TREASURE TYPE DG~! GOODIES! WOOHOO~! - the MiB

Joseph Camp
Subject: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999

One and all,

I thought the following piece of tradecraft might be of use, especially to the current EMERALD HAMMER project. The text is excerpted from a fiction project by John Tynes titled RESOLUTE:

> Cell T was setting up a Green Box. This was Delta Green's term for a
> private-storage area used for storing useful supplies. Ideally, each major
> city had a Green Box where departing agents could drop off valuable
> resources, which future teams would access as needed. It was sort of a
> junk stash, a place to leave leftover ammo, flashlights, batteries, or
> what have you. In practice, only a handful of cities had Green Boxes, and
> their contents were highly random. Some might have sniper rifles and
> thermal-neutral suits that defeated infrared cameras; others might have a
> stale sack of chips and a polymorphic corpse sealed in plastic. You never knew what
> you'd find---assuming that the city you were in even had one. In the case of
> Cell T, Memphis had no Green Box. So they set one up. Alphonse would keep
> the keys and rental agreement, making regular payments and overnighting
> the keys to future agents' motels before they arrived so they could get
> equipped.
I hope you find this tidbit of use in your simulation exercises and fiction. Look for more info on the RESOLUTE project later this year, if all goes well. Some of you fine people may find yourselves remarkably prescient in certain areas, about which I will not comment further.

be seeing you,
Alphonse


The Man in Black
Subject: Re: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999

At the Delta Green Old-Timers vs. Young Turks softball game, Joseph Camp thru a wild pitch, smashing into MiB's groin-protecting Kevlar Cup. "NO PEPPER, NO PEPPER!" he screamed in a vox soprano:

This reminds me of an article in Pyramid magazine, which died and was reborn in a lame online version (lame in that it is online, that is). Perhaps Agent Starbird could forward the exact reference, but it was about those U-Stor-It companies and all the horrid goodies that could be found therein. The original inspiration was the private-storage mini-warehouse that Clarice Starling found the preserved severed head in Silence of the Lambs.

RANDOM TABLES~! RANDOM TABLES~! TREASURE TYPE DG~! GOODIES! WOOHOO~!


Phil Ward
Subject: Re: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 09:27:21 +0000

Nice name, can we add this to the archive and start a suggestion of things to keep in such a cache, not to mention where you might keep them. Or did we already do that once...?

Rental stores are all very well and good, and I can see ample opportunities for running firefights in cold metal rooms with lots of doors, but I can think of other places to put them:

Find a cheap motel and rent a room permanently, then you have a _sort_of_ safe-house too.

Basements of apartment buildings.

Storage areas of federal government offices.

That old IRA favourite, buried a few metres down under a beach where it can only be reached at low tide.

> > It was sort of a junk stash, a place to leave leftover ammo,
> > flashlights, batteries, or what have you.

Medical gear, spare papers, easily disposable money or jewellery, etc.

Anyone got any more to add?


The Man in Black
Subject: Re: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 16:56:21 -0500 (EST)

It's a long fly ball to center field, Phil Ward is going back... back...
He caught it! Delta Green wins the seven game series against the Majestic Blue Team! Delta Green has won the pennant, ladies and gentlemen!

> Find a cheap motel and rent a room permanently,

A Sleeping Bag and a cooler full of beer turns any of the places mentioned into a makeshift safe-house.

One of my Punisher Armory comix has a car with these sort of goodies in the trunk stored at a GB like this. Although the rented warehouse with the modular kit-built helicopters and police APC's is my favorite.


Michael Layne
Subject: Re: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 22:43:56 EST

Yes, I remember those! (Are they still being published? I haven't seen a new "Punisher Armory" for some time at the local shop here in Charleston...) Wasn't that rented warehouse the same one in which Micro got a delivery truck hung up on the internal ramp? :)

I know some of the gadgets there (together with US Cavalry & Brigade QM catalogs...) served as an inspiration for one of my CoC/DG characters -- Dr. Eloise Falworth -- who (being a former Girl Scout) believed in keeping survival gear in her Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited (the one in which she ran over 36 attacking zombies during an op in Lockport, MA...).

