Episode 20
Episode 20 - Wong Way Down
Two Agents have unsettling nocturnal episodes. The team sets out in the morning to investigate Michelle Lee, their third known victim.
Based on a scenario by Allan Goodall.
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Transcript
Hello?
Speaker A:What time is it?
Speaker A:Who is it?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B: -: Speaker A:Sorry, honey, I have to take this.
Speaker A:So you drive back to the hotel.
Speaker A:I believe you each have a separate room, correct?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:I need to make a roll.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker A:You each go ahead and retire pretty exhausted.
Speaker A:It's been a long couple, Ryan.
Speaker A:You hastily scribble through sudoku.
Speaker A:You really feel like you're ready for the next level.
Speaker A:These are too easy.
Speaker A:And you take off your shirt, get ready to go to bed, and as you brush your teeth, attend to your.
Speaker A:Your hygiene.
Speaker A:You know, you're not going to sleep much, but you're going to give it a go.
Speaker A:You turn and you start to walk back towards the bedroom area of your room.
Speaker A:You notice something catches your eye in the mirror on your back.
Speaker A:You turn and you get closer.
Speaker A:You take a.
Speaker A:Take a look, kind of craning your neck as hard as you can to see what you saw and just impossible to really put your eyes on it.
Speaker A:Well, but in the mirror, you see these blue blotches, stains on your skin on your right shoulder blade.
Speaker A:As you run your hand and fingers over them.
Speaker A:They seem to be raised bumps, like a rash maybe.
Speaker C:Uh.
Speaker B:Oh, does Ryan have Benadryl in his room?
Speaker A:Uh, yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You have an antihistamy?
Speaker B:He takes some Benadryl.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:And starts to.
Speaker B:I mean, I don't.
Speaker B:I don't know if he has a massively large reaction other than just kind of initial panic and then not going to think about this right now sort of reaction given there is literally nothing he can do as far as he knows.
Speaker A:They seem.
Speaker A:As you rub your hands over it, your fingers over it, they seem pliable, like.
Speaker A:Like bloat, like something beneath the skin that's maybe liquidy, almost like a pimple, but larger, maybe like a boil or an eyeball.
Speaker B:Do they feel bloated?
Speaker B:Would you describe them with the word bloat?
Speaker A:They're raised like.
Speaker A:Like large calluses, boils or enormous pimples.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Like something like if you get a blue in color and it, like.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:There's a little pliability there.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:There's a, you know, like a water blister.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:There's something under there.
Speaker B:Is he able to, like, reach it?
Speaker B:Reach it?
Speaker B:Or is it like in the.
Speaker A:If he really.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's tough.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's in that real difficult spot.
Speaker A:But yeah, if he really strains himself, he can get his left hand over there.
Speaker B:He's gonna call Snedeger see if Snedeker answers.
Speaker A:All right, one sec.
Speaker B:Not gonna tell Porter about this, but Snedegger is.
Speaker A:Scott.
Speaker B:Hey.
Speaker B:Not gonna go into much detail, but do you know of a doctor in the city who is very highly discreet but has also seen some of our kind of medical issues?
Speaker A:Sorry, just getting up.
Speaker A:What city?
Speaker B:New York.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Probably a few.
Speaker A:I need to.
Speaker A:I need to go into the office and see if there's anything or if I can run anything up the chain, but.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:What's going on?
Speaker A:Do you have an emergency situation?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:Let's keep this between you and me, and if.
Speaker B:If you can't come up with anything, then no worries at all.
Speaker A:I mean, typically when I was doing field work, we'd ask around, find a vet that did some work like this on the sly, pay him in cash up front.
Speaker A:Kind of hard.
Speaker A:Go to.
Speaker A:There's a lot of them out there, man.
Speaker B:Okay, thanks.
Speaker A:Good luck.
Speaker A:He hangs up.
Speaker B:I assume it's like in the middle of the night, right?
Speaker A:Yeah, It's.
Speaker A:It's around 1:30 now.
Speaker B:I'm not going to start calling up vets then.
Speaker B:I'll just make it as a mental.
Speaker C:You don't want to make a midnight.
Speaker B:Vet appointment a mental to try to find some kind of creepy vet.
Speaker A:You have significant criminology on your character sheet, I'll remind you.
Speaker A:Yes, that does avail you to a particular skill that allows you to ask certain questions to the right type of people to locate disreputable skill sets, such.
Speaker B:As this part of the instructions that you posted.
Speaker A:I think it is.
Speaker A:I think it is.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But in general, that's a great use of criminology is asking around for disreputable folks with interesting skill sets.
Speaker A:So if you need a safe cracker like, you might be able to actually locate a safe cracker in the future.
Speaker B:Okay, well, I will, based on my criminology, know whether or not now is a good time to start to asking around for some reason.
Speaker A:There's a few.
Speaker A:There's a few great bars in the city where you could start schmoozing and asking the right questions in the right way potentially.
Speaker B:Okay, then Ryan will go to one of those haunts.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:Despite the fact you took ultra drowsy Benadryl.
Speaker B:It was a joke.
Speaker B:Because of me being a dumb reading is dumped.
Speaker A:Despite the fact you took the ultra drowsy Benadryl, you just feel great.
Speaker A:You don't feel drowsy at all.
Speaker B:Oh, would you look at that?
Speaker A:You start making your way.
Speaker B:Bacteria doesn't love Benadryl or doesn't care about Benadryl.
Speaker A:You start making your way to some of these haunts and you roll your criminology.
Speaker B:That, friends, is a success.
Speaker A:Well done.
Speaker A:Is your intention to meet with Yvette tonight or to set something up for tomorrow?
Speaker A:It's a little easier tomorrow, but it's.
Speaker A:Just let me know what your intention.
Speaker B:Is and I'll narrate tonight, depending on the immediacy.
Speaker B:If it's.
Speaker B:Yeah, you don't know tonight.
Speaker B:I'd rather.
Speaker B:We don't know what tomorrow will bring, so let's just do it tonight.
Speaker A:Well, what ends up happening is you meet with a youngish gentleman at a closed down veterinary clinic that is across the water in New Jersey.
Speaker A:As you enter through the back, you've been corresponding with this, this man via text.
Speaker A:You walk by several cages holding sick animals, pets, and he gets you on a dog sized stationary gurney.
Speaker A:He looks tired but focused.
Speaker A:Okay, so you're not shot.
Speaker A:I can see that.
Speaker A:What did you want me to take a look at?
Speaker B:Brian just pulls his shirt up and turns around.
Speaker A:Huh?
Speaker A:He says.
Speaker A:Can't see his face, but he's silent.
Speaker A:This is like a chemical burn or.
Speaker A:What am I looking at here?
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:It feels like it might likely be more potentially from an infection, but.
Speaker A:An infection, like a fungal?
Speaker A:Yeah, maybe.
Speaker A:This is not sure.
Speaker A:I've got some antifungals, not great for your species, but let me think.
Speaker A:Do they hurt?
Speaker B:Chris, do they hurt?
Speaker A:No, it's just exactly as I described.
Speaker A:It's like a water blister.
Speaker A:But no pain?
Speaker B:No, no pain.
Speaker A:Okay, let me try something.
Speaker A:You hear him moving around behind you?
Speaker A:Alright, I'm gonna, gonna just kind of scrape one of these a little bit.
Speaker A:You feel pressure on your back as cold metal is applied to one of these strange splotches or raised bumps.
Speaker A:And he begins scraping.
Speaker A:Scraping, huh?
Speaker A:He says, uh, did that hurt?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker A:Okay, I'm gonna keep going.
Speaker A:Keep scraping, scraping, scraping.
Speaker A:You just feel pressure and that's interminable scraping.
Speaker B:This is so gross.
Speaker A:So I think I got it all off.
Speaker A:Just flaked off like old skin.
Speaker A:He says it looks alright back there now, just a little, little raw.
Speaker A:Let me get you some antifungal.
Speaker A:But you're gonna need, you're gonna need to get something else.
Speaker A:This is not great.
Speaker A:Feel a cold cream pressed on your skin, on your back.
Speaker A:You can put your shirt back on now.
Speaker A:Listen, there's a couple of products you can just get over the counter that you should apply to this.
Speaker A:He gives you a name of A couple of.
Speaker A:Couple of medications.
Speaker A:But if that spreads or anything, give me a.
Speaker A:Give me a ring.
