The Offices of Thalia Trimble, Private Eye - vol 1

The trip down below goes much the same as it did the time before. You prepare yourself for the brisk cold climate of the underground facility as the elevator comes to a stop and the doors slide open.

The blaring alarm is deafening. The walls alternate from their original white to a deep shade of red as swirling red emergency lights accompany the alarm. You step off the elevator and hear the guards trapped behind their steel door. They repeatedly throw themselves against the door in a vain attempt to escape the room.

Every other door in the hallway is wide open. To the right you can look down the tunnel offsite security personnel will be rushing down within a few minutes. With any luck, you'll be out of here long before that happens. You hurry onward to your destination.

You can’t help but peer into the other rooms as you pass them. Most are simple storage locations. Rows and rows of shelves with various, mostly unrecognizable, technical items on them. Some appear to contain thousands upon thousands of vials of chilled chemicals or test samples. One small room’s vastly different appearance catches your eyes.

It is 10’ by 10’ and in the middle is what best resembles a dentist’s chair... with foot and arm restraints. There is a one way mirror on one side of the room. Walking a few more feet you can look into that room and see it is even smaller. Just large enough for a few chairs to allow people to watch whatever goes on in the other room.

Finally you come to the room holding Andrew’s prototypes. In the center of the room are two pedestals. Each one contains a prototype stored under glass. You look around the pedestals and don't see any additional security devices or traps to worry about but it does become clear that the glass is locked in place. It doesn't look like any fancy kind of lock. What you might expect on a file cabinet.

You hear voices and footsteps running down the hallway from the opposite direction you came from. You get up against the wall, out of sight, and listen as they go by. It appears to be a group of about 5 scientists rushing to make sure their samples are unharmed. They fear the doors being open could increase the temperature in their storage room beyond acceptable levels.

By the sound of it, the scientists are entering a room at most 20 feet from the one you’re inside. It is unlikely they will hear glass breaking over the alarm siren but you would have to pass by the room they are in, prototype(s) in hand, to go back the way you came toward the elevator.

Thalia maintains a brisk pace as she moves through the hallway, the din of the alarm and the flashing lights adding a sense of chaotic urgency. She shudders almost imperceptibly at the sight of the room with the restraint chair.

Inside the room with Andrew's prototypes, she doesn't spend much time looking at the cases. She's already decided before coming in that she would take both if they were both still there. The amount of noise being made by the alarm should provide adequate aural camouflage for breaking the glass, and saving the time she'd spend picking the locks seems like the better bet.

She slips off the backpack she's wearing and extracts a pair of surgical gloves, snapping them on with practiced efficiency, then pulls out her pistol, which seems like the best tool she has on her for smashing through glass. She starts with the case containing the murder weapon prototype and hits the glass with as much force as necessary to crack it, then taps the resulting cracks a time or two more to get through and rake the broken shards aside. She extracts the prototype carefully and tucks it into the backpack before repeating the process on the case containing the other prototype.

With both prototypes secured inside your backpack, you do one more quick scan on the room. There is no sign of anything that you might have missed or additional ways you can cover your tracks here. The camera you used to look in on the prototypes appears to have been shut off by Arthur’s virus. You can’t cover up that the prototypes are gone at this point, but with any luck no one will notice for some time, and even if they do, they shouldn’t be able to pin it on you.

You slide on the backpack and poke your head out into the hallway. The cost looks clear. You move with haste back down the hallway toward the elevator. The scientists that came by a few minutes ago are still busy at work inside a storage room containing frozen samples of god knows what. None of them seem to notice your presence as you quickly walk by the room.

The guards trapped inside their station have given up on trying to break the door down. Several voices are engaged in a shouting match about what they should do. You slip onto the elevator and breath a sigh of relief as the doors close. A voice in the back of your head keeps saying that there is no one this could possibly be this easy.

The doors open and you walk back out into the relatively fresh air of the parking garage. Everything seems calm and normal as the rest of San Espero seems blissfully unaware of the chaos happening within Lloyd Laboratories. This is interrupted by the sound of multiple police sirens rapidly approaching your position.

Three police cruisers rocket down the street, right past the parking garage and in the direction of the nearby Lloyd Laboratories research facility. Hopefully Radinka has been able to get out of the corporate office across down before any outside help arrived to complicate things.

The cop sitting outside the dry cleaner is out of his car and talking to the dispatcher on his radio. You hear bits and pieces and are able to gather that he is being told to stay put; much to his chagrin.