The H&K pocket flare launcher shown and described in one of the Punisher "Armory" books came in very handy, IIRC, during a later "problem" in the South Atlantic, for building a makeshift bomb to set off the ammonium nitrate in #1 cargo hold of a Liberty Ship, which was carrying (in #3 hold, before some of them got loose...) Cthuloid horrors which would require too much bandwidth to describe here... :)

(Maybe I'll hunt up my notes on this case, and write up a report...):)


Michael Layne
Subject: Re: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 22:43:56 EST

On Mon, 11 Jan 1999 16:48:28 -0500 (EST) The Man in Black writes:

> This reminds me of an article in Pyramid magazine,

"Warehouse 23", perhaps? Plenty of interesting artifacts in that place, although I think part of S. John Ross' inspiration for it was the Government warehouse where the Ark of the Covenant ended up at the end of "Raiders"...

The first chapter ("Legacy of the War") of the GURPS Sourcebook on Warehouse 23 mentions "Rumors about the origin of Warehouse 23, the occult nature of World War II, and other fables of the modern condition..." Other chapters include "Gallery of the Strange", "The Cryptozoo", and "Odds Unbeatable and Grisly Ends".

IIRC, there was even a Warehouse 23 page linked to the GURPS site which allowed you to randomly "open some of the crates"... (My personal favorite was the crate of blister-packed mint-condition "Captain Cthulu and the Star Spawn" action figures!!) :)


Richard Pace
Subject: RE: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes -- plot spoiler
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 19:50:16 -0800

This gives me an idea . . .

What if the game plot IS the Green Box.

The team is dispatched to investigate a mystery that "erased' the previous team -- they get sent in good faith, provided with all the data that the previous team had as well as everything that the dear departed team had sent back to DG . . .

The mystery is a ruse, or, more accurately, not the one they're investigating. Some piece of equipment, or the place it's stored has some super/extranormal effect on the team.

If you recall Lovecraft's From Beyond you get what I mean. The operatives may very well assume that whatever they are investigating is doing it. Perhaps, if you're a nice keeper, you'll tie what they're investigating into the mission they're currently investigating . . . I wouldn't.

Perhaps you could Jacob's Ladder (the film) the players - instead of seeing creepy otherworldlies overlapping our existence they see a slightly altered one.


Phil Ward
Subject: Re: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 08:56:17 +0000

The Man in Black wrote:
> A Sleeping Bag and a cooler full of beer turns any of the places mentioned
> into a makeshift safe-house.
Heh, but a carefully selected and stored backup weapon and a few spare magazines make it a life-saver :)

> One of my Punisher Armory comix has a car with these sort of goodies in
> the trunk stored at a GB like this. Although the rented warehouse with the
> modular kit-built helicopters and police APC's is my favorite.
I had one of those, but the scale was a lot tighter, lots of different weapons, and some surprisingly informed data about them, sounds like somone on the Marvel staff needed to join gun fondlers anonymous.

ObDG: Anyway, this sounds like a minor list project to me; list of interesting places where a green-box could be stored, and a colleciton of gear you might like to keep in them.

Imagine what ancient horrors could be lurking in 'green-boxes' that have been around since P Division was active (hey, they needed somewhere covert to re-equip too, particularly if they were operating in foreign lands...)

Can you imagine a modern DG team in another country finding that they have to gear up with WWII weaponry (and _very_ dodgy grenades) because that's the only cache available?


Jimmie Bise, Jr.
Subject: Re: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 09:26:38 -0500

I just finished re-reading "The Godfather" last night, and something germane to this topic was nestled right in there. The Corleone family, in preparation for War between themselves and another family did something called "going to the mattresses". Basically, they needed to have both a safehouse and a central location from which to operate their regimes. Each regime had its own safehouse and was "commanded" by a caporegime. The caporegimes, and certain top guys in each regime scouted out locations, rented the apartments, stocked them with mattresses, a small refrigerator, and other basics, and form there, they conducted their operations against the other family. The term used in the book came from the fact that all the soldiers in the Family slept on mattresses laid out on the floor.

The cool thing is, the apartments were scouted out just about at the last moment, were rented and stocked so quickly that the opposition didn't have time to get a good lock on where the safe house actually was. By not stocking the place with a lot of stuff, they made it portable, disposable, and very anonymous.


Jacob Busby Bsc
Subject: DG: Green Boxes
Date: 12 Jan 1999 16:43:18 GMT

OK here's a few ideas:



The Man in Black
Subject: Re: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 21:37:54 -0500 (EST)

Groundskeeper Michael Layne was suspended for "watering" the visiting team's dugout, causing them to sit in six inches of mud for the duration of the game.

