Shadow Of The Past Trilogy ∞ THE DISPLACED

interlude five ∞ classified inquiry

Today... Right now... At this moment...

I heard you. You wonder about the ambush.

The inquiry into the mission they called "Operation Pincer" took place days later. Here. I took the liberty of locating and accessing some of the classified transcripts and interrogator's briefs for you.

But... be aware, friend. It is in your – best – interest not to alert the authorities—nor Mister Gray—that you have seen the documents below.

...

I leave your head now.

∞

EXTRACTS FROM THE DEPOSITION OF PARTICIPANTS OF OPERATION  "PINCER"

Date: 🀫🀫🀫🀫🀫[Redacted], 1979
Time:
Location: Undisclosed
Interviewers: 🀫🀫🀫🀫🀫[Redacted]

Interview with Staff Sergeant Christopher Bernstein, leading "Bravo" team during Operation "Pincer":

Interviewer: "Please, state your name and rank for the record."

Bernstein: "Christopher Bernstein, Staff Sergeant."

Interviewer: "Describe the events that took place on the road to 🀫🀫🀫🀫🀫[Redacted], in 🀫🀫🀫🀫🀫[Redacted], on 🀫🀫🀫🀫🀫[Redacted], 1979, and your participation in those events."

Bernstein: "I was in charge of the team designated 'Bravo' for that specific operation."

Interviewer: "Please, describe the best you can what happened, in your own words. I won't interrupt unless something is not clear enough, then I'll ask a question. Other than that, you can speak freely."

Bernstein: "Yes, sir. As I said, my mission was lead Bravo team to provide support to Charlie team in their task to ambush and catch an extremely dangerous enemy agent and her partners in crime."

Interviewer: "Is it something you do frequently?"

Bernstein: "Sorry, sir?"

Interviewer: "I mean, isn't it supposed to be a job for the police or even the FBI?"

Bernstein: "Right. Well, we were told our assistance was required at the highest level due to the high risk involved. And because the authorities had consistently failed in apprehending them. Supposedly, she was armed, extremely dangerous, and had special training that made her an extremely hard-to-catch criminal. In addition, we were told she was in possession of information vital for our Intelligence Services."

Interviewer: "And you, of course, found that information credible."

Bernstein: "Of course."

Interviewer: "Please, continue."

Bernstein: "After Alpha team started chasing the objectives, I followed them closely with my binoculars.

"I also checked the readiness of Charlie team. Everything went according to plan. In a high-speed chase, every second counts. So I waited till they were almost 200 meters from Charlie to give the order. We spread out in an arc, closing on the targets on their right side. We closed the distance real fast. Both the boy and the lass continued straight into Charlie team. They were completely surrounded, no way out."

Interviewer: "So you got them."

Bernstein: "Well, that's what I thought. To be honest, I can't offer a logical explanation. The operation went smoothly, without a glitch. And then, bang, everything went to hell! If I didn't know most of the guys on Charlie, I swear I'd think they were intentionally getting in the way of Alpha team and mine. But I know them too well to believe that. Besides, my guys and the guys from Alpha were behaving real weird too. Everybody seemed trapped in some kind of nightmarish... sleepwalking, like they'd lost control of their bodies or... or... Well, whatever happened lasted just a few seconds but was enough to cause a big disarray, entangling the three teams so deeply it took us hours to recover. It was almost like a..."