TIES THAT BIND: REPORT

AUTHOR: Aesop

DISCLAIMER: The characters aren't mine, and I earn no profit by writing this.

SUMMARY: Six people left Roswell, but they still have ties to that town. Ties they are unwilling to sever.

CONFIDENTIAL

SEPTEMBER 15 2002

TO: R. Culhein, interim head of Special Unit

FROM: T. Lewis, field agent.

RE: Final report on Greensville incident.

Acting on a tip received by a contact in Roswell, NM, Agent Barnes directed our search efforts to Greensville, CO. Evidence suggested that the targets had been there during the week surrounding August 25.

The Greensville police remained unaware of the Unit's presence as per Agent Barnes' instructions. A search of local motels and hotels led us to the Motorway Inn. Four rooms had been rented by people whose descriptions closely matched those of the targets and the Human accomplices. Two hours of surveillance was sufficient to prove that the targets had moved on.

As per procedure, we made note of the aliases used and the differences in their descriptions as well as the license number of the vehicle they were using. (See appended files for details and sketch artist renderings.) We discovered they had left the day before our arrival, without notifying management. The entire week had been paid for in advance, presumably so that local authorities would not be notified when they departed without notice.

Questioning the hotel staff revealed that the group had departed separately as if on minor errands. The care taken in concealing their comings and goings suggests that they are aware of the Unit's continuing efforts to track them.

All of the standard precautions were taken in running checks on the motels in neighboring towns. Agent Barnes foresight in reporting the van they used stolen paid off and two members of the group were spotted at a downtown shopping center.

Kyle Valenti and Isabel Ramirez, identified from surveillance photos taken in Roswell, were spotted leaving the store. Agents arrived on the scene after their departure. The police report indicates that Valenti and the target went directly to another car and left before the police could identify them as the people that had arrived in the van.

The car was reported stolen 15 minutes later when the owner emerged from the store, but the vehicle was found abandoned at a movie theater three miles away.

The crowded lot made it impossible to determine which vehicle they might have taken, and waiting was impractical, as it might have been hours before any car from there was reported stolen.

With the target lost for the moment, Agent Barnes ordered a systematic search. Based on available information on the targets and the steps they have taken to evade Unit operatives in the past, Agent Barnes arrived at several probable scenarios, and ordered all available agents to spread out, covering the most likely possibilities.

This meant that several agents were left working alone, including Agent Barnes himself. Although a violation of procedure, he deemed it an acceptable risk in order to locate the target.

Agent Cartmel and myself were assigned to check previous hiding places, as doubling back is a tactic they have used to evade capture before. We found no trace of them though and only learned what happened second hand from police and subsequent Bureau investigations. (See attached reports from the Bureau's Denver field office, the Greensville police crime scene report, and the medical examiner's report.)

Based on available evidence, Agent Barnes arrived at the bus terminal and began to search nearby buildings. It is only conjecture, but he apparently concluded that they were unlikely to wait for a bus inside the terminal where they could be easily spotted.

It is worth noting at this point that the relatively minor cosmetic changes that the targets have employed to conceal their identities seem to rule out the presence of a shape-shifter in the group. However, the ability of the four targets to instantly make minor changes in their appearance, i.e. hair color and style, eye color, etc. make it almost as difficult to track them. It is believed that this was a factor in the confrontation.

According to the initial police report, an employee of Benson's Jewelry Imports, a tenant of the office building across from the bus station, called 911 to report a disturbance in a vacant office across the hall. The caller heard shouting and what he believed were two gunshots.

Police responded within 10 minutes to investigate. The caller, a jeweler named Aaron Smith, told police that he heard the voices of two unidentified people leaving within a moment or two after the shots were fired.

Agent Barnes was found dead of a single gunshot wound to the chest in the vacant office. Forensic evidence was sketchy. Fingerprints belonging to the unidentified pair were found on the body. It is believed that he was shot with his own weapon, but that cannot be conclusively determined as the gun was not recovered. What is known is that he was shot at close range, probably during a struggle based on the bullet's angle of entry. The other slug was dug out of the south wall of the office. (See crime scene report, medical examiner's file, attached.) Both bullets came from the same weapon, a standard issue side arm carried by all Bureau field agents.

When it was learned that the victim was an FBI agent, the case was handed over to the Bureau, and a pair of agents from the Denver field office were assigned to investigate. Unfortunately, it was not possible to assign Unit operatives to the case immediately, but subsequent investigations revealed no trace of the radiation associated with cadmium X and there was no silver hand print on the body. It is certain, however, that Isabel Ramirez was involved. The building's security camera's marked the entrance of a man and woman thirty minutes before the 911 call. Several of the building's security cameras went off line shortly after that. The presence of cadmium X was confirmed in the building's entryway near the damaged camera and again near the camera covering the hallway outside the office where Agent Barnes' body was discovered.

While the Bureau's Denver office was unable to find a match for the prints, there was a conclusive match found in the Unit's private files. The prints on Agent Barnes' coat sleeve and lapel match those of Kyle Valenti.

The tentative conclusion reached by the police and later by the Bureau was that Agent Barnes was investigating a case on his own time and was killed by the suspect he was tracking. The Bureau has assigned Agents Muller and Taggart, both Unit operatives, to investigate.

Based on this incident, it is my recommendation that Agent Barnes' decision to exclude Kyle Valenti and Maria Delucca from the list of targets be reevaluated. The conclusion that must be drawn here, that Valenti killed Agent Barnes in an effort to protect Isabel Ramirez, justifies their inclusion in our mandate.

CONFIDENTIAL

SEPTEMBER 17 2002

TO: All Special Unit operatives

FROM: R. Culhein, Head of the Special Unit

RE: Final report on Greensville incident.

After a review of all evidence gathered from the Greensville incident and a reevaluation of evidence related to the activities of the targets close associates in Roswell, it has been decided that the actions they have taken in aiding and abetting those initially designated as targets justifies the following decision.

Kyle Valenti and Maria Delucca are from this point forward to be considered legitimate targets and are to be terminated if the opportunity arises.