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The Company
On January 14, we had Bonnie ("Xiang Wen," a.k.a. "Wu Xie Zhi" and "Dot"), Marc ("Anabel Windsor," a.k.a. "Abigail Wilson" and "Vicky"), and Torsten ("Qoqa Ramazanova," a.k.a. "Zoya Petrovna Sidorova").
Time: Monday, January 6, 2014.
Place: Santorini, Greece.
Last Event: Keeping a low profile.
The Agents continue to lie low as they await their shipment from South Korea. The "telephones" arrive as promised on January 10 – one for each team member, direct from the factory, compliments of Mr. Gae. The features intended for public consumption are obvious; while advanced, they aren't exactly spy material. The secret functions are easy to find for someone in the know, however. Jili gets the task of reconfiguring the interface to render these extraordinary capabilities more readily available.
When Jili is done, she distributes the phones and delivers a lengthy techno-spiel. First, she informs the others that hackers will doubtless discover the special tools within days of the phone hitting the street, and will likely reveal them to the world shortly thereafter. Next, she reports that she took the liberty of installing a version of the building-security software that she acquired courtesy of the assassins in Seoul, explaining that it's only useful with a link to the building's infrastructure. Finally, she warns her allies that conversations between these phones will be secure, but that there's no such guarantee for calls into regular networks. For extra security, she recommends not storing numbers or histories.
After that, it's time to wait and see whether "V" of the FSB received her package. In the meantime, the Agents tinker with their new toys – if only to avoid surprises in the field. The phones prove quite capable of tapping local cellular traffic and defying Jili's best attempts to crack their security. This should make the Company's enemies very nervous . . .
Anabel's phone rings on Monday, January 13. It's V, who clearly isn't surprised that the Agents are still alive – in fact, she appears to know a lot about events since Kyoto, including the missile attack on the team's plane over Myanmar. She's impressed with the phones, and comments that American spooks will be extremely upset that such devices are available on the consumer electronics market. Then she cuts the small talk and says that she knows the group needs a favor, but would prefer to discuss the matter in person. After some dickering, the meeting is set for Casablanca in 36 hours.
As soon as V hangs up, Anabel sees to the travel arrangements. The Company's resources make this trivial. The Agents quickly pack for their trip, and drive off to the airport shortly thereafter. There are no surprises there or on the plane. The team lands in Casablanca on Tuesday morning and goes directly to the (rather nice!) hotel that Anabel booked.
In Casablanca, the Agents have little to do but lounge around and wait for V to contact them. Naturally, Anabel takes advantage of this time to learn what she can about the best local restaurants and buy a wardrobe more in keeping with local fashion. Her associates rest, figuring that they want to be on their toes for a meeting with an FSB spook. It's well after dark when Anabel's phone rings again. It's V, informing the group that she has sent a "pickup team" for them. Anabel's reaction to this is to dress nicely, for an evening out, while Qoqa responds by concealing a knife on her person.
Before long, the front desk calls Anabel to inform her that she has guests waiting in the lobby. Anabel rallies the others, and then all seven go to meet V's people. The two men waiting downstairs are large, obviously Russian, and clearly ex-military, but even Qoqa reads nothing especially menacing from their body language. The FSB operators explain that they have a van waiting, and then turn to lead the way. Though nobody is keen to ride in the back of a strange vehicle, a search reveals nothing alarming. With a collective shrug, the Agents climb in.
The drive is short and uneventful. The only detail worth noticing is that the back of the van is EM shielded; nobody can get a phone or GPS signal. This worries several of the Agents, but Jili isn't at all surprised. When the vehicle stops, the FSB men promptly open the door, revealing the destination to be a garage of some sort. There are a few other vehicles here – and Qoqa can't help but notice a broken chair and a couple of lengths of rubber hose in a dark corner – but that's it. There's simply nowhere for danger to hide.
V's men usher the group into a stairwell and up four stories. Along the way, everyone notices that the signs marking the exits, numbering the floors, and so on are in Russian, suggesting that the premises might belong to a legitimate Russian interest. Ultimately, the Agents are led to a room with inner and outer doors – in other words, soundproofing. The only features of note are a metal table and chairs, and a large mirror running the length of the wall opposite the exit. Nobody is waiting within, but the team's escorts mention that V should be along shortly. With that, the men leave.
