, lost people just belong lost."

He shakes his head. "Police only take care of real citizens. People with property, people with significance. People with roots and substance. These people lost, they lost everything already. No surprise they lost their bodies and up somewhere else."

"No I got nothing to say to the police. I don't want the attention. Something taking these people, like a predator in the night. This my place too, and I don't want whatever it is outside my home at night or trying to get in. Let it prey on some other, leave me be. No.. I won't talk to no police."

(OCC_ Remember, in an earlier bit of this dialogue that this witness saw the kids who lit the fire and one was very close, perhaps received burns- they might have gone to a hospital but, it is also likely they may still be nearby, hiding and nursing their injuries)

Kaminski- and the cab

Moving around the cab is difficult because of the angle of the vehicle, lieing on one side. The windows have been blown out from the front to the back, the front window is mostly shattered as is the back, but there are shards. A plexi-glass panel between the front and rear seats remains intact, but dark and grimy, reddish with the strange dust that makes investigation into the back seat especially difficult.

To try open the door, Kaminski will need to get virtually climb on top the car to pull the door up, and the car is a bit off balance. Getting on top might shift the weight of the vehicle over to one end, perhaps tipping the vehicle, and it could fall on top of Kaminski, crushing him or pinning him either against the Audi or or against he remains of the garage wall.

As Kaminski consider his next moves can't help but consider another puzzle that the cars are largely intact despite being so close to the blast. In fact, except for the the cab being turned over and a few points were the bottom of the taxi seems scorched, it seems that both vehicles escaped significant blast damage despite being so close.

Inspection of the wall behind separating the garage from the house, suggests much of the wall remains intact, and, oddly, that the upper half of the garage wall didn't blow out on to the cars, but rather into the origins of the blast, as if the wall had been pulled into the basement of the house. Kaminski also notes that he door between the house and the garage should have been blown apart and scattered into the garage, but in fact, much of the door remains in one piece. It is damaged and scorched by the heat and the blast, but rather than be inside the garage, most of it remains buried within the section of the house.

As if something below out of the house, and then created some kind of vacume that pulled the blast back inside almost immediately after. His attention turns to the cars, which have relatively minor damage despite the proximity to the blast. Yet the cab has been turned on its side It is as if something picked up the taxi on one side and turned it partially over, but not so far that it actually fell onto the audi? What could have such power... or strength?

It is possible to peer into the back seat of the cab through the broken rear window. Much remains masked in the swirling red dust. But it may be possible to remove or blow out the dust with windblower for a closer inspection, or perhaps to vacume the dust up with a vacume that one of the crime scene investigators may have handy.

Kaminski is consider these options as he sees Conroy, stepping back from the open trunk of the nearby Audi.

(OCC- Does Kaminski proceed? if so, you may need to roll It may be simpler to use a wince from one of the firetrucks to pull the car off its side so its back on all four wheels- and thus avoid unnecessary risk, or perhaps grab a few of the other guys to push the car over?).

Conroy-

Conroy glances back at the torn bag as he informs his colleagues. But he knows the smell and he thinks he can see the muscles. It's human by the look and without further guess.. the bones are those of a child.

One of the forensic team approach, her face masked. "More body parts?" She asks. "And not crisped or crushed too?"

"Ohhh yeah.." She says looking at the bags. "These are human. See here" she points at one pretty gory area. "That's an arm, and that..." She points at a row of bones, "looks like a rib cage... and this rather nasty bids... looks like intestines.... yep, definitely a child, can't be more than 10 or 11" It's as if she's speaking out her thoughts. "Looks like it they were cut too... see these marks.... someone cut this bone...... yep, some nasty fucker did this and no surgeon either."

She looks at Conroy. "This is definitely a child but I can't tell how old till we get to the lab." She calls in the finding then turns to Conroy, "This might be a lead in a case we've been following for the last year and half. Human body parts floating up on the coast from Brooklyn all the way up near to Jones Beach. About a year ago we found a plastic bag in the Hudson with body parts. We figured they were dumping parts up river. Some of them found in the East River and the Long Island Sound too. Hell, we figured must have been at least 8 different children we found before this. We thought someone was dumping corpses and the numbers had gotten worse since Covid."

Gonzales, Epps and the Scholar of Faith

Epps nods. "NSEP is a scholarship that the government gives for research, mostly language study, but allows graduate students to go abroad to do research. I got mine to study African languages when I was in graduate school studying comparative religions. I spent two years in Central Africa doing research and learning languages."

Cooper cuts in, "Epps here was exploring the connection between indigenous more native religions and Christianity and Islam, how religions mingle."

Epps, "That's right, but they don't always mingle well do they?" He turns back to Gonzales, "You might be thinking Boko Haram, or some of the terrorist groups that have been operating in the horn of Africa around Somalia or perhaps in East Africa that blew up those US embassy's some years ago. And you're right, there's that. But there's more to it than that. African leaders have long been corrupting and co-opting religion as a vehicle for power, playing on African faiths, perhaps mixed with a little Christianity, to spread fear and suspicion. A powerful leader may have connection with dark and spiritual forces that keep watch on the people and can see into the hearts of those that would launch revolution. Anyone launching a revolution goes against not just a real powerful strongman, but one that also has cosmic and supernatural power."

"I heard that some made deals with some televengelists." Says Cooper.

"That's true." Says Epps. " Mobutu in Zaire did that, others too. Bring in a big Western TV church, pay them off with some juicy bit of property or opportunity, and local Big Man get the people worshiping that Western televengalist and they don't join the local churches that have been here for a long time and are invested in the people. Local church without people to support it eventually fades away in lieu of a American church that tells the people not rebel against the local Big Man, which is just a dictator, while the church makes a profit on diamonds or coffee or something else. Religion is just another form of power that can be bought by the high bidder."

(OOC- By the way, this is actually drawing on some decent academic work by Stephen Ellis- http://docenti.unimc.it/u1.chelatidirar ... Africa.pdf and by William Reno's work on corruption and states in Africa)

Epps shrugs. "So when I was done with my years I came back to finish my PhD but... well it was hard to cover expenses while writing. You take and NSEP and you owe the government. It is a National Security Educational Program, and sometimes the government wants the language background, but sometimes it wants more. Only people really studying religion and politics were Anthropologists, so I got picked up to work AFRICOM. I thought I was going to go after Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army. Or maybe deal with the conflicts in Eastern Congo, or problems in NIgeria."

Cooper and Epps both get quiet, as if both are coming close to revealing more of a secret that is deep and personal and bitter, and neither wants to trend on that least it open old wounds. Cooper knows Gonzalies is probably growing impatient. He begins. "From what I recall the first folks who came to that building were devote Muslims."

"They were." Agrees Epps. "I got to know the leader there. Khan, not a bad fellow. Wahabi, but that figures being the Saudi connect, but curious and open minded. He really wanted to create a spiritual center here and perhaps do some coverting. I used to go for the free lunches they offered and he found I had studied African faiths and mythologies. He was interested in the pre-Islamic faiths of the Middle East, before the days of Mohammad. When the people there worshiped other gods and spirits. Not unlike the African faiths before Christians and Muslims turned up. Thing is, the new faiths come with their single God, but deep down, people don't let go the old Gods either. He knew from his experience that the Middle East has many people who maybe good Muslims but there are lots of people who believe in the old spirits and magics too."

"LIke the way Christians may believe in unholy ghosts, phantoms and monsters, witchcraft and all those things and call it the devil's work?" Asks Cooper.

Epps nods. "Like that yes, but in some places the faith in the old spirits is still way strong. When people move, they carry their gods and their beliefs with them. Gods travel with the people who believe in them."

He turns back to Gonzales, "Which is what you got here. You don't got one predator, but two. The one that was here, the old one, looks like a Christian church, but its an old-time African Church more than a Christian Church. They may worship Jesus as the son of God and a loving God, but they also know that were there is good there is evil. And they didn't take kindly to a Muslim church taking residence in the middle of their territory. The first Muslims tried to set up a spiritual mission but the Christians made their presence unwelcome, so they left but didn't give up. Instead, these new folks came in about two years."

"That's when people started disappearing, wasn't it?" As Cooper.

"The Cowboys were gone at that time so you didn't know and you weren't here to keep an eye on things. But yes, people started disappearing and the drugs came in." Epps says turning back to Gonzales, "Mostly meth heads."

"Shadow people?" Ask Cooper.

Epps shrugs, "Maybe it's the drugs, the meth. Or maybe they just see what the rest of us don't." Then turning to Gonzales, "But those folks in that house, they weren't cooking meth in that basement. They were doing something else, and I'm betting they were bringing something else to the Hole. You asking me, this is about a war between two churches, and while it looks like Christians and Muslims, it is actually something else and something older and more fierce."

(occ- on Meth and Shadow people- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methamphetamine and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_person )


Shafto at the dig.

Shafto looks for a pick or a shovel but sees the other fireman and police pulling away rubble at the instruction of local fire inspectors. More members of the Search and Rescue group are coming in and a fire truck is pulling near to help pull out heavier pieces of masonry. It's heavy work but Shafto can't help noticing that the blast site is unusual. More of the brick and mortar should have been dispersed into the area, but much of the local damage seemed to be more done by the concussion of the blast, the wave of energy that came out of the blast and knocked out windows and knocked over trucks. But in this case, the much of the blast seemed to go in-ward, into the house rather than out.

As the teams work he notices that body parts are coming out the deeper they go. Unlike those the group found earlier one- the young woman and the young man, these body parts are burnt and torn, plastered and crushed and blacked as if torn apart by a blast and burnt beyond recognition. A terrible blast had torn these bodies apart.

As the group deepens then also begin to find themselves coming against a harder concrete slab that seems to be made of some kind of reddish concrete mix Unlike much of the broken mortar and cinder blocks that have been part of the upper construction, this seems to be a newer and harder construction. The hardened concrete seems especially resistant to the picks and shoves used by the fireman and rescue team.

The fireman and workers continue to clear away the brick and mortar of the upper part of the structure, revealing more of the newly discovered slab, that seems hardened against the picks and shovels.

Salvaggio inspects the masonry. "This is new.." He picks at it with a shovel but can't seem to damage the new work. "And its damn hard. We'll need drills to break through this."

Robinson is watching. "What is it?"

"Hell if I know but this is new, not original. Looks as if someone was building a bomb shelter down here and expecting bombs to rain down, or perhaps a nuclear blast." Says Salvaggio, "but whatever caused the blast came from inside."

Shafto has an insight. Perhaps the slab was part of a construction not to shelter from a blast from without, but perhaps it was part of an effort to keep a blast contained within, and yet failed to do so.

Miranda, Down and Lapis at the truck

Lapis and Dowd watch as Miranda clicks her pictures. Her pictures are somewhat limited given the truck and container had been knocked over. The front window of the truck had been smashed but the only way to get the vin number on the door of the truck is to climb up on the truck. Miranda can take pictures from the stickers on the back of the container, but there are no marking on the roof and she can't picture those on the side unless she climbs up on top of it toppled truck.

Lapis updates here. "This container came in through the airport but another came through the port of New Jersey. Both shipped by a company named Red Wind, a company out of Saudi Arabia that ships good by container all over the world. Red Wind is a shipper, probably an agent for some unknown principle. They've been connected to some terrorist cases in the past. The Port Authority Police have been called in to help with the investigation... message from Interpol to keep an eye on some containers moving through King Abdul Aziz Port in Damman, Saudi.. They've ended up in the UK and Munich, moving through Rotterdam and bring narcotics and guns. The narcotics mostly local favorites in the Middle East, so they figured sales to local Arabs in the UK. "

Dowd adds, "The container only got here a few days ago and the proximity to the house is suspicious. Could be that they were going to unpack whatever was inside and bring it into the house."

Lapis notes, "There have been other containers in US ports but nothing suspicious. But this one ends up right outside the blast, looks damn suspicious. We are tempted to look inside but..."

"We're having trouble with the lock." Concludes Dowd.

"This thing looks like it was part of something larger that was designed to try to contain the blast inside it," says Lee. "Didn't work, of course." He reports what they've found on the radio. "Do we have any drills?"

"Let me see if I can help with that," says Miranda, taking out her small, precision tools and going to work on picking the lock. It's a mechanism like any other, and she understands how to defeat it - at least in theory. "I can't get a picture of the VIN without climbing up on the truck. Either of you guys want to try it?"

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy takes an involuntary step back from the car trunk, "Mother of god!" He looks with some horror at the pen he'd been using to poke the remains with.

First things first. Conroy pulls out his phone again and sends another audio message to the team. "The CSI with me has confirmed the first bag contains human child body parts. This has just become a major crime scene for a whole different reason."

"Massive explosion. Evidence of military grade weapons. Chopped up little kids. What the Hell have we trod in here? AUSA McKenna, can you please call me when you get this."

He also mentions the bit about the child body parts to his fed-team colleagues within earshot.

Turning to the CSI, he says, "We obviously need to try to secure this crime scene from the rescue shit going on next door." He looks around at the rest of the garage from where he's standing.

OOC:

Does Conroy know anything else about the bodies in the Hudson from his day job?

And how many vehicles are still in the garage that haven't been looked at by anyone?

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez nods to Epps and Cooper in understanding. "I have some idea what you're talking about. I'm Miami Cuban and Catholic. Santeria, Voodoo, real things in Miami. Hell, I know special agents who won't leave their business cards lying around because they're concerned the card could become part of a ritual against them."

"So, you're saying this place was a sort of battleground between some African leaning church with maybe mystic leanings, and the Muslim equivalent of the same thing?"

"And the mystic Muslim sect were the last ones in that blown-to-Hell building? So I guess what I'm really interested in are some names, either of the Muslim sect itself or people in it. Or any other prayer centres or the like used by the same folks, same sect."

"And I guess the local Christians are equally suspects right now."

OOC:
As a matter of irrelevant interest, the business card thing is a RW direct quote from some Miami-based US special agents I was chatting to some years ago.

IIC - Harry Shibatu

Harry held up his hands to placate the old man. ”Relax. I can bring the photos, if it makes it any easier. The local PD might not care what happens to people here, but I do.”

”If you’d rather not, I understand, but if I lived here, I think I’d want to get to the bottom of what’s going on and deal with it, right?” He pulled out a business card and offered it to the old man. ”Think about it and give me a call, eh?”

Harry stepped back and made a conscious effort to relax. His shoulders were feeling tense. ”You mentioned something about kids hanging about. Can you see any of those kids around now?”

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

Kaminski plans to ask Conroy for help until he sees the agent’s response to whatever was in the boot of the Audi. Clearly there is something unusual there.

He turns and looks around the garage, spotting a compact vacuum cleaner with forensic team stencilling on it. Checking he is ok to borrow it, he pulls it back towards the cab then starts it, lowering the hose in carefully through the window so as to suck the dust from the air without, initially at least, disturbing the dust that is already lying on the surfaces of the interior.

OCC- Sorry folks, crazy busy first week of classes.

IC McKenna-

Morning traffic from Brooklyn to Manhattan had been, as usual, congested and slow, allowing McKenna to go consider the case unfolding behind her.

The Hole. She knew the FBI were still looking for bodies in those old fields. God knows that the place had escaped development. Not even city sewars were being built in that part of Brooklyn. No fucking sewars in Brooklyn? Nearby was a train depot that had gone out of commission and that was deep. She shook the idea out of her head.

Wade was quietly humming to herself, listening to the police band on the activity at the crime scene, and the activities of the team. The federal marshal continued to navigate the SUV through traffic towards the downtown office. Coney Island has passed to the left of them and they were passing the entry to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and Fort Hamilton.

McKenna knew her job was to provide authority and support, to be the legal guns for when the team needed support and to help the team bring together a case if necessary. But at this point there really wasn’t a case. Then again, it wasn’t clear if this would stay with the local police or be turned over to federal authorities. At this point, she hoped this case would be left with Brooklyn PD and Brooklyn DA, but the case … stank.

“Wade,” She spoke. “Do me a favor and call in to see if we got office space up in Fort Hamilton we can use. Hopefully we wrap this business today and we won’t need the spot, but I think they still got some empty offices that DOD isn’t using.”

(occ- Fort Hamilton- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hamilton -)

Wade nods, “Will do.” Then calls in McKenna’s request.

McKenna listens for a few minutes, thinking about the bureaucratic paperwork that needs to get done, but again, hopefully this case will be in the closed file by tomorrow.
Barrett, the Chief of Staff at Department of Justice, meant the Attorney General, which meant POTUS. Saudi Arabia had been important to the President prior to the election, part of the Trump administrations “get tough on Iran” policies, that manifested in proxy war in Yemen and intervention in Syria.

She knew enough about the Iranian Quds force operations and assassination campaigns in the Middle East and the heat on Saudi Arabia after all the business about the Tiger Squads that would assassinate challengers to the Saudi regime. The proxy war included cloak and dagger, but ideally such activities were kept hidden. The Iranians had tried a hit on the Saudi Ambassador in DC a few years ago, so it is possible that both were engaged in some mischief on US soil. Iranian covert operations would risk a massive US response, give the US government an excuse for more drone hits on Iranian targets, maybe more. But Saudi mischief on US soil could compromise more. US military hardware for the proxy war, intelligence cooperation, reapproachment between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and billions in arms sales.

So what the fuck where the Saudi’s doing in The Hole?

One thing for sure, the Saudi Consulate in NY and the Saudi mission to the UN would need to be informed about the blast, that their property had blown up.
And they should be told before the press caught wind of it, and sooner or later, the press would likely catch the wind… Hard not to…. The stink of it was hard to ignore.
What the fuck was going on? What shit did the Saudi’s have on their hand and who was going to get stained with it?

“Wade,” Said McKenna, “I’d like you to keep an eye on how our investigation is unfolding. Stay in the loop and just observe for now, let’s see how this is placing out.”

“Yes Ma’m” Said Wade, “From what I am hearing, it sounds like the Saudi’s basically were doing little than supporting what they thought was a religious center to try to find some converts. But it sounds like there is more than a little Islam going on.”

