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The Company
On September 1, 2009, we had a full house again: Bonnie ("Xiang Wen," a.k.a. "Wu Xie Zhi"), Marc ("Anabel Windsor," a.k.a. "Abigail Wilson"), Martin ("Zhu Zhang," a.k.a. "Harold Lee"), Mike ("Vincenzo Calliente," of many aliases), and Stéphane ("Jean-Baptiste Dieudonné," a.k.a. "Jimmy Matthieu," and introducing "Hamid Fassal").
Time: August 20, 2009 (evening).
Place: Le Marais safe house, Paris.
Last Event: Driving around and observing the human-traffickers' establishments.
The Agents use the evening of Thursday, August 20 to prepare for the Company personnel swap between Sharkmeat in Paris and Röttwalkyr in Amsterdam. The plan is that Röttwalkyr will send Sharkmeat one of its technicians to assist them with their surveillance efforts. In return, JB will join Röttwalkyr for the duration of the operation, so that Röttwalkyr won't be shorthanded. JB will also escort Dovya from Paris to Amsterdam, where the Company will engineer her departure from continental Europe.
On Friday morning, JB gets a call: It's Hamid Fassal, the Company tech from Amsterdam. He's on the train into Paris, with all his gear, and will need pickup shortly. JB grabs his bag, and then Vinnie drives him and Dovya out to the station . . . with Zhang riding along, just in case. The exchange goes smoothly, and soon JB and Dovya are on the train out, while Vinnie and Zhang are helping Hamid with his high-tech toys, which are packed into road cases covered with heavy-metal band logos.
A short drive later, Hamid is at Le Marais, meeting the rest of Sharkmeat. After quick introductions, Zhang hands the technician the two cell phones he took from the Russian thugs at the apartment where he found Dovya, on the off chance that there's something useful there. Then talk turns to further surveillance of the human-traffickers – particularly Hristov. Anabel, Vinnie, Wen, and Zhang brief Hamid on what they know already. They also tell him that the clock is ticking because, assuming Dovya's information is good, Hristov will be stopping by the apartment in the banlieues this afternoon.
Hamid believes that it should be easy to plant electronic tracking devices on Hristov's vehicle, and gets to work on these. An hour later, he shows the others two tiny, self-adhesive transceivers that he explains can be tracked using the cell network. Then the whole group sits down to formulate a scheme for sticking one of these on Hristov's car. This doesn't take long!
The plan is that when Hristov is picking up the cash later this afternoon, Vinnie will grab a junker car and stage an "automobile accident" to distract the gangsters. While all heads are turned, Anabel – made up like a hooker – will stroll past and slap a tracer on Hristov's car (Vinnie will carry the other device, as a backup). Zhang will loiter in a nearby alleyway, dressed up like a bum, for close security. And Hamid and Wen will remain some distance away in a car, Hamid monitoring the airwaves while Wen watches with binoculars and coordinates everyone via radio.
Anabel gets to work disguising those who need disguising, and makes sure that Vinnie and Zhang smell like liquor. Meanwhile, Hamid prepares the electronics he needs to verify that the tracer is working, and hands out tiny, concealable communicators to his associates. Everyone grabs the other gear they think they'll need for their part of the operation. Then the squad hops into Vinnie's car and heads out.
Some distance from the apartment, Vinnie drops off Anabel, who starts strolling toward the apartment. He then circles around and parks the car up the street in the other direction – close enough that Wen can make out the front of the building using binoculars, but far enough away that the vehicle is unlikely to get the attention of the thugs at the door. After that, Zhang hops out and staggers toward his alleyway with a bottle of booze in hand, while Vinnie heads down a side street – with some cheap wine in a paper bag – to find a suitably scuzzy car to "borrow."
Hamid keeps everybody in touch, while Wen watches from afar and coordinates the various parts of the plan. Vinnie finds an unlocked car, grabs it, and drives it into position. When Wen sees Hristov pulling up in his Mercedes-Benz, she tells everybody to get ready. Anabel struts up the street, Vinnie starts driving toward the apartment, and Zhang sprawls "drunkenly" in the alley. As soon as Hristov, Pavel, and crew have left the car for the thugs to watch, and entered the building, Wen gives the signal.
Vinnie accelerates down the street, swerves like a drunken driver, sideswipes the apartment building, and comes to a stop within a few steps of Hristov's car. He makes sure that his cheap wine splatters all over the windshield and himself! The men watching over Hristov's ride are suitably distracted, and indeed show every sign of coming over to shoot Vinnie. As soon as they turn, Anabel wiggles past and smoothly plants the tracer on the Mercedes-Benz. She also takes a few snapshots of the scene with her phone camera, ostensibly focusing on the accident.
