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The Company
Time: Friday, June 29, 2012 (late evening).
Place: The charming apartments.
Last Event: Handing off information to Belinda.
After Belinda leaves, the Agents discuss options and elect to keep a low profile until their current "employer" has analyzed the intelligence they gathered on Muhammad Asif. The only activity of note over the next four days is acquiring cell phones, which goes well and doesn't lead to anyone being tailed or attacked. Anabel takes advantage of the break to call Chaturvedi and leave a message: "We need a vacation!" Qoqa looks after the injured, which despite Anabel's broken nail mostly means Vinnie, who's ready to jump back into the action by the start of the new week.
Belinda returns toward evening on Tuesday, July 3. She waits for the entire team to assemble and then starts her spiel. It seems that the information the group collected on Asif checked out and contained new, valuable details. She claims that her people tipped off the British authorities regarding Asif's other properties, which enabled the British to find and deal with more bombs. The Agents know that this actually means that Belinda handed over the intelligence to MI5, who arranged for direct action, but they play along with the fiction.
Then Belinda gets to the group's next job for "India": It seems that Asif has fled to France. He last used his cell phone from Paris on the night his men jumped Anabel, Jili, Qoqa, and Wen – a scant five minutes before the attack, in fact. After that, footage from cameras at train stations placed him on the TGV to Marseille. Based on data from Chisholm's hidden stash, Asif's most likely destination is one of two properties in Marseille, or perhaps one of two in Nice, all of which he owns indirectly via holding companies. The team's assignment is to find and assassinate him.
The group mulls this order briefly and concludes that however they might feel about assassination in general and doing dirty work for the British in particular, a fanatic who builds bombs in a densely populated city, with the goal of blowing up the Olympic Games, is a deserving target. There's also the fact that Asif made things personal by sending thugs to assault women for socializing with his brother. The Agents tell Belinda that they're willing and able, and request hardware. Belinda responds by saying that her bosses want the sanction to look like a street crime or an accident, and won't commit resources that would make the job look professional. They've even pulled other assets out of the area to enhance deniability.
Belinda's reply doesn't fill the Agents with confidence, but given what they know of the situation, it surprises no one. They accept the terms, if somewhat reluctantly, and ask Belinda if she could at least provide cash to cover transportation. In response, she hands over 10 rail passes and says that she'll see what she can do about money. With that, she departs.
As soon as Belinda is gone, the Agents start planning. A quick review of the relevant train schedules reveals that they can be on their way to France by 05:40 tomorrow and in Marseille by 13:25. Vinnie notes that from Marseille it would be best to drive to Nice, if necessary, which he estimates should take less than two hours. With that decided, everybody hits the sack in order to be rested for an early start – well, everybody but Qoqa, who starts cleaning instead.
Everyone is up early on Wednesday morning. Before setting out, Anabel tries to get Chaturvedi on the phone and succeeds. She lets him know what's up, and asks whether the Company has any safe houses in Marseille or Nice. Chaturvedi tells Anabel that there's a place in Marseille, and promises to pass the address to the group via one of their throwaway e-mail addresses. Anabel also requests funds, which Chaturvedi says shouldn't be a problem.
Otherwise, there's little to do but pack and hit the road. Of course, nobody but Anabel has much to pack! Once the personal possessions are out of the way, Qoqa does one final cleaning pass over the apartments. After that, the Agents catch cabs to St. Pancras International. The whole team is on alert, but the drive to the station is uneventful. Before long, everybody is seated on the train.
The first leg of the trip goes well, and deposits the Agents in Paris for a brief stopover. They visit an Internet café to check their various e-mail drops, and pick up the address of the Company safe house in Marseille. Using Street View, they learn that the place is a three-storey residential building with chipped paint and shuttered windows, with a door that opens directly onto a narrow, shady street full of similar structures. Jili further takes advantage of computer access to locate Asif's two properties: a warehouse near the port and a costly villa overlooking the water at the opposite end of the city.
