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Entry tags:
The Company
On March 11, 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: Friday, February 14, 2014.
Place: Athens, Greece.
Last Event: Analyzing intel on what was previously Grandfather's island.
Having established that the island formerly owned by the gangster and war criminal known as "The Sausage-Maker" now hosts a SAM battery, a military helicopter, high-tech sensors, and a swarm of mysterious armed men, the Agents decide to refine their data further. Jili, Klas, and Paul work on identifying the camouflaged chopper, while Anabel, Lev, Qoqa, and Wen get the job of learning more about the missiles. After a long day spent matching vague outlines and radar returns to databases, the team has some success: The helo is almost certainly a CH-3E variant, modified with external tanks and a refueling probe that would afford it exceptional range, given suitable support. The weapons emplacement appears to sport five SL-AMRAAMs.
Though enough nations around the Mediterranean use one system or the other to make the hardware's exact origins a mystery, the smart bet is on at least indirect support from current or former U.S. interests. The scope of the island base and the quality of the gear suggest significant funding. The ex-military Agents point out that a small force with the skills needed to maintain and operate everything the group has spotted – and presumably to strike at targets by air or sea – would have to be trained at the level of a First World special-ops unit. In light of these observations, Klas, Lev, and Wen speculate that on top of what's obvious, there are doubtless hidden surprises such as mines or sensors along the cliff edge, and probably a swimmer-detection system in the surrounding waters. As the team isn't trained for HALO insertions, the three advise gaining access through deceit, perhaps by stowing away aboard a supply vessel.
As the Agents scheme, the room phone rings. It's Eleni Angelis, calling the only number she has for the group. She tells Anabel that some strange men visited the office that she and Ilka Lyngstad share. They wanted to know how to get in touch with "the other research group" – that is, Anabel and friends. Ilka gave out the only contact info she had – this phone number – but Eleni says she got such a bad vibe off these characters that she felt it prudent to call ahead. Anabel thanks Eleni, hangs up, and alerts the others.
The Agents are acutely aware that if anyone is investigating Dr. Lyngstad's group, it's the men based on that island. It would be nigh-trivial for them to have spotted the survey plane and traced its registration number, and even easier to match a telephone number to an address. Which means the team has to move – now. Everybody starts pulling on boots, grabbing phones and bags, and preparing to run.
Wen gets the job of checking the window. Sneaking a cautious peek, she spots two troubling developments. First, she sees four large men in near-identical dark suits poking around the group's rental cars down in the parking lot. Second, she can just make out the silhouette of a CH-3E in the dusk, hovering in the distance in a way that no news or traffic helicopter would. On hearing this, Anabel's first impulse is to call campus security, if only as a smokescreen . . . but when she hears a strange noise on the line, she hangs up immediately. Just as Anabel slams down the phone, Wen notices one of the men in black react to something on his earpiece and then signal to his associates, who start moving.
It's obvious that the shady visitors are circling to the back of the dormitory. Lev speculates that they'll likely enter from that side while their mates in the helicopter watch the front – almost certainly through high-tech sensors and gun sights. They'll probably have a reserve out there to react to escaping Agents, too. Wen scans the area for signs of trouble and just barely makes out what looks like a man with a rifle hiding in a shrubbery.
Anabel concludes that the best way to escape would be amidst some chaos. She runs out into the hall, pulls a fire alarm, and starts shouting "FIRE!" in several languages, including Greek. This stirs up a mob in no time, and the Agents lose themselves in it. They exit the dormitory in a sea of students and visiting scientists, doing their best to keep their faces down or at least hidden by clothing. Though the enemy helicopter has a direct line of sight to this side of the building, the crowd milling around the parking lot all but defeats the threat it poses.
