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The Company
Time: June 4, 2009 (night).
Place: New York, NY.
Last Event: Return to NYC to monitor Blackline's communications.
Over the next week, the team monitors communications into and out of the Blackline facility. JB and Zhang do the bulk of the (boring) work, although Anabel consults on languages. Vinnie brings the eavesdroppers their meals, and uses his free time to tune up the group's ride. Wen gets the job of security, and keeps an eye on the suite and the hotel's other patrons. The squad also calls up Chaturvedi during this time and requests some additional equipment: an 11-foot pole for Zhang, fake blood for Anabel, and replacement listening devices.
By June 11, Zhang and JB think they've heard all they need to hear. Their findings:
• There's much interesting talk about "shipments" and "our contacts," but it's rendered rather useless to the team through the liberal use of code words: "Tangent Orange," "Mister Pink," etc. This might be ex-military guys acting goofy out of habit, but it raises suspicions.
• Anabel hears no languages other than English – in particular, none of the Arabic that she half-expected to hear – but her trained ear does notice that different speakers (sometimes two at once!) are using the same voice. Her best guess is that the voice is the product of voice-obscuring technology, although it doesn't sound inhuman. This, too, raises suspicions.
• Only one recurring reference is spoken in the clear, and that's to "Triple-M." Research reveals that this is probably short for Triple-M Expediting, Inc., a shipping firm.
The team decides that this is enough to warrant looking into Triple-M. Anabel and Zhang dig around the net and learn that Triple-M has its head office here in Manhattan. Zhang gets the street address, and also learns that one "Denton Adler" is named in an unusually large number of key positions within the company – although he can't find Adler's address. Anabel discovers that Triple-M has partnerships in Israel and the Middle East, and gets the addresses of several warehouses in the Port, too. Neither Agent turns up any connection to Blackline.
The night of June 11, the group heads downtown to check out the building where Triple-M has its offices on the 22nd through 24th floors. From the street at night, about all that's visible is a rather generic-looking steel-and-glass tower. Anabel goes up to speak with the night guard through an intercom, but learns nothing useful from him. She does get the impression that it's a very white-collar place, and that the simplest way to take a look around without drawing suspicion would be to visit on business.
On the ride back to the hotel, the Agents plan a bogus business visit for the next day. Anabel will go in representing a company selling printer toner, paper, etc. at dirt-cheap prices, undercutting the competition by bringing things in directly from China. Zhang will go with her as the representative of her Chinese partners. They'll systematically visit the building's companies, making cold calls but only turning on the hard sell for Triple-M.
At the hotel, the spies engage in late-night preparations for their scheme. Zhang goes online and makes a list of the building's other tenant companies, and then the whole squad searches social-networking sites to find pages belonging to people who work for those businesses, just in case they need to drop a name. Next, JB calls Chaturvedi and sets up fake business numbers for Anabel. With that information in hand, Wen designs some prospectuses and business cards for the made-up company. Zhang runs down to an all-night copy shop and prints them up. On his way back, he buys a cheap suit off the back of a truck.
On the morning of June 12, Anabel goes shopping for suitable clothing for a businesswoman. She returns to the hotel and dresses up, while Zhang dons his crummy suit. The two grab attaché cases full of paperwork for their fake business, and then they hop into a cab and head down to Triple-M. Their allies leave separately, armed with cameras and phones. JB and Wen takes up position on a public observation deck on a tower a few doors away, while Vinnie cruises the area in the truck. All three keep an eye out not only for trouble, but also for useful routes in and out in case a late-night visit is needed.
For most of the afternoon, Anabel ("Isabel Lancaster") and Zhang ("Mr. Wang") visit offices cold and do their best to get turned away quickly. After a few short, unproductive meetings, they finally make their way to Triple-M, where Anabel turns on the charm while Zhang turns on the camera on his smart phone. Eventually, they get a meeting with Mr. Hank Desmond, the office's IT head.
