Operation Winter Strain: Chapter Five

Finding a Witness in the Delta Green RPG, using Mythic 2e

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 Antonin Duallia on Unsplash

---

Somewhere in Sagebrush, December 2 12:00AM

I was lost, but I kept walking anyway.¹ I had tried to move somewhere a little less conspicuous, but the further I ran from the fuckers behind me, the more built up and residential it became. I scanned the street and my eyes lit up at a bus stop going the other way, seemingly further into town. I jogged over to it and scanned the timetable. Last bus came at 11:50. I checked my watch and swore softly. It was 12:02. I could kick my heels and hope that the bus was running late, but I decided against it. There were houses all around, but it was very dark, and I didn’t need to make more of a target of myself than necessary. The timetable had a name highlighted, ‘W. Sagebrush Ave’, which meant I had a vague location. I left shortly afterwards, scanning the skyline for anything to use as a landmark before calling Landry. It was a good job I was looking around, because I saw the familiar yellow silhouette of a taxi. I threw out my hand and it pulled over a short way up the road. A bald, middle aged man gave me a skeptical look in the rear view as I slid into the back seat, but I just smiled blandly and slipped him a 20. I didn’t remember the exact address, but I remembered the street name of the safehouse. He looked disgruntled, but took the money and continued to look at me with mild disapproval. I guessed he was heading deeper into Sagebrush’s core for bar fly fares, but I kept the placid smile in place and dialed the charm up a notch². It wasn’t as easy as it used to be. I was exhausted, and when I caught my reflection in the wing mirror, a haggard woman with more ice than honey in her eyes looked back. I tried softening my expression, and the cabbie eventually relented. Once we were moving I dialed Landry.

“You’re alive then.” He said after a beat.

“I’m in a cab.” I said, trying to exude an air of indifference, channeling a spoiled kid visiting for the holidays who stayed out too late.

“Jasper’s back. He was about to go out to look for you.”

“I’ll be home soon.” I said, and he snorted a laugh before hanging up. I rested my head against the window and closed my eyes.

---

The cabbie dropped me off a street over from where I needed to be and I jogged the last stretch, feeling my muscles complain with every step. My back hurt and I needed sleep. I let myself in through the side door and flopped down in the sofa. Landry and Nate were gone, but Jasper was kind enough to pass me a bottle of water.

“What the fuck happened?” He asked, his tone more curious than irritated.

“You first.” I said leaning back. “Did we get the stuff?”³

“A lot of it was damaged.” Jasper said with a frown. “The place had been turned over. I got a microscope, but most of the equipment was trashed.”

“It was a trap, I’m pretty sure.” I said, taking a long pull from the bottle. “A guy in a suit and his pet muscle pulled around in a car when I led the others off. It sounded like they were expecting us to go back.”

“Did you make a scene?” He asked with a grin.

“I don’t think so?” I said. “I got the fuck out of there and ran, but I have no idea where I ended up. Luckily there was a cabbie returning from dropping someone off.”

“Did they tail you?” He asked.

“No.” I said. I’d had eyes out the back window the whole drive, and I was pretty sure I had lost them in the side streets before then. Jasper shrugged.

“Joe’s going to pull and all nighter, see what he can put together while he and Landry monitor the CDC guys.”⁴

“Will they make it?” I asked. Neither of the CDC agents were in good shape last time I saw them.

“Its not looking good.” Jasper said. “Honestly, even with a doctor, it looks pretty touch and go. The drugs and the IV will help, but there is only so much Landry and Joe can do. It’s up to them at this point.”⁵ He let that sink in.⁶ “One other thing. The bodies were gone.”

“The bodies?” I asked absently.

“Walker and my other two agents.” He said tightly. “Our impromptu morgue was torn apart, and the bodies had been taken. Not sure where they’ve gone.”

“The crypt?” I asked. He looked at my quizzically. “The cultist at the warehouse mentioned a crypt.” I said. Fuck I was tired. He patted me on the shoulder sympathetically.

