Agent Leads

Dellaroche and Anderson discuss their respective leads before separating. Anderson intends to continue researching Faustus Claudan and locate Billy Desjardin, while Dellaroche receives a new assignment from the operation handler.

Dellaroche receives confirmation from the 24th Precinct that an inventory has identified a missing weapon. The Captain promises a full investigation, with Dellaroche transferring responsibility for the matter to Smith before providing his CIA credentials for the official report.

Smith remains at the New Jersey Regional Police Laboratory to continue examining Wei's electronic evidence. Stevens leaves Hammond and travels to Newark to rendezvous with Dellaroche.

Research into Faustus Claudan

Anderson travels to the New York Public Library seeking original works by Faustus Claudan. Unable to register under a false identity, he successfully obtains access using his mother's details instead.

Library records identify works attributed to Claudan from the seventeenth century, including books published during the same year in both Latin and Dutch. Due to restrictions surrounding the material, Anderson secures a supervised appointment to examine one of the books at 15:00 the following day.

Analysis of Logiqa

At the Hammond laboratory, Smith creates an isolated copy of the data recovered from Wei's Logiqa application. Automated analysis determines that much of the application consists of programming code intended to interact with a substantially larger external system.

Only a small proportion of the wider system's code appears to have been stored locally. The cache regularly clears itself, although several outputs generated by the remote system remain accessible, including numerous PDFs containing numerical data.

Searching the recovered material for 2333 produces an unusually large number of results. Further analysis suggests the value is generated as a product of several other numerical inputs previously encountered during the investigation.

Smith finds themself lost in analysing the data for what appears to be longer than expected before being interrupted by a knock at the door. He discovers that more than an hour has passed without his awareness and that Dr Kennewich left the laboratory approximately twenty minutes earlier.

Smith requests permission to continue working after hours. A member of staff leaves him with coffee before departing.

The Newark Safehouse

Dellaroche arrives at the Newark address provided and conducts external surveillance of the property. The house appears ordinary, with closed curtains, a digital doorbell and a vehicle parked behind the building.

A CIA property search produces a significant result: the building is registered as an FBI safehouse.

Stevens arrives at 17:57 and is briefed on the directive and the ownership of the property. The agents elect to conduct surveillance before making contact, observing a single light downstairs as darkness falls.

After approximately ninety minutes with no visible movement, Dellaroche approaches the front door while using his phone light to obscure the digital doorbell camera. Stevens accompanies him with a suppressed weapon and night-vision equipment.

No-One's Home

Repeated knocking produces no response despite Stevens detecting what sounds like a faint conversation inside the front room. The voices continue uninterrupted regardless of the noise made outside.

Dellaroche leaves a message through the digital doorbell identifying himself as Andrew Palmer, the CPS identity generated for a previous operation. He claims to be seeking information regarding one of the property's neighbours.

The agents move to the rear of the property and find no visible lights. Dellaroche picks the lock on the sliding rear door and enters the kitchen with his weapon drawn.

Clean crockery remains beside the sink and the house otherwise appears undisturbed. Stevens again detects the conversation from the front room, where light is visible around the closed doorway.

Expecting Visitors

Dellaroche approaches the front room and begins opening the door. Crossing the threshold catches a concealed tripwire, causing a small black device positioned across the room to light up and blink with a small red light.

Stevens identifies the device as potentially containing an improvised explosive and immediately pulls Dellaroche backwards, shielding him with her body. Instead of detonating, the device plays a three-note fanfare.

Inspection reveals an empty casing containing only a speaker and a folded piece of paper -" GOT YOU. BOOM. (followed by a hand-drawn smiley face)"

Compromised

With the door open, the previously muffled conversation becomes clear. A woman's recorded voice repeatedly states; “Yes, Agents Marcus Dellaroche and Daniel Mercer have been compromised. They’ve been compromised by the program, and unfortunately I recommend their termination. Their next mission, suicide. (a short pause) Confirmed”.

Stevens identifies the source as a Dictaphone held by an unmoving figure seated in an armchair facing away from the doorway. The recording continues to repeat without variation.

Moving around the chair with her weapon drawn, Stevens discovers a deceased individual dressed in a suit with a white mask covering their face. Their left forearm is cut from the wrist to the elbow, with extensive dried blood covering their arm and lap.

The Dictaphone's cassette is looped around the woman's neck. Stevens determines that the victim appears to have died while seated in the chair rather than having been positioned there after death.

Connections to the Past

Upon entering the room, Dellaroche immediately recognises the clothing and white mask.

The body has been staged to resemble a pervious operation handler, the masked handler who briefed Dellaroche during FULMINATE.

Analyst Note: The deliberate recreation confirms that whoever prepared the safehouse possesses detailed knowledge of Dellaroche 's previous involvement with the Organisation. The connection between operation IAPETUS and FULMINATE can no longer reasonably be treated as coincidental.

Dellaroche removes the mask, revealing an unidentified woman beneath it. A crumpled piece of paper has been forced into her mouth.

The message is addressed directly to him.

Psychological Evaluations

Standard agency procedure to track how operations are impacting agents in the field.

Jackie Stevens – Demonstrates immediate and decisive protective action when confronted with a suspected explosive device, placing herself at significant personal risk to protect another agent. Response remains consistent with operational training; no concerns currently identified.

Malcolm Smith – Sustained concentration during analysis of recovered anomalous data resulted in significant loss of time awareness. Operational effectiveness remains high, though further unsupervised exposure to related mathematical data should be monitored.

Marcus Dellaroche – Direct targeting through information relating to a previous Organisation assignment represents a significant escalation in personal operational risk. Immediate recognition of the staged FULMINATE imagery produced a measurable response but did not impair functionality. Continued deployment approved.

Thomas A. Anderson – Continues independent investigation into material directly associated with the operation while maintaining established information boundaries. Increasing willingness to employ deception and personal relationships in pursuit of information observed; current behaviour remains within acceptable parameters.