Where In The World Are The Killers?

United in Ashes

Melbourne, Australia...

"Team, I know we were planning to set sail for SOMBRA's secret island," Chief Ripley says, beginning the meeting, "but Adalet requested we stop in Melbourne first so that she could look into Fili's kidnapping, and I agreed with her. Our only lead is that New Age Labs was based outside the city; John Savage provided us with the lab's old address and other locations of interest. She and Jonah have gone to investigate and see if anything there could lead us to Fili and SOMBRA."

"Oh, that's why I didn't see them at breakfast," Jack commented.

"Yes, we haven't heard from them yet, but their due to check in this afternoon," she continues, "in the meantime, there is a location I would like you and Carmen to investigate-"

"That might have to wait, Chief!" Elliot interrupts as an alarm sounds from his laptop, "I've just intercepted a distress signal!"

"Is it Adalet and Jonah?" Ripley asks worriedly.

"No, it's encrypted, so I don't know who's sending it, but it's using U.N.I.T. code!" he informs, "the signal is coming from inside the Royal Botanic Gardens!"

"U.N.I.T.?" she frowns, "well if one of their agents is in distress, we must help them! Jack, Carmen, head to that garden immediately!

"Yes, Chief!"

Carmen and Jack rushed downstairs to the garage and climbed into the Jeep closest to the door. Jack took the passenger seat while Carmen slid into the driver's seat and started the engine, driving down the ramp and listening to the GPS guide her to the garden. They parked close to the entrance and walked through the archway as they followed the tracker on Jack's phone to find the source of the distress signal.

They walked through the trees, bushes, and hedges until they entered an area called fern gully. The trees were so tall that they blocked most of the sunlight from shining through, and the giant fern leaves hung over the wooden walking platform. They continued following the signal and were led to a small clearing in the gully encircled by a short wall of stacked logs with a woven chair suspended in the air from the trees.

As they entered the clearing, they noticed the body of a pale-skinned middle-aged man with dishevelled salt and pepper hair and lifeless gray eyes hidden behind thick-rimmed black glasses. He wore a brown trench coat over a dark gray suit with a black dress shirt and a red tie. The body was lying inside the hanging chair, and as the agents approached, Jack noticed a locked cell phone in a black case under the chair, while Carmen spotted a small pile of torn paper near the wooden wall.

"Well... If this guy's the one who made the distress call, we're too late to help him!" Jack states, looking at the man's face, "was he attacked? I don't see any bullet or stab wounds...."

"Murder can be a lot more silent," Carmen says, checking for a pulse but finding nothing, "he's still warm, so he must have died recently... But who is he?"

"Elliot said it was a U.N.I.T. distress signal," he said, reaching under the man's collar, "I read that U.N.I.T. agents wear special dog tags for identification purposes, so let's see what his says...."

Jack pulled the end of the chain out and saw that the backside was filled with the English flag. Flipping it over, he was happy to see that the information was legible.

"Nicolas Doyle," Jack read, "and according to this, he was the Director of U.N.I.T.!"

"How the hell did someone manage to kill the Director of the world's best spy agency!?" Carmen exclaimed, "and what was he doing in this park?"

"No idea and no idea," he answers, "but it looks like that lead the Chief wanted us to follow will have to wait; we need to find out who killed Director Doyle! There's a cell phone under the body; it might have belonged to the victim!"