“Maybe.” Said McKenna, “Or it is possible that the Saudi’s just wanted to distance themselves from whatever was going on there so that if the shit in the fan, they didn’t get coated with it.”

“Definitely a possibility.” Said Wade, “They get plausible deniability for not being directly involved with the religious center, which sounds like was moved out and taken over by some other group.”

McKenna nods. “Yep, The Saudi’s buy the property and set it up as a religious center, which is what it is for a few years, and then those folks move out and they assign the property to another party, and this assignee is now two steps removed from the Saudi government. Hell, Saudi’s could argue they didn’t know about the assignment between the religious center and these new folks, and have a story to prove it. Plausible deniability and some insulation if things go south.”

“Going to have to tell the local Saudi’s soon.” Says Wade.

“But before I do, we need to know what was going on. But for now, we can still say this was just a fire that got out of control. We’re letting them know as a courtesy.” Says McKenna, “But not if word gets out of any kind of human sacrifice, experimentation or whatever the fuck they were doing in that building.”

Stinks all the way to DC. Barrett smelled it which is why he brought a team into to investigate. Or to bury it.

Wade decides not to take the Battery Tunnel, that would lead to lower Manhattan and Wall Street, or the Brooklyn Bridge, but rather cuts through the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn and over the Manhattan Bridge towards her office.

She looks at her watch, 10 am. Barrett will call before noon for a situation report on the status of the investigation. She’s going to have to call on the Ambassador, and how long till the news comes sniffing the wind?

She sees the message from Conroy, and calls back. “Mckenna here. What’s up Conroy?”
__
Conroy in the garage.
OCC- Well there are actually two garages adjacent to the house and both have come through the blast relatively well. In one you have the van with the big dent, and in the other you have the taxi and the audi, with the taxi knocked on its side as if picked up. As for the bodies in the river, it has been making news that body parts have been found in the Hudson river and washing up on the beaches in Brooklyn. Conroy also knows the parts have included those of children, but also adults. No identification has been made as far as he can recall.

ICC-

The forensic investigator looks over at where others are trying to dig down under the house. She shrugs. “That will be difficult, not with them trying to free up a live one.”

Conroy’s phone buzzes. McKenna responds- “Mckenna here. What’s up Conroy?”
__
Miranda at the container-

Miranda steps back and looks up at the truck, thinking about the force of the blast that knocked it over. One door is pinned against the ground but the other can be reached but someone will need to climb up.

Lapis speaks. “The VIN number is on the door, I’ll climb up…”

But before he can begin, Dowd speaks up. “Don’t bother. I got it. VIN number would tell you that the truck is 4 years old and run through a trucking company that does work for Red Wind, a company out of Saudi Arabia that ships globally. The driver drove this truck out here from JFK’s cargo terminal three nights ago, and dropped off the truck, and then took an Uber back, as was instructed by the cargo owner.”

Lapis looks at Dowd with a questioning look, Dowd shrugs. “Remember, we’re watching this one. GPS tracker on the truck is a courtesy to Interpol, and we tracked the credit card on the uber and uber drive. Anyway, that container came by plane only a few days ago, from Saudi Arabia, from a company that has shipped weapons to terrorists in the past.”

He then turns to Miranda, “VIN we got, but we don’t know what’s inside the container. Might be whatever inside got taken out before that building caught fire and blew up, but maybe it’s still inside.”

‘We’ve tried the lock but no success.” Says Lapis, with something of an apology.

If Miranda wants to try the lock, feel free to roll.
__
Shafto at the scene-

“Where is the drill?” Robinson is calling for a drill. “Where is that ambulance… we got a live one in here.” He calls.

One of the fireman is also looking at the masonry. “Haven’t seen something like that since Iraq.” He says. “A bomb shelter or something to contain the blast for sure. Whatever blasted the building must have been hugely powerful. Lifted the structure and brought it down again. But the structure didn’t shatter but mostly just cracked.”

Salvaggio looks to the man, “How long will it take to break through?”

“Hard to say. That’s hardened for sure and thick. And it looks like it held together pretty well. Might be there is some hole in the structure we haven’t found yet, a doorway in perhaps. Hell of a blast.”

Shafto notes that the masonry seems… reddish. As if some kind of brick colored substance was mixed in with the concrete.

Robinson looks at the fireman. “How does someone survive such a blast?”

Salvaggio shrugs. “Don’t really know. If this was some kind of construction to contain or capture a blast, with the idea to keep it contained, than anything inside this structure experienced that explosion trapped with it. We’ve already found body parts of those on the second floor… Think of the fire and the force of the blast… It would need to have been protected to survive. “

More fireman are closing in to help remove the remains of the building, revealing more of the reddish concrete cocoon.

Robinson looks to Salvaggio, “How long before we get to the body.”

Salvaggio shrugs. “Depends on the drill and how deep this live one is. Could be hours.”

Shafto looks at the reddish concrete and thinks about the reddish dust he’s seen elsewhere. Perhaps the reddish dust is all fine grains of the buildings construction materials.
Why contain a blast in the middle of Brooklyn? Could there be other buried explosives within.

“Going to need a jackhammer to get through that” says the fireman.

Robinson calls out, “Get a jackhammer down here pronto”

Shafto considers the other possibilities. Perhaps they can pull the heavier parts away from the basement. Find away around the thickest parts of the structure?

_
Gonzales with Epps and Cooper

OC- nice real life addition

IC- Epps nods. “Sort of, yes. But it’s a bit different. New faiths don’t always erase old ones. Old ones survive. Sometimes they hide in the new and are only memories until they are totally forgotten, but sometimes they assume new faces within the new faith. The new faith is a façade for the old, a mask for what’s real. Islam still kept a lot of the old faith with its talk of Saetans and djinnis and other pre-Islam monsters or demons. African churches might embrace the Christian myths, but could also use the new religion to celebrate the old, continue old practices or keep to old faiths.”

Cooper nods, “So faith is more like a salad at a buffet? You take a little of one faith, a bit of another and mix it up into something new?”

“You really need to eat better or get better metaphors.” Says Epps. “The Christians here are an African church, so they borrow African practices. As for the Muslims,” He shrugs. “I talked a bit with the Khan when he was running the religious center and he was pretty devout Muslim, just curious about other faiths. But he left and these new people… no body talks to them and they keep to themselves, best I can tell. I can’t tell you more about the churches, although I think you can talk to the pastor at the Christian churches nearby for more info. Used to be called Faith and Love Christian Center, now I think it’s the First Church of Africa Zion, or something. A Zionist, Messianic and Kimbanguist mix, with traditional faith tossed in. I don’t go there. Just take a good look at Christ on the Cross when you go in. Best I can tell, it’s the only one of them.”

“What about the shadow people and the meth?” Ask Cooper.

“The shadow people” nods Epps. “Yes not unusual with people who do methamphetamine. There’s a cook in the neighborhood, protected by some local hoods and selling to some of the street kids here about. The meth lab is behind one of the gates, in a trailer or one of the trucks. Not sure which as they moved about. But the kids have been buying it say they been seeing shadow people.”

“What does that have to do with this?”

“Shadow people are usually seen by people who are hallucinating, perhaps high on meth, who haven’t slept or sleep deprived, usually out of the corner of their eyes. So yes, it could be the meth talking.” Says Epps, “Or something else, people seeing something when they are high, or the reason they are getting high. Those kids regularly go to the church for meals, so no surprise if they are being indoctrinated into that faith.”

Harry and the old man

The old mean begins to turn to walk away, looking at Harry’s card. “I saw three maybe 4 kids, is all. None of them out here. I think maybe they got burnt with the fire, or got killed in the blast. Sure one got burnt for sure.”

He continues towalk towards his home, dog following him. “But I wouldn’t ID em either. It was dark, and my eyes ain’t good. But for sure 1 maybe 2 got burnt when they lit up the house. Too much pitch they use on the house. But maybe they got blown up with the blast. But they could be around here as well, hiding out and nursing wounds, like.”

Kaminski-
Borrows the vacuum and sucks out the air out of the back seat but its harder than it looks. IN fact, he notices that there is a lot of red dust everywhere.

Once gone he can see that the back seat of the tax seems to be like most back seats, the seats are a bit covered with duct tape, but is otherwise fairly normal if old and beaten up. A gypsy cab, perhaps, but nothing more. It is like the thousands of cabs in the city, easy to blend in and seem almost invisible. Kaminiski considers that a taxi would make an excellent surveillance vehicle or get away car because it would blend in so easily with the others.

IIC - Harry Shibatu

Harry gave the old man his card. ”If you remember anything else, please give me a call. Anytime of day or night, ok?”

He nodded good night and stepped away from the old man. He pulled out his radio and said, ”Shibatu here. A witness reported thre, maybe four, youngsters hanging around at the time of the explosion. He reckons that they might have been burned in the explosion. If you see anyone, give me a shout, ok? There’s a chance they went to hospital so can someone put calls into the local ERs, as well.”

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

Kaminski stepped back and checked the vehicle’s licence plate. If it was a gypsy cab, what was it being used for? He’d ask HQ to check their records for a registered keeper and a check where the vehicle had been seen. He wanted to get into the front and check out the glove compartment to see if anything had been left in there but that would have to wait until the cab was back on four wheels.

He pulled out his phone and put in a call to the command unit, giving them the plate number and the description. As he spoke he remembered about the VIN number and he moved around the vehicle, trying to locate it...

OOC,Kaminski has yet to put in a call to the local ER to see if any victims showed up. Is there a way that law enforcement can identify themselves so that they can get info? Presumably anyone could call up and say they were from the FBI, so I presume there are checks in place?

"We need bomb squad standing by," Lee Shaftoe adds over the radio. "There could be more explosives in the shelter that haven't gone off yet. Looks like it's made of stone mixed with brick material. There's red dust mixed in with the concrete. Maybe it's from the building's construction materials. Maybe we can get in from above instead. The ceiling could to be easier to breach than this wall."

Miranda takes out some of her finer tools used for close manipulation of delicate mechanical parts and tries them on the lock. However, they're not designed for picking locks, and she has no success. "Are we allowed to brute force it?" she asks. "I bet we could drill right through this lock."

OOC,Craft(Mechanics) roll (30% skill) trying to pick the lock: [dice]0[/dice]

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy on the phone to McKenna, sighs, "Ma'am, we have some kind of scene from Hannibal Lector here. The Audi trunk is full of bags of stuff. One bag's broken open and a CSI with me has confirmed it's full of little bits of decomposing human child. My gut feeling is all the other bags are going to have similar."

"I'm no expert but I think we're looking at multiple child homicides. Which could even be connected to the body parts that show up in the Hudson. Which obviously means the investigation could extend into Jersey."

"And for icing on the cake, there are military weapons crates in here with leftover rounds in them, various calibre."

"Finally, this whole crime scene is under threat from the rescue next door. And by the way, there are some fairly graphic photos I've sent everyone if you want to not eat breakfast."

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez nods to Epps and Cooper. "Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure and an education. Sorry I've met you both on such a bad day. Hope I might contact you both later if I have any follow up."

"I think my next step is to go see the pastor at this church you mentioned. Actually, if you could point me in the right direction to where it is, I'd be obliged."

"Please call me if you hear or see anything else you think might be useful." He leaves the two men a business card each.

OCC- Gents, I need to post up, but sadly buried in work and probably will be for a few days yet.

You guys have broadly dispersed and are gathering evidence separately, but you are also developing leads. That's great but you may wish to come together to discuss how to proceed.

A couple of quick thoughts here. The residents of the house seemed to have built what is, essentially, a bomb shelter or a vault to contain a blast. The blast seems to have lifted it up and then dropped it, and thus you may conclude that many of those living on the top floor died from injuries sustained when the building collapsed- so the trauma caused by falling roofing and masonry, while those on the lower levels felt the direct impacts of the blast. The variation in injuries suggests that their physical bodies suffered different wounds largely due to were they were when the explosion happened. That said, the shell of that vault/shelter seems largely to have survived and is hardened- you will probably need to take some time to break through to whatever is below (including anyone who might be alive). Of course there might be more than a person down there. Perhaps the building was meant to contain an explosive that hasn't gone off quite yet. Then again, maybe there is something explosive in that nearby truck that three of you have been trying to open without success.

Getting the drill and getting down there might take some time, perhaps a few hours, and while it is encouraging to participate in the recovery efforts, you are kind of getting in the way of the engineers.

I would encourage you consider a few leads that are worth exploring:

(1) Gonzales identified something of a conflict happening between a local African Christian church and the blast site that goes back to when the site was an Islamic center.
(2) You have multiple accounts of local police involvement, and there is reason to think that the police have been paid to turn a blind eye. Perhaps there is a meth lab in the community that they've been asked to ignore, or not to look into the missing people?
(3) There is the pressing problem of Saudi government involvement in all of this, and that's a national security issue. While it is possible the place was first established as religious center, its new occupants are not doing much in the way of community outreach (at least not in the normal way).
(4) The truck that was tipped over has a container in the bed that is connected to a Saudi shipping company that has some connection to providing war materials to combat zones and to terrorist organizations. That container has yet to be opened. You have no idea what is inside of it.
(5) there is the mysterious red dust that was found not just in the vehicles but elsewhere near the blast site. Could be related to the building materials. Doesn't look local but perhaps some soil studies might reveal its origins.
(6) Yes, body parts are found, a child's at that, calling for a closer forensic examination and the police are telling you that other parts have been washing up on the beach or in the river. (Then again, this is NY, so perhaps its not that unusual).
(7) Meth seems to be popping up in this story. A number of young persons were scene lighting up the house and causing the fire. It is likely that if they are not at a local hospital, they are likely still in the neighborhood.
(8) missing persons from the local community are vanishing as if they are fading away or being "taken".
(9) Weapons crates and military ammunition found on site, as well as weapons at the blast site. If these are religious types, they sure are packing as if expecting a military strike.

So far you have not encountered any real threats. But that is not likely to last. You may want to buddy up and start consider you next moves. Remember, there is a diner nearby that could afford you a chance to catch up over a quick coffee before proceedings- (note coffee may have some surreal nexus- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab-l6vhq5vc )

Phil- yes, I would think they could provide their badge or ID numbers and their IDs could be verified, if necessary. That said, I think you could task Wade to do this quick check, unless you want to go and speak to a few survivors- but remember, this is a group that is suspicious of law enforcement, so they might not be ready to give up too much info.

I will post up soon, but again, you may wish to concentrate your efforts and coordinate your next steps. You've all done well individually, but you may need to confront some of the next parts of this as a team.

OCC- Sorry for the delay folks, but the last three weeks have been hellish with on-line teaching and the start of the semester. Hopefully I have a bit more breathing space.

Gonzales-

Epps and Cooper look at the card given. Cooper, who remains on horseback, puts the card in a shirt pocket while Epps doesn’t seem sure about what he should do with it.

Epps shakes his head. “Well the church you are looking for is a little wooden church back from the road on Sutter Ave. The priest is called Reverend Milton Ingwenya. First Church of African Zion in what used to be the Faith and Love Christian Center. He has a place nearby.”

He pauses, shakes his head. “He might be there or on some other business. He’s got a few women volunteering, so it might be if he’s not there, they know where he is. I’d be surprised to find him there.”

Cooper pats his horse. “Well I got to get this one back to the stables. Up here on the horse I can often see over the fences, and if I were a betting man, I’d be checking some of the properties off Blake Ave, maybe 75th Street, as there are a couple mobile campers parked up I them parts and I’ve seen some dope slingers moving up and down the road.”

Epps looks at Cooper, “Well, I guess you would have seen more from that horse, but that sounds about right.”

He nods to Gonzales, “Good luck to you and be safe. The Hole aint’ all bad people, but best be careful. Cooper, you stay safe on that horse.”

Cooper nods. “Yep, you thinking of finishing up that degree?”

Epps shrugs and goes inside.

Cooper looks at Gonzales, “My guess is that Ingwenya isn’t going to give up much to you that he doesn’t want to. There are a few people in these parts that go to that church but mostly those are recent immigrants from Africa, and its usually women, and they are loyal to him. Honestly, might be good for the local community of the meth slingers went somewhere else and felt a bit of heat on em. But I’ll leave that to you. You want to reach out to me, I am still in the History Department at Colombia.”

He clicks his tongue and the horse begins to move away.

Harry Shibatu

A radio call comes in.

Wade speaks, “Marshal Wade here, just following up on your report of 3-4 youths some with potential burns. We got a report from Brookdale, reporting at least one young man, late teenager, probably 16 or 17, with severe burns came in, but he succumbed to the combination of the burns and blast. Apparently he had some pitch tar on his hands and arms that had caught fire, and the damage was extensive. The attending nurse said they had little hope of saving him and had him on serious painkillers before he died, but apparently they weren’t enough. The nurse treating him said he came in alone and without friends. The boy’s identity is still unknown given the damage to his hands and body, but it seems there were traces of past methamphetamine use. The man was calling out for Elijah, Razi and Naeem, as well as mentioning someone named Bhuda or BOO daa and Nez nas or something. I am guessing boys names, could be locals. No last names mentioned but we could try a trace. My guess is that you could find thousands of Elijahs, Razi's and Naeems too in Brooklyn as they are pretty common African American Names, the others could be nicknames. Judging by the wounds the doctors thought he had caught fire before he suffered the concussive damage from the blast. He was one of the closest to the blast that was still alive when they picked him up, and the one with the most extensive burns. Most of the others they brought in were damaged mostly from the blast and debris. "

Marshal Wade continues. "Look I am not there and not seeing what you are, but if I were to venture a guess, what you might have is a bunch of teenage knuckleheads who lit the building on fire, and in the process this one got too badly burned and got left by his friends and that's why he was close to the house when it exploded and probably lucky he survived. The others, even if they got burned, might not have gotten very far away. If some of them got injured, they might be reluctant to come into the hospital cause they know the cops would pick em up. So they probably went to some other source. But the Hole is enclosed on three sides, with major boulevards North and South, a strip mall acting like a dead end to the east and then their are the neighborhoods to the West. Maybe they took shelter in that old subway station nearby but chances are if they got hurt they haven't gotten too far and are going where they can find some medical help and pain killers for the burns."