Speaker B:Appreciate the help.
Speaker A:As discussed, he holds out his hand.
Speaker B:I pay him.
Speaker A:Yeah, you do.
Speaker A:It costs $1,200 for this.
Speaker B:Okay, I pay him in cash.
Speaker A:You make your way back to the hotel.
Speaker A:It's gonna be around 6:30 in the morning when you get back.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:I'll stop by a 24 hour pharmacy to get those OTCs.
Speaker A:They're like mild cortisone.
Speaker A:And there's an antifungal as well.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:The saga continues.
Speaker A:Okay, I have another vignette.
Speaker A:Thank y'all for being so patient.
Speaker A:That was what the 1D4 was for.
Speaker B:Oh, little peek behind the screen there, Chris.
Speaker A:Agent Paris, your skull feels like it's been stuffed with cotton.
Speaker A:Filled to the brim until about to burst.
Speaker A:You've suffered a fairly bad hangover or two in your day, but this is something else.
Speaker A:Your eyes flutter open.
Speaker A:It takes a beat or two for you to realize something is wrong.
Speaker A:Extremely so.
Speaker A:This isn't your bunk back at base.
Speaker A:It's not the room at the Homewood Suites.
Speaker A:You sit up, the bleariness in your eyes and the fogginess in your head soon chased away by the steady pumping of cortisol into your blood as your breath quickens.
Speaker A:You are on a plastic sheet and it crinkles uncomfortably as you shift to a seated position.
Speaker A:No, no, no, wait.
Speaker A:There's plastic everywhere and it's cloudy, so it's hard to tell what kind of room you're in.
Speaker A:There's duct tape haphazardly applied across every surface, pinning these sheets together and in place.
Speaker A:Even the ceiling has an unceremonious set of plastic strips appended, dipping down a bit in places where gravity tugs on the poor tape job.
Speaker A:And it's freezing in here, and that's exacerbated by the fact you aren't wearing anything but your undergarments.
Speaker A:Your flesh bristles at the cold.
Speaker A:There's a plastic covered wheeled table next to you, maybe a gurney.
Speaker A:And then you see him.
Speaker A:A man.
Speaker A:He's seated maybe six, eight feet away from you.
Speaker A:He's sitting in a school cafeteria style yellow plastic chair.
Speaker A:He's wearing a white vinyl jumper.
Speaker A:There's no insignia.
Speaker A:Blue nitrile gloves and shoe covers.
Speaker A:A set of brown tinted goggles over rounded silver glasses.
Speaker A:A clear plastic face shield and a small yellow respirator with hexagonal filter cartridges around his neck.
Speaker A:There's a small gray metal cylindrical tank next to his chair with an Odd looking.
Speaker A:Trigger attachment on the top.
Speaker A:It's about the size of a backup oxygen tank.
Speaker A:You're uncertain if you've seen him before.
Speaker A:And with the hood of his suit so tightly pulled over his scalp and his chin, it's difficult to be sure.
Speaker A:You try to commit a few things to memory despite your rising adrenaline.
Speaker A:Maybe five'nine five'ten Hard to tell when he's seated right handed or at least holding the pistol in his right hand.
Speaker A:Dark complexioned, maybe Mediterranean or Middle Eastern.
Speaker A:Thick black mustache and beard.
Speaker A:Stand up, he says.
Speaker D:Okay, let me think about this, Paris.
Speaker D:So I've got.
Speaker D:Literally I've got no clothes on.
Speaker A:You have your undergarments.
Speaker A:Oh, whatever those might be.
Speaker A:If you do not wear undergarments, then you are indeed nude.
Speaker D:And you've described everything that I can see at this point.
Speaker D:So searching or extra analysis won't result of any extra information.
Speaker A:Yeah, you wouldn't have a chance to run a real search at this point.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's correct.
Speaker D:Who are you?
Speaker A:Stand up, he repeats.
Speaker D:Paris carefully.
Speaker D:Stands up.
Speaker A:Don't do it.
Speaker A:I will shoot you.
Speaker A:I know what you're thinking.
Speaker A:I can make it.
Speaker A:I can take the gun.
Speaker A:I can find my way out, but you can't.
Speaker A:So just calm down, breathe, listen.
Speaker A:You're here for one thing, and then you'll be back in your room like nothing happened.
Speaker A:You won't be hurt.
Speaker A:So just listen and do.
Speaker A:Look at the table.
Speaker D:He mentioned a gun.
Speaker D:I looked.
Speaker D:Did I see a gun?
Speaker A:He has a gun in his right hand, trained at you.
Speaker D:Oh, he got.
Speaker A:Okay, that's right.
Speaker D:All right, there we go.
Speaker C:His finger is pointed like a gun.
Speaker A:This is a weird time.
Speaker D:What was that bizarre, like, comic series you had me read, Chris?
Speaker D:The Invisibles, I think.
Speaker A:Invisibles?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker D:Sounds like some invisible.
Speaker D:He's actually got his hand as a gun.
Speaker D:But it's just as dangerous.
Speaker A:It's just as dangerous.
Speaker D:Yep.
Speaker D:So my human just.
Speaker D:Garbage.
Speaker D:I'm trying to think of his.
Speaker D:Anything I can do to like.
Speaker A:You can always still roll a dude.
Speaker A:It, like roll whatever you want.
Speaker A:You might.
Speaker A:You might pass.
Speaker A:If not, you get a check.
Speaker D:It's a good point.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:So I'll.
Speaker D:I'm gonna try to.
Speaker D:I'm gonna try to judge.
Speaker D:Try to get a read on this guy.
Speaker D:If he's.
Speaker D:If he's planning on killing, you know, if he's gonna shoot me no matter what I do, or if he's genuinely just trying to, like, have a conversation with me.
Speaker A:I get it.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I'll give you anything you can glean from body language and his vocal intonation.
Speaker A:So far, so roll.
Speaker D:All right, here we go.
Speaker D:Nope, that's definitely a fail.
Speaker D:So there you go.
Speaker A:He seems extremely serious.
Speaker D:Great.
Speaker D:I look at the table.
Speaker A:You turn to your right, taking the top of the gurney in.
Speaker A:Now, see there's an orange box there.
Speaker A:It's rectangular in shape.
Speaker A:It's perhaps about a foot long lengthwise, maybe half a foot deep.
Speaker A:It's got a powerful looking metal latch.
Speaker A:Hinges.
Speaker A:See, the metal surface is scuffed, scratched, empty screw holes dotting it periodically.
Speaker A:Next to the box you see a small plastic tray.
Speaker A:There's a few implements on it, notably a wicked looking scalpel, set of metal probes, something that looks like a set of small pruning shears and a pile of metal T pins.
Speaker A:Now open the box.
Speaker D:I.
Speaker D:I've got no sleeves to hide anything anyway, so it doesn't matter.
Speaker D:I open the box.
Speaker A:Your breath leaves your body when you see what's inside.
Speaker A:And you're no shrinking violet.
Speaker A:The insect is enormous.
Speaker A:Some sort of abnormally large dragonfly thing with a thick yellow bulbous thorax.
Speaker A:You see, it has several rows of bristling and hinged legs of various sizes reaching upward towards you in a silent rictus.
Speaker A:Its colors are sickly gray otherwise with lighter clusters of hair or wispy tendrils around its head.
Speaker A:2 Dull forward facing eyes gaze blindly upward.
Speaker A:The smell from the box is perhaps that of a heavy preservative.
Speaker A:Causes your eyes to water.
Speaker A:Pick up one of the pins.
Speaker D:I follow his instructions.
Speaker A:You follow his instructions and at one point he asks you to pick up the scalpel and create an incision vertically down the center of the arthropod.
Speaker A:You do so and continue to follow what seem to be instructions for a simple dissection.
Speaker A:The last time you did this was maybe in seventh, eighth grade.
Speaker A:Small kind of rotten frog.
Speaker A:The bottom of the box has some sort of pliable foam material.
Speaker A:And use that to pin back various layers that you discover within this creature's thorax and abdomen.
Speaker A:He guides you expertly until you've basically sweat now covering your brow despite the cold of the room, made this thing.
Speaker A:It's completely opened up before you.
Speaker A:You're not sure how much time has passed, but your heartbeat is still throbbing in your temples.
Speaker A:And now, gleeful supplicant, you see the wisdom of Jada Higla unfolded before you.
Speaker A:How do you respond?