It may be a little too early to celebrate, but it certainly looks like this plan went off without a hitch.

Thalia exits the garage as casually as possible, passes by the cop outside of Hardy's Handi-Clean just close enough to hear his orders coming through the radio, then walks into a fast food restaurant and goes into the rest room. Inside the stall, she resets the wig to an auburn color and removes the tie keeping it in a ponytail, letting the hair fall around her shoulders. She adjusts the specs to give her eyes a different shape and hazel coloration, removes the lab coat and stuffs it into the backpack, replacing it with a denim jacket.

There. Now no one who saw her leaving the parking garage could connect her current appearance to that person.

She hasn't gotten any kind of alert from Radinka. Hopefully, that means she's also gotten free without incident.

She goes back to her car and drives carefully, sedately, to the nearest of Radinka's safe houses. It's a unit in a modest condominium complex, full of bland, cookie-cutter apartments. The safe house is sparsely furnished, but it has a couch, a chair, electricity, and a phone. She reflexively checks the line for taps before dialing the phone number sent to her pager just before the heist.

A male voice answers part way through the first ring. He has the same familiar monotone voice you’ve encountered from each of Kate Lawson’s hired muscle as of they are trained to have as little individuality as possible. "Ms. Trimble? Good. We were worried something might have happened to you. We are on high alert here, so I’ll be quick in bringing you up to speed.

"The security network at Lloyd's has been directly attacked. It is unclear of the extent of the damages. All of the individuals on the short list have gone MIA. Bell and Bradford may have been taken by force. There was no sign of a struggle at Fisher’s home. Our employer has gone into hiding. As a precaution we have placed all of the names on the list you gave us into hiding as well. Except for Saunders. We were unable to locate him. My apologies and I hope you will understand being unable to keep them in the dark about the danger.

"We’re working on the same side here, Ms. Trimble. If there is anything you can tell us that will assist in keeping everyone safe, please let me know and we can arrange a meeting in person to discuss any sensitive details. I’ve already said more over the phone than I am comfortable with but I believe time is of the essence."

Just as he finishes giving his update you feel the pager go off again. Another new number that you do not recognize.

"I appreciate your giving me a heads-up on all of this," Thalia says. "I'll see if I can locate Saunders myself. Tell me, how are Mr. McBride and Ms. Belmont? Can I arrange to speak with them?

"Also, I do have some information to share with you, but as you say, over the phone isn't a great idea. Let's arrange a meeting this afternoon."

She glances at the pager and the new, unrecognized number and wonders, Now what?

You hear the man on the other end of the line fumble about with some sheets of paper. "Ms. Belmont was noncooperative at first but calmed down after we assured her that you were unharmed. I am glad that we were not proven liars in that regard. She is still highly suspicious and I believe you speaking to her would do a bit of good for everyone involved. I will provide you with contact numbers when we meet. Is there anything you would like to have passed along in the mean time?

"Mr. McBride was much more accommodating. Almost as if he expected us. He has mostly been sleeping since arriving at his destination."

With a sense of relief, Thalia relaxes slightly at the goon's descriptions, which both sound very consistent with Jamal's and Cyn's personalities. "Make sure Jamal eats something, will you? And tell Cynthia that it's just like that time I took the train to Portland. She'll know what I mean. It'll reassure her."

In fact, Cyn will know that "taking the train to Portland" is a reference to a trip Thalia had faked by buying a ticket and not using it to throw a pursuer off her trail on a case last year. Thalia hopes that will let Cyn know that Thalia's aware of Cyn's situation, that she herself is fine, and that she's not handing Kate's goon squad access to the full truth.

You can hear a pencil scribbling away on a pad of paper. "I will make sure to pass along the message. If the situation changes, please make sure to update us and we will do so as well." He hangs up the phone.

You look back at the pager and dial the number for the page that just came through. The person on the other end of the line does not seem to be in as much of a hurry to answer as Lawson's security personnel. Finally, on the 7th ring, they pick up. The line is silent for a few seconds other than sound of someone walking in the background. A faint sound grows louder as the phone receiver gets closer to the source. It is hard to mistake the sound of a woman struggling to be heard while gagged.

"Thalia Trimble, I presume." The fake accent is gone. Christov Ivanovich is letting his full natural Russian accent come out. "You have my property and I want it back. Despite my reputation, I am a reasonable man. I am willing to negotiate. Give me back Arthur Fisher and I won't execute Isabel."

