The Problematique: Facility Hunting | Interrogation | Scouting New Son

[x-lexington.livejournal.com]

Lex and Bishop find a potential facility and snatch an armed guard to interrogate him

The soft light from the moon penetrated through the forest canopy, providing Lex more than enough light to pick his way through the dense foliage. They had scouted several areas without success and yet he maintained the same military discipline: measured steps, followed by a slow scan of the immediate area. They knew Vanessa was in a facility nearby, they simply had to locate her and get her out. However, finding the damn place was proving far more difficult than he anticipated.

Without making a sound Lex crouched and signaled to his teammate, stop, light ahead. The light was faint enough to be a candle or lamp in a farmhouse but he wasn't about to give away their position - even if it was a false alarm.

Bishop took up his position as rear security as they stopped. He deferred to Lex easily when it came to skills that came with his soldiering background. He was certainly on the short list of well trained individuals that were easily accessible for a mission like this.

As his partner took up a defensive position Lex slid himself forward, trying to find a better position to see the building. The foliage was thick ahead and he lost sight of the light for a moment before it appeared again. It was clearly not a small cottage, but rather a large concrete structure. It could definitely be the place where Vanessa was being kept. He turned to signal to Bishop but caught a flicker of motion as he did so. Very slowly he pulled out his rangefinder and held up for a better look.

Through the scope he could see a man standing guard with a FN F2000 held at ease in one hand and a cigar in the other. The man was clearly a professional, his body at ease but his stance clearly alert and ready for danger. Lex's gut told him this was the place. He dropped the scope from his eye and held up his hand: one guard; straight ahead. His impulse was to kill the man and infiltrate the facility, but he knew that was a bad decision. He turned his head slightly, keeping the man in view, to check for Bishop's response.

Bishop made a quick grasping motion with his hand. He didn't know the military sign for kidnapping, and expected there wasn't one, but there wasn't any way they would be able to assault a facility of unknown size and unknown staffing with limited equipment and no backup. They needed information before anything else.

Lex often forgot that he was no longer working with soldiers; when he was working with Vanessa he didn't have to worry about it because her merc background gave her all the skills she needed to work with him seamlessly. He never realized how much she'd spoiled him. He pointed to his eyes and then waved them slowly in a 180 degree arc, stay alert; I'll take him down and bring him back; shoot anyone who interrupts us. He didn't know if the other man caught all of what he was saying, but if he understood half they would be fine.

Thumbs up was the response given, an international symbol he was sure would make it's point. Firmly placed as rear security, making sure he covered Lex's back, Bishop let the soldier do his thing.

Sliding through the trees, Lex made his way towards the guard. He moved quickly, ready to send out a pulse of electricity if he was seen. If it didn't incapacitate the guard it would at least fry all of his gear. The closer he got to the target the steadier his breathing became and the more his senses picked up. He was in his element, and he relished every moment of it.

The guard puffed on his cigar, eyes scanning the area as he waited for another man to join him. They were normally in pairs save for the intervals when one man from each pair would walk the perimeter of one half of the building and meet up with the guard on the other side. Hearing motion, the man's hand stopped halfway up to his cigar and came down to his rifle, ready to raise it at any moment. He couldn't see the source of the noise and while it could very well be just an animal he kept searching for the source all the same.

The man before him tightened and Lex knew he had to move quickly. He sprinted from the cover of the trees and brought his arm up in a simple motion, aiming straight at the man's throat. He struck with beautiful precision, cutting off the man's airways so that he could not scream. As the man blacked out he slammed him against the wall for good measure - it might take the man a few minutes longer to recover, but the added guarantee he wasn't faking the blackout was well worth it.

As the man dropped to the ground he looked around to make sure there were no other guards present. He was glad he hadn't had to rely on his mutation, but he was also relishing the possibilities of using his powers to "jog" the man's memories. After a few seconds he attempted to drag the man back through the treeline - all the while searching for Bishop.

Bishop slipped out from behind a tree as Lex approached, grabbing the guard by the back of the pants to hoist him up casually as if he were a suit case. "Right behind you." He said, offering Lex the lead as they withdrew.

Bishop and Lex torture a guard to find out whether Vanessa is in the facility.