Kaminski-

Getting the vin number isn’t easy, as the number is usually on the inside of the driver’s door, but using the registration and license number, Kaminski is able to call in the vehicle. For a few moments he’s on hold while they call gets rerouted until it goes right to the FBI command center in NYC.

The person identifies herself and says, “Got your call transferred here to do a background record. I’m running records on all cameras that are up and running for any videos on the vehicle with the VIN number reported. We can go back and run a quick scan over the past few days or back a week or two, but longer is going to be difficult and not all the cameras in the city are working. Let’s see… Seems like the car had gone to JFK yesterday and was found returning. Picture of a older man getting into the car. Hard to make out… looks Arabic… Grainy picture, real distortion, no clarity. Got a video from a traffic camera in your vicinity, positive idea but nothing at your location. No cameras? After that… nothing.. nothing… hmmm… Looks like we got the car parked near a grocery store. A woman, blondish, Caucasian, driver is a darker, Hispanic or Arabic perhaps… Grocery shopping… about 4 nights ago at JFK at one of the cargo terminals. Same driver and female passenger. A few days later we got them going back and forth over the Verrazano into Staten Island, Goethals into New Jersey leaving Staten Island…. And.... Looks like we got them at the Newark container port. Same woman and man.”

Shafto-

Salvaggio is watching the work, "Judging by the thickness of this, I'd say it will take a few hours to get down there." He mutters.

Robinson, nearby, hears Shafto’s idea. “Good idea. Might be more explosives down there that we might set off. Let’s be careful. Where is the damn bomb squad? Get the explosive unit back in here... Yeah, Get them out here and bring the dogs too, we need to sniff this place out again.”

“Got it boss” Calls back Ruffini, “We got bomb squad coming in a few. With dogs.”

Mooreland steps closer to Shafto, careful not to damage his suit, and taps his arm to get Shafto’s attention. “This is going to take awhile before they get whoever is down there out, explosives or not. But check this out.” He nods towards Detective Pacesee.

Detective Pacesee has left the blast site and is talking to a hooded young individual on the edge of the crowd in a manner that seems animated, gesturing to the younger man on some issue of urgency. Pacesee slips the man a bag of some kind of substance, the hooded man nods and steps away, slips through the various crowd of police and fireman and once clear, begins to run away from the blast site.

Pacesee watches the man move away for a few minutes, then talks to one of the fireman before turning his attention back towards the blast site, and so catch Mooreland and Shafto watching. He nods to Shafto and Mooreland.

Moreland mutters to Shafto, “My guess is that Pacesee had a CI working the neighborhood and paid the CI off with drugs to keep him hooked. Kind of normal for a local detective in need of a CI. This way he keeps an eye on the neighborhood without revealing his presence, and let’s be honest, not much police presence in the Hole.” He shakes his head with a dry laugh, “This whole neighborhood stinks of pig shit and I ain’t just talking about the smell.”


Miranda, Lapis and Dowd-

Lapis sees Miranda having the same success he did and grunts. “Damn… I was hoping we could do this the easy way. But the damn lock seems to be cursed.”

Dowd thinks about it, “would have been convenient to find it unlocked.”

“Yeah, but it isn’t.” adds Lapis.

Dowd is looking back at the scene of the blast site. “Well I don’t think we need a warrant. We know this container is connected to the house where the blast occurred. We know that the vehicle is in near proximity. We got evidence of an explosion, victims. From what I’ve been hearing, it seems they have found bodies and guns. So we got probable cause.”

Lapis nods, “Yeah that’s probably true, but we could also get a warrant from a sympathetic judge and cover our ass on this. My concern is that if we find anything without a warrant when its clear we had to go through a lock could get tossed out. Bad enough with got a Saudi connection to this and they’d raise all sorts of hell.”

“What if they got people inside?” Asks Dowd.

Lapis puts his ear against the container and knocks three times. Waits, then says “Don’t hear nothing.”

“Could be hurt or injured or unconscious if anyone is inside. Maybe they are smuggling people, or drugs or guns.”

“Sounds like a lot of maybes.” Says Lapis, “Again, what if we do find something and we have to toss it because the search is bad.”

Dowd sighs. “This is fucked.”

Lapis nods, “Yes, but we got a lawyer on call. Ms Waterhouse? Miranda? What do you think? Get a warrant? It might take an hour or two, but better to have one and not need one than to need one and not have one.”

Conroy

McKenna listens to Conroy’s case and then respond with the colorful speech she was famous for, “You are right, Conroy, looks like a cluster fuck unravelling down there. Sadly we got a shortage of agents available as so many have been deployed to crack down on protestors and other cases. So you got some sick fucks in Brooklyn, slicing and dicing children is it? Thing is that this is still a potential international incident that will draw media like flies to shit. If we take jurisdiction of this, you can be sure that every swinging dick New York’s Finest is going to take notice and you can be sure as shit that someone’s going to call the Post, the Daily News, the New York Times, Newsday and every other fucking newspaper in town, and then we got a cluster fuck of a media shitstorm to deal with before we take it to the Saudis. Soon of the Saudi’s hear the case, and they will in moments, you can bet that any chance we get to grab those camel humping pricks is going to be lost, and they’ll be in the wind, to Canada or on some private jet back to that pile of kitty litter they call a country."

She continues, "Need I remind you that we got national security issues on this pile? That the US is giving support to the Saudi monarchs as they bomb the crap out of Yemen and move on the Iranians? What you are suggesting with drive a stick up the ass of State Department and the Defense Department policies in the Persian Gulf and might jeopardize years of foreign policy and we still don’t know the Saudi involvement. And what if the Saudi’s are found not to be involved but this entire cluster fuck was just a bunch of terrorist dickheads or Wahabi nut scratchers getting off on fucking around with kids? My guess is that when the shit falls on you from the White House, you’ll be lucking not to be freezing your nuts off doing work for the EPA up in fucking Greenland and nothing but huskies to keep you entertained at night.”

Mckenna pauses. “Look Conroy, here’s the thing. Don’t get me wrong. If this was normal I’d say call in the feds and take jurisdiction of this case, no problem. But this is different. We got to keep a low profile on this as long as possible. We are dealing with the Saudis in what could be an international fucking incident. We can take jurisdiction on this but soon as we do, its going to suck in the air of local media and get us the kind of attention we don’t need. Can’t be help, its an international incident and the press will be on. Maybe the Saudi’s are directly linked, but maybe they are not. So far, all we got is that they owned the house and were letting some Saudi NGOs run it. The first group was probably just a muslim group trying to convert while the second was a bunch of shitheads. You remember when the Saudi’s got caught involved with 9/11 and it fucked foreign policy for years? We can’t afford that kind of a fuck up.”

“Wade tells me that local police got a potential survivor under the house and are digging the house up to get at ‘em. That might buy us some time before we have to take jurisdiction. But so far we’re still tasked with assisting the local PD on this while trying to figure out how deep in this shit are the Saudis. "

"Are the Saudi's caught up in this and how deep? Or is this just a bunch of local shitbirds who are into some cult bullshit and getting their rocks off fucking up kids? I get it, this is bad, but we still don't really know what the fuck this is about do we? We might get called in and Robinson has my number so far. He's got the cops he needs and I don't. I just got you guys to help figure out what the fuck is going on in that mess. You, Conroy, you and everyone else I called in this morning. You guys ARE the feds on this one. At the moment we can expect no back-up, no support, nada, zip. We're all we got. You got point so do the best you can and we're on the clock on this one."

Sorry Conroy, it ain't me making the calls. There's just a handful of us these days, so many went sick, and now we got this, and yes, it sucks. So yeah, I get it. Guns, ammo, explosion murder.. yeah, it’s a fucking mess alright. A ripe cluster fuck of shit.”

McKenna pauses and then adds “But hey, this is still New York, so really, what’s the fuss? Welcome to the Big Apple.”

The phone clicks off.

"Yeah, I think so too," Lee says to Moreland. "Let's go over and ask Pacesee what his CI told him. The guy might have seen something."

"I agree," says Miranda. "Best to keep it by the book and get the warrant."

OOC:

Once again I've been a bit delayed by fallout from this damn virus! Back now though.

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez sends a group audio message to the rest of the team:

"Folks, this is Javier. Unless anyone is doing something life or death right now, I'd suggest we quickly regroup for a coffee and plan ahead. I have a place or two I'd like to visit but each is probably a two agent job. Guess we better sort out priorities before anyone puts wheel to road. Did I see a diner on the way here?"

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy holds the phone slightly away from his ear and winces. He looks over at the CSI and raises his eyebrows.

Once the call is finished, he stashes the phone and pauses to think. "Right, well we need to know what we're dealing with for starters and it can't wait."

Conroy pulls a Leatherman multi-tool out of his pocket and folds out the knife. Trying to disturb the beds as little as possible, he cuts open each bag in the trunk just enough to see what's inside.

"Sounds good to me," replies Miranda. "It'll be some time before we get the warrant anyway, so we might as well use the time productively."

"On my way," replies Lee.

Occ- Hey folks, sorry for the delay. Work has been an ass kicker and grading is kicking in. I had actually hoped to post a few days ago but got hung up with some of the details of Conroy's investigation of the bodies found.

Lee- On the case-

Lee and Mooreland approach Parchese, who sees the two detectives approach and casts a friendly smile to both of them. “What’s up? Anything new?”
Mooreland cuts through the bullshit quickly. “That your CI?”

Parchese checks over his shoulder to at the man who glances back. The man is hard to make out, but its clear the man is Caucasian, wearing a beard and sunglasses. He catches Parchese’s look turns and quickens his pace, turning the corner and disappearing down a side street.

“Yes, a local addict looking for a fix. He’s been trying to get some information. He said something along the lines that a couple local meth heads lit the building up at night, but the knuckeheads screwed up. Seems the fire accelerant caused more blaze than they expected and a couple got burned bad.”

Mooreland, “So they were sent to one of the hospitals.”

Parchese shrugs. “I think one did. They were close when the building explode and got caught in the blast. One was so bad they left him behind.”

Mooreland presses “Only one?”

Parchese shrugs, “as far as my guy knows. He things the others are hiding out nearby. Probably figure they can nurse their wounds without drawing attention. My guess is they figured the one they left behind was dead or near to it. Maybe they were all injured and are reluctant to move, given all the attention in the neighborhood at the moment. If it were me, I’d probably have slipped out with the confusion and gone elsewhere, but that’s me. Maybe when all the heat dies down the rats will come out of their holes. My CI said he’s going to find out where they went and get back to me when he knows more.”

Mooreland looks to Lee to see if Lee has any other questions.

Miranda Lapis and Dowd

Lapis nods but Dowd seems impatient. Perhaps he’s too personally connected to this case, having tracked the container from the airport.

Dowd wraps his knuckles against the container and listens. “What worries me is that this container came in by air, meaning that someone rushed it here. They didn’t put it on a ship and let it move around different ports, going from ship to ship. Someone really wanted this container to get here quick.”

Lapis nods, “Because time is money or deadlines need to be met?”

“Or perhaps because what is inside can’t stay in a container too long. People, drugs, guns, weapons or parts for weapons.” Dowd considers. He leans his head against the container, steps back, shakes his head, “If there is someone inside I can’t hear it. Too much noise.”

“Maybe we can bring in some kind of scanner to find out what’s inside?” Considers Lapis, “Miranda, what do you think? You want to call up McKenna to get that warrant? Since we might be delayed in searching this container, perhaps we can run some kind of scanner that would allows to get some idea what is inside while we wait. What do you think?”

Conroy checking out the bags

(Occ Snapper, this is going to get a bit gross- should Conroy roll sanity check?)

Conroy opens the other bags and find, much to his disgust, more evidence of blood, tissue, entrails, death.

His mind works through what he knows from his studies. Despite the cold he notes that there are insects buzzing within the trunk. His mind recognizes the putrid rotting smell originates from nearly 30 different chemical compounds mixing as the body decays. This is not Conroy’s first experience with death by he tries to concentrate on what he has to do. He thinks about the different chemicals and their smells.

In his mind he runs through the different elements of what he actually smells, hoping to identify the different chemicals.

Cadaverine and putrescine smell like rotting flesh
Skatole has a strong feces odor
Indole has a mustier, mothball-like smell
Hydrogen sulfide smells like rotten eggs
Methanethiol smells of rotting cabbage
Dimethyl disulfide and trisulfide have a foul, garlic-like odor

The specialist near him points out the rather gruesome body parts that are being drawn from the bags. “Ehh,” she says, “no matter how long you smell body parts, it still makes me want to barf.” She points at the organs, “More intestines… Looks like a kid for sure… Not sure if it’s the same kid… doesn’t look like the kid has a lot to eat, and what it ate wasn’t very good. Ohh, yeah kidneys…”

Conroy remembers what he’s learned from past experience, about how human bodies decompose. He knows the first stage of human decomposition, autolysis, is about self-digestion, which begins immediately after death. As soon as blood circulation and respiration studs, the body no longer gets oxygen or removes waste and excess carbon dioxide causes an acidic environment where cell membranes to rupture. These membranes release enzymes that begin eating the cells from the inside out. This is only the first stage, where the body begins to decompose. Rigor mortis sets in causes muscles to stiffen and blisters filled with nutrient-rich fluids begin appearing on internal organs and the skins surface. Ruptured blisters give the body of an appearance of a sheen and the top layers begin to loosen.

Within 3-5 days, the body begins to bloat, and blood containing foam leaks from the nose and mouth. The leaked enzymes from the first stage begins to produce many gases, and sulfur containing compound that the bacteria releases causes skin discoloration. The accumulation of gases could cause the body to double in size and insect activity can be present as insects feed on the corpse.

But as Conroy works through the plastic bag, through the body parts, seeing bones and tissue, his gloved hands working through the contents, the normal mechanisms for timing death will not work. It is impossible to time death based on the bloat of the body as it seems, clearly, that that body had been disassembled, taken apart, cut into separate smaller parts. But who ever had not done that rough surgical work had not worked so quickly or under conditions that removed the presence of insects. Maggots, the larvae of fly, recently hatched seem to feed on the organs, he also feels the ants that had been feeding on the body on his gloved hand, moving between his fingers.

“Definitely was more than one child.” Says the specialist, “This looks like the jawbone of an older child… and this … yep, an elbow. I’d say this other child must have been at least 2-3 years old. And from what I can tell, looks like, based on this intestinal issue, that the child had not eaten… And note the discoloration of this skin.”

Conroy tries to ignore the unpleasant odors of putrefaction caused by micro-organisms and bacteria feeding on the deceased. Under the light of the specialist, the skin has chanced color, going from a greenish hue to a more reddish taint. Conroy knows that normally that 8-10 days after death the blood begins to decompose. Active decay would include the liquification of organs, muscled and even the skin, but from what Conroy can tell, that has yet to happen. But given the disassembly of the body, it is unclear based on the decomposition of the body’s soft tissue.

The specialist shakes her head, “We’ll need to take this to a lab if we really want to engage in a more specific timing but I think we’re looking at least at 2 bodies here.”
To best of Conroy’s estimate, the bodies are at least a few days and no more than 10 days old.

Snapper wrote:Gonzalez sends a group audio message to the rest of the team:

"Folks, this is Javier. Unless anyone is doing something life or death right now, I'd suggest we quickly regroup for a coffee and plan ahead. I have a place or two I'd like to visit but each is probably a two agent job. Guess we better sort out priorities before anyone puts wheel to road. Did I see a diner on the way here?"

Harry felt the buzz of his cell phone in his pocket. He pulled it out and checked the message. “Agreed. The diner a block over?” he replied.

OOC,Sorry for my lack of posts. I’ll try to keep up!

Jakob Kaminski

Kaminski’s phone buzzed as his call was coming to an end. As it ended, he looked at the screen, to see the messages about catching up.

He reckoned that he could do with writing up his notes, so he headed over.

"Yeah, if we can get a thermal imager here," says Miranda, "we can just look through it. Well, unless it's lead-lined. Of course,if it is lead-lined, that's a major red flag. If we can see people in there or something, that's exigent circumstances, and we can just break in without a warrant. How about we call McKenna and get the process of getting the warrant started? While we're waiting for it, we get the thermal imaging scanner here to peek inside."

"Thanks," says Lee. "Please let us know what he tells you when he gets back." He gives the detective his cell phone number. "Anyone local you know about who has medical skills, who might be willing to treat local addicts off the books?"

Gonzalez:

Still darkly amused by the two local identities h he's been speaking to, Gonzalez powers back to his jeep, changes boots quickly, then jumps in and drives to where he thought he saw a diner.

On the way, he calls the DEA NY Field Office to try to find any known local meth labs, or meth producers.

OOC:   If he finds it, Gonzalez will share a mapping app dropped pin with the team.

Conroy:

Conroy degloves then sends the team a message of apology.

"Folks, I'll need to stay here. We've got at least two dismembered little children here. And dead only days."

He turns to the CSI. "We need this whole car processed. What do you need? More CSI staff I'm guessing. I don't think we can get a tow truck in to take it out. Could we drive it out?"

While he's talking and thinking, Conroy gloves up again and starts searching the interior of the vehicle.

SAN 60%,[dice]0[/dice]

Gonzales-

It takes only a few minutes when Gonzales gets a call back.

"Ray Donavan, DEA, returning your call?" Gonazales knows that Donavan was involved in the Acevedo drug bust earlier in March of this year. (https://www.dea.gov/press-releases/2020 ... cker-among ).

