The Shadow

The vast network of The Shadow is most put to the test when he himself is not there. Crime in New York does not take a break simply because its greatest foe is busy overseas. It is the job of his agents, then, to make sure that trouble on their home turf at least grows no worse. They must keep an eye on the deeper plots of the criminal underworld, collecting information as they stew, for the inevitable game of catch-up when their chief returns to the city. The increasing globalization of the internet, and a widespread agent use of modified PINpoints helps, keeping The Shadow abreast of developments hours after they occur, rather than days or weeks.

For several weeks, beginning before Thanksgiving, The Shadow has left New York in the care of his agents. He's been making a number of shorter trips overseas, and what he goes to do, even his agents do not know. It is the Burbanks alone, perhaps, who have some clue, as their chief absent-mindedly starts to answer a transmission in Russian. The newer techniques of communicating make it difficult for even his own communications experts to tell his exact location. By the time The Shadow returns to New York, there's much of interest on the news, but the crimefighter is already turning his attention to other things, ready to strike out at drug rings and arms dealer, and all the usual suspects. A vigilante's work is never done.

Crimes that exist almost solely on paper and in computer banks is some of the dullest to deal with, but not less important for that.

The line into Kuwait has been crossed. Never before have I stood back from a war in my lifetime, but I cannot in good conscience interfere too deeply in this one.

Like an oil well, there is far more beneath the surface here than what shows above ground, and it must slowly be dragged up to light, but at what cost?

The war for truth is one that cannot be won, today.