Missions of the Retrieval Team - Kiltmen Down

[davedove]

I have been inspired by Panache's tales and have decided to attempt one of my own. I will take the character of Mr. Dove and his associates and describe some of their adventures apart from the esteemed Mr. Panache. These tales may have appearances by familiar characters and settings from his stories, but they will be tales in their own right. The style will be different from his, but the world is the same. Now, without further delay, I give you the first Missions of the Retrieval Team. I hope you enjoy it.

Missions of the Retrieval Team
Kiltmen Down

Opening

Burlington, Ontario, Canada

I would have to say the meal had been extraordinary. If we hadn’t been on a mission, I could have relaxed completely.

“I take it you enjoyed the meal, Alexander?” asked our host Mr. Grant.

“Indeed I did. The Ontario ice wine was exceptional. I’ll have to obtain some for my cellar.”

“Oh, yes, the wine was delightful,” said my companion Veronica.

Of course, Veronica is not her real name, nor is Alexander mine. We were on a mission and those were the names we had assumed. Most of the time I am known simply as Mr. Dove and she is Ms. Thrush.

Ms. Thrush was doing her job of distracting Mr. Grant very well, but then she’s the best at what she does. The gown she was wearing that emphasized the more exceptional portions of her anatomy only made her job that much easier. It seemed that Mr. Grant definitely had an appreciation for beautiful women, especially those who showed an interest in him.

Mr. Grant is a collector of rare items, and he has assembled quite the collection. Unfortunately, many of those items were not his to collect. That’s why we were here. A client has paid us to retrieve a rare sporran that Mr. Grant has stolen.

We had seen the sporran earlier in the evening. Ms. Thrush had persuaded our host to show off his collection. The sporran was truly a unique item. The iridescent qualities of the fur were remarkable. It was the whitest of white fur and the very edge of each individual hair shimmered with a rainbow of colors.

As Ms. Thrush steered Mr. Grant away to another part of the collection, I moved closer to the sporran, as if to examine it better. This, of course, gave me the perfect opportunity to slip a small tracking device onto the base of the display case.

Now, as we were enjoying our dinner with Mr. Grant, two more of my associates, Ms. Raven and Ms. Hawk, would slip into the display hall and liberate the sporran so that we could return it to its rightful owner.

“Alexander, would you mind terribly if I danced with your delightful companion?” Mr. Grant asked, with perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm.

“I’m not the one to ask; she doesn’t often do what I ask anyway,” I answered jokingly.

“Of course I’ll dance with you,” my companion chimed in. “Alexander doesn’t like to dance, and I so seldom get the chance.” She let Mr. Grant lead her in a passable waltz. Although Mr. Grant wasn’t quite the dancer he thought he was, Ms. Thrush followed his every lead flawlessly.

Now that he was again distracted, I could make the preparations for our exit. Pretending to examine the paintings on the wall, I moved towards the door to the garden. Opening the doors, I pretended to enjoy the night air as I dropped a locator beacon in a bush. Once Ms. Raven and Ms. Hawk retrieved the sporran, my other associate, Ms. Falcon would rendezvous with them, and then home in on the beacon to pick up Ms. Thrush and myself.

I returned to my chair and watched the dancers. Mr. Grant was attempting to get to know my companion a little better and his hands were wandering. Ms. Thrush managed to slip away from his advances without discouraging him. It was amazing watching her manipulate him.

We didn’t have long to wait as the signal device hidden in my watch began to vibrate. My associates had made their rendezvous and were on the way to our pickup.

“Ms. Thrush,” I called out, “We must be going.”

“Where are you going?” Mr. Grant asked, obviously confused.

Ms. Thrush was already moving to the door to the garden. I moved that way as well.

I answered our confused host. “I’m sorry, Mr. Grant, but our job here is finished.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well, you see, my associates and I were hired to retrieve an item that you stole.”

We had made it to the garden, where our associates had lowered a rescue cable to us from the helicopter hovering overhead. I placed my foot in a loop and grabbed another loop in my hand. Ms. Thrush placed her foot in the loop with mine and wrapped her arms around me.

“What item?” Mr. Grant asked, with more than a little worry in his voice.

“Why that lovely sporran, of course, our client is paying us quite well for its return.”

At that, sudden understanding struck Mr. Grant. “Not the Acryli-beast sporran!”