> Yes, I remember those! (Are they still being published? I
> haven't seen a new "Punisher Armory" for some time...
Prolly :) I haven't seen an Armory in years. Lots of good tactical advice for SWAT/SpecOps, Lots of good training techniques too. Each subject gets one and rarely two pages of comic book art of goodies. My favorite is the Barrett 82 writeup, with the 1/2 steel plate being peeled like a grape by a nice circular grouping. Although My favorite Barrett 82 publicity has to be Tremors 2. The AP bullet kills a pre-cambrian walker (messily), goes through the corrugated steel warehouse wall, thought the 55gallon drum full of water, the cinder block wall behind that, through the toolshed, and finally stops in the engine block of their escape truck :)


The Man in Black
Subject: Re: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 21:52:55 -0500 (EST)

Phil Ward *is* Vengeance! He *is* the Night! (...the night ...the night ...the night) He *is* Baseball BatMan!

> ObDG: Anyway, this sounds like a minor list project to me; list of > interesting places where a green-box could be stored, and a colleciton > of gear you might like to keep in them.
TO THE ICE-CAVE, Bat-Boy~! The Man in Black is eating all the MRE's from every Green Box in Gotham! DUHNA-DUHNA-DUHNA-DUHNA! DUHNA-DUHNA-DUHNA-DUHNA! BATMAAAN~!

> Can you imagine a modern DG team in another country finding that they > have to gear up with WWII weaponry (and _very_ dodgy grenades) because > that's the only cache available?
"Dirty Dick" Marcinko, Shark Man of the Mekong Delta, writes in his books about legit SpecOps caches throughout Europe. In both NATO and Warsaw Pact countries. An ex-marine friend of mine once was stationed to some NATO ear-to-the-ground station on the border (or over the border) of [unspecified nation]. He was justa PFC and one of his tasks was to go out and bury shit in the woods for Snake-eaters to find. Once, some Pact troops held a big exercise in the area while he was playing Capt. Kidd, and he had to spend the winter night in a big-ass tree while BMP's and shit drove through the woods. All of [unspecified]'s Cold War stories end up like Sgt. Bilko or Mchale's Navy. All of his civilian experiences too. The man is a comedy magnet. I was there when he got elected President of our [unspecified community organization]. He didn't even know he was nominated. The look on his face was priceless.


Davide Mana
Subject: Re: DG: Green Boxes
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 14:13:55 +0100

About scattering through the Indian Country parcels of handy equipment, Jacob Busby wrote...

> OK here's a few ideas:
 [followed by some neat ideas]

More generally, the Green Box location should have the following characteristics

a - easily accessible (24 hours a day, 7 days a week would be the best)
b - relatively trafficked (not crowded but also not a solitary spot)
c - with strong controls (a fancy way to say "strangers stick out in this place" - good to put a tail in evidence)

Access to the Box should not attract undue attention.
While placing lots of gear in the grave of "Lt.Col. Reginald Green - beloved uncle and patriot" might sound attractive, a bunch of guys digging up in the graveyard could attract some suspicious glances.

Some prospect locations could be

You are invited to avoid the trite Airport/Train/Bus Station Secure Boxes and Lockers. If you really have to use them, remember to ask for a backup gun, taped to the top or the the right side, where you can get it while you take out the stuff.
Watch your back.

Davide Mana
Striving to Keep it Low Tech


Rob Shankly
Subject: Re: DG: Green Boxes
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 00:35:24 +1100

A boat of some description is a fine idea, especially one that still "goes": on several occasions Travis McGee took the Busted Flush out of harbour and up coast as a means of approaching the bad guys in an unexpected fashion. Houseboats, old canal boats, 25' sailers all have plenty of storeage space, and often there are others living about them (in marinas) who respect the privacy of the regular inhabitants while watching strangers like hawks. Of course, those with close ties to the sea are not always friendly.

Regarding the contents of a Green Box, one class of item not to be missed is illegal drugs. The common ones are reasonably easy to convert into cash if required, can be used to provide a reason to hold someone in custody ("Look what we found in the toilet-tank Sherrif!"), and can always be used to provide an easy explanation for a death (the coroner found large traces of heroin in the dead man's body). And as was noted recently, PCP can be used as an excuse for all sorts of behaviour.

The other critical item (others have mentioned this) must surely be good fake ID and credit cards.


Davide Mana
Subject: Re: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 10:24:54 +0100

I'm back after a 24 hours net blackout (I hate my ISP) and a funeral. 100-odd messages to go through, including the MIB wishing me good night (thanks!)

