Session 07 (Agent Jason)

Sunday, 17^th March 1996, 7pm

Jason pocketed the Agency cellphone and lit a cigarette. He inhaled deeply as he looked sideways to where the van was parked. Jasper was there, taking a nap in the back of the van, while Yarrow and Sinclair were having a chat. Elizabeth was standing aside a bit, clearly not fully at ease. Unlike Yarrow, she had done well. Exceedingly well. She had done her homework on the info Jason had given her and returned with intel that they could act upon. To be fair, her help had led him to the book, and as far as he could tell it was the most helpful information they had found so far.

He watched the Friendlies, as the wind picked up a bit and blew some debris across the parking lot. An old newspaper made a rustling noise as it flew towards him like a crippled bird. He checked the phone. No messages. Buttoning up his coat, he wandered over to the abandoned little playground. Just a few swings, a slide and a roundabout that make creaking noises as it moved in the wind.

It was dark now, and the only light was a flickering streetlamp at the entrance to the car park. He lit another cigarette, closed his eyes and went over the recent developments. When that piano had stopped, the parameters had changed altogether.

Friday, 15^th March 1996, near Midnight

He whispered to Jasper 
“Whatever gets done here, one of us needs to stay outside, to keep a clear head, as the house fucks around with your mind. And it must be one of us, rather than one of them.” 

He tilted his head to Yarrow and Sinclair behind them. Jasper nodded and looked back inside. Jason put his hand on Jasper’s shoulder.
“You have the lead on entry here, it’s your call to continue or abort.”

Jasper nodded and climbed through the window. Jason had the impression Jasper felt forced, like he didn’t want to lose face. Perhaps because of Yarrow and Sinclair?

Jason was about to climb in too, when he felt the window coming down. He frowned and pushed back. As he did, there seemed to be a larger force pushing the window down and it took all his strength to stop it from closing or breaking his hand. He whispered Jasper’s name, who noticed what was going on and made a hasty retreat. Back outside, they heard a phone calling from somewhere inside.

Going over the Rules of Ranging, Jason made a decision. Don’t go in if they expect you. 
He doubted there would be a lot of danger outside the house, intel showed that people killed themselves while inside, so it should be safe to have a look from where they are. 

“Change of plan. Recce only, let’s check the windows on this side of the house. Jasper, you lead. John, Emil, stay behind me.”

As he turned around, he noticed Yarrow talking, describing for the benefit of the mic on the camera what he was seeing. Fucking tourist… no doubt all their faces would show up on the tape at one moment or another.

They made their way to the next window, Jason covering Jasper as he lead the way, then taking a position from where he could have an overview of the garden. He nodded to Yarrow to bring the camera up to the window.

“Jason, can you see a kid in front of you?” hissed Jasper, something in his voice giving away that something was wrong. Jason looked again, not seeing anything.

“All clear”

“Fuck…”

After another few moments of Yarrow and Sinclair trying to get a decent reading on their equipment, they moved on to the next window, this time of the bedroom where Agent Garret had died. Jason kept his mouth shut but had the impression all of the lugging around of equipment might be a waste of time. IF it was registering anything, it was going haywire at the moment. Either the whole til was a heap of bull, or there was too much going on in the vicinity, and as a consequence, making the reading chaotic.

Jasper opened it the same way he had opened the other window and pulled the curtain aside. Once he had checked the room and found it empty, he moved aside slightly so Yarrow and Sinclair could do their thing. They were talking back and forth, spewing a lot of pseudo-scientific stuff, and ended up rolling a coin inside. This got them all excited, disturbed even. From what Sinclair said, the coin had rolled towards the mirror… and through it.

Jason kept an eye on all this. The Friendlies seemed eager, like kids on a school trip that’s about to turn into a disaster. “We don’t know enough to go in”, he muttered as they moved their equipment back to the porch again. Sinclair was insisting on trying something. He wanted to make contact with Garrett. Jason thought it over. He really didn’t want to get Sinclair to go in. The Group still insisted on trying to reel him in as a full-blown Agent. He still hadn’t made his mind up on what kind of review he would give the guy, but that would all be moot if he went in there now and got ripped open from throat to crotch by an “Interdimensional Astral Walker”…

“Ok, John, go in, and we’ll do what you suggested, tie a rope around you. Stay in the Den, so we can see you. If we feel something goes wrong, we’re pulling you out.”

They had opened the door, and John has carefully walked in. He looked around and said something. Jason didn’t clearly hear it, but it sounded like “I’m here, Arthur”. Next thing, the door started closing. They were able to keep it open, and John quickly made his way out. As the door closed, they heard a phone ringing. Enough.

“We’re going. We need more intel before we can do anything here.” 

The rest, even Yarrow, agreed with this. The equipment got loaded back into the van, while some of the others were having a peak through the front windows. He got the others to sit up front while he stayed in the back with the equipment. As soon as they drove off, the first thing he did was to remove the tape from the camera. He needed words with Yarrow.

They made their way back to the hotel, and Jasper ditched the van a street away. As soon as they got to their room, Yarrow hooked the camera up. Jason dug the tape out of his pocket and held it out to him. As Emil tried to take the tape, Jason held on to it, looking him hard in the eye

“This is not a study trip for university, Yarrow. Nothing of what you tape is to be viewed by anyone. You’re here for the benefit of the Group, nothing else. If I catch you sneaking any information in whatever shape or form away from this Opera, you will regret not getting your car breaks fixed last time it was in for maintenance…”

Emil’s eyes widened. “Are you threatening me?”