Hamid verifies that the tracer is coming through five by five. When Wen hears this, she orders everybody out of the operational area. Vinnie skillfully reverses and moves away from the approaching gangsters. Anabel just keeps walking past the building. Zhang staggers out as Anabel passes, making lewd gestures at her; both head in Hamid and Wen's direction on foot.
As Anabel and Zhang approach, Wen keeps watch on the building. Pavel erupts from the front door, brandishing a handgun. He appears to be furious with the men out front, and alternates between threatening them and checking to make sure that there are no scratches on his boss' car. Hristov and his other bodyguards emerge a few minutes later, and he and his men get in the car and leave.
Anabel and Zhang soon reach Hamid and Wen, and get in the car. Zhang drives down the side street, where Vinnie pulls up. Vinnie abandons the stolen car, takes the wheel of his own vehicle, and heads back to the safe house via an indirect route . . . just in case. Hamid watches his screen the whole time, and reports that he's now tracking Hristov in real time.
Back at Le Marais, the team decides that the best course of action would be to log Hristov's movements for about a week to establish his routine and note any places he visits regularly. Hamid and Vinnie will take turns monitoring the tracer. Hamid says that he'll also take a look at the captured cell phones that Zhang handed off. Wen calls Chaturvedi and requests a "clean" van (for Hamid to rig as a surveillance vehicle) and some weapons, to be delivered when the group starts moving again in about a week. Anabel decides to use the week to shop for clothing and makeup for disguises.
The week goes by slowly; remote surveillance isn't very exciting. Late on the afternoon of August 28, Klas Ondahl and Lev Brodsky of Röttwalkyr pull up in a delivery truck that has a Dutch sausage-maker's logo on the side. Klas explains that since Ben, JB, and Jili are tied up with their own surveillance up in Amsterdam, he and Lev got the job of dropping off Sharkmeat's van and firepower. A quick examination of the truck reveals that it will do just fine . . . once the sausage and its smell are eliminated.
As for the guns, it appears that the Company decided that Russian gangsters are more likely to assume rival crooks than law-enforcers if they see Russian firearms, and so procured suitable hardware for this deception. Wen takes inventory of more than a dozen assorted pistols (mostly PMMs, but also two SPS), 12 modernized Kalashnikovs with lots of plastic bits (mainly AK-74Ms and AK-103s), an SVD-S for her, half a dozen ugly PP-19 SMGs, a lone SR-2 PDW, and even a PKM machine gun! All this comes with ammo and accessories. Some of the "sausage" turns out to be Semtex-H.
Klas and Lev party with Sharkmeat until nightfall, playing at being just two visiting musicians showing up to jam and drink. After dark, the Agents transfer the arms to the safe house. Then Hamid moves his gear into the delivery vehicle and starts setting it up. Vinnie takes the time to check the van's engine and suspension.
The morning of August 29, Lev and Klas take their leave and head back to Amsterdam by train. Anabel, Hamid, Vinnie, Wen, and Zhang get ready for the next stage of their operation. Anabel assembles her "disguise kit." Hamid and Vinnie finish getting the van ready. Wen cleans guns – lots of guns – and loads dozens of magazines. Zhang calls Chaturvedi and reminds him that the Company still owes the team body armor if it expects them to engage in gunplay. Then he sits down and analyzes the map of Hristov's movements created by Hamid and Vinnie.
By afternoon, everything is ready and it's time for another strategy meeting. Zhang explains that he has identified the following sites of interest by associating the GPS coordinates of Hristov's regular stops with actual street addresses:
As Zhang reports, Hamid goes online and pulls up what he can about Midas 69 and Bogdanov's. He discovers that Midas 69 is ultimately owned by a wealthy Saudi prince, albeit through several not-so-discreet cut-outs. As for Bogdanov's, it is in fact owned by one Sergei Bogdanov. Digging into what he can fine on Bogdanov, he learns that the man rather unusually holds both French and Russian citizenship, and is extremely wealthy.
Anabel runs her own checks on these establishments, focusing on their standing with the rich and beautiful rather than as businesses. She cannot unearth the names of any of Midas 69's clientele – the place appears to be the model of discretion – but she does find out that only the filthy rich can join, the membership fee is a secret but high (five figures), the drinks are equally silly (€50 up), and women can be guests but not members. Bogdanov's, on the other hand, is a regular (if expensive) restaurant, known less for its food than for the fact that everybody who's anybody from Eastern Europe eats there when in Paris, notably diplomats and CEOs.
Time: August 20, 2009 (evening).
Place: Le Marais safe house, Paris.