More on the ball, I was well pleased to see that Phil Ward wrote, answering the MIB

> Heh, but a carefully selected and stored backup weapon and a few spare
> magazines make it a life-saver :)
Amen!
There are some simple things that can change your outlook, expecially if you are down on your luck.

> ObDG: Anyway, this sounds like a minor list project to me; list of
> interesting places where a green-box could be stored, and a collection
> of gear you might like to keep in them.
The first time I met the concept was in a Len Deighton novel - "The IPCRESS File" IIRC - and the thing was called "Life Insurance".
Slightly different, actually, as Life Insurance is an unmarked bag featuring, among other stuff

Each agent is supposed to have one dumped somewhere, and it's meant just to grant a swift get away should things get hot.
The basic concept is not to overdo the thing - keep it very small and essential; just like a life jacket, it has to keep you afloat, not to carry you across the Atlantic.

Finally it would be a matter of roleplaying and not of firepower.
I like that [suggestion filed for future use].


Jimmie Bise, Jr.
Subject: Re: DG: Green Boxes
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 13:51:24 -0500

> More generally, the Green Box location should have the following
> characteristics
>
> a - easily accessible (24 hours a day, 7 days a week would be the best)
> b - relatively trafficked (not crowded but also not a solitary spot)
> c - with strong controls (a fancy way to say "strangers stick out in this
> place" - good to put a tail in evidence)

Okay, I have a place or two. These are fairly generic, and most would work nicely in more rural locations, because they don't depend on there being cities with museums and bus stations and such. They also have the advantage of not needing a lot of attention on them to work correctly.



Mark McFadden
Subject: DG: Tradecraft - Green Boxes
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 15:11:00 -0800

Lockers in 24-hour gyms. Admittedly, 24-hour health clubs are not a universal institution yet, but major US cities have them. And the low-rent variation would be YMCA/YWCA/YMHA lockers. Of course, then you have to deal with the Village People.
Advantages:
There's nothing odd about someone entering/leaving a gym with a big equipment bag.
There's nothing odd about someone entering/leaving a gym in different clothing.
Choose the right time of night and you could dye your hair in one of the back shower stalls without anyone seeing. And the hair dye smell will mix well with the omnipresent chlorine and disinfectant.

Another variation on this would be to utilize gay bathhouses for meeting other agents/informants. Nothing suspicious about a couple or four guys looking for a little privacy to "talk". And everyone in the meeting is obviously unarmed (except for the weapons they were born with).
One of the first rules of subterfuge is to never, ever try to appear 100% not guilty. If you are being investigated, always give them something to find. "So THAT'S why he was being so furtive!" Pretending to be bisexual and worried about your security clearance is better than the truth when NRO is sniffing around.

Mark McFadden
Glock? Check.
Holdout piece? Check.
Hollow tooth? Check.
Soap on a rope? Check.


The Man in Black
Subject: Re: DG: Tradecraft - Green Boxes
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 20:37:17 -0500 (EST)

Mark McFadden swingin' the stick for the Ambiguously Gay Dodgers. MiB with the Back Door Pitch. CRACK! Right in the Sweet Spot! McFadden making his move past first base and rounding second. McFadden is in position to score!

>Another variation on this would be to utilize gay bathhouses

ROFLMAO! I suggest the "Blue Oyster Club" from Police Academy, and "The Tool Box" from Wayne's World 2 as possible names for such places.


alex@bofh.torun.pl
Subject: DG: Tradecraft: Green Boxes
Sent: 16 January 1999

> Swimming Pool lockers: (Better than airport ones) Tiny, short term,
> (more than a week and they'll notice) but low rent, easy to get and
> untraceable.
The railway station/airports automatics lockers are fine too, but at least in the most of Western Europe you have to put your bag thru x-ray display before locking it so nothing illegal will pass. Terrorism, you know, like people keeping explosives, guns, and fake IDs there.

:->


The Man in Black
Sent: 15 January 1999 23:55
Subject: DG: Green Boxes

Inventory from the Punisher's Armory Issue #2, annotated by the Man in Black:

A well-maintained Chevy Malibu (or other battlewagon sedan)

The trunk of which contains:

*******

Also see Pyramid #8 (July-August 1994), Terra Incognita - U-Store-It by Derek Pearcy for tips and tricks concerning the rental storage industry and it's relevance to Horror Conspiracy role-playing.

