Letter from Clyde Baughman

Report on Clyde Baughman

Baughman's Apartment and Cabin Floorplan

Agent OPHELIA (Deceased)

Agent OPHELIA

This poor unfortunate, real name Angela Wheaton, was an FBI Agent from Cincinnati. OPHELIA had been "impregnated" during O-Cell's bungled op and was secreted in the Albany Green Box by Agent OSCAR. When OPHELIA finally metamorphosed into a hulking black spider-like thing, she promptly devoured OSCAR's brain and would have done the same to Agent JASON, had the rest of J-Cell not come to his rescue and destroyed her.

Agent OLIVER (Deceased)

Agent OLIVER

OLIVER was the junior most member of O-Cell. His real name, Julius Jones, a Police Officer from Philadelphia. OLIVER had suffered a near mental breakdown during the botched operation. Involved in a heated firefight with Agents JUDE and JASPER, OLIVER finally snapped and attempted to run from the scene, but was abruptly executed by JUDE.

Agent OSWALD (Deceased)

Agent OSWALD

OSWALD was the second most senior member of O-Cell. His real name was Fernando Alcantar, a United States Customs Service Agent from Washington. He had suffered from an unfortunate and messy stomach wound during the botched op and was later shot dead by Agent JUDE.

Agent OSCAR (Deceased)

Agent OSCAR

OSCAR was a veteran Delta Green agent and leader of O-Cell. His real name, Daniel Crozier, an FBI Agent of the Criminal Investigative Division, out of Philadelphia. After an opera went critically wrong in Pennsylvania, the shaken and battered O-Cell holed up in the Albany Green Box. When eventually confronted by J-Cell, OSCAR was fatally wounded by JASON and ironically killed by the metamorphosed Agent OPHELIA. 

Albany Green Box Floorplan

Interlude Operation LAZARUS (Agent Jude)

It’s been two months since operation Lazarus.  The scars have finally rendered themselves “uninfected”.  Whatever I had been scratched with must have been down in that tank rotting for decades.  The doctor’s said the only thing they had seen that causes such a festering wound in such a short period were alligator bites.
Work seemed okay with it, Christmas break dramas between me and my hunting habits.  Some of the guys knew about my cabin, they knew I liked to disappear into the wilderness for days on end.  Light duties for a while. Pills. Can’t forget the pills.
Charlie took some more convincing, it’s not every day that your partner ends up looking like they have gone 10 rounds with a bear in the ring.
The nightmares, they are still here.  Closing my eyes, when I hit that deep sleep cycle, she is there, the old woman, digging into my chest.  If it’s not her, it’s that fucking spider. That giant, fucking, spider, its eyes, a woman's eyes, they are burned into my brain.  What the hell was that thing?
I keep searching in the night for my weapon. The nights I wake up from those dreams, I always wake up clutching my 40 cal.
Pills. Take the pills, that’s all there is to give me a good night’s sleep.  The doctors can’t be told what happened, I’d be out of a job, most likely in a loony bin somewhere.
Charlie, she doesn’t need to know, she doesn’t even stay overnight anymore. Her rules, not mine, probably a good thing. I don’t want her to hear my midnight ramblings.
Take the pills. They won’t hurt, relax the mind.  It doesn’t even slow me down, just takes the edge off. Another month and I should be back to full duties, the doctor said that the scars won’t fade in a hurry, but full mobility and muscle tissue should be almost back to normal, then its just a week or so of stiffness.
I wonder if J-Cell has been back together? Should I use the phone they gave me? I wouldn’t be much use anyway - well maybe not.  The doctor went nuts and the old guy, well, he’s old.  I wonder if the spider bite killed him?
Shame, there seemed to be a soul under all that 1970’s tough guy routine.

Epilogue Operation LAZARUS (Agent Jason)

Somewhere near Albany.

Jason sipped from his coffee in the roadside diner. Jasper was playing around with the egg on his plate, while leafing through a magazine. Jason excused himself, got up and headed to the restrooms.

After checking the stalls were empty, he pulled his cell phone out and dialed A-Cell.

After a few moments, he heard the modified voice and answered whomever was listening on the other side.

"This is Jason. As discussed in the debrief, I am calling in. Fivehead..."

"Understood, Agent Jason"

The other person hung up.

Jason made his way back to their table and dropped a few bills next to his half finished meal.

"Let's go, Jasper"

"Did you wash your hands?"

