Missions of the Retrieval Team - Kilts in a Cage

[davedove]

Thank you for getting it right! Dave, who is this Jaime you keep talking about? Jamie would have called in an air strike long ago and gotten rid of all those, not already killed by myself. Dave, haven't you ever seen The Avengers?

Be well,

Ah, but I have seen that Jaime is a man of honor and would not endanger any innocents that may be in the area, namely the captured villagers.

Now, if he knew the villagers were safely out of the area......

[davedove]

Scene 30

Yucatan Wilderness

After the General disappeared into the wilderness, the guards motioned for us to stand together.

My mind was racing. I didn’t see any way for us to get out of this situation, or at least not all of us. I began to slowly position myself forward of Ms. Stork and Coemgen. Perhaps when the shooting started, I could buy them a few seconds.

The guards raised their rifles. I braced myself to try and draw their fire.

Suddenly, the trees exploded with action. Dozens of poorly dressed people burst forth and swarmed over the guards, overpowering them.

A man stepped forward. Although he showed the strain of being overworked and underfed, I could still see the strength of his spirit shining through.

He extended his hand to me. “Are you all right?” he asked in Spanish, but with an odd accent.

“Yes, thank you,” I answered. “We are grateful for your timely arrival.”

“We are happy to come to the aid of the beautiful woman who befriended my aunt, Rosalina, the same beautiful woman who freed us from our captivity.”

Ms. Stork stepped forward to greet the man, speaking with his dialect. “I am Rebecca. You must be Miguel. Rosalina spoke of you.”

“Miss Rebecca, I am so pleased to speak with you and so pleased I could help you. After we escaped the General’s compound, those of us who were strong enough stayed behind to help those who had helped us. I am so sorry the General got away.”

“Do not apologize,” I said to him. “We owe you our lives.”

“As we owe ours to you,” he said. “But we can help you one more time.” He pointed to the west. “The busses you arrived in are about two kilometers in that direction.”

We thanked the villagers again, and crossed through the wilderness to the busses. Oddly enough, inside the busses, we found not only the keys, but all of our gear as well.

Coemgen searched through the gear and pulled out his pith helmet. He sighed as he placed it on his head.

“I say,” he said, in an accent a deep as any Georgia gentleman, “I do feel much better now.”

Ms. Stork and I both laughed at the pleased expression on his face.

“Ms. Stork,” I said, “find the phone and contact the team. Have them come to our location with medical assistance. Meanwhile, let’s take these busses back to the others.

Each of us took the wheel one of the busses and we drove them to where Jaime and the others had gathered.

As we approached I saw him direct the others to cover on the side of the road. He crouched down with a rifle and kept it trained on the bus as I pulled up.

I stopped the bus alongside him and opened the window. Jaime relaxed when he saw that I was driving.

“Anybody need a ride?” I asked.

[davedove]

Commercial Break

Great Hall of X Marks the Scot

We hear a voice from down a hallway. “Arlen, do you have the figures for the budget yet?”

A man with close-cropped hair comes running down the hall with a notebook.

Form the other end of the hall we hear another voice. “Arlen, I need that book on pre-Roman highland culture.”

Another voice calls out. “Arlen, do you have that information on the fabled stinging butterfly yet.”

Yet another voice calls out. “Arlen, I need the comparative analysis of the schemes of the different Bond villains now.”

The man looks completely harried from all the different requests, and looks like he doesn’t know which way to turn.

We hear the narrator’s voice. “Have you ever felt this way? Do you have so many requests for information that you can’t keep up? We have a way to help.”

The scene changes to a close-up of a handheld computer.

The narrator continues. “The new Intelli-Quest from Freelander Electronics allows you to access your records from anywhere in your office. Its wireless interface connects to your office network from anywhere in the building and displays the response to your query on the handheld screen. No longer do you have to leave that important meeting to return to your office, simply because you forgot something, or your boss asks for something you didn’t anticipate.”

The scene changes back to the man in the hallway and we hear another voice. “Arlen, where is that treatise on medieval Scottish music?”

The man pulls out his Intelli-Quest and punches in a query. A few seconds later, he calls out, “Right here, sir.”

The scene changes back to a close-up of the handheld.

The narrator speaks. “The Intelli-Quest from Freelander Electronics, all your information at your fingertips, always.”

[Standard]

Man I need one of those.

