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The Company
Mike, who played Vinnie, missed the game session because he had died over the weekend of April 20-21. This was only discovered on April 24, which was shocking for all of us. We have suspended the campaign for the time being while we decide whether it is appropriate to continue with it.
Time: Friday, March 8, 2013 (early evening).
Place: Tampa, Florida.
Last Event: Dressing up Anabel for the country club.
As Anabel dresses to go out, she thinks over her plan for gaining entry to Deringer's club. She decides that her basic angle will The Blind Date: she's waiting for a member to meet her, and when this fictional person "stands her up," she'll play on sympathies to make her next move. Meanwhile, Jili rigs Anabel's mobile phone as a tracking device, in case that move happens in the trunk of a car. When it's time to set out, Anabel calls a cab – a high-end, limo-style one – while her associates pile into their SUVs and get ready to follow close behind.
At Deringer's club (which is self-evidently for the extremely wealthy), Anabel struts up to the entrance while the others peel off to circle the area in their SUVs. Anabel's initial lie about the blind date works well; indeed, given how she is dressed and carries herself, she fits right in. The place isn't exactly hopping – clearly, members who have anything else to do don't bother with these mixers. Still, Anabel finds some lonely losers sitting around having drinks, and manages to fit in by getting their attention and then joining them.
Anabel is almost ready to give up for the night when Deringer shows up, breezes right past, and disappears through a heavy wooden door on the far side of the bar. With a little prodding, Anabel's new "friends" let her know that there's a card game in there on Friday nights. When she asks how to get in, the men she's with mumble and grumble about it being exclusive to the club's wealthiest clique. Not dissuaded by this, Anabel wanders over to the door to the private room.
Taking a startled "I didn't know y'all were in here!" approach, Anabel exploits the fact that she's the only woman in the room – and an attractive one at that – to get the card players' attention. Carefully chosen words hinting that she might be an easy mark, combined with responses tailored to appeal to her cold reads, soon get her a seat at the table. Before long, she's playing cards and milking the cigar-smoking, cocktail-swilling "bad girl" act for all it's worth. Eventually, she finds herself speaking with Deringer.
Deringer isn't a creepy, obvious-bad-guy type like the men in Kigali, but a fit, well-groomed, and reasonably polite fellow. Casual conversation confirms that he was formerly a USMC officer and is currently a private security consultant. Anabel focuses on drawing his eye and kindling his interest in her, and though she senses that he has an unusually high resistance to her charms, she eventually succeeds. When the card game breaks up, the two of them have a friendly drink at the bar, which is when Anabel turns up the heat and makes her move.
In response to her subtle proposition, Anabel learns two things. First, Deringer is married but his wife is out of town, and he's willing to play. Second, because it wouldn't do to be seen around Tampa with another woman, his interest is contingent on Anabel coming back to his place with him. Anabel is reluctant to do this, but decides that it's her best chance to get close to the man. She agrees and then quickly excuses herself to powder her nose, buying herself the opportunity to update her associates by phone.
Upon rejoining Deringer, Anabel meets two of his staff: the hulking Mike and the sinewy Jack. It's obvious that the men are members of Deringer's consulting business who double as his personal guards and drivers – and it's only slightly less apparent that they're armed. They're extremely polite, however, calling Anabel "ma'am," helping her into Deringer's SUV, and so on. As Deringer's ride pulls out, Paul and Vinnie spot it and follow it at a distance. From the way the vehicle looks and handles, Vinnie suspects that it's armored.
The Agents shadowing Deringer's SUV converse by phone and agree that should the opportunity present itself, they'll try to grab Deringer on the move. The plan is to run him off the road and make it look like an accident, and then strike while everybody is standing around exchanging phone numbers and insurance info. Vinnie takes the lead but doesn't get a good opportunity – there's too much traffic in the area and the route offers no isolated stretches. His one brief opening produces nothing but some reckless swerving (Anabel overhears Jack mumble "Damn fool drunk driver!" as he hits the gas). Vinnie hears the whine of a turbo as Deringer's ride pulls away.
Anabel takes advantage of the drive to learn more about Deringer. It turns out that the man is more than happy to brag about his $500,000 super-SUV after the run-in with Vinnie, and indeed likes to boast about almost everything. On arriving at his sprawling estate, for instance, he crows about that. Anabel is genuinely impressed, though – the place is beautiful and well-appointed.
Upon stepping out of the vehicle, Anabel pays extra attention to the place's security. Deringer lets himself in not with a key, but via handprint and voice identification. When Anabel casually asks about the high-tech gizmos, Deringer is happy to brag about those, too. He explains that the old place was a fixer-upper anyway, so he fixed it up as a "smart home" and showcase for the kind of advanced security tech he sells to his clients. He adds that the place even boasts a voice-operated central computer, which he addresses as "Hon." Then he winks at Anabel and promises to put everything on "privacy mode" for the night.
