Operation Haruspex: Chapter Five

Putting the Clues together in the Delta Green RPG, using the Rogue Handler Solo Supplement.

Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. The contents of this document are ©SolumProtocol, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Thumbnail Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/silver-macbook-on-brown-wooden-table-4069291/

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Eckhart’s Clinic - 5PM

I entertained the idea of heading to the comfort of my own home and skim reading the slim volume over a mug of hot chocolate or a spiked coffee, but I made my way back to Eckart’s clinic instead, given its proximity to the Zoo and an onsite medical expert¹. Eckart was talking softly to Dr. Abel, who was reclined on an examination bed with a look of mild panic on her face. Now that she was secure, I decided against looping her into my discoveries, on the off chance she decided to try to take matters into her own hands again. If all went well, Landry could fill her in as necessary. If he didn’t ship her off to a mental institution first.

“I need to go over some case notes, do you have anywhere quiet and private I can concentrate for a couple of hours?” I asked. Eckart nodded and guided me to a small back room, complete with a meticulously clean desk. I thanked him, but he had already left, returning to Tabitha before she could retreat from his polite, inquicitive small talk. I took a seat, pulling the copy of Where The Shadows Lie from my inside pocket. With a deep breath, I began to read².

---

A few hours later I leant back and let out a long breath. The book read like a collection of journal entries, some poorly written and somewhat frantic, but nothing to stir up fear. Unless, of course, you suspected that the shadowy creature described in each entry was real. Then it went from mildly interesting to terrifying. Some of these ‘Shadowmen’ stalked their victim’s for years, a silent hunter steadily ruining the person’s life, or sometimes directly harming them, although that was rare, and always near the end of the tale. The stories all matched with what I had seen at the Zoo. Strange, happenings in the day, similar to a stereotypical haunting or poltergeist. A feeling of fatigue, and confusion, although the stories differed on if it was the physical manifestations that caused this, or if they were another symptom. Some writers confronted their tormentor. Most didn’t. One woman in Montana finally snapped and emptied a pistol into the things chest, and it passed clean through. The neighbors didn’t report the gunshots, and she never found the bullets. Another man in Nebraska blew its head off with a shotgun and described in horror as the shadows dissipated around a body, a coworker who had been stalking him as a human in the daytime, and as a shadow in the night. A particularly disturbing account described a woman’s campaign against a shadowy stalker that ended with her finding a large stone that “ate her soul” but let her fight the shadow “on its terms.” That one trailed off in a very disturbing and illegible string of alphanumeric characters, and I had to take a break and get a glass of water. I was 90% sure Lester Roth was behind this, which meant I could likely rule out that it was a ghost or spirit. According to the book, light was my best weapon. I had a standard issue police flashlight in the back of my car, and Montford had the rifles with the underslung lights, but the stories didn’t seem to agree on if it was daylight that did the trick, or if a beam of a flashlight would be enough. There was still a chance we could just shoot it in the head, as that had worked in some cases, but I doubted it. I reached into the bag at my feet and pulled out the smooth, sigil laden rod. It gave me a headache to look at, but Tabitha and her father had this for a reason. I stashed it in my backpack, but I was hesitant to use it. I checked my phone³. Nothing from Montford. Likely meant there hadn’t been any movement on his end. I went into to see Dr. Abel. We would have to move soon.

---

“Dr. Abel? Can you tell me what this is?”⁴ I held up the rod and she instinctively reached for it. I moved it out of her range, and frowned at her. She cleared her throat.

“It’s a focus, of sorts.” She said, her voice still raspy from disuse. “The sigils on the side are variations of my protective sigil. It helped me concentrate when I held it.⁵” She paused, and then continued in a softer voice. “It felt most powerful when I gave it some of my blood.” She admitted. My frown deepened, but reserved comment.

“Where did you get it from?” I asked.⁶

“I made it. It’s pure steel, but I used the knife to etch the carvings on. It took me all day and night, and I felt sick afterwards. But the sigils finally worked. The book…” She paused again, and I gestured for her to continue. She shook her head.

“The book advised that a focus was required for the greater workings, but didn’t give instructions. That was the best I could do” I nodded and put it back in the bag. “Where are you going?” She asked, her voice tight with pain.

“I’m going to follow up some leads.” I said vaguely. I pinned her with a look and pointed.

“You need to stay here, and focus on getting better. My colleague and I will take care of the creature at the Zoo, do you understand?”⁷ She nodded, deflating slightly before plucking at her blankets. I took Eckhart aside before I left.

“Keep an eye on her.” I said softly. “I don’t know how stable she is, and the last thing I need right now is her running around town doing whatever it is she’s been planning on doing, understand?” Eckhart paled slightly, but nodded in agreement. I gave him Officer Ko’s number, so that he knew who to call if he needed muscle and Montford and I weren’t available and then I left.