He turned around and gave the waitress a nod and a smile before opening the door and heading to the parking lot. He opened the door of the dented white car and lit a cigarette, looking at Jasper who was walking towards him. Perhaps Nancy was right...

Operation LAZARUS De-brief

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From:          <JASON>  
Sent:          Monday, December 28, 1998 6:28AM
To:            <A-CELL>
Subject:       Operation LAZARUS Debriefing

Debriefing Operation LAZARUS, J-Cell, December 29th to 30th 1998
1.       J-cell met as per instructions and picked up the envelope at the Post Office. From there we went to the Green Box and made our way to Baughman's apartment.
2.       The apartment was already relatively clean. A gun was found and removed from the premises, and a room full of paperwork was carefully investigated. No incriminating documents were found.
3.       We did find a few invoices and electricity bills for a cabin, along with a set of keys, with one of them labeled "cabin".
4.       The garage and car were checked, all was clear there as well.
5.       We made out way to the cabin at Tupper Lake (address included). The whole place was also clean, apart from a footlocker (contents listed), including a letter asking whoever came to clean up to take care of something in the septic tank. He called it his "last and unfinished Opera" and told the reader "not to look".
6.       We proceeded as quickly as possible and moved the footlocker to the car, and started pouring gasoline. We heard a woman claiming to be Clyde's widow from inside the tank. Given the fact that his wife died years ago, and that no-one had been here to water/feed the woman, I didn't believe her to be mortal/human. I ordered the rest of the cell to continue.
7.       The thing was able to escape from the tank and in doing so wounded Jude severely. With some trouble we were able to overcome the creature, and proceeded to burn it in the septic tank. In the course of this, the knife from the locker went down into the tank and was destroyed.
8.       At this stage we left the scene, Jagger had given medical assistance to Jude, and we made our way back to the Green Box to drop off the footlocker.

This and the burning of the re-animated corpse concluded Operation LAZARUS.

However, further events unfolded at the Green Box.

a.     We found the padlock cut. I ordered J-cell to go in and investigate. Inside we found 2 persons, who identified themselves as Oscar and Oswald (severely wounded).
b.     As I was unsure about what was going on, weapons remained trained by both cells. We were joined by Oliver, who kept a weapon on Jude.
c.     Jagger assisted by giving Oswald some first aid. I asked Oscar if there were others and he said there was a woman in the back office. Something in his voice told me that matters weren't right. I told Jagger to assist her.
d.    Upon his return Jagger informed me that she was heavily pregnant, although she hadn't been 24 hours ago. We had found out that they had just returned from an op that had gone wrong. No-one from O-cell went into any details, but I had decided that if there was any risk here, the situation needed to be solved.
e.    I joined Jagger and Oscar, after making clear to Jude and Jasper to be ready if anything went wrong. When I saw Ophelia, it was clear something was very wrong. Oscar refused to see reason and didn't want to sort the situation out. At that moment he went for his gun, and I shot him. Simultaneously there was a noise in Ophelia's room. Jagger and I investigated and found an arachnid creature hanging from the ceiling, shedding its human skin. Jagger left the room, while I engaged. After a few shots, it was able to bite me. I blacked out.
f.    When i regained consciousness, the rest of the cell had dispatched the creature and Jagger had contacted you. We continued to clean the Green Box, All paperwork has been collected and is deposited in the Springfield Green Box, together with the footlocker from the cabin. The garage was thoroughly doused in petrol, and the remains of the creature were covered with rubber tires, on top of the grenade we had found. I feel that this explosion, along with the fire, would have been enough to destroy any evidence.
g.    The bodies of O-cell have been disposed of, along with their vehicle. I dropped Jagger and Jude off at the airport, and asked Jasper to stay with me, as I am worried that the creature may somehow have injected me with something that could overtake me. He is under instructions to neutralize me if in doubt. We are keeping a low profile at the Morning Dew Caravan Park, Catskills Mountains.
h.    I plan to call in four days time and mention the code-word FIVEHEAD. If no email is received, and you have not heard from Jasper, I think i have been overtaken by this creature and will probably have infected Jasper as well (undoubtedly, he would have contacted you otherwise).
In that case, I recommend to find and terminate Agent Jasper with extreme prejudice in order to avoid further contamination.

The creature looked like a man-sized arachnid. It injects poison through bites and had sucked the eyes and brains from Oscar's skull.
Hope this helps identifying it when cross-referencing the database.