Anabel plays on Deringer's boastful nature to get the grand tour. She's careful to show exaggerated interest in the fully appointed bar (with, of all things, a retractable pole for dancing) and the bedroom, but she makes sure to ask to see the study. With a sexy woman acting impressed and leaving bits of clothing all over, Deringer is only too happy to show off, with the result that Anabel gets a good look around his home office. She sees many photos with Deringer in them, including one with George W. Bush and another with two men she vaguely recalls from a CIA scandal some years ago.
Ultimately, Anabel gives Deringer what he's after, holding back just enough to stack the odds in favor of a second "date." If Deringer is aware that the woman sharing his bed is a spy, he doesn't let on. Then again, Anabel does her damnedest to keep his mind on other things.
In the wee hours of the morning, Anabel sneaks around the mansion to see what else she can learn. Her first stop is Deringer's study, where she uses her phone to take some photographs of the pictures she noticed earlier. She also notices what looks like a hidden door in the wall – perhaps leading to a vault, a gun safe, or a panic room – but she decides not to mess with it. After that, she finds another home office, which documents and stationery reveal is that of Deringer's wife, Lucille "Lucy" Saint-Clair. Some poking around discovers that Saint-Clair is VP, Marketing of a high-end cosmetic surgery firm that operates spas all over the world and that enjoys the patronage of Hollywood clients.
To cover up her trail, Anabel wanders not-so-stealthily into the kitchen as if to get a late-night snack . . . and runs into Mike the guard having a bite to eat. The ensuing conversation is decidedly weird – Mike is polite enough, and doesn't leer despite the fact that Anabel is beautiful and wearing nothing but a thin robe, but he's also passively menacing even in his efforts to be friendly. Still, Anabel converses with him, and manages to find out a bit more about Deringer. First, she learns that Deringer married Saint-Clair just after he left the USMC and returned from Iraq, and that (in Mike's opinion, anyway) he did so mostly because he believed that married businessmen get more respect. Second, she hears that Deringer delegates heavily and doesn't participate in his company's security work. After bidding Mike goodnight, Anabel returns to bed, where Deringer is still sleeping.
Anabel wakes up late on Saturday morning to find herself alone in bed. She cleans up quickly and heads downstairs, where Jack immediately greets her. He explains that the boss went to catch a flight, but that he would be happy to fix her a cappuccino and drive her wherever she needs to go. Anabel has coffee with Jack – who clearly thinks it's wonderful that Deringer brought home an attractive woman – and then asks him to drive her to a high-end mall. Jack is quite willing to oblige.
After Anabel does a little shopping, she calls her associates and requests a ride. Vinnie fetches Anabel back to the condos, where she shares what she learned about Deringer. At Anabel's request, Jili pokes around on the net to find out more about Lucy Saint-Clair, but learns only that she has been VP for a year, with her company for eight years, and in the Botox-and-boob-jobs business for 25 years. As far as Jili can discover, Saint-Clair is from an upper-middle-class New England background, her past is laid out for all to see, and she has no involvement in her husband's security firm.
Meanwhile, Anabel researches the CIA officers she recognized from the photograph in Deringer's office. When she finally picks up the trail, she realizes that she remembers the men from network news coverage of a minor scandal concerning events in Iraq. They were just two among many who were "sacrificed" in a post-Bush inquiry into unauthorized raids, renditions, and so on. Officially, they no longer work for CIA. Zhang – who has a particular obsession with seeing corrupt officials pay the piper – digs further only to find that the trail goes cold in 2010. All he turns up is an activist website that names both men on its "Where did these human-rights violators go?" list.
When the team convenes to discuss matters further, Paul remarks that the photo with Deringer and the two CIA men looks like it was taken in a USMC officers' club, which hints at where Deringer might have met the spooks or at least done business with them. Qoqa points out that the body language in the picture suggests a personal friendship. She also comments that the three are of an age . . . their connections might go back to before Iraq, and conceivably to officer training in the Corps or even earlier. Of course, that's all speculation!
The Agents discuss Deringer's personal security, too. Anabel shares what that she saw at his home, and adds that although there's a sign on the front gate that names a security company, that's clearly for show – Deringer's people handle such matters themselves. Anabel adds descriptions of the interior of Deringer's mansion and armored SUV, and of the guards Jack and Mike. Qoqa interjects to say that based what Anabel has said about Deringer's conduct and surroundings, and given the photos Anabel noticed, she would characterize Deringer as a grandiose status-seeker, and also a wonderful patron to loyal staff but a terrible foe to traitors. That might be exploitable . . .
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When one of my players lost her husband (also formerly one of my players) last year, we suspended everything for a month, to give us time to process. And at the end of the month one of his closest friends held a ceremonial evening of gaming in his honor. Taking time out seems like it would be really necessary.
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