---

Woodland Zoo - 8PM

Sunlight still trickled through the park tree line as I parked my Jetta a few blocks away from the zoo. I found Montford parked across the street in an unobtrusive black sedan with veteran plates. He gestured to the passenger seat, and I slid in next to him.

“Look.” he said, passing me a small pair of binoculars. From our position in the car, we could see over the Zoo wall and into one of the office buildings, where a tall man in in his late middle years was tapping away at a keyboard and squinting at a computer monitor.

“That’s Roth?” I asked. Montfort made a snorting, grunt sound that I assumed was a laugh.

“Yeah.” He said, his eyes never leaving the office window. “If you stand up against the gate you can hear him on the phone. Man loves the sound of his own voice.”

“He’s working late.” I observed.

“I don’t know that he’s working.” Montford said dubiously. “Most of the calls sounded real personal. Long winded voicemails to someone out in New York, from the sounds of it. We would have to look at his computer to know for sure, he’s been typing away all day.”

“Any weird or unexplainable phenomena?”

“Not here, that I’ve seen. He’s still sharp though. I’ve seen some of the guards and workers pass through and they all look like they’ve been dosed with something.”

“Suspicious.” I said⁸. I took a long look through the binoculars, scanning the room for anything weird or uncanny, but if he had anything it was tucked away under his expensive business suit. “We should wait for nightfall” I said “If he sticks around, we can head in through the tunnel.”

“Why not just go in and grab him?” Montford asked, looking balefully out towards Roth. “He’s not going anywhere. Lets get a bag over his head, then watch the cameras. If a shadow shows up, we know we’ve got the wrong guy. Stage it as kidnapping gone wrong and let him escape.” I cocked an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged. “Sitting around an watching him is driving me fucking nuts.” He said after a beat, his mouth upturned in open dislike.

“We can call that Plan B.” I responded delicately. “There’s too much we don’t know. If he is the Shadow, who’s to say he wouldn’t turn it on and try to kill us when we put the bag over his head. There’s still people onsite”

“That happens, we still have our answer.” Montford said.

---

Woodland Zoo - 10PM

Sunset felt like it took an age.⁹ Lester Roth remained in his office tapping away at a keyboard for hours on end, taking occasional call on a bulky cell phone and talking almost loud enough for us to hear him out in the car.¹⁰ Once I had convinced Montford that the wall between us and the target were covered thoroughly by cameras and anti climbing wire, I called in our extra pair of eyes. Wen Ko eventually arrived just after Sundown on an old Moped and slipped into the backseat of the Sedan, blinking blearily at me.

“It’s been a long day.” He said with a hint of strain. He squinted through the fading light at the well lit room and smartly dressed man within. “What do you need?” He asked.

“Eyes only.” I told him. I passed him one of the spare radios. “We are going to head in, but radio me if he leaves that room. He hasn’t for hours, and most of the staff have already left.”

“Who is he?” He asked. Montford let out a characteristic grunt

“It doesn’t matter.” I said sharply. “Need to know, Wen, understand?” His widened briefly, before he nodded sheepishly.

“Gotcha. I’ll let you know if he leaves.” Montford passed him they keys.

“Tail him if he bails. We can catch up.” We left Wen to it, and walked to my car.

“That kid is going to get himself fucking killed, he keeps asking so many stupid questions.” Montford said. I shrugged into the driver's seat and didn’t comment. He was right, but he didn’t need to be an ass about it.

---

Montford had his duffle bag slung over his shoulder as we started looking around the edge of the lake for Tabitha’s hidden entrance.¹¹ I found it quickly enough, an old sewer door underneath mossy overhang, unlocked but sturdy enough.¹² I tried to open it, but grunted as it was stuck fast. Montford tapped my on the shoulder with a smug, self satisfied grin¹³ and I waved for him to take over. He braced himself against the wall and wrenched it open with an echoing clang. He quirked an eyebrow at me, but I ignored him, and pushed through. Once we were inside, we required and turned on our flashlights.¹⁴ It was pitch dark, and the stone structure under the lake was extensive. We wandered for longer than I would have liked, so long, in fact, that I was starting to worry that we had lost our chance. I checked in with Wen regularly over the radio, and he reported the man was still there, but he had closed his blinds.

“I can still see a silhouette, and nobody has left the building. I think he might be going to sleep.” There was a rustle, and then Wen continued “Yeah, the lights just went out.”