Donavan getst to the point. "If you want to know about local Meth? Generally not much business on the east coast and NYC. Most of ours came in from outside, from Mexico, but with the virus, all that shipment dried up and there has been a growth of local meth labs to fill the market. Used to be that a lot of the meth in this area was connected to the sex traffic in NYC, mostly men on men illicit sex, and then it was tied in with coke and smack. But these days, there has been an increase in people getting their highs. Some of this is connected to La Cosa Nostra, but more has been with other criminal groups. Black Organized Crime, but biker gangs too. Mostly Hells Angels, Pagans further east. It's been a booming business of late, but a lot of it will fly under the radar. "

A lot of this Gonzales probable knows. https://nypost.com/2020/07/07/dea-repor ... e-midwest/ and https://www.pix11.com/news/local-news/d ... h-seizures

"If its motorcycle gangs they probably work someplace a bit remote but with easy access to local roads. Some place no one will bother them. Easy to move product in and out without too much attention. Close to the main roads, but not too close, and easy access to production drugs. Probably got some local lab techs and these days, easy to find them, especially if they know someone who has done time. Bikers are doing a fair bit of recruiting out of jail. Then they can sell it to the gay clubs and other places."

Gonzales tells Donavan his location. Donavan responds, "The Hole? Yeah, I heard of it but never been there. From what I hear its a grave yard for abandoned vehicles, garages, lost people. Good place to run a lab of the cops don't frequent it. The cops are busy with local crime in the neighborhood so probably don't go there much. But who is running it? Could be Hells Angels or a local black gang, no idea. Trust me, if we knew where we could score a big meth lab, we would've raided it by now. But Meth is pretty bad stuff, I'd run some soil samples and you might be able to find it. Or you can trace the cooking."


Conroy with the bodies
The forensic specialist has been eaves dropping. She says, "We're going to have to move these bodies. We can only do so much here. We can probably get a tow in to collect, but with the bodies in the bags already? They'll take photos and do the sweep and then send the bodies to Medical Examiner's office over at 599 WInthrop in East Flatbush or over at the lab in King's County Hospital for the autopsy. The car will get sent to the evidence yard. We can probably get the bodies there in an hour or two, and that's where they will do the lab work. But look, my opinion is there isn't going to be too much rush on this and the ME has been backed up for a week this time of year. Part of this is the new Covid strains and checking to see how bad the bug is spreading, and that's eating up all the resources. But you are going to need a toxicology report on this and probably a real forensic pathologist to know the nature of these wounds. My guess is that they were cut up, but you need a lab to get a real view. I'd be amazed if the ME will look at this inside of 72 hours, so you had best get your own people in."

She looks over at the where the others are doing the search and rescue nearby. Then looks back at Conroy, "I can get some of the fellas here to start collecting the info cause they got nothing to do while the others dig. We got to get these bodies out anyway."

Miranda, Dowd and Lapis.

Lapis makes the call in to McKenna and she hears what the situation. The phone is on speaker so Miranda can hear. "Yeah, no problem. I can get you a warrant in less than an hour. No problem. In the meantime get an imager to see what's inside, and if you need to break in, so be it."

Meanwhile Dowd speaks to one of the explosive experts about the thermal imager and in a few minutes the man comes back with the imager. It takes him about 10 minutes to circle the container and returns to the others, shakes his head. "I got no readings of anything warm inside, no bodies, or at least no live ones."

Lapis looks to Miranda and Dowd, "It will take an hour, let's eat. Lindenwood diner is probably the closest."

Lee-

Parchese snorts at Lee's question. "What, my CI? Fuggettabout it. I think he tried go straight, no luck. Besides, he got no habit, I'll have a hard time keeping him informing."

Mooreland shakes his head, "Can't save ''em all. I know a priest might be able to help, but that's if the addict wants to come off and usually they don't. What they want is their fix."

Kaminski, Harry and all investigators.

Lapis calls in the others. "Closest diner is probably Lindenwood, across Linden Boulevard. Meet you all there."

OCC- Lindenwood diner? https://www.lindenwooddiner.com/Home . I'd go with the Lindenwood Omelet with Fried Yucca! Given its near 9:30 the morning rush is probably nearly over and the staff is slowing down. It's March and cold, so the outdoor dining is done and there shouldn't be too much indoor eating.

"Breakfast sounds good to me," says Miranda. "Let's go."

"What I meant," says Lee, seeing that his idea had gone over their heads, "was that the meth heads injured in the fire and explosion would have sought out off-books medical help. If we know who might treat them, we could find them."

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez is still chatting on the phone with DEA Agent Donovan. "Sounds about what I'd expect but thanks for that. Just following up another lead, do we have anything on a First Church of Africa Zion, here in The Hole? Or a Reverend Milton Ingwenya? Either might be connected to the dealing out here, but I'm not sure how yet. Appreciate all your help, compadre."

While talking (hands free), Gonzalez, driving with his usual aggression, charges over to the Lindenwood Diner, the first place he had noticed on the way in.

OOC:
If it's open, Gonzalez with send the location to the team. (If it's not open but there's staff inside, he will badge up and see if he can convince them to open early for hard working federal law enforcement.)

ICC:
While he's waiting, Gonzalez starts doing some phone internet searching of the First Church of Africa Zion and the Reverend Milton Ingwenya.

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy nods agreement. "Please do, get every free CSI over here to start processing ASAP. The sooner we can get these remains to a path lab, the better. I'll probably head over with the remains to help out. Meantime, I want to make sure we've missed nothing."

Conroy continues searching the rest of the car's interior and exterior. He checks underneath with a pocket flashlight, checks under the hood etc.

OOC:
Conroy's current plan is to go with the remains to try to assist / expedite the processing and autopsies.

Shafto

Mooreland shrugs. "Around here could be lots of people. If someone is running a meth lab in this area, they may know someone who has some medical background. We got a lot of veterans with some experience with battlefield wounds, and a lot of those folks got their own addictions too, so no surprise they are working for gangs or organized crime. Alternatively, someone could be a veterinarian might have some of the same medication that might be helpful to someone in need."

Parchese nods. "The Hole is pretty small and pretty self-contained. If there is someone who is a resident doctor, chances are some of the long-timers might know 'em. But then again, lots of transients here now, so... who knows."

Moreland looks at Parchese, "well contact your person and find out what he knows. "

Parchese steps away to make a call.

Moreland looks at the excavation work going on than back to Shafto. "Most of the police attention is going to be here and I don't see much happening while they dig. My guess is that the people who lit the fire are here, within this community, holed up behind one of these fences. In the old days we'd have a helicopter do a swoop but I think we might be able to do a drone flyby. It will be a bit of time before we manage it though and get the drone down here. Maybe your team has uncovered something. Could be a good time touch base and update what they've come up with."


At the Lindenwood Diner-

The diner is open and the time is good. Much of the morning rush has now passed and moved off to work, and the staff is getting ready for the afternoon rush that should start around 11.

Gonzales is the first to arrive.
A waitress sees Gonzales at the front register. "How many?" She asks.

She's about mid thirties, a bit plump and tired with age and hard work, but not without good humor and what Gonzales has come to recognize as New York schtick.

He tells her and asks for someplace a bit private, and she nods, "This about the fire couple blocks ovva? Yeah, I got a table..."

She walks him over to a large table in a quiet section that allows Gonzales to see who enters and who exits. She pours him a cup of coffee then brings milk and sugar. "I'll be back in a sec to take ya orda."

The phone rings, and its Donavan. "Yeah, following up. DEA isn't doing any investigation about a First Church of Africa Zion. We've had some Khat investigations tied to African churches but most of that is Muslim. I got nothing in the data base on Reverend Milton Ingwenya, but if there was, I couldn't tell ya much because its a federal investigation but then I wouldn't know about it either for reasons of case security, but you know that. Seems he came over from Congo area a few years ago, but we got nothing more. Might want to check Immigration Nationalization Services, Homeland Security or Immigration, Customs & Enforcement, ICE, as they may have more. Seems he's on a Green Card. There are narcotics networks running through Africa but those are usually going to Europe. Most of that stops in at West Africa on the way to Europe, and rarely does it bounce back over the Atlantic to us. You might want to check FBI too as they might have more, but again, federal investigations are usually secret. US Attorney General's Office might be able to open up some of that to you, if you ask 'em. Good luck and keep me in the loop you find out about that Meth lab. My best is there's one in the Hole somewhere but I would suspect they won't start cooking till the heat's off. My guess, given the Hole, is that you are looking at a Biker gang running it on the side."

Harry arrives next, looks around the diner and sees Gonzales, who nods at him. Harry grabs a seat. As he sits down, the phone rings on their phones.

It's Marshal Wade on the line. "Wade here. McKenna wants to updated on the status of the investigation. She's made some calls and has gotten some help from the FBI and other agencies on standby. Seems AG's office is pushing this one hard. Apparently the Red Wind connection has triggered some attention from The Company. Expect a visitor."

At that moment Lapis and Miranda walk into the diner. They see Harry and Gonzales and join them.

Wade, on the phone, continues. "Got an update on the kid who succumbed to his burns. Lewis Carmichael. 17 years old, high school drop out, priors for narcotics and assault. blood test came up Methamphetamines. Dad's been in prison since he was 3, and mother died of Covid last year, no known next of kin. Looks like he lost his home about the same time his mother died. No known address but it looks like the police picked him up on suspicion of narcotics possession last October about 3 blocks away from the fire. According to police reports, seems he was affiliated with a gang calling itself the Ruby Street Mafia, or Ruby Street Bangers.... Seems they can't decide on a name."

Lapis pulls grabs a seat. "Dowd said he's heading back to the Airport to track down some leads and make a few calls about potential arms sellers in the Hole." He looks at his hands and then at Miranda. "What is all this red dust everywhere? I didn't see it earlier in the dark, but now in the light, looks like what ever exploded sent a cloud of red dust. "

Wade asks, "Red dust? In Brooklyn? Could it be powdered from the bricks of the building? Yeah I notice I got some of that too. I noticed it on McKenna as well."

Lapis looks at the other. "Perhaps Conroy should look into this. Wouldn't EPA be the people to refer to for a soil analysis?"

Conroy and Kaminski

Conroy checks under the damaged cars and the van and sees little more except that there is a lot of that odd red dust everywhere. The building itself had been painted white and was made mostly from grey cinderblocks and while there was some red brick, not enough for leaving the red dust he finds. More so, he notices that the color is different as is the texture. It feels remarkably dry, deprived of any moisture. Feeling it between his fingers he notes its fineness, its softness and that it nearly repeals water. He thinks of the sands in the dry deserts of the American Southwest that have been so long denied any moisture that they virtually repel water, and that when a sudden flood occurs can give rise to floods because the water may actually remain on top of the sand or even lift the sand so it floats on the water. It has been raining since yesterday and yet, this dust like sand seems to be settling still, like dust accumulating after it has been kicked up.

He looks up, considers the hazy conditions of before. It is possible much of that haze had to do with the dust that had been kicked up by the explosion which had sent much of it up in the air. With the air, wind and blast, much of that dust has been circulating in the atmosphere and, because the police are wearing masks that filter out the particulates, much of that sand/dust has not been experienced. Yet now, as the day continues, the dust is descending and settling.

The dust had to have come from the blast that kicked it up over the explosion. It was hidden perhaps in the darkness of the early morning but as the day light brightened its becomes increasing evident.

He feels the dust between his fingers. It's soft, powdered, almost like confectionary sugar to touch. One could easily sink into this and disappear if there were enough of it.

Where in the hell did it come from? Conroy had been thinking about the dust earlier, but had been distracted by the weapons crates and the cartridges he'd found. Could be the dust was a clue?

A Forensics van comes near the scene, and two CSIs step out and are soon joined by two others who return with the Forensic Investigator Conroy had spoken to before. She approaches him and calls over Kaminski. "We're going to need some space to not only collect the bodies but to collect any other evidence. We need the space and it will take awhile and we got to move quick as those guys mess this place up." She nods to the place where the police and a group of rescue workers are trying to dig out any survivors. "The bodies will go to the Brooklyn Medical Examiner's office. If you want some of the FBI guys to participate, that's fine, but it might be awhile cause the ME's backed up... If we expedite it, it might still be a couple of hours." She shrugs. "But give is a few hours before we have anything for you."

A couple of hours. Kaminski notes that the others are gathering at a nearby dinner to update. Might be worth going to update and proceed.

"Thank you," says Lee Shaftoe. "I'll check back after I get some chow." He heads over to the diner.

"It could be from the bricks," says Miranda. "Could it have come from Saudi Arabia? Maybe it was in those containers, along with whatever they were shipping. The explosion may have spread it around." She fills in the others about her own discoveries.

OCC- Giving Philhulu and Snapper some time to get back into the game so I'll keep this short.

At the diner- Shafto arrives.

Shafto pulls into the parking lots and enters the diner. Like many in the diner, everyone is wearing a masks. The waitress sees him and says, "Well you are either a trucker or a fed, honey, and if you are looking for the feds, they are in the side room at the big table." She points a thumb in the general direction.

Shafto sees Gonzales, Miranda, Lapis and Harry. Kaminsky and Conroy are perhaps still on the way. The four are drinking coffee and looking over the menu before they order. As he closes in he can also hear Wade on the speaker phone giving the others an update. "..... Also we got some update. Seems Red Wind has gotten some attention among other agencies, and you might be getting a consult on some info soon at your location. This will connect to the evidence of weapons you are picking up and potential terrorist connections with the Saudi's. We are also close to a positive Id on a few of the identifiable bodies from the building itself. Looks like a couple of recent imports from Europe. Expect info on that soon."

"So far no news about this in the press and it seems the Saudi's show no indication of having heard about the blast. Our people have identified a Mr. Mohammed F. Al Jubier as the principle Saudi intelligence chief operating out of the UN consulate and according to FBI Counter Intelligence and NY City Police Intelligence Bureau, there doesn't seem to be anything suspicious happening with regard to his normal activities. The property itself was signed for by the Saudi's by a Adel Bin Ahmed Hadi who seems to have bought a few properties in New York, both as investment properties and residences for visiting Saudis as well as leasing them to a variety of business interests. This particular property was leased to the Islamic Center in Saudi Arabia, but it will take some time to track down whether the Islamic Center assigned the lease to a third party."

Wade continues- "Also, we got the NY Police Counter Terrorist Bureau looking into to some of the weapons uncovered for connections to the assassination of a Australian banker who had apparently done some business with Iranian intelligence operatives."

Lapis nods. "I'd like to get a look into that container just the same to if we got more of that dust. Could be from Saudi Arabia, but its... dry. Like it hasn't seen water in years.
Based on what we saw of the blast, I'm thinking it was used to help fortify that house. Damn think looks like a bunker."
"

IC - Harry Shibatu

Harry flicked through the menu and settled on an omelette and black coffee. As he waited for his drink to arrive, he said, ”This Ruby Street biker gang? Can we get any local intel on them?”

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

Kaminski made his way to the diner. He entered, and followed the waitresses directions to the table. Somehow he has already acquired a cup of coffee and he takes a seat before spooning in sachets of sugar and giving it a stir.

”They’re removing the bodies,” he said, almost absentmindedly as he blew on his coffee. ”Medical Examiner is going to take a look as soon as they are able. Want me to go over and give them a hand?”

Lee Shaftoe orders steak and eggs, then fills in the others as to his discoveries and catches up on theirs. "It definitely sounds like human trafficking was going on there," he says.

"Once that warrant comes back," says Miranda Waterhouse, "we'll be able to take a look inside that container. Whatever it is, the Saudis went to a lot of trouble to bring it here and secure it. It must be important."

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez seizes every opportunity to grin at the slightly plump, New Yorker waitress, and always keeps her eye contact when he can.

He tries to summarise to his colleagues his interesting conversation with the black cowboy and his erudite friend.

"We got local meth dealing. We got a possible war between some kind of aggressive Islamic sect and an African Christian-ish church with maybe pagan influences. I'm thinking the church is good for a visit but I might need some back up."

"FBI might have some better info for us on this pastor of the church." Gonzalez looks expectantly at the FBI on hand.

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy gives the CSI he's been dealing with his business card and exchanges phone numbers. "Anything that can be done to expedite, that'd be great. I've got to catch up with my colleagues."

He takes four small jar samples of the red dust. "What the Hell is this?"

Eventually, Conroy finds his way to the diner, hastily ordering just coffee. He has his portable forensic kit with him and pulls out a jar of powder. "Anyone got a clue about this?"

Experimentally, he dribbles a few drops of table water into the red powder slowly.

OOC:

Sorry for being slow team but I'm back now!

Can Conroy start making a few skill rolls too much around with this red dust?

"I can put in a call to ICE to check the immigration records for whoever we manage to identify," says Shaftoe, "as well as for the Saudi nationals involved."

ICC - Gonzalez:

"Let's start with the First Church of Africa Zion, here in The Hole. And particularly a Reverend Milton Ingwenya."

IC - Harry Shibatu

Harry shook his head. What was happening with the world when priests were suspects in such cases?

"Do you know which country he came from?" asks Shaftoe.

ICC- Gonzalez:

Gonzalez pauses mid bite of bacon and eggs to squint at Shaftoe.

"Hell if I know. Africa somewhere. How many immigrant Reverend Milton Ingwenyas can there be?"

Gonzalez refocuses on his prime task of casting admiring looks at the waitress.

"I'll put in a call," says Shaftoe. "Wherever he's from, there should be a record of it."

OOC - Conroy:

This being a non-urgent moment (I hope) at the diner, Conroy has Science - Chemistry 30% and Science - Environmental 50% to use to make some initial assessment of the red dust.

ICC - Conroy:

As well as dribbling drops of water into the red dust, Conroy pulls a jeweller's eye magnifying glass out of his go-bag and peers at the dust through it. "Whatever this is, it's probably raining down on all the rescue workers at the site."

At the diner.

Wade has been pausing as the others catch up. When a break occurs, she says, " Reverend Milton Ingwenyas came over from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is on a Green Card but seems to have qualified as a refugee. No surprise given then turmoil in the Congo the past few years. So far we have no record of any criminal dealings but we do have some connection with other African Christian Churches and African-affiliated NGOs. Apparently he has also taken an interest in helping African immigrants with gaining nationalization as well as outreach, works with local refugee organizations as well. But it is a small church and, according to our records, does not make a considerable amount of money. "

Conroy places a small amount of the dust on the table and under the light it looks unremarkably red and flakey. When he drips water atop it, the dust seems to float to the top of the water droplets and cling there. There seems to be virtually no absorbtion at all.

