7/4

Played: September 26, 2022.

Tuesday, August 21, 1973. Mid-afternoon. The URIEL team hops on a conference call. Jocasta recaps what she observed inside Dan Miller’s mind: what he saw in the basement levels of Agrigenics, and what Christopher Butler did to him.

Marshall: We still have some time before we commit to the plan. Um, knowing we – what we know now, I just wanted to get all of our brains on the same wavelength for a second to make sure that we're all trying to think differently about this because this, you know, this looks more and more like a setup and less and less like we're in the driver's seat. So I'm not – this is not to say that I don't think the plan should happen if the group consensus is that the plan is the best way to go. I'm down but, uh, I just think we should take a – like, take a quick breath and see if there's something we might be missing here or maybe if something should be done a different way because once we do this, you guys are going to be split up, you know, you're going to be a distance from each other. If something goes bad in one place it's gonna take us time to get to you. So I just wanna hash that out real quick. Thoughts? Go.

Roger: For the grunts in the audience, uh, OK, so the patsy set up, trying to entrap … for what? Like are they trying to get us into the basement? I mean where is the trap?

Marshall: I don’t know. I don’t know. That’s why – we don’t even know if we’re the intended victims of this trap. They sent Dan out to find quote “them” unquote, presumably to bring them to Agrigenics. Maybe we’re not the intended targets. Maybe we are the intended targets and I might just be asking a hypothetical here because we might not have enough data and that’s why the plan should just go forward but I just wanted every – I just – but that was a good question because, like, yeah, that’s – let’s follow this train of thought, like, what are we not thinking about?

Jocasta: Well, it doesn't make a lot of sense for this to be a trap for anyone else because I can't think of who the, “They're always watching” would apply to other than People Like Us but why do they want us to find out about Dan if … if … I mean my intention as of before, right before doing this reading, was that we need to shut their program down, right? Maybe wipe the place out? But if we were put on to them, maybe that's what we're supposed to do. Who gains from that happening?

Mitch: I would think that what they want might be to audition to attract the attention of the secret Illuminati with the goal of being invited to join it. “Look at us and our cryogenics and our visions of the future.” But I think if the They isn't us, it's Them – the capital “T” Them – except, except, I think there's a problem with that as a working theory, just given what we know about Agrigenics, this seems like a really ineffective way to go about it. They would have access to some kind of back channels if they were looking to make contact with … “the CIA.” Ergo, I don't know. That's – yeah I'm, I'm dressing that up specifically to shoot it down.

Archie: It’s true. We don’t have enough information. We don't – it's true, we don't have enough information. We don't know, and I think we just have to do what it is we wanted to do. Sometimes you have to play out the hand and see where it goes. It means that we have to be extremely cautious – all of you have to be extremely cautious – but that’s still the play.

Mitch: If the alternative is inaction I don't think that's an option really at this point.

Jocasta: What if we assume that Bernadette is part of whatever’s happening which, at this point, may not be a correct assumption, we can still get the truth out of Bernadette. Like, we can find out if Bernadette is acting on anyone’s behalf but her own. But now – so I think that grabbing her up and then, by extension, grabbing up her people is still a worthwhile goal. But maybe we bring her in and apply a little pressure and it turns out she’s not the one we’re looking for.

The team briefly discusses who the person they could be looking for besides Bernadette might be and quickly settle on Christopher Butler. Roger posits that Bernadette and Christopher may be rogue elements within Agrigenics, though that does not quite jive with Jocasta’s read of Christopher, who seemed, to her, like a truly loyal Company Man. Bernadette, by comparison, seems quite dedicated to enacting her own version of Beale Downer’s vision of a utopian “healthful” society. But before they waste too much time debating these fine points, they decide the best course of action is just to go with the plan: abduct Bernadette on her way home from work, abduct her four male companions from the communal home in Dixon, and bring everyone to the Barn for interrogation.

Roger and Mitch set out to intercept Bernadette in one of URIEL’s vans, bringing ikoter rifles along with them. Jocasta and Charley take a separate van loaded with halothane canisters, ikoters, and other equipment to Bernadette’s home in Dixon. Archie, Marshall, and Dave head to the Barn. They do not speak during the drive.

On a semi-rural road on the way into Dixon, closer to Vacaville, Roger and Mitch park their van and post up on an incline overlooking a stop-sign intersection with their ikoters. They wait for Bernadette, who they know from Roger’s surveillance often takes this road home because it bypasses the highway and is more scenic. Around 5:30, they spot her car coming up the road. They blast her with their ikoters, Mitch attempting to focus his shots and Roger providing cover fire. It appears to work: she seems dazed, though not knocked fully unconscious. Her car slows and veers toward the side of the road, not entirely uncontrolled, and coasts for a while in a slow roll. It seems that her foot slipped off the gas pedal as the ikoter blasts took effect.