“We need to speed this up.” I hissed at Montford. Eventually, we found a familiar landmark, Tabitha Abel’s misguided workshop. The sunken exhibit was¹⁵ on the other side of the complex from Lester Roth’s office, so we would have to hope the guard on duty was still a walking space case when we emerged. The Zoo was dark when we pulled ourselves out of the sunken exhibit.¹⁶ There was an eerie silence, but for a muted whisper, just on the edge of hearing. We switched our flashlights off and spent a breath as our eyes adjusted to the night.¹⁷ We slipped out onto the walkway and stalked through the Zoo grounds, keeping low and out of the path of any cameras. I had pulled my hood over my head, my hair in a tight braid at my shoulders, while Montford and elected for an unsubtle balaclava.¹⁸ The whispering at the edge of my hearing increased in volume, until we found the source. The Shadow didn’t stand, so much as hover, its legs ending in a slight haze as it hung under the starlight. It was mostly the shape of a man, and even bore a simulacrum of Roth’s dated fedora, arms limp at its side, a human-shaped hole in reality. The ghostly, white holes I had taken for its eyes over the video feed were absent, and I realized with relief that it was facing away from us. It didn’t shimmer, but there was a slight wavering and it was suddenly gone, appearing a few meters down the path, towards the lion exhibit.¹⁹ I froze in place, watching the apparition jolt forward a meter at a time towards the exhibit down the path. The door was just ahead, but I was having trouble making my feet move. I shared a look with Montford, who had frozen just ahead of me. His eyes were cold, which was somehow comforting in this situation. He gave me a nod, his jaw visible tightly under the balaclava, and we moved forward.²⁰ The door was unlocked and the lights were off, so we moved quickly up the stairs, trying to ignore the creepy sensation that we left behind.²¹ Lester Roth was reclined in his office chair, hat tilted down over his eyes, snoring softly. A small stone was on a chain was around his neck, old and stained red. I noticed a small knife on the table in front of him, a thin trickle of blood marking its edge. We didn’t have much time, but I did a quick search around the desk. Nothing useful, and I didn’t check the draws for fear of waking him.

“What’s the call here?” Montford whispered, gesturing at the duffle bag. I knew he had a kidnap kit in there, but we had all the confirmation we needed that this was our guy.²² His computer was on and I woke it up with a flick of his mouse. Stocks, news articles and an email filled the screen. The contents made me feel sick to my stomach. We had, at least, a partial answer to the why of the whole thing, at least. The man wanted power and revenge, and the brief details in the email said that he paid a large, blood price to achieve it. I pointed at the medium pistol at Montford’s hip.

“Is that traceable?” I asked him urgently.²³

“Serial number is scratched off, but I’ve had it for years.” he admitted. I glanced around the room quickly²⁴ and my eyes sharpened. A 9mm pistol hung from the inside of his tailored suit, the grip embossed with a large ‘LR’. I passed the rifle to Montford and slipped on a pair of gloves. I quickly deleted his email and typed up a brief, confessionary suicide note.²⁵ I had thrown a few throw away lines about embezzlement, a long apology about crimes that crossed state borders and a few allusions to child abductions, just to make sure this case was instantly handed over to the FBI. First thing Monday morning, I would try to get this locked down, and added to my case load. But for now, I had to finish the job. I drew the pistol from his shoulder holster and gritted my teeth, placing the pistol in his hand, and guiding it beneath his chin. The crack of the pistol was deafening in the enclosed space and gore painted the wall behind him as his body went limp.²⁶ It was the first time I had killed a human, not some horrifying creature or a target cutout, and something deep inside me felt a little sick. But I knew in my heart that this man had killed using his shadow form, and I knew that he would kill again. Knowing a little bit about what he was planning, murder would be the least of his crimes if he got what he wanted. I took a deep breath and snatched the stone from his chest. Montford nodded at me again, his eyes impassive and we broke into a run.²⁷ There was no sign of the Shadowman was we made our escape.

---

FBI Forward Office - August 7, 2005 - 9AM

I had laid the groundwork the night before with Landry, and he pulled whatever strings he had access to, ensuring I was assigned to the case alongside Special Agent Barnes. We were briefed first thing on the Woodland Zoo Suicide, and given terse orders to confirm that this was a suicide, as the local SPD had flagged a few suspicious aspects to the crime scene, and secure any information that could relate to a nationwide embezzlement scheme. The last part was a large embellishment on my part, and made our office’s involvement almost guaranteed. Of course, my primary objective was on behalf of the program. I had to sweep any sign of the Unnatural under the rug, scrub any clues that Montford and I had been on the premises last night, and then close the case as soon as possible.

---

“You look terrible.” Barnes said, peering at my uncomfortable, hunched over form in the passenger seat.

“Oh you know.” I said gesturing idly. “Rough weekend.” He eyed me, and then shrugged.

“Fair enough. Look, I'll interface with SPD, I know the officer on the scene. Can you get started on the forensics?”

