Model Beast
By Thomas Mc

Chapter 6 : The Plot

As the detectives were packing up to leave, Elizabeth looked up a very special e-mail address for a certain person that worked at a company that went by the name 'International Federated Films'. She sent a copy of everything to that e-mail address. She knew that I.F.F. was a cover for a very secret government agency that specialized in identifying and stopping terrorist attacks. She had learned about that agency from her mother in law, Catherine Chandler and had dealt with them before. John Stetson was a good man and this way he would be able to get onto this quicker than if he had to wait for the information to get to him through official channels.

Elizabeth took another hour to clear up a few details for her own report on the incident. She also made several copies of Emily's sketches to take with her. She would spread them around among those below and the helpers for good measure. Just before she and Emily left the office her computer beeped with a message.

Thanks for the heads up.
We've been looking for those.
- J. Stetson.

Emily smiled as she shut down for the day. "Come on. Let's get you back down Below where you will be safe." She grinned. "We can put you up in that chamber you were in for as long as necessary."

They left the office and went back to the building across the street where they went down into the tunnels. They were met by Devin who had been patiently waiting for them. As they walked along Elizabeth was commenting on the days events. "One thing about staying Below; The bad guys will never be able to find you down here and you can stay as long as necessary."

"But I have to be at a photo shoot tomorrow, and there is the fashion show in three days. I can't just leave them hanging." Emily complained. "It may not be in the same league as world saving, but I have never failed to show up for any project I have signed up for. It's kind of a matter of principal with me." She shrugged. "I despise those prima donnas that flake-out on their commitments whenever they feel like it."

"This isn't the same thing." Elizabeth insisted. "You have been shot, and your life could be in danger."

"Aunt Elizabeth has a point." Devin added.

Emily shook her head. "Tomorrow's shoot is closed to the public, only the photographer and his crew will be there." She glanced down at her cane and shrugged, trying to cover a slight wince when it pulled at her side. "I'm not really hurt that bad. As long as the clothes cover my injuries, and this shoot is for the fall line, I'll be fine." She then grinned. "Besides, I'm a model, I'm used to being shot. I've been shot by nearly every photographer in the business."

Though she tried to cover up her feelings with that bit of levity, Devin could tell that she was still in a bit of pain and not quite as fearless as she pretended. He had considered offering to carry her because of that pain, but he didn't think she would accept. There was a strong streak of stubborn self-sufficiency in her. It reminded him a lot of his Aunt Elizabeth. He figured if those two ever butted heads, the fireworks would be pretty spectacular.

"We can at least stop by my office tomorrow morning and I will arrange a police guard for you. You are, after all, an important state witness." Elizabeth offered as a compromise. Devin sensed a feeling of relief from her at that suggestion.

"OK, I think I can go along with that." Emily replied.

On the rest of the walk back they talked about how to keep Emily safe and still allow her to do the job she had come to New York for. The photo shoot in the restored Radio City Music Hall, was easy since it would be a closed set. The fashion show two days later was a different matter altogether. Elizabeth promised Emily she would do her best to find a way for her to be at that fashion show without compromising her safely. There was an unspoken but definitely implied hint that Elizabeth was not happy about Emily going to that fashion show and Devin suspected that they hadn't heard the last of it.

As soon as she entered the chamber that they had assigned her she noticed that someone had brought in an old fashion hat and coat rack and had hung 'her' cloak up on it. When she looked closer she noticed that there were four new seams running the length of the cloak and the three bullet holes were missing. It also appeared to have been carefully cleaned, there were no signs of blood stains on it. She placed it back on the rack as Devin arrived to escort her to the dining chamber.

During dinner Elizabeth announced that there was a potential threat hanging over New York and passed out the copies of Emily's sketches. They were instructed to pass them on to the helpers and to keep their eyes open.

~ BntB ~

Elizabeth and Emily arrived at the D.A. office early the next morning to find a man in his mid to late forties waiting for them. The look on his face was very serious.

"John." Elizabeth greeted him. "I haven't seen you since that 2024 dirty bomb attempt." She cocked her head as she looked at him. "This must be a lot more serious than I thought."

"I'm afraid this could potentially be just as serious as that incident." He paused and looked appraisingly at Emily then dismissed her as very pretty but unimportant. "This is highly sensitive." He turned his attention back to Elizabeth. "Maybe we should discuss this in private."

