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The Company
Time: Monday, June 18, 2012.
Place: A scummy apartment building in London.
Last Event: Settling in, meeting the locals, and baking.
With work starting tomorrow, if Belinda is to be believed, the Agents decide not to get into any more trouble around the apartment building. The night passes uneventfully, as does the following morning, and Belinda turns up at 13:00 on Tuesday afternoon. With a simple "Here's your first bit of work," she drops off a sheaf of documents and photographs, along with a small voice recorder. When the team presses her about equipment, she asks them to review the job, make a list of everything they need, and then signal her. The agreed-upon sign is Anabel's bright-red knickers hung in the window as if to dry.
Gathered round the voice recorder, the group listens to a man's voice explaining that their first target is a known bomb-maker, and quite dangerous. Their assignment is to grab him alive and scour his hideout for potential intelligence. Anyone found with him can be considered "expendable." There are plenty of photographs of the subject in locales the world over, including several taken in London. Among the accompanying papers is a map of the city with an area marked "Suspected Area of Operations," in the industrial wasteland north of King's Cross.
Poring over the files, Qoqa – who knows London well, especially the dingy parts – recognizes a brick building that's barely in focus behind the target in one of the photos. It's located in the area marked on the map, and she believes it to be some kind of old warehouse or factory. Of course, it might be nothing more than where the man happened to be walking when he was photographed, but it's a start. Analysis of the photos also suggests that the subject has at least six associates, who look like goons or bodyguards.
The Agents then make a list of things they'll need for the job:
• Cash, to buy suitably unobtrusive and practical clothing.
• Radios, for communication.
• Binoculars, for stakeouts.
• Cameras, for photographing suspects and any intelligence that can't be moved.
• Electronics tools, for modifying the radios and circumventing security systems.
• Basic EOD tools, in case the bomb-maker leaves a dangerous surprise.
• Silent weapons – knives, stun guns, and tonfas – in case things get rough.
• Additional medical gear, in case things get really rough.
Then Anabel hangs her drawers out the window to signal Belinda. Sure enough, Belinda stops by on Wednesday morning to collect the Agents' list. She looks it over, promises to procure the gear as quickly as possible, and then takes her leave. Everyone decide to keep a low profile until her return.
Toward 12:00 on Thursday, June 21, Belinda returns yet again, this time accompanied by the two punks she had guarding the street when the group first arrived at the building. Between them they're carrying a long, fat rolled-up carpet wrapped in tape and filthy brown paper. In fact, everything about the situation seems a little dirty, including Belinda's assistants (one of whom is actually nicknamed "Stink"). The whole episode smells more of the streets than a clandestine operation run by a national government – although that's probably deliberate.
Once Belinda and pals have departed, the Agents take stock of what's rolled up in the bundle. They find a wad of greasy £5, £10, and £20 notes; 10 short-range radios; five sets of tourist-grade binoculars; three good-quality digital cameras; extensive electronics tools; a set of portable EOD tools; a plastic tonfa, two stun guns, and a plethora of knives; and sufficient extra medical supplies to boost what Qoqa already has to "crash kit" level. Adding in Vinnie's lockpicks, the team has just enough gear to do the job, although it's on the light side. It isn't exactly a carefully crafted kit of cutting-edge tactical equipment with a matte-black finish.
The Agents decide to use the afternoon to finalize their material preparations. Hamid and Jili gather up the radios and electronics gear, and get to work seeing what adjustments they can make to give the team a degree of communications security. Vinnie scavenges bits and pieces from the building's electrical room and the lift's machine room, hoping to assemble an adequate set of auto-theft tools. Anabel, Klas, Lev, and Qoqa take the cash and go shopping for suitable clothing for everyone – that is, dark, rugged stuff (though Anabel vows to return with at least one attractive outfit). This leaves Paul, Wen, and Zhang to wander around the neighborhood and keep watch on things.