Jason

DELETE this message after reading.
<PATH REDACTED>

Session 04 (Agent Jude)

I awoke to the semi alarmed whispers of Jason and Jasper, they were moving back towards the car from the back door of the green box.  The padlock that had held it closed was lying coldly on the ground.  Jason opened the rear door of the car and instructed us to get ready, Jasper and Jason had taken the shotguns from the trunk, I was armed with my snub nose 38, my Glock remaining in its shoulder holster under my coat.

Following Jasper, electing to stay on the more useful side of things in a firefight, we breached the door slowly, electing for the sneak rather than the full-on assault, a wiser decision given that we had, one sick, one wounded and two exhausted.

Agent Oscar

Jason took the lead, as soon as he was inside, his voice called out to identify, Jasper and Jagger entered next, Jasper moving to the far side of the loading dock to cover the shadowy figures on the raised platform.  I entered last and joined Jason, my pistol trained on a standing man in a suit talking on a phone, to his left, a slumped and bloody man, hunched against the wall at the top of the loading dock stairs.  The man Identified himself as “Oscar”, Delta agent.  As I saw Jasper and Jason had him covered with the shotguns, I continued my sweep on the ground floor, checking the truck and abandoned car, making sure there were no surprised before re-joining the team.

I looked Oscar over more carefully, he had a large revolver holstered at his side, yet he knew he was outmanned and any movement towards it was going to be his last.

Agent Oswald

Oliver continued to talk, “Oswald” is wounded, gut shot, as he pointed to the Hispanic man in civilian clothing slumped bloodied against the wall.  He also mentioned a woman in the back, also injured and in need of care, Jagger didn’t waste time, moving to Oswald, explaining he was medically trained and able to stabilise him.

As Jagger set out his medical bag, Jason was leaning on the raised wall of the loading dock as Jasper moved wider towards the truck parked close by as this standoff could take time.  Before I could move any closer to Oscar with the intent of disarming him, the back door behind me flung open, a large black man in a hood entered brandishing a semi-automatic SPAS-12 shotgun and jammed it straight into the back of my head.  The jolt of the barrel against my skull forcing my neck forward and the blood in my mouth from the previous night’s events emerging down my chin.

This new man “Oliver”, I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was on the edge.  He had a shotgun trained on him, Oscar had a shotgun strained on him, Oswald was bleeding out and yet he still insisted on us dropping our guns.  Ballsy, yet I was in no position to not comply. I let my pistol fall to the floor, he hadn’t seen my Glock, just in case I had to do something stupid.

Jason took over the negotiations, badly, using the classic “I don’t even like him” routine, part of me felt it was mostly true, I’m sure Jason wouldn’t have cared if my brains were all over the floor.  It was Jasper who showed the level head, he had the best view of Oliver, he lowered his shotgun and was doing his best to defuse everything.  Jagger had patched up Oswald as best he could, Oswald speaking Spanish at how he didn’t want to die.  Clearly the only one who could understand I responded to him, reassuring him that he was in good hands, all in Spanish.

Franchi SPAS-12 

My chest began to burn, having my arms up was stretching the slash marks across me, the staples feeling like they were about to burst.  I was allowed to drop to my knees and relax my arms slightly, the shotgun of Oliver still on me, I would feel it a few millimetres from my head, I didn’t care right now, my chest was a nightmare.

As things began to simmer down slightly, it was the brit who made the mistake, Jagger decided to pull a gun, Oswald’s gun.  Oliver saw it, his boot across my back, flattening me on the floor, face down, his foot coming to rest on my spine, his shotgun wedged against my neck, I could barely breathe.

Everything fired up again, the gun pointing, the yelling, the distinctive cocking noise of pump actions going to work, the only relief, no shots fired.

After a few minutes of listening to Jason try to control the situation, only to be met by Oliver’s crazed yelling made me think that this was the end, death by asshole, just what every man dreams of.

A few more minutes passed without everything going black for me, Jagger was to accompany Oscar to the back where the woman was, Ophelia he called her.  Jagger then disappeared having dosed Oswald with enough morphine to keep him out of the fight.  Jason in his divine wisdom thought it would be a good idea to keep at Oliver, all this was achieving was the grinding of a book in my back, blood now seeping through my bandages.  If I survived this, I was going to break that old jaw of his, I would sleep better knowing he wasn’t able to run his mouth for a week or two.

Again, Jasper was my saviour in disguise, his calm tone keeping Jason in cheque.  Jagger and Oscar eventually returned, Jagger clearly not coping well, his face a shade of green I hadn’t seen since the Chinese restaurant.  Something about a pregnant woman and the fact that she wasn’t pregnant yesterday, yeah, that sounds good.