Jason locked his eyes on him for a few seconds, then let go of the tape. The man didn’t say anything but was clearly shaken. Good. Jason hoped this sorted the Ghostbuster out.

After that he could barely keep his eyes open. Jasper was already snoring, and Sinclair and Yarrow were engrossed by what they saw on the screen. Jason observed Sinclair for a bit. He was hard to form an opinion on. It was clear that he was used to getting his way. He didn’t say much, but Jason felt that Sinclair had issues with the dynamics, probably even with his leadership. Control-freak? Possibly. Or perhaps so confident in his abilities that felt that everyone else was inferior or less able to sort this out. He could relate to that. But the man would have to learn how things worked in the Group. Not a popularity contest, not a fucking democracy. And thinking back on how things were when he started, he thought he was still pretty easy going on the FNGs. Compared to Norman at least… He would have had a ball with these two…

Saturday, 16^th March, 9am

During breakfast they quickly went over who would do what for the rest of the day. Sinclair had received a call from the local police and was supposed to meet them. He wasn’t sure what they wanted, but it would relate to Garrett. Jason sent Jasper off to work on a van, make it look like a Cleaning Service, as well as getting them suitable outfits to fit in as cleaners. If anyone noticed them or the van, they would realize what they were doing inside. And no one wanted to dwell to long on that…

Jason would go to the County Seat with Yarrow and dig in deeper. They parted ways and he rang Elizabeth Tucker, to see if she had been able to find anything. She had located three pieces of furniture, two in Meadowbrook and one in Pittsburg. They agreed to meet the next day, she would take the lead in any talks to the owners, and Jason would be there as her assistant or a magazines photographer.

Jason was able to get Yarrow to part with some money before they went in to the County Seat. The kid behind the counter, Anthony, greeted them, and when introduced, he pointed out they closed at noon. The cash should come in handy in a few hours.

They started digging through the files, looking into the names that Sinclair and Jasper had dug up the previous day. They had done a good job, and it didn’t take long before their search unveiled more information. Around noon, Sinclair contacted them. Apparently, things were not OK. Jasper had been around to Brian’s mum, and back to the garage. People had been scared and they had called the cops. Somewhere, Sinclair’s car had been seen. John had been able to satisfy the cops questions, but it was sloppy. Jason called Jasper, filled him in and told him to stay out of sight, or put on some kind of disguise.

When Sinclair showed up, he was joined by Anthony, who had decided to help out in exchange for a few console games and the promise of more cash, if they were able to find all the information they needed. Around 4pm they felt they had found everything there was to find. They made their way back to the hotel, went for something to eat and compared noted on the way people had ended up being killed in the house. In the end, Jason felt more was to be found on Isabelle Wheeler. She and her husband had built the house, and apparently, she had died of a wasting disease. Not an accident, not a suicide.  After that, anyone buying the house ran a serious risk of being killed in it by… something. A recurring piece of information seemed to be that people killed themselves when they considered themselves "home" or when repairs to the house had been finished. The mirrors in the bedroom were mentioned a few times. Jason would make a point to focus the team's attention on them, when they had a chance. Outside of this information, Jason hoped to find something in the Wheeler furniture. 

Garrett had mentioned it. He never got around to checking it, it seems. And if there was any Wheeler furniture left inside the house, he would already have inspected that already and he would have mentioned something in his notes. A letter. A picture. An inscription. Anything that could shed a light on what was going on here. Because, regardless of the information they had right now, Jason did not feel they had any actionable intelligence.

The others agreed that they would go and visit the house during daytime, when it was safe. Jasper had organized boiler suits and masks, as well as bags to transport any equipment Yarrow needed. They would easily be able to make their way in without drawing any attention. Jasper had spent the day making stencils for the side of the van, even made a Kwik-Kleen logo, with a telephone number underneath it. Jason had passed it on to A-cell, asking if they could have someone answer it, in case locals or cops had any questions.

Sinclair was spending his night in the better hotel, as they thought the cops might keep an eye on him. Or at least check if he had spent the night there. Yarrow would take his room, and all agreed to have an early night.

Jason woke up with a start and grabbed his cellphone. Sinclair.

"What's wrong, John?"

"I just got a call from Yarrow. He's inside the house. But it sounded strange, like Garrett's calls."
"Stay on the line, John"

Jason got up, giving Jasper a nudge while he pulled his hoodie on and stuffed his pistol in the pocket.
Without saying a word Jasper did the same, clearly used to this kind of middle-of-the-night-shenanigans. They went out and  made their way to Yarrow's room. Jason banged on the door. No answer.

"John, I'll call you right back." He hung up and called Yarrow's phone. They could hear it ring inside. He looked at Jasper, and they were about to kick the door in as the phone stopped rining. Jason brought his cellphone back to his ear.

"H-h-hello...?"
"For fucksake, Yarrow, open the door!"

A few moments open, "Banshee" opened the door for them. 
"Everything ok, Yarrow? Why didn't you answer when we knocked on the door?"
Yarrow stared at him with a dazed and confused look, opening his hand to reveal some earplugs dotted with clumps of earwax.

