6.30pm Thursday 11th March 2010, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England.
A five-year old girl, Regina Balfour, is kidnapped in broad daylight from the Eden Shopping Centre, while her mother’s back is momentarily turned. Left behind is her ladybird shaped backpack, which contained supplies for her insulin pump. She needs her medication to live more than a few days, and her condition will rapidly deteriorate without it...
Somehow, Jocelyn's call gets through. She quickly tells DS Bates her location. "We need help," she says. "A hailstorm forced us to pull over, but Balfour pulled up to give us a ride. Then Dr. Eagleton said something to offend him, and Balfour went nuts and tried to strangle him!"
OOC,Luck roll (42% stat) to see if her mobile works:
0
The wind continues to increase in intensity, deep rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning becoming more frequent. Whereas previously it had seemed like Balfour's SUV was relatively untouched by the hail it now returns with a vengeance, ricocheting off the windscreen and bonnet.
-----
Simon swings at Balfour but in the restricted space of the vehicle his arm rebounds off the seat and he doesn't connect. The minister doesn't even flinch and continues his chanting, 'Narlato cf’tagn vugtlagln vulgtmm n’gha-ghaa naf’lthagn,' his eyes roll up, leaving only the whites visible.
In the car the temperature drops, Jocelyn notices white plumes of condensed water vapour from her breath as she talks to DS Bates. 'I'll send a traffic unit and try and double back with my car, the storm looks pretty wild but it seems to be localised, how's Simon, is he...'
Bates is interrupted by an almighty crash followed by a crunch as the roof of the SUV buckles in. The chassis shudders, a hissing, seething sound coming from outside the vehicle. There is a smell; unpleasant, tangy, oily, fishy even. Chests tighten, breathing and heart rates quicken, skin prickles.
OOC,Both roll Spot Hidden
If you pass Spot Hidden,Just for a second you catch sight of something flicking past the window, sinuous and writhing. Your gaze is drawn to the upper edge of the passenger window, glimpsing something smooth and curved embedded in the metal which deforms and tears, then it is gone.
Jocelyn only - roll SAN 0/1d3
Jocelyn can't see anything in the storm, which is probably for the best. "He's not hurt too badly, but now Balfour's SUV just got hit by a big hailstone!" says Jocelyn into the mobile.
Simon lashes out with a punch again, focused on stopping whatever trick Balfour is pulling. Never a brawler in the best of times, he misses again, failing to notice anything around him.
The roof of the SUV continues to buckle and groan, the temperature dropping further as frost creeps up the glass. Outside there is a wheezing and rasping that accompanies white plumes billowing around the vehicle, oily stench seeping through the vents.
-----
While Jocelyn continues to talk to Bates, Simon swings at Balfour and misses again, struggling in the narrow confines of the vehicle.
-----
The metalwork screeches and the rear windscreen shatters. Balfour starts, and his eyes roll back down, he focuses on Simon, lying crumpled in the footwell. 'Ugh, uh, what, no! C'nafl'uln Narlato'nyth!' he shouts.
Immediately there is a great rush of cold air into the SUV and a sharp cracking sound. The air starts to warm and the unpleasant smell dissipates.
Simon is torn between feeling triumphant and sore. Reluctantly he tries to flee with Jocelyn."I told you! I told you he was manipulating it somehow!" He declares.
Simon and Jocelyn open the doors of the SUV and bail out into the hailstorm. Behind them they hear Balfour shouting, 'I...I...I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me, are you okay Dr Eagle...?'
In the open air the wind is beginning to die down and the thunder and lightening have stopped. While a scattering of hail still falls, a glimpse of sun is peaking out through a gap in the dark clouds. From the outside Balfour's car looks to be in a worse state than Jocelyn's. The roof is caved in and there are scratches and gouges in the metalwork.
Traffic is flowing normally on the motorway and in the distance, they can see the flashing of lights that heralds the arrival of a police car.
Simon rubs his throat and leans against Jocelyn, barely able to walk now that the threat appears over. He feels as though his windpipe has been crushed and suspects he requires some medical attention. The only comfort he has is that perhaps this means the police will take his theories more seriously now.
The police car slows down and stops behind Balfour's blue SUV on the hard shoulder. An odd grey dust blows around in the dwindling wind. Balfour remains inside the vehicle.
Jocelyn looks at Simon in the growing light. His neck is swollen and livid. His breathing is laboured with an intermittent, barking cough. When he tries to speak his voice is hoarse.