Agent Oliver

Another heated exchange between Jason and Oscar, all about guns down and if he wants the use of our doctor, Oliver was going to have to get off me.  After a moment, Oscar came over to Oliver and took the shotgun from him, thank God.  I got up, looked in the eyes of my potential murderer, his eyes were everywhere, I had seen this before, on addicts and junkies, this guy was losing it, I was lucky to still be breathing.  This guy was huge, 6’5 at least, built like a guy who lives at the gym, no wonder his boot hurt so much.  I looked him eye to eye, or more like eye to chin, I couldn’t help myself, I gave him a wink for good measure.

Jason and Oscar got back into their discussion, the woman, Ophelia was in the first office through the meeting room, she was not doing well, the panic in Oscar’s eyes suggested something more, perhaps a personal connection of some kind.

The conversation shifted, Jason became edgy, looking to Jagger with all seriousness, it was decided, Jason, Jagger and Oscar would go and check on Ophelia, the noises she was making from the back rooms now sounded like violent vomiting.  Jasper and I were to stay with Oliver and the unconscious Oswald.  Before moving up to the offices however, Jason looked at both Jasper and me, nodding with serious eyes, we both returned the nod, if this went bad, it was going to go bad in a hurry.  Oscar returned Oliver’s shotgun to him before following Jason, Oliver however held it by the barrel, not on the grip, giving us time to act before he got a shot off if anything took a bad turn.

Arguing could be heard emanating from the office area, Jason, Oscar, Jagger, all talking in loud and aggressive tones.  Jasper and I both looked at each other and began our plans to distract Oliver, mentioning that we should really go up there for a closer look.  Oliver wasn’t moving, he was losing it, he didn’t want to go up there, not under any circumstances.

A shotgun blast filled the air, as we knew Jason was the only one carrying a shotgun, it was clear to us what was happening.  Jasper pulled the trigger of his revolver, firing at Oliver from inside his pocket as the giant fumbled his shotgun for a wayward return of fire.  We scattered across the loading dock, drawing my Glock from my holster I took position by the door, no one was getting out of here without going through me.  Jasper leapt up the loading dock, taking cover behind one of the stone pillars supporting the roof.  Oliver dashed away behind the truck parked on the lower level.  Jasper was his target, letting fly a series of blast in his direction, Jasper returned fire, narrowly missing Oliver, the dust kicking off the walls right behind him.  I let loose too, my first shot catching Oliver somewhere in the stomach, his muffled gasp revealing to me two things, he was angry, and he was wearing body armour.

More gunfire erupted from the area of the offices, taking my attention of Oliver briefly, only to see the flickering lights flash brighter with every blast of shotgun fire.  Returning my attention to Oliver, I fired again, this time slamming lead into the rear of the truck a mere inch from his face, causing him to recoil slightly out of view.  Jasper did the same, send another two shots dangerously close the Oliver, enough to make sure he kept himself well hidden.

Jasper opened the chamber of his revolver, sending brass to the floor, calling out to Oliver as he reloaded, something along the lines of us all being on the same team.  Oliver’s response was another shotgun blast, only retorted by my own shots back at him to no avail.

Jagger suddenly appeared, running for his life, across the loading dock and straight for the door where I was standing.  He didn’t seem to care that he was running through a gunfight, he just wanted out, as he got closer, his eyes were not right, like Oliver, he was losing it, if not had already lost it.  What was going on up there.  As I glanced up to the offices, another violent flash and roar of a shotgun could be seen, Jason was still going, he was still alive.  Jagger ran to the door, extending my arm to him, I yanked him out of the way as soon as possible to keep my eyes on Oliver.

Looking to Jasper, I motioned to him to try and get behind the truck, at the base of the stairs next to him, Jasper had an easy path to flank Oliver, as long as nothing went wrong.  I gave Jasper the count and unleashed a hail of bullets all around Oliver as Jasper moved down the stairs.  I moved back into cover only to see Jasper however had stumbled, scaping himself on his hands and knees into the cover of the truck, not quickly enough however to avoid the attention of Oliver who was still firing his shotgun at Jasper.

I checked my magazine before firing my next volley at Oliver, three in the mag, one in the chamber, three rounds, I could reload, can’t waste the rounds, not now.

