The Poisoned Pursuit

Episode 2: The Poisoned Pursuit
Date: May 24, 1937

(click the date above for the front page of the New York Times on that date)

Location: Paris, France

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Historical Timeline
On April 28, 1937 -- about one month before the current date -- the undefended town of Guernica in Basque Spain was massacred by mysterious bomber airplanes later determined to be German. Read The Guardian's original report here: Page 1 and Page 2. This would serve as the inspiration for Picasso's famous painting, which made its debut at the Paris World's Fair later in the year, in July of 1937.

Clues Obtained
Nick Danger has friends in high places within the British government, and the letter that informed Nick of impending danger at the museum was written in green ink. Beverly sees this and remarks that green ink is always used by the leader of MI-6.

Episode Summary
Picking up where we left off last time ...

Zhang, Dick, and Adway peer up the sheer vertical shaft as the mysterious man in the trench coat disappears from view and drops the manhole cover back in place behind him. In spite -- and in fact, because of -- the unfortunate thunk on the head, Zhang is now in possession of the grappling hook and rope. Again employing his incredible climbing agility, Zhang chimney climbs to the top of the shaft, opens the manhole with one hand, and hooks the grapnel back into place. Dick and Adway look up at the vertical rope and think better of attempting such a feat, and instead they return to the surface streets via the way they came in.

Popping out of the manhole, Zhang finds himself in the plaza directly before Notre Dame cathedral (pictured). A number of out-of-town visitors are milling about in the square. After a quick visual scan Zhang is unable to spot the man in the brown trench coat. He approaches a group of tourists and asks if they've seen a man fitting that description, but they only give a curt response and quickly walk away. He tries a second group of passersby, with a similar outcome. Zhang resigns himself to the fact that the chase may be lost.

Meanwhile, back at the Carnavalet Museum, the police have taken over at the crime scene and so Aliester, Beverly, Ellie, Milo, and Nick make their exit. After his leap from the third story window Gary has suffered a sprained ankle, but at least he is able to walk, even if with a limp.

Dick questions Nick about how he knew something was going to happen at the Museum today. Nick explains that he has friends in high places in the British government and that he received a letter from them informing him that Livingston's life may be endangered today. He shows the group the letter, which is written in green ink. Beverly recognizes the green ink and explains that the leader of MI-6 always uses green ink. When asked how she could know such a thing, she in turn reveals that she's more than just a hairdresser but in fact an MI-6 agent!

The group decides to act quickly on Livingston's last words; if his fears are well-founded, then they are now in a race against an unknown enemy to recover the dead archaeologist's journal, whose mysterious contents must not fall into enemy hands. Knowing his way around Paris, Milo knows that the Ministry of Culture, where Livingston apparently stashed his journal, is in the governmental offices of the Palais Royal. They rush down the block towards the Palais Royal, joining up with Zhang, Dick, and Adway along the way.

Just north of the Louvre is the Royal Palace of France. Construction of the Palais Royal and its famous gardens were completed in 1642. Some of its most famous historical residents have included a Cardinal, an exiled queen of England, a duchess, a prince, Louis XV, Louis XVI, and the Bonaparte family. Now it houses the offices of the French national government, including the Constitutional Council and the Ministry of Culture. The Ministry of Culture is responsible for promoting and protecting the arts, national museums, and monuments, and manages the national archives.

The Palais Royal has two entrances: a south entrance that is closed and guarded by two guards, and a north entrance that opens into the palace gardens. Zhang takes a table at a nearby coffee shop to monitor any activity that may come or go from the south entrance while the others enter through the north. Passing through the columned entrance (see photo, left), they find themselves in the palace gardens (see photo, right).

At the southern end of the gardens is another entrance into the royal palace. Two guards also stand at this gate, checking the identification of any who wish to enter. The government offices housed within the palace are not open to the public.

Hatching a plan to gain entry, Milo targets a gentleman that has just exited the palace and approaches him in the gardens. Flashing his press pass credentials, Milo asks the man if he can interview him briefly for a "report" he's writing. Playing to the man's vanity, Milo manages to entice him into a conversation in which the man reveals his name as well as the names of his boss and his boss's boss. Armed with this information, Milo is able to bluff his way past the guards and gain entrance to the Palace. One obstacle hurdled, just to be confronted by another hurdle. A receptionist at the front desk won't let Milo in without an appointment. Even though he has some names to drop, Milo is unable to convince her that he should be allowed inside.

