The Offices of Thalia Trimble, Private Eye - vol 1

Just as you are reaching for the doorknob you hear the sound of footsteps rapidly moving across the asphalt behind you. Someone is running in your direction at a full sprint. Radinka grabs hold of your hand and pulls it back before you can toss the brass. You scan the door and notice a barely perceivable electronic device near the doorknob. A device you recognize as belonging to Eddie Ramierz.

Radinka pulls out one of her concealed pistols and aims it at the figure rushing toward you. Eddie skids to a stop and throws up his hands in surrender. This gives both you and Radinka a look at the gun tucked into his waistband. In all the years you’ve known Eddie, you have never once seen him with a gun. He has always been the type to do his job from unseen shadows while avoiding any type of confrontation with those he is watching.

Radinka side eyes you and sees the hint of recognition on your face. She lowers the gun. Eddie visibly relaxes but he still looks like he is about to throw up.

"Jesus, Thalia! It’s not bad enough I gotta worry about that crazy Russian, now you got your own damn bodyguard drawing on me? Come one!" He walks past you and disables the micro-flashbang he put on the door. Normally only one for surveillance, you have heard Eddie talk about only using this device a handful of times when he was expecting trouble and might need a head start if someone was chasing him or someone he was watching.

With that out of the way he practically pushes you and Radinka into the house and closes the door.

Eddie wipes sweat from his brow and collapses onto the sofa. "Am I done now? Can I get on the first flight out of town and not come back until you call me and tell me it's safe?"

Dylan and Arthur are sitting at the table. Each has a cup of coffee, a pen, and a pad of paper.

"Arthur and I were doing pretty well keeping a level head until you and your friends showed up, Thalia. Should I be as worried as he is?" Dylan asks and indicates to Eddie who is now leaning over with his head between his knees as he hyperventilates.

Thalia raises her hands in a "WTF?" gesture as she looks at Eddie. " You turned me down, bozo, remember? But as long as you're on the job, no, you're not done. However, you don't have to worry about the Russian madman. I know where he is, and he doesn't know about this place."

She turns to Dylan and Arthur. "And no, you don't need to be worried. We're just here to take a recorded image of Arthur. Ivanovich has kidnapped Isabel Bell and I'm supposed to bring Arthur to trade. Obviously, I'm not going to do that, so I'm showing up with a fake and a helpful friend." She nods toward Radinka. " Go ahead and take the recording."

"You sure know how to show gratitude, Thalia," Eddie snaps back. He seems a little emboldened knowing he probably isn’t in imminent danger at the moment. "I hope you realize I’m not doing this pro-bono out of the goodness of my heart. I’m working by the hour. At 3 ti-- at 5 times my normal rate."

Radinka takes a seat next to him; crossing a leg and letting a silenced pistol rest on it. The barrel is actually pointed at the wall across from Eddie, the safety is on, and her finger is nowhere near the trigger, but Eddie doesn’t notice any of this. "You know Ivanovich isn’t the only crazy Russian in town, comrade," Radinka tells him while laying heavy on the Russian accent. Eddie mimes zipping his lips and allows you to continue.

The color partially drains from Arthur’s face when you mention that Isabel has been kidnapped. He looks down into his mug, takes a sip, and then grabs his pad of paper so he can continue using work as a distraction from his troubles. "Just direct me as needed," he says absentmindedly.

Radinka has Eddie return to the command post he has set up in a vacant house a few doors down. The recording has to be taken inside the car and she wants some eyes on lookout. She takes you and Arthur to the car and sits you down.

"You guys ever seen Speed? Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock? Great movie." Radinka is in the back seat attaching the device to the ceiling of the car. "I need you to act like they did when they made the video loop. Try and be natural and not make any movements that would allow someone to easily recognize they are watching a loop."

She steps out of the car, shuts the door, and hits a button on a remote control. The device hums to life and a laser grid is projected all over the car. Once it has the car’s measurements the device counts down to the start of the recording with a series of beeps.

Radinka continues to give instructions from outside the car. She gets 10 minutes of footage of you driving with Arthur in the passenger seat. She then presses a button to start a new clip and has you mimic pulling the car into a parking lot and getting out. Pressing the button again she gets a clip of Arthur sitting alone in the car.

She sends Arthur back inside and the two of you review the footage. It looks pretty good. You can spot the cuts between scenes or when the loop starts over, but only because you’re looking for it. You are fairly convinced this will hold up under anything but close scrutiny. And if Ivanovich gets close enough... well both of you are plenty well armed.