Looking back towards the offices to see if Jason would emerge, all I could see was Oswald, he was conscious, lying on his side, his arm raised shakily, a pistol pointed at me.  He was begging me to stop, lay my gun down, I couldn’t, his eyes met mine, he knew I wasn’t going to stop, he fired at me, his shot slamming into the top of the door frame above me.  Without thinking, as if on impulse, I spun my arms to his direction.  I fired once.  Once was all it took, his spine blowing out the back of his neck as my shot had hit him square in the chin.  The Threat was down, back to Oliver.

Jasper moved quickly once he had steadied himself, disappearing around the front of the truck as I raised my pistol back towards where Oliver had been visible.  A short burst of pistol fire erupted sending Oliver into my view, raising his shotgun, Oliver let go a blast that made Jasper grunt, followed by another pistol blast, he had emptied his revolver as Oliver stumbled further into my view.  Two shots, both slamming into Oliver’s side, his damn armour the only thing between my 9mm and his life.

Oliver suddenly dropped the shotgun and let out a crazed scream, turning his attention from Jasper to the doorway I was standing in.  He ran at me, he was crazed, like a mad dog, he was coming fast.  Without thinking, I squeezed the trigger again, Oliver falling a foot from my feet, the small hole in his forehead giving way to the blown-out section of the back of his skull.

I stared at Oliver, was he coming for me? or was he just trying to get out? had he had enough?  was this the last straw for him?

I looked up from the lifeless body to see Jasper walking towards me, Oliver’s shotgun in hand, a nice flesh wound evident on his shoulder from where Oliver had tagged him.  We seemed to both come to the realisation together, the offices were quiet.

We moved quickly through the dock, picking up my 38 from the floor as I ran past.  At the entrance to the meeting room, all the doors where open, ahead of us, at the entrance to the first office, Jason was down.

I reloaded my Glock and began moving with Jasper towards Jason, around his body, his shotgun, Jagger’s flash light and pistol.  What had happened here?

Asking Jasper to Cover me, I grabbed Jason by the arm, dragging him back towards the meeting room, clear of the office entrance, a large, black wound on his left shoulder revealed itself in the flickering light, as if he had been gnawed at by something.  As I did, a strange sound, something like the slurping of a semi empty milkshake through a child’s straw, only not, something grotesque, something sinister.  As I pulled Jason into the meeting room, Jasper between us and the office, I raised my eyes at the sound of his exacerbation.  A massive, almost human size Spider like creature.  It was a fucking Spider! Emerged from the office.  Jasper met it with a blast from the shotgun, sending it back slightly.  The creature charged, I loosened my grip from Jason to support my gun hand, Jasper was in the way, there was no clean shot.

The Spider launched as Jasper, its long legs swiping violently, but to no effect in this confined space, it made a horrible noise, like the screams of Lobsters in boiling water, only louder, and darker.  It launched at Jasper again, this time with its mouth.  Teeth, not pincers, teeth, almost human teeth, the flickering light catching them glistening with blood and pus.  Jasper struck back, swinging the shotgun full force at the face of this monster, this guy would have made a hell of a ball player, his swing connecting perfectly with the side of the beast’s head.  That was my queue.  I squeezed the trigger again, sending a bullet straight through on the eight eyes on this monster, again, almost human eyes.  The creature dropped, slumped to the ground, its legs curling, as most spiders do in the throes of death.

Jasper and I looked at each other, both of our expressions telling the same story, what the hell was that!

Jasper then withdrew to Jason, also observing the strange wound, he began to drag Jason back towards the loading dock.  I on the other hand stayed, walking slowly up to the beast in front of me.  Looking at it more closely, Jason had done well, at least three chunks had come of this Spider due to buckshot, unlucky that he didn’t put it down with that, this thing must have been tough.  Jasper and I must have only got the last piece.  I took aim again at the monster’s face, its lifeless eyes enough to still give me chills, I emptied my magazine into its head, whatever this thing was, it wasn’t getting back up.

Turning to Jason and Jasper, I was amazed to see Jagger standing there too, he had shaken off whatever had made him turn and run, although after the last few minutes, I can hardly blame him.  They were inspecting the wound on Jason’s shoulder, Jasper was talking about the potential risks and what Jason himself had told us to do in that situation, I pulled the hammer back on my 38, just in case they didn’t have the stomach.  Jagger was to make the call, he volunteered to call A-Cell, his conversation was brief, yet informative, he gave all the details of O-Cell, Jason’s injury and requested instructions.  All they apparently said was ‘continue’.

