xp_logs | Trinity: Make Like Ninja

Wanda and Nathan go back to the school. Not as Helga and Hans this time. There's sneaking and raiding of files, and a couple of nasty surprises.

The security system, unsurprisingly, was very easy to defeat. This was Kazakhstan, after all, Nathan reflected wryly, floating himself and Wanda through the window and back to the floor. #I get this sense that Charles would so disapprove,# he sent to her. #I'm supposed to be going through proper channels when I do this kind of thing.# The school was dark and dead-silent around them. Which was a damned good thing, as they were in the administrative wing, on the other side of the building from the dorms, and if there had been noise here at this time of night they would have had a problem.

#Didn't the proper channels laugh heartily at you and show you lots of red tape?# Wanda asked sweetly, peering around cautiously. #Sometimes when the proper channels are being idiots, breaking and entering is called for. Besides, I like being a ninja.#

She peered over at the desk in the room they had landed in, looking for...well, just looking.

#These situations would be so much easier if people were accomodating and marked their file cabinets 'incriminating files here', wouldn't they?# He quite possibly wasn't taking this nearly as seriously as he should be. Ah, well. #Check that file cabinet over there, and I'll take a look at the computer?#

#Drat and here I had been hoping to start in the 'I' files,# she teased, sliding past him to start going through the files. #What, exactly, am I looking for? Anything that does not look like it should be here?#

#Personal files, preferably,# Nathan said. #Remember that list I showed you, of the nomad kids? Anything that mentions them. I'm not going to assume that they kept detailed descriptions of kidnappings, but there might be something...#

#We need more villians that tell us all their plans,# Wanda sighed sadly. #Instead, they're all secretive and sneaky. How fair is that to us?# Starting at the front, she slowly started going through the files, her anthropology training actually coming in handy on a mission. #Queen of file flipping.#

#And you do it with such panache.# Yes, definitely not taking this nearly as seriously as he should. But it was such a relief to be dealing with this sort of... petty bureaucratic evil. Maybe he was just overconfident. #Think I should go find our friend Ilya where he slumbers and walk through his dreams for a bit?#

#Ohh ohhh, can I!...oh, bother, I can't.# She grinned at him over the filing cabinet. #You get to have all the fun, I can just make his pants fall down and...# She shuddered. #I certainly don't wish to do that.#

#Now, what fun is that?# Nathan sat down, his mind moving over the keyboard and firing up the computer. Fingerprints were to be minimized. #Hopefully we'll find enough here and I won't have to do that. He did have training, like I said.#

Wanda pulled out a file and flipped through it again, frowning. #Take a look at this. One of the childrens but it reads differently, slightly, than the others. Maybe I am just looking at something wrong...#

Nathan came over to read over her shoulder. #Written by someone else, you think?# he asked after skimming through one of the other files. #The style is different. The Russian is...# He stopped, blinking. #Formal. Polished. Whoever wrote this isn't a native speaker.#

#The Russian is too perfect,# she agreed, pointing out a couple of things. #No mistakes, no mispellings, unlike the other ones. Nothing major but a few things here and there that this does not have. And the handwriting is slightly different as well.#

Nathan turned the page - and froze, unable to breathe for a moment. #Wanda.# He touched a spot on the page. #That name. The psychologist. He was in the files Remy and I took from Gideon's office back in July.# Photographic memory was occasionally a terrifying thing.

#Hell. What do you have to do to get him to back off?# She didn't even need to ask him to remember the name, she knew he would. #Well, we have a name. That's something.#

#I'm going to see if this shrink's in the computer,# Nathan said more shortly, returning to the terminal. #I want to know how involved he's been with the school. Look for more files that read like that, all right? And any more that mention him.#

#No problem.# Mentally marking where that file went, she quickly started going through the rest. With something solid to go on, this went much faster and she was soon finding the files they needed.

Nathan was downloading the school's financial records onto a USB drive. #This place has an active financial life,# he sent back, his mental voice clipped. #Moreso than you'd think. There are payments going out...#

#Going out to where? I am going to assume not to the usual things of buying school supplies.# Wanda had actually brought along a small camera and was using that now to take pictures of the names on the files that had the doctor's name in them.

#... Kazakh citizens. Some of whom have the same last names as the students... oh, fuck, Wanda. Are they paying the parents?# Nathan sent, horrified.

Wanda froze and closed her eyes tightly. #...not...maybe,# she sent back, quietly. #Would make it easier than kidnapping though I do not know if they parents know exactly what they are getting paid for. Selling their children...it has happened before...#

#None of these names are off my list. Thank fuck. I don't think I could have stood that.# Nathan yanked the USB drive out and rose. #What a mess,# he flung at Wanda angrily. #What a fucking mess... do you need help with those files?#

#No, I found all the ones that are connected with this man.# Expertly, she tucked them back into the right places and stood up, putting the camera away. #Nothing left in that filing cabinet we need to worry about.#

Nathan gave the office another assessing look, then shook his head. #We've got enough to work with,# he sent shortly. #We should get out of here, sort through it. Then figure out what sort of contacts we need to make in Almaty. I want to shut this place down, Wanda,# he thought almost savagely. #If Gideon's had anything to do with it, I want to burn it to the ground and salt the earth.#

Wanda gave him a tight smile. #Well, if you are going through all that trouble, you'll need help. Besides, I have never had the chance to salt anything to such a degree.#