A/N: Again, I am very certain that Hasbro does not approve or endorse my use of their characters. Especially with this story.
Thank you for the reviews so far. I am surprised that no one seems to totally get where I'm going so far. I thought I was making it entirely too obvious :D Guess not.
O o o o o o o o o o o o O
Lady Jaye stepped up to the podium, holding up her hands. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, you know the drill." Generalized murmurs of assent replied and she continued, "I will be making a short statement, we will have a limited Q&A, and I cannot emphasize limited enough." She met the gaze of many of the reporters, then cleared her throat for her speech.
"An unknown substance was found at the statehouse here and officials decided to err on the side of caution and call it into Homeland Security. The powder was not distributed at all, no one is ill and there is no danger to the population. The CDC and USAMRIID are working on identifying the material and cooperating fully with law enforcement agencies, if nothing else to press criminal mischief charges. I reiterate: There are no reported illnesses, symptoms or contaminations in conjunction with this. I will now take your questions." An older brunette woman's hand shot into the air and Jaye pointed to her, "Yes Marie?" One of the things that Flint bitched about was the fact that she was giving so many press conferences, she had begun to learn their names.
"Thank you, Lady Jaye. Why was a team from G.I. Joe called in? Doesn't that mean that there is something more sinister behind this?"
"We have been dispatched as a precaution, because if there are any problems, we will be able to quickly handle them." The words slipped off her tongue easily, glossing over the truth that the politicians were just cowards. Another hand immediately raised high and she acknowledged the silver haired man.
"We've heard that this substance is the deadly poison Ricin. Is there any truth to that report? And how soon will we know for sure?" He spoke quickly, hoping to get all the words out before she cut him off.
She smirked at him and shook her head, "Now Brian, you know I'm not allowed to comment on that. The scientists themselves don't know yet; it's just been collected. I assure you though that they are taking every precaution and will determine the makeup of the powder quickly."
A younger woman with black hair stood in the back, yelling without waiting to be acknowledged, "Why has the terrorist activity been climbing so much lately? What is being done to keep the American people safe?"
This was a question that nagged Jaye's brain late at night; why was everything picking up now? She shrugged, "They are mentally unstable and they hate our freedom. That's why we fight them every step of the way." She quoted almost verbatim the so-called "party-line" about the situation, which nagged at her unpleasantly. The young woman accepted the answer though.
"Excuse me!" Another reporter decided to forgo waiting to be called on, this time a young man towards the back. "Can you comment on the illegal fraternization going on in your unit? Is the military continuing-"
Jaye cut him off quickly with a murderous glare and a sharp hand gesture, "This session is done. Good day."
As she walked off the platform, she could hear him call after her, "Isn't it true that Scarlett had an illicit affair with Hawk as well, and that's why she's on the team?"
She shook her head and slammed the door violently behind her. She understood why Scarlett didn't want to come to the press conferences.
O o o o o o o o o o o O
"Any luck, Red?" Shipwreck was looking over her shoulder, eating a sandwich loudly.
She pursed her lips. "Maybe. I'm trying to look into some of the more abstract connections." She flipped through papers, frowned, flipped back to where she was, then back again to her new spot. "Odd."
Shipwreck looked at her expectantly, prodding her with his arm when she didn't elucidate. "What's odd?"
"Nothing." Her brow was still furrowed as she continued to leaf through her papers. "Don't sweat it." She flashed him a smile, looking at an envelope that had gotten lodged in one of her files. It was simply addressed to "Shana". A corner of a smile came to her face, thinking it was a surprise from Duke.
She flipped it over, neatly slitting one end and blowing into the pocket, enabling her to slide the information out easily. It was two handwritten pages, and it seemed to be a piece of fan mail.
Dear Shana,
I am such a fan of your work. You seem like such an intelligent woman, like that woman in "National Treasure". I loved that movie. Have you seen it? You should. It has a lot of good information in it.
I would love to meet you sometime, though I'm sure your job keeps you very busy. It's amazing, how much has been going on lately. I truly think that you can put a stop to it, if you think about it enough. I wish I could help, but I'm just a nobody.
But I do think you are amazing. I think you could break any puzzle, if given even subtle clues. Clues are everywhere in the world I think, you just have to figure out what puzzle they belong to.
Thanks for reading my letter. I would appreciate it if this stayed between us, I'm very shy about people knowing that I'm writing to you; it could get me in big trouble. (I hear wives frown on this sort of thing)
Someday maybe we could meet and have iced tea by a roaring fire and you can tell me all about your work, and I can tell you all about mine. Please be safe out there.
Signed,
A fan
She read and reread the letter; it was very strange in its topics and flow. She had seen "National Treasure", it was fun, but nothing that special. She absently tucked the letter in her vest, continuing to try and track down the source of this mayhem.