Ellie and Aliester take a different approach and decide to have Aliester, the most archaeologically-inclined member of the group, play the part of a foreign archaeologist that has been sent to recover Livingston's journal from safekeeping. However, Aliester is not fluent in French, so Ellie will pose as his translator. And if they need to converse securely with each other, they both happen to speak Russian! With this new cover story, Ellie manages to sweet talk her way past the guards and convince the receptionist to let she and Aliester meet the Keeper of Records. The Keeper of Records is an officious, snooty man, but fortunately Ellie's French is flawless and her "innocent" smile is irresistible. The Keeper agrees to fetch Livingston's journal from the archives.

The Keeper returns with a baffled look on his face and reports that there is only an empty gap on the shelf where the journal is supposed to be. It seems his surprise is genuine. He checks the log book at the receptionist's desk and confirms that the journal not been checked out. When asked who else has access to the archives, the Keeper replies that -- besides the security guards -- only he and his archivist have access. A quick meeting with the archivist reveals that he is equally in the dark as to the journal's location.

Meanwhile, Dick, Adway, and Beverly decide to return to the Carnavalet Museum to interview Livingston's archaeology associates at the French museum. They begin by visiting Livingston's guest office on the third floor of the museum, only to find that the police have already done a thorough search and turned the place upside down. They next pay a visit to Livingston's host, whose office is right down the hall. Unsurprisingly, the archaeologist is currently being interviewed by a police officer, so they wait patiently in the hall for the interview to conclude.

When it's their turn to interview the archaeologist, Adway uses hypnosis to learn everything that the man knows. Among other things, they find out that Livingston had been staying in a guest room at the archaeologist's house. Thinking the journal may be with Livingston's belongings, they decide to pay a visit to the house. They are greeted by the archaeologist's surprised wife, but Adway is able to smooth talk her into showing him the guest room. In the guest room, they make a thorough investigation of Livingston's belongings, but find nothing other than personal effects. However, one of these personal effects -- a matchbook -- might prove informative. It is from a "Hotel Bellevue".

Deciding that the ministry might most easily be infiltrated at night, the group stages a nighttime stakeout of the building. Three guards show up for the night shift, two at the south entrance and one at the north entrance. Ellie and Beverly put on their best girlie strut and approach the guard at the north entrance. Through flirting with him they trick him into spilling information, learning that a fourth guard was supposed to be there last night and tonight but oddly hasn't arrived for work.

While the north guard is preoccupied with the girls, Zhang uses the opportunity to sneak into the ministry and look through the guard log. Flipping through the log book, he finds the name of the missing security guard. As he's making his exit through a side window, his luck runs out and he is spotted by a passerby. The passerby runs to the south gate, alerting the guards there, who in turn rush to the north guard and chase off the flirty girls. All three guards rush into the museum in pursuit of any potential intruders, but Zhang has already made his escape.

After the night shift ends, Dick tails one of the guards to a cafe that's quite near to the ministry. By talking to the bartender, Dick learns that many of the security guards are regulars at this cafe and is even able to find out where the missing security guard lives.

They pay a visit to the guard's apartment. Stealthily they force their entry into the two-story townhouse and search the first floor, then make their way upstairs. In the upstairs bedroom, they find a man, tied and gagged, on the bed. He is still alive.

Leaving him for the moment, they search the rest of the upstairs. There's another empty bedroom and then a bathroom in the back with a window that overlooks the alley behind the apartment building. The window is open. Looking out into the alley, they spot a man in a brown trench coat fleeing at a sprint!

Nick and Zhang both jump out of the second story window while Dick runs out the back door in the first floor kitchen. They chase the man to the end of the alley, where he turns left onto a busier Paris street. Nick throws one of his throwing knives, which lodges itself in the man's back but doesn't stop him. Soon they catch up to him and tackle him, bringing him down and holding him.

With the man in custody, they search him to find the missing journal in his coat! They debate about what to do and Zhang convinces them to carry the suspect back inside before anyone alerts the authorities. As they are dragging him to the apartment, he starts to foam at the mouth. He has committed suicide by biting down on a hidden cyanide capsule!

Who was this mysterious thief that killed himself when captured? What will they learn from the man tied up inside the apartment. And what secrets does Livingston's journal contain that are so valuable that men are willing to die for them? Tune in next time to find out... same pulp time, same pulp channel!