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#Post#: 3093--------------------------------------------------
A Madman? - Chapter 6
By: RampageSports Date: May 28, 2016, 10:29 pm
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"How could this be possible?" Richelle yelled in frustration.
"People don't just materialize out of thin air!"
"Let's just remember I'm only the messenger," Spenser replied,
his voice slightly tinny coming from the speakerphone on
Richelle's desk.
"Yeah, I know," Richelle said. "It's just... this makes no
god-damn sense! People are born. They own homes. They drive
cars. Bank accounts. Credit cards. How can there be no record
of this guy? I'm telling you he's a nutjob, not a criminal
mastermind. He's not capable of hiding himself like this."
"I'm not sure anyone is," Spenser said.
The room was quiet for a beat, and Richelle turned her confused
gaze to Danni, who was seated on the other side of the desk -
hunched forward with her elbows on her knees as she followed the
conversation. Unfortunately, the RSI team leader looked just as
perplexed as Richelle did.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Richelle asked. "You
just said there's no record of him."
"Right," Spenser said. "FBI, CIA... no one can turn up any
trace of Harvey Blake beyond a year ago."
"So..."
"So, how could he be doing that?" Spenser asked. "It's
impossible to hide so completely. There would have to be
something, somewhere. Even if it were a stolen identity, there
would still be records for the original person. But this isn't
like that. It's like this guy was created."
The weight of that last statement was not lost on either member
of RSI, and the two shared a serious look.
"What are you saying?" Richelle asked.
Spenser paused, giving the moment its due. Even without seeing
them, he was acutely cognizant of the impact his words were
having on the women.
"I'm saying a person can't hide themselves this way," he said
finally. "Those records you listed would exist. People are
born, and it gets recorded. There's no way to stop it."
"But there are no records," the owner said.
"More exactly," Spenser said, "there are no records now."
"You think he deleted them?" Danni asked.
"No," he answered, "but I think someone did."
Again the women looked at each other, their expressions falling
in unison as the Boston detective's theory began to crystalize.
"You're saying someone is helping him hide," Richelle said.
"Yes," he said, "and my associates within both federal
organizations had the same theory about how that might be
happening."
"Which was?"
"The purge is too thorough for it to be someone on the outside,"
he replied. "Whoever it is has direct access to those records."
"Can they track that person down?"
"Not if keeping Mr. Blake a mystery is part of their job."
"I'm... what?"
"Blake isn't trying to hide," he said. "He attacked you in the
conference room with almost two dozen witnesses present. And it
was only a matter of time before the cameras were discovered."
"What does that mean?"
"It means someone is protecting him. Not from something he did
in his past. From the things he's doing now and likely will do
in the future."
"And what the hell does that mean?"
"It means I believe the mystery surrounding Mr. Blake is being
deliberately maintained by people who not only know how to do
it, but also have free reign to make it happen. If it were
being done covertly, it would not only be impossible to achieve
this level of thoroughness, it would also be unneccessary. It
would be much easier to steal someone else's identity than to
make someone's past vanish like this. Whoever is hiding him is
likely doing so openly - because they were instructed to."
For roughly thirty seconds, Richelle and Danni gaped at each
other through a silence so thick, it threatened to suffocate
them. Richelle was the first to move - opening her mouth as she
leaned forward, then closing it again without saying anything.
Her brain refusing to allow her to express the completely
ridiculous thoughts running through her mind. She brought a
hand to her face and began to absently massage her cheeks with
her fingers as she quietly waited for some other thought to
come. Her mouth transformed into a misshapen O each time she
squeezed - the frustration building as she hunted for an answer.
Any answer that could be considered even remotely realistic.
All the while, Spenser never said a word - giving her the chance
to come to her own conclusions while also probably enjoying her
torment through the phone line.
Finally, she accepted that she had no choice but to voice that
theory she'd been trying to avoid, because it was the only one
she had.
"Are you telling me this guy is some kind of f*cking spy?"
"I'm telling you he has someone making him untraceable," Spenser
said. "For whatever reason, I believe he is being kept as an
asset of the United States government. As far-fetched as that
sounds, it is the only logical explanation."
"It's not logical at all!" Richelle yelled. "I'm telling you
the guy is nuts!"
"If what we suspect is true," he replied, "then we must consider
that people in that line of work typically have a very
specialized set of skills. Sanity is not necessarily one of
them."
More silence. More squeezing. More O's.
"I don't f*cking believe this," Richelle muttered.
"Be that as it may, when you look at the facts and remove the
impossible, the unbelievable is all we have left."