Speaker D:Sorry, give me a second to think about that, all right?
Speaker D:Spirit says, yeah, sorry, what was that name again?
Speaker A:You look over the man nods.
Speaker A:You see him pull up his respirator snaps across his mouth and his nose.
Speaker A:Reaches to his right, picks up the canister.
Speaker A:You see him point, pull the trigger on it, hear a very loud hiss, emerge from it.
Speaker A:It continues and continues.
Speaker D:Does he still have the gun trained on me?
Speaker A:He does.
Speaker D:I take the scalpel.
Speaker D:Does it sound weird?
Speaker D:I'm gonna take the scalpel and just make a small cut on the inside of my hand.
Speaker D:Just wanna make sure this is a real thing that's happening to me.
Speaker A:He furrows his brow.
Speaker A:You can see that.
Speaker A:And then raises his eyebrows in some indication, maybe of recognition.
Speaker A:You're just not sure.
Speaker A:Before long, your vision starts to go bleary again.
Speaker D:I just stare him down the whole time, at least as long as I can stand.
Speaker A:Your vision goes tunneled, and before long, you feel like you're running down a dark and un.
Speaker A:Unlit cavern.
Speaker A:Suddenly, there's light.
Speaker A:You start up in your bed, fully dressed in the Homewood Suites in New York City.
Speaker A:It's morning.
Speaker D:I look at my hand.
Speaker D:Is there still a cut there?
Speaker A:Scabbed over, but yes, scabbed over.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:And do I remember the name?
Speaker A:Do you remember the name?
Speaker D:No, I can't remember what you said.
Speaker D:Does Paris remember the name of the.
Speaker A:We can do an intelligence -20% to see if you retain that in that traumatic event, an affair.
Speaker D:I do not.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It sounded like gibberish to you?
Speaker D:How am I feeling?
Speaker D:Like tired, Arrested.
Speaker A:You feel exhausted?
Speaker D:What time is it right now?
Speaker A:Team?
Speaker A:When typically do you get your day started?
Speaker E:Early.
Speaker B:Seven.
Speaker B:Seven or so.
Speaker A:Seven early, cool.
Speaker A:It's 6:55am okay.
Speaker D:Yeah, I guess I'm just trying to ascertain how long.
Speaker A:Yes, like that.
Speaker A:Yeah, I understand.
Speaker A:Definitely.
Speaker A:So, yeah, when you start up in your bed, 6:55am you went to bed maybe around 1 1:30, but you gained.
Speaker B:The title of supplicant.
Speaker A:Gleeful.
Speaker A:In fact.
Speaker D:Gleeful.
Speaker D:Supplicant.
Speaker D:Very excited.
Speaker B:Very excited.
Speaker D:No, he just.
Speaker D:Paris just goes.
Speaker D:Goes on about it.
Speaker C:He just.
Speaker D:Very excited.
Speaker D:This is fantastic.
Speaker D:Yeah, Paris just.
Speaker D:Just goes back to his normal.
Speaker D:He's like, all right, let me get my shit together.
Speaker D:Get, you know, get dressed, get showered, head down and meet the team.
Speaker A:Okay, well, you're just gonna eat at the Homewood Sweets.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's a wonderful, wonderful continental spread.
Speaker A:Fresh fruit, eggs, a little bit of sausage.
Speaker A:Some good stuff.
Speaker D:Sponsor home with sweets.
Speaker D:There we go.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:Y'all are seated at a small circular table.
Speaker A:There's quite a few folks Here eating as well.
Speaker A:It's fairly busy.
Speaker A:It's a nice lobby.
Speaker B:In this spirit of reverse railroading.
Speaker A:Uh huh.
Speaker B:Can I say that we are sitting around talking about the email that Porter sent us with all of the information we wanted.
Speaker C:Now you're just railroading us.
Speaker B:Oh, you're right.
Speaker C:Unless you're in character.
Speaker B:So sorry.
Speaker D:Never mind who's railroading who here.
Speaker A:No, y'all did not receive an email from Porter overnight, unfortunately.
Speaker A:But yeah, you're.
Speaker A:You're there together with the events of the prior evening.
Speaker A:Still fresh.
Speaker C:Everybody sleep okay?
Speaker C:Look a little grumpy, Paris.
Speaker D:Yeah, no, I'm fine.
Speaker C:All right, tuck into some rehydrated scrambled eggs.
Speaker A:These are the real thing, my friend.
Speaker A:You're getting treated to the best.
Speaker A:Best of the best.
Speaker D:This is Homewood Sweets.
Speaker C:Homeward Sweets represent.
Speaker A:Mm.
Speaker A:Yeah, I looked up nice hotels in New York, and that was one of them.
Speaker B:Oh, great.
Speaker B:A real interesting start.
Speaker C:We are breakfast.
Speaker C:And I guess we got to do some.
Speaker C:Some more sleuth in a boot.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:What's the plan, team?
Speaker A:Are y'all just waiting?
Speaker A:Still waiting for Porter?
Speaker A:Is that basically the plan?
Speaker B:I can't think.
Speaker C:I'm reading my.
Speaker B:I can't think of anything else.
Speaker A:Well, it's not until around 1pm you do get a call from the hotel, wherever you're located, that a clerk has left a package for you at the front desk.
Speaker A:And all of you retrieve this package, take it up to one of your rooms.
Speaker A:Ryan, if you're amenable, you can.
Speaker B:I am not.
Speaker A:Can bring.
Speaker A:Okay, cool.
Speaker A:Well, Ryan shuts the door in your faces and says, I'll let you know what I find.
Speaker B:Ryan is perfectly fine to have everybody to his suite.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:It looks like this is a package of papers that seems completely irrelevant to your case.
Speaker A:Looks like some sort of treatise on a development that was denied its permitting.
Speaker A:1988, somewhere in Appalachia.
Speaker A:You can't really tell.
Speaker A:It's pretty vague.
Speaker A:But as you flip through, you do find there are some items of note.
Speaker A:One is obviously a juvenile record report on a Michelle Lee, 14 years of age at the time.
Speaker A:It vaguely outlines two minor offenses as you read through.
Speaker A:This did occur in New York, by the way.
Speaker A:Marijuana possession and battery.
Speaker A:This battery is listed as gang related, although there are no additional details.
Speaker A:You also have hastily written on a post it an address.
Speaker A:When you plug this into your computer, it is an address in Chinatown.
Speaker A:Looks to be a small apartment in the middle of the busy streets.
Speaker A:There's also a phone number on the same post it scribbled.
Speaker A:Down.
Speaker A:Otherwise it's just a lot of useless paperwork.
Speaker A:Looks like.
Speaker C:Beautiful.
Speaker C:That's what we need.
Speaker B:Head to the address.
Speaker C:Let's do it.
Speaker E:Maybe call first.
Speaker D:Maybe track the number.
Speaker E:I mean, unless you guys want to just show up.
Speaker E:I'll follow your lead.
Speaker D:Can we trace the number or see if we get some more info on what that number leads to?
Speaker A:Definitely.
Speaker D:Or at least Google it.
Speaker A:You can Google it.
Speaker A:You can pay the 20 bucks to do the limited background service on it.
Speaker A:That's pretty quick return.
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:There's a lot of fun stuff you can do.
Speaker A:You can call up the.
Speaker A:The service provider and subpoena them for phone records with some sort of law roll.
Speaker A:It's all sorts of great stuff.
Speaker A:Such is up to you.
Speaker A:What do you want to do?
Speaker D:Paris just types the number into his phone on Google.
Speaker A:Yeah, Nothing too obvious.
Speaker A:You can definitely pay a.
Speaker A:A fee to trace the owners of the phone number.
Speaker A:And you know what the current service area is.
Speaker A: It's: Speaker A:Would you like to do that?
Speaker D:I don't think I have a way to do that without giving up my.
Speaker A:Yeah, you need a credit card or something.
Speaker D:It'd be my name connected or like a.
Speaker A:Some sort of interesting crypto to PayPal setup that you have.
Speaker E:Rosen hands over a prepaid Visa card.
Speaker D:Thanks, Rosen.
Speaker D:And yeah.
Speaker D:So I'll put the numbers in.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's registered to a Michelle Lee.
Speaker A:It's been in her name since its inception.
Speaker A:It is an AT&T number.
Speaker D:Really?
Speaker D:That back to the teen.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:Michelle Lee's number looks like to pay her a visit.
Speaker D:This is where we go.
