Participants:
Scene Title | Civil Over Coffee |
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Synopsis | Liz brings some information to Len. They actually can talk without fighting. |
Date | August 14, 2009 |
Friday morning. For some it's the last day of the work week. For some it signals the start of a weekend. If they get through eight hours, they will be free for the next two and a half days. For Len, it's just Friday. Just like Monday. Just like Thursday. Seven days a week, he's pretty much on the job.
There was one thing different about this morning. Early rising Len receives a message on his phone, requesting a meeting. So as the day dawns, Len is sitting on a bench in Central Park, paper angled down so that he can see anyone who approaches. If they approach him from the rear, Lord better be looking out for them, because he's not going to care with weapon he grabs first. Temporary sleep vs. permanent one. He is just a little curious as to why this meeting and now. Perhaps she's had a change of heart regarding her accidental murderess, or she wants to ask about Tanner. Who can tell these days?
Central Park is a good place to be this morning. Elisabeth took the time to actually run before her meeting with Len, so she's wearing a pair of short black shorts and a black sports bra whose straps show around a green tanktop with her running shoes. Her hair's pulled up still, and by the time she heads for the place they decided to meet, she's carrying a cup of coffee. In point of fact, she's carrying two of them, and she makes no secret of her approach. She walks on the path, walks directly to him, and offers one of the cups. "Didn't know if you liked anything in it, so it's just black," Liz comments quietly. Maybe it's a peace offering of sorts. "Thanks for taking the time."
The cup of coffee is a nice touch. When she approaches he stands to greet her, accepting the cup and nodding. "Either/Or. Doesn't matter much to me." He takes a drink of the coffee and motions for her to sit, sitting down only after she has. He'll be heading into the office after this, so he's dressed.. well, as he's always dressed. A little Texan pride goes a long way.
"I'm certain you didn't derail my trip out to the office for coffee, Detective Harrison. What is it we, at Homeland Security, can do for you?" The grin he has is genuine. They didn't end their last meeting on a good note, but he's willing to make a fresh start, depending on her request. He leans back against the bench and sips at his coffee.
"Actually, it's what I can do for you today," Elisabeth says quietly as she sits down. She looks tired and good deal more strained than she has — she's got what's beginning to look like two Evo serial killers on her plate, and no movement on either case in spite of a billion cold calls, on top of the rest of her load. "I've only recently learned about the classification of Tier 3…. and that just pretty much makes my blood run cold, gotta tell you. Especially when I realized I have a Tier 3 terrakinetic on the streets." She looks at him. "Someone Homeland Security is already looking for, but I'm hoping that between you and me, we might be able to take him down before the shit the precogs are screaming about comes to pass."
Of course, Len is kept in the loop regarding most law enforcement traffic, though they rarely get around to rumor and innuendo. There are always those claiming to be precogs screaming about the end of the world, or at least part of it. Taking each one serious would waste a lot of man hours. This one has already made his desk and he's been keeping an eye on it because of the Homeland link. He has already half expected that he'll have to put someone on it. With the murder of a Company founder that he personally has to deal with, Minea's request to assist Laudini with the Samantha Tanner situation, and the potential tracking of an AWOL Company Agent all have his attention, it's going to be touch squeezing more out of this lemon.
Len turns his body towards her, cocking his knee up and watches Harrison for a moment. There doesn't seem to be any anger towards the Dahl or Martinez incidents, which she has to know about. He can only assume that she is truly asking for his help on this. "I've been following the situation as best that I can. What exactly is it you'd like from us? If you have a plan and tell me what you need, I'll see what I can do. If you're asking me to take over the investigation, I'm not entirely certain I have the manpower just yet for that. So, tell me what you're asking for, Detective and we'll start there."
"Mostly at this juncture, I guess I'm asking to share information," Elisabeth tells him quietly. "He's been spotted in Chelsea — caused the quake there, I believe. And according to an informant, he's been seen in the vicinity of one Adam Monroe." And if that name doesn't mean anything to Denton, he needs to do better homework. She looks at him with shadowed blue eyes. "I can't begin to tell you how bad that could get, Denton. If you've already got agents watching out, though, it's the best I can hope for. If you do pick him up, I'd appreciate a call on it… just so that I can take it off my own desk. And if I spot him, you can bet I'm going to let you know." She bites her lip, looking out over the park. "I know you're not likely to answer me straight at this point, but…." She looks back at him. "Is Minea okay?" Martinez… yeah, she knows he came in and took her out. And she has a pretty damn good inkling why, so she doesn't expect the other cop is in danger. But Minea? They took a shot at her. "I just…. would like to know that you didn't actually put a bullet in her brain. That's all." She genuinely likes the Company agent, in spite of being fully cognizant at this time of the fact that Minea's probably told Len everything there is to know about Phoenix.
