## PATH ACCESSED ##

OPERATION SUMMARY
Operation Designation: MURDER IN THE HIGH GARDEN
Tasking Division: (REDACTED)
Field Operative: Operative Blackwood
Primary Location: Private arboreal estate,―referenced internally as the High Garden
Mission Type: Covert investigation and counter-intelligence screen

1. Objective

A respected regional power-broker—codename “High Vervain”—was reported murdered inside their glass-domed garden estate hours before a scheduled strategy session with Foundation representatives. Captain Secretary dispatched Operative Blackwood under deep cover to:

1. Preserve the appearance of a neutral investigation.
   
   

2. Identify and neutralize any conspirator(s) responsible for the killing.
   
   

3. Secure intelligence High Vervain intended to deliver.
   
   

Classified Sub-Directive (eyes-only Secretary): High Vervain had been verified as a traitor. Blackwood executed the target prior to the public discovery of the body; true goal was to flush out the target’s unseen accomplice.

2. Cover and Persons of Interest

Suspect

Public Motive

Observed Behavior

Mira – senior housemaid

Possible blackmail over unpaid wages; unfettered access to residence

Nervous, eager to assist; kept glancing toward irrigation valves

Dirk Caldone – visiting financier

Stood to profit from stalled alliance talks

Overconfident; asked multiple questions about Foundation travel routes

Officer Laurel – Foundation liaison

Scheduled to meet High Vervain the night of the murder

Calm, but carried an unlogged data slate

3. Operational Chronology

— 19:12 hours – Infiltration
Blackwood arrived as “Vance Merriweather,” external security auditor. Estate staff accepted credentials without challenge. Body remained undisturbed within the orchid vault, throat laceration concealed by foliage.

— 19:38 hours – Evidence Seeding
To steer suspicion, Blackwood planted a fragment of proprietary cipher paper—acquired from High Vervain’s study—behind the financier’s attache case.

— 20:05 hours – Interviews

• Maid Mira revealed irrigation system had been flushed two hours early “under Laurel’s orders.”
  
  

• Caldone claimed ignorance, produced falsified alibi stamped by local prefect—signature later proved forged.
  
  

• Officer Laurel denied entering the orchid vault, yet trace pollen matched vault species.
  
  

— 20:44 hours – Trap Execution
Blackwood invited all parties to a “re-enactment” beneath the central skylight. During staged demonstration, he disabled perimeter locks and dimmed lighting to observe reactions:

• Mira froze, fixated on the irrigation controls—no flight response.
  
  

• Caldone attempted to pocket the planted cipher fragment when lights faded.
  
  

• Laurel reached for sidearm first.
  
  

— 20:46 hours – Neutralization
Blackwood disarmed Laurel with joint-lock, discovered unlogged data slate containing Foundation routing manifests flagged for black-market sale. Laurel confessed under pressure that High Vervain had promised payoff once documents changed hands. Caldone, realizing compromise, tried to escape; incapacitated with percussion round to femur. Mira cleared of complicity.

4. Outcomes

Action

Result

Officer Laurel

Terminated on-site (Directive 9-Black)

Dirk Caldone

Rendered non-mobile; transferred to (REDACTED) for interrogation

Mira

Memory-redacted, released with severance

Compromised files

Secured and delivered to Captain Secretary

5. Post-Action Assessment

Operative Blackwood maintained flawless cover, manipulated crime-scene narrative, and isolated two hostile assets without external support. Charm deployment assessed “highly effective”; no civilian suspicion remains. Notably, Blackwood showed zero psychological disruption regarding his own pre-mission termination of High Vervain.

Captain Secretary (verbal):

“Garden’s tidy. Weeded itself, thanks to him.”

Filed by: Captain Secretary
Clearance Level: 5
Addendum: A short note was later discovered in High Vervain’s encrypted diary, decrypted post-operation:

“Trust is a vine: lovely until it strangles. Tonight I prune.”

—Entry believed authored by Vervain only minutes before Operative Blackwood’s sanctioned action.

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