The Proposition

Jasper futilely clenched his fists again, straining at the leather straps that bound his wrists to the gurney. Each time he flexed, the pain in his chest and side burned like hell. Mainly his side. He knew they had pulled a slug out of him there, where it had obviously clipped his vest and bit home. Maybe he could rupture something for good this time and just bleed out. Maybe no one would rush in and jab him with fuck-knows what again when his life support starting whining. Maybe...
A camera in the room shifted to focus on him and a voice came over the PA system.
"Brian. Brian please don't do that. If you continue we will have to sedate you again."
They knew everything. His name, his address, his fucking tax ID number. They knew he was FBI HRT and they knew he was Delta Green.
He closed his eyes and shouted, yelled until his side felt like it was going to burst. He screamed because he had known this place had always existed. He screamed because he knew it had been in the water. He screamed because he knew it bothered them and they were listening somewhere behind those walls.
Those walls.
This room.
This cell.
This cell had been his life since he awoke, a week ago, two weeks, a month? He had no idea. His every waking hour had been spent in this fucking room, tied to this fucking bed, hooked up to this fucking drip, those fucking fluorescents burning through his eyes and into his fucking brain. Faceless fucking nurses in green scrubs, behind fucking face masks, scurrying in an out, jabbing him and checking his fucking vitals. All for what? Why had they let him live?
When he wasn't tied to the gurney, dribbling and staring into the lights, they had him jacked up on  a concoction of Christ knows what mind altering drugs. A cocktail of mescaline and scopolamine, he bet, because that's when the questioning began. The extracting. The digging through his mind. They asked him about what he had seen. Not just at the barn. Not just in Groversville, but what he had seen in his time with Delta Green. They had asked about Jason and Knight, about Bill. They had asked about his superiors, about the outfit. He told them nothing or at least he thought he hadn't. Nothing important anyway.
Above his own screams he heard the sound of the electrical lock to the cell door unlatch. He stopped screaming, unclenched his teeth and let his head loll towards the door. He slowly opened his eyes and through the red haze he saw him.
All his pain, all his hatred, all his fear, coalesced into a single man. A man with three gold teeth.
The man crossed to the bed and lent down, his face hovering close over Jasper's. He stood there, his lips curled into a wry smile, his eyes wild. Not wild. Insane. More insane than Jude's eyes had ever been, hell, more insane than Yarrow's had been when he'd hit Jasper with that log splitter.
"Kozak, have you reconsidered my proposition?" the man said in his sickening southern drawl.
Jasper knew how he should have replied, what would have been easier, but he didn't. He drew back to spit but the man with the gold teeth was quicker and he grabbed his jaw and mouth brutally in one large hand, clasping Jasper's face painfully in his palm. Jasper struggled to breathe but the man continued to hold Jasper's face in his clenched fist.
"I expected as much. I figured we'd got just about everything we're gonna get from you Kozak. I'm impressed. That's why my offer still stands."
Jasper frantically twisted his head in the man's grip, grunting and struggling for air. The man eventually relented and let go of his face, wiping the drool casually across Jasper's gown.
"Well, there's nothing left to do, I guess." the man with the three gold teeth turned back towards the open door and said "It's time."
A pair of masked orderlies hurried in and quickly took up positions on either side of Jasper's bed. In a matter of seconds they were wheeling him out the door and into the darkened corridor beyond. It was the first time he had seen beyond the door, but there was nothing to see. A sterile corridor and more doors, left and right, dim lighting overhead. And the man with the three gold teeth keeping pace behind. Jasper struggled, shouted, kicked at the bands holding his ankles, to no avail.
The frantic ride ended just as abruptly in a brightly lit room at the end of the corridor. A room arrayed with surgical equipment - an operating theater.
And then it was just Jasper and the man with the three gold teeth. He smiled that sickening smile, the gold dental prosthetics glinting under the bright surgical lights.
"I've arranged something special for you Kozak. Something that might help you make that decision and take me up on my proposition."
The man with the three gold teeth slowly shook his head, chuckled and turned away, walking out of the bright lights towards the door. Jasper watched him disappear, anger and terror building in him.
Three small figures appeared from seemingly nowhere at Jasper's side, their sickening, emaciated grey skin taunt over their fragile bony frames. In unison they bent towards the terrified man, their black unblinking eyes staring through him from their bulbous heads, twisted instruments grasped in their gaunt hands.
Jasper screamed and closed his eyes...

Session 02 (Agent Jasper)

***What a mess.
Moving to the top of the hill the farm below proved to be wildly different than the plans had led us to believe. Unsurprising as it was unlikely the house we had seen in the drawings could hold an orphanage.

