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Writing Group / Re: Writing Prompts!
« on: December 21, 2010, 11:36:11 PM »
One more for the grist mill:
Agent Wicks is dead, sir
“I think I found Agent Wicks, sir”
“Excellent. What took him so long to check back in?”
“Well, he hasn’t checked in sir. I think Wicks is dead.”
“Dead? How do you know?”
“ I was scanning the Times this morning and found him. Here, look on page 2. Yesterday, this was an article about a society wedding in Brooklyn, but this morning when the timelines synched, it changed to an article about a boy who found a body beneath the swamp ice in Orange, New Jersey.”
“Swamp ice?”
“Yessir.”
“Did he have a bad teleport?”
“I don’t know sir. The article says that a young boy was sledding on the frozen swamp and saw a human hand sticking up through the ice. The police had to chop Wicks out with axes. They think he was walking on the ice and just fell in.”
“My God. Are we certain that it’s Wicks?”
“The article mentions his synchrometer sir. It’s how they identified him. The article calls it a gold pocketwatch and talks about the inscription on the back with his name.”
“Dammit. Get Trumble on the phone. We’re going to need to send a retrieval unit. Congress will shut us down in a heartbeat if they catch wind of another artifact contamination. Where would his body and the watch be now?”
“The article says they took the body to Kunz’s Morgue. I’m looking now for any mention of it in the database. This might take a moment.”
“Wicks was married, wasn’t he?”
“Yessir.”
“That’s going to be ugly.”
“Yessir… Here it is. The address for the morgue from the county tax roll. At the corner of Norfolk and Orange street. The address should still be the same. I’ll forward it on to Trumble. “
“Good. Let’s talk mitigation. Where was Wicks on his objectives?”
“You saw his last report, right?”
“Yes, but I haven’t had time to read it. I’m managing a sticky situation with the Italian and Turk teams right now.”
“Here’s the quick version, then. Wicks was on hold with the project, waiting for the New York primary. He had the false ballots prepared and was ready to make the swap in about a week and a half. Those ballots should all be at the safe house in Albany.”
“ Have you thought at all about Wicks’ replacement?”
“I was thinking that Agent Martin could transfer out to the field and pick up where Wicks left off.”
“Wait, Carlos Martin or Mike Martin?”
“Mike.”
“Listen, the decision is yours, but I have a concern about Mike. I don’t think he sees the connections. You need to make him understand just how mission critical the New York office is. If Taft wins New York, the Republican party will split too early, and if the party splits early, Roosevelt won’t stand a chance at the convention, and if Roosevelt isn’t nominated, he won’t win the White House, and America won’t enter the war until 1917.”
“Sir, I understand the complexities, you don’t have to make the point to me. Trust me to make sure that Agent Martin understands as well.”
“Ok. It’s just that Mike has struggled with fieldwork, and he’s not subtle or detailed. If we botch the ballot switch, we’ll have to scramble to make this happen. All of the pieces have to align perfectly if we’re going to….”
“Yessir, I know.”
“Ok, I’ll just let you handle it then. … Oh, and Jack? Send Mrs. Wicks some flowers.”
Agent Wicks is dead, sir
“I think I found Agent Wicks, sir”
“Excellent. What took him so long to check back in?”
“Well, he hasn’t checked in sir. I think Wicks is dead.”
“Dead? How do you know?”
“ I was scanning the Times this morning and found him. Here, look on page 2. Yesterday, this was an article about a society wedding in Brooklyn, but this morning when the timelines synched, it changed to an article about a boy who found a body beneath the swamp ice in Orange, New Jersey.”
“Swamp ice?”
“Yessir.”
“Did he have a bad teleport?”
“I don’t know sir. The article says that a young boy was sledding on the frozen swamp and saw a human hand sticking up through the ice. The police had to chop Wicks out with axes. They think he was walking on the ice and just fell in.”
“My God. Are we certain that it’s Wicks?”
“The article mentions his synchrometer sir. It’s how they identified him. The article calls it a gold pocketwatch and talks about the inscription on the back with his name.”
“Dammit. Get Trumble on the phone. We’re going to need to send a retrieval unit. Congress will shut us down in a heartbeat if they catch wind of another artifact contamination. Where would his body and the watch be now?”
“The article says they took the body to Kunz’s Morgue. I’m looking now for any mention of it in the database. This might take a moment.”
“Wicks was married, wasn’t he?”
“Yessir.”
“That’s going to be ugly.”
“Yessir… Here it is. The address for the morgue from the county tax roll. At the corner of Norfolk and Orange street. The address should still be the same. I’ll forward it on to Trumble. “
“Good. Let’s talk mitigation. Where was Wicks on his objectives?”
“You saw his last report, right?”
“Yes, but I haven’t had time to read it. I’m managing a sticky situation with the Italian and Turk teams right now.”
“Here’s the quick version, then. Wicks was on hold with the project, waiting for the New York primary. He had the false ballots prepared and was ready to make the swap in about a week and a half. Those ballots should all be at the safe house in Albany.”
“ Have you thought at all about Wicks’ replacement?”
“I was thinking that Agent Martin could transfer out to the field and pick up where Wicks left off.”
“Wait, Carlos Martin or Mike Martin?”
“Mike.”
“Listen, the decision is yours, but I have a concern about Mike. I don’t think he sees the connections. You need to make him understand just how mission critical the New York office is. If Taft wins New York, the Republican party will split too early, and if the party splits early, Roosevelt won’t stand a chance at the convention, and if Roosevelt isn’t nominated, he won’t win the White House, and America won’t enter the war until 1917.”
“Sir, I understand the complexities, you don’t have to make the point to me. Trust me to make sure that Agent Martin understands as well.”
“Ok. It’s just that Mike has struggled with fieldwork, and he’s not subtle or detailed. If we botch the ballot switch, we’ll have to scramble to make this happen. All of the pieces have to align perfectly if we’re going to….”
“Yessir, I know.”
“Ok, I’ll just let you handle it then. … Oh, and Jack? Send Mrs. Wicks some flowers.”