Lapis shrugs, "Looks like it came from a desert. I used to see dirt due that during my time over in the big sandbox." The big sandbox is a reference to the Middle East- Iraq and Afghanistan.

Wade pauses again, and then cuts in, "Got some early toxicology results from those body parts. Genetic tracing suggests most of the children are either African American, Latin American or Caucasian, many had trace elements of some narcotics substance in the blood but all have some traces of various heavy metal pollutants and evidence of exposure to industrial chemicals. Looks like all of them had bodies exposed to or had consumed harmful environmental chemicals. Furthermore, most of the children had either been exposed to the Covid virus or were suffering some genetic illnesses."

"As for the Ruby Street Bangers or Ruby Street Mafia." Adds Wade, "Seems they were a bunch of meth heads and vagrants. Local kids getting into trouble. Lewis Carmichael, the dead kid, seemed pretty typical of a kid on the street. We'd need to check in on FBI Organized Crime databases or perhaps the local PD knows more, but they seem to be mostly small time meth heads committing petty crimes, to little to draw much attention."

"As for a motor cycle gang, could be that they are renting out some space in the Hole and using that space as a local meth lab before moving on. But we don't have a positive ID on such an outfit yet. That said, the Ruby Street Bangers could be providing some local muscle to a more significant presence."

As Wade is speaking a short rather heavy set bald man who looks somewhat like Seinfeld's George Costanza walks into the diner, sees the group sitting and approaches, orders coffee from the waittress and then sits down at the table at the others, who are surprised at this unannounced stranger.
https://media1.giphy.com/media/rtr4SdtSxbWXm/source.gif

He says "Calm down, cowboys. I am going to reach into my jacket and give you my ID. My name is Charlie Kromkowski, I'm with CIA, and I have to tell you that by law, but realistically, I am not even supposed to be here, but this case has international implications so...?" He shrugs his hands.

He reaches into his jacket and removes a card that identifies him by name and has a contact number. "Perhaps we can figure out what this Saudi connection is, yeah? First off, yeah, Red Wind's container will be broken into and you'll find inside something interesting no doubt, but truth is you can't touch Red Wind. Why? Well sometimes they work for them, and sometimes they work for us, and it does no one any good to go too deep a dive in their books."

"Second thing, we know that the Saudi's got a Tiger Squad in New York already. But we don't know who they are. And the Saudi operator-in-chief at the local Saudi consulate, Mohammed F. Al Jubier, hasn't left his apartment since yesterday, and was last seen entering the place with a young woman that we have yet to identify." He looks at them and notices some confusion, "A Tiger Squad is a Saudi hit team. As for Jubier, it's possible the woman he was with was either a high priced prostitute or perhaps a honey trap working for the Iranians."

Kromkowski looks at the dust and water drops. "As for that, you can do a soil test and you will find some salt content, but I'd bet the mineral content would reveal that it comes from the Middle East, and probably Iran."

"That's interesting," says Miranda. "Sounds like Iran may have gotten its hooks in Jubier. The Tiger Squad could be for him. They could have even killed him already. Of course, it could also be a different Saudi."

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy looks mildly annoyed by the various suggestions as to the origin of the dust as he conducts actual scientific analysis. "If it is Iranian desert sand, or at least from somewhere in the Middle East, that raises as many questions as it answers. Starting with how did it get here? Someone just had to recreate the old country's desert in their basement? Which then blew up?"

"Off that topic, I wonder if the toxins in those dead kids indicate they're Hole residents? This entire area is an ecological disaster. Could be poor local kids with meth-head parents, and the kids have been drugged and abducted, maybe? Parents may not even have noticed they're gone, or have anyone they could report their kids missing to. The remains in the trunk are my priority unless anyone has a better idea."

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez regards the Company Man with the wary professional scepticism of one who has been 'burnt' before. "The Company? Greaaat. To be clear though, whatever you guys got cooking, you can't explain great big bangs in the Hole and you don't mind us going after this local African church?"

"And if I don't have to, I don't think I want to tangle with international hit squads. Are these the guys that killed that journalist in an embassy then chopped him up to get rid of the remains?"

"That would be Jamal Khahshoggi," says Lee Shaftoe. "If Jubier was compromised by the Iranians, or if the Saudis just think he was, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes."

At the diner-

Kromkowski looks at Gonzales a long moment and shrugs it off without comments, a person use to disparaging views of his organization. "Yeah, it was a Tiger team that whacked, sliced and diced Khahshoigi a few years back. And he isn't the only one either. So you are already tangling with international hit squads. That's what I am here to explain."

He quiets as the waitress comes to the table bearing a tray of coffee and food, smiles as she gives him and others coffee, leaves a few breakfast dishes of those who orders. "I'll be back with the rest in a moment, anything else I can getcha?"

"Sure," Says Kromkowski, "Egg sandwich, two eggs, little runny, cheese, sausage and would you mind a spoon of Salsa?"

"Salsa? Sure. We got a decent Western Omelette?" She asks.

"Next time maybe, but I gotat eat and run so make it to go will ya?" He adds.

"Sure thing." She smiles at the others and turns back to the kitchen.

Kromkowski takes a sip of his coffee before he begins. "If you recall about 9-10 years ago the DEA uncovered an attempt to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in a restaurant in Washington? Well, had they pulled it off they wouldn't have just whacked the Saudi Ambassador but scores of high level government officials and politicians. The Iranians denied it and seriously, had they gotten away with it, that would have been an act of war, and think how that might have turned out? Anyway, the Saudi's took it seriously and raised their game because the Iranians were already doing it. The Iranians had been whacking political dissidents and opposition players all over the Middle East and in Europe, but the US had generally been off-limits. So the Iranians seem keen to increased their game. End of story, the conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia over control of the Persian Gulf and the greater Middle East has spread to the US."

(OCC- about the plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in the US- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_alle ... d%20States ).

"This place you are investigating, this house that blew up? We thought it was a Saudi safehouse, placed in a convenient location where people don't often look. The Saudi's had set it up initially as a religious outreach facility, because of the connections between Saudi intelligence and their clerics, it made a convenient front. So no one really took much notice of it because that's something the Saudi's have been doing all over the US and cooperation between religious groups and governments is pretty common. Simply, no one really gives a fuck if the Saudi's want to open a religious outreach in a shithole part of town that no one gives a fuck about. But we think that that was just a cover, and once the religious folks moved out, the Saudi's turned the building into a safe house for their operators. Most people around here dont' care. Those who do could get paid off and if house drew too much official attention, they could look like some terrorist or drug running operation, and the Saudi's get plausible deniability- whatever connects the house to the Saudi's is embarrassing, but they aren't directly involved. Except.. maybe they are."

Lapis, a DEA agent, asks, "So they are running drugs and you know it?"

Kromkowski nods, "Yeah, and to be fair, it isn't that unusual either. Covert operations does dirty deeds in the dark and don't want to draw too much attention to themselves. So do drug dealers, terrorist networks, mob guys...we're here to make to make the citizens safe by keeping the dirt out. To do that, we got to get into the dirt with em otherwise we can't do our job. But you are DEA and you've been around, so don't give me any fucking guilt trip about it, because that's the job we signed up for and that's the price. For what it's worth, any drugs these guys were selling was mostly going to buyers looking to buy the high they got in the Middle East, and they were keeping it quiet and careful. Or that's at least what we thought. If you bust open that container you are likely to find, among other things, drugs from the Middle East."

"Here's the thing though. These folks using the house, they aren't all Saudi's but folks recruited from all over. Some of those you were able to identify came over from Europe and they are not religious with the usual connections. These look like contractors, not Saudi military or intel, but terrorists who are anti-Iran. Again, nothing unusual here. Fairly common for the agencies to higher outside contractors that they can refer jobs out to as necessary. But from what we can tell, this group is a bit odd."

Wade, who has been listening on the phone, asks, "The children we found?"

"Yeah, there's that. These fuckers are picking up kids and cutting them up? Why? And does that connect to that red dust?" Kromkowski shrugs. "I don't have those answers. But as I said, we keep an eye on Red Wind, the company, and they are a mover of cargo all over the Middle East. How the dust got here? My guess would be that they shipped it here on a ship by container. Someone went out into an Iranian desert, dug up the sand and shipped it here, and then they stuffed it into the house and even used it to reinforce the structure. That house is pretty old and survived here a long time, but old NY construction is pretty sturdy stuff and meant to last. They turned the house into a bunker not unlike people did in the Second World War in Russia and in France- they hid a bunker in a house. But why build a bunker at all?"

Wade chimes in as Kromkowski breaks to take a sip of coffee. "From early toxicology results, it seems that most of the children are New Yorkers, all exposed to some kind of toxic substances. Given the nature of the remains, it might take months to identify them. We got kids coming to New York all the time and disappearing, so we're not sure if their families are in the US. Could be the kids were brought to NY from out-of-state. We're running EZ pass records to track car movements in and out of the city, and it seems the cab remained in NY. But the sedan and the van left the city and the state on multiple occasions."

Kromkowski looks at Miranda, "More likely Jubier is running the Tiger, not their victim. As the local Saudi operator in chief, he's more likely to coordinate hits on Saudi targets. Saudi targets could include anti-Saudi Iranian operations, Iranian operations and possibly Iranian targets of opportunities, as well as anyone else the Saudi's want to keep tabs on. But it's mostly intelligence gathering in NY because of the UN and the Saudi's would want to keep their hands clean and distant from any wet work. More likely Jubier would be the target of the Iranians or whoever blew up the house."

"As for the church? Honestly, the priest is something of a phantom for us. Reverend Milton Ingwenya is out of Democratic Republic of Congo, a country that was dealing with a nasty war for years. He came over as a refugee. We got no records on him from the Congo that we can verify but that's no surprise given Congo records. But we got nothing that ties him to anything but a number of Congolese refugee organizations helping people come over from Africa and his connections to the local African community. Seems he also helps local kids, mostly African first generations, who get into some trouble with the police, usually over drugs. What I know of his religion is odd by my standards, but I am CIA, so really, what the fuck do I know about God? I understand there is a lot of mix of Christian and traditional African faiths in the African Zionists, and they are a bit like evengelicals- all about the spirit, but again, not my thing and the Agency hasn't considered him a person of any interest. There are ties between religious organizations and African politicians all over Africa, especially in West Africa and the Congo, but Ingwenya doesn't seem to have much political sway here. From what we've been able to draw, few real contacts back home, no family to speak of. Supposedly his entire family got wiped out by war or disease and he came over because he was the wrong ethnicity in the wrong place. In the US, he runs a small church to the local faithful. We checked his tax records and he's running on a shoe-string budget and not making a lot out of his church.
If he's up to something, it isn't on our radar but he'd be careful because he probably doesn't want to get sent back to DR Congo. That place is such a shithole it makes the Hole look serene."

The waitress come back to the table with more dishes including Kromkowski's egg sandwich in a bag. He smiles at her and nods, says, "Thanks." then watches her leave. He turns to others. "So if you got questions, ask. I don't have all the answers though. I can tell you that those contractors in the house were anti-Iran but I can't tell you what they were up to, why they brought that dust or even what was with the kids bodies. I can't tell you who lit the fire or why. I wish I had some answers for ya on that, but we want to know to because this one is strange."

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez pulls a Cohiba cigarette out of its packet but just holds it, unlit, under his nose for a moment then sticks it behind his ear. He resumes demolishing breakfast and coffee.

"OK, so the BF hole in the ground was a safe house for some international collection of dangerous asshole hitmen working for the Saudis. Lawrence of Arabia meets Seal Team 6. They can get anything they like shipped to them by this Red Wind company. In their free time, they chop up little children and deal drugs."

"How long did the Company know there were a collection of Saudi hired psychopaths in that place?"

"And I guess that makes getting a warrant for the container a high priority. If it wasn't already."

"Back to the Big Bang theories, the international men of mystery could have accidentally set off one of their own toys, maybe? Or else the African church took them out? With a vengeance."

IC - Harry Shibatu

Harry mulled over what Kromkowski was telling them. ”So you knew it was a Saudi safe house and you knew they were pushing drugs?” he asked with a shake of his head.

”So the person or persons who wanted to do them harm could have been the Iranians or any of their affiliates or someone in the drugs trade who didn’t want them on his patch. Have I got that right?” It sounded to Harry as if there was no shortage of potential suspects.

At the diner-

Kromkowski shrugs. "What can I tell ya. Yeah, the Saudi's and Iranians are running covert operations against each other, and the Iranians willingness to sanction a hit in DC that would have taken out not just the Saudi Ambassador but a number of high profile American members of the political elite mean this is something we watch. So we got to watch the Iranians and the Saudis in the US. The problem is that there is a lot to watch."

"Most of this Saudi-Iranian conflict is not going to cause much notice. Neither side wants that. The Saudi's don't want to do something embarrassing in the US and the Iranians don't want to give Uncle Sam an excuse to use cruise missiles or drones on Iran. That doesn't stop them from running operations against each other in the US. And this is NY, home of the UN and a banking center of the world, so you can bet they are playing the game here as well. But both sides are not going to want to get directly involved in anything wet. They will first rely on contractors."

"What we know of this bunch is that they are anti-Iran, and for the Saudi's that means that they are potential allies and friendlies. We found out about them from a tail on Jubier who met up with that girl you found in the house at a restaurant in Manhattan. Then we tracked a Red Wind delivery to them, so we figured they were contractors. As for the Saudi's, it was token support. Money to run operations and keep them fed, a place to lay low, perhaps look the other way at customs, and when they need them to do something unpleasant, they will call in the favor. Like they were on retainer."

Yes, we knew about the drugs, but it never caused us much concern. First off, we knew they were bringing drugs in but weren't completely sure they were dealing on the street. It's a working assumption based on past imports, but it wasn't a lot of drugs and it wasn't going to make anyone independently wealthy. They are selling to other MENA expats, the kind of drugs that Americans don't use or have much interest in, but the expats want a taste from home. Whatever they are selling, its contained in small isolated communities and not a risk to the US public. So leave them alone, let them feel safe, and easier to pounce on when we need to."

Lapis signs, "Before Nixon's War on Drugs, the federal government could give a shit about heroin as long as it stayed in black communities. Same policy with MENA drugs?"

Kromkowski shrugs. "Bud, I don't make the policy. But busting their heads is not cost effective, especially if we are worried about bigger things." Kromkowski nods. "We send the local police or DEA down on these guys because they are moving a little Kwat, than they go to ground and we have no idea what they are up to. You want to catch fish, you got offer them a little worm, give them some confidence that they can bite, otherwise they'll just hide under some other rock."

Kromkowski seems content with this justification even if the others are not.

He continues, "So, we see these guys as contractors for the Saudi's, people they can bring in for doing a job they don't want to be officially tied to, so if it goes South, the Saudi's can claim no direct involvement or knowledge. Whoever these people were, first, they were not a Tiger team and they weren't official. In fact, from what we gather from what you folks found, most of these were people from Europe and not the MIddle East. We think any Arabs or Persians were recruited in Europe and not from the Gulf. Our IDs based on the bodies you found suggest these people ran anti-Iranian operations in Europe before coming here, and perhaps they were going to hiding here to return to Europe with less heat, Maybe. So yeah, we knew they were moving some narcotics into the country, but not in large amounts, and we figured this has Saudi permission because of the location and because it wasn't so much drugs as to cause a problem. If someone got caught, the Saudi's could intervene or let them go down, no big difference. We figure the Saudi's wanted them to keep a low profile and keep out of noticeable trouble, and if they used a little recreational narcotic to keep them happily locked away, so be it. As for us, better to watch than to go after em. Remember, the Saudi's are our friends in that region and the Iranians aren't. It's national security, so unless this gets embarrassing, we leave it alone."

Kromkowski puts down his coffee cup. "But we had no idea about the children being snatched. Honestly, we have no idea what that was about at all. What where they doing? No idea. Maybe harvesting and selling organ parts like the Chinese are doing with those Falun Gong folks? But as far as we can tell, there was no Saudi knowledge of that either. So these guys might have gone full rogue on the Saudis, but rogue in another country. Maybe the Saudi's didn't know. We don't think they did. But what if they did know? Well for the Saudi's that's not their problem, but then they still should have cut them loose to save the embarrassment. Contractors can be replaced. Given the Saudi's are their landlords, and then this business with the kids? It's a risky move that, if exposed, will draw in attention, my guess is the Saudi's didn't know what their contractors were doing. Had they know, Jubier probably should have cut them loose and save future embarrassment."

"And than there is what we don't know. What the fuck where they doing? Importing dust, cutting up children? They got a small arsenal and they are bringing in drugs. But they didn't get on the radar of the local police about the drugs, so... that wasn't what this was about. They are building a bunker in Queens? What for? Who torched the place and why did it blow up? Maybe one of their toys went bang in the wrong way. We have no idea, and we want to get to the bottom of this too. Fuck's sake, we are CIA and we don't have the answers."

Kromkowski turns to Harry. " You guys are a joint task force, but you are not the only one. This is the kind of thing that the FBI and CIA need to coordinate on and we're watching but there is a lot ot watch, and seriously, these contractors looked like they were just playing house for the heat to let off in Europe. We're playing catch up on this. We don't think that this was drugs related simply because whatever they were bringing in wasn't in such large quantities to challenge local organized crime, and what they were bringing in would, if sold, go to Middle East buyers. As far as we know there is no gang war over the middle east buyers in Queens or Brooklyn. New Jersey, maybe, but not here. Maybe they are moving some drugs to buy weapons, but more likely they are bringing them in by other ways. As for the Iranians, maybe. If the Iranians had been able to track these folks to NY and they were worth hitting in the US, but if that's the case, they would probably go through contractors to do it. I don't think the Iranians would have settled for spraying the place with flame accelerant and watching it burn. That would attract too much attention. So maybe these assholes just blew themselves up like the Weatherman did years ago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich ... _explosion ) . Or perhaps the fire set off something that led to the explosion. Maybe the Africans set it on fire because they didn't like the possible competition from Allah. Honestly, we got no idea. But we want to know."

IIC - Jakob Kaminski

”If we can identify where the fire started, that might give us something to go on,” said Jakob ”Also, was an accelerant used? That will help us work out what happened.”

