Gustavus Amehr eventually woke up around noon and felt a bit more relaxed after finally getting some sleep being up all night with the reports that their recruited front man, Charles, had managed to uncover from the closed doors reveal meeting and the counter protests that had formed against their anti-reveal group. For Gustavus, who had dedicated his life to the safety of weres everywhere from the problems that rogue weres caused, the fact that a new were would propose revealing the were secret was troublesome. The fact that he would convince others, including likely a female werefox who was at least 200 years old if not older, and gain a fairly sizable amount of support was worse. To Gustavus, it only reminded him of the warnings he'd gotten from an older Luna Brotherhood member at least some one hundred years ago on the problems humanity posed to weres. Rogues were a threat to weres, but their biggest threat was always the paranoid and fearful nature of humanity that would react beyond the threat that rogue weres posed.
"Ah... you're up," came Quintus's voice from the doorway making Gustavus look up to see his partner enter the room relatively quietly. The last he'd seen of Quintus, he'd just been heading out while he tried to get some sleep. The look on his partner's face was not super enthusiastic, but Gustavus didn't expect it to be given the reports from the previous night.
"Yes... and a bit better relaxed," Gustavus spoke as he sat up and moved toward where his bags were, "I take it things haven't improved much today?"
"From last night... no," Quintus answered slowly, staying quiet on the call he'd made the Luna Brotherhood's local headquarters, "but it's not likely that much would change from there... not unless something dramatic happened... which so far as I know... nothing has."
Gustavus sighed heavily as he dressed himself, he expected that much, "have there been any developments?"
"Well... Charles thinks he can continue to arrange some protests around the homes of the city council members... so we might be able to influence some of them," Quintus answered, "but THAT is not entirely certain. Charles will be meeting with the protesters that he has with him, but much of that will be brainstorming for the moment. And since this isn't to look as though we are organizing it..."
"We can't be too deeply involved," Gustavus gave a depressed sigh, "what of Herald? Is he still in Moon Lake?"
"I'd think by now he's in Seattle, at work," Quintus spoke.
"Well we can check... at least monitor some things... or at least see what their is to monitor," Gustavus spoke, "maybe his security is more lax or there is some situation where we might be able to get him where he could be vulnerable."
Quintus shrugged but said nothing as Gustavus finished dressing and the two went out. The sky was relatively bright and wasn't too cold, but things were getting a bit cooler, showing the signs of the approaching winter. They calmly made their way to their car and then drove up and through Moon Lake, going up to the outer most hub that made up the central circular roads that contributed to Moon Lake's wagon wheel layout. Once there, Gustavus turned west and drove along that curve until he drove past the Stevens home, and sighed as he found there were no cars there. It would mean the home was unguarded and in theory they could break in and deal with the Stevens and Herald as they returned, but for the moment Gustavus felt that would be too much. They needed something that wouldn't leave to many witnesses or set off any warning signs.
From there, Gustavus could only sigh and drove out with one quick trip through the Moon Lake Burger King's drive through and sate some hunger that had been building since Gustavus had missed breakfast. From there they were soon on the road to Seattle, looking for some way they could get something that would present a weakness on Tom Herald's routine or actions, though Seattle wasn't really something that either felt would be an easy opportunity, for they had their own offices there and given the present situation, assassinating a major news reporter would attract police attention and given the arrest of Lionel Ulysses and the vigilante murder of of the wererat by Dymixious Drake, the Seattle PD would likely be a bit on edge and a bit more vigilant than they might have been otherwise. And while the Luna Brotherhood had offices in Seattle and plenty of government contacts that often protected them, the present circumstances wouldn't allow for that. That was what made Moon Lake so much more viable for them, but they couldn't just ignore it.
Thus there was the hope that they could get some image as to what Tom Herald's routine actions were, as in theory he should be pretty busy as his paper looked for stories. It was possible that his reveal was one of them, but Gustavus figured that while he was gaining support in Moon Lake, he wouldn't actually run with it yet. But that would have to mean he'd be going through some other story, and that was what they'd need to see in order to begin tracking Herald's routine or if he'd end up in some part of Seattle where the police were less present and less active, because a direct approach to talk with Herald wouldn't work. If they did anything it would have to be either discreet or something that would take Herald out.
