Back From The Dead.



She finds her self in much the same posture as she has on many occasions before, her legs crossed at the knee’s patiently waiting in the corridor outside of William Strong’s office. When she hears the voice softly speak her name she slowly rises and moves towards the glass paned door pausing slightly she runs her fingers across the name plate and fights back a slight smile. When she enters William Strong rises from his chair and offers Samantha Bliss a smile of his own and the two share a brief hug. He motions to the vacant seat in front of his desk.
“So.” the smile returns to her lips. “ its official then?”
William Strong nods to the affirmative.
“So you are the new director of field operations?”
“It’s a small step up for me Samantha, Arnold Winthrop has taken his leave from Threshold, effective immediately, I have been put in his place by the administration to pick right up where his work left off.”
She studies him.
“So why do I get the feeling that there is a catch to all of this William?”
He sighs softly.
“Because.. There are always conditions to be met. This promotion is contingent upon my finding a suitable replacement to fill the position of Deputy Director of field operations in a reasonable amount of time. And well my first choice I would think would be an obvious one.”
She pauses.. Slowly folding her arms under her chest. He removes his glasses slowly wiping away small beads of sweat that had been forming across his eyebrows.
“Samantha.. I was going to wait until after you and Alpha return from your next deployment. The last thing that I wanted was this to be a distraction for you. But if anyone could handle this I know it would be you.”
She stands.
“Mr. Director I am extremely Flattered that you would bestow such an offer on me. But sir-.. No.. William.. There are flaws to this idea. The most blaring would be that I am no politician. I am a field operative, I belong in the field, it is where I thrive, where I am at my best I-”
He touches her hand.
“Samantha.. You have instincts that I have seen in no other.. Not man.. Not woman.. No Samantha.. No other. Please Sammy.. Let Klinger lead them-”
She looks him in the eye and stands abruptly.
“You don’t want me to go back in the field.. Why?”
He motions again towards the chair and she obliges him by sitting back down. He tosses a folder onto the table in front of her and gives her a slight nod. To which she opens it to see the picture of the long silver haired older gentleman with the scar that travels along the length of his face. William Strong leans back in his chair.
“Recognize him Sammy?”
She slowly shakes her head no. he pauses.
“Does the name Dylan Rand mean anything to you?”
“You know it does.”
“Sam . The man in the picture.”
“No. that’s impossible.”
“Sam he calls himself Tombstone now.”
“Dylan Rand died when I was six.”
“He isn’t dead Samantha. He’s in New York City.”
She reflects on the picture in front of her. The eyes staring back at her.. The eyes of a stranger.. The man she’d never met.. Dylan Poe Rand.

Facing Ghosts.



She’d heard stories about how he’d met his end as a police detective on the streets of the Canns Landing Corridor, shot down during a armored car heist. She’d lived her entire life trying to earn the approval of a ghost.. And now she was being told that he was no ghost at all. She rise’s from her chair.
“ Mr. director- William.. Are you telling me that my biological father is alive?”
He returns the glasses to the bridge of his nose and adjusts his posture. He reaches over to the dispatch phone and instructs the desk officer that he isn’t to be disturbed. He rises from his own chair and walks over to lock the door.
“I’ve been piecing together his story Sammy. I owed this to you.. No.. Threshold owes this to you.. Much of what happened to your father has been deemed classified so as you could probably guess we couldn’t dig too deep without raising suspicions as to why we were initiating formal inquiries into Dylan Rand’s dossier. So we had to piece together parts of it.”
She doesn’t answer. When he hands her another folder.
“We don’t have much information on what happened to him immediately following his disappearance from the Harrisburg police department, but we have managed to piece together a paper trail of sorts that places him in New York 19 years ago where he was recruited by the government into something called ‘Project Genesis’ we believe that it was a small group of men who were trained as anti terrorist hit squads. Though we can’t be absolutely certain that that was their purpose. Project Genesis lasted for 8 years before the lack of funding forced the government to pull the plug. After that we have no trace of him until three years ago. He turned up again in the Jericho straits calling himself Tombstone. We believe he is working as an independent now.”
She stares at the folder silently.
“So what’s he doing in back in New York?”
“ The word we’re getting is that the reds are trying to get their hands on some military grade explosives to launch a new attack. Tombstone has picked up their trail, after they attempted to contact and purchase the explosives from a group of independent contractors that he was tailing.”
“Mercs?”
He nods.
“ And you didn’t want me to go to New York because why exactly? Did you think that I would jeopardize the mission or the safety of my team because I might have discovered that Tombstone was really my father?”
“Samantha I-”
“William.. We are the very best field team that you have.. No one is more qualified to go than us. If the reds are up to something. Well then you have to let us go in there and find out what it is BEFORE they can do whatever it is they’re trying to do.”
“And Tombstone?”
“Regardless of Tombstone.. Sir.. You have to let us go in and do our job, Lifeguard can feed us intel as he sees fit. And we’ll do the rest. But regardless of the possibilities that we may cross paths with Tombstone and his crew, you have to let us go in and do our job.”
He ponders the thought for a moment trying to clarify the possibilities all at once in his mind. And then he stands almost hesitantly to face Samantha Bliss.
“Of course you are right.. I was trying to protect you of all people. I shouldn’t have. You will brief the team?”
“Completely Mr. Director.”
“Alright then. You will board a transport at 0300. Prepare your team Agent Bliss. You’re going to New York.”

~Scratch A.B.T. copyright ©2008.~