
Special Missions 1
Somewhere in Lambton County at a long abandoned farm house, Lt. Storm stands leaning against his car in civilian clothes, as a grey van pulls up with General Hawk in the driver’s seat. Storm salutes his American friend and picks up the end of a blanket that sits behind his car. He pulls the camouflage cover over hiding his car amongst the over grown weeds. Storm grabs his duffle bags and heads for the van, opening the side door to set his stuff inside. He’s amazed to find the computer equipment that sits inside, state-of-the-art tracking systems and communications equipment.
“I see you are impressed.” Hawk smiles.
“Yeah, I didn’t expect all this.” Storm says climbing into the passenger seat. “Nice set up you have there too.” He says referring to the controls set up on the steering wheel for Hawk to use since he no longer has the use of his legs.
“Amazing what they can do these days, and I picked it up for a discount as well. Being confined to that chair isn’t all bad.” Hawk jokes. “I had some of my guys outfit the van for our specific needs. All the data your team compiled on those weapons The Liberators were using has been uploaded.”
“So, where do you suggest we head to first?”
“I’ve arranged for a carrier plane to pick us up. We’re going to get to the root of this right away.”
“The DND lab in Ottawa?”
“Right you are.” Hawk presses a button on the dash that opens up the glove compartment revealing a small laptop computer. “Access the information we’ll need, schematics, and the Military personnel in charge they have stationed there.”
Storm nods turning the small laptop on using the latest in hacking tech designed by US G.I.Joe Agent Firewall, to access the DND location and files.
Hawk puts the van in gear backing out of the property and back onto the highway, heading to the nearest airport.
At a low rent motel a man sits in a darkened room lit only by a single low wattage bulb. He meticulously cleans a firearm as his room phone rings; he waits a few more rings to pick it up. “Yes.” He answers propping the receiver between his head and shoulder, continuing cleaning his weapon.
“It’s Knightly, I have some Intel for you.” A female voice says, the voice of Nightingale of The Liberators. All of whom escaped their last battle with the Canada’s Elite force, and are now lying low planning their next move. “We just received word that Lieutenant Storm and General Hawk Abernathy have taken leave from their respective G.I.Joe units.”
“How does that concern me?”
“They know we were using stolen tech and weapons from Canadian Military Bases, no doubt they are investigating this as we speak. It may just lead them right back to you.”
The man sits silent on the other end for a few moments. “I will take care of them both if such a thing happens. Maybe I will get to finish what I started.” The man hangs up the phone putting his weapon back together. “Lovely.”
Goderich Ontario, Sky Harbour, a small airport in a small town along Lake Huron. The entire airstrip has been cleared and shut down just for its special guests. An employee opens up a gate allowing Hawk to drive the van onto the airstrip where their carrier plane awaits. The loading bay opens as the pilot disembarks, standing aside as Lt. Storm gets out of the van letting Hawk load it in.
“Take good care of her Sir.” The pilot says to Storm.
“Don’t worry, we’ll bring her back to you in one piece.” He looks off at the runway. “Sure this is long enough for a take off?”
“I landed her here Sir. You’ll probably take off a little low but you should be able to pull up and clean the homes.” He laughs.
“Good to hear.” Storm smiles watching as the airport employees help strap down the van.
“Have a safe trip Sir.”
“Thanks.” Lt. Storm heads up the loading ramp as it begins to close and makes his way to the cockpit where Hawk is already sitting in the co-pilot seat. “Ready to go Sir?”
“All strapped in.” Hawk says thumbing his harness. “And please don’t call me Sir, call me Clayton or Hawk but not Sir.”
“Sorry S…Hawk.” Storm smirks as he fires up the planes engines and puts on the radio com. “Sky Harbour do you copy?”
“We read you loud and clear Sir, you are ready for take off.”
“Roger that.” Storm flips a few more switches double checking all the instruments. “Next stop, DND in Ottawa.” He says as he takes the plane down the runway and up into the air. Just as the pilot said he clears the homes down the road startling a few who work out in their gardens as they pass over, a little lower then normal.
“I wish I had a camera to take a picture of that gentleman’s face.” Hawk says. “Looked like he crapped himself.”
Storm laughs. “Well, they wouldn’t be used to a plane this size taking off from the airport.”
“Damn funny.” Hawk laughs resting back in his seat for the flight.
Hours later at the Top Secret DND lab in Ottawa, both General Hawk and Lt. Storm dressed in their official military dress uniform. Hawk’s adorned with several well earned medals.
Another Canadian Military official greets them at the main entry, a man with jet black hair and ice blue eyes. “Good day Sir’s, I am Colonel Elliot Winters.” He salutes them both then shakes their hands. “It’s an honour to meet you both.”
“I guess our reputation precedes us?” Hawk says looking up at Storm.
“I guess?”
“I was briefed on your mission after an extensive interview, believe me, I want to get to the bottom of this as quickly as you do.” Colonel Winters says motioning for them to follow him down the hall. “We have gone over our security footage from the past year and found very little to go on.”
“That’s not something we wanted to hear.” Hawk says.
“I’m sorry Sir, whoever did this knew what they were doing.”
“An inside job.” Storm comments.
The Colonel stops looking back at him. “You say that as if you already know for sure?”
“We don’t, but it has all the ear marks of one.”
They continue on down the hall in silence entering a small lab. The Colonel sits down at one of the stations brining up files and security videos. “Here is everything we’ve complied, take your time. You can page me via the intercom when you are finished.” He points to the panel as he heads out.
“Colonel Winters seems distracted.” Hawk remarks.
“Wouldn’t you be if your base was infiltrated and top secret tech stolen right out from under your nose?”
“I thought you said you felt it was an inside job Lieutenant?”
“I did that to see what kind of reaction I’d get out of him. Now let’s see what they have and don’t have for us.” Storm says sitting down at the terminal the Colonel activated. He ignores the files and begins to examine what else is on the hard drive, then trails down the cables under the desk. “This computer isn’t connected to the network.” Storm says in a low voice.
“Interesting.” Hawk wheels himself around to another terminal. “This one is.”
“Don’t turn it on.”
“Why not?”
“We’re being watched.” Lt. Storm rolls his eyes towards the far corner where a surveillance camera sits. “And I bet once you activate it, it will send a signal to the server that it’s been activated.” He opens up the video files and begins to watch them.
“You think whomever did this is still here?”
“Possibly, too many people knew we were coming. They had lots of time to doctor up the records or get rid of them completely…Hawk come see this.” Storm replays the sequence he was just watching.
“What am I looking for?”
“This.” Storm rewinds the video then plays it forward again slower. “Right here, notice the jump in shadows from the sun. Something was removed.”
“Good eye.”
“Not really, I like to watch the time laps of the sun across things, use to do that at one of my old jobs where we had security cameras. Though my boss used to think of them more as spy cameras on his employees then anything.”
“No trust?”
“Is there ever? I’ll burn a copy of this.” Storm pulls a USB driver from his pocket and inserts it into one of the ports on the CPU. “I’ll download the dossiers as well, I don’t think we’ll get much more information from here.”
“Neither do I. I’ll page the Colonel and have a chat with him while you finish up here.” Hawk watches Storm go to work as he wheels over to the intercom paging the Colonel.