"One theory we had was that some local methheads were cooking nearby, and their lab exploded," says Lee Shaftoe. "That could have cooked off whatever explosives the Saudis had, causing the second blast."

"What's so special about this dust from Iran?" asks Miranda. "Don't they have plenty from Saudi Arabia? Once we can get it analyzed, that should answer some of our questions."

OCC- Marshal Wade has been serving as liaison between the investigators and the Assistant Attorney General, so has been keeping track of what's going on in the investigation. You guys did come up with some leads before, so some of this is just rehash of evidence we found earlier, but it should help keep us a bit focused.

ICC
At the diner-

Kromkowski looks at Miranda and shakes her head, "Why would these guys want to import this red dust or dirt or whatever from Iran? No idea. Sorry, but I suspect the challenge wouldn't be too great to do. Who would notice a truck pulling off a dirt road in the middle of a desert, collect dust, and then haul the cargo either across a border or a neutral port where it won't take much notice. Pack some bags of this dirt along with other items on a container and off it goes around half the world till it ends up here. Red Wind has shipment offices all over the Middle East and does business all over the world, so it's an easy common carrier to work with."

Then he adds, "Why would a bunch of anti-Iran militants take the pains to do this? I have no idea. From what I would guess, there is nothing unusual about the substance of this dirt than where it comes from. Again, you can do the soil analysis to confirm where it came from."

Wade interrupts the conversation. "I've got some info based on the current investigation in response to some of those questions."

Wade's voice continues from the speakerphone. "In answer to Agent Kaminski's query, we've followed up on some of the leads from Agent Shibatu. Samples taken from the water and from the debris suggest that the fire was set from outside the building using an accelerant. Based on Agent Shibatu's investigation and witness, there has been some follow-up. While we have had no other witnesses that confirm that a number of youths set the fire, the burns found on one of the bodies near the site suggest that the Shibatu's story is correct. The assumption is that a gang of local youths set the fire using an tar and petroleum based fire accelerant that was spread on the side of the building, which was lit by the gang members. One of the gang members was burned in the blaze and the wounds correspond with that assumption. Apparently, the deceased was perhaps exposed to the accelerant and then burned. Some of the other survivors who were sleeping nearby have also noted a petroleum like smell in the air before the explosion. Water samples show traces of the types of fuels that might be used as an accelerant."

Wade continues, "Furthermore, in response to Agent Shafto's concerns, thus far we've had repeated links to a yet undiscovered Meth lab in the Hole, and the creation of meth might be linked to the explosion, thus far there is no evidence of an fire or destruction of any meth lab that could have caused the explosion of the house. According to the investigators, the explosion came from within the house. None of the nearby structures or properties adjacent to the house show evidence of being secretly a Meth lab."

"As for the explosion itself, the arson and fire investigators have been comparing notes." Adds Wade. "They are operating with the assumption that while the fire did precede the explosion, they think fire did not directly cause the explosion. While there is ample fire damage on the outside of the building, thus far there is relatively little inside the building. Apparently, the fire didn't last very long at all before the building exploded. It is also believed that the heat caused by the fire did NOT cause the explosion, although this remains more uncertain."

"Apparently this is due to a combination of construction materials of the building and the wet conditions." Wade continues her summary. "The building was largely made of brick, mortar, cinderblocks which are largely fire resistant, and then the rainy conditions of the evening might have put out the fire quickly. But for the accelerant, the fire would not have caused much damage and might have been very difficult to actually start. While the fire caused external damage, so far there is little in the way of fire damage inside the building, at least on the upper levels. One of the fire inspectors state that "but for the accelerant used" the fire would have burnt itself out very quickly. It is still unclear about the lower levels of the building, but records suggest that neither garage on either side of the building was significantly damaged directly by the fire but by the explosion that followed. That said, the inspectors are a bit uncertain about this because they suspect the fire accelerant could have generated a lot of heat very quickly."

"Video suggest that any windows or entry ways had been sealed up except for the main door to the buildings. Recent photos suggest that the inhabitants really did turn the house into a fort. While it is possible that heat from the fire might have created an explosion within the building by setting off some explosive substance, the thickness of the walls and structure of the building suggest that any increase of heat would NOT have been sufficient to create that kind of triggering effect alone. Like a concrete or clay stove, the substance of the structure would have limited the spread of the heat. Until the investigators gain access to the lower portions of the building, however, that's only a working assumption."

Wade adds further info, "Most of the dead from within the building died from wounds suffered in the building collapse, from toxic fumes caused by the fire or from the force of the explosion. According to the investigators, the explosion came from within the building from the lower floors, essentially blew out some of the first floor and lifted the upper floors, causing significant structural damage, and the upper floors fell back in on the lower levels. Remarkably, the investigators are also confirming that it seems the lower level had been built almost like a bunker, hardened to withstand blasts both from outside and inside the building."

"So far the investigators seem to think if the fire did cause the explosion it did so by causing some kind of damage to the electrical system, sending a surge into the basement of the building that electronically set off a massive explosion from within the building. According to them, the explosion was more massive that the damage indicates. This wsa a powerful explosion. That damage was captured and contained by the new construction, the hardening of the house into a fortified bunker. However, the investigators have yet to track the actual source of that electrical charge, given the amount of damage done to the building and the rescue efforts underway. Wait a second, something just in....."

Wade pauses for a moment "Looks like the rescue efforts have gotten through and they are about to enter the basement area. There are still life signs from below, based on heat signatures, but no sounds yet... They should be within the bunker in about 15-20 minutes. And hang on...."

Wade pauses again. "Looks like we got the warrant for the container. We'll send you a pdf copy but you are good to crack it open."

OCC- Going to pause a bit for Snapper to jump in.

OOC:

Bit slow off the mark this week.

ICC- Gonzalez:

Gonzalez chugs some coffee and regards the CIA man. "OK, friend, now would be a good time to convince us of your good intentions."

"Firstly, what should we expect to find in the container?"

"Second, can you name or describe any of these black ops merc types working out of the safe house? Or better yet, hook us up with someone connected to the hit team, someone who wouldn't have been in the old place and hasn't been turned into strawberry jelly or at least had their brain mushed."

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy just ignores the amateur input and continues conducting basic tests on the red dust.

At the diner

Kromkowski picks up the bag with the egg sandwich and says, "Yeah, so I am outta here."

It seems he's going to ignore Gonzales. He gets up and is about to leave when he turns back to the investigator, and eyes him carefully. Then he reaches over to the speaker phone and brings it to his mouth as he lowers his voice, speaking directly to Wade. "Alright, a couple of tips, to show good intentions and shit. You found a couple of bodies in the building, dead but more or less in one piece. The girl had freckles, green eyes, good looking. Sometimes she was a blonde but usually a red head. She's originally from Holland, and she's here because Europe go to hot after she became what we we in the business refer to as a honey trap. She'd seduce enemy agents, then either turn 'em, squeeze 'em for info or, if that didn't work, bury 'em. She left Holland because she had attracted the wrong attention and the Iranians wanted her smoked. The bearded Arab you found, middle aged fellow in good shape, drove a cab, which is what he did in Berlin too which is a good business if you are also into surveillance or need to move contraband. He was suspected of the illegal shipment of weapons and was wanted by Interpol and German authorities when he went into hiding. We suspect both slipped out by vessel that took them to the London where we believed they killed a banker who was moving money for covert Iranian Quds forces, and then to Canada. They were suspected in whacking an Iranian in Montreal who was trying set up a terrorist cell. From there they slipped over the border into the US. Get a genetic sample and send it to Interpol and Canadian Mounties to confirm, but we are pretty sure on the ID. "

Kromkowski pauses, turns his attention back to Gonzales. "As for the Container, I can tell you what you'll probably find. You'll need to look carefully but you'll probably find Khat, but not a lot. Captagon pills too. More of the red dirt and probably weapons. Maybe some odd rocks. Foods, Harmal, Psilocybin, Blue Lotus. Check the food containers, the coffee cans."

He puts the phone back down on the table and looks at the other, "We want to share more info, we'll let you know." He shoots Gonzales a look that suggests little more than scorn and contempt, as if he were something one should wipe off the bottom of a shoe. Then he leaves.

Conroy's investigation of the dust he has his limited to what few tools he has, but from what he can tell, the dust does look like it's been in the desert a long time. Further investigation will require the use of a lab and chemical tests. He knows that, with the data available through EPA and FBI, he should be able to identify with some precision the location of where the dust came from.

Shafto's phone rings. It's Mooreland. The detective says simply, "They are about to crack open the vault and get that survivor. You might want to get down here."

"On my way," replies Lee Shaftoe. He speaks to the others. "They're about to dig out the survivor, and I'm going over there. Anyone want to come with me?"

"Thanks, I'll head over to the container and drill it open," says Miranda.

IIC - Harry Shibatu

Harry nodded, quickly finishing off his breakfast and wiping his mouth. ”Let’s go,” he said to Shaftoe. ”Let’s hope they’re in a fit state to talk!”

Lee nods, pays for his meal, which he has already finished, and heads out with Harry Shibatu. "Let's hope they speak English too," he says.

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy hurriedly packs his toys away. Despite his best efforts, the closest he has been able to get to breakfast was a black coffee. Too many sights, too many smells...

He'll go with the others to see what there is in the vault. The red dust will have to wait a while.

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez watches the spook go with no regrets. "The irony is, that sounded pretty solid at the end. I would have said gracias. But to misquote Marv from Sin City, I love spooks. No matter what you do to them, you don't feel bad." He shrugs as he pulls notes from a roll and leaves them on the table, with a good tip.

"Well, let's go and kick a door. Be nice to have something I can point a gun at."

Gonzalez efficiently navigates around tables to the waitress of his desires and hands her a business card. "If you'd like someone to buy you dinner for a change...", he says with a wink.

In short order, he's back with the team. "Door kicking time."

ICC - Conroy:

"It might be worth grabbing your vests on the way in if the information we just got is good. Someone in there may still be conscious, and if they are, they're pissed."

ICC - Jakob Kaminski

Kaminski nodded his agreement and followed the others out the door.

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez turns to Wade. "Hey, Marshall Law, can you get the emergency workers to hold off until we get down there? Give us time to drive back, and at least the first few of us kit up."

OCC Sorry guys, busy week last week. I am going to pick up a bit of the events here. There are a lot of names, so if you are not sure, I'll remind you.

The group united-

OCC- Marshal Wade is actually on the telephone and in a car returning to Brooklyn.

The group united- at the diner and then the scene of the explosion.

ICC Wade responds to Gonzales via speaker phone, “Unlikely. The locals still have jurisdiction and we are strictly in an assist kind of role. They are going to rush any survivors to the hospital as soon as possible. I am on the road and heading to you know, I should see you down there in about 15-20 minutes. I am bringing something that might help.”

The waitress smiles from behind her mask as the group leaves and says, “Come on back for lunch.” Like so many other places during these Covid times, the diner has no doubt seen little real business as people have shied away.

Outside, the day has brightened into a grey, overcast morning, with a cold damp drizzle leaving the asphalt wet. Rolling dark ash colored cumulus nimbus clouds suggest inevitable downpours. The rain water, mixed with the oils from the cars, makes the parking lot a bit slick. The coldness of March weather, the drizzle, the dampness in the air and the overcast sky suggests a generally miserable late winter day in New York. No doubt, the Hole will get increasingly flooded and the fetid waters will rise.

On the street, clouds of steam rise up from behind manhole covers and sewer grates in the street. The investigators are reminded, while the Hole may be the lowest place in New York City, all around are tunnels and sewers and subways. The clouds of steam almost suggest something huge, alive and hungry beneath the city streets.

The investigators return to the scene of the explosion by their individual vehicles. As they enter the neighborhood, a patrolman checks their id’s and waves them to a stretch of wet road. They park and as they step into the broken roads they can feel their feet sink into the slimy mud of the neighborhood. Locals continue to watch what is happening with the mild morbid curiosity that people frequently have of some fatal car accident being investigated. A pair of ambulances remain parked nearby and closer to the explosion site as are vehicles from the local morgue. Rescue workers are digging quickly to get under the debris, with a backhoe helping clear out some of the heavier pieces of masonry. A pile of brick and mortar, damp with rain, is on one side. The sniffer dogs remain to one side, eating from a bowl and otherwise, the police seem disinterested.

They notice that the police presence has become more relaxed. The command vehicle has left the scene and rescue workers continue to work over the scene. Robinson has left the area, perhaps returned to the station and has left behind Sgt Ruffini, the local police sergeant, who continues to direct from under a tarp, pointing to investigators and responding to calls. The vehicles found on the premises (the cab, the sedan and the taxi) that had survived the explosion have moved, probably to a police impound lot. There remains activity around scene itself as rescue workers continue to pull rubble from the site.

Kings County Homicide Detective Mooreland is nearby and is speaking on the phone. He is speaking on the phone and waves the investigators over. Dowd is also close by, waiting with a pair of bolt cutters to break the lock on overturned container and to see what is inside. Detective Pacesee seems to be absent.

Dowd asks, “We got the warrant, let’s see what this thing is containing..” Dowd, the Port Authority Police detective has been eager to get into the container all morning.

Detective Moreland is speaking to the phone, “We need to get the names and location of the rest of this gang. What is their hideout here in the hole? If they are getting picked off, then we got to get ahead of it… Yeah, I got someone I might be able to call… Call me back.” He hand up and shakes his head.

Moreland turns to the others, “That was Pacesee. He got called out for another homicide. One of Lewis Carmicheal’s fellow Ruby Street bangers got clipped coming out of a deli on Blake and Crescent Streets. Kids name was Marcos Tovar, 17, priors on possession and firearms. According to Pacesee, word is that he was the boss of this gang. Seems like he took two in the head, 4 in the body as he was leaving the Deli with breakfast. No witnesses. The assumption is that it’s a gang related hit. Don’t know if it was rivals or perhaps one of his own gang that smoked him.” Moreland shakes his head. “My guess is that this could be pay-back for this or maybe someone is trying to clean up a mess before we get to ‘em.”

(OCC- reminder, Carmichael is the kid who was burned in the fire and subsequent explosion, abandoned by his friends and who died of his wounds in a local hospital).

John Salvaggio, the FD Fire Inspector, is leaving the site and heading towards where Sgt Ruffini is working under the tarp. He, like many of the others, have been working with masks on and air filtration systems to help them breathe despite the heavy reddish dust that seems to have been kicked up due to the recovery effort and despite the rain. Salvaggio looks tired. He sees the inspectors and approaches.

“Hey” He says, “We’re almost down in the basement. We should be clear in about 5 to 10 minutes. They are running sensors on the air to make sure nothing is dangerous as they proceed, so we got to go a bit slow. That said, any of you planning on going to need to gear up if you are going down there to investigate, that dust is everywhere and will get in your lungs if you let it. So far, the bomb guys say this was a bomb but the assumption is some kind of vapor in the air built up in the basement and was triggered by the outside fire. Perhaps the outside fire caused some kind of electrical spark that caused the vapor to explode. Whoever was in there, they basically turned the inside of the house into a bunker, and the bunker basically contained most of the explosion, or the damage would have been a lot worse, probably flatten the whole damn neighborhood. They are still not sure what the gas was as it seems the explosion might have burnt off the gas or whatever was left escaped. We’ll know more when we get down into the basement. How anyone could have survived is amazing. Thing is, dogs still think someone is live down in the basement. Got to speak to the sergeant.”

He nods and turns to continue to confer with Sgt Ruffini nearby.

Gonzales’s phone rings. It’s the DEA Agent Donovan calling back. “Gonzales, Donovan here. I was following up on your Hole Meth Lab. I got a tip that there is a small scale independent Meth lab working the neighborhood and selling to the Pagans. Pagan are a motorcycle gang on Long Island, mostly controlling prostitutes and running the strip clubs out East, but also selling drugs and guns and whatever else they can get. Pagans have been fighting with the Hells Angels for years but Brooklyn isn’t their territory. My tip says that that the Pagans have been doing business with a local in the Hole, a small independent operator. The word we are getting is that this operator will sometimes contract to the Pagans for protection, but usually rely on a mix of local pay-offs to the local police precinct as well as rely on some local muscle for protection. It seems local muscle protects guards their premises and the operator pays off someone in the police for tips on potential raids. So, be careful with the local precinct cops. They got a rat problem.”

As he walks away, they see Marhsal Wade approaching, and she carries with her a large plastic case. She nods to the others, “I got something that might help.” She begins to unpack open the case. Inside they see a US Marshal drone. “ This little device is silent and has thermal, nightvision and multiple cameras. We use this to look for fugitives and to scout before we run a raid. Normally we use this in the woods upstate but maybe it can be helpful here.”

IIC - Harry Shibatu

Harry nodded, admiring the hardware. He’d seen drones of all sizes used while on active service and he appreciated what they could do.

”What’s the plan?” he asked Wade. ”Are you sending that in for a look around to make sure it’s safe before we go and rescue the survivor?”

OOC - Do the team have access to masks and air filtration like the fire chief suggests?

ICC - Gonzalez:

As soon as the team arrives back on-scene, Gonzalez is changing back into his work boots then strapping on the Kevlar and the rest of his rather Gucci DEA FAST kit, including the AR-15, listening in while he's at it.

As soon as he's ready, he rejoins the team. "After what we've heard, I'm not taking chances today. Marshall Law, let's see what your little flying friend can find for us."

Is there are no local PD about, he'll pass on the intel about the Pagans.

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy swaps boots then looks for a mask and air filtration rig. He has his forensic kit ready.

He looks at the FD inspector, Salvaggio. "Inspector, what's going on with the dust? Is some kind of weather effect keeping it airborne?"

OCC- Couple of things. Waiting for Mr. Handy to post. I will send him a pm.
As to the equipment, the gear is available from the rescue teams nearby, Wade has some gear as well or you can assume you have some of your own. Conroy, for instance, probably has access to this kind of gear that might actually be better.