Thalia rolls her eyes at Eddie's pro-bono remark, but she realizes that he's just extremely scared and acting out. As he's stepping out to go back to his command post, she stops him for a private word. "Eddie, I want you to know that I appreciate you coming through for me on this. That won't go unrewarded, understand? Thanks."

She takes a moment to reassure Dylan, too, before Radinka takes her and Arthur out for the video session. "You and Arthur should be safe while this is going down. Eddie's keeping an eye on things here and has instructions of something goes wrong. If he shows up again, do whatever he says. But I think Radinka and I will be keeping Ivanovich busy until you see me next."

Once they are satisfied with the video, Thalia says to Radinka, "I guess we're as ready as we're gonna get. Let's roll."

They get into the car, and Thalia sets out for the address where Ivanovich was waiting for them.

You and Radinka reach the city limits and head down the only road to your destination. You’re quite sure Ivanovich is aware of this so both of you keep an eye on your surroundings in case he decides to make an early appearance. It isn’t Ivanovich you end up spotting, however.

Coming up to what is advertised as the last gas station for 30 miles you spot a large black SUV with tinted windows. You recognize it immediately as the same type that delivered a handful of armed soldiers when you were attacked outside your apartment.

A man in a dark suit and glasses is standing by the driver’s seat. To the casual passerby he doesn’t look terribly out of place but both you and Radinka can easily spot that he is carefully watching the cars that go by.

The SUV is not parked at a gas pump. It stands by, engine running, and is pointed toward the road. It is ready to give chase at a moments notice. You cannot see into the car through the dark windows but you have a good idea what kind of passengers are hidden from view.

Radinka pressed play on the video recording a few minutes earlier in case Ivanovich had scouts waiting to give him a heads up to any tricks you might trying to pull. The lookout for the SUV is currently watching another car drive away from the gas station and hasn’t spotted you yet. Radinka looks to you and waits for instructions.

Thalia calmly turns on her turn signal and pulls into the lot for a small mom-and-pop grocery that's clearly seen better days. Most likely, they'd done good business back before the gas station had converted itself into convenience store that also sells gas. But at least the store is open, meaning that pulling into the lot will attract no attention.

"That van probably contains a bunch of heavily-armed goons like the ones I tangled with outside my apartment the other day," she tells Radinka. "Let's pay them a surprise visit before we continue. Otherwise, taking Ivanovich out without getting captured ourselves is going to be a real uphill battle."

Thalia heads into grocery store and buys a couple of soft drinks, leaving Radinka to get out to "stretch her legs" and case the area, looking for a good route for sneaking up on the van at the gas station. By the time Thalia comes back outside, Radinka has identified a path they can take to get to the rear of the gas station on foot from the grocery parking lot.

They talk over an approach that Thalia hopes will get the attention of the guy standing watch and possibly lure one or more of the others out of the van. "We want to disable them with as little firepower and noise as possible," Thalia tells her friend. "If they think it's something unrelated to the job they're here to do, they're less likely to report in to Ivanovich about it, and maybe they'll even be off-guard."

She uncaps the soft drink bottles as they follow the path Radinka has identified, bringing them around to the back of the convenience store. Thalia is wearing her disguise specs and Radinka's trick wig to look like a blonde girl. After checking to see that the lookout is still, well, looking out, Thalia nods at Radinka and then starts talking - first at a normal volume, and then louder, more frantic.

"Oh, Rad, no, come on. No, stop. Not out here... Yeah, but it's in public... Stop! No, I said stop it! Stop! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

She staggers away a few steps as though she's trying to get away from an assailant, and stumbles, falling to her knees as she enters the lookout's line of sight. She gets to her feet, "spots" the lookout and shrieks, "Oh my god, please help me. Plea--" Right on cue, Radinka's arm shoots out from the back of the building and grabs Thalia's arm, yanking her back to behind the building. Thalia utters a squeal that she cuts off by closing her mouth, continuing to make strangled sounds as though she's being attacked.

All the while, she shakes one of the soft drink bottles. After all, it's only polite to offer visitors something to drink.

The lookout rips the sunglasses from his face to reveal eyes that are wide from shock. He takes one step toward you, stops, and looks back to the road. The man hammers his first on the driver’s door to get the attention of someone inside. He motions with his head to the disturbance and someone dressed exactly like the lookout hops out of the car and jogs to see what all the commotion is about.

