GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Chapter Twenty-Two

The Arbco Marketing Firm was an advertising agency that produced a wide range of advertising copy and commercial production services. Inside their four-story New York headquarters, there were conference rooms full of executives planning and discussing commercial properties, offices full of advertising employees writing ad copy for any number of projects, and salesmen pitching a wide range of new products. In production studios on the third floor, paid actors were filming infomercials, salesmen were rewriting the scripts, and audiences were given free samples. Down on the first floor, cubicle farms were packed with customer service representatives talking with prospective customers, and telemarketers making thousands of phone calls a day. The entire building was filled with people advertising and selling products of all kinds.

At approximately 8:30 in the morning, right after most of their employees had arrived and started work, police sirens blared down the packed city street. All of a sudden, a dozen police cars screeched to a halt right in front of the building, their red and blue lights flashing. Right behind them, a dozen more black unmarked SUVs pulled up and federal agents poured out. Vehicles blocked the street and dozens of law enforcement officers ran around the building on all sides, stringing up yellow police tape. Pedestrians on the sidewalk gathered around and watched in surprise as officers entered the building, wielding warrants. More officers placed wooden barriers along the street, blocking traffic.

Two gray military MPAV Jeeps pulled up a few minutes later and maneuvered around the barricades. The doors opened up and the GI Joe team emerged from the two MPAVs. Hawk, Duke, Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Gung-Ho, Heavy Duty, Shipwreck, Breaker, Short Fuse, and Clutch walked to the building, and Hawk waved his military ID at the officers to let them inside. The only member of the team who was missing was Stalker, because he was still recovering at the Pit.

“Doesn’t look like a terrorist headquarters to me,” Gung-Ho said as they walked into the large, brightly-lit lobby. The floor was soft gray carpet, and the walls were lined with posters featuring advertising slogans and several framed documents awarding the company for outstanding service in the industry.

Beyond the main desk, there were several police officers holding back a crowd of nervous employees, talking and shouting and trying to be heard, asking what was going on and why they were not allowed to leave.

“Okay,” Hawk said. “We’re looking for evidence of Cobra’s involvement in this company, and maybe even evidence that they were located here. We have law enforcement everywhere, so if there are any Cobra operatives here, they can’t leave. The police are already conducting a search throughout the upper floors.” He looked at Duke and nodded. “Okay, Duke. This is your show. You know more about Cobra than I do. How do you want to handle this?”

Duke stood in front of the others and folded his arms. “I don’t think we’ll get lucky enough to find the entire organization here. But someone working here gave those trucks to the men who attacked us. We need to find out what connection this company has to Cobra.”

“So where do we look?” Shipwreck asked.

Duke said, “Breaker, you’re the computer expert. Find yourself a computer with access to the entire company’s files and look for any irregularities. Hijack the computer in the company president’s office if you have to. There are already some computer experts working on it as well, so you’re in charge of them.”

Breaker snapped his gum. “Gotcha,” he said, and went off to find a computer, like a bloodhound tracking a scent.

“Go with him, Clutch,” Duke said. “They must have security cameras here. Start reviewing the footage from the other day and see if you can track where those men came from. If they were already in the building or if they came from somewhere else.”

“Sure thing,” Clutch said, and ran off after Breaker.

“Okay,” Duke continued. “Hawk, Gung-Ho, and I are going to start talking to some of the upper management. We’ll see if we can learn anything we don’t already know.”

“What if the guy working for Cobra isn’t in upper management?” Scarlett asked. “He could be somebody in the mail room for all we know.”

“I know,” Duke agreed. “The FBI is already starting to go through the employee and personnel records. Some of the men who attacked us have been identified, so we’re going to see if any of them worked here or used to work here. Shipwreck and Short Fuse, I want you to take over with that. You have the files on Cobra, maybe you can find something.”

“It’ll be like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Short Fuse said simply.

“Then I guess we’ll use a magnet,” Shipwreck said. “Come on, Short Fuse. The sooner we get to work, the sooner we can find what we’re looking for.”

“Contact me with your walkies if you find anything,” Duke said.

“So what about us?” Heavy Duty grumbled. “I hope you don’t want me to start looking through files or something boring like that.”

Duke managed a smile. “No, you get to do the fun job. I want you three to search through the building for anything out of the ordinary, anything that might be evidence that Cobra has connections with this company. Go to the parking area under the building first, that’s probably the best place to start. Check the perimeter, see if there are any storage areas or back rooms where Cobra might want to hide something. We don’t have any building blueprints unfortunately, so you’ll have to just start looking. Start there and work your way up. The police are here to help us, of course, so they can assist you.”

“I thought you said it was the fun job,” Scarlett remarked.

