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The Company
Time: Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
Place: The ski slopes of British Columbia.
Last Event: Leave time!
The trouble with vacations is that they end too soon. The Company gives the Agents their promised time off – and then, like clockwork, Chaturvedi telephones on the evening of February 29. He opens with questions about the chalet, which start out casual enough ("So is the place classy?", "Quiet and private?") but grow progressively more bizarre ("How easy would it be to secure?", "Is there any nudity visible at nearby lodges?"). It soon comes out that the group's next assignment is to act as servants and security staff to a conservative guest from the Muslim world. They're to pick him up within the week and then wait on him for up to a month, until he has completed an important meeting with another mysterious party.
Eventually, Chaturvedi fills in some blanks. The client and two bodyguards will be traveling to Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport on legitimate papers at some point in the next week. The client has requested pickup by three men, at least one of whom must speak Arabic. They're to escort him to B.C. secretly. While he's staying with the group, all food has to be halal, the women must cover their heads and keep separate quarters, and there can be no alcohol on the premises. The client has made it clear that if he's met by too many or too few people, or by a woman, or by a group with no Arabic speakers – or if the safe house has sinful bareheaded women, strong drink, etc. – the whole deal is off.
Chaturvedi stresses that the Company deems the upcoming meeting so important – in a global, political sense – that it has agreed to task an entire team as glorified babysitters. Thus, the Agents have no choice but to play things polite and deferential, however they might feel about religious conservatives. They're to provide the client with secure transportation from Montréal to B.C., see to area security at the chalet, and be the man's de facto servants, no questions asked. They aren't to serve as his bodyguards, though; he has two of those already. His eventual meeting is to take place at the lodge up to a month from now, and the group is to handle security for that, too.
After that, the phone call becomes a conversation again, and it's time to discuss the job's practicalities. Asked about code words, Chaturvedi conveys that the client is to be known as "Bruce," and that the password/response sequence for the Montréal pickup is "Pink"/"Youth." When the Agents request equipment – body armor, firearms, and surveillance gear in particular – Chaturvedi promises to do his best. He then adds, "You will have a significant budget for this assignment. Sakata's efforts are working, and the client is exceptionally financially solvent."
Once the briefing is over and the speakerphone is switched off, the Agents discuss their assignment. Anabel opines that a Muslim client of political importance is probably linked to Arab Spring events; her guess is that he's Syrian. Vinnie believes that the best way to fetch the client from Montréal would be by private jet, tapping the "significant budget" to cover rental and fees. Hamid and Paul are chosen to accompany Vinnie as the welcoming committee, on the grounds that Hamid is diplomatic and has flawless Arabic, while Paul excels at spotting shadows. The group then makes a shopping list for the next few days: good binoculars, hand-to-hand combat weapons (knives and a tonfa), and basic security cameras (if only cheap ones), as well as appropriate clothing for the women, halal food, and other nominally Muslim trappings. After that, it's time to get some sleep.
The crew uses Thursday for a shopping trip to Vancouver, leaving Jili, Klas, and Paul to hold the fort. Anabel shops for fashionable-but-conservative clothing for the women; Lev and Qoqa acquire trappings that they believe will make the chalet look homier to the team's guest (though the shisha that Qoqa insists on buying is just tacky); and Vinnie, wearing his chef's hat, purchases an exceptionally good halal cookbook and the food to go with it. Meanwhile, Hamid finds portable security cameras at a consumer electronics shop, Wen picks up some binoculars from a wilderness outfitters, and Zhang goes to an "army surplus" outlet for knives and tonfas. The shoppers also grab a variety of personal items – including a stock of booze for Qoqa to stash – and then return to the chalet.
Over the next few days, the Agents clean up the lodge and decorate it in a manner they hope their conservative guest will find pleasing. Vinnie also investigates various options for the jet, eventually finding a company that will rent the right kind of aircraft to wealthy travelers who have their own pilot. The deposit and insurance for this are outrageous, but then the Company has money. Hamid and Jili use this time to install the civilian-grade cameras that Hamid bought in Vancouver.
On Monday, March 5, a courier van pulls up unexpectedly and the driver drops off four boxes without waiting for a signature. When the Agents examine the attached paperwork, they learn that the shipment originated from Halifax, is addressed to a "Bruce Pink," and bears specific instructions to leave the crates at the door. Given that the recipient name is made up of code words that Chaturvedi established by phone, the delivery is almost certainly from the Company. Nobody is prepared to take chances, though: Vinnie and Wen make sure that the packages are devoid of dangerous booby traps before bringing them inside.