Before he gets there you hear another car door open and the lookout starts talking to a female. To say he is talking with here is not 100% accurate. The lookout gets a few words in but is mostly being chewed out by this new individual for deviating from his assignment. The footsteps walking toward you skid to a stop for a moment before the female voice loudly rings out, "Oh just go check it out already. But hurry up!" A few moments later he is rounding the corner.

As the lookout comes around the corner, Thalia steps away from the building and releases the top of the shaken soda bottle to spray him directly in the face with sugary fizzness, then tosses the bottle to the ground as Radinka gets behind him and clobbers him over the head with the butt of a handgun. As he sinks to his knees, caught utterly by surprise, Thalia delivers a kick to the side of his face.

"Oh my god, you killed him!" Thalia shrieks, hoping to draw out the other lookout.

You hear the woman's voice, "What the hell?" Footsteps start on the gravel in your direction but are suddenly stopped. "No. What did I tell you? Watch the road. If we miss him we're all dead." A car door opens and the woman gives orders that you can't quite make out. The rest of the doors on the vehicle open up and you hear several loud thuds as combat boots land on the ground one after another. The man on the ground groans as footsteps run off in different direction.

"They're flanking us," Radinka says with enthusiasm as she moves to intercept anyone coming around the other side of the building.

---

Dice pool limit: 8
Thalia: 3 HP

Threat Rating
Mooks: Armed guards --- 4

Side Objective
Keep things silent --- 2

Smirking at Radinka's enjoyment of the proceedings, Thalia turns her attention to the groaning man on the ground. His arms move and he tries to push himself up from the ground, which Thalia takes as an invitation to kick him in the face again, knocking him out. She drops to his side and pretends to weep, holding her side as though injured as two of the goons come around the corner of the convenience store. They're wielding the sonic whatsis guns, but not looking like they really expect to need them until they see their compatriot out cold.

"Please help!" Thalia blubbers frantically, pointing toward Radinka. "That man tried to rape me! He killed this guy!"

This has the benefit of 1) redirecting the goons' attention away from Thalia, and 2) confusing them substantially, as Radinka is clearly not a man. They each raise their weapons toward the Russian and move slightly in that direction, hesitating as their friends round the corner on Radinka's side of the building.

Thus disregarded, Thalia springs from her crouching position and attacks the nearest of the goons with fluid motions of her arms and legs, connecting a hard punch to the side of his neck while driving her foot into the back of his knee. The resulting loss of balance is enough to give her the chance to grab his hand holding the sonic whatsis and "help" him to pull the trigger while it's aimed point blank at his female partner. Once that shot is off, Thalia keeps both hands on the sonic gun and drives an elbow into one of the goon's as she twists the gun in his grip. His arms bend and she twist the gun from his hands and fires it into his chest.

On the other side of the building, Radinka is waiting for her helping of goons with a very impressive fourteen-inch stun baton. Ignoring the fuss Thalia is making, the Russian woman flattens herself against the wall and brings the baton down hard on the wrist of the first goon, sending his sonic whatsis clattering to the groun as she drives the business end of the baton into his gut. This not only delivers a twenty-million-volt charge into his body but drives him backward into his partner.

Radinka ducks in a practiced dodging motion as the other goon tries to adjust to the sudden attack, preventing him from drawing a bead on her with his sonic weapon. His eyes follow the motion of her upper body, allowing her to raise the stun baton upward and into the arm trying to aim the gun, then following up with a jab of the baton into his chest, hitting him with a charge.

Within the span of three seconds you and Radinka drop everyone to the ground. All together there are five bodies at your feet. Some of them are unconcious while others roll around in pain. None are a threat anymore.

The back door to the convenience store opens and a middle aged man takes a step out. "Is everything ok out here. I heard a lot of--" his eyes go wide and he drops his soda to the ground. The plastic cut explodes and drenches his khaki pants. "Oh my god. I’ll call 911." He ducks back inside but the door is very slow to close. If you want to stop him there is time to slip inside.

The sound of a gun slide loading a round gives you pause. Lighter footsteps march their way around your corner and you come face to face with the woman who was giving out orders. She raises her 9mm pistol while looking around at the failure of her soldiers with much disappointment.