Roger takes off down the incline to open the car door and stop the car before she crashes into the drainage ditch or rolls into the intersection. He jogs alongside the car for a moment, then pulls open the passenger-side door, then reaches for the emergency brake. As he does, he notices that Bernadette is, indeed, not unconscious, but instead sort of slumped against the steering wheel, staring at the dashboard. In the hubbub, he does not notice – but Mitch does from his vantage point – Bernadette reaching for the glove compartment. She pops it open. Roger looks down. Bernadette pulls out a small handgun: a Walther PPK. Mitch shouts “HEAD’S UP!” into his earpiece. Roger jumps back. Bernadette points the gun at his chest and pulls the trigger. Three shots ring out and Roger stumbles back, collapsing on the ground. As he goes, he thinks: “My God, she knows what she’s doing.” Dimly, he hears the voice of Agent 00 whisper that even he is impressed.

Bernadette grabs the wheel of her car and starts to put down the emergency brake. She’s attempting to get away. Mitch does some quick mental calculations about the distance between the car and Roger – only about four feet, too close to use his pyromantic abilities to blow up Bernadette’s car. So, instead, he turns his will upon Bernadette, who near-instantly bursts into flames. Even this does not stop her: Mitch watches as Bernadette clambers out of the car, screaming, and starts barreling toward him, gun in hand. He squints and the flames intensify. A moment later, she collapses into a charred, smoking pile midway between him and the road. Mitch leaps over her corpse and races towards Roger.

With his knowledge of first aid, Mitch is able to determine that Roger will, without serious medical attention, bleed out soon. Roger gasps that they need to get out of here ASAP: the road is not a busy one, but this is rush hour and there will be other drivers coming along shortly. Mitch debates his options. He could use his psychic powers to heal Roger, but that would take several minutes of intense concentration and, in the meantime, anyone might come along and witness the scene. First aid will take even longer. With a heavy sigh he helps Roger to his feet as best he can and the two slowly make their way to the URIEL van. As they go, Roger senses someone watching them. He looks around and sees, there, in the middle-distance, a man with a painted skull face, wearing a top hat and dated black suit, glaring daggers at him and wagging his finger back and forth.

Mitch deposits Roger in back, grabs a tarp, and runs to get Bernadette. He rolls her body onto the tarp, wraps her up, and drags her back to the van, tossing her in the back as well. As he goes, he detects faint – very faint – breathing. She’s not dead yet.

Mitch drives the van down the road a few hundred yards, pulls over, and crawls into the back. He rolls up his sleeve and lays hands upon Roger’s chest, now covered in blood. After a moment’s concentration, he says to no one in particular that he’s ready, and physically reaches into Roger’s chest three times, each time pulling out a metal slug, which he tosses in a corner. After the final slug is removed, Roger’s wounds close themselves and the bleeding stops. All that remains are a few old-looking scars. Roger sits up with a gasp, startled, panicked. Mitch slouches over, exhausted. He summons his remaining strength to check Bernadette’s aura. She is, in fact, alive, but barely. And she’s in extreme, all-consuming pain. After catching his breath, he crawls over to Bernadette and lays hands upon her, partially healing her so that she is in stable, albeit still dire, condition.

Now miraculously healed, Roger gets in the driver’s seat of the van and takes off toward the Barn. He radios the team once he’s on the highway; Jocasta has her radio off, though, so he only gets Marshall and Archie. Overwhelmed, and all formalities gone, Roger shouts into the line that Bernadette shot him, he’s been shot, he needs medical attention. Marshall and Archie try to calm him down and tell him to get to the Barn ASAP. An argument erupts among the team over the radio about what to do. Marshall thinks they should abort the abduction of Bernadette’s four “boyfriends” at the house in Dixon because they have no idea when the police will be alerted to her abandoned car on the side of the road with the signs of a scuffle nearby. Jocasta disagrees and says that they have the element of surprise right now and they must use it. Archie overrules Marshall and says they will stick with the plan. Marshall sighs petulantly and goes out to his car to get his medical bag for when Roger and Mitch arrive.

In the van on the way to Dixon, Jocasta explains her plan to Charley:

Here's the plan. Charley, if you're willing – because you're going to be a big part of this, OK? But I don't want you to put yourself at risk if you don't feel you can pull this off. But here's how I’ve got it planned out. We're gonna set up shop a decent amount away, probably about a hundred yards outside their house, and wait ‘till it starts to get dark. Now, we’ve got equipment to see in the dark. They probably don’t. Maybe. But you’re also very stealthy, you’re very quiet, you’re a good climber. So what I would like you to do – I can show you very quickly how to pop the top of this halothane container, if you’re up for it, you sneak over to the house, you climb on the roof, you drop this into the house. You’re going to flood the whole place within about one minute with gas that will knock them on their asses for a couple of hours. Now, there’s a possibility that they will come running outside the house once that starts and they’ll get outside the house before the chemical is able to affect them. They’ll probably be slow because halothane works quickly. But that’s why I’m going to be posted up a couple hundred feet away because if they start running out, I’m going to shoot out the windows. I’m not going to aim at them at first, I just want them to think the place is under fire. And the rifle is suppressed so it’s not going to be heard too far away. That hopefully will drive them back into the house or if they keep running outside, well, like the man, said accidents happen. That sounds simple enough, doesn't it?

