(24 February 2021)

There’s a highway, I-75, passing about four miles from the facility, but no sign of ground (water?) traffic between them. There is a helipad. though it’s moderately concealed; a quick search of public data suggests nothing’s going in or out with a transponder. There are airports nearby; several in the urban area of Miami and Fort Lauderdale, and one some thirty miles to the south-west that was intended as a huge SST port but was abandoned with only one runway completed.

The team plans to set up some remote cameras near the helipad, and more overlooking the entrance, as well as remotely triggered flashbangs; Jesus gets some ready. There’s a reservation (and casino) just to the west, though he doesn’t think it would count as sacred places. And there are all sorts of strange tales of cryptids in the area; alligators with hands…

Juan and Jade get some appropriate clothes, including a camouflage tarp with a foil blanket sewn to it. Jesus checks local papers for odd reports; a lot of people in western Miami seem to talk about events like fences being cut through, vehicle wiring torn out, and so on, in a way that seems more like sabotage than animal damage.

The group sets off for southern Florida. The “airboat rental” place nearby seems to be just a parking lot with no permanent structures; though there is someone with an airboat on a trailer, looking as though he’s ready for hunting (not legal right here right now). Juan and Jade approach talking about the evils of the Feds, and ask about renting the airboat; he was planning to use it himself (and while he’s friendly, they are strangers). He’s happy to point them to a dealership back towards Fort Lauderdale (“tell Andy I sent you”). Jade reckons he’s feeling edgy about something, though she can’t really tell what, and he doesn’t seem to be reaching for any of the firearms in his car.

They leave to the east, and Jesus sends back a drone. A few minutes later another car pulls up and another man gets out; there’s some backslapping and they start getting the boat off the trailer. They go to the dealership, and Jesus talks the salesman into a “test drive”. They head back in and launch the boat from a random spot by the side of the road. Jesus heads back to somewhere more congenial, with air conditioning, having arranged to meet the other two in a few hours.

They make their way through the swamp with extremes of stealth, and hear some rotors passing by – it’s a V-22, with some kind of sound muffling. It’s camouflaged, and carries no registration numbers.

They set up the communications relay without incident, and proceed further in towards the helipad. They crawl up close, and spot the Osprey shut down under a camo net. One camera is set up to overlook the pad; another goes to the entrance of the blockhouse next to it (there’s nothing more above ground level here). That’s the point at which armed men start coming out of the blockhouse; the first couple stay to guard the entrance, and others set off to search. Juan realises they’re heading for the cameras, takes a breath, and sinks below the surface of the nearest patch of water, while Jade swims away then turns to keep an eye out. Back at the pad, there’s a technical crew assembling a launch rail with what looks like a small winged drone. They launch, and it starts a search pattern. Jade carries on swimming away, and apparently manages not to attract the drone’s attention. After about half an hour, the drone lands and all the teams return; when Juan puts up his head an hour later, the situation is all as it was when they first approached, including the cameras having been removed from the trees. The two retreat in cover, finding each other again only when they meet at the airboat, and meet Jesus again. He decides to build a bunch more transmitters, with timers, since this seems to be getting the bad guys’ attention quite effectively.

Jesus starts to look around to see if there’s any hint as to where the Osprey might have come from.