The team moves cunningly through the throng, Paul leading the way and Anabel bringing up the rear. Paul's goal is to guide the fleeing Agents to a nearby green space with trees and shrubs dense enough to make spotting difficult for ground-based and airborne observers alike. At the back of the group, Anabel can see somebody pushing through the crowd in pursuit, but so far, it appears that her people are widening the gap. Then Anabel looks ahead and discovers that things aren't quite so rosy . . .
Up until now, Jili was just ahead of Anabel – but when Anabel turns around from stealing a glance at the group's pursuers, the techie is no longer in sight. After a few frantic seconds, Anabel spots Jili wandering up a small path toward an isolated parking area. It's painfully obvious to Anabel that this is unwise, but she's well aware that Jili is better at evading digital shadows than the thuggish, gun-toting kind. Then, as Anabel looks on helplessly, a man appears behind Jili, jabs her with a stun-gun, and shoves her limp form into the back seat of a waiting car.
Anabel realizes that if she runs ahead to fetch help – or even wastes time fishing out her phone to call her allies – Jili's abductor could drive in the opposite direction and escape. This puts the onus on Anabel to save her. Though reluctant to jump into a risky situation, Anabel isn't about to stand by and let her friend be grabbed. She dashes up the hill as quickly as she can, doing her best to keep cars and greenery between her and the kidnapper.
On approaching the car, Anabel sees that there are two men present: one stuffing Jili into the vehicle, the other in the back seat, getting ready to slap cuffs on his victim. Anabel waits until the kidnapper outside the car is bent over, his head in the cabin, and then makes her move: She runs up from behind and kicks him in the groin as hard as she can. This sends him sprawling into the car, where he falls atop Jili's limp form. Anabel kicks him again for good measure and then starts circling toward the far door, even as the other abductor pops it open and reaches for his weapon.
Anabel reaches the opposite side of the car just as the man inside is trying to emerge. She decides to dive on top of him before he can pull a gun and shoot her. They struggle for a bit, but Anabel can't maintain the advantage. After a few seconds of wrestling, her rival manages to draw his stun-gun. An instant later, Anabel is as limp as Jili, sprawled half in and half out of the vehicle.
Fortunately for Anabel, her intervention buys Jili enough time to shake off her own zapping. Jili realizes that there's an unconscious man on top of her and sees a second enemy bent over Anabel, injecting her in the neck with something. Lashing out with a punch, Jili gets lucky and causes her target to drop the syringe. From there things degenerate into a grappling match, but Jili fares better than Anabel: she manages to flip herself over and lock her legs around her rival's neck. Her victim gets a couple of good elbows in, breaking one of Jili's ribs, but she hangs on and chokes him out.
As soon as the second abductor is down, Jili fishes out the Qoqa-issued "EpiPen" full of M201 antidote. She recalls the instructions and administers the counteragent to Anabel. Within seconds, Anabel's eyes snap open as she draws a sharp breath. Anabel and Jili immediately call Qoqa and Wen via secure cell phone, requesting assistance.
Qoqa and Wen manage to fall back and find Anabel and Jili without being detected by their pursuers. Their first order of business is to get well away from the vehicle, before somebody else shows up. Wen looks around, notes that the place where the car is parked is semi-isolated and near some bushes, and leads her friends to concealment. Jili and Qoqa follow, escorting a woozy Anabel between them.
Meanwhile, Paul leads Klas and Lev to safety at the edge of the campus. When they form up and realize that the rest of the team is missing, Klas gives Wen a call via secure cell phone. Wen fills in Klas on the situation involving Jili and Anabel, and tells him which way she led the others. Having worked together as a sniper team in dense wilderness, it doesn't take the two long to divine their relative positions on neatly kept university grounds. Before long, all seven Agents are together again.
Moments later, everybody hears the sound of a bus making its way down the hill into the city. As public transit headed for a teeming metropolis seems like a great way to lose a shadow, the Agents jog to the nearby stop and get aboard. Anabel and Jili look a little scruffy after their scuffle, but nobody particularly cares. Within minutes, the team is on its way to downtown Athens, leaving their foes searching for them back at the university.
