Prospero took the party to check out the STRIKE FORCE Protective Custody safe-house in Fishtown. It was a two bedroom ground-floor apartment in a six storey block.
There was a lounge/living area, kitchen, hallway, bathroom and laundry. The Fishtown suburb was pretty divey, so there were plenty of locks on the front door. The back door exited onto a blind alley with a one-way gate out to the street. Five other ground-floor apartments also shared this alley.
Every room, except the bedrooms and the toilet, had a CCTV camera in it, plus there were discreet cameras in the alley and one covering the front door.
Down the street, about three minutes walk, on the third floor, was another STRIKE FORCE apartment. Prospero told them that this was the Surveillance room, that monitored all the cameras in the apartment.
Monday sunset 8:32 pm, July 7
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| No-eavesdrop Ruby |
Mina arrived at the Elfrith Alley apartment, and let herself in.
Sledge was fiddling with the No-eavesdrop Ruby. Mina saw him.
"Ooo ... a magic ruby?" she said. "May I see it?"
Sledge handed it over, without question.
Mina weighed it and had a closer look, then passed it back to Sledge.
"That works like my Shroud down in the cellar," she said.
Monday midnight, July 7
The group decided to check the STRIKE FORCE Protective Custody house after dark, so went down to Fishtown. The streets were teeming with whores and pushers and the dregs of society.
There were lights on in the safe-house, so, intrigued, they went to the Surveillance room to have a nosey.
It didn't take Ebony long to open the tricky security locks.
Inside the small apartment was a wall covered with monitors. Each labelled: "Gate", "Alley", "Laundry", "Hall", "Kitchen" and "Lounge".
Sledge and Ebony switched them all on, and they came on slowly.
At first the rooms showed up as empty, but all the lights were on. All were empty bar two.
On the screen labelled "Lounge", in the centre of the room, there was a woman, in her twenties, black-haired, topless, manacled to a chair, wrists and ankles, and a heavy iron chain on her neck. She was badly bruised, cut, and spattered in blood. It was all over the floor. She was slumped, head down, unconscious on the chair. She'd been badly beaten.
The "Kitchen" monitor revealed a heavy-set man, in a dress shirt and trousers. He was making himself a coffee. He drank it, then returned to the girl in the lounge. He lifted her head up. There was no response, so he let it drop again.
"Nothing to see here," said Jacob, and he turned off the monitors.
"Um ... I think we should phone Prospero," said Ebony.
Ebony phoned Prospero. It was well after 1 am. A tired voice replied.
Ebony mentioned where they were and what they saw.
"Turn the screens off," said Prospero. "Leave it."
"Yes, sir."
Tuesday morning, July 8
Sledge happened to notice something unusual about the No-eavesdrop Ruby. The Ruby had a pin, so that it could be worn like a medal. On this pin there had been threaded a tiny bead. Sledge was sure that this bead wasn't there yesterday.
"Seems Mina gave us a gift?" he said.
Theo checked it and there was no tingling.
"Maybe it is unique and can be tracked," posited Jacob.
Reggie put the bead on a Greyhound bus, and watched as it drove away.
"Track that, Mina," he muttered.
Tuesday afternoon, July 8
"Lassard and Thomson are on-time for tomorrow," said Prospero. "He's being well-guarded by Philly's Finest. So you lot will not be needed until the evening, after dark."
Prospero had Lassard's itinerary. He passed it to the group. You will be given passes to all these events.
- Wednesday night: a public meal at the Philadelphia mayor's house, Mitchell Nutter
- Friday night was home at the safe-house.
- Thursday night he was attending a function at the Fleischer Art Memorial
"But that is Mina's house!" exclaimed Ebony.
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