After that, the Agents board the train to Marseille. This ride is likewise uneventful, and gets the group to their destination at 13:30. Based on their Internet research back in Paris, it looks as if the safe house is just a short walk from Gare de Marseille-Saint-Charles. As it's a lovely summer day and nobody but Anabel has bags to carry, people decide to walk. Before long, everyone is standing outside the safe house.
Of course, the Agents don't have the key – there's no way Chaturvedi could have got that to them on such short notice. Wen searches for a hidden key (hey, you never know!) while Anabel tries to pick the lock, but in the end it's Vinnie who tinkers with the door and lets everybody in before the locals start staring and pointing at the gaggle of tourists. Once inside, he comments that the lock is far higher quality than it looks. He's mostly talking to thin air, however, because everyone immediately fans out to assess their new digs. Vinnie throws up his hands and ducks back out to pick up groceries.
The safe house proves to be adequate for a large team. It looks like a former rooming house, with a kitchen and common areas on the ground floor, and three rooms apiece on each of the two storeys above. The Agents find nothing of interest besides furniture and cleaning supplies. Upon seeing the latter, Qoqa immediately gets to work tidying up the place, which has a musty smell and a layer of dust that suggest that it has stood empty for some time. It isn't long before Qoqa rolls up a rug and spots a door in the floor.
When Qoqa announces her discovery, everyone converges on it. Zhang soon realizes that it's a floor safe disguised as an old trapdoor, and pries up a couple of slats to reveal an electronic keypad. Anabel decides that it's worth burning a cell phone to call Chaturvedi about the safe. Chaturvedi claims that the only numerical code he has for the place is a phone number. Realizing that the safe house has no phones, Anabel suspects that this sequence opens the compartment. She repeats it aloud to Zhang, who punches it in and opens the door.
The safe contains a cache of useful gear: H&K USP Tactical pistols (chambered in 9mm), H&K MP5K submachine guns, and a couple of large cans of 9mm rounds, plus targeting lasers, flashlights, knives, lockpicks, and compact entry tools. Everything looks factory-fresh. Klas, Lev, and Wen immediately take inventory, verify that the equipment is in working condition, and start loading magazines. The others help with the cleaning. When Vinnie returns to the safe house, he whips up a wonderful late lunch.
Come nightfall, the Agents prepare to go scout Asif's two Marseille properties. The plan is for Lev, Qoqa, Vinnie, Wen, and Zhang to take a look at the warehouse; Anabel, Jili, Klas, and Paul to stroll past the villa; and Hamid to hold the fort at the safe house. Everybody will dress and act like tourists, to minimize suspicion. Since those visiting the villa will be in a nice end of town, they clean up as well as they can and decide to pose as two couples: Jili with Paul and Anabel with Klas.
—
The Agents going to the warehouse walk a short distance and then catch a cab to a restaurant about 20 minutes from the port. Judging by the locals' reactions, they seem to have pulled off the tourist look. They get a light meal and then wander off like sightseers, ambling in the general direction of their target. As they leave the more polite part of town, they toughen up their body language to give any would-be muggers second thoughts. They also do their best to avoid straying near police.
Eventually, the five are just outside the warehouse, which is separated from the street by a fence. The place is dark, with nobody wandering around outside. Zhang takes a look around to verify that nobody is watching, and then hurdles the fence and disappears out of sight. After a quick circle around the building, which reveal's the locks to be new and expensive, Zhang makes his way up onto the roof. There he finds a vent cover, which he removes in order to look inside.
There's relatively little light in the warehouse, but Zhang can make out large drums stacked up inside. Deciding that he needs to take a closer look, he squeezes through the vent opening and climbs down to ground level. A cursory sweep reveals no guards, alarms, or cameras – or suspicious wiring connecting drums to the entrance. Taking a look at the labels on the barrels, he realizes that they're written in a script he can't read, so he takes cell-phone photographs. He also finds a clipboard, on which the only word he recognizes is "olives." As the place appears to be neither guarded nor wired to explode, Zhang texts Vinnie and asks the others to join him.