To our amazement, Jason stirred, Jagger’s cleaning and prepping of the wound causing him enough discomfort to wake him.  His only words were to ascertain if the monster was dead, once relieved, Jasper and I left Jagger to his work and decided to sweep the rest of the building.

Moving back to the office where all the trouble had started, I picked up Jagger’s flashlight and pistol as Jasper jammed a few more shells into his newly acquired shotgun.  Scanning the room in front of me, it was dark, the lights were out, the flickering florescence of the hallway offering little aid.  Scanning the room with the flashlight, my Jagger’s pistol raised, I stepped into the office.  In front of me, Oscar’s body, shotgun blast to the chest, Jason had dropped him, he was dead before he hit the floor.  I scanned his body with the light, his eyes were missing, bloody holes with slightly black scorching around the lids, not unlike the wound on Jason.  Dropping to my haunches, illuminating his eyes, there was nothing behind them, just an empty skull.  The sickening feeling of the slurping sound came back in my ears, had that monster sucked out the contents?

Colt Python 357

Patting down Oscar, his Colt Python 357 was still in his holster, in the small of his back, another revolver, a Smith and Wesson model 60, not unlike my 38 tucked away out of sight.  I relieved him of them both, clearly, he had no need for them anymore.

Smith and Wesson Model 60

I continued my sweep of the room, Jasper constantly on guard with his shotgun, his arm however causing his weapon to shake, Jagger really needed to look at it.  In the centre of the room, what can only be described as skin covered in blood, bile and muck, a pile of it lay splattered on the concrete floor.  The only indication that this was once a woman, the long dark hair attached to parts of what used to be a scalp.  I felt the vomit in my throat, this was truly horrific.   Satisfied that the room was clear, we moved to the rest of the Green Box with rather uneventful results, all clear.

Returning the Jagger and Jason, who was already on his feet and looking at the shrivelling remains of the monster that had attacked him, we began tearing the green box apart for fuel, it was time to burn this place down.  Jason dispatched Jagger in search of O-Cell’s vehicle, if nothing else, they may have some gas.  The car and truck both had empty fuel tanks, it was Jasper who suggested the Russian Surplus grenade, something to really destroy this monster properly.

After about an hour of reliving the events in our heads, Jagger returned in a mid-sized white van, I opened the back to see four ‘Go-Bags’, each containing the credentials of O-Cell.  Two were Philly FBI, Oscar and Ophelia, this only confirmed my suspicions that they were in some form of relationship, Oswald, Border Patrol and Oliver, NYPD.  Next to the bags was a second SPAS-12 shotgun, these guys were prepared.  Prompting my memory, I moved to the washroom, removing both mine and Jagger’s ID’s, I wanted to see who he was, but left the bag sealed, it was not my place to question the man who had patched us all up.

Jagger emerged carrying two can of fuel, Jasper and Jason begun their sweep of the building, removing anything of use from the shelving used by Delta Green, books, maps, anything useful.  Jasper pulled the Russian grenade from the shelf and jammed it under the monster, when this place burnt, that was going to blow.  We moved O-Cell rather unceremoniously into the truck, using one of the gas cans to get it running.  As we exited the Green Box, now void of anything Delta Green related, we lit the fire.

We drew out a plan, Jagger and I were to drive the truck, Jasper in the van and Jason leading in his car.  We were headed somewhere to remove the evidence of the bodies.  Something we were all not too comfortable doing.  There was a lake, a deep lake, not too far from Albany, I was too tired to notice the name, I had popped several staples from my chest, only evident to me know that my adrenaline levels had returned to normal.  We drove to the edge of the water, all of us keeping a watchful eye for any signs of life.  Weighting the gas pedal, we sent the truck into the water, the light of dawn creeping over the trees as the 1 tonne truck disappeared beneath the icy water.

Jason’s suggestion, we would create our own green box, we certainly had enough to do so, I had in my possession now half a dozen handguns, as a group, four shotguns and a pile of books and miscellaneous Delta Green material, we couldn’t carry it with us, we needed somewhere to stash it.  Everything went in the trunk of Jason’s car, O-Cell go bags, all our equipment, everything, he told us he would take care of it.

The Airport couldn’t come soon enough, at the terminal, Jagger made his way off to his gate, I did the same, however it was Jasper who drew the short straw, Jason had requested a fishing trip.  Looking at Jasper as the least likely to act without reason, Jason needed someone to watch over him for a week or so, he needed to know he would be alright after the attack of whatever it was that bit him.  Merry Christmas Jasper.