“Something to look into. We should get some rest for now. Tomorrow will probably be busy.⁷

---

CIA Safehouse, Arizona - December 2, 2005 9AM

My back was still stiff the following morning, but the copious amount of coffee in the CIA stores helped soothe it slightly. I asked Joe to take a look at it.⁸ He slapped a small patch on my back with a long, drawn out ‘hmmm’ noise.

“You’ve strained the muscle. It’s going to bruise. Keep that heat on it before you head out and it should help.”

“Can I assume by your glowing mood that we have some good news?” I said over my shoulder.

“Nothing solid.” Joe said. His face was drawn and he had visible bags under his eyes as he looked at me over a cup of black coffee. “I have a sequencing program running, but the mushroom isn’t local. It will have to trawl through the entire database. I should have something later today.”⁹

“What about the slime?” I asked. His eyes went distant and he shuddered.

“It isn’t natural.” He said gruffly.¹⁰ “I’ve compared it to the mushroom, but it has a completely different molecular makeup.”¹¹ I pulled my shirt down and turned to face him. “All I can say for certain is that it doesn’t react to probing in a way that something natural would. The molecules in it seem alive, but dormant. Looking at it under the microscope gave me migraine. I have more tests I can run with that in mind, but later. I need sleep.” He shuffled out after that, and I brewed another coffee, waiting for the others to wake.¹² Landry emerged from the rear room, a dark look on his face.

“How are the CDC folks?” I asked.

“Not good.” He said brusquely. “Their fever is climbing, and they’ve gone a darker shade of blue. I’ve withdrawn some samples of their blood, but we need specialist equipment to see anything of use. The CDC’s original files never dealt with a live case, so there could be something we are missing.”

“I’ll add it to the shopping list.” I said drily. He sighed.

“These people are probably going to die, Kat.” He said softly. “Concentrate on the problems that we can deal with. Focus on finding the source of these cultists, got it?” I nodded, and he shuffled back to the rear of the house.

---

“So, we’ve got nothing.” Jasper said when he rose from bed a good half hour later.

“Mushroom isn’t local, slime is creepy and unnatural and we are about to have a pair of dead CDC agents to deal with.” I said, counting the facts off on my fingers.

“So, nothing.” He repeated, pinching the ridge of his nose.

“We have a few options.” I said, consulting my notebook, and he gestured for me to continue. “Debbie Graves, the local reporter that hasn’t been seen for a few days. She had been following a story on the CDC, and might have seen or heard something useful.”

“Not an ideal lead, what else?”

“The crypt. Sagebrush is small, and not particularly old. I doubt it has many old crypts within town borders. We could hit the local library, and see what we can dig up.”

“Paper shuffling is more Joe’s thing.” Jasper muttered.

“Last thing is going to one of the local medical institutions and trying to source one of these blood analyzers for Landry and Joe. We have CDC credentials, and anyone can see our forward base has been trashed.” When Jasper grumbled I fixed him with a glare.

“What is going on with you?” I said. “We have leads and a job to do. Snap out of it.”¹³ He glared back for a moment, and then sighed.

“You’re right. It’s been a shit week, that’s all. I’m going to need an actual vacation after this.” He said, refusing to make eye contact. I was irritated, but I tried to soften my expression.

“How long did you work with the other two agents?” I asked. He shrugged and sipped on his coffee.

“A few years.” He said eventually. “I went on my first op with Snaez back in 2002. His wife left him last year and he had been hitting the bottle, but he was still a solid guy. Dependable. Him and Grant were close, I think that’s why it feels so fucked up.” He took a breath and seemed to straighten in his chair. “So.” He said, clearly moving on. “3 leads. Which should we do first?”¹⁴ I pulled a local map from the side of the armchair and laid it on the coffee table.

“The Medical Examiner and the specialist clinic are both on the other side of town. There’s a hospital close to the town center we could try as well. It might be worth calling ahead, to see if they even have what we need. Debbie Grave’s apartment is just outside the Sagebrush commercial district, not too far from the forward base, and then the town library is here, about 10 minutes away.”

“Library is close, but we have no idea how long it will take to comb through records. I’ll get Nate to call around the medical offices, see if anyone has what we need, but checking in on the reporter is probably our best lead.” Jasper said, the façade of professionalism returning as he made his way through his second cup of coffee.