"There he is!" Quintus pointed out as they drove along.
Gustavus could only give a quick glance as they drove past the newspaper that Herald worked at in Seattle and could just faintly make out Herald making his way into the building before continuing on into the newspaper's offices. That gave Gustavus the impression that the werefox was merely returning to "work" from lunch and wasn't preparing to go anywhere. Which meant that if he had a new story he was on, he wouldn't be leaving for it yet. Here, however, Gustavus found himself thwarted by Seattle traffic. It might not be as intense or crowded as some other cities, but it was still big enough that Gustavus couldn't easily dart toward where the Seattle Times had its parking area, where Herald likely parked in order to see when the man returned to his car. It took him some time to circle around back to it and as they came close, Gustavus also then saw a posted sign that read "Seattle Times personnel ONLY." That would limit how close they could observe, and the circling back soon took them past another sight and this one being something that Gustavus caught onto first. A lone Japanese American male walking along the sidewalk around the newspaper's parking lot and area, which was an indication that the Moon Lake Skulk was providing some security services.
"That'll make monitoring Herald directly more troubling," Gustavus grumbled, "the Tachibanas still have guards protecting Herald... at least to a degree." Which means we can't just park in the area and tail Herald's car... they'd notice." Quintus slowly nodded as they drove along. In his silence, Gustavus had room to try and think of something and eventually Gustavus did have an idea. "We gotta find out Herald's story... and if we can't follow him to a story... maybe we can hack his email and get the story that way."
"That'd take time as we don't know Herald's passwords or what email he primarily uses," Quintus spoke.
"Us personally... no... but I've made some calls with certain parts of headquarters... namely the tech division," Gustavus answered, "see if they've made any progress."
"We'd invade a man's privacy?" Quintus asked.
"His reveal is already invading ours," Gustavus answered, "I'd say that gives us the right to do anything we can to protect the were secret. And if Herald doesn't like that... too bad for him."
From there Gustavus turned to a more familiar route to Quintus and one that took them to the area where the Luna Brotherhood offices where, and after parking in a public parking garage and a brief stroll to the building, the two made their way in. The building looked on the outside like any old office building, and there were a few business fronts that operated out of it, but this was a front and a cover for their rogue were policing operations. Those operations had some of the most advanced equipment that in many cases was often only available to the world's government agencies, which in an odd and hidden way, the Luna Brotherhood technically qualified as, even if no one knew it or what the Brotherhood actually did. It also at times allowed for ideas and techniques that were common in spy novels but not so much anywhere else, and as the two made their way into the tech support offices on the third floor, Gustavus had the hope for it.
There were a few rows of desks that maned the area with agents working at something, some likely on legitimate business and others on the Brotherhood's more secretive work. However the area that Gustavus was looking for was the main office area that was in the back corner. On the door to that office was the name plaque "Penelope Aria." Gustavus approached it and knocked on the door twice. The opened to reveal a somewhat heavy-set normal human woman with clearly bleached white hair that was done in curls. She wore a black blazer with a white high collared shirt under it with a silver necklace that showed a full moon on it, the Luna Brotherhood's symbol for a normal that knew and understood the truth. They were often heavily vetted and more often than not were the siblings of agents that had been normals before becoming weres.
"So... Agent Amehr... Agent Fives, to what do I owe the honor of your arrival... without an appointment or assignment?" Penelope Aria said slowly.
"Just information what I'd requested on how you were getting into Tom Herald's email accounts," Gustavus answered while Quintus stayed quiet.
"We had to run them through our decryption computer program... and even THAT took a few hours," Penelope answered, "which means he's at least inventive with passwords. The private email was even harder because we had to figure out the username too.”
“Did you find it?” Gustavus asked.
“Yes, but I don’t think he has any of his plans on his email,” Penelope answered, “most that do look like plans have been work related for the Seattle Times. They seem to have him on a research project right now.”
That got both Gustavus and Quintus curious as they followed Penelope into her office and toward her desk. She sat down and pulled up her own web-page and then opened two tabs and set about going to the appropriate websites, one being the Seattle Times homepage and the other being Google. They watched as Penelope then pulled out a pair of note sheets and followed the instructions into log into BOTH emails that she had found connected to Tom Herald.