One final note - storing fully-loaded magazine's for firearms is not a good idea, as it will cause undue wear on the springs. This is a matter of some contention, as some suggest that modern machined springs can handle the long-term storage. Exact figures and studies are non-existent, so better safe than sorry is my view.

Firearms should be stored disassembled. This may not always be tactically sound. Combination gun-safes or gun locks are another consideration when storing firearms. Several "layers" of protection (plastic box + plastic-bag + oilcloth) to prevent corrosion is prudent.


Davide Mana
Subject: Re: DG: Green Boxes
Sent: 16 January 1999 11:41

Greetings.

I finally went back to "The IPCRESS File".
The things I was looking for are in chapter 28, and are better than I remembered them. Here's the passage I mentioned earlier, slightly redacted to save bandwidth.

----
Near Leicester Square there are some grubby little newsagents who specilize in the fleshier style of art magazines. [...] For a small fee they act as accomodation addresses for people who receive mail that they would rather didn't arrive at home.
From the inner confines came the smell of boiled socks and an old bewhiskered crone with a fat manilla envelope addressed to the person I was purporting to be.[...]
Inside I knew there was a new Chubb key, a United Kingdom passport, an American passport (clipped to which was a Social Security card in the same name) and a UN secretariat passport.
Tucked inside each was an International driving licence, a few bills and used envelopes in the same name as that particular passport. There were also cheque books from the Royal Bank of Canada, Chase Manhattan, Westminster and the Dai-ichi Bank in Tokyo, a small brown pawn ticket, twenty used ten shilling notes, a folded new manilla envelope and a poor-quality forged MetropolitanPolice warrant card.
I put the key, pawn ticket, warranr card and money into my pocket and the other things into the new manilla envelope. I walked down the road and posted the envelope back to the same address. A taxi took me to a bank in the city and the chief clerck conducted me to the vaults. I fitted the key into the safe deposit box. I removed some five pounds note from inside it. By this time the clerck had discreetly left me alone. From under the bank-notes I slid a heavy cardboard box, and broke the wax seals on it with my thumb nail. It was the work of a moment to slip the Colt .32 automatic into one pocket and two spare clips in the other. [...]
The pawn shop was near Gardner's corne. I paid £11 13s 9d and exchanged the pawn ticket for a canvas travelling bag. Inside was a dark green flannel suit, cotton trousers, two dark shirts and six white ones, a bright Madras jacket, ties, socks, underwear, black shoes and canvas ones. The side panels contained razor, shaving cream, blades, comb, compressed dates, plastic raincoat, folding knife, prismatic compass and a pocket of Kleenex. Into the lining of the suit was sewn a 100F note, a £5 note and a DM100 note, and into the small amount of padding was sewn another key to another safe deposit box.
---------

The book was first published in 1962: money, prices, some documents and clothing style need of course to be updated. For the rest, this passage offers a few interesting hints.
Note that this version of the Green Box is modular, so that some "sections" (like the bank box) can possibly be accessed from different entry points, and the Box setup can be updated without "reinstalling" the whole lot. Also note that some of the things listed are subtler than they seem: the razor is a formidable weapon in close quarters, and is perfectly legal (AFAIK); the dark green suit is as hard to spot by night as the black suit one of the guys on this list usually sports, with the added advantage that it does not look suspicious in some environments (the same goes for any other dark colour - but I like the idea of the Green suit).
The whole setup is as low tech as possible - less mobile parts, less possibilities for a mishap.

And we do not know what the "other key" gives access to.

And this is it.
For Your Information.


Joseph Camp
Subject: Re: DG: rec.games.frp.misc Sent: 17 January 1999 02:03 >...some of us are Welsh and we are just great. Sorry I've
>just come in from a night out anf i@m very drunk.
 My god, he really is Welsh!

be seeing you,
Alphonse

obDG: Courteous agents wrapping up an op leave two fifths of alcohol in the local Green Box for the next team; the type of alcohol left demonstrates the degree of courtesy, and some are "signature" types that let you know who was there. Agent Shasta, for example, leaves Chinese rat wine, a sweet wine fermented with the bodies of baby rats (a few are included in each bottle).