“Agreed.”¹⁵

---

Apartment of Deborah Graves - 10AM

Deborah Graves lived in a small apartment complex on the edge of the commercial district.¹⁶ It was pretty far outside the circle of confirmed instances of the ‘Blue-Flu’, but I was starting to suspect that proximity was not the only way to spread the illness. We found her name on the buzzer, room 212 and gave her a call. I had my sidearm tucked under my parka, but we had left the other firearms locked in the trunk. A big part of me felt like this was a terrible idea, but Jasper had pointed out that we had no indication that there was anything suspicious about Ms. Graves, despite her career choice. and tenacious reputation.¹⁷ The buzzer timed out, and Jasper rang again. It timed out again, and we shared a look.

“Maybe she isn’t home?” He said. We had called the newspaper on the way over, and confirmed that she was absent from work today, as she had been all week.¹⁸ The receptionist had said that she hadn’t called in, so they hoped she would return to work, but they had written her off after 9AM. I looked at the list of numbers on the buzzer and buzzed a different number.¹⁹ A voice picked up, and I began an explanation that I had lost my key when the door clicked open. I smiled at Jasper who looked bemused.

“Apartment living.” I said airily as we entered the building. Room 212 was on the far end of the 2nd floor.²⁰ The hallways were busy, surprisingly so given the time of day, but we nodded at the people we passed until we reached Debbie’s door. We knocked firmly and waited.²¹ When there was no response, I checked the handle. Locked. I wiggled my fingers at the door and glanced at Jasper, who rolled his eyes and took a knee, pulling out a few lockpicks from inside his jacket.²² I glanced around the hallway and took a few steps down, positioning myself between the stairwell and Jasper as he fiddled with the lock. There was a click, and he called me over. I put my hand under my jacket, gripping my firearm and we moved into the room.²³ The hallway was neat, a picture of calm with a leafy rubber plant taking up a large part of the hallway.

“Look.” Jasper said, closing the door. 3 extra dead bolts had been hand drilled into the back of the door, although non of them seemed to have been in use. “Journalists are often paranoid.” Jasper said, sliding one of the locks into place. “Why wasn’t she using it?”

“Good question.” I said. I drew my pistol and held it low to the ground. Debbie’s apartment was a standard suite, 2 bedrooms and living room with a kitchenette. I opened the first door on the left cautiously, while Jasper stuck close to the wall opposite. A small in-home office that looked straight out of a magazine, complete with a fine oak desk and office chair offered the same air of tranquility as the hallway.²⁴ It was empty, neat and organized, and missing a computer. In its place was a typewriter and a few sheaf’s of paper, which I mentally noted as something to check later. We moved into the dining area²⁵, which was also neat and tidy and threw out a hand for Jasper to stop. I pointed across the room.

“Interior camera.” I said “Looks like it has a view of the living room. Doesn’t look cheap. Is this the normal level of suspicion for a journalist?”

“Hard to say.” He said, peering around the wall at the camera. “For a small time newspaper, probably not, but she used to write for the New Yorker. Maybe she made some enemies.”²⁶ The camera was in an awkward position, and even if we moved fast and low it was going to get a shot of us if we made for the bedroom.

“We can’t get to the other room without tripping the camera.” I said

“Does it matter?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Better safe than sorry, right?” I said. I glanced at the silenced 22 in my hand. Even with a silencer, the gun would make noise, and I wasn’t sure how thin the walls here were.

“Your not thinking of shooting it?” he said with a laugh. “Here.”²⁷ He pulled a ball cap from his inside pocket and a medical mask, positioned it just-so to block his face from any prying eyes, then he handed me a spare. Once I had them on, he angled the hat and pulled the mask higher on my face. “Hunch your shoulders and shift the way you move. This is covering your hair, but the harder it is to distinguish your height or gait, the less likely someone could pick you out of a crowd.” I nodded, and we moved quickly through the living room. The camera was expensive, and clearly had a motion sensor. It tracked us across the room, a small red light flashing and a quiet hum as it moved. I would have preferred to shoot the damn thing, but Jasper was right, it would have been an unnecessary risk.²⁸ A form was slumped in the bed. ²⁹ When the door creaked open, the form moved and there was a loud crack. Wood Chips burst around my head and I ducked back away with a curse.