"Would he notice someone else logging into his email?" Quintus asked.
"If we were a private citizen or someone using a private computer, their safety alerts would alert him to it," Penelope answered, "but given our systems here with the Luna Brotherhood are connected to the FBI, the CIA, and various other law enforcement agencies, we aren't recognized as tripping those sorts of security checks... at least on initially. It would essentially be like they were investigating him under things like the Patriot Act. Thus his security recognizes us as law enforcement and thus we have the right... or at least the ability to spy on him."
"Very Double Oh Seven," Gustavus commented as Penelope scrolled through the emails.
"More Tom Clancy and John le Carré than Ian Fleming," Penelope answered, "the real prize here is information, not action packed fight sign with trick gadgets that just so happen to fit the plot. And that's my job here... to find and present the information... and at times analyze it."
"The personal email doesn't seem to have a lot of contacts..." Quintus said slowly.
"Most of those are ads... there is some things from his parents, and they seem rather skeptical about how his proposed marriage with Alice Stevens will turn out... apparently had some bad luck with previous marriages," Penelope answered, "which given his work history... might mean that he's either too wedded to his work to pay attention or never had any real interest in the previous women he's dated and married."
"Well he is a werefox now," Gustavus commented, "if their bond has formed... it'll be there and he will instinctively do what will make Alice Stevens happy. She... however is a wild card as we don't know as much about her leanings."
"And none of that his shown here," Penelope nodded and then flipped the tabs so that they were looking at Herald's company email for the Seattle Times. "Which would indicate that he's not rushing this reveal plan and nor is he putting it anyplace where someone could stumble onto it."
"Which would mean he's seriously thinking on the pros and cons of it... right?" Quintus wondered which got Gustavus to glare at him.
"Perhaps," Penelope answered, "but it could also mean that he's smarter than the average rogue. Perhaps not violent and won't do it for revenge, money, or anything else... but he could still fit into the rogue category. In that his emails don't show enough information on that... and neither of you have sent in any reports as to why he has this reveal plan beyond that he's a "smart rogue." Thus we don't have enough information to go on."
She then opened up the tab on Herald's Seattle Times email, and here they could see more messages, many of which looked like they were various law enforcement agencies. This intrigued both Gustavus and Quintus and distracted them from any discussion on whether or not Tom Herald was truly "rogue."
"Most of these have been interview requests with various parts of the state over past few days..." Penelope explained, "it would appear that his editor is worried about any warning signs of a major crime wave coming into Washington state. Some are replies that give him a sort of answer to the questions while others refuse to answer the questions, and a few have accepted the request and he's had the in person interviews."
"So this is that research project you mentioned..." Gustavus said slowly, "is crime coming to Washington..."
"Beyond the statistical norms, yes," Penelope nodded, "and some of them are well away from the Seattle area..."
"And thus Moon Lake," Gustavus smiled as he had an idea, "we'll need to consult with the boss... see if we can get other agents to put pressure in some of these other cities to accept these interview requests. That way, when the Moon Lake City Council meets... the one pushing this reveal is conveniently absent. The move will fail and when Herald returns he'll find no support and no movement. Thus when he returns in a week or so... he has no support and no supporters and thus vulnerable, allowing us to put the rogue down and making sure he can't try anything like this again..."
"It might be more that you wouldn't HAVE to kill him," Penelope answered, "if he were the sort that would truly push a reveal without Moon Lake's approval... he would have done so already, as he has access to the media and medium to do it. The fact that he's not doing so, to me, shows that there is more going on than anything else."
"Regardless... it might at least delay what progress has been made," Quintus added in, "and could make US look better."
"Maybe... but stopping the rogue is the prime issue," Gustavus spoke, "and while protesting might not work as well as we hoped and the Moon Lake Skulk is protecting a Seattle werefox... getting at him directly would be risky. This could help... but I'd sleep a lot easier at night knowing the rogue won't be a threat EVER. But for now... a little spying work can help, come on, let's see if we can arrange some of these towns away from Seattle and Moon Lake can schedule Herald for some in person interviews on consecutive days. We can go from there."