Mr. Grant then made a sudden dive out the door for us. Unfortunately for him, at that very moment our associates began to reel in the cable. Mr. Grant’s dive carried him beneath us and face first into some freshly fertilized flowers. He leapt to his feet with a mad look in his eyes and rather fresh, natural fertilizer all over his face.

As Ms. Thrush and I were being pulled into the helicopter and Ms. Falcon flew away from the garden, we waved goodbye to Mr. Grant.

As we flew away, we heard him call out, “I will have an Acryli-beast sporran. I swear it!”

[Panache]

What fun! It is very nice to get to sit back and enjoy someone else's tale.
Though I would caution you Mr. Dove (and you too Jim) Grant is bit vindictive and not likely to let go of his ill-gotten gain without a fight!

Bravo

Jamie

[starbkjrus]

oh my word! Here we go again......


hehehehehehehe

Here ya go Grant....a perfect invitation.....

[starbkjrus]

Mr. Dove, I'm afraid that I don't recognize those names. Perchance are they friends of yours from McHooters?

[davedove]

Mr. Dove, I'm afraid that I don't recognize those names. Perchance are they friends of yours from McHooters?

You caught on quickly. As you can see, appearances can be deceiving.

[The F-H.C.A.G.]

... appearances can be deceiving.

Yes, they can!

Be well,

[davedove]

What fun! It is very nice to get to sit back and enjoy someone else's tale.
Though I would caution you Mr. Dove (and you too Jim) Grant is bit vindictive and not likely to let go of his ill-gotten gain without a fight!

Bravo

Jamie

Ah, high praise from the master storyteller.

I decided to begin my stories with a short sequence that may or may not be related to the story to be told, much like the James Bond or Indiana Jones movies. Plus, now we know what prompted Grant to pursue Panache to the frozen north.

I may not be as prolific a writer as Jaime, but I have a few chapters floating around in my head.

[Howard Clark]

You guys need more to do.

Very entertaining. I think Pearce Brosnan would make a good "Mr. Dove".

"My name is Dove, Mr. Dove, and this is my associate, Ms. Thrush"

"I do not know how you have located the Kilt Police headquarters, Mr Dove, but you will never leave the premises. My Russian bodyguard will see to that. Would you care to meet her, her name is...... Kiltchecka Velvethand, and she is most skilled in the marital arts of distraction and subterfuge." Bwahahahaha....:]

[davedove]

"My name is Dove, Mr. Dove, and this is my associate, Ms. Thrush"

"I do not know how you have located the Kilt Police headquarters, Mr Dove, but you will never leave the premises. My Russian bodyguard will see to that. Would you care to meet her, her name is...... Kiltchecka Velvethand, and she is most skilled in the marital arts of distraction and subterfuge." Bwahahahaha....:]

That's great, just the type of scenario I had imagined.

Perhaps we should introduce Grant to Miss Velvethand.

[davedove]

Scene 8


Great Hall of X marks the Scot


As Dee led us through the hallways to our rooms, I began the preparations for the mission.

“Ms. Swan, first thing we need to do is contact Ms. Stork. If we are indeed dealing with some sort of secret conspiracy, we will need her help. Have her fly here ASAP. Dee, would you make arrangements to pick her up at the airport?”

“No problem, just let me know when the flight is expected.”

“Great. Ms. Hawk, Ms. Raven, come up with a list of equipment we may need. I know we don’t know the full situation yet, but list whatever we need to start and to deal with the most likely contingencies. Does anyone else have anything right now?”

Ms. Thrush quickly spoke up. “Well, we need to change out of our public clothes. I don’t think we need to fool anyone here. Mike seems to be perfectly aware of our capabilities.”

“Good point, everyone change, freshen up, and we’ll continue this over dinner.”

Ms. Swan stopped me before I turned towards my room. “I just tried to dial up Ms. Stork on my cell phone, but again I can’t get any signal.”

Dee, hearing her predicament, answered for me. “I’m afraid you’ll have to use a land line for that. There’s a phone in each room. You won’t be able to use your cell phones anywhere on the mountain.”

This intrigued me. “Why is that, Dee?”

“It’s something David worked up. If you want to know the details, you’ll have to ask Mike.”

“I just may do that. Okay everyone, let’s do what we need to do and I’ll see you all at dinner.” With that, we each stepped into the individual rooms that Dee showed us to get ready for dinner.