***I had no idea what I was looking at. Bearded ladies, children playing in the rain and what sounded like Russian marching songs playing over a scratchy PA system.
One of the children seemed to stare straight at us I know he couldn't see us but it gave me chills.

*** Next thing I knew and a dog had walked out of the shrubs it seemed sedate.  Jagger tries doping it with laced meat. Dog casually ignored meat and then just as casually choose to bite me instead and then just stand there. I was forced to dispatch the dog with my fire axe. Not something I'm happy about.

***Things now go from bad to worse as Jagger the "medic" tended my wound he cinched it too tight and I yelled. I could tell from the motion and cries from below that we have lost the element of surprise. I should have bitten down on something but the wound isnt even bad enough to slow me down now so I guess Jagger might not be used to live humans.

***Things start to move quickly and Jason finally takes action. Passing me his long arm he mutters something about no weapons and darts off with Jude around the back of the farm,

***Not 100% catching the plan I take Jagger and we scout for an over watch position to cover whatever Jason intends.

***After more foreign shouting someone with a spotlight starts probing the tress in the same direction where Jason and Jude had been heading.
I went through everything Id been told. Quiet. No weapons. No Cowboys. and take aim on the freak with the spotlight and wait.

***Not long after the freak starts firing into the trees and I pull the trigger dropping him and hopefully freeing the others to move, At this point I decide that there is no plan and its time to seize the initiative. Jagger and I move on the small cabin. Planning between us to breach it and clear it to use as a staging point to support the cover the movement of the others and then pivot to the house once the barn is cleared.

***The cabin was fortified but not very well. Jagger and I quickly broke through boarded window and into what seemed to be a quaint country kitchen. Right down to the confusing smell of fresh baked cookies. Before we could move to the next room a wretched lady approaches us. She started to ramble and my skin prickled and I was hit by a wave of nausea. Realising it had to be the old lady Jason warned us about I shot her cleanly at point blank with buckshot before her ramblings can do real damage.

***As she fell the prickling sensation increased and as I started to move towards the next room she sat back up I didnt have time to consider how but the sickness is rising in me.
 Jagger fired quickly but his solid shot punches the wall next to her but it cleared my mind and I was able to cycle the shot gun and aim for the head but nothing happened.

****I dropped the gun and grabbed up the axe but not before the wretch screamed and my set my skin on fire. At the time I thought her power had been greatly overstated but what I felt was only the side effects of the horror wrought on Jagger. Throwing my full weight behind the axe I put it cleanly through her head and she dropped. This time she didn't stir.

*** I cant even start to explain what happened to Jagger. The skin on his hands had seemed to bubble up in lesions and he was yammering about not being able to see anything though his eyes seemed fine. How had the wretch done it? At this point my Skin Prickled again and I moved over to the body and put a solid slug through whats left of her head and took my axe back. For some reason this failed to settle me

*** My First aid training proved pretty useless so I made secured the are as best I could and prepared to move Jagger. Thankfully I heard Jude's voice calling form the front door and before long I was joined by him and Jason who went through the last two rooms. From their reaction and descriptions there was some seriously weird things. I wanted to look but I could tell I was nearing my limit for this evil and we still hadn't even found the kids.

***It seemed we had regained the momentum so we moved on the main house. Despite high adrenaline we seemed to come together more cohesively and moved through room by room till we found the children. We assumed them all to be innocents until attacked by a young girl. She managed to knife me before I floored her with the axe. Happy that we had everything under control until Jason came in yelling about us not killing the girl. We argued back that she was a kid but he just put a bullet between the eyes and ended the argument. I'm not sure I'm OK with this but I need to find out more about whats going on so keep quiet.

***As we secure the kid in one of the rooms Jagger somewhat recovered from his wounds starts firing of his shot gun in what he says is a move that will motivate the kids to obey. Thankfully Jason took his shot gun away in what I see as a move to protect the rest of us. Jagger was fine going into the cabin but since then has been a little loose.

***As we start the packing up I come across Jagger "investigating the bodies" and prepping them for disposal with his scalpel.
He says this is how he is used to dealing with bodies, perhaps explaining his botched first aid attempt.

***After Jude and I move the bodies out to the lake we realise that Jagger hasn't done it properly and I try to do it but its the breaking point for me and there is no way I can go on.

***I know Jude is worried about the kids we left with Jason so when Jagger arrives I suggest he goes back to pick up Jason and the kids in the van. I'm worried about the kids but also after what ive seen here and on that day it could be best that we just let Jason deal with it.