Len is gritting his teeth at the mention of Adam Monroe. That guy is all over. Len's actually been wanting to get his hands around that guy's throat for a while now. In fact, there's such a disdain for the guy that he can't help but utter "Monroe" under his breath, almost as if we were spitting out a bad taste in his mouth. His anger is soothed for the moment as Dahl is asked about. "Unfortunately, I don't have much to tell you about her. Last I heard, she was safe and sound." That is about as much as he's going to go into that, though there's nothing that would suggest he's being nothing less than truthful. "So do you have any plan for this guy? I would have to do some digging to see if I have anything on him. After the explosion, I may not be as useful to you as you might think I'd be." he adds.
The look of abject relief on her face might tell Len Denton that whatever her other flaws, Elisabeth genuinely cared about the answer to that question. Shaking her head, Elisabeth admits, "Look…. this guy on the loose is a serious problem. I've done a lot of digging through police files, and he's bad news. You probably have as much in your systems as I do, since he's an open Homeland case." She smiles faintly. "I was tracking him before Homeland altered the records — his name's Norman White. In the late seventies, he was a victim of an attempted murder/suicide. His father shot his mother in the head, shot Norman in the chest, and then ate the gun. Norman survived, spent a bunch of time in the foster system. You know how well that goes," she says wryly. "By the time he was 18, he was incarcerated in the penal system — Santa Rosa mental correctional facility. He'd beat a rap with an insanity plea." She pauses here, to make sure that so far they're on the same page.
As soon as Liz starts speaking about White, he's already got his PDA out and is typing the information in, sending it to Kayla to try and track down what she can on him. "Got it so far. What else do you know?" Len seems to be tracking so far.
"I know that pre-2006, no one could figure out why the exercise yard at Santa Rosa had weird shapes in the concrete, and that he was labeled as possibly delusional for complaining that walls were moving in his cell. In a post-2006 world, someone should have caught it. But they didn't. And he caused an earthquake and escaped there. Near as I can tell, at some point he was picked up and probably chucked into Mutant Gitmo out in Utah." He can look up Moab himself if he doesn't already know about it, Elisabeth figures. "There was a pretty big quake out there, and from there, he's tracked reasonably steadily eastward until the Jersey quake a few weeks ago and the Chelsea one."
"So we have ourselves 'Earthquake Guy" to contend with now." Len leans back against his bench and he ponders the issue for a moment. Normally in situations like this, like the Tanner problem, an agent comes to mind that would be perfect for the job. "How do we combat an earthquake guy, Detective Harrison." The fact that he's even asking that question, should say plenty about how big he feels this threat is.
Elisabeth shakes her head and looks at him. "Seriously, I got no clue. A negator, maybe. If you've got one. The PD doesn't. Drugs, if you can get a clean shot with the darts? I'm still working on learning the ups and downs of neutralizing Evos, Agent Denton… same as everyone else."
Len nods, sighing. "Well. Shit." Is there really anything more that needs to be said? He stands and makes a show of stretching, rocking back and forth on his boots. "Protect and serve, isn't that right? Detective Harrison, I'll take a look and see what we might have on file and take another look at my resources. Keep me posted if you will."
With a brief nod, Elisabeth moves to stand as well. She takes her cup of coffee with her and starts walking down the path, though she pauses about five steps away and turns back around to ask curiously, "Hey, Denton? I know Homeland's policy on pro-Evolved 'terrorist' organizations…. what's their take on anti-Evo 'terrorist' cells like Humanis First?" She's not needling him; both her tone and her demeanor have honest curiosity in them.
"Detective, if you want my honest opinion.." Len reaches up to lift the brim of his hat momentarily. ".. a terrorist organization is a terrorist organization." She wanted his honest opinion, that should spell it our rather nicely, if only because it matches his own beliefs on the subject.
Elisabeth nods slowly and says quietly, "Then you should maybe start looking for a man named Danko, too. Ex-US Marine. Got reason to believe he's some kind of high muckety-muck in Humanis First… and that he's been doing some serious business here in town."
Len adds that name to the list. "Believe it or not, we try to protect everyone. Even if we are just protecting them from themselves." He turns and starts to walk off, turning around and nodding. "You try and enjoy your day, Detective Harrison."