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xp_logsAt the FBI field office, three frustrated investigators get the word that the disappearance of Jennifer Ransome and Phillip Moreau is all but officially closed.
"And that's it." Disgustedly, Kane tossed a file down on the table infront of Brand and Cassidy before dropping into a chair across from them. "The official word is that, while ongoing, the Bureau will not assign any more man hours to the Ransome or Moreau disappearance. Since they are gone without any signs of a struggle, the State Department's official position is that the young couple chose to leave on their own, instead of travel to Muir and the Genoshan government has endorsed their version of the events. The endorsement timed neatly with the lack of support for a UN commission to investigate the state of Genoshan mutants dying without coming to vote."
Brand shrugged. "That seems the end of it, then. No point chasing ghosts and using valuable man hours."
"So that's the cost of people's lives, is it? The cost of a few man hours?" Terry stared at the other two in disbelief cut by exasperation. "We /know/ they didn't leave on their own. How can they call anything ongoing if there is no one to be working on it?"
"Ongoing means that they know there's something going on, but they don't particularly care about the answers." He knew that he was taking it personally. It was his security detail that they'd disappeared on. His promise to keep them safe that had failed. "But - doesn't anyone care that two people were taken right out from under our very noses, and we still have no idea how? That hotel room was totally secure. There wasn't any breach from the outside. There sure as hell wasn't anything inside we can find leading elsewhere. The room service guy went in and then all three vanished."
"Dead ends everywhere. Except in one direction we cannot pursue because o' politics," Terry muttered, running her hands up into her hair and pulling lightly on her scalp, as if that could relieve the pressure building there.
"Short of breaking down the Genoshan Embassy door, we've got no proof they had anything to do with the disappearance. All we've got is the record of the last call made, but it was to an international rerouter and it hung up after two seconds on the line. Hardly a huge amount of evidence."
Brand sighed, rolling her eyes but her professional pride stung by Kane's comment about the pair disappearing out from under their noses. "A signal, then. To someone outside. Did anyone bother to run it through the database?"
"Of course we did." Terry dragged her laptop toward her to pull up the appropriate program with the intention of of showing Brand the great big blank results screen. Except... "Hnh," she grunted, frowning at the screen. "It just pinged off a new case." She turned the screen around to show the others.
"Didn't when we ran it the first time." Kane craned forward to take a look. "It's from the Kansas City field office. That's... unexpected."
Brand looked a trifle smug as she looked over the data on the screen. "Well then. Another missing teen case. How... handy."
Terry glanced at Kane. "Would this be enough to get a few more man hours?"
"It's worth checking out, at least." Kane nodded. "I'll arrange a call with the Kansas City field office, find out who's running that investigation and see what he has to say. In the meantime, let's keep running this number. Maybe we can get some more pings with SHIELD or Interpol's databases, see if there's a larger pattern."
"First Milwaukee, now Kansas City. The mid-West is a hot-bed of mutant crime, apparently." Brand leaned a little closer to Garrison, ignoring the fact she was crowding Terry's personal space in the process. "You take me to the nicest frozen hell-holes, Slim."
Terry grimaced and leaned away in her seat. "Kane's lap is free," she pointed out as she slid from her own seat and took her laptop with her to another spot before logging into the Interpol remote servers. She set up the search for the number and leaned back.
"Not funny, Irish." Kane said, giving her a look. The last thing he needed was Terry encouraging Brand. He was uncomfortable enough, and thanks to his unfortunate curse, even Brand was starting to look good at the moment.
"Was it something I said?" Brand replied, taking in Terry's shift of position as well as Garrison's words with her retort. "If I didn't know better, I'd say my teammates didn't like me." Her mock pout fooled no-one. "Let me know if you get anything, rookie. We'll be in Kane's office, on the speaker phone."
"Whatever could have been giving you that idea?" Terry retorted with eyes widening in mock-innocence, accent thickening into a sing-song cadence.
"And that's it." Disgustedly, Kane tossed a file down on the table infront of Brand and Cassidy before dropping into a chair across from them. "The official word is that, while ongoing, the Bureau will not assign any more man hours to the Ransome or Moreau disappearance. Since they are gone without any signs of a struggle, the State Department's official position is that the young couple chose to leave on their own, instead of travel to Muir and the Genoshan government has endorsed their version of the events. The endorsement timed neatly with the lack of support for a UN commission to investigate the state of Genoshan mutants dying without coming to vote."
Brand shrugged. "That seems the end of it, then. No point chasing ghosts and using valuable man hours."
"So that's the cost of people's lives, is it? The cost of a few man hours?" Terry stared at the other two in disbelief cut by exasperation. "We /know/ they didn't leave on their own. How can they call anything ongoing if there is no one to be working on it?"
"Ongoing means that they know there's something going on, but they don't particularly care about the answers." He knew that he was taking it personally. It was his security detail that they'd disappeared on. His promise to keep them safe that had failed. "But - doesn't anyone care that two people were taken right out from under our very noses, and we still have no idea how? That hotel room was totally secure. There wasn't any breach from the outside. There sure as hell wasn't anything inside we can find leading elsewhere. The room service guy went in and then all three vanished."
"Dead ends everywhere. Except in one direction we cannot pursue because o' politics," Terry muttered, running her hands up into her hair and pulling lightly on her scalp, as if that could relieve the pressure building there.
"Short of breaking down the Genoshan Embassy door, we've got no proof they had anything to do with the disappearance. All we've got is the record of the last call made, but it was to an international rerouter and it hung up after two seconds on the line. Hardly a huge amount of evidence."
Brand sighed, rolling her eyes but her professional pride stung by Kane's comment about the pair disappearing out from under their noses. "A signal, then. To someone outside. Did anyone bother to run it through the database?"
"Of course we did." Terry dragged her laptop toward her to pull up the appropriate program with the intention of of showing Brand the great big blank results screen. Except... "Hnh," she grunted, frowning at the screen. "It just pinged off a new case." She turned the screen around to show the others.
"Didn't when we ran it the first time." Kane craned forward to take a look. "It's from the Kansas City field office. That's... unexpected."
Brand looked a trifle smug as she looked over the data on the screen. "Well then. Another missing teen case. How... handy."
Terry glanced at Kane. "Would this be enough to get a few more man hours?"
"It's worth checking out, at least." Kane nodded. "I'll arrange a call with the Kansas City field office, find out who's running that investigation and see what he has to say. In the meantime, let's keep running this number. Maybe we can get some more pings with SHIELD or Interpol's databases, see if there's a larger pattern."
"First Milwaukee, now Kansas City. The mid-West is a hot-bed of mutant crime, apparently." Brand leaned a little closer to Garrison, ignoring the fact she was crowding Terry's personal space in the process. "You take me to the nicest frozen hell-holes, Slim."
Terry grimaced and leaned away in her seat. "Kane's lap is free," she pointed out as she slid from her own seat and took her laptop with her to another spot before logging into the Interpol remote servers. She set up the search for the number and leaned back.
"Not funny, Irish." Kane said, giving her a look. The last thing he needed was Terry encouraging Brand. He was uncomfortable enough, and thanks to his unfortunate curse, even Brand was starting to look good at the moment.
"Was it something I said?" Brand replied, taking in Terry's shift of position as well as Garrison's words with her retort. "If I didn't know better, I'd say my teammates didn't like me." Her mock pout fooled no-one. "Let me know if you get anything, rookie. We'll be in Kane's office, on the speaker phone."
"Whatever could have been giving you that idea?" Terry retorted with eyes widening in mock-innocence, accent thickening into a sing-song cadence.
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