How was I going to explain this, last time I went home, I had a bruise the size of a watermelon on my chest.  This time, my chest has been cut to ribbons, hey Charlie, I heard chicks dig scars.

Session 04 (Agent Jason)

Morning Dew Caravan Park, Catskills Mountains

A stabbing pain in his shoulder and chest woke Jason up. He rolled over and tried to get comfortable on the thin mattress of the 'bed'. In the dim light of the bare, low-wattage bulb he could see the shape of Jasper on the other side of the caravan.
Jason stared at the ceiling, marked with water stains. The musty smell of this piece of junk was starting to get on his nerves.

He listened to Jasper's soft snore for a while, then sat up and inspected the wound. Still black. It seemed to be healing, but a large part of it was still the same colour as when he received the wound.

He got up and silently moved through the caravan, reaching over for the bottle of vodka. While he did this, the door creaked open, and Norman stepped inside.

"One can always count on you to smell the booze..."

Jason reached and grabbed another glass.

"Sit down and keep quiet, he's asleep and i don't want him to wake up". 

Jason gestured to the little sitting area and put the bottle and glasses on the dirty and cracked yellow Formica tabletop.

"What do you want?"

"Hey, pal, that's no way to welcome your old friend. Word is that you got wounded, so I thought I'd come over and check up on you. Brought some grapes, but I ate them all on the way over here." 

Norman looked around for a few moments.

"Nice, pal... very stylish. Did you decorate it yourself?"

Jason ignored him and stared outside, into the darkness.

"So... something bit you? Something nasty?"

He ran his hand through his graying hair and nodded.

"And you and your merry bunch wiped out O-cell. I'm sure Adolf won't be too pleased about that..."

"I had no choice, Norman. We arrived there and the lock had been cut. I had a sick and a wounded agent in the back. I told them to bring up the rear while Jasper and I took point with the shotguns. When we came through the door the whole thing started off badly, them drawing on us, us refusing to drop our weapons. It was clear they were in a bad shape as well, and it was even more clear that this Oliver character was far gone. He booted Jude to the ground straight away and anything could have tipped him over the edge and turn Jude into a new coat of paint..."

"Well,.. from what I heard last, that would have been a good thing, no?"

Norman chuckled as Jason ignored him.

"Okay... so, why didn't you just defuse the situation by dropping your guns? After all, they were Delta too, no?"

"I know... I just felt that with at least me covering their cell leader, we had some kind of control in the situation. That guy wasn't going to to lower his gun anyway."

Jason lit a cigarette and took a decent swig of the vodka.

"Something didn't feel right. The cell-leader, Oscar, had said there was someone else in the back, wounded. He just seemed shifty about it. It took us a while, but in the end I got him to allow Jagger to see her."

Another long drag and swig.

"Anyway.. .long story short, Jagger came back after a while and I could tell from the way he looked something was wrong. I tried to get them to tell us what had happened, but Oliver went all regulations on me..."

"And we all know you hate regulations, right?"

Jason ignored him and continued.

"... which I would normally accept but in this case I had my cell in there with them, so it was something that concerned us. I went in with Jagger and Oscar to check on the wounded Ophelia, after exchanging a look with Jude and Jasper. They understood what I meant, things could go nasty really quickly."

Jason fell silent for a second when Jasper mumbled something and rolled over. He finished off his glass of vodka and turned back to Norman.

"From what I heard from Jagger, Ophelia was heavily pregnant. But hadn't been the day before. When I pointed out to Oscar that this just wasn't possible, he refused to see reason. He didn't want us near her. I told him he had to sort his own mess out, and that's where it got nasty. He pulled his gun..."

"And you blew him away. Wow. Alright, well, at least the kids know now not to fuck about with Uncle Jason, I guess. So... I gather it went Reservoir Dogs really quickly then?"

"Yeah... shots were fired in the garage and uhm... Jagger and I looked back inside for Ophelia, who was now dangling from the ceiling on spiders legs, shedding her human skin. Jagger couldn't take it and ran off. Not that I blame him..."

"And you went Clint Eastwood on the bitch? Looks like she got at least one in..."

"Yeah. I have no clue what that thing was, Norm. But I shot it twice up close, then it bit me, and i squeezed off another shot, and everything went black. I woke up some time later, the others had put the thing down, as well as Oliver and the wounded guy, Oswald."

"Sounds like they saved your bacon. So you're all one big happy family now? That why you treated one of them on a weekend to a luxury retreat? Or is he keeping an eye on you in case you go Goldblum? Yeah... that's what I thought. Good call though."