Speaker C:Safe to say if we call that number, she's not going to answer.
Speaker C:So let's go to the house.
Speaker B:She shouldn't answer.
Speaker B:It would be interesting if somebody did though, and who they were.
Speaker B:But I.
Speaker C:Good point, Ryan.
Speaker C:You go right ahead.
Speaker B:I can't think of a cover for.
Speaker B:Unless it was potentially on something that she lost, but can't think of anything in particular that would.
Speaker B:That would work well right now.
Speaker C:So on to the apartment.
Speaker B:Sounds good.
Speaker E:What is our cover?
Speaker E:Getting into the apartment.
Speaker D:Boys just kind of walk in.
Speaker B:Visiting a friend that also lives there.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker E:And what do we tell her mother?
Speaker E:That she lives.
Speaker C:I thought we are the government.
Speaker C:We can do what we want and then we do what we want.
Speaker B:I don't hate that idea.
Speaker B:I don't hate the bullying.
Speaker B:The bullying route here.
Speaker B:I think maybe the bullying route is if she's not.
Speaker B:If her mother is not as familiar.
Speaker C:With that's just making all kinds of assumptions about what her mother knows about her rights.
Speaker B:Correct.
Speaker D:Well, we push our way in to say, hey, yeah, we're investigating.
Speaker D:Make if we're in.
Speaker D:It's an investigation.
Speaker D:Sit down.
Speaker D:Would I have a coffee?
Speaker B:Exactly that kind of.
Speaker C:Would you like a cup of coffee?
Speaker C:I would.
Speaker C:Would you make me a cup of coffee?
Speaker D:We're the government.
Speaker B:That's the energy we should go in with.
Speaker A:We want coffee.
Speaker C:Oh, this is really good coffee.
Speaker C:Where do you get it from?
Speaker C:Was your daughter in hypergeometric?
Speaker A:Gang, y'all drive your CDC van towards the unmarked CDC towards the location of this home.
Speaker A:Again, you have no choice on the busy streets of now Chinatown, which is extremely busy this time of day, to double park, which you do with a plum.
Speaker A:And you make your way to what you see now is a shabby apartment perched above a consignment vinyl record shop.
Speaker A:You walk up the stairs, find yourselves in front of a dingy looking, flimsy looking door.
Speaker D:Sorry, I don't want to pause real quick.
Speaker D:Paris, looks like should we leave somebody downstairs just to kind of keep an eye out?
Speaker D:I mean, let's say the over enthusiastic FBI agent should show up.
Speaker C:Do you want to just circle the block and.
Speaker D:I mean, I can hang out front and text you guys if there's something coming on if you need to move.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker E:Yeah, I'll stay out with the van.
Speaker D:So Paris just kind of posts up near the front door.
Speaker A:Okay, so you're going to stay at the top of the stairs in front of the door, Roy.
Speaker A:And you're going to stay in the van double parked.
Speaker E:Yes.
Speaker A:Just to be clear, the van is not right in front of the consignment shop.
Speaker A:You did have to park a couple of blocks down.
Speaker A:Is that okay?
Speaker E:Yes.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:This way she can randomly circle the.
Speaker A:Block if she needs to.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker A:Okay, just.
Speaker A:Just want to.
Speaker A:Just want to make sure.
Speaker A:That's fine.
Speaker D:And Paris is there specifically, you know, keeping an eye out for.
Speaker D:Let's just say our investigation should run into the other official investigation.
Speaker D:Give the guys a heads up to get out of there.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker A:Okay, so you're not going to be up.
Speaker A:You're not going to be up near the front of the apartment.
Speaker A:You'll be down at the bottom near the front of a consignment shop, keeping your eyes peeled for FBI.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker A:Okay, that all makes sense to me.
Speaker A:And so it is just Prentiss and Ryan who are now in front of this dingy and flimsy door.
Speaker A:To ostensibly Michelle Lee's apartment and her mother's home.
Speaker B:We knock on the door.
Speaker A:I am not going to reproduce the mother's accent, but I will tell you she.
Speaker A:She does not speak English well.
Speaker A:She has broken English.
Speaker A:The door opens and you see a very short Asian woman with graying hair.
Speaker A:She's wearing a blouse and a.
Speaker A:A turquoise dress.
Speaker A:She doesn't say anything.
Speaker A:When she opens the door, she peeks from around the corner.
Speaker B:Hello, ma'am.
Speaker B:Can we have a few moments of your time to ask about your daughter?
Speaker A:Her face goes through a few phases.
Speaker A:The first is what you think is maybe worry, then anger, and then almost surrender.
Speaker A:She says nothing.
Speaker A:She just looks down at the ground.
Speaker A:And then she opens the door wide.
Speaker A:Motions you to come inside.
Speaker C:And so we do.
Speaker A:You file in to the small apartment.
Speaker A:It's cramped here.
Speaker A:In fact, moving through this front hallway, within a few steps you're.
Speaker A:You're already in the kitchen.
Speaker A:Kitchen is nothing more than a small half fridge and a microwave stacked on top of a couple of large crates, it looks like.
Speaker A:She says, what did that girl do now?
Speaker B:When is the last time you saw your daughter?
Speaker A:Days ago, she says.
Speaker A:Little bit of anger sharpness in her tone of voice.
Speaker C:We're just investigating something right now, so could we take a look at her room?
Speaker A:What did she do?
Speaker C:We're trying to find her.
Speaker A:Her brow for us.
Speaker B:Can you point us in the direction of her room please?
Speaker A:Yes, yes.
Speaker A:She walks past you back towards the hallway.
Speaker A:Moves through a right entryway into a small and unkempt room, to say the least.
Speaker A:There's a mattress on the floor, but otherwise it seems to have the accoutrements of a young woman, early twenties.
Speaker C:Is there a.
Speaker C:Chris, I'll defer to.
Speaker B:You on like how effective a search role would be.
Speaker B:I mean is if we look across stuff, is there, is there a desk, Is you know, there a closet?
Speaker B:Can we look in the closet?
Speaker B:That kind of shit?
Speaker B:I don't know how much you want.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:How specific you want us to be here.
Speaker A:Let's.
Speaker A:Let's not call for a search rule yet.
Speaker A:You scan over this small room and you see pictures attached to a mirror.
Speaker A:You see a small cheap looking dresser again, the mattress on the floor.
Speaker A:Clothes piled up corners.
Speaker A:Nothing's looking of too much interest.
Speaker A:Walk over to the.
Speaker A:To the mirror and pictures of some good looking boys.
Speaker A:Looks like some magazine cutouts.
Speaker A:There's also some pictures of who you recognize as likely Michelle Lee with friends.
Speaker A:The mother stands in the doorway watching you.
Speaker B:Chris, who would you say is the best looking boy.
Speaker A:The best looking boy out of all the good looking boys.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Let's see here.
Speaker A:Who's the best boy?
Speaker A:The most handsome, you mean.
Speaker C:Well, obviously it's a man with a shaved head and a beard.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm trying to think who.
Speaker C:Who looks smiling.
Speaker B:I'm pretty sure you specified they were all boys, so I don't think any of them are men.
Speaker A:You don't recognize anybody else in these photographs?
Speaker A:Even the good looking boys, they.
Speaker A:They escape you their names?
Speaker B:Shang Chi from Mulan?
Speaker A:Not even.
Speaker B:God damn it.
Speaker A:Whoever that is.
Speaker B:Isn't that the name of the.
Speaker B:The Mulan's fella?
Speaker A:No, you mixed.
Speaker A:You mixed Marvel Shang Chi with Disney's Mulan.
Speaker A:I guess they're all Disney now.
Speaker B:But the guy's name in both places.
Speaker A:Nah, whatever.
Speaker C:N.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker B:Hey, let's get down to business.
Speaker C:Yeah, let's do that.
Speaker C:Apprentice takes a picture of one of the pictures of Michelle.
Speaker B:Can we take a look in the closet?
Speaker A:These are photographs with her with other other folks.
Speaker A:Men, women.
Speaker A:There's a few large groups.
Speaker A:Yeah, but again, nothing you recognize.
Speaker A:There is no closet.
Speaker A:There's a small, cheap looking dresser and clothing on the floor.
Speaker C:Is there anything behind the dresser?
Speaker A:It's a really like small dresser, cheap, but there's nothing behind it except for dust, cobwebs.
Speaker C:Yum, yum, yum.
