The 2012 presidential elections have reached fever pitch. With two and a half weeks to go, President Clinton is fighting for her very political existence against not only GOP challenger Mitt Romney, but Elder Party challenger S. Philips Duncan. The Elder Party has made unprecedented progress against the two major parties since it first appeared during the 2010 election cycle. Some polls suggest that many voters, fed up with the "politics as usual" that have plagued Washington for so long, are ready to vote for a total outsider to bring about fresh change to the nation's capitol.
Astronomers have confirmed that Comet Dunn, discovered last week by amateur astronomer Ricky Dunn, will be responsible for one of the most impressive comet displays seen in the last century in the northern hemisphere when it passes close to the earth in late December. Predictably, a new cult has sprung up in Los Angeles to worship this comet. They plan to camp out in Death Valley, California to "greet" the comet as their "savior" as it passes the earth during the week before Christmas.
Denver, Colorado
Agent Anders Vijem, a recent arrival at the Denver FBI Office, has been assigned to investigate a case of "Serial Kidnapping" that the Denver Police Department referred to the FBI.
Since Fox 31, a local television station, wanted to film a piece about the FBI's efforts to protect the American people, the Agency assigned Agent Vijem to escort the reporter, Sue Weatherby, as he investigated the reported kidnappings. Somehow, the Central Intelligence Agency managed to catch wind of the planned news story, and they pulled strings to get one of their own, Agent Charles Wiseman, assigned to assist the FBI during the investigation. Since the CIA saw no reason to believe foreign espionage assets were involved with the case, Agent Wiseman was along simply to show the spirit of cooperation between the two federal agencies.
The case in question involved four missing students from Denver University: Mary Gutierrez, a 20 year old Speech/Communications major, Tom Shrick, a 21 year old Journalism major, Helen Granz, a 20 year old German Language major, and Bob o'Boubgh, a 21 year old Undeclared major.
The only clue the DPD supplied was an ATM surveillance video that showed the most recently missing student, Helen, withdrawing cash from the ATM and crossing the street. As she crossed the street, a white van with a stylized 'H' stopped in front of her. She appeared to back away from the passenger who exited the van, but she then entered the back of the van without a struggle. Due to the position of the camera, the alleged kidnapper was visible only from the waist down.
The van was a circa 1973 white Ford E-150 cargo van. Agent Wiseman tapped CIA resources to identify the logo. It was identified as the logo of Hunt Electrodynamics that was used from 1941 to 1947. Cross checks determined that the van matched the description of one reported stolen in Weld County, Colorado a week earlier.
Agent Vijem contacted Helene Armitage, a forensic pathologist working for the State of Colorado to see if the state had received any information about bodies matching the descriptions of the missing students. Ms. Armitage reported that none had turned up.
Agent Vijem determined that a visit to Greeley, Colorado and the Weld County Sheriff's office was in order. Ms. Armitage offered to travel with Agent Vijem, since she needed to visit the county coroner's office. Agent Vijem took Agent Wiseman and Ms. Weatherby, picked up Ms. Armitage, and traveled to Greeley.
Agents Vijem and Wiseman inspected the missing vehicle report. It was woefully incomplete - the only information that had been recorded was the name of the person filing the report, the person's address, and the information about the missing vehicle. Nothing else had been filled in. It even lacked the signature of the deputy who took the report. After some checking, the department identified the officer in question: Deputy Kevin Westfield, who was currently due to return from his patrol, since it was the end of his shift.
Vijem and Wiseman interviewed Deputy Westfield with some assistance from Ms. Armitage. The deputy was clearly confused about the incomplete report. He was unable to explain why he had not completed it, and he was unable to remember any details about his visit with the victim, a Mr. Alistair Douglas. With some probing questions, the deputy was able to recall other details of the day, but he still was unable to explain what had happened while at the rural Nunn, Colorado property of Mr. Douglas.