IC_ The Group gathers near the house-

Fire Inspector Salvaggio turns back when he hears the question. He looks back at the explosion site and shakes his head. "The dust seems to be settling but seems to have been blown out from the house because of the explosion. With all the rain it's been settling down outside and hasn't been that much of a problem. Or at least that was true at first. But as we keep working the site, we've kicked up some of the dust back into the air. The stuff seems almost resistant to water. So yeah... we think the explosion blew out a big pile of dust into the air, kind of like a big puff of air would send dust airborne. To be honest, it's been a pain in the ass and has a habit of gunking up the air filtration systems. We've had a few of our people who have been here all evening step back because the dust has gotten into their lungs. No doubt it will be worse under the house. "

Salvaggio points towards one of the trucks nearby. "If you need gear, we got some spare kits you can use. Just make sure you get fresh filters and air tanks. The dust out here isn't so bad, but it seems to have been denser at the site. We think that once we break into the basement the air down below will be especially dense, in part because the moisture in the air hasn't yet settled it down and the air is probably dense with it. We expect the air to be basically unbreathable down in the basement and will continue to be so until it settles or we find some way to remove it."

He shakes his head, considering. "But someone seems to be still down there, or at least the dogs seem to think so. Damn dogs won't be helpful once we get in thought because they won't be able to work in that environment. We'll need rely on our sensors."

"From what we've found out, the dust seems to be pretty harmless, at least up here. Our samples suggest it's mostly chlorides, sulphates and calcium carbonates, but flakey and dry. One of the guys said it was like being in a dust storm in Iraq or Afghanistan, the kind that would be blown in from their deserts and would just cloud up and get into everything. But we found no dangerous residue of poisons. There weren't even dangerous heavy metals in any concentrations that would be dangerous. Truth is, the dust seems to be almost free of any industrial pollutants at all. We don't think its from NY but was brought in for God knows what reasons."

"But if you are asthmatic, you might want to back away. It's annoying, but a lot of our guys have been exposed to worse than this over the past year with all these fires. At least it doesn't have any airborne poisons or heavy metals that will poison your lungs. Still better to be careful"

The investigators are all aware that since the election and Trump's re-election, fires repeatedly been lit many of the poorer regions of New York City, especially among the housing projects. In many ways, the fires have been considered reminiscent among older residents of fires once set in the Bronx during the 1970s and 1980s, when buildings would be put aflame by the residents and the firemen would need police to protect them.

(OCC- for a bit on the fires in the Bronx of the 1970s and 80s- here is a video on a recent documentary on this period https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3Tyj0AQu0o or for more- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF_mIsGFTXc )

Salvaggio nods but also notes the others prepping to go in. "You guys might want to reconsider going in, and if you decide to go in, hold on and take it easy. This isn't a commando raid but a search and rescue in an environmentally tricky and unstable area. It's going to be pretty cramped in there and we're going to try to get the survivor. The collapse of the building has made getting in kind of tight and the damage has left much of the structure very unstable. We've got to worry about the rest of the building coming down and if it does, it will likely crush anyone underneath. So the rescue team has to go in first. You guys will need to follow and we won't be able to allow all of you in. Your investigation has to follow the rescue of the living, sorry, but that has to be priority.

“But when you go in, be careful. From what we can tell, some of the first and second floor may have fallen in and there simply won't be enough room down there. With all the dust, visibility will be virtually zero. Which means its cramped, visibility is cramped and a bad move could bring the whole structure down and crush anyone caught underneath it. Seriously, visibility is likely to be crap. I mean, you'll be lucky you can see your hand in front of your face. Imagine diving into a wreck 100 feet below the ocean and the current kicks up the muddy water and you can't see where you are or what you are doing. And you can also forget about that AR. With all the dust, it's just going to get dirty and probably jam up to hell. You'll need to clean it before you can really use it again. I'd leave it be because there isn't anyone down there worth shooting. If you insist on a weapons, do like tunnel rats, bring a pistol. Besides, we ran a heat sensor over the site and, from what we can tell, there is only one live body down there and it doesn't seem they are moving. We think the person might have survived the blast but might be unconscious and near death."

He pauses, "If you got any other questions? I got to check in with the Sergeant. The rescue workers are about to get in."

Marshall Wade has paused to listen to Salvaggio finished. She then says, "I got some gear in my truck if you need it. But I'd say only 1 or 2 of you should go in, tops. Let the rescue folks do their work. Remember, local PD still has jurisdiction and we follow their lead. As for this little toy." She puts her hand on the drone. "I was thinking we'd fly it overhead and see what we can see from above. There are heat sensors on this machine that can pick up unusual heat sources, primarily body heat. It's not quite as good as using hound dogs to trace, but it has sensors that will allow us to see what's going on."

Marshall Wade continues to prepare the machine and continues, "You folks have been suggesting something of a meth lab around here that might be cooking up. With all the fences up around the properties, we can't see it from the street but we might be able to see something from above. So I'm thinking do a fly over and peek over the fences to see what the neighbors are up to. We’ve used this to track fugitives in the bush, to scope out a building before a raid, so maybe we can find out where your meth lab is, and if we can find the meth lab, maybe we can find those bangers who we think set this fire."

The only local policeman is Mooreland who has also been suspicious of the local cops. Dowd, the NY Port Authority detective is near the container waiting for the others to breach the lock. A quick glance can tell he’s getting impatient. There is little reason why the investigators can’t check the container while one or two enter the basement of the house to look for the survivor.

Mooreland catches Gonzales considering whether to share intel and says, "Seriously? You think I'm the crook in this rotten precinct?" Gonzales has to make a judgement call on Mooreland.

Lapis looks at Gonzales and says, "Mooreland is alright Gonzales, you can trust him. I’ve worked with him before and will vouch for him."

After Gonzales discloses his info Mooreland nods and adds, "Pagans are mostly out in Nassau and Suffolk County, out on Long Island, and they have been defending their turf from Hells Angels and other locals gangs. They wouldn't venture this way without risking a turf war and that would hurt their business interests. The Angels around here would not take kindly to them setting up shop. But they aren't above the meth trade, so they could buy from an independent contractor. So that kind of makes sense."

Moreland continues, “But according to Parchese, one of these local bangers just got snuffed a few blocks from here. Could be payback, but if the other of the Ruby Street boys are around here licking their wounds, than there is a chance that who ever whacked their boss is likely to want to finish the rest of them off. I think we need to find the rest if we want to make any arrests for this particular crime, and maybe get some witnesses about what happened, at least before they get put down.”

Lee Shaftoe gears up in preparation for going into the bunker. He brings a pistol underneath his gear to keep it clean, though if there is anyone hostile inside, his whole body is a deadly weapon.

Miranda Waterhouse joins Dowd at the container to see what's inside.

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez sighs but nods and locks his rifle away again.

"OK, how do we feel about me, Shaftoe and Shibatu going down the hole? Other three take the container? I still think the rescue team might need some back-up if this individual is anything like what we think they are."

"Marshall Law here provides aerial recon."

Gonzalez collects and starts putting on the breathing apparatus.

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy heads over to the container, evidence kit over his shoulder.

OCC- sorry folks, been a bit busy with on-line teaching, grading and all the other nonsense.
Also, I am going to speed through some of the opening of the container here.

IC-

Marshal Wade begins to test the drone off the ground. she crouches down behind the container for the drone and works the controls, lifting the drone up off the ground with a steady buzzing sound. A flick of a switch and the drone goes silent. The machine darts back and forth and she flies the drone around the damaged site as the group suits up and gets ready.

"Looks like all is a go. I'll do a fly over looking for unusual thermal readings from above. That should allow us to pick out people and perhaps might even get us a heat signature where there might be a meth cook underway."

Near the Container, Dowd waits for Lapis, Conroy, Miranda and gets the bolt cutters read to break the lock. Shafto, Shibatu and Gonzales continue to gear up.

Gonzales notice a African man dressed in clothing of priest walking near the perimeter, speaking to the few individuals that remain nearby. As the man nears, he can hear that the man has a distinctive French Creole accent, perhaps as if coming from Haiti or a former French colony. The African man notices Gonzales observing him, meets his eyes, and the man gives a gentle nod of greeting before continuing about.

(OCC- Gonzales, Harry or Shafto may wish to speak to the African priest).

At the Container, Lapis nods to Dowd, "Let's take a look."

Dowd begins working the various locks on the door. "This is a type 2 door, the most secure type." He says as he works. "I've already taken pictures of all the labels"...

(Container doors? https://www.haulio.io/blog/everything-y ... pe_3_Doors)

The container is on its side and both doors are likely to swing outward. Like many containers it has multiple locking mechanisms, but Dowd has worked with such mechanisms before and works quickly to unlock them. He makes sure that the bottom door remains in place so that it doesn't quick fling down and perhaps trap him underneath it. When he's ready he looks at the others. "Are you ready?"

A quick nod from Lapis and the others and Down throws the last lock, and quickly the door begins to crack open as a reddish dust begins to cascade, an orange flow from beneath a damn, that quickly begins to pile at the bottom of the container, covering Dowd's feed. He steps back as the dust continues to until there is a neat pile beneath the door and the then the door shuts against its weight.

Lapis says, "Give me a second, I think I can find something to keep the door open."

Dowd, looking at the pile seems uncertain. "Yeah, we can flip the door around to make access a bit easier."

To Conroy, it looks like the same dust that he's seen all over the explosion site, that seemed to coat much of the vehicles that had been found earlier and which seems to have have now coated much of the area around the blast, and much of The Hole. The dust, having remained within a tight airlocked seal, seems even finer and more powdery than that which had been spread by the explosion earlier. To his immediate observation , it seems as if the dust had not been exposed to any water vapor in many years.

For a moment both Amanda and Conrowy seem lost in thought before Wade interrupts their thoughts.

Wade calls over, "Drone seems to be working fine. Dust doesn't seem to be much a problem but looks like most of it settled, so no problem." She flies the quiet drone over the explosion site and over the rescue crew that is continuing to work. "Looks like we got some heat traces around site. Looks like some kind of heat signature from the blast or fire. Some warm rocks that haven't quite lost their heat yet."

Wade continues to fly the drone about the position. "Can't get a clear read on what might be below. Between the heat signature on the site and the heat signatures on the rescue crew, plus any penetration down into the basement, I can't see a trace of any bodies down there. But if that explosion was that hot, my guess is that anyone in that basement must be shielded, so we wouldn't necessary see anything anyway. I'm going to do an overview. This should take a few moments"

Meanwhile, Lapis and Dowd tie a rope around the door and both Dowd and Lapis climb on top of the overturned container to pull up the heavy door, not without some considerable effort.

As they do so both Conroy and Amanda remain back, least the door swing back down upon them. As light enters the container, Conroy and Miranda can see that there is a considerable amount of the red dust inside the container itself, some of it now shaken loose. But it also seems that behind the dust were other objects, large objects that seem wrapped in some heavy plastic and remain largely buried in the dust. From the look of it, whatever was being imported in the container seemed to be packed within the red dust, as if the dust was some kind of insulation to protect the objects wrapped up in plastics.

To get to those objects, they will need to go into the container and either unwrap them inside or take the objects out and unwrap them. Both Amanda and Conroy note that they are likely to sink into the powdery dust rather than be able to step over it. Neither Amanda nor Conroy can see too far into the container but the objects seem pretty clear, and that suggest there might be more items inside the container, but buried inside the red dust. To get at them, they will need to get inside and begin removing the dust.

Near the blast site, a jack hammer is working the last of the rocks. A call comes out from the rescue team. "We are almost through. Get ready and have emergency medical ready. We still got signs of life from inside."

Lee Shaftoe approaches the priest to speak to him quickly before heading below. "Good day, Father," he says. "Were you in the area last night? Did you happen to hear or see anything?"

Miranda Waterhouse looks over at Conroy. "Did you see what I saw?" she asks. "I guess we'll have to go inside to move the dust out so we can get at whatever's in it."

As Shafto approaches the priest he notes the man is of about medium stature and a bit heavy, with thick arms and legs and a very thick neck. His hair is cropped short and tight, his ears close to his head. Although not a tall man, Shafto would guess that this is an individual of considerable strength. The man's skin is dark and dry, rough, almost burnt. Most notably, the man's eyes are unlike most African or African-American men that Shafto has met before. They are a light, almost yellowish green, speckled with dark spots, and the iris is remarkably large compared to smallish sliver-like pupils. He wears a black cassock that reaches to his ankles and black walking shoes, a cape and an overcoat for outwear, perhaps because of the coldness of the day. He has a clerical collar but no cap of ceremonial hat. Around his neck is a simple chain and crucifix, but Shafto notes that the crucified man and the crucifix itself seems to be made serpents that seem to wrap themselves around the Christ figure. Shafto also notes that the overcoat has simple copper buttons that seem to have some engraving, but Shafto can't quite make them out clearly.

The man pauses and smiles and then shakes his head sadly. "Last night? Oh no, last night I was away providing services, praying for a member of my parish and her family who was in a hospital in the Bronx. She passed away and I gave last rites in the early morning hours. After I stayed with the family to give comfort in their time of mourning." Says the priest. The man's accent is distinctly French, "I only learned of this explosion this morning when I came in but I could smell the smoke from my church, only a few blocks from here. I came because I was concerned that some of my flock might have been hurt in the blast and to do God's work as I am called to. Some of my volunteers told me about the blast. A terrible thing."

His eyes glance at the ruin site. "It seems the blast was remarkable and I understand that lives were lost. I recall the building was a religious center, Muslim, but that closed down a while ago. I've also know they reopened but were no long spreading their faith. Do you know what caused the explosion?"

He turns to Shafto, "It looks like a bomb went off inside. Ah.... it is terrible indeed.... I remember bombs in Africa before I left.... terrible violence..." He pauses in reflection.

The man then stops, shakes his head, "Excuse me, I did not properly introduce myself. I am Reverend Milton Ingwenya. Mine is the First Church of African Zion. It is nearby in the building that used to the Faith and Love Christian Center and a very small church here. I am originally from Africa, if you cannot place my accent. But I live here now, in New York, my new home." He smiles again. The priest reaches a strong hand out in offer of a hand shake to Shafto, and he also notices the man has a bangle that is twisted copper and some other metal that looks somewhat like scales. "And your name, sir? I have not seen you around here and, I don't believe you are with the local police. You are?"

OCC- Handy, do a percentile roll and let me what you get.

"I'm Lee Shaftoe," he says, giving Reverend Ingwenya a firm handshake. "I'm with the task force that's investigating the explosion. From where in Africa did you come?"

OOC, I got [url=https://orokos.com/roll/883834]a 2[/url].

Jacob Kaminski

Hearing the shout from the rescue team, Kaminski finished suiting up and grabbed his forensics bag. ”Let’s hope there’s someone in there who can tell us a bit more about what’s going on,” he said.

IC - Harry Shibatu

Harry had been suiting up, ready to follow the rescue team when he saw the priest observing from the perimeter. He paused, tied off his overshoes and walked over to join Shafto. ”Good afternoon, Father,” he said politely. “Would you have happened to have known any of the people who were living in that building?”

IC-

Reverend Ingwenya smiles at the attention, his hand shake is strong. But he releases Shafto's hand after a quick shake. "Originally, I am from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Do you know it? Before that it was called Zaire, and before that the Republic of Congo, and before the Belgium Congo. All these are names of the river where my family is from. My accent, you see, is French, because this was the language we learned to be a priest."

He turns his attention to Shibatu, "In the house. There was a man I met once, named Khan I think. He was a mullah, a religious teacher of Islam, We spoke about Africa and faith, You know the Muslims are interesting in spreading their faith into Africa.... But he left here and the Muslims closed shop... I understand there were new people who came here later but they were not interested in converting anyone. I don't think they were Muslims but I was told they came from the Middle East. But they kept to themselves during the day time. I never saw them when I would walk these parts to provide local service. I never saw them but I don't walk these streets at night unless I must. But I will add that people became fearful. Some of the local boys spoke of someone named Nasnas they met at night, and they were afraid of him, but the boys thought that this Nasnas fellow came from that house. But I did not take them too seriously and they told crazy stories. They are users of drugs and often would deprive themselves of sleep and see the shadow creatures too. But that's drugs, you know.. methamphetimine."

At the house, the jackhammer stops. "Ok, get the jack back.. Get the sledge, we're nearly there..." Calls one of the crew working over the site.

Wade pilots the drone on a quick pass over the site. She says, "Damn, looks like something is getting hotter underneath." She yells at out,

On the container, Lapis and Dowd have just secured the door down. In side the container, Conroy and Amanda, notice that the dust seems to have begun to lift up as if caught by a gust of wind.

OCC- Folks feel free to post, but I am going to pause for Snapper. Gonzales might have some questions for Ingwenya before I post again.

IC - Harry Shibatu

”Nasnas?” repeated Harry. “Did you ever meet him?”

"Did the addicts give a description of him?" asks Lee Shaftoe.

OOC:

Sorry team, bit slow this week.

ICC - Gonzalez:

Gonzalez regards the Reverend with polite attention. "I'm curious. Can I ask, Reverend, if your church is related to any of the denominations we're more familiar with, the Catholic movement, any of the Protestant churches?"

ICC - Conroy:

"Yeah, I saw something. Reminds me of the stuff my Native American ancestors used, in its effect. Is there trace hallucinogen in this dust? I am starting to think this stuff is a serious ecological disaster all of its own."

"I think we should get some people digging and bagging this dust and we search the container as it's being cleared. We try to limit any more release into the eco-system, however shot it already is."

"I agree," says Miranda. "Let's back off for now and get some protective gear and more people. I don't like the way this dust is swirling around."

Conroy:

Conroy turns to the others at the container. "OK folks, this stuff is officially hazardous until we can say otherwise. Everybody is going to need air filters."

Conroy puts through a call to the EPA to advise of the red dust, including that it may have hallucinatory effects, to request some environmental clean-up.

"Without proper lab analysis, I can't tell what this dust contains but it seems to get in everything, it hangs in the air and given a tenth of a chance it will get into the drainage system. More than already."

He alerts the rest of the team to be wary of the dust and its capacity to cause hallucinations. Turning to Miranda, he says, "I've got a respirator in my car but we better find you one too."