"Christ... keep those out of your ears while you're on a Opera." Jason turned away with a look of disgust. 

He called John back, as he and Jasper made their way back to their room, wearing noting but boxer shorts, a hoodie and boots.
"All good John, Yarrow is here. Sounds like it gave up on the Garrett approach. We'll see you in the morning."

Sunday, 17^th March, 10am

Jason met Elizabeth Tucker at the diner. Friendly, nice looking, and professionally dressed, he let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps his luck had changed. They made their way to the piano shop. Earlier, he had seen the others off, after making clear that Agent Jasper had the lead now. Again, that feeling Sinclair was unhappy with his decision. Jason understood Sinclair was considering himself or Yarrow to be the ones who knew what they would be doing in the house, while Jasper was only muscle. But Jason felt that he needed a full Agent in charge there. Better yet, an Agent he was sure would have no issues to put those two down if need be. He had told Jasper he’d check in on a regular base, and if anything serious happened Jasper had to contact him right away.

Elizabeth drove them to the Jacob's Music. They spend about half an hour there, looking at the piano. They both felt there was nothing untoward with it. It was old, but in good working order. They had coffee, then headed over to the other place. An elderly lady owned the Wheeler’s end table.

Jason called Jasper, who said weird stuff was going on and they were looking into it. That was unexpected. They all had seemed to think that the place would be fine during the day. Apparently, it wasn’t. He told Jasper to be careful, and to vacate the house if things became dangerous.

He drove to the old lady’s place, and they were met by her and introduced to her friends, one with a long-suffering husband in tow. Jason exchanged some pleasantries, and Elizabeth took over, asking to see the end table. As soon as he saw the table, Jason felt they might be on to something. The top had an inlaid Triskelion pattern, which features in a number of folklores and occult traditions. Closer inspection revealed a number of dancing figures around the edge of the table, seemingly led by a larger black figure. This design had an oriental feel to it. Jason looked back at the sitting room, and Elizabeth took his meaning without anything being said, and made her way there, distracting the old lady. Clever girl.

Jason looked at the top again. He noticed a minute asymmetry in the top. It was made of three parts and was just ever so slightly unaligned. Carefully, he slid his knife behind the panel and slowly twisted. The panels aligned and there was a soft click. The top opened, revealing a few items inside. Jason put Elizabeth’s briefcase on the end table and carefully transferred the items from the table to the briefcase. There was an ancient looking bowl, with the triskelion design in it, as well as a very old knife and a black, leather-bound diary. A quick glance showed it to be old, but not ancient. It was written by Isabelle Wheeler. He closed the briefcase and the end table and made his way to the sitting room. After saying their goodbyes and reassuring the old lady he would send her a copy of the American Antiques magazine which would feature her end table, the left the house.

As soon as they were on their way he rang Jasper. Things were getting really weird  apparently and Jason told him to get ready to leave. Ten minutes later Elizabeth and Jason drove past the house, just in time to see Jasper, Sinclair and Yarrow leave. Jason could tell they were shaken, some unexplainable things must have happened inside. He told them to make their way to the parking lot at the playground in the park to discuss further.

They had done so and filled Jason in on their inexplicable experiences. Disconnected phones ringing, Jasper drinking old, filthy coffee, with a cockroach in it, as if it was the best thing he had ever tasted, cries of a cat that couldn’t be found. Sinclair had spoken to a woman on the phone, who had been asking for a number of the deceased owners by name. When he called her Isabelle, things took on a darker, more threatening tone. Other things had been going on, all of them explainable.

Jason filled them in on what he and Elizabeth had found and started read out the full 80 pages of her diary to everyone present. This took a while, and Elizabeth was able to translate the phonetic Italian into English. There it was. Isabelle and the Crone had been doing rituals and magic over a period of 30 years in the house. But when push came to shove, she had turned away from what she was doing, and her illness returned and claimed her life. The Black Man which was summoned, still had a hold over the house, and whatever that thing or power was, Jason felt sure it was responsible for all the suicides and 'accidents' in the last forty years.

The diary also held a ritual to summon as well as dismiss the "Uomo Nero". It involved blood sacrifices. Hypergeometry and medieval metaphysics. Jason closed the book and put it in his pocket. Everyone was a bit quiet after that. He walked away from the van and dialed the number for A-Cell. After a few ring someone picked up and answered with a distorted voice.

"Yes, Agent Jason?"

He filled them in on what had happened over the last 48 hours, the activity at the house, what they had found at the County Seat, and eventually what was found inside Isabelle's end table.  

"It looks like this has been going on ever since Isabelle refused to go all the way with this ritual, Sir. And the diary does hold a "ritual of dismissal" as it is called in there. Metaphysics, requiring blood sacrifice. From what I've read, the summoning can be done over a period of 13 new moons, by making sacrificing animals. Or, it can be done quicker, human sacrifice is guaranteed to work immediately. For the dismissal however, human sacrifice is necessary, as it 'brings forth the Black Man'. I fear the only way to eliminate the danger the house poses is to..."

"Stand by, Agent Jason". A sharp click ended the conversation. 

Sunday, 17^th March 1996, 7:10pm

Jason stared into the dark sky, smoking another cigarette. The noise of the cellphone notifying Jason that he had a message snapped him out of it. His hand reached inside his pocket, automatically pressing the buttons to open the message. He looked back at the van, then to his phone. Even before he looked at the screen, he knew what the message said.