Robert Thomas
Sent: 17 January 1999 02:16
Subject: Re: DG: rec.games.frp.misc

> >...some of us are Welsh and we are just great. Sorry I've
> >just come in from a night out anf i@m very drunk.
>
> My god, he really is Welsh!
Yes


ObDG Personally I'd reccommend leaving some quality vodka. You can either drink it or use it to sterilise wounds / surgical equipment he choice is yours.

rob. who's now off to bed as its 2:30 am


Graeme Price
Sent: 17 January 1999 19:13
Subject: DG: Booze (was: Re: DG: rec.games.frp.misc etc)

Joe Camp (ex-Harvard Academic and Reference Librarian) wrote:
> obDG: Courteous agents wrapping up an op leave two fifths of alcohol in
> the local Green Box for the next team;
I can relate to that. Every time I finish up an op I leave an empty bottle of Laphroig behind me. Face it, if the ghouls get to you, the least you can do is give the bastards cirrhosis....


FRANK M ADAMS
Subject: Re[2]: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes
Sent: 15 January 1999

The effervescent Phil Ward wrote:

> I had one of those, but the scale was a lot tighter, lots of different
> weapons, and some surprisingly informed data about them, sounds like
> someone on the Marvel staff needed to join gun fondlers anonymous.
They've got a club for that? Wow, to think of all the lonely one-handed gun fondling sessions I've wasted... gotta get their address quick.

> ObDG: Anyway, this sounds like a minor list project to me; list of
> interesting places where a green-box could be stored, and a collection
> of gear you might like to keep in them.
O.K.! Here are three sample Green Boxes - the Good, the Bad & the Ugly:

The Good:


Location - Downtown Chicago's Union Station Switching Yard.

Southwest Service Track 28 runs right along the Chicago river and is pretty accessible from a variety of directions. Located about 600 yards from the station proper is a rather beat-up and rusted switch box with an even older looking lock on it. It's fairly well concealed and protected from view. Though it appears on old blueprints, it is left alone none-the-less. It is unidentifiable from the other boxes of it's type except for the graffitti carving "DG + MJ" encircled by a heart on it's rusted front cover. This old box is deceptively tough and would require substantial effort (and noise/attention) to break open.

This Green Box (a.k.a. G-Box, a.k.a. Goody Box, a.k.a. GashStash) contains a fifth of Johnny Walker Black Label, a Ruger Super Redhawk .44 Magnum with a 7 1/2" barrel, a box of 50 "Kevlar Kutters" - armor piercing .44 rounds, a box of standard .44 rounds and three speed loaders, a compact Smith & Wesson 9mm Lady Smith(TM) and a box of mixed rounds - 1/2 hollow-points and half standard with three 8-round magazines, a large Rambo-style all-purpose knife, a water-proof highbeam Mag-Torch Flashlight, 6 Magnesium Flares in a small waterproof case, a small bottle of low dose amphetamines, 2 packs of matches, a variety flavor pack of High-Energy Powerbars, a six-pack of Yoo-Hoo, a bag of BBQ Doritos, a bottle of aspirin and a bottle of Pepto-Bismal. There's also a voucher for $10,000 in the Union Station Office Safe that must be signed for along with a beat-up leather wallet containing $500 in small worn bills (for those times when you don't want to sign for 10-large). All this is in a large leather travel bag protected by a durable black Hefty garbage bag.

The Union Station G-Box is an emergency-only resource for desperate agents in the downtown Chicago area. Specifically for those times when you've been relieved of cash and/or weapons and are in dire need of same.

It has only been used twice in recent memory - once by R Cell's Agent Raymond who had been beaten and robbed by a street gang in Greektown - no Mythos relevance, just bad luck and poor timing on Agent Raymond's part. The second was actually Mythos related and concerned the tragic last mission of V Cell's Agents Vey and Velma - Operation WINDYCITY. Details are available from Agent Valentine for agents operating in and around the Greater Chicagoland area...


The Bad:


Location - roughly 2 miles west on US Hwy 160 from the "4 Corners" landmark where Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico meet.

This cheesy looking stand is set-up roadside with a large sign emblazoned - Joe's Jewelry & Junk - "Buy genunine artifacts of the famous cliff-dwelling and mysterious Anasazi!" These "artifacts" consist of one very old looking broken pot and an old bone handle labled - "part of a comb". They carry a sticker price of $3000.00 for each and are probably more dusty now from lack of interest than when they were first forg- uh, created.

One of the many tacky Native American Indian jewerly and blanket stands that dot the Southwest, Joe's Jewelry & Junk is nothing special. Unless you're a DG Agent in need, that is.

It appears to be run by a grizzled old Indian (who looks more like an eskimo) named Iye (pronounced EE-yeh). He receives a blank envelope every month with $1500.00 bucks in cash to maintain the G-Box located nearby. Friendly looking and with an easy smile his only answer to most questions is a gravelly, "Joe's not here."