Not having seen the place when he was brought in put serious limitations on the escape plan the captive guard was trying to hatch. The all too secure bindings on his wrists didn't help. That told him these people knew what they were doing when it came to kidnapping. That wasn't reassuring. He'd been in tight spots before. It always worked out for him in the end, all he had to do was look for his opening. There was always a weakness to exploit.

Bishop entered the door, pulling a chair up in front of the guard, slightly off to the other man's left side. He had not given Lex any instruction, wanting a genuine reaction for what was to come should he need it."I'm looking for my partner. She's very distinct. I believe you know where she is and time is of the essence." He looked directly in the man's eyes as he spoke. "Because of this, I do not have time to gain your trust. I am an experienced interrogator and promise that you will tell me what I want to know. I'd like it if you'd do that now. Where is my partner?"

"That is very persuasive. I find I wish to tell you all secrets I know," the guard returned in heavily accented English, full of bravado. The man looked from the black guy in front of him to the white guy. They were fit but who knew if they could fight worth a damn. They weren't exactly scary.

"I usually appreciate sarcasm." Bishop offered as he pulled a pair of wire clippers from his back right pocket. "I believe our problem right now is that I have not established exactly how serious I am. I asked a very direct, simple question and I'd like an answer to match. Every time I don't get that, I'm going to remove a digit in progressively more painful ways."

"I'm sorry the first question didn't go well. I hope our future exchanges are more fruitful." Without ceremony, Bishop lined the wire clippers up along the final joint on the guard's left pinky and abruptly clipped it from his hand.

Lex did not enjoy hurting the security guard, but he admired the unhesitating nature of Bishop's approach and decided that he would back it up. He stood there without changing his expression, and looked the man right in the eyes. His look was unsympathetic and told the guard everything he needed to know about the situation: there is no escape, there are only the answers we seek; tell us what you know and you will live; my associate has my full support; and, oh yeah, you're fucked. He was sure that if he were a telepath the man would be screaming in fear.

The guard swore loudly in Ukrainian when the tip of his finger was cut off. Blood loss was a problem. Fuck, that hurt. Okay, blood loss was seriously a problem. So was the fact that these guys were both insane. "The fuck? You want 'distinctive' woman and you cut off finger? Who teach you to interrogate? I know many 'distinctive' women. One fuck you so hard you black out. That is distinctive. Fuck you want?"

"You think I'm doing this because I want a good prostitute? Take a moment to gather your thoughts." Bishop pulled a wind-proof lighter from his front pocket, lighting it with his left hand. He held the flat side of the wire clippers over the small flame to heat them. "This is that moment where a person is called to prove they have the wits about them most of us brag about. I'm asking you to recall the location of a woman so distinct that I don't in any way have to lead you to who I am speaking of. That's to keep my investigation on track. You only have to do two things, recall that information and then tell me."

Once the broad side of the wire cutters began to smoke, Bishop closed the lighter. He very carefully aligned the heated metal to the amputation site before pressing it on to cauterize the wound. "I'm not opposed to helping you fully understand the question I am asking or the implications surrounding it but I am making a point; you are going to become voluntarily helpful. I am controlling this situation to such an extent you only have two choices, help me or be tortured until you help me."

A deep guttural sound followed the press of hot metal to the man's bleeding stump. "I have no fucking clue what you want. Fucking psycho!"

Lex stepped forward and looked the man in the eyes, "White hair, blue skin, eyes like rubies. Answer the man's question or lose another finger, it's your choice." His tone was surprisingly calm, considering that the man before him held all of his hopes to find Vanessa. Something told him that the man knew exactly who they were talking about, they simply weren't asking the right questions.

"You cut off finger for some blue bitch and say you no want prostitute?" The words were mostly bravado. The guard liked his fingers as they were and wasn't too keen on losing any more pieces of any more of them. "I see lots of women. Where this blue women supposed to be that you think I see her? Work? You think she there?" That's where they took him from, after all, but it didn't mean that's where they thought she was. It just meant that's where they found the opening to take him.

"I would have thought you'd have learned what being uncooperative gets you." He simply stood there and shook his head, standing at ease with his hands behind his back. His fists were clenched bone white and if they didn't need the idiot alive he would most likely have beaten him to death in that chair. You're so unlucky I almost pity you; I don't know what you think you'll accomplish by blowing steam like that... but I give you one - maybe two - fingers before you cave like the coward you are. Then, I'll make you pay for your transgression.