Between Qoqa's knowledge of London and Anabel's skill at haggling, the shoppers find excellent deals on surplus army boots and second-hand clothing of the dull, shapeless kind that's suitable for lurking in alleyways and climbing buildings. In fact, they do so well that there's a fair bit of cash left over. Anabel uses this to buy a nice dress, shoes, makeup, and other frippery. She explains that if she's supposed to contact and attempt to "use" Terence West – as recommended by the group's Indian intelligence contacts – then she damned well wants to look good doing it.
The team is reunited after dark. Anabel immediately disappears again, to go dress up. Hamid and Jili show off their handiwork, and explain at great length how their modified radios won't be heard on commonly used civilian frequencies. Qoqa spends the evening washing (more like "sterilizing") the second-hand clothing. And Vinnie packs his various files, jimmies, rakes, slim jims, and torque wrenches into a couple of convenient kits.
Well after dark, Anabel reappears – looking very sexy – and says that she wants to pay Terence a visit at home. Everyone agrees that it would be good to see what she can learn about the group's current assignment before they start it in earnest, as it wouldn't do to get caught up in an ongoing MI5 operation (or worse). Without further ado, Vinnie ducks out with his tools, aiming to steal a car. Minutes later, he drives up to the apartment door, fetches Anabel, and heads for Terence's house.
Vinnie opts to play it safe, taking an indirect route to his destination and then making a slow pass to check the area for threats. He and Anabel see that the lights are on at Terence's house. Neither of them spots anybody lurking nearby, however. Vinnie parks a safe distance up the street, and then he and Anabel double back to Terence's in the shadows, approaching from the rear. The kitchen door is locked, but Vinnie soon has it open, allowing Anabel to glide inside. After that, Vinnie sneaks back to the car to wait.
Anabel decides that it would be unwise to surprise an MI5 officer, particularly one known to disobey Section policy and use firearms when the job calls for it. Thus, she calls his name and identifies herself. Terence appears in the doorway in seconds, looking only half-surprised. Anabel can tell immediately that this isn't the look of a man who believes her to be dead in Japan, or perhaps Myanmar. Still, he's clearly relieved to see her.
In the interest of starting off on the right foot, Anabel elects to bring Terence up to speed by telling him the truth: about the Agents' experiences in Thailand, Myanmar, and India during the spring; about their recent return to the UK; and about Indian black ops in London, including the fact that the Indians showed off photographs of Anabel's last visit to Terence's house and suggested that she "use" him. Anabel then tries to get Terence to return the favor and share what he knows about all of this, if anything. Terence pleads ignorance, but the speed and smoothness of his answer betray him: It's obvious to Anabel that he isn't merely lying, but in fact telling an over-rehearsed story.
Not one to shrink from a challenge of wits and wiles, Anabel dials up the charm and works on wearing down Terence's resistance. Her first breakthrough is getting him to admit that he was aware that she and the other Agents weren't dead. When Anabel presses Terence on how he learned this, he divulges that elements of the British intelligence community have a strong interest in the group and are aware of his contact with them, and squeezed everything they could out of him. One of the tactics they used to get his cooperation was let slip that his "lady friend" (Anabel) was in danger – MI6 assets in China supposedly got wind of MSS arrangements to have the team's plane shot down. True or not, this strikes Anabel as at least plausible, given that the Company beat the MSS to Sakata.
It's clear to Anabel that Terence is being played by his own side and probably lacks the full picture, but she keeps digging. When she shows Terence a photograph of the Agents' current target and asks whether the man is somehow involved in all this, Anabel catches a glimpse of recognition. Enough pouting and pleading gets Terence to concede – if stiffly and hesitantly – that the individual in the photo is a person of interest to MI5, and a dangerous one at that. When she asks Terence whether the intelligence officers investigating her group are also interested in the bomb-maker, she gets no answer.
Anabel suspects that she has coaxed out everything she's going to get through talk, and leans in close to take things to the next level – specifically, the bedroom upstairs. Terence accepts her invitation hungrily, and the next couple of hours go by in a blur of wrinkled sheets and soapy showers. Outside, Vinnie sips a coffee and patiently watches for trouble, but the only action is in the house . . . and from which lights come on and go out, he can guess what kind.