O o o o o o o o o o o o o o O
She thought of the letter again later that night while she was in her living room, enjoying the time to herself because her roommate was still in Virginia. Duke had duty tonight, so she didn't expect to see him either, just her and her research.
She took it out of her vest, reading it again. It was very odd, and how did it get on base without going through normal channels? She let her mind wander a bit, then an idea occurred to her. "No way," she said aloud with a grin. She began to think that maybe it was from Duke after all; they had gone to see the movie together. She grinned slyly as she chuckled, pulling out her iron. She doubted he would have gone to the trouble of any other agents, so the iron should be all she needed.
The mention of the movie and insistence that clues were everywhere made her think that perhaps on the letter was a hidden message, using the old lemon juice trick. She turned the iron on, waiting for it to heat up. If Jaye came home, she would think Shana was nuts, ironing the mail.
After the iron had heated, she carefully applied it to the paper, her grin widening when she saw the tell-tale faint brown markings that showed that it had been treated with lemon juice. She resisted the urge to read it as bits and pieces became visible, instead flopping into a chair to read her love letter once it was fully revealed.
I have information you need. Don't look at the events, look at the time.
Tell no one of what you discover. I don't know how high this goes. "Trust no one." Call 555-3647 from a secure line when you know.
Memo
Her eyes widened as she scanned the words. This definitely wasn't Duke's style. 'Memo'? What was that supposed to mean and what was she supposed to know? She frowned, rereading the letter, wondering how such a person who was coming up with this could get it on base.
She considered for a moment, then decided, just to be safe, she would follow up on the concerns of the man. She grabbed a date of an attack, plunking it into google on her laptop, seeing what she came up with. Random crap really, with a few news stories on the attempted car bombing. She clicked on one, scanning the text quickly, frowning when nothing caught her eye.
Wrinkling her nose, she inputted another date, again getting similar random flotsam and news stories. Once more she clicked on the news stories and scanned it quickly. Her eye caught on something, nothing really alone, but she remembered something similar for the other date. She quickly chose several other dates, pulling up news stories, becoming increasingly disturbed by the implication that was becoming clear to her.
She grabbed her phone, dialing the number on the note. She heard a gravelly voice answer, "Shana."
"You can't be insinuating what I think you are insinuating," she said with no preamble, her mind whirling around the stories, unmindful of the time, or the fact that nearly four hours had passed since her first realization that the note could be more than it appeared.
"I wish I wasn't. I have proof." The man sighed and seemed almost genuinely disappointed. "Memos. Records. Money trails. There's more than you could ever imagine."
"I don't believe you," she scoffed. "Show me the proof."
He inhaled, "I want to. You know where the Wal-mart on 164th is?" He heard a muttered affirmative and continued, "Meet me there in an hour."
She couldn't help but laugh, "We're meeting in a Wal-mart for a classified meeting? You have got to be kidding me."
"It's open and I don't think anything can happen to us if we stay in public enough. Hide all your material. Do not let anyone know what you have found or about me."
"No way buddy, that's not the way we work here in the Army." She sounded skeptical again. She had no way to know who this was and what his agenda was.
He seemed frustrated and scared, "Do you understand that if they find out that I'm talking to you, my life is worth nothing? I trust you could beat me if I wanted to do anything. Please, Shana. If I'm right, this is important and I've seen what the media has been trying to do to you lately. Do you think that isn't related? This all ties together. Please."
Shana pondered the thought for a moment. The rational side of her knew this was a stupid idea, but the curious and worried half was very concerned that his claims might have a grain of truth. "Alright. I'll be there." She hung up the phone and went to her bedroom, pulling on a pair of jeans and gray shirt. She put a handkerchief over her head, then pulled on a black hooded sweatshirt over top of it all.
As she touched her hand to the door handle, she heard a knock and jumped, chuckling uneasily at her paranoia. Opening the door, she saw the blonde First Sergeant for the unit.
"Where you off to, beautiful?" He smiled gently, taking her into his arms for a hug.
"Just running out, couldn't sleep." She lied to him easily, ignoring the guilty twinge in her chest. "Are you already off?"
"Already? I've been on since 1900 last night!" He noted her vague expression and clarified, "It's nearly 0400 now. Where are you going at this time of night?"
She chuckled, "Wal-Mart, what else is open at this hour?"
He laughed as well, kissing her softly, "Want some company?" It might have been his imagination, but he thought she tensed in his hands just slightly.
"Nah, I'm going to be doing boring girly type shopping." She gave him a quick peck on the lips, "I'll be back later and stop by and show you what I got." She winked, kissing him once more.
"Alright," he said grudgingly, "But wake me up when you get back, ok?"
"Will do." He grabbed her for one last kiss, then she nearly jogged down the corridor, off to her rendezvous at Wal-Mart.