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Entry tags:
The Company
There was no September 8, 2009 session, as too many of us had other engagements. On September 15, everybody was present: 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 ("Hamid Fassal").
Time: August 29, 2009 (late afternoon).
Place: Le Marais safe house, Paris.
Last Event: Researching Chez Bogdanov and Midas 69.
The Agents decide that keeping tabs on Bogdanov's and Midas 69 is instrumental to following Hristov's trail up the criminal food chain. If nothing else, monitoring his meetings at those establishments is likely to reveal mob contacts. Electronic surveillance seems like the best tool for the job. Thus, the plan is hatched to put suitable technical means in place, and then to strike at Hristov's assets in the banlieues while he's visiting Bogdanov's or Midas 69 (or even hit the mobster's car on his way there!) and observe the reaction.
Of course, Bogdanov's is an upscale restaurant frequented by diplomats, so surveillance is likely to be tricky . . . and Midas 69 is an invitation-only club owned by a Saudi prince, so getting eyes inside will probably be even more difficult! The team discusses options: breaking in and planting cameras and mikes; tapping site security; posing as legitimate security company representatives; and even getting someone hired as staff. The eventual decision is to do basic street surveillance to analyze security measures, as well as the habits of clients and staff. This will make it easier to pick the best option in each case.
The first target is Bogdanov's. Anabel uses clothing and makeup to disguise Vinnie, Wen, and Zhang as generic people on the street. To avoid drawing suspicion, those on stakeout carry nothing that an ordinary citizen wouldn't – i.e., no fancy electronics or weapons. They rely on eyes and ears, and report in via cell phone.
From early evening on Saturday, August 29 to late at night on Monday, August 31, Wen, Zhang, and Vinnie watch Bogdanov's. They take shifts to cover the clock, and the night watch hides behind Dumpsters, in doorways, and so on, using darkness as cover. They appear to get away with this. When Zhang, Vinnie, and Wen report in on the morning of September 1, the essential data are:
From mid-afternoon on Tuesday, September 1 to late at night on Thursday, September 3, the Agents use exactly the same strategy to stake out Midas 69. Once again, nobody challenges Zhang, Wen, or Vinnie. By the morning of September 4, they know the following:
———
Throughout all this, Anabel is only needed when Vinnie, Zhang, or Wen requires a new disguise – i.e., for a few hours a day. She takes advantage of her free time to try to dig up more background on Sergei Bogdanov. Unfortunately, she finds very little; the man is clearly quite secretive. However, she does learn that his son, Kirill – a man in his late 20s – is considerably more social, and likes to party. Promising!
Poking around online to learn more about Kirill's hangouts, Anabel gleans from casual chat – mostly among Paris club kids, and mainly girls – that he frequents a goth-industrial club: Psychoxique. Apparently, he especially likes the risqué theme nights. Anabel checks the place's schedule and decides to head over there on the night of Tuesday, September 1. She hits the shops that afternoon to pick up a suitable outfit.
On the taxi ride to Psychoxique that night, the cab driver attempts to dissuade Anabel from going in – he claims the club has a reputation for drugs, kinkiness, rape, and worse. Anabel thanks him for his advice but isn't steered from her mission. As she crosses the parking lot, she observes that the place is an interesting contradiction: It's loud, located in a dingy former factory, and has some fairly scary-looking people out front . . . but the noise comes from a top-notch sound system, the building was obviously converted at great expense, and nobody's outfit is worth less than €2,500. Moreover, the parking lot is filled with costly SUVs, not second-rate used cars.
Anabel heads inside, into her natural element. After some tipping, she learns that Kirill's crew is present, and where they're sitting. After a lot of flirting, dancing, and drinking, she catches the eye of Kirill's hulking, tattooed buddy, Anton. It doesn't take long before she's invited back to the VIP area with Anton, Kirill, and their legion of thuggish pals and eye-popping girlfriends.
It quickly becomes evident to Anabel that Kirill and chums aren't particularly pleasant. They can't speak a sentence without including threats or harsh language, they treat the staff like their personal servants, and they openly carry drugs and handguns. Club security turns a blind eye to all this – Kirill seems to own the place figuratively, if not literally. Anabel plays along with the booze, blow, and other debauchery, and is soon just another pretty face at Kirill's 24-hour party.