Last Event: Driving around and observing the human-traffickers' establishments.
The Agents use the evening of Thursday, August 20 to prepare for the Company personnel swap between Sharkmeat in Paris and Röttwalkyr in Amsterdam. The plan is that Röttwalkyr will send Sharkmeat one of its technicians to assist them with their surveillance efforts. In return, JB will join Röttwalkyr for the duration of the operation, so that Röttwalkyr won't be shorthanded. JB will also escort Dovya from Paris to Amsterdam, where the Company will engineer her departure from continental Europe.
On Friday morning, JB gets a call: It's Hamid Fassal, the Company tech from Amsterdam. He's on the train into Paris, with all his gear, and will need pickup shortly. JB grabs his bag, and then Vinnie drives him and Dovya out to the station . . . with Zhang riding along, just in case. The exchange goes smoothly, and soon JB and Dovya are on the train out, while Vinnie and Zhang are helping Hamid with his high-tech toys, which are packed into road cases covered with heavy-metal band logos.
A short drive later, Hamid is at Le Marais, meeting the rest of Sharkmeat. After quick introductions, Zhang hands the technician the two cell phones he took from the Russian thugs at the apartment where he found Dovya, on the off chance that there's something useful there. Then talk turns to further surveillance of the human-traffickers – particularly Hristov. Anabel, Vinnie, Wen, and Zhang brief Hamid on what they know already. They also tell him that the clock is ticking because, assuming Dovya's information is good, Hristov will be stopping by the apartment in the banlieues this afternoon.
Hamid believes that it should be easy to plant electronic tracking devices on Hristov's vehicle, and gets to work on these. An hour later, he shows the others two tiny, self-adhesive transceivers that he explains can be tracked using the cell network. Then the whole group sits down to formulate a scheme for sticking one of these on Hristov's car. This doesn't take long!
The plan is that when Hristov is picking up the cash later this afternoon, Vinnie will grab a junker car and stage an "automobile accident" to distract the gangsters. While all heads are turned, Anabel – made up like a hooker – will stroll past and slap a tracer on Hristov's car (Vinnie will carry the other device, as a backup). Zhang will loiter in a nearby alleyway, dressed up like a bum, for close security. And Hamid and Wen will remain some distance away in a car, Hamid monitoring the airwaves while Wen watches with binoculars and coordinates everyone via radio.
Anabel gets to work disguising those who need disguising, and makes sure that Vinnie and Zhang smell like liquor. Meanwhile, Hamid prepares the electronics he needs to verify that the tracer is working, and hands out tiny, concealable communicators to his associates. Everyone grabs the other gear they think they'll need for their part of the operation. Then the squad hops into Vinnie's car and heads out.
Some distance from the apartment, Vinnie drops off Anabel, who starts strolling toward the apartment. He then circles around and parks the car up the street in the other direction – close enough that Wen can make out the front of the building using binoculars, but far enough away that the vehicle is unlikely to get the attention of the thugs at the door. After that, Zhang hops out and staggers toward his alleyway with a bottle of booze in hand, while Vinnie heads down a side street – with some cheap wine in a paper bag – to find a suitably scuzzy car to "borrow."
Hamid keeps everybody in touch, while Wen watches from afar and coordinates the various parts of the plan. Vinnie finds an unlocked car, grabs it, and drives it into position. When Wen sees Hristov pulling up in his Mercedes-Benz, she tells everybody to get ready. Anabel struts up the street, Vinnie starts driving toward the apartment, and Zhang sprawls "drunkenly" in the alley. As soon as Hristov, Pavel, and crew have left the car for the thugs to watch, and entered the building, Wen gives the signal.
Vinnie accelerates down the street, swerves like a drunken driver, sideswipes the apartment building, and comes to a stop within a few steps of Hristov's car. He makes sure that his cheap wine splatters all over the windshield and himself! The men watching over Hristov's ride are suitably distracted, and indeed show every sign of coming over to shoot Vinnie. As soon as they turn, Anabel wiggles past and smoothly plants the tracer on the Mercedes-Benz. She also takes a few snapshots of the scene with her phone camera, ostensibly focusing on the accident.
Hamid verifies that the tracer is coming through five by five. When Wen hears this, she orders everybody out of the operational area. Vinnie skillfully reverses and moves away from the approaching gangsters. Anabel just keeps walking past the building. Zhang staggers out as Anabel passes, making lewd gestures at her; both head in Hamid and Wen's direction on foot.
As Anabel and Zhang approach, Wen keeps watch on the building. Pavel erupts from the front door, brandishing a handgun. He appears to be furious with the men out front, and alternates between threatening them and checking to make sure that there are no scratches on his boss' car. Hristov and his other bodyguards emerge a few minutes later, and he and his men get in the car and leave.