A police officer steps out of the car, 'What happened here?' she asks, looking around at the rapidly melting hail and two battered vehicles.
"I was assaulted..." Simon begins, before breaking down into a coughing fit. He jerks his head towards the SUV. "Mr. Balfour attempted to strangle me and somehow manipulated the weather."
'Assaulted? Do you need an ambulance?' the officer asks. 'And Balfour, how is he? Heard he's needed for a press conference, did you rough him up?'
She taps on the bonnet of the police car and another uniformed officer gets out the other side. She points to Balfour's SUV and he walks over to look through the window.
She turns back to Simon looking confused, 'Did you say he "manipulated the weather"? What's that supposed to mean?'
"There was a sudden hailstorm, highly localised, over this area," says Jocelyn. "It ended suddenly too. We didn't hurt Balfour. I tried to restrain him when he assaulted Dr. Eagleton, but he's much bigger than me. Balfour did release him and seems to have come to his senses now."
"I didn't touch him," Simon insists adamantly. "But he clearly has a hair trigger temper." He coughs again. "I think I would like someone to look me over, yes."
"I realize it sounds absurd, but the storm had faded until Balfour began to speak, and it had immediately came down hard right over us, and it proceeded to do so until he stopped. Some sort of trick I've yet to figure out, likely designed to intimidate. He seems normal now, but his mood shifted dramatically." He starts to say more but rubs his throat, forcing the rest out. "I mentioned an extremist group he is affiliated with and that is what precipitated the attack."
'The weather, right...' she says, raising her eyebrows and returning to the police car to call an ambulance. It isn't clear what the male officer is doing over with Balfour but she returns and starts looking over Simon's neck, frowning and sucking her teeth, 'Nasty, he's a big boy our Reverend.'.
After ten to fifteen minutes an ambulance pulls up. Much to Simon's annoyance the male officer appears from Balfour's SUV and calls the ambulance crew over. It seems to take an age, but is probably only twenty minutes before they can see Balfour being led to the police car and sat in the back. He is not handcuffed.
The paramedics bring Simon and Jocelyn over to the ambulance. Jocelyn gets a cursory once over but they spend an inordinate amount of time prodding Simon, measuring his blood pressure, and oxygen saturations, performing an ECG, and wincing at his throat. At least they give him a shot of painkiller which does seem to help.
OOC,Both roll against the paramedic's First Aid 80%, if you succeed regain 1HP
DS Bates eventually arrives while Simon is being examined. 'You two okay?' she asks, looking concernedly at Simon in particular. 'I think we're gonna need to get him checked out in hospital' says the paramedic. 'Jesus, I thought that business with Kris was bad enough, what the hell happened?' The female officer walks over and interrupts her, 'We're gonna take the Reverend back to the station for his press conference.'
"We were caught in the hail storm," Simon explains, his voice raspy. "Nasty business, that. Then Balfour pulled up right after it was over to offer us a ride. I mentioned the message we decoded in his book and he went ballistic, grabbed me and chocked until I blacked out momentarily. Then he began to speak and the hail began again, focused solely around his vehicle. Once he stopped speaking, chanting really, it stopped. He's pulling some sort of, some trick to convince people he commands the powers of God. Jocelyn and myself also saw the so called 'Passover Angel' in the sky after the hail storm. His fellow conspirators must have some sort of projector nearby-- after the storm they projected the image in the sky to win converts." That made sense to him.
"Listen, you likely think me absurd, but your detective and I both saw it. She pointed it out to me, in fact. And that hardly matters-- I saw his face when I mentioned the code in his bible. It was sheer panic, and then rage. He's planning something and I strongly believe he's planning it for this Tuesday. I would advise against the press conference; we don't fully know how he's communicating with Red Trumpet."
The paramedic treating Jocelyn isn't as good, but she is able to help. "Yes, I saw what looked to be the Passover Angel too," says Jocelyn. "Simon figured out that it had to be some sort of hologram. It's the only thing that makes sense. Obviously it can't be real. Balfour reacted badly when I mentioned that we saw it, but it was Simon he attacked. I'm sorry for being critical, Simon, but operational security is very important. I shared the information with you because I was authorised to do so and it could be helpful in our investigation. It's not the sort of thing that should be spread around, especially not to the subject himself."
OOC,Paramedic's First Aid roll (80% skill) treating [b]Jocelyn[/b]:
0
[b]Jocelyn[/b]'s First Aid roll (60% skill) treating herself:
1