Elizabeth responded. "John, this is Emily Hansen. She is the one that spotted those men and their canisters. Those sketches I sent you were drawn by her." Elizabeth placed her hand on Emily's shoulder. "She was shot twice while escaping from those eight men. I think she deserves to know what this is all about and she has certainly proved her discretion to me"

John Stetson gazed at Emily a moment, now with greatly increased respect in his demeanor, before continuing. "In that case I have a few photographs I want you to look at for me." They entered Elizabeth's private office. As soon as she had closed the door, John laid out some pictures across her desk then looked at Emily. "Do any of these look familiar to you?"

Emily looked down at the ten pictures he had placed there. Each one was of a different style of canister but they were all enough alike to have been the ones she had sketched. She closed her eyes a moment then looked closely at the pictures. After a second she picked up one and handed it to John. "This is it. This is what the ones I saw in the van looked like."

The line of his mouth and the look in his eyes became very grim. "That's what I was afraid of." He shook his head and looked up at them with a very determined look on his face. "This is just as serious as I suspected, Elizabeth." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Fortunately for us, you have supplied the critical information that has turned this case around for us. We already knew that these bio-agent canisters had been smuggled into the country but we didn't know who had them or where they had ended up." He snorted and shook his head. "We were looking for them in San Francisco. "You can't imagine what a break this is Miss . . ." Again he glanced at Emily then his eyes went wide with recognition. "Emily Hansen, the model?"

Emily smiled and shrugged. "Guilty as charged." She held out her hand. "Pleased to meet you, John."

John took her hand, still a bit stunned. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too." After a few seconds he shook off the stunned state. "Please excuse me for a moment." He pulled out his phone and dialed. "Yes, Harry, it's confirmed. The H9C canisters we were looking for are in New York. I need a full team, also alert The FBI and Homeland. This situation now has prime threat priority. Activate the New York joint operations center and notify the other agencies."

Elizabeth spoke up. "Emily has to be at Radio City in an hour and I want her to be protected. You interested?"

~ BntB ~

The photographer was a bit disturbed when one of his models showed up with an escort of a half dozen policemen and a man who identified himself only as a government agent. And to top it off she was using a cane and limping slightly.

Emily assured him that she could still do what she was being paid for as long as it didn't involve a bare midriff or her right calf. About an hour and a half into the shoot they had to take a break when it was noticed that the wound in her side had begun to seep. The crew's medic was called over to check it out and change the bandages.

"Miss Hansen, maybe you should call it quits for the day." John suggested.

"I'm OK, and call me Emily." She gently prodded the re-bandaged wound and winced slightly. "It's not that bad. I can continue with the shoot." She insisted. John was quite impressed by Emily's fortitude and professional attitude.

Around two in the afternoon, just as the photographer had called for lunch break, Elizabeth got a call. Afterward she called John over. "John, I think we may have found one of your canisters. A help . . . ah, a contact, spotted it in a subway tunnel near the U.N. building. She gave him the subway line identification and tunnel section number where the canister had been spotted. John immediately was on his phone passing the information to the operations center.

Emily insisted on treating both John and Elizabeth to lunch at a high end restaurant that was located on the next block over. All six of the police officers had already eaten lunch.

Fifteen minutes into their meal Elizabeth got another call. Two more canisters had been spotted in other parts of the subway and one of the men in the pictures had been spotted and was being followed. She passed the information and locations of the two canisters to John who passed it on to the operations center.

As they were heading back from the restaurant a preteen boy in worn patched cloths ran up to Elizabeth and passed her a folded piece of paper. She thanked him and he ran off, then she opened the note and read it. She smiled and handed the paper to John. It gave the current location of the van that Emily had seen. John phoned the information in.

By the end of the day five of the six canisters had been found at various places in the subway system. Each of them had a small explosive charge hooked to a timer attached to their side. All of the timers had been set for five-thirty p.m. on the next day, right in the middle of the rush hour.

They were back at Elizabeth's office and John had just finished talking to his people at the joint operations control center. "They just disabled the fifth canister." He shook his head. "When I think of what could have happened . . ." He shuddered. "Tens of thousands could have died and we're not out of the woods yet. The one that is still missing could easily kill several thousand people and based on the timers on the others we only have 'til five tomorrow to find it."

"What about the men?" Elizabeth asked.

"We have four of them in custody. The other four are still missing." He responded. "I'm going to head out to the operations center. What about you two?"

Elizabeth replied. "I'm going to get Emily safely tucked away for tonight." She paused. "I will also be out of touch tonight but I will be back in my office first thing tomorrow morning if you need me for anything."