“Get the fuck back you bastards, I’m not coming with you!” A strained voice screamed out.

“She’s alive?” Jasper said, obvious surprise in his voice. “Was she blue?” He asked as another shot cracked the doorframe disturbingly close to my head.

“I don’t fucking know Jasper, she’s trying to shoot me, I didn’t get a chance to check if she had a fever!” I hissed. I was fairly sure she wasn’t sick, though, at least not with the ‘Blue Flu’. The room smelled like someone hadn’t washed for a few days, but lacked the musty, fungal scent that the warehouse and CDC agents had had. “She smells normal.” Jasper said, peering around the edge of the door.

“Not like mold you mean?” I asked. His eyes flashed briefly and they flicked to me as he nodded.

“Or like death, like that trench coat fucker.” He said through gritted teeth. Despite the situation, I felt something relax inside me. My sense of smell has always been average, but since landing in Arizona, I haven’t been able to get the stink of this case out of my nose. I was starting to worry it was something wrong with me, but if Jasper could smell it, at least I wasn’t the only one.³⁰

“Ms. Graves?” Jasper called out. “We aren’t who you think we are. My name is Agent Lorenzo with the CDC, we just had a couple of questions to ask you.”

“Your friend had a fucking gun!” She yelled back. Jasper gave me a disapproving look and I shrugged.

“We’ve had reason to be cautious.” Jasper called out. “I suspect you do too.” There was a pause, and then a shuffle of footsteps. In a moment, Debbie Graves stood in the doorway. She was a handsome woman in her middle years, a slight tinge of grey at the roots of her deep brown hair. Jasper had informed me that she was a fastidious woman, but she was clearly having a bad week. Her hair was unwashed and tangled, and she had deep bags under her eyes. Her skin was the pallid white of a woman who was sleeping badly after a life of poor sleep hygiene. Large dark eyes squinted out at us before she pulled a pair of round glasses from the pocket of her food spattered and oversized sweater.

“You both look like criminals.” She said skeptically. We shared a look and then, sheepish, we removed the ballcap and mask, and I holstered my pistol.

“We are merely employees of the federal government.” Jasper said with a disarming smile.

“Although some might say those are the same thing!” I said, turning on my own smile.³¹ Debbie smiled despite herself, and gestured to the kitchen. She slumped into the tall chair at the kitchen island and turned on a small, expensive coffee machine.

“What do you want?” She asked. She looked exhausted, but otherwise in good health. I wasn’t sure how to play this. Like Jasper, I had half expected her to be dead.

“We are part of the follow-up CDC investigation.” Jasper said, placing his CDC ID badge on the counter. “The folks at the newspaper said you were following along with the first team, potentially writing an article about the deaths over in the assisted living facility. We were hoping you might be able to fill in a few blanks in our investigation.” She shuddered, and wrapped her arms around herself. She gave us a brief overview of her investigation.³² Most of the information was a rehash of the original CDC report, at least until near the end.

“It all started going wrong when I found out this.” She said, pulling a sheet of paper out of from a pile on the counter. It was an order from the medical examiner, counter signed by a few municipal officials and the CDC representative ordering the incineration off all bodies infected with the ‘Sagebrush Strain of Influenza’. When neither of us reacted, Debbie tapped the seal. “This is forged.” She said. “A good forgery, it’s even on the corner’s letterhead, but there is no Manuel DiCopa on the town council, and I’ve seen the corner’s signature dozens of times, and that isn’t it.”

“It’s a forgery?” Jasper said. “So the bodies weren’t cleared to be burned?”

“The CDC request never reached city hall, for whatever reason. I followed the trail as far as I could. A contractor called “Phoenix Removals” picked up the bodies from the morgue, and then they were never seen again. Phoenix Removals doesn’t exist, of course, and no crematorium or industrial incinerator in the county has seen hide nor hair of any bodies out of Sagebrush, sick or otherwise.”

“So what happened to the bodies?” I asked. She looked at me, her tired eyes calculating.