Cleaning up the crime scene²⁸ was more challenging than I thought it would be. I suspected I was over thinking it, and ended up scrubbing the whole keyboard and gun, which meant I then had to spend extra time planting the evidence I had just erased. Still, the scene was clean by the time Barnes checked in. The computer was clean, and good to go to to the techies back at the forward office, nothing but mildly annoying business emails left in the system. The man’s journal, on the other hand would have to go. Even ignoring the occult and esoterica, which would bea challenge as the hide bound journal was rife with it, the man was clearly a megalomaniac, and hardly the type of person to have a fit of moral panic and take his own life. I slipped it into my kit bag, and continued the sweep. After an hour or so, I was sure. The room was clean.

---

Home, August 7 - September 23, 2005

The Lester Roth investigation continued for just over a month. I spent most of that time sure we were chasing our tail, as the main leads had all be planted evidence, but Barnes eventually got a lead that led to a very promising source in New York. The case got shut down from on high not long after, and it fizzled out. When I asked our SAC Jack Baker, he actually shook his head in bemusement.

“Not us.” He said softly, fingering the green triangle at his lapel. “Lots of fingers, lots of pies.”

Special Agent Barnes was a solid Iowa man, whose body seemed to be made of a series of squares. Square head, square jaw and body that looked like a barn with legs, he was in the middle of his career, dogged when he needed to be, but also shockingly oblivious from time to time. I tried not to let the fact that our partnership began with a coverup get in the way, and he made it easy by never figuring it out²⁹. We both had more drinks than strictly necessary when the Roth case got shut down, and suddenly we were friends. My first work friend. It was a nice feeling. I just wish my other relationships were going as well. I had spoken to mom once since the case closed, and it was extremely awkward. We didn’t argue, but we also didn’t really make it up, and I could almost hear her flinch when I raised my voice a smidge. Marcus was still pissed at me for skipping out on him and then ghosting him for a week while I threw myself into work. The next Friday drinks was a sober affair, and he was snippy the whole time before I kicked him out to go snipe at one of his boyfriends. I didn’t see much of Danielle, but she was my rock. We caught up a couple of times a week, and her largely mundane boy troubles and work stories were a nice distraction.

---

In my increasingly sparse free time, I did some research. Not too much, of course, but I had been curious. The Demonologia Sacra, Tabitha Abel’s misguided tome of lore, had been on my mind since I secured it from Bargain’s Bargains. I read it for days. It was pretentious, and largely nonsensical, apart from the centerfold. The handwriting seemed different, and described an appeal to a higher power that left me feeling incredibly unsettled. It described the sigil that Tabitha had used, but I had no interest in learning how to use such an unreliable weapon. I didn’t want to keep it, or the creepy shadow book in my house, so I took it to the Green Box just outside of town. I bought a cheap shelf off of a neighbor and propped it up opposite Eliot Abel’s old truck, now with fresh Washington Plates and a new paint job. Montford had disassembled the two assault rifles and they were in a lockbox in the corner, alongside a tarp and a battered old toolbox. The place looked downright homey, and if I had any work for the program in Seattle, we would be in a much better position than the last two jobs. Things were looking up.

End of Operation Haruspex.

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Thanks for Reading! Let me know what you thought, what you liked, and what you didn’t. I’ll be uploading a Post Script later this week to discuss the operation before jumping into the next one!

1. Oracle: Is Tabitha Awake? Yes.

2. Oracle: I asked a lot of Oracle questions here to get a general idea of what the Shadow Man was, and if this book had anything useful. I wont include them all here, as the relevant information should come across in the story.

3. Oracle: Any word from Montford? No

4. Oracle: Weapon? +10% 74/60 No. Elder Sign? Yes.

5. Oracle: Is it blood Powered? Yes

6. Oracle: Did she make it? +25% 14/75

7. Persuade 35/72 Success.

8. Skill Check: Alertness: 12/76. Is there anything occult/unnatural in the office? No.

9. Oracle: Any Movement From Roth? Extreme No.

10. Oracle: Climbable Wall? Extreme No

11. Skill Check: Search 10/80

12. Oracle: Open? No

13. Montford Skill Check: STR X 5 20/65

14. Oracle: Straightforward? No. Navigation Skill Checks. Both Fail.

15. Oracle: Roth’s office close by? Extreme No.

16. Sounds Table: Gibberish. Human? No.

17. Skill Check: Stealth. Montford - 48/50 Kat 10/12. Double success!

18. Oracle: Do we see the Shadowman? Yes.

19. Sanity Check: 89/55.

20. Oracle: Locked? No.

21. Oracle: Roth doing a ritual? Yes. Sleep? Yes.

22. Oracle: Is the computer on? Yes.

23. Oracle: Is it traceable? Yes.

24. Oracle: Roth have a gun? -20% Yes.

25. Skill Check: Criminology 20/50

26. Sanity Check: 27/52

27. Oracle: Shadowman gone? Yes.

28. Skill Check: Forensics 84/50

29. HOME - Form new Bond. CHA X 5 34/75