Sure enough, the delivery is courtesy of the Company. It includes fitted body armor and a high-end wireless surveillance system, both identical to the gear the team received in Tokyo. Each armored shirt has identity papers and credit cards tucked into its pockets. There are also firearms, though it's clear that Chaturvedi must have been involved in picking these out, as they're rather odd: Taurus Model 608 revolvers. The Agents shake their heads at the eight-shot, .357 Magnum hand cannons, but Lev tries to see the upside: "Well, at least he included moon clips and plenty of ammo, and there's no denying that eight shots of .357 could ruin someone's whole life."
That evening, the phone rings. It's Chaturvedi, on his customary secure line, calling to update the Agents on their assignment. He confirms that the team received his delivery, and then informs them that "Bruce" will be arriving at Trudeau on Wednesday. Asked whether he has any intelligence on when the client's meeting will take place, he grows vague: "Later this month, I think." Everyone listening takes that to mean "You don't need to know right now." With that, the call ends.
Early on Tuesday, March 6, Hamid, Paul, and Vinnie get ready to drive to Vancouver to see about a jet. Despite the hour, Anabel agrees to go along, both to help broker the deal and to drive the car back to the chalet afterward. Anabel dresses up for the job, insisting that the transaction will go more smoothly if she poses as a playgirl and the three men masquerade as her staff. To this end, the four stop at a suit shop, where Anabel picks out matching outfits for Vinnie, Paul, and Hamid. She then browbeats and bribes the staff into quickly adjusting them to fit. Her spoiled-rich-kid act is flawless, and by mid morning, she looks like a celebrity traipsing about with her hired help.
Between Vinnie's meticulous research into local businesses that rent small jets, the Company's flashy charge cards, and Anabel's convincing act, the rental itself is almost an anticlimax. Anabel walks in, plays up being the celebrity ("You don't recognize me?"), drops her Black Card, and declares that her pilot requires a plane to get her to a party in Montréal as soon as possible. Then she walks off while the clerks check the card and Vinnie's pilot's papers. Despite mumblings about the request being "irregular" and "last-minute," the staff aren't about to turn down big money walking in the door. After Vinnie fills out a stack of paperwork, they inform him that his aircraft should be ready to depart in four hours.
By early afternoon, Vinnie is doing his preflight check aboard a small Bombardier jet that seats two crew and seven passengers. With her work done, Anabel slips away and speeds back to the chalet with some comfort items for the team (notably, dumplings for Wen). For Hamid, Paul, and Vinnie, the rest of the day consists of flying, refueling, and flying some more. Back in B.C., Jili sets up the wireless surveillance net to watch the doors, balconies, and driveway, making sure that the concealable, high-end cameras are positioned so that they'll cover the same areas as Hamid's cheap, visible ones and catch anyone tampering with the obvious stuff. Qoqa conscripts other five to help her get the place spotlessly clean (and hide her booze in a secret cache outdoors).
It's dawn on Wednesday, March 7 when Vinnie lands the jet at Montréal/Saint-Hubert Airport, a facility which specializes in handling smaller aircraft, about 16 km outside Montréal. He keeps everything on the up-and-up, checking in properly and then relinquishing the jet to the rental agency's designated local partner for refueling and a ground check, telling them that he'll need to fly back to B.C. by early evening. After that, he, Hamid, and Paul go off in search of car rentals. Vinnie procures a suitably impressive limousine and drives to Trudeau, where the three Agents check into an airport hotel to get some rest.
Vinnie, Paul, and Hamid set their alarms for 30 minutes before they're supposed to pick up the client. Suitably refreshed, they clean up, don their new suits, and head out in the limo. Hamid stands in sight of the arrivals door with a sign that says "Bruce," while Paul and Vinnie hang back and watch the crowd, just in case. Right on schedule, the three spot a man who could only be described as a "wealthy Middle Eastern gentleman," strolling down the center of the hallway with a $50,000 watch on his wrist and a hulking bodyguard at each elbow.
Rolling their eyes at the client's utter lack of subtlety, Paul and Vinnie join Hamid in order to make it clear that the welcoming committee consists of three men, exactly as requested. Hamid handles the initial meeting entirely in Arabic, though Vinnie and Paul can make out the words "Pink" and "Youth." The client seems to like Hamid, but scowls at the other two. Through his bodyguards, both of whom speak English, he communicates that he wishes to get moving at once, and isn't thrilled with having to change airports for the rest of his trip.