[pshrynk]

A Faceless Bureaucrat walked down the hallway of the Canal Zone offices of the OIS, her heels clicking sharply. In her hand, she carried a sheet of yellow paper. She entered a small room at the end of the corridor, where Yet Another Faceless Bureaucrat sat behind the desk.

Looking up, he said, "Yes? I can't remeber your name, but you look familiar."

"That's because we all wear the same non-uniform uniforms. I just got this from Western Union."

"The small college in Northwest Iowa?"

"No, the telegraph office. It's from Mexico City."

"Am I supposed to know anything about that?"

"We have Naval Operations going on in the Sea of Cortez and our Station Chief went there last week."

"Talavera pottery?"

"Among other things. Look at this." She dropped the telegram on the desk.

Yet Another Faceless Bureaucrat looked at it with growing agitation. "I can't read this! It doesn't make any sense!"

Faceless Bureacrat reached over and turned the telegram right side up.

"Oh! That's better! OH MY GOD!"

"Exactly. We need to do something."

"We need to get this to the Station Chief. Right away!"

Faceless Bureaucrat looked up at the ceiling for the length of time it takes to count to ten there or four times. "Considering that it has to do with the place that our Section Chief is at the moment and also to do with why she may have not reported in for three days, don't you suppose that waiting for her to get back might not be a bit of a problem?"

Yet Another Faceless Bureaucrat sat, looking stumped for a good long time. "You... suppose... we should do something about it ourselves?" he finally asked, panic creeping into the edges of his voice.

"What an excellent idea!" said Faceless Bureaucrat. "No wonder they made you Paperclip Inventory Subsection Head!"

"But what? Do we have anyone on the ground who can deal with this?"

"As a mater of fact, we do. He's generally a European Asset, but he happens to be on holiday in Mexico city, right now." She opened up a file and handed it to Yet Another Faceless Bureaucrat.

"Eeeeewwwww! What kind of face is that?"

"He's Swedish. I sent an encrypted message to him to get on the case..."