[davedove]

Scene 31

Roadway on the Mayan Riviera

After loading the rest of our group onto the busses, we drove out of the wilderness until we got to the main road to Cancun. We had just pulled onto the highway when the helicopter appeared in the sky, flying south towards us.

A familiar voice came over the bus radio. “Dove, Stork, this is Starling. Is that you we see coming up the road?”

I picked up the microphone. “This is Dove. Yes it is. We’ll pull of to the side. Set down near us. We’ve got some wounded aboard.”

“Roger,” she answered. “Setting down near you. I’ll see you on the ground. Starling, out.”

We pulled the busses to the side of the road. The helicopter approached and landed as safely as it could. When it touched down, Ms. Starling opened the door and jumped out, followed by Ms. Hawk and Ms. Raven.

We in the busses helped our wounded out so they could be loaded onto the helicopter. I saw that Dee had finally regained his senses.

“What happened?” he asked.

“According to the others, you took a pretty good blow to the head,” I answered.

“The children?”

“They’re fine. Grant and his men got them out.”

Ms. Starling came up to me as the wounded were being loaded. “Sorry we couldn’t get here sooner,” she said.

“You’re here now. The other two are in the back of the last van.”

I got Jaime’s attention and he grabbed Coemgen. The two men joined us behind the last van. Ms. Stork opened the door from inside. Lying on the floor were two bodies, covered in sheets.

“Who were they?” asked Ms. Starling.

“Two new members,” answered Jaime. “Michael Newface and Peter Recruit. They had just joined on the cruise.”

The four of us loaded the two men as discretely as we could onto the back of the helicopter.

“Okay,” I told Ms. Starling, “Get them to care. We will take the busses with the others to Cancun and arrange transportation.”

“No need,” she said. “I contacted the other Moderators. Todd is bringing the Saltire down to transport you all to the Great Hall.”

“Good work, I’ll see you there.”

[starbkjrus]

Commercial Break

snip...

We hear a voice from down a hallway. “Arlen, do you have the figures for the budget yet?”

...snip

The narrator speaks. “The Intelli-Quest from Freelander Electronics, all your information at your fingertips, always.”

Well since David is well over budget due to the extension of his Monorail system it's a good thing the budget figures are coming from a Freelander Device. Gotta get me one of those things.

[starbkjrus]

snip...

I saw that Dee had finally regained his senses.

...snip...

“No need,” she said. “I contacted the other Moderators. Todd is bringing the Saltire down to transport you all to the Great Hall.”

“Good work, I’ll see you there.”

I regained my senses? That's new and different.

I hope Todd wears the hat.

[davedove]

Scene 32

Cancun International Airport

As we drove onto the airport we easily spotted the Saltire. A small crowd had gathered around where it was tied down.

As we brought the busses in near the Saltire, I saw red shirted men directing the crowd back. Ensigns Splash, BEEDEE, and Mender caused the crowd to part, forming a path so we could approach the airship.

Todd came walking down the path, along with Ms. Thrush.

Jaime greeted him. “Glad you could get here, Todd.”

“Of course, when Ms. Starling received the emergency code from Ms. Stork, she immediately contacted us. Then, she took her team’s jet to Cancun while I readied the Saltire and her crew. Ms. Thrush came along with me so we could better coordinate our operation. When Ms. Starling got back here with the wounded, we helped her load them onto the jet. They have left for the Great Hall.”

“Before you board the Saltire,” said Ms. Thrush, “there’s something you need to know. Some archaeologists were working when they heard gunfire. When they approached, they found what seemed to be the site of an execution. Six men had been shot down just off a dirt road.”

“Our drivers and guides?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Any survivors?”

“By the time they arrived, all of the victims had died, except for one. A man who has been identified as one of the drivers, a man named Manuel, is alive but in critical condition in the hospital here in Cancun.”

“Okay,” I said, “make all the normal arrangements for Manuel and his family. And find out what you can about the families of the others and make arrangements for them as well.”

“I’ve already contacted Ms. Swan back at the Great Hall and she has activated the Foundation.”

“Great work,” I said.

“Wait a minute,” interrupted Jaime. “What arrangements? What foundation?”

“The Dove Foundation, set up to provide for the families of unfortunate incidents.”

“But the Dove Foundation is international in scope, are you saying that’s you.”