She is of moderate height and petite build. She wears her short black hair in an expensive looking cut, has perfectly manicured nails, and makeup that looks like it was done by a professional on a movie set. This woman does not appear to be a physical threat but she commands attention. "Who are you two and what is going on here?" she orders in a calm but annoyed voice as if she thinks she is the one in control of the situation, or is very practiced in making sure not to show fear.

---

Dice pool limit: 8
Thalia: 3 HP

Threat Rating
Mooks: Armed guards Boss of Guards --- 1

Side Objective
Keep things silent --- 2

As the man with the soda-covered pantlegs blunders back into the store, Thalia ducks in after him, leaning in close and speaking with quiet, earnest urgency. "I'm working undercover to bust a human trafficking ring. You call the cops, you put innocent lives in danger. Can I count on you not to do that, sir?"

She looks him in the eye, willing him to believe, and after a second, he nods. She steps back out just as the boss bad lady arrives on the scene.

Thalia puts her hands up slightly and says, "Easy, now. No need for any bullets to fly. We're federal agents, investigating a trafficking operation using vans like yours at remote gas stations to pick up women and girls. We thought you were part of that, but judging from the hardware your friends here are using, this is something else entirely."

As she speaks, she keeps moving. Not a lot, just a tiny step or two, sometimes toward the gunwoman, sometimes to the side. Anything to keep the woman focused on her. "Whatever you're into, we're willing to look the other way. If you'll just let me get my ID..."

The woman takes a step back and aims the gun squarely at Thalia. "Stay where you are. Keep your hands where I can see them." To Radinka, she says, "You, too. Hands where I can see them or I'll shoot your partner here."

"Okay, okay," Thalia says, freezing. "But you need to know that we called this in to our handler at the Bureau before we started our little party. And I told the guy who walked back inside this store to call 911. I don't want those sirens to make you nervous--"

This is enough to get the woman to glance toward the convenience store, and it's the opening Radinka is waiting for. The Russian had been keeping her arms down at her sides so far, and as the enemy takes her eyes off Thalia, she raises the hand holding the sonic whatsis she'd taken from one of the goons and fires.

Thalia makes a dive-roll to take herself out of the boss goon's gun sights, ready to close the three feet of distance between them if Radinka's shot misses.

The sonic blast sends the woman flying through the air. She lands hard upon the ground, knocking the wind out of her. The gun drops out of her hand and momentum sends it sliding far away behind her.

You both rush forward and Radinka gets a hold of the woman to ensure there won’t be anymore trouble. She gets behind her and pulls her arms back as if she is going to cuff her. Not actually having any handcuffs on her, Radinka simply holds the woman’s hands in place. There is a serious mismatch in strength between the two. She isn’t getting out of this hold.

With the immediate threat dealt with, you are able to get a more thorough look at the woman. That is when you spot the Lloyd Laboratories ID badge identifying her as M. Bradford.

Thalia sighs. "Well, Martha, I knew we'd meet eventually, but I didn't expect quite these circumstances." To Radinka, she says, "I'll bring their van around."

She goes to the van they'd all come from and finds the keys in the ignition. Starting it up, she pulls it around to the back of the store, then rummages around inside. She exits by opening the rear doors of the van, carrying a bunch of zipties. She tosses some to Radinka and begins to use them to cuff the remaining unconscious or groaning thugs she and her friend have disabled.

As she works, she talks to Martha. "So tell us how this was supposed to work tonight. You were watching for Thalia to drive by with Arthur and then follow along to provide support to Ivanovich? Or were you going to try to intercept them and stop the exchange for Isabel?"

Martha Bradford stares at you with calculating eyes but does not respond for some time. You get the impression that she is studying your features. Trying to put a name to the face. It doesn’t do her any good. "Who the hell are you people? You’re working for Trimble? And she has Fisher? Thank you for divulging that information. Should I assume that they are responsible for the incident at Lloyd Laboratories earlier today or is that one on Ivanovich?"

She stops for a minute as she goes back over everything you have said in an attempt to see if any more information unknown to her has been dropped. "You are partially correct. I was hoping to see Fisher but I’m not working with Ivanovich. The man is a wild animal. He attempted to capture me this morning and appears to have been successful in capturing Bell. He’s trying to use her as leverage to get me to turn over Fisher; which is a terrible strategy for a number of reasons.