Anabel and Zhang soon reach Hamid and Wen, and get in the car. Zhang drives down the side street, where Vinnie pulls up. Vinnie abandons the stolen car, takes the wheel of his own vehicle, and heads back to the safe house via an indirect route . . . just in case. Hamid watches his screen the whole time, and reports that he's now tracking Hristov in real time.
Back at Le Marais, the team decides that the best course of action would be to log Hristov's movements for about a week to establish his routine and note any places he visits regularly. Hamid and Vinnie will take turns monitoring the tracer. Hamid says that he'll also take a look at the captured cell phones that Zhang handed off. Wen calls Chaturvedi and requests a "clean" van (for Hamid to rig as a surveillance vehicle) and some weapons, to be delivered when the group starts moving again in about a week. Anabel decides to use the week to shop for clothing and makeup for disguises.
The week goes by slowly; remote surveillance isn't very exciting. Late on the afternoon of August 28, Klas Ondahl and Lev Brodsky of Röttwalkyr pull up in a delivery truck that has a Dutch sausage-maker's logo on the side. Klas explains that since Ben, JB, and Jili are tied up with their own surveillance up in Amsterdam, he and Lev got the job of dropping off Sharkmeat's van and firepower. A quick examination of the truck reveals that it will do just fine . . . once the sausage and its smell are eliminated.
As for the guns, it appears that the Company decided that Russian gangsters are more likely to assume rival crooks than law-enforcers if they see Russian firearms, and so procured suitable hardware for this deception. Wen takes inventory of more than a dozen assorted pistols (mostly PMMs, but also two SPS), 12 modernized Kalashnikovs with lots of plastic bits (mainly AK-74Ms and AK-103s), an SVD-S for her, half a dozen ugly PP-19 SMGs, a lone SR-2 PDW, and even a PKM machine gun! All this comes with ammo and accessories. Some of the "sausage" turns out to be Semtex-H.
Klas and Lev party with Sharkmeat until nightfall, playing at being just two visiting musicians showing up to jam and drink. After dark, the Agents transfer the arms to the safe house. Then Hamid moves his gear into the delivery vehicle and starts setting it up. Vinnie takes the time to check the van's engine and suspension.
The morning of August 29, Lev and Klas take their leave and head back to Amsterdam by train. Anabel, Hamid, Vinnie, Wen, and Zhang get ready for the next stage of their operation. Anabel assembles her "disguise kit." Hamid and Vinnie finish getting the van ready. Wen cleans guns – lots of guns – and loads dozens of magazines. Zhang calls Chaturvedi and reminds him that the Company still owes the team body armor if it expects them to engage in gunplay. Then he sits down and analyzes the map of Hristov's movements created by Hamid and Vinnie.
By afternoon, everything is ready and it's time for another strategy meeting. Zhang explains that he has identified the following sites of interest by associating the GPS coordinates of Hristov's regular stops with actual street addresses:
• Three dingy underground "nightclubs" in the banlieues, including the one the team already knew about.There are many other locations, but based on his extensive experience with gangsters in his pre-Company days, Zhang's hunch is that these are mostly uninteresting one-offs.
• Six equally scummy apartments in the same neighborhoods, likewise including the one the squad visited already.
• A very upscale, invitation-only "gentlemen's club" – Midas 69 – right downtown in the business district, where Hristov often spends several hours at a stretch.
• An equally pricy Russian restaurant – Bogdanov's – where Hristov stays for long enough to eat an elaborate meal.
• An upscale high-rise apartment building – almost certainly where Hristov lives.
As Zhang reports, Hamid goes online and pulls up what he can about Midas 69 and Bogdanov's. He discovers that Midas 69 is ultimately owned by a wealthy Saudi prince, albeit through several not-so-discreet cut-outs. As for Bogdanov's, it is in fact owned by one Sergei Bogdanov. Digging into what he can fine on Bogdanov, he learns that the man rather unusually holds both French and Russian citizenship, and is extremely wealthy.
Anabel runs her own checks on these establishments, focusing on their standing with the rich and beautiful rather than as businesses. She cannot unearth the names of any of Midas 69's clientele – the place appears to be the model of discretion – but she does find out that only the filthy rich can join, the membership fee is a secret but high (five figures), the drinks are equally silly (€50 up), and women can be guests but not members. Bogdanov's, on the other hand, is a regular (if expensive) restaurant, known less for its food than for the fact that everybody who's anybody from Eastern Europe eats there when in Paris, notably diplomats and CEOs.
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