Archive for the ‘ Dispatches ’ Category

fashion district

Posted on May 2nd, 2022 Comments Off on fashion district
Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures

sofa on bay

Posted on May 1st, 2022 Comments Off on sofa on bay
Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures

sunrise on rails

Posted on April 30th, 2022 Comments Off on sunrise on rails
Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures

lake shore ride

Posted on April 15th, 2022 Comments Off on lake shore ride

Lake Shore Boulevard West

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures

/sectionb: chapter 1, part 6

Posted on April 6th, 2022 Comments Off on /sectionb: chapter 1, part 6

“So,” she answers slowly, a sly smile spreading across her face. “I think the best way to answer that might be to demonstrate. Show you a bit of the old modus operandi.”

The Handler stands up abruptly.

“Pick anyone. Anyone at all,” she instructs Medic, pointing to the crowd around them. Medic takes a few moments and finally selects a tall man sidled up to the bar. A cocky confidence oozes out of every part of him, from the top of his perfectly styled coif to the bottom of his leather Italian loafers.

Swaying mildly, The Handler laughs out loud before responding. “Those kindsa guys are the easiest! Okay, great. So how much money should he give us?”

Filed under: /sectionb, Dispatches, Patrick Bay

/sectionb: chapter 1, part 5

Posted on April 5th, 2022 Comments Off on /sectionb: chapter 1, part 5

“So you work for some government?” asks Medic, partially amused and partially irritated, feeling like he’s being pranked. Or worse.

“No. No governments. No corporations. No large groups of any kind, really. Unless it suits our purposes,” she explains flatly. “There’s just the agency and our little cell. I don’t know if there are others because, as I said, the organization keeps a pretty tight lid on things.”

“Wait. So what is it that you actually do?” he asks with an incredulous frown.

She pauses briefly as a stern expression creeps across he face.

“I should’ve told you off the top,” she says firmly, “that there are many things I simply won’t be able to tell you. Some are classified, some I just don’t know. Of the things I can tell you, some you’ll find out later and some you never will.”

Filed under: /sectionb, Dispatches, Patrick Bay

/sectionb: chapter 1, part 4

Posted on April 4th, 2022 Comments Off on /sectionb: chapter 1, part 4

A quiet ding interrupts the amplified audio, telling her that a text message has just arrived from Dmitri. “No go. Too exposed,” it says. That means that she has about twenty minutes to idle here before moving on to the next destination.

She closes her eyes again and listens intently.

About ten minutes later, a few quiet but discernible words echo into her ears. She grins with satisfaction, not because she understands any of it but because she got a recording.

Filed under: /sectionb, Dispatches, Patrick Bay

/sectionb: chapter 1, part 3

Posted on April 3rd, 2022 Comments Off on /sectionb: chapter 1, part 3

His first search is for “The Handler” which pulls up over forty pages of results. None of them seem right. He revises the search by adding a few digits from one of the random-looking lines on the business card. There’s exactly one result.

The sequence of letters and numbers on the website seem to match those on the business card. Beneath them, only the words “GET ME HOT” appear on the otherwise empty page. He waves the mouse cursor over the page looking for hidden links but finds none.

Medic is now deeply intrigued.

Filed under: /sectionb, Dispatches, Patrick Bay

/sectionb: chapter 1, part 2

Posted on April 2nd, 2022 Comments Off on /sectionb: chapter 1, part 2

Just then, three shapes emerge onto the path from the shadows.

The two large men instantly attract his attention. One looks like a mountain, maybe a boxer with a shiny bald head, cauliflower ears, wildly crooked nose, hands that look like anvils, and shoulders to lift them. The other one is a little shorter, has a paunch, brush cut, and a Burt Reynolds mustache suggestive of someone who spends too much time watching 70s action movies. Both men are dressed in long black overcoats exposing casually unbuttoned dress shirts. The look is professional.

Following close behind them is a petite woman wearing sunglasses. She’s dressed similarly to the men but her clothes are tailored to suit her compact frame. It’s hard for Medic not to notice the gentle sway of her body as she walks, the warm and smooth glow of her tan complexion, the way the straight line of glossy black hair frames her face.

Filed under: /sectionb, Dispatches, Patrick Bay

/sectionb: chapter 1, part 1

Posted on March 25th, 2022 Comments Off on /sectionb: chapter 1, part 1

As a responsible “citizen journalist” I do my best to research a topic before I post about it. Usually I’ll focus on a subject for a few days, sometimes a week, occasionally longer, but there’s one area of research that I’ve pursued incessantly for years.

It’s all based on a collection of loosely organized documents, images, and recordings; a series of semi-anonymous recollections and first-hand experiences that expose the methodology, technology, and clandestine operations of a very unusual organization.

Given this context it wasn’t surprising that much of the dossier was unclear if not outrightly opaque. Nevertheless, I could at least authenticate the bulk of the information, which can be found in its entirety on the web – if you know how and where to look.

Since I’ve taken some liberties with the source material I thought it best to repeat the same disclaimer that the collection opens with, namely, a warning that not everything contained within is 100% accurate for reasons of security, secrecy, privacy, etc. At the same time, however, a lot of it is.

Mostly it’s a matter of corroboration.

Without any additional preamble the dossier dives straight in…

Filed under: /sectionb, Dispatches, Patrick Bay