***Later when we meet up in town they have the kids with them so maybe Jason's phone calls weren't a cover of get rid of Jude. I see the kid who had looked at us on the hill and as he looks back at me another dog walks over. Its too much like the first of that night so I put the axe to work again. Someone sedates the kids and I suggest we stash them back where we met in Boston till Jason and A cell work their shit out.

***Jude and I take the van and now its just one more crappy road trip.

Session 01 (Agent Jasper)

***After a somewhat Hollywood clandestine meeting in a park it looks like things are moving forward.

That or Nathan has gone deep to prank me. Maybe I'll finally have answers for what happened that day.

***Just heard from the boss: confirmation!

Not a prank after all.

He has the tickets on his desk and they have fed him a cover story. I hope it's a cover story. If this turns out to be an actual seminar, I'll resign.

*** Plane is in on time.

 Taxi driver gave me a funny look when I give him the address. Not a part of town people would fly into see? A good sign.

***Passing the location I see a waiting taxi just down the road from the address. The passenger seems to be taking precautions.

***As the time to the meeting ticks down I head in. Seeing the passenger from the other waiting cab is doing the same.

He doesn't shy from the cold. Carrying himself like he is ready to deal.

One to keep an eye on.

***Inside the building was in disrepair and housed a car that appears have been in serious crash. Though clearly someone had gone to great lengths to clean it up doing a better job than my old man did on his mustang.

***There was a palpable tension between myself and the other man and it only increased when someone walked in late towing enough baggage for a world tour.

Having seen tense situations kill unnecessarily in the past, I let the others know I'm carrying and I expect that they are doing the same. Cards on the table and all that.

***As we moved to the back of the room we see a man smoking at a table and we all move over towards him keeping our eyes on the doors and corners.

There are three empty chairs at the table and though we weren't greeted or invited to sit the others sit. I leant against the wall where I could see the door and cover the others. I made sure to keep Mr.Late between me and the mysterious man along with any weapons that he may have hidden away.

On the table was what looked like a bundle of paper or magazines wrapped in black garbage bags.

I know it's not porn but the seedy set up let the thought lighten my mood.

I comment that where I grew up it's considered rude not to meet a guest and welcome them in.

My comment earns me a hard stare.

I guess where he grew up it's different.

***Finally we get to the introductions.

Mr.Late is an Englishman code named Jagger, guess he must be on a world tour after all?

The other is Jude, maybe a Beatles fan but most likely ex or current army.

Jason???

***When the package falls to the floor all of a sudden Jagger does the obvious thing and sets it right which makes the mystery man very agitated; he definitely isn't a fan of us.

***The man we came to meet, who introduces himself as Jason, gives some basic details about why we are there then gives us an in or out ultimatum.

Refuses to go into details.

I got the feeling he doesn't want us to be there.

I'd decided long ago I either get answers for what I'd seen that day or I'd go mad so I'm in.

Jude asks if the children Jason told us about are in danger, they are, Jude is in.

Jagger seems to want to argue the point, something about medical training and oaths. Jason sent Jude and I out to his car to get maps. At the time I thought Jagger might not be there when we got back.

***Jude opened up when we got out of the room he was refreshingly open compared to Jason. He's ready to do what needs doing though isn't happy about killing a woman. I remembered that I used to feel that way before the day. His reluctance confirmed for me he is military.

We shared the same doubts about Jagger but I pointed out that when we are going into danger without the usual back up expert medical care could be the difference between life and death.

***When we got back with the maps Jagger seemed shaken and had clearly been reading the contents of the black bags. Whatever he saw he won't tell us but it stiffened his resolve so we are ready to go.

***The last days have passed like a messed up family road trip. Jude has been annoying Jagger. I'm pretty sure he is testing his character seeing if he is brittle or if he can hold his own. We eat greasy food and Jason plays the role of dad driving saying nothing until Jagger or Jude go to far.

Jason and Jagger have been fishing for documents whilst Jude and I scout for sites for extraction.

***Jason got mad we had driven past the target during our scouting. Saying we should have waited for his information. Apparently we were supposed to be impressed by his plan of a small suburban house that apparently housed a children's home.

It's ok he doesn't trust us fully but he acts like we haven't even been to the rodeo.

***We go tonight.

Agent JASPER (MIA)

Agent JASPER

Agent JASPER

Age: mid 30s - early 40s

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Black, receding

Height: 182cm

Weight: 75-80kg

Description:

Lean and agile frame. Piercing eyes with dead pan facial expressions.  Signs of tactical training. Strong in hand to hand combat. Knows how to handle a firearm.

Agent JASPER's body was last seen being dragged into a Blackhawk helicopter by members of a covert force after the Groversville barn facility was destroyed during Operation MAGENTA. He was shot at close range with automatic fire and is presumed dead.