xp_logs | Operation: Melittology

Mark and Wanda are pulling their tour watching Oomes' place, and some up with some vital information.

Wanda fiddled with her ear piece and grimaced. Even slightly modified so that it wouldn't get caught in her hair it still, of course, had a tendency of getting caught in her hair. She stopped when Mark gave her a look – obviously, she was up. She made a face at the cards in front of her and reached for her cup of coffee to stall for a little bit more time while she strategized. Normally, she rather liked card games but she was being trounced pretty well by the younger man. And, oh, he was probably enjoying it.

Finally, she glanced up and sighed. "Do you have any sevens?"

Mark offered her a toothy grin and tried hard not to laugh at her. "Go fish." He popped a small handful of M&Ms into his mouth and sucked on them to melt the candy shells. "Queens?" he asked, his mouth full of chocolate.

"Yes? Oh, you meant the cards." She winked and then grimaced before handing over a pair of Queens. "You realize, I simply do not understand how I am completely losing a game of chance?"

"Because, like poker, this is also a game of reading people and remembering what they have. Do you ha . . . Oh, snap." Mark sat up in his seat, reaching his free hand up to the earpiece he wore. "I think somebody's home."

Tucking her cards somewhere safe -- and somewhere Mark couldn't see them -- Wanda copied his movement. Silence settled around them in the van as they listened intently to what was on the other side of their earpieces. At this time, it was doubtful it was anyone but Oomes, unless he liked his guests or cleaners to come at a time when most sane people would be at home.

She gave Mark a quick thumbs up when she caught the correct voice on the wire. Bingo.

Mark's laptop was out a second later, and with a few keystrokes it started to record from the taps set up earlier. They were silent for a moment, intent on catching every word. "You hearin' that?" he asked softly.

"Loud and clear," she responded, flipping open a notebook. They might be recording it but she liked to have her own notes because sometimes thoughts came to her the first time, instead of when they reviewed the tapes later on. Wanda started to write as soon as Oomes started to talk again.

Flight in from China. She circled China several times, that was going to be important.

Mark sat unusually still, listening to Oomes speak cryptically about receiving this shipment. The conversation ended quickly, and silence followed. He tapped a key to shut off the recording. "What do you make of that?" he asked.

"Well, this gentleman is certainly paranoid, there wasn't much he came outright and said," Wanda responded slowly. "But I think we might be dealing with another kidnapping ring. Just from how he was talking -- the flight in from China worth a lot of money in the European security market. But it does not sound like weapons or drugs, does it?"

"Unless they're taking mutants to use for 'security purposes,'" Mark mused. "We need to get back to Remy with this. If it's another organ harvesting plot, then it's explodey time."