"ELIMINATE THE THREAT"

Diary of Isabelle Wheeler

Elizabeth Tucker, Antique Dealer

Elizabeth Tucker, Antique Dealer

Elizabeth Tucker is certainly not what people expect to see when they hear the term “Antique Dealer”. She’s a young, attractive woman with a booming business (Antiquetracker) of tracking down lost family heirlooms, stolen antiques and other odd under the waterline type deals. She has extensive contacts in the antique world, and she knows her furniture.

She became involved with the Group when an amulet was stolen from an Asian exhibit in Philadelphia. With her skills, she managed to track down the object, and also witnessed a few odd circumstances involving its destruction. She became a Friendly shortly thereafter.
She helped JASON locate the antique furniture of Isabelle Wheeler, which led to the discovery of the triskelion bronze bowl and knife, and the diary of Isabelle Wheeler.

Research Meadowbrook County Seat

Michael Buffington, Meadowbrook Police Chief

Michael Buffington, Police Chief

Michael Buffington is the Police Chief of Meadowbrook County. Young for his position, Buffington is a no-nonsense, by-the-book individual who will not stand for any lawlessness in his town. He co-operated fully with SA Fredrickson (Jason) and provided what information he could. He was not familiar with 1206 Spooner Ave, other than through his knowledge of the recent suicides that had occurred there. He did admit that the house had a "bad feeling".

Emil Yarrow, Parapsychologist (Deceased)

Emil Yarrow, Parapsychologist

Emil Yarrow was an overweight man who worked at Fulton College as an associate professor of abnormal psychology. He became involved with Delta Green after uncovering some information that proved helpful on an opera and was made a Friendly. In his own words, Yarrow "is an expert on the paranormal." He recognised Prof SINCLAIR by sight and had even read one of his books, titled "The cultural mind and parapsychology in application."
Possessed by the forces of 1206 Spooner Ave, Yarrow ambushed Agents JASON and JASPER as they entered the house to conduct their ritual. Yarrow near killed JASPER with a log-splitter and intended the same fate for JASON. A brutal brawl ensued and JASON barely managed to fend off the madman with his bare hands, ruthlessly ending the Friendly's life.

Elmer Perkin, Meadowbrook County Coroner

Elmer Perkin, County Coroner

Elmer Perkin is the Meadowbrook County Coroner and has held that position since 1986. Perkin is a talkative individual, known in town for getting a little drunk at the Meadowbrook Inn on weekends and spilling gruesome details of local deaths. In his time as the County Coroner, Perkin has handled every death in the Spooner Ave house from John Tycroft up, and is aware of the dark history of the house. He co-operated with SA Frederickson (Agent JASON) and told him that the goings on were "darn strange...".
Perkin revealed a crime scene photo to Frederickson indicating something was blocking the wall-length mirror directly in front of Agent GARRET when his throat was cut. The spray indicated it was possibly a person.

Brian Miglia, Meadowbrook Store-It Manager

Brian Miglia, Store-It Manager

Brian Miglia is the 20 something manager of the Meadowbrook Store-It. After extorting money from J-Cell concerning the upkeep of Unit 711 and it's contents, and refusing the Agents the time required to "work", JASPER moved to pistol whip him.
Brian and his off-sider Jamey were forced to "clean" the space at gunpoint and were later locked in the near empty storage unit while the Agents made their escape.
Later, JASPER visited Brian's home, finding only his mother, Rhonda Miglia; Brian having left town in a hurry to stay with an uncle. Rhonda reported the trespasser to the police.

Session 06 (Agent JASON)

1206 Spooner Avenue, Midnight 

Jason watched Jasper move towards the house with Yarrow, while he waited in the car with Sinclair for a few moments. In his mind he went over the things that had been happening recently.

This morning he had contacted A-Cell, and asked to be put on this case in an official status, and if they could sort out some ID for that, as well as a car. This had gone relatively smoothly, and around 3pm he had been able to get behind the wheel of a government issued car, with a black ribbon along his arm, and a badge ID'ing him as Special Agent Frederickson in his pocket.

It had meant to leave Jasper behind with Sinclair, something he had been loath to do, but in the end there had been no other way about it. Either Sinclair would have to start showing his face at the police bureau, which could have an negative effect down the track and cause issues for him, or he had to have some kind of official angle.

He ended up going for the official angle because aside of the risk to Sinclair, Jason thought he'd be able to get more info on the situation in the capacity of an agent looking into the death of a colleague.

Sinclair and Jasper were going to spend some time at the County Seat to see what could be found there.

Agent JASON

Since then he had only spoken to Jasper over the phone a few times. Things we going slow, there was a huge amount of mess, Jasper was getting annoyed,...

Jason had called Professor Yarrow and Elizabeth Tucker, filled both of them in on what they had found out so far (which wasn't a lot). Elizabeth was going to see if she could find anything out regarding "Wheeler's Furniture", Asari, Ture and a few more names. Yarrow had seemed keen. He knew of the house but had never been in it. He seemed like a useful asset, so Jason had told him to make his way to Meadowbrook, and look into the same names. Yarrow had replied he didn't have time for that, since he had a faculty meeting in the afternoon.