Charley agrees and the two make their final preparations, with Charley donning a gas mask. The plan goes off without a hitch. Charley climbs to the roof, drops the halothane container down the chimney, and the two wait. After about three minutes with no signs of movement, Jocasta goes to the front door where Charley joins her. Charley picks the lock and they both step inside. Jocasta rapidly locates the four men in various locations, with Charley acting as lookout. Jocasta binds each of the men at the hands and feet and hauls them out to the van. She and Charley hop in their respective seats and take off for the Barn.

Roger and Mitch arrive at the Barn, both covered in dried blood. Roger starts to debrief Marshall and Archie but soon finds he is unable to; he is unraveling, though physically unscathed. His eyes are vacant and he collapses into a chair, where he starts shaking uncontrollably. He realizes he can no longer feel the loa inside him. He is, suddenly, alone with himself and his thoughts. Marshall springs into action and offers Roger a mild sedative to calm his nerves and mitigate the shakes. Roger takes the pill and Mitch helps him to a couch. He lays down. As his adrenaline crashes, and the medication kicks in, Roger’s drifts to sleep. His last thought as he goes is that Baron Samedi is furious at him.

With Dave’s assistance, Mitch moves Bernadette into one of the Barn’s secure rooms while they wait for Jocasta and Charley. Marshall gathers as many blankets and towels as he can find, soaks them in water, and starts wrapping up Bernadette’s badly-burnt body, administering a powerful intravenous sedative as he does. Mitch takes the time to rest. About an hour later they hear a van pull up; Jocasta and Charley have arrived. The team transports Bernadette’s four companions to a group holding cell, still handcuffed and bound. Leaving Roger asleep on the couch, the rest of URIEL assembles outside under the early night sky to discuss what to do.

Another argument ensues as the team debates whether they can, or should, save Bernadette’s life and how best to proceed. Marshall thinks they may need to reset the board – this operation has gone south, perhaps they can return the boys to the house before anyone realizes they are missing, or the boys even realize they’ve gone anywhere, and regroup to consider their options. The team’s reaction to this proposal is a firm, “no.” Jocasta insists that they must get whatever information they can out of the boys now otherwise Roger’s sacrifice will be in vain. Besides, who knows when they will have another opportunity like this? They need to seize the initiative while they still can. Marshall acquiesces.

What then, Bernadette? Marshall thinks they should perhaps just like her die because what else can they do with her? It’s unclear that Mitch can heal her again – this ability of his is still new, and its parameters uncharted. In the meantime, she’s a third-degree burn victim who needs intense medical care, likely in a trauma ward. How would they facilitate that? Admit her to a hospital under Marshall’s credentials? Call Granite Peak for an emergency medical evac? Something else? Jocasta insists that they not contact the Peak; they will lose her if they do for who-knows-how-long and gain nothing in the meantime. OK, then, Marshall says: why not let her die? We can have Charley interrogate her ghost on the other side, since she is able to commune with spirits in that capacity? But everyone else is reluctant to subject an 11 year-old girl to that. So they arrive back at square one.

Jocasta argues that they could interrogate her in her current condition. Well, Marshall can’t – she can’t speak or likely even hear anyone in her current state – but Jocasta could probe her mind as she did with Dan. Marshall scoffs at this idea. Having been burnt alive, Bernadette’s mind will be nothing but a swirl of deep pain and horror. He does not think Jocasta has the fortitude or the ability to pierce through that and find what lies beneath. Jocasta angrily insists she could. The two are at daggers drawn.

Archie intervenes and says he thinks the immediate plan should be to interrogate Bernadette’s four male followers to see what they can learn while they decide what to do with Bernadette. He’s not talking about keeping her alive, at the Barn, for weeks or even days: just long enough to get more information from her boys, which may be enough to inform the team’s next actions. Does Marshall think he can keep her alive long enough to accomplish that? Marshall sighs and says yes, he likely can. Mitch speaks up: he is very interested in learning where Bernadette learned the things she knows, and who put her up to all this. He is willing to spend the time and the effort to see if he can heal her back to a state where she is badly wounded but ambulatory and cogent. He just needs time to rest and prepare himself.

Marshall says, fine, he’ll get to work on the boys. Jocasta interjects and says no one was asking him to do that. He snipes back, fine, she can do it. She says she’s happy to, though she doubts they know very much. Marshall flips. He punches a wall and shouts, “That’s what I am saying! They don’t know very much! They are in a pristine state right now. They are more useful to us in their naivete right now, and when we know more we can get them again and then we can use them to put together the big pieces. They are small pieces! They’re like the edge pieces in a puzzle. We need bigger pieces.” No one gets the metaphor and Jocasta says Marshall is wrong. Yes, sometimes missions get fucked up but they didn’t put all this work into apprehending the four of them only to turn around and bring them home. She explains that they may not know much, but they know something, and she can get that something out of them by maybe bending a few fingers backwards. Marshall takes a deep breath and says, again, fine, do what you will. He heads inside. A moment later, everyone else follows.