"So your employers have her working as a prostitute?" Bishop pressed. Had the guard been a native English speaker, that mistake would have been much more telling than the former detective was willing to take it for at the moment. "If that is the case, I'm going to have some more questions about your operation. Sex workers in this part of the world means human trafficking and I have little sympathy for people who participate in that business."

The guard looked at him like he was stupid, despite the burning pain at the end of his stumped finger. "My employer? They don't pimp girls. You know anything? Girls, they go in. Sometimes they come out, sometimes no. Men too. Sometimes alive, sometimes no. They do science, not sex. You know anything you talk about?"

"We're not here to talk about what I know. I don't think you want to try flipping the roles of this situation." Bishop said sternly, though keeping himself surprisingly calm and tempered. "If it's not sex trafficking, what does the facility that you guard do?"

The guard shrugged. Any attempt at being the big, silent rebel had clearly fled. Apparently he liked his extremities. "Like I say, they do science. I don't know. Many doctors and nurses there. Medical research maybe. Sometimes the people they come in and they sort of...join with employer? Others, they get cremated, ashes thrown out."

Stepping forward, Lex cocked his head to the side for a moment and cracked his neck. "Now that is a useful piece of information, and it will save you from getting another finger cut off. However, it does not answer our initial question: have you seen a blue woman and do you know where she is being kept?" If what the man said was true then they had to move as quickly as possible.

"Uh..." A blue lady. Red eyes, blue skin. The guard's eyes darted between the two men, but mostly they went off toward those wire cutters. He wracked his brain trying to think of a blue woman. "Blue? No, not recent. Maybe while ago? I know not. Is not prison, we don't do booking there. They show up, they have people or no, they go past us. If they have people they come in on stretcher usually. They don't bring blue people in at least last month."

They were still not asking the right questions, Lex knew it and he also knew that if they cut off the man's next finger he would tell them anything they wanted to know - even if it was a bold-faced lie. "You're not helping yourself out here. We need specific information about the whereabouts of this woman, if you don't know that - and you don't know what they do at that facility - then you are of little use to us. So, I'm going to ask you a few more questions and you better have the answers to them, otherwise I will leave and let my associate do what he must to find the truth."

He paused for effect and then spoke softly: "What type of individuals do they normally bring in? Are they mutants? Answer me honestly and you may live beyond the next twenty minutes."

"I don't know, sometimes. Maybe all the time. You think I'm psychic, know person is mutant if no horns or claws or weird looking stuff? Sometimes they look like people, sometimes they look like mutant. Maybe all mutants and I don't know. I told you, we don't do booking. They don't tell us what they do. I get paid to do job. I patrol, I watch for people try to break in, I get check."

Bishop turned in his chair to look at Lex. "Speaking of, should we get one of the psychics? I wanted to avoid them because a guy can live without a few fingers but not without a mind. He's not as helpful as I'd like, though."

Lex didn't bother hiding a smile, "Well, he is most certainly answering to the best of his ability; however, I find his answers lacking in enthusiasm." He nodded towards Bishop as though giving him general consent to the strategy: either the man would break or they would get the information out of him by another means.

The guard followed the exchange with growing apprehension on his face. "What? No. Look, I tell you what I know. I do security, I am no inner circle.You want to know security? Sure, I tell you security. You want to know if everyone mutant? I don't know that. Is... privileged information what they do inside. I am not so privileged. I see blue woman once. Maybe twice." He might have have been making it up but it was the answer they wanted to hear so why not? "I no see any blue women for months now! Is my fault? No. I do security not acquisition."

Bishop pulled over a small desk, only a pen and note pad on it. "Tell me security. Our over watch will take a look and tell me if what you're saying looks right. If it does, once we're done, you'll be able to go."

The guard was visibly relieved. Whether or not the black man's vow would be made good on would remain to be seen but it at least meant they wouldn't be cutting off any more fingers for the time being. "Patrol outside is four men. Two out back, two in front. Every twenty minutes one man from each post walks perimeter and stays at other post so every forty minutes whole pair is at different post, see? Three men in scouting positions up in trees in woods forty-five meter out. Inside is high tech. Cameras everywhere. What is word? For men who watch camera?" He tried to remember it, then gave up and shook his head. "Two men, they watch camera but room is down two hall and need security badge to get that far." You needed a thumbprint as well but he wanted to keep his thumbs so he left that off.