That should have set off some alarms.

Jasper watched Yarrow move off further down the road. He looked over to Sinclair.

"You ready? Let's go." 

Jason pulled the bag with the shotgun and shells out of the van and moved as quickly as possible in the shadow towards number 1206, followed closely by Sinclair who was also carrying a bag.

As soon as he had returned in Meadowbrook after picking the car up, he had made his way to the Meadowbrook Police station, where he had a chat with Chief Buffington. The guy was young, seemed like a stickler, but was very accommodating. GARRET had been found dead, throat slit. According to the coroner it was suicide. But no weapon was found. And all the doors were locked. Yes, he knew what this looked  like. But it was still considered suicide. After prodding a bit it was clear very little was going to be found here, and at best he'd tick Buffington off.

Jason had made his way to the Coroner, Elmer Perkin. He got the same information there, but it was clear the Doc was burdened by something. It turned out that a previous owner, Asari, had killed herself in almost exactly the same way, throat slit, no weapon to be found. And there were others, all deemed accidents or suicides, but when you looked at the details there was just a lot that didn't fit or add up...

The Coroner seemed reluctant to continue to talk, and instead told special Agent Frederickson to meet him at 8pm at a local pub.

Luigi's Italian Restaurant

That left Jason just enough time to meet up with Jasper and Sinclair, at the local Italian restaurant, Luigi's. They had turned up with some interesting info. A list of previous owners, and it turned out that all of the names mentioned in GARRET's notebook were previous owners of 1206 Spooner Avenue. Jason had filled them in on what he knew. Asari and GARRET/Donnelly had slit their throat, Falcone had been electrocuted, Tycroft had shot himself in the chest... twice... Tyler had drowned (water in his lungs, but nothing in the tub).

Jasper filled Jason in on the fact that he had paid Brian's mother a visit. It was a good thing that there was a Friendly at the same table, otherwise Jason would have reamed him out a lot more than he actually did. Jasper was supposed to keep Sinclair safe. That was as much the Op as sorting this GARRET issue out!

Jason moved onto the lawn, moved close to the house towards the side and slid around the corner, pulling the Mossberg from the kit-bag as he reached Yarrow and Jasper. Christ, it was dark here. Almost too dark... something definitely was badly wrong.

"Go and get the remains, Jasper."

The other agent swiftly and silently raced back to the car. Jason took a deep breath and glanced over the fence that separated the front from the back yard. all quiet. He did his very best to ignore Yarrow, because every time the man opened his mouth, Jason wanted to knock all of his teeth out.

Elmer Perkin, County Coroner

Jason had left the other two at Luigi's to meet with Professor Yarrow, while he finished things up with Perkin. The bar was some dive, full of cowboy hats, boots and square dancing. He had grabbed a few beers and sat down with the Doc for a bit. There wasn't a huge amount he found out, but it turned out that GARRET had been killed by a knife, probably a straight razor or a very sharp knife, there were traces of metal found in the wound. The biggest revelation was something Perkin pointed out in a pic. Among all the blood on the many mirrors in the bedroom where GARRET had died, there was an area that the trajectory had been blocked by something. An outline of someone. GARRET had not been alone in the room. Damn strange... as Perkin put it.

Jason had taken his leave and drove back to drop the government car off. The paperwork would wait, it was time for Special Agent Frederickson to take his leave and disappear from Meadowbrook. The necessary info had been gathered, there was no need for him to stick around, and if need be, Jason thought, he could still call the cops and use the Frederickson ID to get more info. He had called Jasper on the way back, and from the background noise it was clear things weren't going smoothly. He had organised to meet with all three of them as soon as possible at a quiet park.

Prof. Emil Yarrow ("Agent BANSHEE")

Arriving there, it didn't take long to pin-point the source of Jasper's aggravation: Agent Banshee. That's what this parapsychologist called himself. A Friendly with an ego you could spot from space and absolutely zero clue. The kind of guy who would go and watch Ghostbusters with a heap of friends (would he have any?) and afterwards would go on for hours about all the wrong equipment that they had used, not noticing how everyone had slowly melted away during his boring as bat-shit monologue.

Jason tried to settle things for a moment but the guy got under his skin as quickly as he had pissed Jasper off (or Jasmine, as Yarrow called him...).

Talking to Sinclair settled a few things. Yarrow might be able to lure whatever was the cause of this. Getting this idiot to be noticed by whatever caused the problems did not seem like a bad idea to Jason. At least the thing's attention would be on him, and not on them.

Jasper returned, carrying the bag with the contents of the coffin. Jason went over the fence first, and landed badly, slightly spraining his ankle. The rest followed and they made their way around the house. Faint piano music became audible and the paused for a moment, looking at each other. Then they continued to the window of one of the bedrooms.

Jason took a deep breath as Jasper removed the axe and prepared to open the window. He looked at the others. 

Fuck this. 

I don't want to die here... 

Not with this idiot next to me. 

Jason was about to whisper "Abort" and walk away. 

He quickly went over things again.

We don't know what we're up against. 

We have no clue what to do in here.

We don't know how this thing kills or forces you to commit suicide.

I'm going against a lot of Ranging Rules here.

The window opened...