Speaker C:Do you.
Speaker C:Are you familiar with any of the people she's been going around with lately?
Speaker A:That girl rarely stayed here.
Speaker A:Mostly with her boyfriend, hanging out with and so there's ones, she says.
Speaker C:And who is her boyfriend currently?
Speaker A:Jerry, she says with some venom in her voice.
Speaker A:Jerry Wong.
Speaker A:He's scum.
Speaker B:Does he live in the neighborhood?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:She looks a little deflated when she finally answers.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:But that's his picture there.
Speaker A:She nods back towards the mirror.
Speaker C:I take a picture of Jerry.
Speaker A:So you not sure which one of these good looking boys is Jerry?
Speaker A:So she comes over.
Speaker C:Could you point to Jerry?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:She comes over and shows you the photograph.
Speaker A:And there's quite a few in this photograph actually.
Speaker B:A few good looking boys or a few photos of Jerry?
Speaker A:Just one good looking boy and that happens to be Jerry.
Speaker A:She points towards this particular photograph.
Speaker A:She shows you one of the men in the photograph who has his arms around Michelle Lee is Jerry Wong.
Speaker A:The other individuals in the photograph all seem to be of Asian descent.
Speaker A:One is disturbingly tall, standing behind the group, leaning against one of the many vehicles that are parked in the photograph's frame.
Speaker C:Is he a Slender man.
Speaker A:He is actually quite gaunt, yes.
Speaker B:Do you know where he works or where he hangs out?
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:I have his phone number, but he never answers.
Speaker C:We'd love that number.
Speaker C:If you can give that to us.
Speaker A:She nods.
Speaker A:She leaves the room for a moment.
Speaker A:Comes back later, producing the phone number on a small pad of paper.
Speaker A:Here.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker A:He's bad.
Speaker A:He.
Speaker A:He and all of them.
Speaker A:They are.
Speaker A:They do do bad things.
Speaker A:Like criminal things.
Speaker A:She says.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:That's why we're looking for them now.
Speaker A:Michelle.
Speaker A:It's not her fault.
Speaker C:I believe you.
Speaker C:I believe you.
Speaker C:These boys do look like bad boys.
Speaker A:They're a bad.
Speaker A:They're a bad influence.
Speaker A:And something happened to her.
Speaker A:She see tears start to well up in the woman's eyes.
Speaker A:She.
Speaker A:She was vulnerable.
Speaker A:She doesn't seem to get anything else out.
Speaker C:Prentiss meets her eyes and says, I'm very sorry.
Speaker C:When was the last time you saw her?
Speaker A:Three, four days ago.
Speaker B:Is there any other information that you could give us that might help us find her?
Speaker A:She wouldn't take her medicine.
Speaker A:She's disappeared before.
Speaker B:What medicine was that for?
Speaker A:For the voices.
Speaker A:She was sick.
Speaker A:She points to her own head when she says this.
Speaker B:Has that been going on a long time?
Speaker A:When she turned 14, she.
Speaker A:She started having problems.
Speaker A:All her grades.
Speaker A:She trails off a bit.
Speaker A:She's having trouble.
Speaker A:She just won't take her medicine.
Speaker B:Did she ever tell you about she.
Speaker A:Runs around with scum?
Speaker A:She suddenly gets a little bit more fire back into her voice.
Speaker B:What do you mean by that?
Speaker B:What do they do?
Speaker A:Won't take her medicine.
Speaker A:Getting into God knows what.
Speaker A:Runs around with scum.
Speaker A:She looks again at the photograph when she says it.
Speaker C:Well, thank you.
Speaker C:You've provided us with a lot of good information.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker A:Tell her.
Speaker C:Tell her Ryan's eyes.
Speaker A:Tell her to come home.
Speaker A:Her demeanor softens again.
Speaker C:Do you.
Speaker C:Before we leave, do you happen to have a bottle of her medicine that we can see?
Speaker A:She nods.
Speaker A:Slowly, she takes you to the small bathroom.
Speaker A:Single bathroom in the apartment.
Speaker A:Produces a prescription bottle.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:It's from.
Speaker A: It's from: Speaker A:It's fairly old, it looks like.
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker C:What's the medication?
Speaker A:Lurasidone.
Speaker B:Oh, that's a good one.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's the best one.
Speaker C:Let's all take lurasadone to smile.
Speaker C:Better.
Speaker C:Prentice makes eye contact with Ryan and kind of throws him a questioning glance and says, I think we have enough.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Thank you very much again for.
Speaker B:For all of the help.
Speaker B:And if we see your daughter, we'll tell her to come home.
Speaker A:She nods to herself, she shows you.
Speaker C:Yeah, I'd like to roll lurasidone to see what it's good for.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah, you're not really a.
Speaker A:An antipsychotic prescribing physician, so.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah, you can roll a.
Speaker A:A pharmacy plus 20.
Speaker B:Doesn't he have the app?
Speaker C:Anna Pass.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So you kind of think back and, you know, this is one of these atypical antipsychotics.
Speaker A:It's a different kind of class of drug.
Speaker A:It's not like Thorazine, which is very powerful antipsychotic.
Speaker A:It's really used to try to help restore the balance of certain natural substances in the brain.
Speaker A:It's associated with diagnoses of schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, other mood disorders.
Speaker C:Interesting.
Speaker C:And it does nothing to the humors.
Speaker C:Interesting.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it doesn't pull in the.
Speaker A:The more healthy others either.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Okay, well, you can't.
Speaker C:You can't win them all with every one of them.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah, we're going to go ahead and thank her for her time and see our way out.
Speaker A:And so, Paris, thankfully, despite the busyness of.
Speaker A:Of the street, you did not spot anything of suspicion that would.
Speaker A:That would cause you pause.
Speaker A:Roisin, same with you yet a couple of people yell at you to move your.
Speaker A:Your vehicle, but you obviously did not.
Speaker A:If you want, you can all be back together in the vehicle and on your way to another location or.
Speaker C:Yeah, we're going to brain dump.
Speaker C:What we've just learned.
Speaker C:She had a boyfriend, Jerry.
Speaker C:We've got his phone number.
Speaker C:We're going to need to look him up and where we can find him.
Speaker A:It's another $19.99 to find out where the phone is registered to.
Speaker A:You have an address for Jerry Wong, who this service is registered to.
Speaker A:The address is.
Speaker A:Is actually fairly close.
Speaker A:It's only about 12, 16 blocks away.
Speaker A:You go ahead and double park now in front of a building with a.
Speaker A:A buzzer panel in front of it.
Speaker A:Looks like it's an apartment building that has a little bit more security than the last one you were at.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker D:Should we stick out for a bit or.
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker C:I mean, we could try.
Speaker C:Try calling a cell phone.
Speaker C:Yeah, let's call.
Speaker B:Pretend to.
Speaker B:We could even be probably a telemarketer or something and.
Speaker C:Sure, you go right ahead.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:You call the phone and there is no answer.
Speaker A:It goes to voicemail.
Speaker C:And what does that voicemail say?
Speaker A:It has no message.
Speaker A:That is beyond the robot.
Speaker C:Dang.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker C:I guess we'll just have to go on in.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Well, it is locked.
Speaker A:What Are you gonna like, break down the door?
Speaker A:Like, tell me what you're gonna do.
Speaker B:We hear a ring inside the apartment.
Speaker A:All right, so we're in front of a four story building full of apartments.
Speaker A:There is a security.
Speaker A:There's a security area, a double door entryway on the outside where you guys are located.
Speaker A:There's a buzzer panel with the buttons for each one of the apartments inside.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker D:Spells one.
Speaker C:So we don't hear the.
Speaker C:But the ring.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:You cannot hear anybody's cell phone inside of the building from here.
Speaker C:Even with all of Ryan's extra roll your alertness.
Speaker C:Okay, There we go.
Speaker C:Anyways, Okay, I guess we'll.
Speaker C:We'll.
Speaker C:What's our.
Speaker D:If y'all want to buzz them.
Speaker D:I'd say just one of us go up there.
Speaker D:Does it so you know, it doesn't yell the COVID of the rest of us.
Speaker E:Aren't there names on the buzzer panel?
Speaker A:Nope, there's just numbers.
Speaker C:But we do have his address, so.
Speaker A:We do know which he's on the.
Speaker A:He's on the third floor.
Speaker A:You know exactly what the address is from the registration of the service.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:The phone.