"First of all, I have no clue where he is. Hearing that he is in capable hands is delightful news, even if I do not consider Trimble an ally. Second, even if I had access to Fisher I certainly wouldn’t turn him over. He’s worth considerably more than Bell. I haven't even been given concrete evidence that Bell is still alive, yet alone held captive. I evaded him and she might have done the same. Or he might have already killed her. All of htis is relevant though as the trade is not happening under my watch.

"I figured Ivanovich issued the same threat to Fisher and that he would be dumb enough to trade himself for her. That would be terrible for everyone. Ivanovich would continue to use Bell, if he even has her, as leverage to get the secrets he wants out of Fisher. As for me... I’d most likely be hunted down and killed as a loose end. If he gets Fisher, I no longer have any value to him.

"So would you be so kind as to deliver a message to your boss from me? Project Fisher at all costs."

Thalia smiles coolly. "I'll make sure to tell her you said so, but I'm pretty sure that's already her plan. So, speaking of plans... you're saying he contacted you as well as Trimble trying to trade Isabel? Since you're here, I'm guessing you agreed, even though you had no idea where Fisher is, in hopes of intercepting him? And then what?"

"Make sure that he and I get someplace Ivanovich cannot reach and then wait this whole thing out. A lot of people want Ivanovich dead. Its only a matter of time before one of them rids the world of that problem. I just need to make sure Fisher doesn't do something stupid in the mean time."

"I see." Thalia nods thoughtfully. "'Scuse me. I need to call the boss. Be right back."

She walks around to the side of the building, where there's a pay phone in full view from Martha's position, and picks up the receiver. She checks the line for bugs - it's clean - and then dials a number. For the next thirty or forty seconds, she mumbles nonsense to her apartment complex's after hours voice mail detailing how to set up an appointment to view vacant apartments. She hangs up and returns to crouch beside Martha.

"Okay, Thalia said to tell you that Fisher is in a safe location. It was a place of his choosing, and she's got him under security. She'll have him contact you as soon as we've dealt with Ivanovich. This is all just to reassure you that he's not going to 'do anything stupid,' like turn himself over to the Russian madman. Now, what do we do with you and your little army in the meantime?"

Martha rolls her eyes in pure annoyance. "Either you are messing with me or Trimble runs a much looser ship than I anticipated. Are you seriously telling me she didn’t give directions on what to do with a captured...enemy? Does she not consider me an enemy? In this instance she certainly shouldn’t. Ivanovich wants both of our heads, after all." There is a shift in his tone as it appears Martha sees an opening to manipulate who she perceives is a minion.

"If Trimble were smart, or if she made sure she had smart people working for her and entrusted them with the proper agency to make informed decisions, she would leave me and my people alone to continue assisting in our own way. We would remain here, watching this road in case something went wrong. Sure you aware of just how wrong everything has already gone. Might as well set up a failsafe to keep an eye on things. Tying me up and taking my pieces off the board would be a very detrimental move. So what’s it going to be? Are you going to run to mommy and ask for permission, or did you put your big girl pants on today so you are able to make this decision all on your own?"

It's enough to make Thalia want to laugh, but she keeps a straightish face through this. She'd wanted to see what Martha would propose, and she hadn't disappointed. However, since Arthur has already advised Thalia that Martha wants her dead, and she further assumes that having Isabel die during this kidnapping would remove a potential witness for the prosecution from any future legal proceedings Martha might endure, Dr. Bradford is definitely not a good candidate for the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" treatment.

She tosses some more zip-ties to Radinka. "Cuff their ankles, too. Sorry, Martha, but you're just not a good bet in the trust sweepstakes today." While Radinka is further restraining them, Thalia grabs a roll of duct tape she'd seen in their van and uses it to tightly gag Martha and each of her goons by wrapping a continuous strip across each one's mouth and all the way around their heads a few times.

She and Radinka drag each of their prisoners into the back of the van. Giving Radinka her car keys, Thalia starts the van and drives it back the way they'd come for about a mile, finding a turn-off for a road that is flanked by farm fields. She pulls the van off the side of the road, pops open the fuse panel, and removes a number of fuses, including the one for the fuel pump. She gets out of the vehicle, locking it, pocketing the fuses and the keys and jogs back to the main road. A few seconds later, Radinka pulls over and Thalia resumes her rightful spot behind the wheel of her own car.

After she's removed the disguise specs and that wonderful wig, Thalia is looking herself again. Radinka restarts the projection of her and Arthur, and the resume their trip to the abandoned roadhouse.