At that moment he made up his mind. They were not going in to sort this. This would be a quick reconnaissance trip, see what's going on, then get out. That should be doable. GARRET had been in a few times before he lost the plot. He had done so by himself. 

They weren't alone, so could keep an eye on each other in case things went badly. Get intel and leave. Then go back and dig deeper into local info, based on what has been seen. 

Use Turner and Yarrow to do some serious digging. 

Then, and only when you know what's going on and how you might actually stop it, we come back and finish this.

Jasper twisted the axe and the window opened slightly. 

And the piano music from inside stopped...

1206 Spooner Ave Floorplan

Summary of information discovered at the County Seat concerning 1206 Spooner Ave

Session 05 (Agent Joshua)

Meadowbrook Budget Motel, March 14th 1995 10:56pm

John had asked the night manager for the best room they had available but as he opened the door the room presented itself no different to Jason and Jasper’s. Given the small glimpse he had of it, the only addition was an air conditioner remote. “Perhaps this is the best room for the simple reason they haven’t had to remove a body from it,..I hope.” He thought to himself.

Locking the door behind him and turning the lights out, John proceeded to check the window locks and draw the curtains closed. He entered the bathroom, started the shower running, removed the clothes he was forced to buy and dusted them off as best he could before folding them ready for the morning. Standing there he paused, the clothes looked more worn than dirty now as they sat neatly folded on the chair; brown corduroy jeans, blue t-shirt and black hoody with a zipper down the front, finished off with a red and white trucker hat placed on top like a red neck garnish. He had left the black work boots by the door as this was standard practice in his own home.

Staring at the clothes, as the steam began to rise in the bathroom and swirl around him, he wondered about the child that was in that coffin, looking to his left where he dusted the clothes off in the shower/bath he could see the particles forming fine swirling lines as they circled the drain. As dark as this thought may seem to some John smiled and thought “I guess there are still journeys you can take after death”. Then his smile quickly left his face as he spun around and put his hands down on either side of the sink, he looked at the dry sink hole which immediately reminded him of what was happening behind him. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing realising it was shallow and fast, his heartrate was also fast. Raising his head and wiping the condensation from the mirror he looked into his own eyes, his pupils were dilated as he feared. John stood upright and in a surprised tone he announced, “I’m going into shock!”

John turned back to the shower and using his hands washed the last of the remains down the drain without a thought and then promptly put the plug into the lower bath-half of the shower sitting in Seiza* directly under the hot shower jet to raise his skin temperature. Forcing all thought and attention inward John focused on his lungs pulling deep breaths in through his nose, feeling his lungs expand and swapping cell feeding oxygen for the carbon dioxide by-product. Exhaling through the mouth John continued until he felt his lungs were as flat and devoid of gas as possible, he counted to ten and began again. Hearing the splash of water as it spilled over the bath edge he calmly removed the plug. Given the shower was not very strong it had clearly been some time, he stood up holding on to the shower head but he didn’t feel dizzy. John accepted this as a very good sign that the episode had passed for now, proceeded to quickly wash himself and get dried with the thick towel that was by the sink.

Putting the towel on the rail he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, “Yeah, I could probably use a trim” he thought in regard to Jason’s childish comment earlier today. Naked, John opened the door to the bathroom, as the mist fell to the floor he strode out to the small area beside the bed and began to do some stretches. His muscles were still warm from the hot shower as the steam snaked around his feet in the light from the bathroom. Five minutes later he got dressed into his pyjamas then took from his bag a thinning black notepad with a metal spiral spine & pen. He then turned the desk chair around to face him. Placing the items on the seat in front of him John sat down in Seiza again and flipped notepad upside down.

Opening the back cover revealed a thin but solid plate of metal glued to the inside of the cover, he then turned a fresh page to cover the metal. Then he rotated the notebook 180 degrees. It is clearly something he had done a lot as the procedure was smooth and systematic, almost ritualistic. Closing his eyes and slowly breathing again John sat with his hands upright in his lap. He began touching each of his finger tips to his thumbs systematically as he attempted to draw as much detail as he could from his day while processing relevance and potential outcomes regarding information levels and interactions.

This day was unlike most others for John and he was about to write down why, his eyes snapped open and he took up the pen and began to write.

Mind Journal

March 14th 1995

EVENTS

Arthur Donnelley (GARRET) Event

• This morning at 4:12 am Arthur Donnelley rang me.
• He wanted me to meet him at the house he was fixated on (see client session notes; Donnelley, Arthur) tomorrow night. Since he rang in the am of today I am going to assume tomorrow night is what he meant as he was quite a factual man.
• I learned in the morning that he had died. Knowing he was a “Night Opera” Client I figured it was another cover up and was expecting an agency email in the morning but it never came.
• Something is out of place.
• Concerned for Arthur.
• I made my way to Meadowbrook.
• The house seems normal, Nothing out of place. Has an unfavourable history, avoided by the local populace.
• Was about to go to the Meadowbrook Police Department regarding the history of the house when I got a call from Jasper.