The door to the safehouse opens and Radinka enters with a smile. It is wiped from her face when she sees the look on yours. She quietly walks over to you and you hold the phone at an angle so you can both hear it.

Thalia curses in her head. She knew that the heist had gone too well; the tiny part of her that is superstitious had been shaking its head all this time, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Of course it was all too good to be true.

As Radinka gets into position to hear both sides of the conversation, Thalia says, "Who is this? I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know any Arthur Fisher, and I sure don't know any kidnappers. I do know Ms. Bell, but for all I know, you're playing a recording from some TV show in the background. Let me speak with her."

There is a loud smack and a suppressed cry on the other end of the line. A moment latter it is followed by a crashing sound that gives the impression that the chair Isabel is in has fallen over from the force of the blow Ivanovich delivered. "I don't play games, Thalia. I realize Isabel may not be your favorite person in the world. That's fine. If you don't want to save her, I'll find someone that you do care about." You hear the sound of a pistol slide back as a round is chambered.

"Stop! Jeez, what's the matter with you? I'm taking this straight from the Big Book of Kidnap Negotiations, for God's sake! It's right there in chapter one: 'demand proof of life.'"

Thalia glances at Radinka, reins in her emotions a little, and regroups. "Okay, fine, we'll waive that for now. You win, okay? I'll bring Arthur to you, but it's going to take me some time to arrange it."

Radinka gives you a worried and confused look before Ivanvoich continues in a calm voice as if nothing of note has happened. "Bring him to --" he lists an address far outside of town. You've heard of the place. A biker bar in the desert used by outlaws decades ago. Its been abandoned and boarded up for ages. "You come alone, unarmed, and arrive within the hour. Understood?" The timeframe is impossible. Even if you had Arthur sitting here next to you right now, it would still take at least 2 hours to drive that far out of the city.

Radinka nods her head, urging you to agree. She mouths the words 'desperate / no options / let him feel in control.'

Thalia wants to question Radinka's mental fitness, but let's face it - she's in no position to judge that in anyone. She nods instead. "Fine, you got it. I'll be there."

"You try to play any more games and I won't hesitate to shoot her." Ivanovich hangs up.

Radinka leans against the wall. "I had a feeling things were going too well.... I haven't directly crossed path with Ivanovich before but I know people who have. I know the way he operates. As long as he thinks he's in control, everything is cool. The second he feels like someone has the upper hand on him is when the switch is flipped and he goes berserk. He sounds like he's in beserker mode right now. Maybe not from the tone of his voice but in the irrationality of everything he's doing. He is as cold and calculating as they come but right now he's being very reactive and reckless.

"In my opinion we have to do everything we can to give him the appearance of control. I think this time you're the decoy and I'm the one sneaking in for the extraction. I hope you have this Fisher guy close by."

"I don't!" Thalia says, throwing up her hands. "He's a good twenty minutes from here, and even if he was right here, we're two hours from the address Ivanovich gave. There's no way I could get there in the time frame he's demanding."

Radinka frowns. "That's not good." She holds up her hands as if to say 'slow your horses.' Considering that a minimum of one life hangs in the balance, Radinka seems remarkable calm. "The timeline isn't important. Ivanovich and I grew up in a communist state. No one ever made deadlines. They mean nothing to us. Agreeing to it is just a way to make him feel in charge. As long as you are making progress toward his goal and don't overtly go against what he says, he won't act. If he kills the girl he has nothing else to bargain with. Right?"

Radinka walks over to a mirror. She uses her knuckles to roughly judge where a spot is 3 inches from the edge on the left, and 9 inches up from the bottom. She press and holds her thumb to this exact spot for 5 seconds and you hear the click of something unlocking. She walks over to a wall on the other side of the room and presses it in which causes the lights to turn on and reveal the secret room.

The walls in this room are lined with guns and gadgets. "Grab everything you think we'll need and then lets go pick up your friend."

This is all happening far too fast for Thalia. She wanders into the secret room and scans the walls with a sense of unreality.

"I... don't know what to do, Radinka." This is a hard thing for Thalia to admit; she's used to being the person people turn to for a plan, and being able to come up with one, even on the fly. But there is almost never this much at stake and almost never so little time for both planning and implementation. "I can't take Arthur to Ivanovich. Even as a decoy. I can't risk the man's life, hoping that it all works out and we'll be able to save both him and Isabel. Even if it felt right to do so, his testimony is going to be necessary to clear my client's name and get him out of prison. Is there some way we can make it look like I have Arthur with me? Or... could I show up and tell him that I have Arthur stashed somewhere and I tell him where when he releases Isabel? I could give myself over to him as a replacement hostage."