John suddenly looked a bit uncertain. "Uh, Miss Hansen . . . I'm sure you hear this all the time but I would love to have your autograph for my son and ah, a picture of you with me . . . to tease my wife with."

Emily chuckled. "It would be my pleasure. And I told you to call me Emily." She gave him the autograph then Elizabeth used John's cell phone to take a picture of John and Emily together. She leaned in and surprised him with a kiss on the cheek just as the picture was taken. "Tell her I'll be waiting in the wings if she doesn't treat you right."

After John left, Elizabeth and Emily headed Below. Devin was there when they arrived, late, at the community dining chamber. Emily was hungry again and ate a light snack. What was left of the evening was spent in pleasant conversation, and discussion of the day's events.

~ BntB ~

Elizabeth arrived at her office early the next day to be met by John. He drove them both to the operations center where he introduced her to the others that were manning the center.

They were told that the bodies of two of the eight men were discovered by some of the FBI agents during the early morning hours. The coroner said that they had been killed late last night. The two dead men were arms dealers and smugglers rather than terrorists. It was believed that they were the ones that smuggled the canisters into the country then sold them to the actual terrorists. It was still unclear why they had been killed.

That still left two terrorists and one very deadly bio-active canister unaccounted for.

~ o ~

Emily woke up and stretched luxuriously. The pain in her side brought her back down to earth. She glanced around at the underground chamber. Her life had been full of exotic adventures but none of them could come close to the last four days. The erratic tapping impinged on her consciousness. She had become so used to it that she hardly noticed it now. She was going to have to learn Morse code; that would give her a head start in learning the pipe codes. After spending a few lazy minutes enjoying the soothing ambiance of this environment she climbed out of bed. A quick glance at her watch told her that it was not yet too late to catch the tail end of breakfast in the community dining room. She quickly got dressed in some of the tunnel chic clothes she found in the drawer. She glanced at her purse and with a shrug left it untouched; there was nothing in there that would be of any use to her down here. Grabbing her long gray cloak, she left the chamber in search of food.

As Emily entered the dining chamber she was met with several friendly greetings from those already there. She strode to the back of the chamber where the breakfast buffet had been set up. Though it had been devastated by all the earlier diners, there was still plenty of food left. After loading up with her selections, she faced the chamber and spotted Devin waving her over to a vacant spot next to him. He appeared to be about halfway through his meal.

"Good morning, Emily." Devin greeted her as she sat down across the table from him.

"Good morning to you too, Devin." She replied.

The food was very simple fare but it smelled so good to her. She dug in and marveled. She would have to pay a lot to get food this good in her world. Devin sensed her pleasure in the simple meal and smiled.

"So what do you have planed for today?" Devin asked her.

She paused shaking her head as she swallowed her current mouth full. "I have no specific plans." Another pause. "I had considered taking some time to get my new apartment organized but that isn't really important." She looked at him closely. She was sure he had something on his mind. "Why? Do you have any plans in mind?"

He cocked his head a bit. "I have nothing pressing today. I was thinking, if you are free, I could show you some of the more interesting sights down here." He shrugged.

She thought a moment then shrugged. "Sounds fascinating. I would love to see more of your world."

The rest of the meal was spent in friendly small talk. Afterward they both headed out to explore Devin's world.

~ o ~

John glanced over at Elizabeth. He could see the tension in her posture as she talked on her cell phone to one of her, apparently limitless, contacts scattered throughout the city. They both knew that they were up against the clock and several thousand lives may hang in the balance, yet in all the time he had known her, she had never let him down. She shut her phone and looked at him shaking her head. Still another dead end.

A report came in from some of the FBI agents that were looking into a tip she had passed on earlier. They had caught six leaders of the covert terrorist cell that had been supporting operations in the city. This was a major coup. There was a round of congratulations in the room but it was subdued. The last canister and the last two terrorist operatives were still missing. He glanced at the clock on the wall. Six and a half hours left. Six hours seemed like a lot of time until you considered the size of the city they were searching and the extent of the possible disaster.

Elizabeth's phone signaled and everyone else in the room was focused on her. They all knew that Elizabeth and her shadowy mysterious network of contacts was their best hope of stopping the impending disaster. Then with a cheer of triumph she announced that the last canister had been found. There was an immediate flurry of activity as the others in the room sent out orders to deal with it. After a while everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the news came back that the last canister had been deactivated and retrieved.

Continued in Part 7

'Beauty and the Beast' and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.