The only questions that elicit any other response are those related to "supplies", "help", "weapons", etc. They must always be associated with the phrase, "Andrea says it's time to earn your green!"

Upon hearing this, Iye will give a crooked grin and pull out a dingy neckchain with a key on it. He will walk down the rocky slope behind him, motioning for the inquirers to follow. He will seem unconcerned if there are other customers at the stand or not.

After about 300 yards along a winding trail they will descend deep into an arroyo filled with tumble weeds. Iye will stop at this point and hold out the key. When taken from him, he'll point at an indentation in the wall about 30 yards farther along. Having done so, Iye will turn around and leave, but not before motioning that the key be given back to him when no longer needed.

The indent is more like a large crack in the high arroyo wall. A few feet inside is a tunnel about 3' high that runs for 20 feet or so and slopes gently upward. It finally narrows to a very sturdy modern steel door.

The key opens the door and inside is a little slice of heaven.

Built like a very modern bombshelter, this series of rooms couldn't be more carefully thought out. A small red light flashes and a voice says to "Please step inside and close the door." After the door is closed a comfortable overhead light blinks on and the door seals itself with an authoritative 'clunk'.

At this point the details are left to the Keeper as to how well-stocked/fortified this G-Box is. My thoughts are to have a hidden generator, satellite hook-up, stocked refridgerator, medical supplies, small work area, a couple of cots, TV, Computer w/internet connection, a safe with $10,000 cash (DG encoded instructions are next to it), and a weapons cache to give the MiB a little stiffy. Grenades, Claymores, M-16s, a Sniper Rifle, M-203, .45s, 9mms, a Mac-10, an Uzi, and plenty of C4. Not to mention the possibility of a few LAWs, a mini-flamethrower, samuri swords, tasers, etc.

All perishibles are maintained by Iye (especially the beer - he loves Corona and thinks everyone else does too) who replaces them regularly. Other items are delivered in unmarked crates at Joe's Jewelery stand and Iye schleps them down and stores them himself.

Needless to say, this G-Box is a prized resource and is NEVER to be compromised or used lightly.


The Ugly:


Location:

Stored in a battered blue Coleman KwikServ 40.

There's a small very rough statue of something that can only be described as bizarre. Looking almost like a porous tentacled ashtray it's made of a very rough coral like material and is safe to handle unless you rub your hand over it roughly the wrong way. If the skin is broken, the wound heals leaving a funny little scar. Even this is O.K. unless the scarred person spends more than 3 or 4 months in a hot humid environment such as deep jungle or some rainforest areas. Regardless of the time that has passed, the scar will bloom into an irridescent colored growth of mold or fungus-like material. It will be very pleasant smelling and tingle just a little. If unchecked it will not grow much outside but will cause the area to swell as it "digs in", eventually becoming the size of a baseball. The growth will last for about a month in hot humid environments, but will quickly brown and die elsewhere. Either way it will shrink and leave just a tiny scar and light discolorated patch the same size as the previously swollen area. While affected, the host is very unconcerned and will even go so far as to conceal it from prying hostile eyes until it has run it's course. Should treatment be forced (the only way a person will accept it), the growth responds to most topical ointments and such. It doesn't seem to have any affect on the afflicted person other than the obvious visual effects and these two distinct blood related conditions: 1) The person will never suffer from High/Low Blood Pressure, Cholesterol or similiar maladies ever, and if they had before, they're gone now. 2) The person is now allergic to alcohol and can't ever touch a drop again without becoming violently ill. Both of these conditions are unexplainable to current medical science. The statue's origin and composition are unknown.


Christopher Williams
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 11:07:02 BST
Subject: Re:DG: Tradecraft - Green Boxes

More Green Boxes:

A theatre/opera house: A ready made excuse for moving large heavy trunks in and out. "Props, dear boy. Which way to storage?" Also the potential for "Green Room" hilarity.

Sewer Systems: Once you clear out those damn Ninja Turtles that is...

A post office depot/ warehouse: "Package for Green Corp.?"

Swimming Pool lockers: (Better than airport ones) Tiny, short term, (more than a week and they'll notice) but low rent, easy to get and untraceable.

A Locked fridge in a rubbish dump: Well, no-one'd think of looking there. Just don't wear your best suit when unpacking

An abandoned Subway train: Just make sure the equipment is secure, otherwise it'll be gone before you know it, and there'll be some local streetgangs knocking off shops with your M-16's.