“It is,” Duke said with a smile. “I’d rather do that than interrogate a bunch of upper management guys. Besides, you and Snake Eyes are infiltration experts, you have an eye for this sort of thing.”

“Alright,” Scarlett said. “Let’s get to it, then.”

As everyone went their separate ways, Hawk said to Duke, “Did you have all that planned out before we got here?”

“No,” Duke admitted. “I just sort of came up with it on the spot.”

“Well, you did a good job there. I was wondering if we were all just going to stand around while the cops did all the work. It was a good idea to give everyone something important to do.”

“I told him that he was getting good at giving orders,” Gung-Ho chuckled.

They went upstairs and were directed to the office of the vice-president of the company, an overweight, middle-aged man with thinning hair and an expensive gray suit. Two FBI agents guarded his door as Hawk, Duke, and Gung-Ho made their way inside. The vice-president sputtered and demanded to know what was going on.

“I can assure you that nothing illegal is going on here!” he blurted. “I have no idea what you think you’re looking for! And I don’t have to tell you anything without my lawyers present!”

“Can I go help Snake Eyes and the others?” Gung-Ho muttered to Duke.

“Nope, I said they got to do the fun job. We get to do the crap job.”

“Yeah, I understand that now.”

Meanwhile, Breaker and Clutch were downstairs in one of the large computer rooms, already at work. There were half a dozen computer stations, and federal agents were seated at the others, starting their check on the companies computer system. Breaker was already flying through a series of windows and programs on the screen, opening up the company’s accounting files.

“You always follow the money,” he said to Clutch, who was seated at another computer at the table across from him. “If you’re looking for evidence, always follow the money. A company like this has money pouring in from all directions. I just have to find where the money is all going.”

“Good luck with that,” Clutch said, shaking his head. A police officer came in with a stack of security videos on disc and set them on the table. Clutch looked at the stack of CDs and sighed loudly. “You know, I became a vehicle specialist specifically so I wouldn’t have to do desk work like this.”

Breaker leaned forward and stared deeply into the computer screen. He blew a bubble and it popped loudly. “You’ve got to broaden your horizons,” he said.

“I rather have broads on my horizon,” Clutch muttered.

While they were going through the computers and security videos, Shipwreck and Short Fuse were in a supply room right down the hall. It was lined with filing cabinets, and several FBI agents already had files and folders spilled out across tables, going through the company’s employment history.

Short Fuse stood in the doorway, shaking his head. “I’m going to get Hauser for this. He gave me this job on purpose.”

“It ain’t so bad, man,” Shipwreck said. “It ain’t like there’s anything else for us to really do around here. All these cops are doing most of the real work.”

“I suppose so,” Short Fuse said, taking a seat. He set a pack of files down and handed some of the papers to the FBI agents, listing the names of some of the people that were suspected of working for Cobra. Some of them were the people whose parents had accused Cobra of brainwashing or being a cult.

“Do you think we’re actually going to find anything?” he asked as Shipwreck opened up one of the filing cabinets.

“You never know, man,” Shipwreck said with a shrug. “Maybe we’ll get lucky. I’m not gonna bet any money on it, though.”

As they began to sort through files, looking for any familiar names or possible aliases, Snake Eyes, Scarlett, and Heavy Duty arrived at the underground parking lot, almost directly underneath them. More FBI agents were talking to the security guards, and they walked unhindered into the parking area and looked around.

“Who exactly is allowed to park down here?” Scarlett asked one of the FBI agents.

“Senior management and company vehicles. All regular employees have to park at the parking garage down the block.”

“Seems pretty empty right now,” Scarlett said.

“Yes, we noticed that. We’re questioning the security guards now.”

“Find out about those SUVs from the incident yesterday morning.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Only a few spots in the parking area were filled, and they were all expensive luxury cars, presumably the cars driven by the management. Lexuses and BMWs were parked along one side, while almost the entire rest of the parking garage was empty. Down at the other end, they could see doors leading to elevators and stairways to the upper floors.

“If they were here,” Heavy Duty noted, “they are long gone now, and they took all the trucks with them.”

The FBI agent came back over and told Scarlett that the guards didn’t know where any of the company vehicles were. They were gone when the guards had come to work. Scarlett thanked him for the information and took out her walkie-talkie. “Clutch, this is Scarlett,” she said. “You’re watching the security cameras, right?”

“Yeah, I’m just about to,” Clutch replied.

“Can you start with the underground parking lot? All the company trucks are gone and the guards don’t seem to know where they went.”

“Okay. None of these CDs are labelled, so it’ll take a few minutes to find the right one.”

“Thanks.”

Scarlett clipped the walkie back onto her belt and walked through the parking lot. Heavy Duty headed back to the elevators and checked inside. Snake Eyes walked slowly around the entrance area and sauntered back up the ramp to the alley behind the building. He looked up and down the alley and then casually walked back to where Heavy Duty and Scarlett were.