Speaker C:Let's go ahead and buzz it.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:There's no answer.
Speaker C:Interesting.
Speaker D:Weird question.
Speaker D:Has anyone here seen the music video?
Speaker D:Beastie Boys, three MCs and one DJ.
Speaker D:One DJ.
Speaker A:I have.
Speaker D:Okay, so remember in the beginning when the guy's trying to get into the building, it's in New York, and he's literally just like stands right at the door.
Speaker D:And as soon as somebody opens up, they don't try to hold it for him, but it's like he just goes in and just.
Speaker A:Yeah, I do remember that.
Speaker D:We could literally try that.
Speaker C:It's like kind of a meme with everything New York.
Speaker C:That's not just one music video.
Speaker D:Well, it's just I.
Speaker D:That.
Speaker D:That's the image that came to my mind.
Speaker D:I was like, we could just do that.
Speaker C:Or I've seen somebody that presses every button on the apartment.
Speaker A:Hey, guys, try this out.
Speaker A:I'm glad you've seen it all.
Speaker C:Let's play the game and do that.
Speaker C:Do it.
Speaker C:Doing it, doing it.
Speaker A:All right, so pressing all the buttons, princess.
Speaker A:Just presses them all?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker A:After about the eighth press, you hear the door click open.
Speaker C:Gonna open that door, guys.
Speaker A:Walk right in and you can either take the stairs or the elevator up to the third floor.
Speaker A:Just let me know.
Speaker E:Stairs, stairs.
Speaker A:You guys walk up the dirty trash strewn stairway and make your way to Jerry Wong's apartment.
Speaker A:You're now Standing in front of a wooden door.
Speaker A:It's locked.
Speaker D:Paris puts his ear up to the door to see if he hears any.
Speaker D:Any noise or activity in the inside.
Speaker A:Roll your alertness, please.
Speaker D:Hey.
Speaker D:Critical success, love.
Speaker C:Critical success.
Speaker D:I hear what they are thinking.
Speaker C:I don't think that's how it works.
Speaker A:You have a.
Speaker A:You have a telepathic breakthrough.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's how it works.
Speaker A:That's how you get ESP in this game.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker D:Critical success 22.
Speaker A:You listen, holding up your finger to the others and cup your ear against the door a little bit below head height.
Speaker A:All you can hear is what sounds like the movement of air from an H vac of some sort.
Speaker A:Sickly rattling sound.
Speaker A:But you don't hear any footsteps.
Speaker A:No talking, no television set, Nothing.
Speaker D:Cool.
Speaker D:So I got a critical success.
Speaker D:And I can confirm that their air conditioning is working.
Speaker A:It needs a repair, though.
Speaker D:Probably might need a repair.
Speaker D:Yeah, I don't hear anything.
Speaker D:I don't either.
Speaker D:No one's home or they're sleeping.
Speaker C:Okay, So I think we're safe to go on in.
Speaker C:Apprentice is just going to try the door, see if it's unlocked.
Speaker A:I already said it's locked.
Speaker C:Let's see.
Speaker C:Apprentice does not have any skills beyond being a surgeon.
Speaker E:How sturdy are the locks on this door?
Speaker A:They're just typical locks that you would see.
Speaker A:So normal sturdiness level, whatever that is.
Speaker E:Okay.
Speaker E:Are we talking deadbolts or.
Speaker A:If there's a deadbolt on the other side.
Speaker A:You can't see it from here.
Speaker A:There could be all you.
Speaker A:All you see here is a single.
Speaker D:Yeah, let's try knocking first.
Speaker D:Paris just gives it a knock.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:There's no answer.
Speaker D:Anyone to jimmy the lock here?
Speaker C:Bureaucracy.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You could work your way through the ownership structure of this building and potentially get a super to come here, I guess, and open the door for you.
Speaker A:Is that what you're thinking?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Let's get back to a computer somewhere and start doing some research about who owns this rather spot.
Speaker D:Can we just break the door?
Speaker E:Are the hinges on the inside or the outside?
Speaker A:They're on the inside.
Speaker C:It'd be pretty bad if they were on the outside.
Speaker E:I mean, you never know.
Speaker A:It's true.
Speaker A:You never know.
Speaker A:It's a good question.
Speaker C:You never know.
Speaker C:In New York.
Speaker C:You never know.
Speaker D:Anyone able to pick a lock?
Speaker E:Nope.
Speaker B:Sadly, no.
Speaker D:Well, I might have some explosives in my backpack.
Speaker A:Okay, I think you guys need to call Porter and just say, hey, we can't do this job.
Speaker A:This.
Speaker A:This.
Speaker A:This Ops.
Speaker A:Not for us.
Speaker C:Please be mad at us.
Speaker D:Was there a fire escape on the outside of the building?
Speaker A:There is it.
Speaker A:I'll just meta that.
Speaker A:There's one on the.
Speaker A:One of the other sides of the building that you wouldn't have seen from.
Speaker D:Your approach, but nothing that goes up next to the windows of this apartment.
Speaker A:Potentially from this side.
Speaker A:But you.
Speaker A:You actually have, like, a fire escape plan by the stairwell, and you can see that that's not the case for his apartment.
Speaker D:I was like, can we just make a luck roll on that?
Speaker C:So bureaucracy it is.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, let's.
Speaker A:Let's go do that.
Speaker C:Do it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker E:I think Chris was hoping we'd just break it down.
Speaker A:Yeah, you can do whatever you want.
Speaker A:This is your game.
Speaker A:If you guys want to leave, that's fine too.
Speaker A:Or if you want to wait around, stake it out.
Speaker A:I'm not disappointed at all.
Speaker D:That's right.
Speaker D:We could stake it out.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:You could.
Speaker A:You could stake it out.
Speaker D:We have his post.
Speaker D:We have.
Speaker D:We have his picture.
Speaker D:We know what it looks like.
Speaker D:Why don't we head back down to the van and I think that's a good idea.
Speaker D:Take a beat.
Speaker B:Okay, I'm down for that.
Speaker D:When we head down, Paris does a walk around the building to see if there's any other ways in or out that they may have missed.
Speaker A:Yeah, so when you walk around the other side, there's the aforementioned fire escape.
Speaker A:You know, it's not going to be easy, but somebody could maybe climb to the third level there if they were able to get themselves to that first level, or somehow lower the ladder there from below, and then climb around the corner of the building.
Speaker A:Gripping the side of the brickwork, there's an open window to Jerry Wong's apartment.
Speaker D:Yeah, I should have clarified.
Speaker D:I'm more looking to see if there's other ways that other people could be going in and out of the building without us seeing them.
Speaker D:Since we're about to do a stakeout, like, so, we got people in the front watching the front door.
Speaker D:Are there any other entrances that people who live there could use?
Speaker D:That's what I'm looking for right now.
Speaker A:No, that you can see from out here.
Speaker B:Ryan's gonna turn to Paris and say, hey, come on, man.
Speaker B:You're pretty athletic.
Speaker B:You don't think you can.
Speaker B:You can get up there?
Speaker D:Yeah, I'm not shimming around the side of the building.
Speaker B:Fair enough.
Speaker B:Fair enough.
Speaker A:There are some nice cars parked out here in the back, though, which is interesting.
Speaker A:A red Lexus.
Speaker D:So just.
Speaker D:Just for clarification, the area we're in is kind of run down.
Speaker D:And so you're saying the cars are uncharacteristically nice for the area that we're in?
Speaker C:Yeah, they're clearly gang members.
Speaker A:It's surprising to see a nice polished red Lexus back here in.
Speaker A:Yeah, this kind of dilapidated alleyway behind.
Speaker A:Not the best apartment in Chinatown.
Speaker D:Paris snaps photos of the license plates and looks over at Ryan and says, hey, why don't we send this back to our friendly over in the precinct?
Speaker B:That's a good idea.
Speaker D:He could run these plates for us.
Speaker D:And helps us.
Speaker D:Might help him too.
Speaker B:Did we get anywhere else that Jerry Wong hangs out with from Michelle Lee's mom?
Speaker A:No, but there were nice cars in the photograph, so you're probably in the right place.
Speaker B:Yeah, I was more of just like, okay, if he's not here or if he's dead, is there anywhere else we can kind of go to try to find him?
Speaker A:Yeah, unfortunately, Michelle Lee's mother is also searching for her daughter.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker B:And she's going to be doing that for the rest of her life.