A broken lift in a condemned building: Just put on hardhats and say you're building inspectors.

A restaurant/pub/club: Always have nice out of the way back doors and loading bays. Occasionaly have bands playing. "Those cases? Sound equipment. Lighting gaffes.The usual."

Remember also that it's not enough for the actual owners of the property not to know what's in the box, they shouldn't even know they've got anything out of the ordinary. The Opera house director should be surprised to be contacted by the Green Theatre company, but sure enough those are their boxes in his loft space so he's glad to be rid of them.


Robert Thomas
Sent: 20 January 1999 14:28
Subject: Re: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes

Hello All,

I've just remembered I wanted to post a follow up to the Green Boxes thread from a while back so here goes:

Having recently watched an episode of the X-Files involving Artificial Intelligence. I was struck by the similarity between the Green Boxes idea and a situation in the episode which would be very applicable to the DG environment. This would make the Green Boxes slightly larger and could only be used in larger cities or ports possibly. The idea involves setting up a secure living environment containing bed / computer / phone line / whatever the cell wants in a large Container used for sea / rail transport. Usefull as a refuge in emergency and for storing those pieces of "evidence" which could cause problems. Basically this container would allow someone to lie low for several days or even weeks. A usefull tool given the situations cells find themselves in perhaps there could even be a "black" front company which just moves DG containers around to the sites of investigations then to anyone looking they would apper as a normal shipment, moved in for a length of time then out again.


The Man in Black
Sent: 20 January 1999 23:42
Subject: Re: DG: Tradecraft/Green Boxes

Physical security of these containers might be troublesome. For the 50th State Fair, which I volunteer for, we converted a bunch of old aluminum modular containers for use as portable office space, a secure finance/ticket window affair, and others for storage. This was the genius idea of Brian Borthwick, long time wargamer, Fair Chair, and chainsmokin' lung bustin' RIP :(

Mobilizing these containers requires a BIG-@$$ forklift that picks 'em up and wobbles on bad pavement onto a flatbed trailer. The corners of the containers are locked down with Container Locks, which should be familiar to anyone in the trucking industry. At our Campbell Industrial Yard storage site, we fenced off an area and stacked two together for a multistoried work/storage building.

The point here being, that these containers get moved around a whole lot, and one with wires or sat-links sprouting from it will attract attention and get in the way of forklifts and cranes. A container on a junkyard might not have these problems, but a normal modular container gets a lot of milage and activity.

Anonymous living quarters shouldn't be too outlandish or irregular. Roach Motels, Tenement Apartments, and trailer-homes have plumbing, are surrounded by (dubious) witnesses, and have the benefit of not being way out in the middle of nowhere.


Mark McFadden
Sent: 19 January 1999 21:49
Subject: DG: Green Box signature booze.

My cargo container at Terminal Island has got a rather well-stocked bar, what with all the out of town traffic. A little heavy on the Night Train and Mad Dog 20/20 (the "wine" that killed Norfolk, VA!). Too many Feds who don't know how to fudge an expense report no doubt. Cheap bastards.
Note to DEA types: don't get cute with your contributions, some of us get surprise piss tests.

Y'know, add a jukebox and a few tables, this could be a cozy little VIP lounge. Callahan's Endtimes Saloon anyone?


Davide Mana
Sent: 27 January 1999 10:37
Subject: DG:Green Box

> When I was in Dubrovnick, Yugoslavia in '77, I purchased an excellent
> French meal at a lovely seaside restaurant for one (1) Zippo lighter.
> I don't smoke anymore, but I still have a Zippo (with extra flints
> tucked into the cotton) on hand at all times.

A pair of Ray-Bans can work much the same way and probably give you more mileage.

This could be an interesting thing to add to the Green Box setup - something legal, lightweight and easily exchanged for services/stuff. The booze Alphonse suggested can also have this function. The old silk stockings/american cigarettes/chocolate cliche' needs to be updated, but the principle is worth taking in consideration.


Phil Ward
Sent: 27 January 1999 11:37
Subject: DG: RE: Green Box

Well like someone already said, drugs are probably a good idea, they should be easy to trade in for a certain amount of cash, in other countries, there are probably many different answers. Jewellery or precious metals are probably quite good.

In 3rd world countries, we might be looking at rare ammunition types or weapons (status symbols for warlords), fuel cache's.

Rare foodstuffs for the gourmet are probably quite good, but they have the problem of taste and spoilage...



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