The situation seems somewhat sketchy – but so far, everything is in keeping with what a cautious intelligence officer might do if she were arranging an off-the-record meeting. V comes in less than a minute after the Agents do, greets the group, and asks them to sit down. Anabel kicks things off by explaining the state of affairs with Emerson Tactical Solutions and asking V whether she would be interesting in sharing information. As V listens, she turns slightly away from the wall-length mirror and mouths something without speaking. Paul deciphers her words: "I am not in control of this op. Get me out of here."
Aware that his allies cannot read lips, Paul makes a joking remark about the group's latest visit to Tokyo – when they were last trapped in a room – and ever-so-slightly tilts his head toward the mirror. Anabel and Qoqa realize that Paul's inappropriate aside wasn't casual. They exchange furtive glances, and then Qoqa shifts as if uncomfortable and flashes the team's prearranged signal for "trap." Meanwhile, V continues to talk; she nods casually toward the mirror and says that she brought her files on ETS, but that they're in the other room. Then she mouths more words: "You will have to make the first move."
Anabel changes the topic to the matter of the phones taken from the ETS operators in Darmstadt, asking Jili to explain the devices. Once Jili launches into mind-numbing techie mode, Anabel stands up as if utterly uninterested and starts pacing restlessly. When she reaches the door, she leans against it, facing the mirror and putting on an eye-rolling show of being bored to tears. Behind her back, however, she finds the doorknob and confirms that the exit is locked. Removing her concealed lockpicks, she gets to work on solving this problem.
As soon as Anabel has the inner door unlocked, she turns the knob and lets it swing open. She puts on a very successful act of being utterly surprised by this turn of events – as if her fidgeting accidentally dislodged the door – and takes an exaggerated pratfall. Then she abruptly rolls to her feet and lunges for the outer door with her lockpicks in hand. The others do their best to react as if surprised and block the line of sight from the mirror to the exit. The lock on the outer door proves easier to defeat than that on the inner one (no surprise!), and Anabel deals with it quickly. Realizing that time is of the essence, she pulls it open and runs through . . .
. . . only to come face-to-face with a man wielding a powerful electric stunner. The Agents see Anabel's back arch as she collapses to the ground, twitching. Knowing that they have one crack at this, they press their escape. Lev hurdles Anabel's fallen form and grapples with her assailant. Another man off to one side shoots at Lev, but Lev is moving so fast that the shot goes wide. Wen, following hot on Lev's heels, springs at the second attacker and knocks him out with a lunge punch to the jaw.
As the Agents engage the two men in the hallway, laser dots play across the nearby wall – projected from an adjoining passage to the right – and are followed by the noise of automatic rifles and cinderblock being shot to bits. Wen realizes that someone must have caught a glimpse of her and decided to take a shot. Fortunately, they didn't have much to shoot at. Nevertheless, Wen retreats further out of their line of fire, throwing a kick at Lev's rival as she flies back. Her victim's head slams into the wall with a nasty crack, and Lev realizes that his now-limp opponent isn't unconscious but quite dead.
Just as Klas and Paul join Lev and Wen in the hallway, two men with AK-pattern assault rifles round the corner, spraying bullets into the knot of people in the corridor. By blind luck, none of the Agents are hit! Lev is the first to react, picking up his dead opponent and then charging one of the gunmen, knocking him down and dumping the corpse on top of him. Klas follows Lev in and engages the same opponent. Paul and Wen rush and overpower the other man.
After that, it's all over but the beating. Lev and Klas brutally kick one gunman into submission, while Wen and Paul do the same to the other. While all this is going on, Qoqa pulls her knife. At the same time, V extracts a tiny pistol from concealment and rushes toward the door, exclaiming, "We have to get my case from the other room!" Qoqa stands aside to let V join the fray, and then goes to help Anabel.
In the aftermath of the violence, Klas and Wen grab rifles, Lev and Paul equip themselves with stunners, Qoqa treats Anabel, and Jili and V stand watch. The Agents are barely armed when Jili hears shouting and footfalls in the distance. She warns the others that more goons are approaching via the side passage. Suitably alerted, most of the group pulls back out of harm's way. Wen and Klas, however, take up firing positions in the corridor and get ready to shoot . . .