Norman got up.

"I'd love to chat a bit more, but I've got places to be and you've got...," he gestured about "... other things to do or whatever... always great catching up with you, pal. Just ehh..." He walked towards the door and opened it "... give them some slack. i know you and me never got to that part really, but I should have. Just so you know."

"Hey, Norman... What does Lazarus mean to you?"

"You know I never did well at Sunday school... but I guess it was something about a guy who died and was raised from the dead or something? Bit like you, no? Why, you thinking to transfer to L-Cell?"

"Never mind..."

The door closed silently behind him and Jason lit another cigarette while he watched Norman's form being swallowed by the darkness outside.
He turned around and looked at the filthy interior of the caravan, with its grimy windows. He put the cigarette out in the overflowing ashtray and looked at the two glasses, one empty, one full. Jason took a deep breath and let out silent sigh, and emptied the glass in one go.

3 weeks later.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

"... so what do you think, Dad?"

Jason, leaning heavily on his cane, nodded.

"Dad? I asked what you think about me studying art when I finish."

He snapped out of it and gave his daughter a smile.

"Sorry Emily, I'm just a bit tired. I think I should sit down for a bit. You go ahead and have a look in the next few halls and come and get me. We'll do the other areas together and get something to eat afterwards..."

His daughter nodded and walked off, examining a few of the paintings a bit further of.

Jason let out a sigh and he sat down. His leg was aching, as it usually did in this weather, and his recent wound was still sore.

He watched her as she moved from painting to painting. He was happy he had made time for this, they needed to be together more often. He had missed Christmas because of his research on the Skoptsi and Magna Mater. 

It wasn't until he had faced that thing in the green box that he had realized that.  In a fraction of a second, when the thing came was hanging from the ceiling, shedding its human skin, all he could think of was Emily, and how this thing could take her over, like it had taken Ophelia over.

Unless someone stopped it.

Unless he stopped it. 

He looked over and saw her move into the adjacent hall, but his gaze was fixed upon her shadow, which looked like thin, long legs, like that...

He snapped out of it and blinked a few times. It was gone now. He took a deep breath and looked at the brochure he was holding.

"The William Blake exhibition presents more than 175 works drawn from public and private collections in Britain, the United States, and Australia"

He looked around, his eyes falling upon a large painting in a corner. He limped over to it and sat down opposite it.

After what could have been hours or seconds, he heard a voice behind him.

"Couldn't you pick something a bit less depressing to look at?"

It took him a few moments to reply.

"Don't you think it's strange, Nancy, that I didn't see the woman until now? All I saw was that thing standing over her..."

The woman sat down next to him, and looked at the painting.

"I guess we all see what we want to see. Or what we need to see... I heard about what happened."

Jason nodded.

"It was a bad position to be in, Jason. But I think it was harder for Oscar. Imagine it was our cell. That it was me instead of Ophelia. We both know that something like that could have happened that night."

Jason didn't reply and swallowed.

"What if our cell would have made it back, and it was Norman laying there, bleeding out, and me in that back room. Would you have handed me over to some other cell that came barging through the door? Would you have shot me?"

His shoulders sagged.

"I don't think you would have. Norman, yeah, I reckon you would have shot him. But I don't believe  you could have killed me. Not until it would have been too late. So let go of it. You did the right thing, and your cell did too. I know you know they saved you there. Let go of it. You've got a good group there. Jagger took it upon himself to contact A-cell. Jude and Jasper did what they had to in the garage. You heard Jasper, he would have taken you out if there was any doubt, just like you expect them to. Open up to them. Connect with them. Because in the end, it's only them you can truly talk to when the nightmares come..."

"I can't, Nancy. Not after what happened to us. I'm doing the job. Because someone has to. Because I'm good at it. And because I don't give a fuck about pulling the trigger. But let me tell you this: we were sent on a mission to clean up. The usual "make it disappear" job after an agent dies. Nothing out of the ordinary in the briefing, about doubts, or misgivings. When we got to the bottom the former agent had somehow used... magic... to raise his dead wife. Or possessed her corpse with something. That thing almost killed Jude."

"Things like that happen, Jason..."

"I know they do. But the operation was called Lazarus. Like "Raised from the fucking dead"- Lazarus. That's what they called the Op."

Jason looked over and saw his daughter walk into the hall, looking for him. He got up.

"I think they knew... And we were given no warning..."