In the course of the meeting, Zhang and Anabel learn that Desmond's boss, Denton Adler, is out of town on business. They learn little else of note, but Anabel gets the impression that Desmond doesn't talk to real, live women very often, and decides to capitalize on this. While she and Zhang keep the discussion on business – and in fact seem to be convincing Desmond that their prices are worth considering – Anabel makes sure to catch Desmond's eye, and at the meeting's conclusion, exchanges private numbers with Desmond and hints that they might meet later.
That evening, Anabel decides to see whether she can make a date with Desmond. She calls him up and plays at being the out-of-town businesswoman who needs entertainment for the night. It seems that she read Desmond just right: He has no other plans, and jumps at her offer. Soon they have a date for later that night.
In preparation for this, the team packs Anabel's handbag. JB tells Vinnie the names of some reliable knockout drugs, and Vinnie procures these on the street with little difficulty. Other items include pepper spray, fake blood capsules, a video transmitter in a lipstick, and of course her Company smart phone and USB key. She decides against deadly weapons, however. Then Anabel dresses to kill and waits for Desmond to pick her up. The rest of the group gets ready to shadow Desmond's vehicle.
Desmond takes Anabel to an expensive restaurant, using Denton Adler's pull – and credit card – to arrange it all on short notice. The meal is costly but unimpressive. Anabel comments that Adler must have a nice home if he frequents establishments like this. Desmond reveals that Adler has a Park-side condo. Anabel continues to control the conversation, and eventually hints that she thinks it would be kinky good fun for her and Desmond to visit Adler's place while Adler is out of town, and go skinny-dipping in the condo's pool. Desmond agrees!
Around midnight, Desmond and Anabel – still shadowed by Anabel's associates – reach Adler's. The two talk their way past the doorman, mostly thanks to Anabel's skill at such things, and head up to Adler's unit. The place has a digital lock, but Desmond proclaims, "I'm Adler's IT guy. Of course I know the code!" Anabel looks over his shoulder and memorizes the sequence. Shortly thereafter, the two are drinking wine and carrying on. Desmond's wine has some extra kick, thanks to Anabel, and it isn't long before Desmond is unconscious on the floor.
As soon as Desmond is unconscious, Anabel tries the door code she memorized on the unit's security panel. Luckily for her, it works, and the alarms on the windows are shut off. With that done, she signals her allies. Zhang leaps leaps for the fire escape and then helps Vinnie up, and the two of them sneak through the window and join Anabel. JB and Wen remain with the vehicle, with JB behind the wheel and Wen in the back setting up her card-forging gear.
While Desmond snoozes, Anabel, Vinnie, and Zhang get to work. Zhang eliminates the drug residue in the wine glass. Meanwhile, Vinnie drags Desmond to the bedroom, where Anabel undresses the IT man and strategically places some lipstick marks on his body and a sexy thong nearby. After that, the Agents embark on the night's real business.
Vinnie's job is to bug the place. He sets up a couple of A/V bugs, one in the office and one in the living room. While Vinnie does this, Zhang gets Adler's credit card from Desmond's wallet and brings it down to Wen, who gets to work cloning it. Then Zhang returns to the condo and he and Anabel search the place. This turns up both good news and bad news: Anabel finds a hidden floor safe . . . but Zhang finds somebody else's concealed cameras and microphones, which have very likely recorded everything since Anabel arrived with Desmond! Vinnie takes a look and notes that the gear is costly – the sort of stuff governments use.
In the wee hours of June 13, the Agents realize that they have to think fast. Zhang alerts JB and Wen, and asks them to keep an eye on the street. Anabel cleans herself up and gets ready to leave. Vinnie decides to take a quick shot at opening the safe by ear. Amazingly, he pulls it off! Inside, he finds an expensive H&K pistol in a hard plastic case and, more interestingly, a removable hard drive.
To be continued . . .
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