The team's forays into the Fraser Valley from their base in Burnaby had not been uneventful. First was following up on rumours of some kind of unusual wildlife in the Fort Langley area. They discovered that an old hermit had been looking after two African elephants, Heffalump, a male (healthy) and Woozle, a female (which was injured). It was determined that they had been released from the Vancouver Game Farm in Aldergrove. A visit there revealed a survivor community not far from the game farm, based on the prewar town of Aldergrove, under Mayor Walt Rousseau.
One piece of information they gathered there was that a group of American soldiers had been in to town three days prior. They were on foot and seemed peaceful, trading for some food before leaving. They had also asked about any unusual wildlife. They hadn't said where they were from. But it seemed possible they were related to what seemed like an American army patrol that also visited Aldergrove three months prior, did some trading and visiting a local veterinarian before leaving peacefully.
As well, no one in Aldergrove had heard of the Hells Angels being active in the area but a new motorcycle gang, the Razorbacks, had started to make itself be known throughout the Fraser Valley by extorting travellers along the Trans-Canada highway by Abbotsford and terrorizing local communities. It is unknown if the Razorbacks were affiliated with the HAs but this seemed reasonable as the HAs were notorious about not letting independent clubs invade their turf.
They were then called to make and emergency intervention with an unknown mercenary force (including a T-54 tank) that was attacking another DRI team in Langley. This developed into a tank duel between the T-54 and the AVGP Cougar, with the team's Carl Gustav tipping the balance. The other team, including Provost Belanger from the UBC government enclave and USMC Gunny Parks, was evacuated safely and the wounded taken to hospital. A significant antagonist, an ex-US Army (AKNG) sniper nicknamed "Brownstone", was wounded in a sniper duel with Master Sniper McRae. The mercenaries were just hired guns, mostly deserters from mainly the US Army but a few were Canadian and Soviet ex-soldiers. Brownstone seemed to be more key to who they were and what they were doing but so far he declined to talk as he waited in "cells" (as the lockup was called) at the UBC RCMP detachment. As the other DRI team's mission was classified it was not clear why they were there or what they'd done to attract such attention.
After returning to base in Burnaby they were instructed to perform a recce of the Valley border crossings at dawn. Intelligence from PAs (Police Agents aka Confidential Informants aka CIs) posing as arms dealers indicated a shipment of weapons had recently crossed the border from the US into Canada somewhere in the Fraser Valley. If the mercenaries were involved with the HAs (Hells Angels Motorcycle Club) then it's possible they also had something to do with this shipment. This "recce" revealed that very recently a large cargo vehicle (probably a semi tractor-trailer) escorted by 2 motorcycles had crossed the border going north from US State Route 539 and then continued along Highway 13 in Canada via the Aldergrove Border Crossing, which was otherwise abandoned years before. There were no other tracks but it had rained 2 days before, obliterating any prior tracks. (They also found a fairly intact Environment Canada weather radar tower just to the west of there, and that Abbotsford International Airport had been destroyed by nuclear attack, likely an airburst because residual radiation was normal.) The Sumas Border crossing south of Abbotsford seemed to have been abandoned for a while as well but there was no large vehicle tracks or indeed any tracks since the rain.
Passing by Fort Langley the team decided to drop in as it had been a couple days. They were shocked to find Old WIllie unconscious and the elephants gone! He was still unconscious when transported to Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster and so could not provide an account of events at the Fort, but examination of the scene revealed that a small group mounted on another elephant(!) plus a half-dozen more on foot had led the two elephants there off.
It being late and getting close to sundown (and under orders to return to base ASAP) the team returned to their forward base at Caribou Hill High School to find all your gear packed up in an army 10-ton Percheron HLVW.
Reporting in to HQ at UBC (via radio) you received your orders. You are to turn in the AVGP Courgar (The "Mighty Mighty Cougar") and pick up new personnel and a LAV-25 Coyote that was waiting for you at the armoury of the local Militia unit, the Royal Westminster Regiment (aka "Westies"). Additionally you were to move your base to Fort Langley in the morning. Additional orders were to locate the rogue Americans, as it seemed possible that some kind of violation of Canadian sovereignty had occurred (beyond just some minor cross-border trading). Lastly, they were to support the ongoing undercover operation to identify and interdict arms smuggling from the USA, as well as gather intelligence on the Hells Angels and any other armed criminal groups they may be operating in league with or operating independently in the Fraser Valley. As well, a New American cell (from Alberta) had been encountered by the team a month back so it seemed possible they were hanging around.