Scarlett put her hands on her hips. “Well, I guess we can check those elevators.”

Back upstairs, Hawk and Duke were talking to the president of the company. He sat at his desk and shook his head vehemently, wiping dots of sweat from his forehead. “I have no idea about any trucks,” he insisted. “I can’t be held responsible for everything that goes on here. Certainly no one said anything to me about them. If they were property of our company, then they must have been stolen.”

“Forget about the trucks for a moment,” Duke said. “How old is this company, out of curiosity? Did you start it yourself?”

“No, I didn’t found the company. Arbco has only been in business for six years. It was founded by a man named David Ekans. I was hired as general manager about four years ago and I became the president last year.”

“Where is David Ekans now? Does he still own the company?” Duke asked.

“I’m sorry, but Mr. Ekans died several years ago in a house fire.”

Gung-Ho walked over to Hawk and said quietly, “Didn’t Cobra get started around about six years ago?”

“Something like that.”

“Don’t it seem a bit suspicious that they got started around the same time and then the owner mysteriously dies?”

“Coincidental, maybe,” Hawk said. “I wouldn’t say suspicious just yet.”

Meanwhile, back downstairs, Breaker was still trying to access the vast amounts of accounting files on the company’s server. He managed to find budget information and payroll accounts, but it was hard to tell how accurate it all was. He leaned back in the chair and chewed his gum thoughtfully.

Clutch sorted through the security videos and finally gave up. “They don’t have any security tapes of the parking lot,” he said. “That’s pretty stupid if you ask me. You’d think that the parking lot is one of the places they’d want a camera.”

“That is pretty strange,” Breaker said. “They don’t have a camera at the entrance or anything, so see who comes and goes?”

“No, at least they don’t have it here with the others.” He picked up his walkie-talkie and called Scarlett back. “Hey, I can’t find the videos for the parking lot, sorry. Maybe someone else has them.”

“Okay, but keep looking for them,” Scarlett replied.

“Sure thing,” Clutch said. He flipped through the discs and found one that showed the front lobby. The timer on the video showed that it was from the day before, so Clutch inserted it into the computer and slumped forward, his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand. He clicked on the screen and the video zipped into fast-forward. He watched the timer at the bottom of the screen and pressed play when it showed the time was roughly an hour after the shootout with the Cobra agents.

“Hey Breaker, take a look.”

Breaker pushed away from the desk and his chair rolled over to the other computer. Clutch paused the video, and it showed several people standing in the lobby, one of them talking with the secretary. At the corner of the screen, there was a man in mid-stride wearing a white jacket, and sporting a bald head and thin mustache. The resolution on the screen wasn’t that great, but the man was recognizable due to his unique appearance.

“Isn’t that the doctor guy that Hawk and the others visited yesterday?” Clutch asked.

“Yes, it is,” Breaker said. “I saw his file, and that’s him all right.” Breaker picked up the walkie and spoke into it. “Hello, Duke? This is Breaker. You should come downstairs. We found something you might want to see.”

“Okay, Breaker. I’ll be right there,” Duke said.

Back in the basement, Snake Eyes walked to the stairwell and tilted his head upward, looking up through the narrow space in between the flights of stairs going all the way to the top floor. Scarlett talked to the FBI agents while Heavy Duty looked at the elevators, but found nothing out of the ordinary. The basement had no clues for them, so Scarlett suggested they go back up to the main floor.

“I wonder why they even have a freight elevator,” Heavy Duty said. “The guards said that only company cars park down here. It’s not like they would take deliveries down here anyway.”

“I don’t know,” Scarlett said. “It was probably just installed when the building was first built, and this company moved in afterward. They probably didn’t even use it.”

Snake Eyes walked over to the freight elevator and quickly glanced around the inside. There was a simple control stick that could be pushed up to the desired floor. It was currently set for the basement, but there was a hollow section below it. Snake Eyes tried to push the lever down, but it didn’t move.

Scarlett looked down at the control box and tried to open it up. “Do you think someone has disabled it?”

Snake Eyes nodded, and gestured for Scarlett to exit. He lifted the lever and quickly stepped out as well and closed the metal fence door. The elevator shut and they waited as it moved up to the first floor.

Snake Eyes stuck his sword inside the gap in the doors and pried them open enough for him to fit his fingers inside. Heavy Duty helped him pull the doors all the way open, revealing a dark elevator shaft.

Scarlett peered inside and saw that the shaft extended below them at least one story, maybe even more. She looked at Snake Eyes and nodded.

“Duke,” she said into her walkie-talkie. “We found something in the parking garage. I think you should send some people down here.”

<--Previous Chapter|Next Chapter-->