Time: Monday, January 6, 2014.
Place: Santorini, Greece.
Last Event: Keeping a low profile.
The Agents continue to lie low as they await their shipment from South Korea. The "telephones" arrive as promised on January 10 – one for each team member, direct from the factory, compliments of Mr. Gae. The features intended for public consumption are obvious; while advanced, they aren't exactly spy material. The secret functions are easy to find for someone in the know, however. Jili gets the task of reconfiguring the interface to render these extraordinary capabilities more readily available.
When Jili is done, she distributes the phones and delivers a lengthy techno-spiel. First, she informs the others that hackers will doubtless discover the special tools within days of the phone hitting the street, and will likely reveal them to the world shortly thereafter. Next, she reports that she took the liberty of installing a version of the building-security software that she acquired courtesy of the assassins in Seoul, explaining that it's only useful with a link to the building's infrastructure. Finally, she warns her allies that conversations between these phones will be secure, but that there's no such guarantee for calls into regular networks. For extra security, she recommends not storing numbers or histories.
After that, it's time to wait and see whether "V" of the FSB received her package. In the meantime, the Agents tinker with their new toys – if only to avoid surprises in the field. The phones prove quite capable of tapping local cellular traffic and defying Jili's best attempts to crack their security. This should make the Company's enemies very nervous . . .
Anabel's phone rings on Monday, January 13. It's V, who clearly isn't surprised that the Agents are still alive – in fact, she appears to know a lot about events since Kyoto, including the missile attack on the team's plane over Myanmar. She's impressed with the phones, and comments that American spooks will be extremely upset that such devices are available on the consumer electronics market. Then she cuts the small talk and says that she knows the group needs a favor, but would prefer to discuss the matter in person. After some dickering, the meeting is set for Casablanca in 36 hours.
As soon as V hangs up, Anabel sees to the travel arrangements. The Company's resources make this trivial. The Agents quickly pack for their trip, and drive off to the airport shortly thereafter. There are no surprises there or on the plane. The team lands in Casablanca on Tuesday morning and goes directly to the (rather nice!) hotel that Anabel booked.
In Casablanca, the Agents have little to do but lounge around and wait for V to contact them. Naturally, Anabel takes advantage of this time to learn what she can about the best local restaurants and buy a wardrobe more in keeping with local fashion. Her associates rest, figuring that they want to be on their toes for a meeting with an FSB spook. It's well after dark when Anabel's phone rings again. It's V, informing the group that she has sent a "pickup team" for them. Anabel's reaction to this is to dress nicely, for an evening out, while Qoqa responds by concealing a knife on her person.
Before long, the front desk calls Anabel to inform her that she has guests waiting in the lobby. Anabel rallies the others, and then all seven go to meet V's people. The two men waiting downstairs are large, obviously Russian, and clearly ex-military, but even Qoqa reads nothing especially menacing from their body language. The FSB operators explain that they have a van waiting, and then turn to lead the way. Though nobody is keen to ride in the back of a strange vehicle, a search reveals nothing alarming. With a collective shrug, the Agents climb in.
The drive is short and uneventful. The only detail worth noticing is that the back of the van is EM shielded; nobody can get a phone or GPS signal. This worries several of the Agents, but Jili isn't at all surprised. When the vehicle stops, the FSB men promptly open the door, revealing the destination to be a garage of some sort. There are a few other vehicles here – and Qoqa can't help but notice a broken chair and a couple of lengths of rubber hose in a dark corner – but that's it. There's simply nowhere for danger to hide.
V's men usher the group into a stairwell and up four stories. Along the way, everyone notices that the signs marking the exits, numbering the floors, and so on are in Russian, suggesting that the premises might belong to a legitimate Russian interest. Ultimately, the Agents are led to a room with inner and outer doors – in other words, soundproofing. The only features of note are a metal table and chairs, and a large mirror running the length of the wall opposite the exit. Nobody is waiting within, but the team's escorts mention that V should be along shortly. With that, the men leave.