Time: Friday, February 14, 2014.
Place: Athens, Greece.
Last Event: Analyzing intel on what was previously Grandfather's island.
Having established that the island formerly owned by the gangster and war criminal known as "The Sausage-Maker" now hosts a SAM battery, a military helicopter, high-tech sensors, and a swarm of mysterious armed men, the Agents decide to refine their data further. Jili, Klas, and Paul work on identifying the camouflaged chopper, while Anabel, Lev, Qoqa, and Wen get the job of learning more about the missiles. After a long day spent matching vague outlines and radar returns to databases, the team has some success: The helo is almost certainly a CH-3E variant, modified with external tanks and a refueling probe that would afford it exceptional range, given suitable support. The weapons emplacement appears to sport five SL-AMRAAMs.
Though enough nations around the Mediterranean use one system or the other to make the hardware's exact origins a mystery, the smart bet is on at least indirect support from current or former U.S. interests. The scope of the island base and the quality of the gear suggest significant funding. The ex-military Agents point out that a small force with the skills needed to maintain and operate everything the group has spotted – and presumably to strike at targets by air or sea – would have to be trained at the level of a First World special-ops unit. In light of these observations, Klas, Lev, and Wen speculate that on top of what's obvious, there are doubtless hidden surprises such as mines or sensors along the cliff edge, and probably a swimmer-detection system in the surrounding waters. As the team isn't trained for HALO insertions, the three advise gaining access through deceit, perhaps by stowing away aboard a supply vessel.
As the Agents scheme, the room phone rings. It's Eleni Angelis, calling the only number she has for the group. She tells Anabel that some strange men visited the office that she and Ilka Lyngstad share. They wanted to know how to get in touch with "the other research group" – that is, Anabel and friends. Ilka gave out the only contact info she had – this phone number – but Eleni says she got such a bad vibe off these characters that she felt it prudent to call ahead. Anabel thanks Eleni, hangs up, and alerts the others.
The Agents are acutely aware that if anyone is investigating Dr. Lyngstad's group, it's the men based on that island. It would be nigh-trivial for them to have spotted the survey plane and traced its registration number, and even easier to match a telephone number to an address. Which means the team has to move – now. Everybody starts pulling on boots, grabbing phones and bags, and preparing to run.
Wen gets the job of checking the window. Sneaking a cautious peek, she spots two troubling developments. First, she sees four large men in near-identical dark suits poking around the group's rental cars down in the parking lot. Second, she can just make out the silhouette of a CH-3E in the dusk, hovering in the distance in a way that no news or traffic helicopter would. On hearing this, Anabel's first impulse is to call campus security, if only as a smokescreen . . . but when she hears a strange noise on the line, she hangs up immediately. Just as Anabel slams down the phone, Wen notices one of the men in black react to something on his earpiece and then signal to his associates, who start moving.
It's obvious that the shady visitors are circling to the back of the dormitory. Lev speculates that they'll likely enter from that side while their mates in the helicopter watch the front – almost certainly through high-tech sensors and gun sights. They'll probably have a reserve out there to react to escaping Agents, too. Wen scans the area for signs of trouble and just barely makes out what looks like a man with a rifle hiding in a shrubbery.
Anabel concludes that the best way to escape would be amidst some chaos. She runs out into the hall, pulls a fire alarm, and starts shouting "FIRE!" in several languages, including Greek. This stirs up a mob in no time, and the Agents lose themselves in it. They exit the dormitory in a sea of students and visiting scientists, doing their best to keep their faces down or at least hidden by clothing. Though the enemy helicopter has a direct line of sight to this side of the building, the crowd milling around the parking lot all but defeats the threat it poses.
The team moves cunningly through the throng, Paul leading the way and Anabel bringing up the rear. Paul's goal is to guide the fleeing Agents to a nearby green space with trees and shrubs dense enough to make spotting difficult for ground-based and airborne observers alike. At the back of the group, Anabel can see somebody pushing through the crowd in pursuit, but so far, it appears that her people are widening the gap. Then Anabel looks ahead and discovers that things aren't quite so rosy . . .
