Protagonists#

• Short, Lance - Foreign Service Officer (Γιάννης)
• Miller, Liam (Agent Dave / Jocko) - Naval Special Warfare Group One (SEALs) (Παναγιώτης)
• Agent Artemis - ?????? (Τάσος)
• Bennet, Wendy - Criminal Intelligence Analyst / Assistant Professor of Criminology (Κωνσταντίνα)

Wednesday 21st November 2018 - Confessions#

Agent Jocko opens to Agent Artemis about Working Group Masticate’s past and their ability to sense the unnatural. After convening between themselves, the Agents decide to investigate Dep. Julian Sainz’s home.

Hacking the Police#

Agent Locke packs a change of clothes and drives to a nearby mall. After making sure she parked the car away from surveillance cameras, she sits at a Starbucks café and proceeds with her plan of hacking:

The Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s Office – Ihejirika’s Autopsy#

• The autopsy hasn’t been performed yet.
• Ihejirika came in at 3 a.m.14 NOV 2018.
• EMS took the body directly from the street to the county coroner.
• Sgt. Freddy Sutton and Dep. Julian Sainz were the first responders. They took photos and processed evidence before paramedics arrived and took the body.
• No toxicology report has been ordered.

LASD Records and Identification Bureau – The Southside Tiger#

• Crime scene photos reveal:
  • A row of posts driven into the concrete flooring of the basement, bloodstained and covered with leather straps.
  • Woven through the support beams overhead writhes a tangle of feeding tubes, catheters, and intravenous lines used to keep captives alive.
  • Surgical equipment and chemistry gear line the outer wall, though no reagents or chemical compounds were found during the raid.
• The bloodwork and toxicology indicate mercury poisoning.
• Dyer’s body came back clean for narcotics. He also suffered a trace amount of mercury poisoning, but nowhere near the amount found inside his victims.
• The victims’ cerebrospinal fluid indicated the brain was flooded at time of death with amyloid-B and tau proteins, as well as BDNF proteins. It is as if the brains were caught in the midst of rapidly decaying and rebuilding themselves at time of death.
• There is a journal photographed on the shelf of the basement lab, half-visible through a giant Erlenmeyer flask. The chemistry equipment was entered into evidence; however, there is no record of a journal being recovered.

Infiltration#

Agents Artemis & Jocko enter Sainz’s one-bedroom home near La Puente Park by breaking down the door. Boxes are still unpacked and in the living room.

A burner phone is charging on the kitchen table. Another dozen prepaid cell phones are still in grocery sacks stashed in the cupboard.

The only texts on the burner come from a contact named “Fish-White,” calling from another pre-paid number. Texts over the last month exclusively regard Sainz’s availability for certain appointments. Most are street corners or parking lots. The last one orders Sainz to be on Sutra Street ready “to assist” at the date and time of the Ihejirika murder.

Requesting Access#

Agent Myra attempts to gain access to cellular phone network providers to help track down the location of “Fish-White’s” burner phone, but he can’t find anyone to assist him. It is too late at night.

Thursday 22nd November 2018 – Tracking Marlin#

Agent Myra’s attempts come to fruition by gaining access to Marlin’s burner phone location through LA’s cellular network.

Agent Jocko enters Sainz’s home and graffitis the place using phrases such as “ACAB” and “Gigi was here” but is seen by neighbors.

Working Group Masticate mobilizes for covert surveillance:

• Agent Locke coordinates the operations.
• Agents Myra and Artemis follow him by driving around the city. He keeps to himself that he did not “smell” anything unnatural from Marlin.

Results: Lt. Marlin is seen doing work outside the station. Between appointments one day, he pulls over a man in a Camaro. He asks the man to exit the vehicle, frisks him, and tells him to sit by the side of the interstate until backup arrives. The police scanner reports Marlin arrested the man for possession of cocaine and driving erratically. The Agents saw no evidence of either claim.

Friday 23rd November 2018 – Threatening Bonds#

Just after midnight, Agent Myra receives a phone call from his daughter Melissa. She lets him know that her mother, Melinda, was apprehended by a SWAT team that entered the house.

Myra contacts his friend Max Salamanca Jonson, while Wendy calls Pitzerelli.

It was obvious that they planted evidence in her house, accusing her of being a potential terrorist.

All the agents dispose of their phones.

Agent Locke calls her sister and tells her to get out of town for a few days.

Getaway#

Working Group Masticate calms Agent Myra down and then they all leave the hotel by managing to lose the police cruiser that was after them.

As they head out of Los Angeles:

• Agent Myra drives the car and does not answer his daughter’s calls.
• Agent Artemis suggests executing Lt. Marlin.
• Agent Jocko blames Agent Myra for everything.
• Agent Locke wants to further investigate Sgt. Gully.