Agents Events - 67% chance they are who they say

• Contacted in the early morning by Jason. Aggressively Rude. Thought to be another orange tier psychotic. Hung up.
• Jason calls again during my drive to Meadowbrook. Still tries his best to intimidate.
• Contacted by Jasper – clearly under orders from Jason. Asked not to go to the Police (that’s a great sign).
• Asks for a meet up, I choose the place.
• Jasper gives a soft explanation as to what’s going on. Enough to convince me to see what these guys are about for now.
• Picks out new clothes for “blending in”, Jasper does show all the signs that he is telling the truth so I go along, being very careful.
• Jason arrives showing obvious signs of paranoia (there are eyes and ears everywhere) and insists on going to their base of operations. Ok..
• They ask how I know Arthur and I catch them using the name Garret when referring to him.
• We go to what they call a “Green Box”
• A storage shed with a lot of junk
• Stand out items: Used child’s coffin, 2 shotguns with a lot of ammunition, 14 cans of fuel, a camera and burnt photos of the house on Spooner, and Arthur’s Notebook.
• I want to look closer at the notebook.
• There were two young men, kids really Jamey and Brian.

John had been writing as fast as he could think but at that moment he stopped and put the pen down. Walking to the sink in the bathroom he splashed water on his face, filled a glass with water and drank it quickly. His reflection was clear, the steam was gone from the room. His pupils were normal and his breathing and heartrate were calm.

“What the hell happened tonight” he said softly “Jasper tried to pistol whip that kid. Were they going to kill them? Was there a chance that it could have happened?” John took a step back and sat on the edge of the bath “Logic is only going to carry me so far here. It was fun to play agent and be along for the ride for once instead of having to convince some poor person that what they saw wasn’t real when I know that it was just to facilitate the “official story”. The best successes I have had was by letting these agents believe what they saw was real but gave them techniques to live with the knowledge and they are thriving. Like Stephen” John remembered the card that Stephen had sent him at Christmas and how it read “Thanks John. You really saved my life.” “Arthur was one of many of these Night Opera Agents that I was trying to help live out his days as sane as possible. He clearly had PTSD from his experiences, Jason reminds me of him except that Arthur wanted to get past this and he had made a lot of progress which is why the Spooner House came out of nowhere to me.”

John dropped his head into his hands “Perhaps I jumped into this too quickly excited about all the truths that Jason confirmed while he was running off his clandestine rhetoric. If these guys were real then a lot of the other hinted agencies, supernatural, interdimensional beings, electro magnetics and quantum logics, etcetera, must be real in practice. That dinner I had with Carl Sagan, Steven Hawking and Richard Dawkins two years ago would have gone a lot differently if I knew then what Jason inadvertently told me today.” He began to smile at that thought but then he remembered where he was and why. “Jason and Jasper would have thought I was stressing over the information about their agency when I was processing what this confirmation of existence means. Wait. That’s great scientifically but what does this mean for me, for those kids and for whoever else get in their way. It didn’t seem very well planned out or covert what took place at the storage unit so how professional can they be? I better make some quick notes about those two and get some sleep”

John slowly walked back to the chair tired and distressed. “Ok, let’s focus get some facts out” he said to himself as he sat back down, and repeated his process. Taking up the pen he continued.


PEOPLE

Jason

• He is clearly trouble but there is a strong likelihood he is connected to Arthur, either by investigating like myself or he is a part of reason Arthur is officially dead.
• Low EQ
• Jason’s level of Interpersonal Communication Skill is on par with an Old Israeli Waterboarding Towel. He asks you a question the same way a meat tenderizer asks a chicken breast to get thin.
• Questionable Leader
• He was afraid of that coffin, he got as far as he could from it but didn’t have a problem sacrificing the rest of us.
• Team doesn’t matter, any lives matter?, only his purpose!
• This man is deeply troubled possibly from what he has seen and experienced beyond the veil but there is more. Committed to purpose but not a sociopath due to reflection and self-preservation instincts...Loss.
• He must have suffered a great personal loss. The pain from this loss is what drives his purpose and grants him this personal right to do what he feels he needs to regardless of others in this pursuit of justice? Righteousness? not sure yet.

Jasper

• Jasper is a soldier.
• Average EQ
• He follows orders and stays on task. Easier to believe he is an agent as he shows all the signs of a Hight Tier Operator.
• Carries a different weight to Jason, it doesn’t fuel him. Almost an acceptance of something saddening. I’ve found it in amputees this sense of not being able to do certain things again that they want to dearly. I’ll figure it out.
• Believes he is doing what must be done, yes, definitely feels he is doing good.
• Whether these guys are or not is yet to be fully confirmed.

Finishing his notes for the day John tore each of the five pages out that he just wrote and sat them in order in front of him from left to right. Then he held the pen he held the pen horizontally across the first page and slowly moved it down the page as he committed it to memory as he had done hundreds of thousands of times before. When they were all done he burnt the pages over the metal waste paper basket one at a time. He then placed the basket in the centre of the bathtub, put his notebook and pen in his bag, put the chair back, turned the light out and went to bed for the night.

*    A traditional Japanese way of sitting that strengthens core muscles, improves blood circulation and concentration among other benefits

Donnelley's Notes

Dictaphone Recording of Conversation between Agent Garret (Arthur) and John Sinclair, March 14th 1996, 4:12AM

Session 05 (Agent Jason)

Meadowbrook Budget Motel, 11:38pm

Jason opened the cracked glass door of the shower and grabbed the coarse and thin towel. Place might be a shit-hole, but nothing beats a shower to get rid of some of the day’s stress. He wiped the steam of the mirror and looked at his reflection under the flickering light. He shook two pills from a bottle and swallowed them with some vodka.