I smiled at him. “You didn’t think that all the fees for my work went to yachts and villas, did you? Twenty-five percent of all the fees I take in go straight into the Foundation. It’s an unfortunate fact that sometimes what we do impacts the lives of innocents, like poor Manuel. I started the Dove Foundation to help them.”

Jaime still wasn’t convinced. “The Dove Foundation gives out hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Do you make that much on your fees?”

“Not even close, but I’m not the only contributor. And, although I founded the organization, I don’t run it. I am on the board and have a say in its operation, but the whole board has the final say. Fortunately, there are enough funds that anyone can submit nominations for beneficiaries of the charity.”

Jaime looked a little ashamed. “I’ll have to admit that I did think you spent all your income on leisure. You’ve impressed me.”

“Yeah, well keep it under your hat. Most of my clients think I’m just an adventuring playboy.” I winked and smiled. “It’s part of my charm.”

[davedove]

Scene 33

Aboard the Saltire

The flight to South Carolina was relatively uneventful. The only irritation was Grant’s sulking. No one had thought to stock any Ontario wine in the larder.

Upon crossing the South Carolina border, Jaime announced that anyone not part of the crew would have to pass the remainder of the flight within the dining room, so as to safeguard the secret location of the Great Hall.

I had gone through this drill before, so I started towards the dining room.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Jaime asked.

“To the dining room, like everyone else,” I answered. “You don’t want me to see the location of the Hall, do you?”

“Drop the innocent act,” he told me. “We all know that your team discovered our location. While we don’t like it, I suppose we’ll have to live with it. By the way, that Ms. Swan is quite the investigator.”

I chuckled a bit, knowing that my secret was out. “Well, she just can’t stand to leave a mystery unsolved.”

As the Saltire approached the mountain upon which the Great Hall stood, I watched closely. I had seen the hangar from the inside, but had never watched the airship dock. We seemed to be flying straight towards the side of the mountain.

Then, the side of the mountain opened with two great doors swinging out. Within I could see the hangar where several people were waiting to secure the craft.

“Impressive,” I said to Jaime. “With the doors closed it looks just like any other mountainside.”

“It’s a combination of modeling and holographic imagery,” Jaime told me. “David worked up the idea one afternoon.”

As the airship slipped into the hangar, mooring lines were thrown to the men waiting inside. These men helped guide the craft to the hooks mounted on the floor.

As I looked around, I saw a small control booth set up off the floor, near the doors. As the airship passed completely within the doors, the man in the booth activated some controls and the doors started to swing closed.

The instant the doors closed completely, I noticed the lights come up. Apparently, they remained at a minimal illumination when the doors were open to reduce the chances of detection.

As soon as the Saltire was secured, Jaime ordered everyone to disembark.

[davedove]

Scene 34

Great Hall of X Marks the Scot

All the members were directed to the underground monorail. When it stopped, Jaime and Todd guided them upstairs to the main floor of the Great Hall.

As we entered the library we were greeted with an unusual apparition. Spasm, the manservant was waiting there for us. However, in addition to his normal attire, he was wearing a WWI era Doughboy helmet and what had to be a coast guard personal flotation vest. Around his waist he had strapped a Civil War cavalry saber and he had tucked a flintlock dueling pistol in the belt.

“Spasm, why are you dressed like that?” Panache asked.

Spasm snapped off a sharp salute. “I’m ready to help defend the Great Hall, Master Jaime. I overheard Master Todd telling the others that enemy forces had attacked the members so I wanted to be ready. All the necessary arrangements have been made.”

“Uh, what arrangements?” Panache asked.

“The Great Hall is secure, Master Jaime. All the windows have been boarded and the doors blocked. No one will get in here without a fight. The provisions have been moved to the emergency cellar. I also gathered up all the valuables and buried them behind the stables.”

“Buried?”

“Yes, to keep them from being plundered.”

I was almost in pain from trying to hold in the laughter. Jaime shot me a dirty look, and then turned back to Spasm.

“Spasm, the emergency is over. Please, put everything back in its place. We have guests to entertain.”

“Guests, Master Jaime? These aren’t reinforcements?”

“No, Spasm, they are our guests. And I am sure they are tired and hungry. Please see to their needs.”

“Yes, Master Jaime.”

As Spasm introduced himself to the others, I walked away with the Moderators.

Todd spoke quietly to Jaime, “Uh, Jaime, about the valuables.”

“I know, Todd,” he answered. “We don’t have any stables.”