Speaker A:Yikes.
Speaker C:Oh, boy.
Speaker D:Paris Silver rises.
Speaker D:Can you email the guy or did you text the guy?
Speaker D:We have his phone number.
Speaker D:He gave us his cell phone number.
Speaker D:Right, his direct line.
Speaker A:He gave you his card?
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:Does the card, his info?
Speaker B:I think it's safe to assume that his general contact means are probably on the card.
Speaker B:So work phone.
Speaker B:Cell phone.
Speaker A:We also know he's on the graveyard shift, and this is probably a little early for him, but, I mean, you could give him a go.
Speaker D:I'm just gonna text the plate number.
Speaker D:It's like, hey, what am I going to write to him?
Speaker D:It's like, hey, thanks for the help earlier.
Speaker D:Would you mind checking a plate for us?
Speaker D:Might be of interest to both us and you.
Speaker D:And then I'm going to give him the plate number.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:There's no response right away.
Speaker D:And then Paris is going to head over to the CDC van.
Speaker D:Unmarked CDC van.
Speaker D:And I got to let it go.
Speaker C:Still unmarked.
Speaker D:Still unmarked.
Speaker A:Has spray painted CDC on the side of this van.
Speaker C:God dang it.
Speaker D:Kids these days.
Speaker C:We've been made.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker D:Covers blown, boys, and just like, gets ready for a stakeout.
Speaker C:I guess time to buy a bunch of junk food and coffee.
Speaker A:So again, busy street.
Speaker A:We are double parked.
Speaker A:This is not the primo stakeout spot for people who want to stay.
Speaker D:Oh, cool.
Speaker D:Can we.
Speaker D:I don't know what we would roll if there's another.
Speaker A:If there's a good approach.
Speaker A:Do you guys want to, like, Be standing around like, what, what's, what's your, your, your approach here?
Speaker D:Well, I guess knowing the area, would we, with our skills, would there something we'd roll?
Speaker D:Say, like.
Speaker D:Yeah, we want to find, we want to find an ideal steakhouse spot.
Speaker A:Roll your stuff.
Speaker D:Success.
Speaker A:12 out of 50 van's not an option just because of the way the streets are set up.
Speaker A:So that has to be parked a little bit aways.
Speaker A:But you're able to kind of post up at certain corners of the street with full view of the alleyway in and out of.
Speaker A:Of the front of the building.
Speaker A:Just no eyes on, on the back of the building.
Speaker A:Unless you want somebody to post up back there.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:Rosal grab a baseball cap and her cell phone and stand back there.
Speaker E:Make it look like she's waiting on a call or something.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:And let the waiting beginning.
Speaker A:The sun begins to climb in the sky.
Speaker A:Noon inches by.
Speaker A:Realize you've been standing, keeping eyes on this apartment building for about three, four hours now.
Speaker A:There's been very little traffic in and out of the building itself, but those who have left, none of them match the description.
Speaker A:I'm sorry.
Speaker A:The image of Jerry Wong from the photograph.
Speaker A:Royston.
Speaker A:As you're waiting in the back, you see a man, very tall.
Speaker A:Very tall.
Speaker A:He's in a nice finely pressed black suit, swayne sunglasses.
Speaker A:He's got a trim mustache, goatee.
Speaker A:He rounds the corner, walks past you, straight towards the nice looking polished red Lexus.
Speaker A:You hear it beep and chirp cheerily as he approaches.
Speaker A:He opens the driver's door.
Speaker E:Rosen's just gonna watch, but she's gonna try to get a picture of him discreetly.
Speaker E:Kind of like make it look like a phone game.
Speaker A:Roll stuff.
Speaker A:That's fail.
Speaker C:Just shy.
Speaker A:So you're trying to surreptitiously take a picture of.
Speaker A:Of this gentleman as he steps into his vehicle.
Speaker A:He locks eyes directly with you.
Speaker A:And there's this moment where your breath just catches in your throat.
Speaker A:You see a flicker of recognition on his face.
Speaker A:He frowns deeply, closes the door, starts his engine and begins to back up out of the alley, away from you.
Speaker E:Oh, Roisin's gonna call the boys and let them know what's going on.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:Go ahead and do that.
Speaker A:Who are you calling?
Speaker E:Ryan.
Speaker A:Ryan, your phone rings from Royzen.
Speaker B:Hey, what's up?
Speaker E:So the owner of that Lexus just showed up, got in the car, he got a good look at me, and I'm pretty sure he recognizes me from somewhere.
Speaker B:Did you recognize him at all?
Speaker E:No, but he's really Tall.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Did you get the plates of the specific car he was in?
Speaker E:I mean, it's that red Lexus that's been sitting out here.
Speaker E:I wrote Bruisen.
Speaker E:Would have written the plate numbers down ages ago.
Speaker E:Actually, we sent the plate numbers over to.
Speaker B:Did he.
Speaker B:Did he drive off or say anything to you or.
Speaker E:No, nothing.
Speaker E:But he did leave.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:You okay to stay back there, or do you want to switch off?
Speaker E:I'll stay.
Speaker E:Might not be a bad idea for someone to come keep me company for a minute, though.
Speaker B:No problem.
Speaker B:I'll ask Paris to meet you back there.
Speaker B:So Ryan's going to hang up with her and tell Paris and Prentiss about the guy and look to Paris.
Speaker B:Say, do you want to head back on that side?
Speaker B:I guess I'm.
Speaker B:I'm a little nervous.
Speaker B:Just in case he recognizes her and circles back with some company.
Speaker D:It's okay.
Speaker D:Shouldn't we follow this guy?
Speaker D:I mean, this is one of the people we're looking for.
Speaker D:Is he still on his way out, or did he already take off?
Speaker B:It sounded like he drove away from what Roisin said.
Speaker A:Okay, Paris, go ahead and roll your military science lant.
Speaker D:I failed.
Speaker A:Continue, please.
Speaker D:Well, we need.
Speaker D:If you recognize Rosen, we need to get her out of there.
Speaker B:Do you want me to call her back and tell her to come up front?
Speaker D:Yeah, tell her that she needs to at least be in the van, because if they come back, they're going to be looking for her.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Ryan gives Roisin a call, tells her to come back.
Speaker A:Roizen, do you do that?
Speaker E:Roizen's gonna grumble about it, you know, she's pretty sure she doesn't have anything to worry about.
Speaker E:But if the boys think she needs to come back, she'll come back.
Speaker A:Well, as you walk down the alley back towards the front, this happens to be the way that the very tall gentleman walked down to walk past you as he rounded the corner and entered his vehicle.
Speaker A:You see, as you pass, a scribbled drawing of a door on the brickwork.
Speaker A:It's hasty, obviously has some breaks in it due to the roughness of the surface, but it is unmistakable.
Speaker A:Same style as the others you saw before.
Speaker C:Is there a size 16 shoe print?
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:Sorry.
Speaker E:So, yeah, Roizen stops in her tracks and calls the boys with basically a get over here now.
Speaker C:And we come rushing over.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:So everybody's in the alley now looking at this picture.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker E:And then she calls Porter on a video call.
Speaker A:There is no answer from Porter's line.
Speaker E:Who, it would figure, well, let's just.
Speaker D:Grab A video, send it to him later.
Speaker C:This is our guy.
Speaker C:This is.
Speaker C:This is him.
Speaker C:Did you see which way he went?
Speaker C:I mean, like, where?
Speaker E:Well, the car we've got.
Speaker C:This is our guy.
Speaker C:I guess we just wait out where he lives.
Speaker C:From the information, we hopefully get run by.
Speaker C:By Sam Kwan.
Speaker E:Well, the Lexus pulled out that way.
Speaker E:She'll point down the alley in the direction it went.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker E:But, yeah, that guy was, like, creepy tall.
Speaker A:He's a very tall man.
Speaker C:He's a tall man.
Speaker C:So he's in the area, and he's moving around.
Speaker C:He was possibly even up in Jerry's apartment.
Speaker C:So maybe we need to escalate our search of his place.
Speaker C:Who wants to climb?
Speaker E:Well, let's not.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:I guess it's me.
Speaker E:Get me on camera again.
Speaker E:So, yeah, not me.
Speaker C:So apprentice will climb.
Speaker A:Apprentice or Eric.
Speaker A:Let's.
Speaker A:Let's do meta.
Speaker A:Why are we climbing?
