IC - 28 - The Big Smoke - Simon and Jocelyn

[Mr. Handy]

Falling back on her training, Jocelyn is able to avoid letting Louise see her by staying out of her line of sight.

Stealth roll (60% skill) to avoid Louise's notice:
d%
Bonus die:
1d10*10

[Mephistophilis]

After turning down the side road, Louise looks back over her shoulder furtively. For a second she makes eye contact with Simon who looks away guiltily. Louise doubles her pace and disappears through a door nestled in amongst the flats to the right hand side of the road. In a kind of rushed walk Simon makes his way to the spot she disappeared. It looks like the entrance to a block of flats. There's a blue sign that says Entrance For Flats 17-24 Only.

[Mr. Handy]

Jocelyn hurries to catch up to Simon.

What is Louise's address? Is this where she lives, or does it match one of the other addresses on the list?

[Silver Priest]

Simon curses as he was spotted. It wasn't anything definitive, but for Louise's it was likely enough to spook her. For all he knew she was peering outside now, watching for confirmation that he was following her. Or she could be watching the door, waiting to see if he followed her in.

He needed to ease her alarm. Hands in his coat, he continues to walk past the flats, barely looking at them. He'd walk a bit further up and cross the street, continuing until he was barely able to see the building. Then he'd pull out his phone and mime engaging in a conversation with someone while keeping watch on the flats. If Louise slipped out he'd try and follow her once again; otherwise, he'd circle back around to the door in five or so minutes. He has no idea where Joceyln was or if she had been able to keep track of their quarry, but given her training he assumes she's likely not to be too far behind.

Nerve wracking as this all was, he can't help but feel a little excited. It's almost as though he's in a John le Carré novel! He supposed he had been acting rather like a spy of late.

[Mephistophilis]

These flats are on Mercator Road. That's not Louise's address, she has a house in Knowles Hill, nor is it any other address they have in their records.

Simon strolls nonchalantly past the flats, employing every drop of tradecraft he's absorbed from Kris and Jocelyn over the last few days. He loiters at the end of the road, looking at his phone and then miming a conversation. He sees Jocelyn hurrying down the road towards him.

There's no sign of Louise coming out of the flats again.

Roll a Spot Hidden to see if there's anything they notice.

[Mr. Handy]

Jocelyn takes a good look around, being sure to stay out of view of the windows.

Spot Hidden roll (61% skill) outside the flats:
d%

[Silver Priest]

1d100

[Mephistophilis]

While Simon doesn't notice anything, Jocelyn thinks she sees a curtain moving on the second floor. She's not certain it's Louise, if anything she'd say it was a man, a black man. If she had to estimate which flat it was she'd say number 21.

[Mr. Handy]

Not wanting to risk being seen, especially not with Simon, Jocelyn gives his mobile a call while staying out of sight. "There's what looks to be a black man in, I think, flat 21 looking out the window," she says. "He's probably trying to see us, and I'm guessing Louise is with him, so get out of view. I'm going to call Kris next and see if he can find out who lives there and any background info the police have." When she finishes talking to Simon, she rings Kris's mobile.

[Silver Priest]

"Understood, give me a ring if needed."

Simon ducks behind a car and waits, not wanting to risk looking back towards the flats and being spotted.

[Mephistophilis]

Jocelyn calls Kris. The phone rings, and rings...

[Mr. Handy]

Once she's sure that he's not going to pick up the phone, Jocelyn tries calling Lucy. This isn't a good sign.

[Mephistophilis]

Eventually Kris answers the call, 'Jocelyn. How are you getting on?'

Sorry, just waiting for Kris to answer in the other thread - I suggest you go there to talk - save me acting as intermediary. I amended the above post.

[Mr. Handy]

"Good grief," says Jocelyn in response to Kris. "Why was Lucy even driving? She'd clearly been drinking. It seems both Balfours have problems controlling their temper. Are you both okay? And the car? We only need what we asked you for for now, but we'll let you know if we need anything more."

After Kris ends the call, Jocelyn calls Simon back and fills him in on what happened. "Scratch another car. Kris let Lucy drive it, and she crashed it into Sarah Balfour's car instead of discreetly following her. Sarah tried to attack him, but Kris subdued her. He's running an inquiry on the occupant or occupants of that flat."

[Silver Priest]

"Christ," Simon mutters from against the car.. "I do fear for Detective Sapru's career after this, he and Bates are on thin ice as it is. Still, bringing down a murderous cult/terrorist ring might be enough to get these type of things overlooked once the truth comes out... though I would hope this sort of thing would be minimized in the future reports.

"Come to think of it, this may not be the worst thing for us. Hopefully Sarah's injuries or her attempted assault on an officer will keep her in custody for a few days. Would reverend Balfour be willing to pull the trigger on his plan if neither his wife or child are with him? In the bible the believers needed some sort of sign to convince God's wraith to pass them by. I don't know if it's the same here, or if Balfour thinks faith alone will shield his flock. But if it's the former, keeping his wife away from him may give us another way to prevent whatever he's planning. It's not something we can afford to rely on however, given he seemed willing to go through with things even without his daughter, and I can't imagine he'd do something he thought would kill her. Permanently, that is."

[Mr. Handy]

"If they can hold her," says Jocelyn. "Ramming her car prior to the assault may get the whole thing thrown out. And I wouldn't be surprised if Kris gets suspended right alongside Lucy for getting her involved, not to mention wrecking another car. I'm also not so sure the truth will come out. In my line of work, if we do our jobs right, nobody ever hears about it. You've probably heard a lot about the 7/7 attacks in the media, but not much about the attempted 7/21 attacks that followed up on them two weeks later. Those attacks did not result in casualties, and I'm not allowed to tell you why."

[Silver Priest]

Simon sighs. "May just be you and me, then. Regrettable, but hopefully Kris has the sense to avoid implicating either of us if it comes to that. I'll get off now, give me a ring if he gets back to you or you need anything, I cannot see much from here."

[Mr. Handy]

"Maybe we should bring the car over here," says Jocelyn. "If we do, I should be the one to drive it. We need to keep an eye on the place, but if someone leaves the place we may need to follow them."

[Silver Priest]

"You want me to go and get the car?" Simon asks. "I can park it down the street.."

[Mr. Handy]

"It's better if I'm the one driving it," says Jocelyn, "but I don't want to leave you on your own out here when I go get it, either. I don't think we need it just yet, anyway. Maybe we should wait until we hear back from Kris and keep the flats under observation in the meantime. Since we've both been seen, I think the best move is for Kris and Lucy to come here and relieve us once they've put Sarah Balfour somewhere while we go back and stake out her husband's place. We've both been seen by the occupants of the flat, so having a new pair conducting surveillance will be a better bet."