Afterward, when Anabel resumes her efforts to get Terence to talk, he suggests that she take a stroll with him in the nearby park. Anabel gets the impression that his goal is to get away from the house, which is doubtless watched, wired, or (most likely) both. Aware that a British intelligence operation in London would have no more trouble eavesdropping on a moving outdoor conversation than listening in on a stationary indoor one, Anabel grabs notepads and pencils on her way out. The two depart via the back door, and Vinnie doesn't see them leave.
Sure enough, when Anabel presents Terence with his notepad and pencil, the first thing he writes is, "Hope to God we can't be picked up out here." However, his tumble with Anabel, their sneaky departure from the house, and the ability to converse in a way that can't easily be intercepted seem to blast away what's left of Terence's reticence. The ensuing scrawled conversation proves most enlightening.
Anabel learns that MI6 has been tracking the Agents for a while, that MI5 had tabs on them in the UK, and that the two services share information on subjects like this under a JIC arrangement. None of this strikes Anabel as surprising, given what the Company does. What does shock her is how MI5 reacted to discovering Terence's shoot-out with the Russians and his sexual adventures with her. It seems they gave Terence two choices: cooperate with a joint MI5-MI6 operation targeting Anabel's team, or lose his job and likely go to prison, with hints that any funny business might see Anabel assassinated. Thus, Terence agreed to play nicely.
Although Terence has his weaknesses, he isn't stupid. He soon realized that the goal of the joint operation wasn't to capture or silence the Agents, but to manipulate them into doing the sort of "dirty work" which neither service could risk funding, much less undertaking directly on British soil. Terence's handlers reminded him that his "lady friend" belongs to a team with a fantastically broad, deep, and useful collective skill set that's hard to find and harder to afford, and revealed that exhaustive investigation showed the group to have no national or ideological affiliations. They commanded Terence to be ready to use his relationship with Anabel in whatever way they ask.
Terence proceeds to disclose that when MI6 learned of the MSS plan to assassinate the Agents, they monitored the situation. When the team turned up in India, MI6 moved at once. Terence's words strongly suggest that the "Indian" spies that interacted with the group were working with or for MI6, and that Belinda is in the same boat, or perhaps a tool of MI5. Terence goes on to relate that he was told to expect a visit from Anabel, and ordered to play dumb so that she and her associates wouldn't spot the false flag. This makes his current exchange with Anabel treason.
When Anabel asks Terence to speculate on why her team is being directed to grab a random bomb-maker, his best guess is that it has to do with security surrounding the Olympics. Put bluntly, a bombing or other attack in London during the Games would be a feather in the cap of many terrorist groups, and a black eye for the UK. Moving against such factions in the legal, prescribed way is often too slow, making the Agents the perfect weapon: deniable, off-budget assets who can carry out illegal wet work for the national security apparatus quickly and without red tape. Terence apologizes, but explains that his options were unemployment, prison, or worse . . . or being redeemed as a patriot and a team player, if only ex post facto.
Eventually, Anabel bids Terence adieu, gathers up her notepads, and rejoins Vinnie in the car. Vinnie sees a car pull out behind him just a few blocks from Terence's place, but easily loses the tail. By driving dangerously, like an American who doesn't know which side to drive on, he manages to break contact in way that his shadow is likely to chalk up to luck or stupidity rather than intent. Ultimately, he arrives outside the apartment building, drops off Anabel, and returns the car to the spot he stole it from.
On Anabel and Vinnie's return, the entire group meets to discuss the night's events. Consensus is that if the UK wants the team to do work for them on British soil, and if the targets are genuine bad guys (someone bent on bombing the Olympic Games would certainly qualify), then there's no reason not to proceed with the assignment – cautiously, of course. After all, the Company gives Agents discretion to act against violent terrorists, and having the clandestine support of the authorities is a good thing. Indeed, the general mood is one of relief, as serving British national-security interests in London could conceivably make the world a safer place, while the mission's original, ostensible goal of tangling with Pakistani agents on India's behalf couldn't possibly help regional tensions in South Asia.