Richelle stared at Danni, who looked like she had long ago run
out words to express what she was thinking. The owner lifted
her hands in a palms-up what the f*ck? type of expression. Then
she let them drop, only to repeat the maneuver twice more, all
the while making nary a peep.
Spenser finally broke the silence.
"I can come down, if you wish."
"Why?" Richelle asked. "So the three of us can sit here and
look dumbfounded together?"
"First of all, I am a professional detective," Spenser said
haughtily. "My dumbfounded expression will put yours to shame."
Richelle smiled broadly, the humor reminding her that, whatever
the hell was going on here, it would likely not be the end of
her world. She glanced across to find Danni smiling too, which
only made the redheaded owner smile even more.
"Second," Spenser continued, "as a duly appointed heroic
gumshoe, I possess a great number of skills that may be of use."
"Such as?" Richelle asked.
"I have the ability to sit in one place for hours at a time. I
can go a full day without the need to visit the rest room. And
I can eat an entire box of pasta in one sitting," he said.
"Also, just this morning, I was working on my ability to bend
steel with my bare hands."
"That's great," Richelle said. "If I ever find myself trapped
in a lion's cage, you'll be the first person I call."
"All kidding aside, I really don't like this," Spenser said.
"Neither do I," Richelle said, "but I don't really think I'm in
any danger."
"He stabbed you in the leg," Danni said in disbelief.
"Only because I had my foot on his throat," Richelle answered,
again rueing the missed opportunity to put Blake out of his
misery right then and there.
"At the risk of repeating myself... he stabbed you in the leg."
"So what do you want to do? Go into protective custody?
Again?"
It was clear Danni wanted to argue, but her face gave the truth
away. Their experience with forced co-habitation during the
saga with King Powers had been much better than either had
expected. But that was then... when they had no choice and
simply made the best of a bad situation. Given the option,
neither of them wanted to go back down that road.
"We've seen neither hide nor hair of him since that day,"
Richelle continued. "It's been nearly a week since we found the
cameras, and nothing has happened. I didn't even see him at the
last event."
"So what do we do?" Danni asked. "Just sit around and wait?"
"Anybody got a better idea?" Richelle asked.
Nobody said anything.
"That's what I thought. So, the only question is how we do the
waiting. And I'm all for chancing it. I have no desire to be
followed everywhere I go again."
"I still don't like it," Spenser said.
"Look, I don't know what the hell is going on here," Richelle
said, "but I can't think of any reason the federal government
would have any interest in me."
"You sure?" Danni asked suspiciously.
"I've pissed off lots of people, and I have no doubt that plenty
of them would love to get back at me. But, c'mon... those
people were crooks and low-lifes. They don't have access to
goverment spies."
"Well then what could this be about?" Danni asked.
"Got me," Richelle answered.
"It's worth noting that the cameras could have been used to spy
on anyone at RSI," Spenser said.
"You think it could be one of the fighters?" Danni asked.
"Makes as much sense as anything else," he said.
"My money's on Watson," Richelle said. "She's always been a
little shifty."
"Be serious," Danni said.
The owner shot her team leader an incredulous look.
"Danni, we're talking about spy cameras, government handlers and
shadowy secret agents. We left serious behind a long time ago.
We're in a comic book, at this point."
"Well, let's just hope the good guys win in the end."
"The good guys always win in the end," Richelle said.
The women said their good-byes to Spenser, with the promise to
keep him up to date on whatever developed.
After disconnecting, Richelle looked up to find Danni shaking
her head slowly - a wry smile on her face.
"What?" Richelle asked.
"When I agreed to work for you, I really didn't have any idea
how exciting it was going to be."
"Hey, this is not my fault."
"Whatever," Danni said. "I just know that in the span of a few
months, I've been hunted by the mafia, and now I'm tangled up in
some web of international espionage. I never even dreamed of
such things before I met you."
"What can I say?" Richelle asked. "I like to keep things
interesting. And speaking of interesting, imagine how I'm going
to enjoy telling the story of the day I got stabbed in the leg
by the rogue secret agent."
"Ohhhh, no," Danni groaned.
#Post#: 3094--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Madman? - Chapter 6
By: Dragons Den Date: May 29, 2016, 5:27 am
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Wow... espionage? And you were worried about the tangled webs
that I weave! :P
This is shaping up to be very interesting! Great work on the
stories, both of you, and I'm looking forward to reading more!
Good luck tracking down Mr Spy here! Do keep us in the loop so
we don't become unwitting threats to international security! ;)
#Post#: 3097--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Madman? - Chapter 6
By: Raccoon Date: May 31, 2016, 8:34 am
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I wonder... I wonder how... hmm.
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