Operation BAD TRUMPET

Intro

In an instance of compartmentalization collision, the Agents are set to investigate a DG team working on Operation SOMERSAULT.

Involving the Players

Players are briefed into Operation BAD TRUMPET.  The American Freedom Brigade is a new but growing white supremacist militia / criminal organization in Florida that is on a Program watch list for unspecified reasons.  Recently, a number of AFB members have been suspected or arrested for violent crimes, primarily against criminal competitors, but in one case a particularly vocal antifascist activist.  More disturbing still is evidence that the AFB are acquiring arms to the point that one of their leaders has submitted an application to become licensed type II firearm dealer.

As part of that application process, an interview and site inspection by agents of the ATF will be necessary, and strings have been pulled to have the Agents outfitted with IDs and some crash course training in ATF inspection procedures.

The mission is to use this inspection opportunity to get a good look in to the workings of the AFB through Malcolm Eliot, the name on the ATF application and one of the leaders of the AFB.  The Agents are to determine what are the purposes, capabilities, and connections of the American Freedom Brigade, as well as if there are paranormal factors at play, and if so, neutralize the vectors.

Keepers Info

The nucleus of the AFB is a family affair, and the roots of the Eliot family are from Falcon Point, not far from Innsmouth. 

All young Nathaniel Eliot knew about his past after they fled to Florida were the names Innsmouth and Falcon Point, the certainty that he was one of the Chosen because of his special blood, and a hatred of the Federal Government.   He passed them all along to his offspring, as well as a particular family resemblance and a tendency to develop unpleasant skin conditions in old age.

Malcolm Eliot, the new patriarch of the current generation, has really taken his grandfather’s raving to heart, especially the superiority of his bloodline, and the perfidy of the Federal government, which have inspired him in the founding of the AFB.  However, Google searching things like Eliot, Innsmouth, and Falcon Point have turned up very little of import besides getting him on a watch list, and he is under the impression that his superior blood is White Anglo Saxon.
 
What has precipitated the current crisis is that the AFB have started sending their members to get ancestral DNA tests to prove their “blood purity” and to screen prospective new members.  This has generated a localized number of “hits” for an Operation SOMERSAULT data miner in the commercial DNA test industry, and a team has been dispatched.  (Operation SOMERSAULT is the Director’s off books operation to eliminate those who carry the Innmouth genetic taint) 

This teams activities has led to Malcolm Eliot recently losing a lot of family members, including a brother’s family killed in a single vehicle accident, his sister and nephew in a botched home invasion and a cousin to an accidental fentanyl overdose.

Malcolm suspects forces are moving against him, although he attributes this to enemies of the AFB, and has stirred up his hard core membership, leading to the murders of the affiliates of a motorcycle club with which the AFB has had previous disputes with regarding narcotics deals, as well as getting the poor life choices segment of his following to murder a vocal antifascist protester.  He does not yet suspect that elements of the Federal government are behind his losses, but that is a conclusion he will be swift to leap at should he be given a nudge.

ATF Inspection

Malcolm has noted two locations on his Federal Firearms License application, a workshop and storage area on the rural property at which he and his family reside, and a leased light industrial bay in town.  With the prearranged inspection visit, the Agents are to be allowed to inspect both areas. Both locations have been utilized for AFB purposes, and will have plenty of confederate flags and low grade propaganda present, although anything too damning has been removed.

With his license dependent on the interview and inspection, Malcolm will be trying to hide his dislike of the Feds and discomfort at them poking around, compounded with the recent deaths in the family and suspicions of being hunted.  Anyone with HUMINT > 20 should be able to tell he’s in a lot of stress, and trying to keep it together.  It should be relatively easy to pry out the information of his recent losses, and his feelings of persecution, using either provocation or empathy.  He will generally manage well enough to pass the interview, although it is unlikely that the Agents will be fond of him.

Also easily noticeable should be the fact that Malcolm is armed, and that both locations already contain a number of (legal) assault weapons and handguns, as well as hunting arms, as well as recently constructed storage for many more.  There is already cheap surplus ammunition in crate quantities.  Both locations, as well as the exterior of his residence, appear quite secure, with recently improved locks, hardened exteriors, window grills, bulletproofing, etc.  The approach to his homestead has been complicated with ditches, and some trees have been felled.  (Military Science will suggest that these improve fields of fire from the buildings, or complicate vehicular access to the property)

Readily visible at the industrial bay will also be a binder with a FindYourAncestryDNA logo emblazoned on the cover.  While most AFB records have been secreted away in the garage of a member for the duration of the inspection period, this was overlooked in the cleanup, partly because it’s not really evidence of anything.  It contains the test results of the AFB membership, and incidentally, almost the complete membership list of the AFB.

Where to go from here

At this point, the Agents should be aware that the AFB is small but armed, and looking to become better armed in the near future.  As well as crimes committed by the AFB, it appears that more Eliot family members than statistically probable have accidentally died recently.
 
If they stake out the AFB sites from the ATF inspection, they will have to split their forces, or choose one.  Shortly after the inspection, both sites will gain 2-3 AFB members running a more or less constant watch over both locations.  A number of boxes of documents and some computers will be transferred back to the sites as well.

Especially diligent stakeouts will determine that other parties have been surveilling both locations (tracks and other evidence at good vantage points, and possibly some technological monitoring devices, They may even spot additional vehicles tailing vehicles they are watching.)  Could turn into a game of tail-the-tail.  The SOMERSAULT team is good, but they will not expecting decent tradecraft so may be caught out.

 Investigating the deaths of the Eliot clan members should determine that the deaths are suspicious, in that nothing was stolen or especially disturbed at the home invasion, the fentanyl overdose was a person not known to use hard drugs, etc.  CIA SOG Agents and those with similar backgrounds will feel like they’re read the same manual.

The SOMERSAULT team may have a few more targets on the list ahead of Malcolm, which may provide direction for the Agents.

Inquiries at FindYourAncestryDNA may yield some results.  An account listing the tests Malcolm has ordered may provide a list of AFB members, and a good Medicine or suitable Science check may show that the victims have all had a similar marker in the junk DNA of their profiles, and provide a list of future targets.  Also, any investigation of the FindYourAncestry DNA computer network could find a backdoor exploit with active dataminer, which seems to scan the DNA tests as there are entered, and ping an outside site when certain junk DNA sequence appears.  Following up on that target site should be a trip down the rabbit hole, where the obfuscation level ramps up from online scammer level all the way through scary NSA level countermeasures.

The Green Box.  Both teams may be accessing the local Green Box.  There may be evidence of items being moved, added, or removed between visits, although the SOMERSAULT Team will immediately stop frequenting the Green Box as soon as they see signs of visitation.  A confrontation here is possible.

Conclusions

Should the Agents report that a death squad is targeting people based on their DNA profiles, their Control will tell them to investigate further.  Sometime following that report, they will get an urgent recall notice, and be told to drop the case.

If the SOMERSAULT team suspects the Agents are after them and part of the Program, they will get a similar recall.

Most fun would probably be a standoff with the SOMERSAULT team in the middle of an assault on AFL headquarters.

Credits

This was an entry to the 2017 Delta Green shotgun scenario contest, written by David Bagdan.