Dark*Matter #10–Millennium Knights: The West Family

Briefing: Supervisor Gordon-Yancy calls the agents together and informs them that the night before, the Millenium Knights have intercepted a priority dispatch from Switzerland to a Peter Bergson. He promptly made travel arrangements to Cefalu, Italy.
She wants to get him under surveillance and determine what he is after; if necessary, to detain and/or neutralize him.
The location pricks Maverick’s memory – Cefalu is the location of Thelema Abbey, the temple and spiritual center founded by Alestair Crowley… Nowadays, Cefalu is a seaside town with a brisk market for tourism.
They take a train to Rome, where a white-paneled van is rented for a short ferry ride to Sicily.

Markov, Lester and Maverick are dispatched. They are accompanied by Steve – a security detail with prior Navy SEAL and CIA experience, due to the recent violence in France.
Maverick is able to successfully determine that Peter Bergson has rented a suite at the Artemis – one of the most luxurious hotels on the island.
Meanwhile, the other three book a hiking tour and make their way to Thelema Abbey. They just find an old decrepit 2 story building without any sign of habitation. Further investigation inside just reveals the collected debris of a near-century of squatters. Structured mostly as an open central area, no hidden rooms or floors are found on thorough searching.
Settling down for the night, it turns out to be a quiet evening for the three.
Maverick spends the night in the van parked a quarter-mile up the gravel road from the Abbey… and is awakened by a knocking on the window. He manages to successfully convince the police officer that he is no more than a drunk tourist and promises to get a room. He drives back to town, then begins to drive back a half-hour later to rendezvous with the other three.

Deciding to pursue another angle, they return to the Artemis where Markov procures a master key from a hapless maid. Disguised as plumbers, they manage to identify Bergson when he emerges from the suite – along with six other men.
Markov and Steve begin tailing the group as they leave to wander the various tourist shops and cafes of downtown Cefalu, when Steve suddenly realizes that the group of men themselves were tailing a couple and their daughter.

They were keep their own actions from notice from the family, so were obviously not security from them.
They have formed three groups to watch the family as they settled down for a outdoor brunch.

Taking the opportunity to further investigate, Lester and Maverick exit the van and use the keys to enter into the Bergson suite.

They find maps of routes in the area, as well as two laptops.
Maverick begins working his magic on the computers and is able to break into one to install backdoor access into it as well as begin looking into its records.
It seems that Bergson’s group had a specific interest in a West family that was vacationing in Cefalu; a Chicago businessman Joshua West, his wife Mary West, and their 15 year old daughter Esther West.
As Maverick begins to examine the second computer, a shudder – as from an earthquake – shakes the building.

A few blocks away, Markov and Steve manage to be at the epicenter – a tremendous explosion as a car parked further up the street goes up in flames.

In the ensuing panic, the agents see Bergson’s men grab the young woman and shove her into a Volvo station wagon!
They notify Lester and Maverick, the latter who quickly realizes that the departing Vovlo would pass right by them on the way to the Abbey as he had already driven the route several times in the past day. He parks the van crossways in the street to create a roadblock, opening the hood as if the car is having problems.

A few moments later, the Volvo rounds the corner and slows as it approaches the van. The driver and Maverick get into a heated discussion, prompting Lester to quickly approach and fire a round into the back passenger seat where Bergson is seated!

He wounds the man, but in return, takes a punishing blow to the head, dropping instantly!

The gunshots spur the driver on, who veers onto the sidewalk to push itself around the van, with Maverick narrowly jumping out of the way of being crushed between the vehicles!
As the Volvo careens off, Markov and Steve continue the chase on a pair of Vespa’s the pair acquired during the chaos.

Over the next few minutes, the car and scooters in pursuit jockey for position, gunshots occasionally ringing out.
At one point, Markov pulls alongside and opens up with a shotgun blast into the driver. The Volvo’s passenger manages to grab hold of the steering wheel to prevent a crash, just as the car rolls up to the Abbey.
The sounds of fighting draw out another pair of gunmen who had made their way inside the decrepit building.

More gunfire is exchanged as Maverick – fresh from pulling the very lucky still-living but concussed Lester into the van – arrives on scene.

One of the gunman kills Steve with a lucky shot to the neck, and moves to do the same to Maverick. The young man barely ducks out of the door in time, with a few shots from his .357 out through the van passenger window.
The sudden loud echoing retort inside the van rouses Lester from his unconsciousness – where he stumbles to the front of the van and unleashes Johnson and Johnson into the startled gunman’s chest.

As Markov’s AK-47 tears into the remaining gunman, Maverick and Markov meet up into the door to the Abbey. Maverick pushes in on the count of three, with Markov a moment behind on four, where they see a bright light emanating from the middle of the room! Stepping into it, a wounded Bergson drags Esther West with him. Maverick leaps towards it, just as it fades and he finds himself landing on the filthy floor.

The agents call in an evacuation, and are told to lay low on the other side of the island before Supervisor Gordon-Yancy can plan an extraction.

They make a quick detour back to town, where Maverick traces the laptops to a trash dump just outside of town.

There is non-stop coverage of the terrorist attack at Cefalu, but attributed to intercine Mafia warfare. There was initial concern about a missing American girl, but that quickly fades amidst the reports of the deaths.
Back in London, Maverick pursues a further analysis of the retrieved computers, and gleans an intriguing point. The various searches and analysis revolve around looking for an Esther – who’s name in Hebrew means “star”, harkening back to at least one of the English translations in the quatrain on the computer:

This is the first time we got to use the Chase rules, and it went very well! It showed them the importance of vehicle skills in such a situation.