![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Company
Time: Tuesday, March 5, 2013 (evening).
Place: Tallahassee, Florida.
Last Event: Researching Emerson Tactical Solutions.
With Anabel's digging done, the Agents conclude that their next step should be to investigate John Talbot Deringer's mansion in Tampa. A peek at Google Earth reveals little more than the fact that the property is sprawling and totally obscured by trees. Street View confirms this – good luck conducting surveillance from the road or the air! Given the wealthy, red-voting demographic and gates-and-intercoms look of the neighborhood, the group concludes that parking in the area and sneaking around would be an iffy course of action in any event. In the end, the decision is to sleep on it and drive to Tampa in the morning.
On Wednesday morning, Anabel checks with the hotel's front desk to see whether they're holding the package that Chaturvedi promised. Sure enough, they have a fat courier envelope waiting for her, labeled "Documents." On returning to her room, Anabel finds that this holds $100,000 in $100 bills. Newly flush, the Agents pay up and hit the road. As usual, Vinnie and Paul do the driving.
The Agents pull into Tampa later that afternoon and immediately search out suitable accommodations. Their hope is to find a condo or two for rent, preferably offering a modicum of privacy and a somewhat concealed parking area. Anabel takes the lead on the hunt and manages to find exactly what the group wants: a pair of adjacent units with parking areas obscured by a small jungle of palms and shrubs. She even swings a good deal on the weekly rates. The team uses the evening to settle in, putting Anabel, Jili, Paul, and Wen in one condo and Klas, Lev, Qoqa, Vinnie, and Zhang in the other.
The night passes uneventfully, and March 7 finds everyone in good spirits and ready to get back to work. Of course, work doesn't always mean excitement . . . the day's plans call for some of the group to find out whether the local library has anything on Deringer, while others swing past his home for a quick look. Anabel and Jili get the task of digging in directories and newspapers, with Paul as their chauffeur. Vinnie's job is to drive Qoqa and Wen down Deringer's street for a closer look. Anabel disguises everybody involved, and then the two squads move out.
Vinnie's cruise past Deringer's home is smooth and subtle, giving his associates as much time as possible to observe without looking too obvious about it. Wen focuses on checking the place out with her trained eye for tactical matters, while Qoqa snaps photos. The entire exercise is over in less than a minute. As Vinnie pulls away and heads back to the condos, Wen comments that she saw a clear sign that Deringer is either very alert or utterly paranoid: a man wearing camouflage face paint and fatigues, lurking in the vegetation behind the iron fence with an AR-15-type rifle in hand! She opines that the average cop, never mind the average person, might not have noticed this guy – she definitely got lucky.
Meanwhile, at the library, Anabel discovers that Deringer is a golfer who belongs to a local country club. She learns this by finding a captioned photo of him at a charity event. It surprises her a little that he looks more like a charming salesman than a hardened soldier. Then again, it's clear that he's in this business for the money.
Jili also has some luck, turning up news about Deringer's involvement in various veterans' activities – once again, with photographs. One of the pictures is especially interesting, as when she shows it to Anabel, Anabel identifies another man present as the bald fellow who seemed to be in charge when the Kigali attackers were debarking from the Chloë Luudens. Apparently, he's Fred Patrick, CPT (retd.), U.S. Army. Further digging reveals absolutely nothing about Patrick. Anabel and Jili conclude their research by printing out copies of everything they found, including the photos.
It's late afternoon by the time the whole group is back at the condos, where Qoqa shows off her photos, while Anabel and Jili hand around their printouts. The information-gatherers give verbal reports as well. The analysis, coordinated by Paul and Zhang, reveals a few points of interest:
• One of Qoqa's photos verifies what Wen saw – namely, that there was an armed man lurking in the bushes.
• Another photo reveals the name and logo of the security company that Deringer uses, displayed clearly on a sign on the front gate.
• In the photos of veterans, Vinnie can see Deringer's insignia clearly enough to deduce that he's indeed a lieutenant-colonel in the USMC, and that he served mainly in the Middle East, mostly in administrative roles.
• In the same photo, Patrick's dress uniform reveals him to be a U.S. Army Special Forces officer, his many decorations including a Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster.
After that, Jili hops on the Internet to learn whatever she can about Deringer's club. Anabel urges her to pay special attention to the social calendar, in the hope that she can finagle her way in. It seems that there's no big "do" before their St. Patrick's party on March 17, but there is a regular mixer of sorts on Friday nights. Figuring that it's always possible that Deringer might show up if he has nothing better planned, Anabel decides to give that a shot.
Toward early evening, Vinnie goes out to procure some light, concealable weapons for the group – and for Anabel in particular – in preparation for Friday night's party-crashing. He picks up a selection of folding knives, pepper spray, and stun guns, taking care not to ask a lot of questions or buy too much at any one place. He even manages to find a folder in "girly" pink for Anabel! That night, the Agents keep a low profile, staying in to spitball various schemes for getting Anabel into the private club – and possibly out again with Deringer – if the opportunity presents itself.
Come Friday morning, it's time for Anabel to make personal preparations. She spends half the day shopping for a suitable outfit and accompanying makeup. Then she returns to the condos and spends the rest of the day preparing a makeover that will disguise her and make her look good. By evening, she's confident that she has things just right to visit Deringer's country club, learn what she can about the man, and possibly even lead him into a trap involving her associates.