The four Agents in the street creep over the low fence and gather round the warehouse door, where Vinnie opens the lock and lets everyone in. Careful examination of the barrels reveals that the labels are in Arabic: "Highest Quality Olives." They certainly smell like olives to Qoqa, and Wen doesn't detect the pungent chemical scent she noticed in the London bomb factory. After a hushed huddle, the squad agrees that the risk of looking inside is worth taking.
Qoqa finds some tools nearby and opens one of the drums. It appears that it really does hold olives in brine (Wen even tastes them, and they're pretty good!). Fashioning a makeshift long glove from a scrounged-up trash bag, Wen fishes around in the barrel to see if there's anything else in there. Sure enough, she finds a sealed plastic pouch filled with brick-shaped lumps of something relatively dense – plastic explosive, perhaps, or maybe hashish. Wen bundles this up in her garbage bag while Qoqa reseals the barrel.
With that done, the five make ready to leave. Qoqa cleans up behind the squad, while Wen does what she can to keep olive juice from dripping from the pouch she grabbed. Then the Agents slip outside, Vinnie relocks the door, and everyone sneaks out over the fence. Given that they smell of olives and are lugging a mysterious package, they decide not to catch a taxi back to the safe house. Despite the distance, they choose to walk, once again doing their best to avoid hassle from both lowlifes and police.
—
Simultaneous with the warehouse investigation, Anabel, Jili, Klas, and Paul walk a short distance from the safe house and catch a cab in the opposite direction. They, too, make their first stop a restaurant. However, it's a much fancier establishment than that visited by their associates across town. They do an excellent job of passing as two tourist couples, and even draw comment from the serving staff on how happy and loving they look!
After an excellent meal, the four Agents go for a stroll down posh, villa-lined streets near the sea. Anabel and Klas pose as a German couple, as both speak fluent German, while Jili and Paul chat in English, doing their best to sound like they came down from the U.K. Nobody they pass pays them any particular attention, however. Their tourist act is top-notch.
Before long, the four pass Asif's house, walking slowly and pausing periodically to admire the scenery. In reality, all eyes are on the target. Paul picks out a number of important details concerning the place's security: the property has high stone walls, lots of lights, and prominent surveillance cameras. Klas spots an additional detail, that being three large men in dark suits lurking in shadow on the building's porches and balconies, all of them standing in a way that suggests they're packing submachine guns or even carbines. The Agents walk on past, after which they catch a cab to within a couple of blocks of the safe house. Behind closed doors, they share notes and conclude that the situation at Asif's villa is consistent with the master being at home.
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Also - getting into a competent international black-ops organisation's safe house by shady means sounds risky as well as hard, even if it is your own organisation. I'd have thought that the Company would have some arrangement for emergency key pick-up, given the possibility of agents in trouble needing to use the place at short notice.
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This was purely a case of the "Indian" secret service providing the transportation and deciding on rail. The reason had to do mainly with, as you said, "slightly lower security."
Also - getting into a competent international black-ops organisation's safe house by shady means sounds risky as well as hard, even if it is your own organisation. I'd have thought that the Company would have some arrangement for emergency key pick-up, given the possibility of agents in trouble needing to use the place at short notice.
The Company isn't actually a black-ops organization, however. It's a world-changing do-gooders' club that hires black-ops personnel. All of the competence at secret operations is in the field, with the hired help. The higher-ups are good at bureaucratic stuff (shell companies, clean funds, false papers, etc.) but haven't a clue about practicalities like locks and keys. Their "safe houses" are just places that said higher-ups' businesses bought and put on a list; the floor safe was doubtless the work of another group of Agents, which is why Chaturvedi didn't warn of it or realize he had the code.
This is part of the challenge in this campaign: Doing risky stuff with backing that's mostly financial.
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