As it turned out, the American military had come begging to be let into the investigation, but they also made sure to bring gifts for her.
Rhea, her CIA contact Julio Santos, and two military intelligence suits were sat at a table looking at some surveillance photos. The subjects were an older man and younger woman. The man was the more immediately interesting of the pair, stern facial features were accompanied by brown-blond hair kept in a severe buzzcut. His dark brown eyes looked devoid of any emotion, his large, thick muscular frame appeared to be moving with purpose. His entire focus was on the task at hand.
Steven Wilson, a harbinger of death, finally appearing in the flesh.
“This came from security cameras at King Salmon airport in Alaska.” One of the military men was saying. “February thirteenth twenty-twenty.”
Rhea raised an eyebrow slightly. They’d spent two years in the dark following the conclusion of the seventh version. Then suddenly reappeared in Alaska of all places, a year before the abduction.
“What can you tell me about Wilson?” Rhea asked.
The two suits exchanged concerned glances.
“Well on this excursion he appeared-“
“I’m not talking about this excursion.” Rhea interrupted, cutting through whatever attempted diversion they had been trying to setup. “I want to know about his military background. Anything you have on that.”
“Well, uh, Steven Wilson isn’t his real name for one. But he served in the 7th Marines, then made his way into Force Recon. After a seemingly good career there, he got picked up by the Special Activities Center — although, it would have been known as the Special Activities Division at the time. He was in the SAC Special Operations Group. Although there appears to have been…issues with this posting.”
“Issues?” Santos said. “You mean besides the obvious ones of him being insane?”
There was a pregnant pause before one the suits cleared his throat and replied.
“It would appear his suitability — and well, uh yes, his potential volatility — was called into question across his deployments and he was quietly given retirement.”
“He was allowed to retire? After these issues?”
“Our understanding is that he was told to retire to reduce exposure.”
Another silence filled the room as the implication sunk in. It was a confirmation of what they already assumed, but having it spelt out in such stark terms was still shocking for Rhea. The American military and intelligence agencies knew they had potential problems, but they let him walk away and then buried all knowledge of him existing.
“We don’t know who this other woman is.” The other suit said, returning to business mode as he tapped the other face in the photo. “She isn’t one of ours.”
“Oh I know.” Rhea said, reaching down and removing a folder from her satchel. “I know exactly who she is.”
Tracen strolled into the room with a smile on his face. They were nearly a week into the latest version of Survival of the Fittest and everything was progressing smoothly. A few of the kids had been removed themselves from the proceedings rather than being killed, but aside from those few, the rest were happy to get on things. There were also a few that had to have additional eyes kept on them, but that wasn't a concern Tracen took very seriously. It was all talk and that was normally how it stayed. He placed his coffee and notes down on the desk and stretched his back out before taking his seat and pressing the button to turn the speakers on.
"Morning all! I'm pleased to announce that we have reached Sunday funday! The fun part comes from your continued survival and getting that much closer to being able to leave, as long as you have the required kill to your name of course.
But let's not get preachy — this isn't church after all. Instead, we'll get right to our first kill of the day! The first of your friends to bite it today was Shannon Choi, who played the nail to Karin Han's hammer.
Following that, our frequent killer Joshua James once again got his game on and shot Cassie Chao. Ciao and adiós Cassie, it was nice having you here."
Tracen chuckled at his pun and took a sip of coffee before continuing on.
"Our next kill featured a classic case of what goes around comes around, as yesterday's killer, Jack Kilgore, met today's killer, Matthew Bell, and was the one to find himself being kill...gored. Could have sworn we workshopped that one more."
There was a short, silent pause where only the sound of shuffling papers could be heard before Tracen spoke again.
"Eh, he's dead anyway, not a big deal.
"Moving on we have a classic mutual kill, as Rebekah Hayes and Bethany Lyon encountered each other. Bethany said hello with a stab so Rebekah replied with a gun smash to the temple. That was enough to take Bethany out and Rebekah bled out not too long after."
Tracen paused briefly to take another sip of coffee.
"The next kill is something we really shouldn't have to remind you of, but just in case you still don't get it, do not, I repeat, do not turn your back on anyone. Corbin Azinger did and Daenerys Todd embedded a blade in his skull. A lesson for the rest of you I guess.
"Perante Losoa then decided to take all the fun out of things and walked into a danger zone. So they still work I guess, in case you were wondering about that.
"The bell tolled for Ren Vu next, as busy boy Matthew Bell got his second kill of the day with another round of bullets.
"And for our final kill today we have the appearance of a new challenger, as Timothy Adams was shot by Salem Fox. You should probably watch out for him going forward, foxes aren't trustworthy.
"And with the deaths out of the way it is time for the daily bookkeeping. So, if you go up to The Cave and The Upper Mountain Pass today, you're in for a big surprise. In addition to those, yesterday's danger zone will remain in place. Can't wait for that to trip one of you up."
Tracen chuckled and slid the papers to the side, done with the main tasks of the morning.
"But congratulations to Salem Fox! You have won our latest best kill award. Your prize of a new destructive weapon and a meal of a roast beef sandwich, vinegar chips, a Boston cream pie, and ginger ale is waiting for you at the top of the mountain pass. It'll be worth the walk, trust me.
"And with that, we have once again reached the end of our daily bonding session. I hope you all have enjoyed yourselves as much as I have, and I'll see you again tomorrow for the exciting one-week anniversary of your time on the island! See you then."
Weather: The temperature has dropped and the clouds from the previous day have begun to drop snow onto the island. This snowfall lasts throughout the day and begins to get heavier overnight. The high is around 32 degrees F, 0 degrees C in the morning with a low of 18 F, -8 degrees C, in the evening once the sun has gone down. The sun rises at 9:10 AM, and sets at 3:18 PM. There is no wind during the day. The moon is on the final day of its first quarter. There is a semidiurnal tide with two highs one at 5:13am and the other at 4:31pm while the two lows are at 10:41am and 11:23pm.
Also please find below your roll set for this announcement:
Summary:
1. Shawn Bellamy (Fiori) Amos Flannigan (Ohm, Hero Card used)
2. Betty “Ty” Hartley (KamiKaze)
3. Olive Mayo (Grand Moff Hissa)
4. Daenerys “D” Todd (DerArknight)
5. Aion Rhodes (Primrosette)
Finally, congratulations go out to Gundham for winning the Best Death Award! Your quote nomination thread will be up shortly!
Please remember that there are three days for cards and for regular posting to wrap up for threads that are now in danger zones and a further seven days for leaving posts.
Characters slotted to die at the end of the 72-hour card period have an additional NINE days to die before they and their killer become ineligible for the Best Kill and Best Death Awards for this rolls cycle.
Any characters who have not died by the BKA/BDA deadline of the next rolls cycle will be taken over by SOTF_Help in order to complete their deaths.
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And that's us out until next time!