"Thanks," says Miranda. "That will help."

At the Blast Site-

Ingwenya pauses a moment as he considers the questions from Shafto and Harry. "Mr Nasnas.... Ah.. he is something of a mystery, and perhaps more than he might appear or seem. I have not met this character nor do I wish to.... This may be just a delusion, you see, and imagination of people who are sleep deprived. Remember, these boys also spoke of shadow people that haunt them. These men have, well, nightmares. To them this Nasnas is not a full man but something.. mixed, a half man. I thought they meant a... what do you call them.. transexual?.. Perhaps but I think no this is something different. I have heard others speak of something moving through the Hole in the late night..a man that hops on one leg, with one arm, but moving very fast, that hides in shadows. I am told this Nasnas appears as a fully formed individual, but this is a mask. Or perhaps this Nasnas is a part man, part spirit or demon, and has inhabited the nature of a man. You see.. I think many of you would think that this is fiction, a boogeyman. But as such, this man is likely to change his shape or identity, perhaps he is a man or a woman.. who can tell. But I have been told that this creature feeds on the poor, the destitute, the lonely, the abandoned or forsaken, and as you can see, in this place, there are many that fit that description. But no, I have heard little of him as late, but rather people have become hushed. They know people are vanishing, but they prefer not to speak of who is behind this. They speak to me of this perhaps because I am a man of the cloth and I take their confessions. But It is not unlike other places in America, no, were the local community will not speak least they experience retaliation by telling too much to people who should not know. This Nasnas might be something of a gangster then, who rules by fear. All I can tell of him, is that he is of the Middle East, but he is not Muslim, but perhaps something that came before Islam, when the land was ruled by pagan cults, djinn and shaetins."

He pauses and then laughs. "Ah but you will not take this seriously because you are modern people, yes?"

Ingwenya then turns to Gonzales, "But my friend I am from Africa and we see things different. To us the spirit world is not far away, and that the ghosts of the past live with us. Where I am from, the cruel political leaders rule because people fear them, not only because they can do terrible violence and cruelty, but because people believe they are witches and control terrible supernatural forces. This is what we believe, and who is to say we are wrong, or any more wrong than any of your more modern faiths. We believe in magic, supernature and devils that walk the earth. This Nasnas may be a real person, a demon or both at the same time. What is impossible in the mind of God?"

"I am an African Zionist to answer your question." Says Ingwenya. "There are many different types of us, and sometimes we are called African indigenous churches or African-initiated churches. We are Christians but there are different types. Some are Ethiopian, others Zionist, Messianic or even Aldura Pentecostal. When Europeans brought Jesus and Protestantism or Catholicism to Africa to convert us Black Africans, that got many converts but many of the Europeans were racist bastards who thought themselves superior because of the color of their skin. Many of us Black Africans had difficulty reconciling the European faiths with our own world views and experiences, our sense of the spiritual world. If you are asking about our affiliations, our churches draw from many European faiths. Some are more Anglican, or Roman Catholic or Methodist. Mine is a Zionist Church but of Central Africa. My church draws its origins from Christian Catholic Apostolic Church found in Zion by John Alexander Dowie, of Zion, Illinois. But you can see my robes are black, and draw from Catholicism. We also draw on the Zion Christian Church from Zion City, Limpopo, South Africa and Ibandla Lenkosi Apostolic Church in Zion. But in truth, we mix the Messianic and the Zionist practices for our people who usually were not supportive of more Kimbanguist faith that is popular in my native Congo."

OCC- note for more on African Initiated Churches- for your interest- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-initiated_church

IC


Near the container

Conroy and Miranda are stepping away from container's door, moving away to fetch the protective gear, have gone perhaps a dozen steps. But even as they do so they begin to feel that the air around them seems to be drawn into the container. The door of the container seems almost like the maw of some giant beast drawing in a breath, and even as they step away, they can feel a tug in the air that seeks to draw them inside. They feel suction of the air on their skins, pulling at them even from the distance, tugging at them. Both Lapis and Dowd feel the pull and step away.

Dowd calls out, "Something inside the container?"

"Fuck if I know." Calls out Lapis.

Everyone notices that some of the particles of dust around them, on the floor are being pulled inside the container, being picked up and sucked in, as if captured by some vacuum cleaner.

Further away near the blast site, the rescue calls out, "We've broken through!"

But there too the air seems to being to be drawn into the basement. The rescue crew begin to step away as the others can see the dust around the site begins to lift, pulled as if by vacuum towards the hole."

Wade calls out. "Get away from the hole. Move back!" Even as she pilots the drone away.

Ruffino is now alert even as Salvaggio, the fire inspector, approaches and orders everyone back. Ruffino calls back, "Everyone back away now, back now. Pull back."

Even so the air begins to seem to swirl around the top of the blast sight, a funnel cloud of red dust begins to spin about, pulling the red dust around towards it and down through the narrow hole recently made.

A sound begins to emit from the hole in the blast site cavern, a high pitched whine that seems to become more of a sceam. From the cavern comes an answer that sounds more like the roar as increasingly dust seems to get pulled towards both the blast site and the open container.

OCC Everyone Role d 100!

OOC, 54/100 - https://www.dholeshouse.org/Tools/DiceVerifier?RID=6a4a2b9c-f509-4323-9948-b4a690b1e7dd

IC - Harry Shibatu

Harry’s head snapped around. ”What the hell was that?!”

OOC, 39/100 - https://www.dholeshouse.org/Tools/DiceVerifier?RID=70f1c447-708b-47fe-9be7-1625af67668c

IC - Jakob Kaminski

Kaminski was hurriedly pulling on his boots as he heard the whistling noise building and saw the sand start to move towards the container, like someone had switched on a giant vacuum cleaner.

He stood and instantly felt off-balance. ”What’s going on?!” he cried.

OOC - Gonzales:

D100: 1d100 5

OOC - Conroy:

D100: 1d100 8

ICC - Conroy:

Conroy starts rushing all present away from the container. "Everyone get way from this thing! Some kind of chemical reaction, might be explosive! Move!"

ICC - Gonzales:

Gonzales' attention is caught by the events at the blast site. "Reverend, might be a good time to take cover."

Gun-hand resting on the grip of his holstered handgun, Gonzales starts cautiously moving towards the blast site. He keeps an eye out for anyone in need of assistance.

He tries to move from cover to cover, in case anything goes bang.

Lee also helps the Reverend evacuate the area. He doesn't know what's happening, but he's sure it can't be good.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," says Miranda as she tries to flee from the container.

IC- Near the Container- and near the blast site

The air around both the blast site and the container becomes turbulent, as if two giant beasts were drawing in breathes, pulling in the particles of dust that are now swirling about the area. In the process, those around both the blast site and the container struggle to hold their ground against the turbulence and growing vacuum.

The air around the breach continues to swirl over the recently made hole. It is as if the rescue workers have torn a hole in the fabric of reality which now seems hungry to drag in the world into a newly created void, as a vacuum is draining the air into the hole.

Those further away that have been watching begin to hurry away least they be caught up air. Near the blast site, the rescue workers struggle to get away, but one of the men seems to be losing his battle, slipping and being pulled towards the recently breached hole. His colleagues quickly reach to grab the flaying man to pull him away, catching his arms, dragging him back, even as his legs begin to lose their grip and seems to be pulled out from under him.

Ruffino's tent is pulled away and his documents sent fluttering into the wind as he tries to keep his cap on his head. Salvaggio is rushing towards the blast site to help his workers. Both Dowd and Lapis grab the side of the container as they begin to descend and try to hang on. Wade continues to steer the drone away from the site and seems relatively still against the windstorm.

Conroy feels the tug against him pulling towards the the container, but he feels his legs tighten and strengthen, despite the muddy soil.

But he also sees Miranda seem to slip, her shoes sliding in the mud and then she's seems to lose her balance, and then it seems she is being lifted up and pulled towards the maw of the container, which seems to be almost drawing in a breath all the loose red dust around it.

Miranda is being pulled into the container, slipping and sliding backwards, being dragged back. Slipping away, being dragged away, losing her battle to escape the pull that is all around her now. The red dust stings her, scratches her, encircles her and seems to almost pull her towards the container....

Conroy sees her desperation in Miranda. He is close enough. Can he save her?

(OCC- Snapper- Conroy can have an instinctive roll to save Miranda from being pulled into the container but he has to grab her arm! Roll!)

Ingwenya also seems to be battling the pull. His arms are outstretched and he is muttler a prayer in Congolese even as it seems the skin of his face and hands are being lacerated by huge scratches caused by the whirling dust, leave slashes of red across his face and hands. He remains on his feet, legs spread to maximize his balance, and his voice gaining volume as he prays.

Then it seems a red brick, hurls from behind, hits Ingwenya in the back of his head, knocking him off his balance and breaking his prayer. His legs try to regain their grip but he is being pulled towards the hole in the ground.

Shafto, Harry and Gonzales, you are within reach of Ingwenya and can save him. You can feel the dust swirling around you, wiping and stinging your skin, pulling at you, but your legs remain strongly fixed and steady despite the pressure pulling at you towards the blast site hole.

(OCC Roll d 1/100 to pull Ingwenya back from the abyss!)

Lee tries to pull the reverend away from the hole, but even his great strength is challenged.

Miranda desperately reaches out for Conroy.

OOC, Strength check - 32/65: https://www.dholeshouse.org/Tools/DiceVerifier?RID=721565f9-4778-46b7-8b07-03d543919a9f

IC - Harry Shibatu

Harry saw that Lee was struggling to help the Reverend so he braced himself and grabbed at the man’s cassock as it flicked around him in the wind. Catching a handful of the material he pulled steadily, trying to get him away from hole.

OOC, Spot Hidden - 42/20 - nope... https://www.dholeshouse.org/Tools/DiceVerifier?RID=1b611c45-ce23-40d2-bb15-7e466418de93

IC - Jakob Kaminski

Kaminski saw Miranda struggling to escape the pull of the wind. Desperately, he looked around for something which he could use to reach out to her, like a rope or something similar...

Conroy:


With a cry of "No!", Conroy lunges for Miranda, oblivious of his own safety.


Lunge for Miranda: 1d100 40

Gonzalez:

Gonzalez quickly rushes to Ingwenya's aid.


Saving the Rev: 1d100 85

At the Hole-

Around the entire cite the red dust seems to fill the air, as if for a moment everyone is caught in a whirling snowstorm or a desert sandstorm. The world is suddenly red, and the group can feel the dust sting their eyes, slip into their mouths and noses, into their lungs, they can feel it sting their eyes.

But then the air begins to form almost a funnel, swirling, spinning, an inverse tornado, a whirlpool of sand, into both the basement of the ruined house and the container.

At the blast site, two men are fighting to hold onto one man who has already lost his balance, his legs taken out from under him, as if caught in the vortex and being pulled underground.

Miranda loses her balance as if some force is dragging her towards the container. She screams for help, reaches out, and Conroy is able to grasp her arm as she slides, and then, she too is off her feet as if being pulled into the container. Conroy struggles to hold her and can feel his feet sliding, as whatever has grabbed Miranda pulls desperate for her, towards the container. Something has seized her body, wrapped itself around her, and is pulling you into the maw of the container

The group can hear roars bellowing... for the container and from the hole... as if something alive was inside each... perhaps the howl of a wind.

Harry fights a similar battle as does Conroy, holding onto the Reverend who has also lost is balance and is being pulled, not to the container but towards the wrecked house. Both Javier and Shafto move to assist but they cannot reach the Reverend. They can only witness. Yet it seems that Harry is steady and gives no ground.

On the container, Dowd and Lapis struggle and then, with a heave, push the doors of the container, up and away, trying to close the container.

At the hole, the men lose their grip over one of the rescue worker who seems to be pulled through the air towards the hole with a horrified scream. His body seems to slip into the narrow opening the rescue workers have opened, and the man, screaming, tries to claw his way out. To those who witness it seems as if the man is desperate to escape being swallowed...

The door to the container hovers for a brief moment, and then slams shut with a massive bang just as the rescue worker is about to slip under ground.

The container seems to groan, as if frustrated, as suddenly the air stills..

Miranda's body slides to the floor, crumpled, as does the Reverend. The man at the hole desperate tries to crawl out.

The air seems cleared of the strange red dust...

The heavy metal doors swing for a moment in the air, and then they slam shut over the container's opening. There is a groaning from within the container.

For a moment they can look around. Everyone at the blast site seems disorientated, confused. Salvaggio is heading over to the hole, yelling out, "Get him out of there!" Wade is looking at the crew to check if they are ok. Ruffino looks over the knocked over tent, dragged near the blast hole, his documents scattered. The police officers and rescue workers seem confused. The rescue dogs begin to whine.

Whatever has happened had happened so quickly and suddenly, and those who have witnessed seem unsure of what they have seen, and seem to look about disbelieving what they have just experience.

Ingwenya looks at Harry, then to Shafto and Javier, and whispers. "Be ready.... It isn't over yet."

OCC- a couple of rolls need to be made. I've sent pm's out, so just give us a chance to process those before we continue this moment.

IC - Harry Shibatu

Maintaining his grip on Ingwenya, Harry said sternly, ”What’s happening here, Reverend? You know more than you’re letting on!”

At the blast site-

OCC- Handy, I think you received a pm. We need to work through the sanity effects for Miranda. You can roll for this and let me know what you get.


IC- The air takes on a sudden stillness and for a moment, it seems... clear, crisp and fresh. Whatever reddish tinge in the air seems to have disappeared or been consumed into the building and the container.

The witnesses look about, a bit stunned. The rescue dogs whine, breaking the silence.

Miranda collapsed to the floor and doesn't quite seems besiders herself. Conroy can offer what help he can, but he can't help thinking that the woman was nearly lost to a... container? He is still trying to get his mind around this. Perhaps some kind of vacuum existed or some mechanical reason for the event, a suction device within the container itself and the house, both triggered by... something? And if so... why only did it pull on some and not others. Conroy tries to come up with a plausible explanation for the event.

Lapis and Dowd step away from the container.

Salvaggio continues to move towards the hole dug out of the blast area even as the other rescue workers begin to pull the man free.

From with there seems to be an almost mechanical grown or grind from within.

Wade steps away, seemingly piloting the drone back towards the cite. Others are picking themselves up.

Reverend Ingwenya gets back to his feet, and glances at both the container and the house. He then looks into Harry, and seems to find something familiar. He nods. "Ah.. to understand is to be a spiritual man... Oh yes, I know you've felt it... This is an ancient thing... it has many names and the wind... "

At that moment, a sudden blast blows out of the hole in the wrecked house. The man stuck in the hole is blown out, into the air and sent flaying to earth. The others nearby are knocked down.

The container door is blasted open with a massive bang and the air fills with a deep howling as it seems a rush of dust is blown out of the hole in the basement and the container. The air is suddenly red again, dirty and gritty, but only for a brief moment as the wind funnels up into the sky, gathering both the dust from the container and the hole up above the blast site, spinning in a vortex, a tornado, a whirlwind, a wind devil.

The blast sends most moving for cover, but those who gaze up at the spinning storm seem to see a shape take forth, wings, talons, the head of a serpent perhaps. It spins and spins higher into the air, a dark cloud seems to take shape above, electrical in nature, lightning. Those below feel goosebumps form on their skin, follicle's tingle as the hair on their heads and arms and legs seem to rise. Whatever dust had remained slifts and seems to sucked up into the air, that continues to rise what seems to be hundreds of feet above.

Roll San!

Miranda's grasp on Sanity is tenuous.

Sanity roll (current level < 70) after collapsing:
d%

Lee manages to keep his wits.

Sanity roll (current level 60) after collapsing:
d%

OCC- I am thinking that poor Miranda is thinking "This is definitely not what she went to college to study!" Handy, I've sent you a couple pm's that you might have missed. I'd like to get that sorted and then we can roll again for Miranda, but let's get that result caught. Snapper, looks like another pair of sanity rolls for both of your characters. I'll be sending some pms out for those who have already rolled. This will be short until Snapper posts.

IC- Some watch as the image rises above the blast site, the red dust seeming to spin around the form given increased form and identity. Some On the edges of the site, people begin to step back, others run. Nearer to the site, one of the men near the hole drops to his knees, his arms out, resigned. Another turns to help the man who had had just been blown out of the hole and whose body seems broken against the rubble.

Lapis is pulling for his pistol but Dowd simple mutter. "What the fuck..." Wade is still piloting the the drone further away from the rising figure, apparently unaffected.

Mooreland is approaching Ruffino who seems to have been busy recovering the ruins of his command post and know is looking up at the rising figure in stunned disbelief. Salvaggio is calling out "Get back... get back..."

IC - Jakob Kaminski

Kaminski ran over to help the injured man who had been blown out of the hole. Whatever else was happening, he knew he could at least try to make a difference. Kneeling beside him, he started giving him a quick once over. ”Can you walk?! We need to get out of here!”

IC - Harry Shibatu

For a moment, Harry stared up in awe at the apparition that towered above him into the sky. Then he blinked and looked around, quickly taking stock. His training kicked in and he started retreating from the site, calling to anyone he could see to fall back.

Lee takes the priest's hand and ushers him away. "It's a demon!" he shouts. "A djinn! I don't suppose you know how to do an exorcism, Reverend?"

Conroy:

Panic struck and unable to comprehend what is happening except by comparison to stories from Native America, Conroy's basic instinct is to get everyone out.

"Miranda, work with me, we have to get away!"

He tries to link his arms around Miranda's torso, pull them both to the ground, then start prone backpedaling for all he's worth.

"We need some help here!!"

Gonzalez:

Gonzalez looks suspiciously at Harry and crosses himself. "Are you OK? What just happened there? Are you feeling OK?"

He looks suspiciously from the reverend to Harry and back.

IC - Harry Shibatu

Harry looked from Gonzalez to the Reverend and back. ”I’m not sure,” he replied, ”But let’s get out of here! We can talk about it later!”

Gonzalez:

Gonzalez looks around to see who is still in trouble that they might be able to help.