Speaker A:I just want to be very into Jerry, very clear.
Speaker A:Okay, I get that.
Speaker A:Why is he choosing to climb the outside of a building face rather than just go in the front door with a shoe like his foot?
Speaker A:I just don't know why he would choose.
Speaker A:Choose to.
Speaker A:Because is he, like.
Speaker A:Is he a free.
Speaker A:Is he a free climber?
Speaker A:It's extremely dangerous.
Speaker A:It's three.
Speaker A:It's three stories up.
Speaker A:He's gonna have to climb.
Speaker A:He's gonna have to climb the fire escape.
Speaker A:He's gonna have to go around the side of the brickwork.
Speaker A:You can do it, right?
Speaker A:I just want to be sure you understand how dangerous it is, and that.
Speaker A:That's how.
Speaker A:What I was trying to tell Paris.
Speaker A:I think Paris might have the athleticism to actually pull that off, but I don't know if Prentice does or would even think that's the right way to do things.
Speaker A:Things.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Apprentice definitely wouldn't want to do that.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:It's a.
Speaker A:It's a possibility, but.
Speaker A:But, yeah, I just want to make sure you're.
Speaker C:You're highly aware it's out of character.
Speaker A:I mean, if he's, like, a free climber and this is his, then go for it.
Speaker A:But it is a dangerous maneuver, so.
Speaker B:Let'S go back inside.
Speaker B:We'll just use a little brute force to unlock the doors.
Speaker C:We heard somebody in distress.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:If anybody asks, it's easy to get.
Speaker A:Buzz back in, and before long, well, placed foot gets the door to the right of the knob, flies right open.
Speaker A:See a bit of the connecting baseboard on the other side.
Speaker A:Fly across the room, skitter across the hardwood floor.
Speaker A:All four of you enter Guns drawn where appropriate.
Speaker A:However, what you find inside is.
Speaker A:Well, it's not somebody waiting for you.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's not even the bloated corpse of Jerry Wong like you may have suspected.
Speaker A:You see Jerry, and he's most certainly dead, but it looks like he's fallen through the floor right here in the center of the living room.
Speaker A:Only his torso, his arms, his head are visible, but there's no hole.
Speaker A:You four carefully walk up to.
Speaker A:Well, half of a man.
Speaker C:The devs really need to fix these.
Speaker A:Clipping issues, and you roll your sanity.
Speaker B:Is that kind of what it looks like, though, Chris?
Speaker B:Almost just like he glitched through the floor.
Speaker B:Basically.
Speaker A:It looks like he's merged with the floorboards.
Speaker B:Not like he was severed and then the top half of him was put on the floor.
Speaker A:It's bloodless.
Speaker E:This was an episode of Fringe.
Speaker B:I swear I will say one thing I've always thought about Chris is he's a derivative man.
Speaker B:No, boy, I'm projecting.
Speaker B:Projecting it all onto my various other people that I don't care about.
Speaker E:No, Rory's.
Speaker C:Fuck you, Rodrigo.
Speaker C:Projecting as well.
Speaker A:Well, everybody roll 1D4.
Speaker A:He's projecting, and we'll get this done.
Speaker D:I feel like I have to project.
Speaker D:I don't know how I did.
Speaker D:It's a problem.
Speaker B:Up, everybody.
Speaker C:Well, that's the beauty of it.
Speaker C:Always project when you don't know.
Speaker A:Prentice and Ryan, please subtract the amount you rolled from your willpower and also a bond of your choice.
Speaker A:And please take a note of that bond.
Speaker B:Can we split between bonds?
Speaker D:I'm rolling.
Speaker A:You cannot.
Speaker A:You must choose one bond.
Speaker A:If you have more loss than that bond is, it goes down to zero and you lose that bond.
Speaker A:And that will be an interesting item for your home scene if you survive.
Speaker D:Chris.
Speaker D:I also.
Speaker D:I also projected.
Speaker A:So all of you feel just utterly gobsmacked by what you're.
Speaker A:What you're seeing here.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:It just doesn't make any sense.
Speaker A:Walk around Jerry's body slowly again.
Speaker A:He's obviously dead.
Speaker A:His eyes are glazed over his mouth in a twisted, twisted horror.
Speaker A:Paris.
Speaker A:This especially hits you hard.
Speaker A:Reminds you of something you saw overseas.
Speaker A:And for a moment, you're there, you're back there.
Speaker A:Didn't bother you at the time, but now it does.
Speaker A:When you kind of shake yourself free of the cobwebs of the.
Speaker A:Of the past.
Speaker A:You see Jerry in front of you.
Speaker A:You.
Speaker A:You realize that that experience must have been more traumatic than you thought.
Speaker A:But you're here, present now.
Speaker A:You're trying to take in what you're seeing.
Speaker C:Yikesa.
Speaker C:He's half the man he used to be.
Speaker B:Do we see any?
Speaker B:I guess Ryan's gonna go over to him to get a little bit of a closer look to see if he's kind of fused with the floor or how it's.
Speaker C:Give him a little toe nudge a little bit.
Speaker A:As far as you can tell, even his clothing seemed to have slipped through and merged with the floorboards.
Speaker C:I guess we're gonna need to talk to Porter and get this cleaned up.
Speaker D:Because he's gonna ask us to clean it up.
Speaker C:Well, he's gonna.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's what's gonna happen.
Speaker C:That's what's gonna happen.
Speaker E:How.
Speaker E:How do we.
Speaker C:Paris start.
Speaker D:Paris turns away and starts searching the apartment.
Speaker C:Yeah, time to search.
Speaker C:We gotta.
Speaker C:Gotta make quick.
Speaker D:We could.
Speaker D:We could also just leave it here.
Speaker D:This is New York.
Speaker D:I'm sure.
Speaker D:I'm sure they've seen stranger shit.
Speaker C:Yeah, the rats will eat this up in a week.
Speaker B:I'm definitely fine not to clean it up, but.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Let's look around the apartment to see what else we can find out.
Speaker A:You walk around Jerry's apartment.
Speaker A:Seems like he was living a fairly privileged lifestyle.
Speaker A:He's got PS5, enormous set of flat screen TVs and any number of expensive electronics, stereo systems, etc.
Speaker A:But the one area that really stands out to you is, well, what looks like an art room.
Speaker A:There's two easels, a drafting table.
Speaker A:Could be a supply of expensive pastel and paint sets.
Speaker A:See, canvases, sketch pads.
Speaker A:Even the surfaces of the walls are all decorated with a similar theme.
Speaker A:And although the style ranges from colorful to bland, mathematical to elaborate, you see the same repeated sequences of eight numbers covering these materials.
Speaker A:In fact, the impression is staggering when you each first enter this room.
Speaker A:No illuminating explanation here for the state of it, nor any indications as to who might have created this bewildering display, but it is that.
Speaker E:And what is the number we're seeing?
Speaker D:Obviously a pair of snaps and photos while he's in there with his phone.
Speaker A: -: Speaker D:And then he's also keeping an ear out just in case someone gets curious about the door.
Speaker D:That sounds like it was kicking in.
Speaker A:Nobody seems to have poked their nose into the.
Speaker A:The situation as of yet.
Speaker D:I also keep an ear out just in case we need to make a quick escape.
Speaker B:Just the potential.
Speaker B:I don't know if there's any legitimacy to this, but I'm wondering if it's a possibility that the guy Roizen saw leave is doing this somehow.
Speaker B:And this was a hit of some sort.
Speaker B:Something for us to maybe noodle on.
Speaker E:It's definitely a thought.
Speaker A:Royston, go ahead and roll your intelligence, please.
Speaker E:Success.
Speaker A:Pretty good.
Speaker A:Roll.
Speaker A:Suddenly hits you.
Speaker A:Number Doesn't.
Speaker A:Doesn't mean anything to you, but it's everywhere.
Speaker A:All over every surface of this room.
Speaker A:It was the same number that was on the open eight digit lock of the empty suitcase.
Speaker A:You're not sure how you remember that, but it.
Speaker A:It just.
Speaker A:It's suddenly there.
Speaker A:It's clear as day in your mind's eye.
Speaker B:It's a link, at the very least.
Speaker E:So, who wants to check the closet?
Speaker B:It's all yours.
Speaker C:Time to.
Speaker C:Yeah, let's give it a look.
Speaker A:Inside the closet is the charcoal hastily scribbled drawing of a door.
