by Danny, thedoctor and Grimm
Scanning. Scanning.
Danny Hearn wandered into the office, leaving Sam Dawson to his self pity. He cast a glance at the computer screen, then at Turkish Stringfellow sitting in front of it.
The screen read: Scanning. Scanning.
"What's it doing?" Danny asked.
"Scanning," Turkish replied.
"Apparently. Well... what's it scanning?"
"The building."
"I... see. And... why?"
"It's looking for something like..." Turkish paused for a moment and muttered something under his breath. He slowly got up and walked into the meeting area adjacent to the office. He promptly returned, holding a tiny object in his hand.
"...this," he said.
"And what's that?" Danny asked, taking a sip from his coffee.
"It would appear to be some sort of recording device."
"Like a camera or something?"
"Yes."
"So we think those little goblin things bugged the place before M'xy turned them into utensils?"
"Yes."
"Right. And why did you let the computer keep doing the scan when you could do it just as well?"
"I wanted to see who could do it faster."
"Fair enough."
A beep from the computer alerted the two.
Scan completed.
As Dirk Bell entered the front door, he took off his fedora and wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve. Entering the kitchen, he removed his trench coat and revealed the many varieties of guns and other weapons strapped to his body. The coat landed with a heavy thunk on the table while he continued on his way to the fridge. His shirt was wet with sweat and his hair matted against his forehead.
Streams of lemon lime Gatorade streamed from the sides of his mouth as Dirk leaned on the opened fridge door gulping the drink.
Tobias Christopher asked, "What did you find?"
"A whole lot of nothin'," Dirk gasped in response after a few seconds of chugging the last of the Gatorade. "The tracks stopped right before the shoreline."
"So they came out of the sea."
"No. I said they stopped BEFORE the shoreline, not AT it. Something must have dropped them off there. No telling where those damn things came from." He put the empty bottle back into the fridge, lifted his coat from the table, and headed upstairs. "If anyone needs me, I'll be taking another shower."
Grimm entered the building, having sat outside after returning from his meditation session. The sun was going down. It would be night soon. He wondered if there would be another attack. He passed the computer room where Danny Hearn and Turkish Stringfellow were pondering some strange artifact. He went by Kit Piper's office to see if the man had been there. Shirley Francis had left a note on the room Grimm had taken, stating that she had completed the paperwork and left it on Kit's desk. Grimm stopped by the room and noticed it was empty.
A note stuck to the door said, "Took the afternoon off to visit with my daughters. Will be back in in the morning. Kit."
He went to the stairs and began the walk up to the floor he was staying on. He could've taken the elevator but preferred to walk. He was thinking. Brooding, actually, on the attack this morning. On the mysterious man they had encountered in Uruguay who had the ability to summon beings seemingly from thin air. He thought back to what he had been doing before he woke up lying on his back in the mud in Uruguay. How had he gotten there, anyway? These things had haunted him in the month since he had joined this MBL Consulting.
He passed the floor with Dirk's room, hearing the man's voice ringing out from his room. "Why does he need to sing THAT loudly in the shower?"
Grimm finally arrived at his floor. There was only one other occupant on this floor, someone named Marv Velo. Odd sounding name. Apparently he had disappeared on some urgent business in the States and would not return for a while. That had suited Grimm fine. He entered his room on the opposite end of the hall and sat down in the darkness.
He only knew of one way to deal with enemies. A way that had been bred into him living on the harsh streets going from city to city until finally coming into the employ of the man who had brought him into the "cleaning business." A thought began to form in Grimm's mind. His employer. Why couldn't he remember? Grimm's thoughts became fuzzy and muddled. Until finally his mind jumped back onto the track it had been following earlier. Enemies were to be dealt with, harshly. There was a war coming. He could feel it. He wondered if the others would have the stomachs necessary to do what must be done.