“You wont believe me.” She said after a moment, and sipped her coffee. “The trail ends shortly after that. The CDC team went missing and those people started showing up to my work. I haven’t left the house since Anthony Walker’s body was found.”

“We’ve run into the people you're referring to.” Jasper said. “Vagrants, long knives, crazy eyes?” Debbie’s eyes narrowed at the description. “Were they the ones taking the bodies?”³³ She hesitated again, but eventually she sighed and responded.

“Yes. or at least, they were the ones receiving them.”

“Where?” I asked.³⁴

“There’s a church.” She said. “It’s off Maricopa Road, about an hour out of town. It’s called the Chapel of the Four days Dead”

“How did you track this moving company there? Did you follow them?” I asked. ³⁵Her eyes went distant, and then she stood suddenly. She stalked to her office cubby and returned with a small manila folder which she threw down in front of us.

“That is everything I know. Now please leave.”³⁶

---

I really thought Debbie was dead or had the Blue Flu, but considering how many Extreme no’s I’ve been receiving, I was just happy to have a lead. Thanks for reading!

1. I asked a bunch of oracle questions to set up this scene, skipping them for brevity

2. Skill: Charisma X 5 - 57/60

3. Oracle: Did get the gear we needed? Likely - 99 Extreme no.

4. Oracle: Are the CDC guys looking better? - 99 Extreme no

5. Oracle: Were the old bodies taken? Likely - 58 Yes.

6. Sanity(Helplessness) 60/50 (-1 Sanity)

7. End Scene. Chaos Factor 6. Test Scene 3 Altered Scene - Reduce/Remove an Activity X2. No news.

8. NPC Skill: First Aid - 45/50 (1d4 Healed = 1)

9. Oracle: Anything on the slime? Very Unlikely - 12 Yes. Unnatural? Likely - 53 Yes.

10. NPC Skill: Biology 19/70 Mushroom related? 50/50 91 - No.

11. Oracle: Can we tell anything else about it? 50/50 - 95 Extreme No

12. I did some rolls for the CDC folks here (Con and medicine tests.)

13. Skill: Persuade (-20% for Jasper’s shitty week) 41/76 (Yes, Kat’s persuade is now 96, because she has failed it so many times. Don’t get me started)

14. Oracle: Geography = Medical Examiner > Debbie Graves > Library? Likely - 96 Extreme no. (Wow, thanks for all the 90s)

15. End Scene. Chaos Factor 5. Test Scene(3 Altered Scene - Increase Activity. ) (I should have kept it high considering all the ‘no’s I got, but, following the vibe is important)

16. Oracle: Close to outbreaks? 50/50 - 81 No

17. Oracle: Does she answer? 50/50 - 70 No.

18. Oracle: Did she call in? 50/50 - 71 No

19. Luck Roll - 04/50 Success

20. Oracle: Building Quiet? 50/50 - 83 No

21. Oracle: Any Answer? Unlikely - 79 No. Is the door open? Very Unlikely - 36 No

22. Jasper Skill: Lockpicking - 50/50.

23. Descriptor - ‘Secure Tranquil’

24. Oracle: Anyone in there? Unlikely - 50 No. Computer? Likely - 100 extreme no

25. Oracle: Any smells? 50/50 - 83 No. Anything of note? 46 - Yes. Anything case related? 50/50 - 62 No.

26. Oracle: Can we get to the bedroom without tripping the camera? Likely - 99 Extreme no

27. Jasper Skill: Disguise: 43/60

28. Oracle: Bedroom - Debbie in there? Likely - 33 Yes. Random Event - PC Positive.

29. Oracle: Is she alive? 50/50 08 - Extreme Yes

30. This was the PC Positive. More detail later

31. Skill: Persuade(-20% for the general situation) 23/76

32. Oracle: Any new insights 50/50 - 48 Yes. Concerning the cult? 50/50 74 No. The bodies? Very Likely - 65

33. Oracle: Where they? Likely - 17 Yes.

34. Oracle: At the Crypt? Very Likely - 94. No.

35. Oracle: Did she? Likely - 26 Yes.

36. End Scene Chaos Factor- 6 Test Scene - 5 Remove Character - Jasper