Up until now, Jili was just ahead of Anabel – but when Anabel turns around from stealing a glance at the group's pursuers, the techie is no longer in sight. After a few frantic seconds, Anabel spots Jili wandering up a small path toward an isolated parking area. It's painfully obvious to Anabel that this is unwise, but she's well aware that Jili is better at evading digital shadows than the thuggish, gun-toting kind. Then, as Anabel looks on helplessly, a man appears behind Jili, jabs her with a stun-gun, and shoves her limp form into the back seat of a waiting car.
Anabel realizes that if she runs ahead to fetch help – or even wastes time fishing out her phone to call her allies – Jili's abductor could drive in the opposite direction and escape. This puts the onus on Anabel to save her. Though reluctant to jump into a risky situation, Anabel isn't about to stand by and let her friend be grabbed. She dashes up the hill as quickly as she can, doing her best to keep cars and greenery between her and the kidnapper.
On approaching the car, Anabel sees that there are two men present: one stuffing Jili into the vehicle, the other in the back seat, getting ready to slap cuffs on his victim. Anabel waits until the kidnapper outside the car is bent over, his head in the cabin, and then makes her move: She runs up from behind and kicks him in the groin as hard as she can. This sends him sprawling into the car, where he falls atop Jili's limp form. Anabel kicks him again for good measure and then starts circling toward the far door, even as the other abductor pops it open and reaches for his weapon.
Anabel reaches the opposite side of the car just as the man inside is trying to emerge. She decides to dive on top of him before he can pull a gun and shoot her. They struggle for a bit, but Anabel can't maintain the advantage. After a few seconds of wrestling, her rival manages to draw his stun-gun. An instant later, Anabel is as limp as Jili, sprawled half in and half out of the vehicle.
Fortunately for Anabel, her intervention buys Jili enough time to shake off her own zapping. Jili realizes that there's an unconscious man on top of her and sees a second enemy bent over Anabel, injecting her in the neck with something. Lashing out with a punch, Jili gets lucky and causes her target to drop the syringe. From there things degenerate into a grappling match, but Jili fares better than Anabel: she manages to flip herself over and lock her legs around her rival's neck. Her victim gets a couple of good elbows in, breaking one of Jili's ribs, but she hangs on and chokes him out.
As soon as the second abductor is down, Jili fishes out the Qoqa-issued "EpiPen" full of M201 antidote. She recalls the instructions and administers the counteragent to Anabel. Within seconds, Anabel's eyes snap open as she draws a sharp breath. Anabel and Jili immediately call Qoqa and Wen via secure cell phone, requesting assistance.
Qoqa and Wen manage to fall back and find Anabel and Jili without being detected by their pursuers. Their first order of business is to get well away from the vehicle, before somebody else shows up. Wen looks around, notes that the place where the car is parked is semi-isolated and near some bushes, and leads her friends to concealment. Jili and Qoqa follow, escorting a woozy Anabel between them.
Meanwhile, Paul leads Klas and Lev to safety at the edge of the campus. When they form up and realize that the rest of the team is missing, Klas gives Wen a call via secure cell phone. Wen fills in Klas on the situation involving Jili and Anabel, and tells him which way she led the others. Having worked together as a sniper team in dense wilderness, it doesn't take the two long to divine their relative positions on neatly kept university grounds. Before long, all seven Agents are together again.
Moments later, everybody hears the sound of a bus making its way down the hill into the city. As public transit headed for a teeming metropolis seems like a great way to lose a shadow, the Agents jog to the nearby stop and get aboard. Anabel and Jili look a little scruffy after their scuffle, but nobody particularly cares. Within minutes, the team is on its way to downtown Athens, leaving their foes searching for them back at the university.