The situation seems somewhat sketchy – but so far, everything is in keeping with what a cautious intelligence officer might do if she were arranging an off-the-record meeting. V comes in less than a minute after the Agents do, greets the group, and asks them to sit down. Anabel kicks things off by explaining the state of affairs with Emerson Tactical Solutions and asking V whether she would be interesting in sharing information. As V listens, she turns slightly away from the wall-length mirror and mouths something without speaking. Paul deciphers her words: "I am not in control of this op. Get me out of here."
Aware that his allies cannot read lips, Paul makes a joking remark about the group's latest visit to Tokyo – when they were last trapped in a room – and ever-so-slightly tilts his head toward the mirror. Anabel and Qoqa realize that Paul's inappropriate aside wasn't casual. They exchange furtive glances, and then Qoqa shifts as if uncomfortable and flashes the team's prearranged signal for "trap." Meanwhile, V continues to talk; she nods casually toward the mirror and says that she brought her files on ETS, but that they're in the other room. Then she mouths more words: "You will have to make the first move."
Anabel changes the topic to the matter of the phones taken from the ETS operators in Darmstadt, asking Jili to explain the devices. Once Jili launches into mind-numbing techie mode, Anabel stands up as if utterly uninterested and starts pacing restlessly. When she reaches the door, she leans against it, facing the mirror and putting on an eye-rolling show of being bored to tears. Behind her back, however, she finds the doorknob and confirms that the exit is locked. Removing her concealed lockpicks, she gets to work on solving this problem.
As soon as Anabel has the inner door unlocked, she turns the knob and lets it swing open. She puts on a very successful act of being utterly surprised by this turn of events – as if her fidgeting accidentally dislodged the door – and takes an exaggerated pratfall. Then she abruptly rolls to her feet and lunges for the outer door with her lockpicks in hand. The others do their best to react as if surprised and block the line of sight from the mirror to the exit. The lock on the outer door proves easier to defeat than that on the inner one (no surprise!), and Anabel deals with it quickly. Realizing that time is of the essence, she pulls it open and runs through . . .
. . . only to come face-to-face with a man wielding a powerful electric stunner. The Agents see Anabel's back arch as she collapses to the ground, twitching. Knowing that they have one crack at this, they press their escape. Lev hurdles Anabel's fallen form and grapples with her assailant. Another man off to one side shoots at Lev, but Lev is moving so fast that the shot goes wide. Wen, following hot on Lev's heels, springs at the second attacker and knocks him out with a lunge punch to the jaw.
As the Agents engage the two men in the hallway, laser dots play across the nearby wall – projected from an adjoining passage to the right – and are followed by the noise of automatic rifles and cinderblock being shot to bits. Wen realizes that someone must have caught a glimpse of her and decided to take a shot. Fortunately, they didn't have much to shoot at. Nevertheless, Wen retreats further out of their line of fire, throwing a kick at Lev's rival as she flies back. Her victim's head slams into the wall with a nasty crack, and Lev realizes that his now-limp opponent isn't unconscious but quite dead.
Just as Klas and Paul join Lev and Wen in the hallway, two men with AK-pattern assault rifles round the corner, spraying bullets into the knot of people in the corridor. By blind luck, none of the Agents are hit! Lev is the first to react, picking up his dead opponent and then charging one of the gunmen, knocking him down and dumping the corpse on top of him. Klas follows Lev in and engages the same opponent. Paul and Wen rush and overpower the other man.
After that, it's all over but the beating. Lev and Klas brutally kick one gunman into submission, while Wen and Paul do the same to the other. While all this is going on, Qoqa pulls her knife. At the same time, V extracts a tiny pistol from concealment and rushes toward the door, exclaiming, "We have to get my case from the other room!" Qoqa stands aside to let V join the fray, and then goes to help Anabel.
In the aftermath of the violence, Klas and Wen grab rifles, Lev and Paul equip themselves with stunners, Qoqa treats Anabel, and Jili and V stand watch. The Agents are barely armed when Jili hears shouting and footfalls in the distance. She warns the others that more goons are approaching via the side passage. Suitably alerted, most of the group pulls back out of harm's way. Wen and Klas, however, take up firing positions in the corridor and get ready to shoot . . .