The moment the doors opened Radinka is inside the room and strapping guns and knives to each of her limbs. As you speak, she stops in her tracks and walks over to you. She takes your shoulders in each of her hands and smiles. "I need you to calm down and breathe, Thalia." Radinka walks you out of the room of a million guns and has you take a seat.

"I am all for helping you, but I’m not walking into battle with someone that is obviously shell shocked. Clear your mind. What is the key to this mission? Make Ivanovich feel like he is in control. The best way to do that is to actually let him be in control. We have no clue what we’re walking into. Don’t let that paralyze you. Let it liberate you." Something goes through her head which makes her snicker. Next thing you know, Radinka is speaking with a familiar accent. Poorly, but well enough so you can tell what she is going for.

"Empty your mind. Be formless. Shapeless. Like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. That water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend." She shakes off the bad Bruce Lee impersonation.

Radinka walks back into the room, grabs a gadget, and tosses it to you. It is about the size of a baseball and has what appears to be a round camera lens in the middle. "We’re going to go visit Arthur, but he can certainly stay put. We record him and that little marvel will project the image onto the windshields. Ivanovich won’t even know I’m in the car.

"I hope this is just a temporary lapse, Thalia. I need you and that quick wit because you’re going to have to convince Ivanovich to let the hostage go before 'Fisher' can get out of the car. If you can’t, things could get messy." Radinka proceeds to strap more weapons to her body.

At first, Thalia resents the patronizing "calm down" treatment, right up until she realizes that she has, in fact, calmed down as a result. She snickers at Radinka's laughable Bruce Lee impression, then catches the little camera-projection device, turning it over in her hand and nodding with appreciation as Radinka explains how they will be able to take "Arthur" to the meetup without actually taking him.

"I wanna be you when I grow up," she says. "You have all the best toys." She stands up, raising a hand to forestall further expressions of concern from her friend. "Don't worry - I'm back. Let's get locked and loaded."

She walks purposefully back into the secret armory and starts scanning the shelves with a sense of someone who knows what she's looking for. "Naturally, he'll pick up on anything that is obviously a weapon, so I'll keep my toys to subtle things disguised as something else. You got any of those joy buzzer things? Yes, there they are." She grabs something that looks like a cubic zirconia ring. Well, it is a cubic zirconia ring, but one with some cleverly fake skin that adheres to the wearer's palm and will deliver a taser-like shock when pressed against a victim's skin with enough force. The effect is momentarily disabling; it wouldn't knock Ivanovich out, but it would give her time to get out of his grasp or grab a weapon. She puts it on one hand and continues shopping.

She grabs a couple of flash-bang shoulder pads and stuffs them into her bra. She'd prefer to err on the side of bad fashion, but there's a good chance Ivanovich might grab her by the shoulder and trigger the damn thing right in her ear. It's much less likely that he'll grab her boob in the act of searching her. Not hard enough to trigger a flash grenade, at least.

She tucks a garrote wire through the belt loops of her jeans and under the belt. A few smoke bomb pellets find their way into various pockets of her pants and denim jacket. A stiletto with a charmingly low profile gets taped lightly to her spine, its slight hilt easily reached if her hand is behind her head.

"One last touch," she says, kicking off her sneakers and pulling on a stylish pair of black boots with built-in knife sheaths. She snaps on another pair of surgical gloves and finds a matched set of impressive daggers. "He'll be expecting me to think I can get away with being armed, so let's give him something to find."

From Radinka's selection of contact poisons, Thalia selects a slow-acting paralytic and carefully brushes the hilt and blade of each dagger with the substance. As it dries, she says, "Figured it was best to go with something subtle that he wouldn't notice right away. If he confiscates these, he'll get enough exposure that it might give me an edge at a crucial moment later."

Looking herself over in the mirror, she's satisfied that she's as well-armed as an unarmed person can reasonably expect to be. "My car has one or two surprises, as well, but let's hope we won't need them. Let's go get Arthur ready for his close-up."

She and Radinka get into Thalia's car. In her typical fashion, Thalia is careful not to take a direct route to the safe house. She pulls around to the back, just as she'd done when she'd brought Arthur here, and the two women go through the gate and backyard and into the house. Thalia is careful to announce herself to avoid alarming Arthur and Dylan.