During the course of the night, Anabel learns quite a few interesting things – all as a direct result of Kirill and his mates thinking that she's a French party girl who can't understand the Russian they're yelling at each other and into cell phones. In four or five hours, Kirill takes over a dozen calls. Anabel catches mention of "guns gone missing in Amsterdam," "Hristov," and "the girl cut up by that psycho, Pavel." Once Anabel has heard enough, she hints to Kirill that she plans to see him again under more intimate circumstances, talks her way out, and gets a cab back to Le Marais.
———
Hamid, meanwhile, spends his time preparing his gear. Specifically, whenever Wen, Vinnie, or Zhang phones in an interim report that mentions a specific electronic security measure, he pulls together the tools needed to deal with that equipment. By the end of the week, he has the van all set up and ready to go at a moment's notice.
———
By mid-morning on Friday, September 4, the squad is ready to act. Their first order of business is to get eyes and ears inside Midas 69, which the team agrees is best arranged via the place's own security systems. To arrange this, Hamid needs to get inside as a "security company representative," which at minimum requires being able to engineer a call to or from said company. This in turn necessitates the ability to intercept telephone traffic – which means getting into a phone junction under the streets of Paris.
Vinnie takes an hour or so to loosen a floor panel in the van so that it can be used as a hatch. A little past noon, the Agents pile into the vehicle: Zhang drives, Anabel sits beside him, and the other three lurk in back. Zhang parks over the nearest manhole he can find in the general area of Midas 69. Then Vinnie opens the van floor and lifts the manhole cover, and he and Hamid grab their tools and head down under the street.
It doesn't take Hamid long to locate the right junction. Vinnie unlocks the box and then Hamid gets to work. Hamid installs a very complex tap, capable of detecting calls inbound to or outbound from the club's phones, looking up the number, and offering the opportunity to listen in on, block, or redirect the traffic. This takes a couple of hours, but there are no unexpected interruptions. On returning topside, Hamid tests his gizmo and confirms that it's working. Then the Agents pull out and head back to the safe house.
The team spends the rest of the afternoon getting ready for the next step of the plan. Hamid sets up the necessary monitoring gear for his tap – and also the cellular-monitoring gear, just in case. He multiplexes everything and serves the output over a few workstations in the van, to allow him and Vinnie to analyze the traffic in real time, and to permit Anabel to get on the circuit and play receptionist when needed. Meanwhile, Wen stencils the logo of an upscale catering company on the side of the van, while Anabel assembles hasty wait-staff disguises to match.
After dark, the squad heads out in two vehicles. Vinnie takes his car and Wen rides shotgun for him. To be precise, Wen brings along the best of the AK-74M rifles, fitted with one of her home-built silencers, and is extra-careful about folding it up and tucking it out of sight under a seat. Once more, Zhang drives the surveillance van. Anabel and Hamid are in the back of the van, electronics powered-up and headsets on.
Luckily, both drivers find parking in sight of Midas 69. Once Hamid radios that he has the place's land lines locked down and is monitoring cell phones inside, Wen leaps into action. In about 10 seconds, she pulls out the rifle, rolls down the window, lines up an oblique shot at a security camera on the side of the club, pops the camera with a single bullet, returns the rifle to concealment, and rolls up the window. Nobody in the area reacts to the muffled report of the rifle.
Less than a minute later, though, a guard emerges from Midas 69's side entrance and looks up at the camera. He speaks into his radio, and in moments, Hamid is intercepting a call to a Paris security company. Anabel takes the call. With Hamid providing cues such as the security company's name and the club's street address, Anabel doesn't miss a beat. She gets the club's customer number, assures the man on the phone that repairs are covered by their service contract, and promises to send a repairman – "Hamid" – immediately.
Hamid grabs his tools and slickly swaps vehicles with Vinnie and Wen; Wen leaves her rifle in the car, just in case. Hamid then takes a 20-minute spin before pulling up to the club. He makes an excellent show of being rushed. With the correct name and service number, and a kit of specialized tools, he easily establishes his credentials.
The club's security men show Hamid the broken camera. Hamid does exactly what he's supposed to do: He climbs up and replaces the camera. He even explains that the thing was shot, in order to buy himself trust while giving the staff something that might be worth calling their bosses about. He then asks to be shown to the monitoring room so that he can verify that the camera is running and check to make sure there wasn't a damaging short-circuit. The guards escort him inside.