The shorthand Bishop used was almost illegible but he seemed to be keeping up well. "We won't need a security badge. I'm sure we'll encounter something more than a magnetic reader in a place with a security staff of nine; it won't stay quiet that long." He explained to Lex for the guard's benefit. "Makes this sound like an operation that would do a snatch and grab of an appealing target in another country."

In a final gambit for information, Bishop spoke offhandedly as he stood and prepared to leave. "We better make sure we do this right so someone is left alive to come back and cut our new friend free."

Lex nodded his agreement, and then cocked his head a little to the side - as if reconsidering whether they should leave the man alive. In the end he smiled at the poor guy and did his best to look friendly. "Thank you for your help, I'm sure it will be most useful - especially considering the consequences for making our lives difficult." Without waiting for the man's reaction he turned and opened the door out.

Consequences? How did he make their lives hard? They cut off his finger! Still, he had to do something to help his chances of getting out of here. "There is other security inside. Is, how you say? In house. Me, I am out house. They follow people. Doctors, I think. They are not us. We all work for other company they hire. Inside security, they work for company owns building. I do not know where they are. Usually only seven or eight inside. Is small building. Has lower levels but I never see."

A smile arose on Lex's face as he held the door open, he didn't turn back to the guard. When people understand that a man's threats aren't idle they are much more willing to talk. He had to admire how well Bishop had pulled off the ruthless interrogator persona - and he admired the man even more knowing that he would follow through with it.

"Of course there's interior security." Bishop said with a laugh as they exited. The revelation the security was directly hired by the building's owners told him where to research, however. That was valuable.

Lex and Doug sneak up to the facility to tap into the cameras for interior surveillance.

Doug had the feed from several cameras up on his laptop, hoping for some kind of confirmation that this was the place Vanessa was being kept. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something about the way the men moved around the place set his instincts off. Not that the former Eastern Bloc had any shortage of suspicious buildings with mercenaries on staff, but there was just a niggling feeling he couldn't quite put into words. Maybe it was wishful thinking, wanting to get Vanessa back, but then again maybe not.

Lex scanned their surroundings to make sure nobody was around before looking at the screen. He'd been able to follow the current through the wall to figure out which lines went to the main camera feed, so they had a pretty good view of the entire facility. If Vanessa was in a cell, or on the move, he would try to reroute the power to shut down that sector so they could make it to her before the facility went on high alert. There was no telling how many mercenaries were around, anxious for some action.

There was a tradeoff to security cameras: the more cameras there were, the more of the location they could see. But with that came more and more information to process all at once, and the possibility of missing something. Doug's eyes flicked from feed to feed, looking for something, anything.

He was nearing the bottom corner of his screen when a brief flicker of a distinctive pale blue caught the corner of his eye. The form in the small picture was in the frame long enough for him to verify it was Vanessa, though she was heavily bandaged and being pushed in a wheelchair by an orderly, several mercenaries at their sides. They left the picture, and Doug swept his eyes, looking for them to enter another camera's range. Five seconds became ten, and he frantically grabbed at the papers next to him, looking for blueprints. "Shitshitshit, where'd they go?"

Lex turned to see Doug losing his shit at the monitors. The edge in the man's voice was contagious and he felt his heart beating faster - he had to have seen Vanessa. "You found her, didn't you? Was she all right?" He wanted to ask more questions but he knew he needed to focus on the task at hand. I will find her if nobody else can. He focused and prepared to reach out through the cameras to figure out which Doug had seen her through.

"She was there. She didn't look too great, but she's alive." She was alive, and she was in the building, that was what mattered. He tapped
the bluetooth earpiece in his ear, saying "Bishop". The voice activation dialed Bishop's number while Doug continued to flip through
blueprints and watch the camera feed. "It's Doug," he said simply when his phone connected. "We found her. She was on one of the
camera feeds for a few seconds, we're trying to find her again, but she's in the building." He rattled off the address and cross streets. He waited for Bishop to repeat them back to him, then made a noise of agreement. "Got it. We'll meet you at the safe house." He clicked off, shut his laptop, and turned to Lex. "Let's move it."