He limped out of the bathroom and sat down on the only chair at a worn table. After lighting a cigarette, he picked up the pencil and closed his eyes, going over today’s events.

An early briefing, followed by a long drive and a less then pleasant initial contact with the person who was the main focus of the mission had made for a long day. Some of the instructions in the briefing had been fulfilled, some had been answered, but for the rest he was only just scratching the surface. 

Jason started to write.

“Agent GARRET had been seeing Sinclair on and off over the last few years, trying to deal with (as Sinclair put it) PTSD. This happened under his actual name. As is to be expected, Sinclair followed the standard blah-blah, gave him some “emotional guidelines” or whatever they called it nowadays and wrote GARRET's issues off as ‘made-up delusions’.”

Jason lit another cigarette. He couldn’t say Sinclair can be blamed. It was a fact that agents can’t be helped by people like Sinclair, because they will always tell you that what you saw was “only your imagination”. Try telling that to Oscar, who got his brain and eyeballs sucked out by an imaginary 7ft spider that burst out of the womb of his girlfriend Ophelia, and was still wearing her face while it was dangling from the ceiling.

Fucking academics.

He picked up the pencil again.

“GARRET called Sinclair at 4am on Thursday, March 14^th.” Jason listened to the tape again. He stopped the tape, rewound it and played it again. Interesting. Especially since GARRET killed himself the day before, as Sinclair had seen on TV at 8am. Sinclair’s impression was that GARRET had been interested, perhaps obsessed even, with the house, and had looked into it, off the books. 

To Jason, it seemed that the place had somehow gotten hold of him, and as his mental stability slipped, that hold became stronger. To the point that the guy seriously considered buying the place. Clearly, he had gone in there and either topped himself, or had been given some supernatural assistance in the matter. Were there others who had been influenced? The briefing mentioned agents, plural.

He crushed the cigarette butt and rubbed his eyes, then poured another vodka. He leaned back, tapping the edge of the table with his fingertips.

Sinclair.

He seemed of serious interest to the Agency. Perhaps even more than this case. Apart from the fact that the guy would probably be a great interrogator or lie detector, he couldn’t see why he’d be a good asset.

“When Astral Boy gets blinded by the next Baba Yaga we run into, and his flesh starts to blister and slosh off his bones because of some spell she cast on him, we’ll send him to see a psychologist. See how he deals with the PTSD bollocks then…”. 

Jason let out a deep sigh. He hated dealing with Friendlies. Especially when the aim was to recruit. More even when they were civilians. And absolutely when they’re academics. This guy had acted like a dickhead and wasted his time. He emptied his glass. But, truth be told, he had been easier to deal with in person. Perhaps Jasper had something to do with that. He seemed to have a soothing effect on people. Jason chuckled.

Sinclair just seemed to be filled with self-importance. Jason flicked through the file on the guy. How many boards can you sit on? Of how many blowhard societies can you be a Fellow before you slit your wrists out of sheer boredom of having to listen to another 6 hour seminar of these big-noting wankers? This guy was definitely a blue pill case if it was up to Jason… On the other hand, listening to the tape one last time, Sinclair had enough genuine concern for his patient to consider cancelling his appointments to meet up with Agent GARRET, after a 4am phone call. Perhaps a healthy dose of fucked-upness is what the guy needed to become actually useful to them.

He looked over the list he had written down in the Green Box. Which reminded him of Brian and Jamey. He made a mental note to make sure to pass on to the other cell members that from here on in, all unknown Green Boxes needed to be treated as an Unfriendly, possible Hostile location. Things would have been a lot smoother if they had gone it at night, cutting the wire and disabling the cameras. On the other hand, it seemed that Jasper had needed to vent some frustration. Possibly an overdose of Sinclair? Anyway. What’s done is done and even he himself felt better after making those guys piss their pants. He looked at the list again.

It all seemed to relate solely to this Spooner house. No odds and ends, no books or articles on other cases. Biohazard containers for what…? Gravedigger toolkit. Quicklime… speeding decomposition up. Who did he want to bury? Rebury the contents of the small coffin?

The gasoline was probably to burn the house down, but that didn’t seem to work, according to what GARRET wrote in his notebook. Three new keys. Probably of the Spooner house. The ID’s… GARRET gained access to the place by pretending to be a gas inspector? He mucked around on the cemetery or tried to get info from the morgue by pretending to be with the Coroner? What were the photo’s he burnt? Some of the house, taken at night. What was in them and why did he burn them?

Jason opened the notebook and went over the contents. Poor guy. GARRET was clearly fucked up beyond breaking point. Sinclair’s approach clearly wasn’t doing him any good, and from past experiences Jason knew how much you can rely on the support of the Agency. GARRET had been going on with this for a long time, over five months.

GARRET had seen someone in the house, only at night, “Turé”. That was on October 10^th, and on the 30^th he went to do some digging, bringing the coffin back. To confirm that Anton WAS dead? If so, why not just open the coffin there and then? Why drag it back to the Green Box? GARRET had considered taking cash, so he might have paid someone off at the cemetery. He went and dug up the coffin of Anton Turé. He mentioned later there’s someone else in the house.

Jason took a deep breath and gathered the papers on the desk and put them away. 

A lot to look into...