In the security office, Hamid convinces the staff that the downed camera caused a fault, and breaks out his tools. Working quickly, he manages to install a high-bandwidth transmitter in the main box for the security cameras. He does this so skillfully that nobody even realizes what he has done. Shortly thereafter, he has the system up and running, and the guards thanking him for his efforts. Then he strolls out the door, gets into Vinnie's car, and drives off.
Meanwhile, Vinnie brings the signal online in the back of the van. Sure enough, he can see through all of the place's interior and exterior cameras. These are expensive cameras, all with PTZ and limited low-light capability (nothing spectacular, but better than nothing). Even better, the indoor units have limited audio. The latter feature is intended for picking up calls for help from the club floor, not for listening in on conversations, but Anabel feels that with a good headset, she could probably figure out what's being said.
With the place's phones and cameras under surveillance, it's time to wait. Given that Hristov's last visit was on a Friday, it might not be a long wait at all . . .
Time: August 29, 2009 (late afternoon).
Place: Le Marais safe house, Paris.
Last Event: Researching Chez Bogdanov and Midas 69.
The Agents decide that keeping tabs on Bogdanov's and Midas 69 is instrumental to following Hristov's trail up the criminal food chain. If nothing else, monitoring his meetings at those establishments is likely to reveal mob contacts. Electronic surveillance seems like the best tool for the job. Thus, the plan is hatched to put suitable technical means in place, and then to strike at Hristov's assets in the banlieues while he's visiting Bogdanov's or Midas 69 (or even hit the mobster's car on his way there!) and observe the reaction.
Of course, Bogdanov's is an upscale restaurant frequented by diplomats, so surveillance is likely to be tricky . . . and Midas 69 is an invitation-only club owned by a Saudi prince, so getting eyes inside will probably be even more difficult! The team discusses options: breaking in and planting cameras and mikes; tapping site security; posing as legitimate security company representatives; and even getting someone hired as staff. The eventual decision is to do basic street surveillance to analyze security measures, as well as the habits of clients and staff. This will make it easier to pick the best option in each case.
The first target is Bogdanov's. Anabel uses clothing and makeup to disguise Vinnie, Wen, and Zhang as generic people on the street. To avoid drawing suspicion, those on stakeout carry nothing that an ordinary citizen wouldn't – i.e., no fancy electronics or weapons. They rely on eyes and ears, and report in via cell phone.
From early evening on Saturday, August 29 to late at night on Monday, August 31, Wen, Zhang, and Vinnie watch Bogdanov's. They take shifts to cover the clock, and the night watch hides behind Dumpsters, in doorways, and so on, using darkness as cover. They appear to get away with this. When Zhang, Vinnie, and Wen report in on the morning of September 1, the essential data are:
• Staff remain until nearly 04:00 to close the place.The restaurant receives no visits from Hristov, its security company, or anybody else of particular interest during the operation. However, Vinnie notes that he saw somebody else watching the place: Two men in a café-au-lait-colored Opel. They were taking pictures, and trying to do so subtly. Vinnie suspects that they're cops – probably police nationale, who sometimes use unmarked Opels. Whatever the story is, this adds a wrinkle!
• Garbage collection is at around 06:00, which is also when kitchen help shows up to start food prep.
• There's an electronic security system but no night security guard.
• There's a two-hour window between 04:00 and 06:00 when the place stands empty.
From mid-afternoon on Tuesday, September 1 to late at night on Thursday, September 3, the Agents use exactly the same strategy to stake out Midas 69. Once again, nobody challenges Zhang, Wen, or Vinnie. By the morning of September 4, they know the following:
• There are staff and/or clients present pretty much 24 hours a day.The club receives no visits from Hristov or its security company on the Agents' watch. Vinnie is pretty sure that no cops are keeping tabs on the place. However, at least once during the surveillance, an inspecteur général of the police nationale – one Michel Roland – visits the club openly, as a member. Again, a wrinkle!
• There are at least three visible security men – with radios, metal detectors, and concealed handguns – on duty at all times.
• There's an expensive electronic security system with both cameras and alarms.
Throughout all this, Anabel is only needed when Vinnie, Zhang, or Wen requires a new disguise – i.e., for a few hours a day. She takes advantage of her free time to try to dig up more background on Sergei Bogdanov. Unfortunately, she finds very little; the man is clearly quite secretive. However, she does learn that his son, