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Last Episode: Comm-Link #009



Private Journal of Dr Phillip Blake Andrews: Dr Fogarthy tasked me with finding out if the rumors that Petrov was dead were true. So I’m heading to Istanbul, Turkey to see what I can find out.

Unfortunately he insisted I take this new recruit Prof. le Roux. Apparently he’s a good diplomat but I can’t stand the man. He’s a rough character who treats people like they’re obstacles in his way or something, and the way he looks at women, he’s so brazen it makes me shudder, reminds me a bit of Petrov actually. But Fogarthy insisted I take him as he’ll also be acting as my bodyguard. His military training records are classifed.

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Aksaray, Istanbul, Turkey
Day 4165, 07.00 eRT

We’ve arrived at our hotel, the Grand Hilarium. A pretty posh looking place which Goshawk HQ is paying for. Le Roux wanted to head straight to the bar. But I insisted we should get on with business as it was only mid morning. Seriously wanting to drink at this time of the day, what’s wrong with that man. I saw him furtively pop a few pills before we headed out.

First stop was the whorehouse where Petrov was last seen in. A nice looking brick building from the outside until you stepped inside. The dirt and filth lying around and the state of the rooms we got a glimpse of, made my stomach churn. Le Roux was instantly hungrily eyeing the half naked girls lounging around, and I was left to try talk to the pimp now in charge, a short skinny guy with a nervous twitch. He denied all knowledge of Petrov ever being there and when I asked to speak to some of the girls he attempted to have me thrown out. Which is when le Roux finally paid attention and loomed over him saying “Do as he asks or else”. I saw a flash of a knife he was hiding in his jacket. The little pimp then called a few of the girls who weren’t working to come talk to us. They denied all knowledge of the incident. There looked like there’d been a struggle on the third floor but that was pretty much it, so eventually we just left.

After some thought I headed to the government offices and asked at reception for the Foreign Affairs Minister. The girl at reception gave my ID half a glance then called the Minister, and spoke to him in Turkish, which unfortunately I didn’t understand. It was all gibberish except for her mentioning Goshawk. She then looked me right in the eye and said “He not here” I heard le Roux burst out laughing behind me, before he just walked out. I glared at her. “Ma’am, you were just talking to him.” She just repeated “He not here.” No amount of nudging would get me an audience with anybody. After half an hour of arguing I left a card with my details and took my leave. Le Roux had just sat there the entire time, laughing to himself, smoking this foul smelling cigar and popping the occasional pill.

We walked outside then le Roux leaned against the wall, flicked the butt of his cigar away and just crossed his arms, waiting for me to crack. He had a big grin on his face. Sure the bastard wants me to fail this mission. He won’t get in trouble, he’s just the bodyguard.

I decided to head back to the hotel and tried to see if I could get hold of someone in the morning, maybe some local M.Ps, the Johns that frequented the brothel or perhaps a walk through the local Mortuary. Le Roux was happy to be heading back so he could get wasted at the bar.

We both entered the lounge after showering and getting changed into more casual clothes. We didn’t need any Mafia types lurking around looking for two N.G.O types that had been questioning Working Girls. I decided I needed a stiff drink and went to the bar. He walked straight over to a table where a card game was in progress and sat down. I was glad to be rid of him, a whole day with le Roux would drive anyone nuts. I caught a waitresses eye walking past and ordered a double Gin with ice. She nodded and I winked at her. Her face turned sour immediately. That was a kick in the nuts.

I settled in at the bar and ordered another double Gin on ice. Not long after a beautiful women with wild black hair and piercing gray, almost white eyes sat at the barstool beside me. She was wearing a long tight fitting black dress the left just the right amount to the imagination. She ordered a cocktail and smiled at me. I smiled back. “Keep smiling Doctor, I’m here to help you, I’m a friend, I believe you were looking for some assistance, a way out of a dead end job.” she said in a heady Russian accent, her fascinating eyes never breaking my awe struck stare. I turned to my drink quickly so shock wouldn’t show on my face. Everyone has heard of her but few have seen her. Code named Raven. A shadow who appears out of nowhere and does things no one expects for reasons no one can discern. “I can help you Doctor, but I need something from you in return. I can get the papers you need for Fogarthy, but you need to get them to Goshawk through your companion. Then I will get you to a safe place.” I saw le Roux look in our direction as she leaned in closer. He smiled, looking baffled I was with such a fine woman and ordered the waitress to send us over some more drinks and then he raised a glass to us. I played it as cool as I could. I probably could be excused for looking somewhat nervous. We spent some time at the bar drinking, until I saw him leave the hotel probably to revisit that whorehouse, in case “we missed anything.”

She left me an address for a meeting the next morning and assured me that there wouldn’t be any problems..

Next morning I arrived at the address which was a disused warehouse and met a elderly man who introduced himself as vice Foreign Minister Savun Uyanik who handed me some authentic looking papers with proper stamps and seals on them confirming Petrovs death along with a death certificate signed by a local doctor. I thanked him and he left.

Turning to le Roux I handed the documents to him and told him he needed to take them back to Goshawk as I still had business to attend to in Istanbul. “What business? I know nothing of more business.” he barked. I stammered and said “The girl yesterday, eh I think I may get lucky again tonight.” He glared at me suspiciously “That was no Civ girl Andrews, she looked like she could break your neck. Tell me now, what are you up to Andrews!? Tell me now or I’ll be the one breaking necks!” When I couldn’t answer he pulled out his wicked looking knife and went for my throat, I jumped back but lost my footing. I twisted and bent my head down to try protect myself as I struggled to push him off me. Suddenly there was an distant popping sound then the upper windows exploded into glass shards and a bullet pinged off the cement a few inches away from us. He jumped up away from me in shock, patted himself to see if he’d been hit then started running out of the warehouse with the documents. Thank G*d he was thick enough to take them with him. I heard later Raven had taken extra precautions and had her sniper partner keep an eye on things. It was him who fired the warning shot.

My forehead was gushing pretty bad as I left via the back stairwell. Raven appeared as soon as I stood outside. She was on a motorcycle and dressed in all black. She quickly bandaged my wounds before pulling me up behind her and speeding off to a safe location. Once we got there a tired looking doctor staple-stitched my wounds and she handed me a new gene World I.D. I was to head alone to her burn-noticed attached address. It took me a while to find but when I got back to her digs I could finally rest. For obvious reasons, I cannot say exactly where I am but I will say this; it is absolutely beautiful here.

Dr. Phillip Blake Andrews, ex-Goshawk

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Created by Cat Sith and Sethesin