Deputy Westfield agreed to travel to Nunn to revisit Mr. Douglas. Curious about the events, Ms. Armitage offered to ride with Deputy Westfield in his patrol car to Nunn, while Agents Vijem and Wiseman, along with reporter Sue Weatherby, took Vijem's Ford Expedition.
Before setting out, the agents found out what they could about Mr. Douglas. Alistair Douglas had earned a reputation as a harmless local kook - he was often found standing on a soapbox near the University Center of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, calling for students to repent before the coming of the Great Eye. The officers in the Sheriff's Department regarded Mr. Douglas as a harmless eccentric, since he had never caused any commotions, other than the heckling that he received on occasion by student at the university.
Armed with this information, the agents, Ms. Weatherby, Ms. Armitage and Deputy Westfield set out for northern Weld County to interview Mr. Douglas.
Jim Avary peered into the office. Like most of the offices in the Facility, this one had specially-prepared windows that prevented observers from looking inside while affording a clear view outside the facility. The windows also made it impossible for any remote eavesdropping devices to pick up a signal. Avary's boss once explained the technology, but it was well beyond Avary's understanding. Frankly, Jim did not care how it worked. That was not his job. He only cared that it worked.
Inside the office, Jan Stolowicz sat at a desk that faced out the windows. Her two large, wide flatscreen monitors were full of various tables of information as she methodically typed at the keyboard. Jim once made the mistake of asking her what she did. After several attempts at explaining it, Jan finally condensed it down to "I look for information."
Jim rapped at the doorframe. The door was open, but Jim did not like walking in unannounced. There were too many compartmentalized secret projects in the Facility, and Jim preferred to avoid learning things that he had no need to know. What he already knew kept him awake some nights.
Without turning or stopping her typing, Jan called back, "Enter."
"Does Red Team have anything I might be interested in?" Jim asked, his Texan accent creeping into his voice.
"Let me check," Jan answered. She minimized several windows, revealing a spreadsheet that spanned both monitors. "Hmmmm. It's been quiet on our channels for over a week now. After that surge last month near the equinox, it's a nice break. Let me check the official lines." A few minutes of typing, and Jan had hacked into the FBI's computers. "There is a report in Denver of a 'Serial Kidnapping' - isn't that the code phrase the Friendlies use to get our attention?"
Jim walked across the small office to kneel next to Jan. "Yep," Jim drawled.
"The Denver Police bumped that case to the FBI."
"Do we have any Friendlies in Denver?"
Jan tapped at the keyboard for a few seconds. "Not in the FBI. I didn't know we had one in the DPD. I can bump a Friendly Agent to the FBI office in Denver, but…"
"But?" Jim prompted.
"The case has been assigned to an Agent Anders Vijem."
"Who?"
A few more seconds of typing. A picture of an agent appeared on one of the monitors. "Anders Vijem. Young gun, barely a year out of the Academy. He knocked down a few low-level bad guys, although not always for the crimes they were suspected of committing. Good record, impressive results, unconventional technique. He was stationed in D. C. until last month."
"What happened?"
"He set his sights on cleaning up Congress, and higher-ups sent him away from Washington to prevent a fight breaking out between the branches of government."
Jim tapped a finger impatiently on Jan's desk. "Let's hope this was just an accidental 'Serial Kidnapping'. The boss wants to keep things quiet for a while longer while Green Team gets Offsite ready for evacuations, just in case. The boss thinks things are going to get hairy in a couple of months."
"This agent Vijem might make a good Friendly," Jan suggested. "He gets results."
"He also managed to draw unwanted attention trying to go after Congress. That could make him vulnerable. The last thing we want is for MAJESTIC to compromise a Friendly."
"True enough," Jan allowed.
"Well, keep a flag on that case, and let me know if we need to get a Friendly or a Blue Team deployed to Colorado to clean this up."
"Will do, Jim."
Jan returned to her prior data correlation task as Jim left her office.
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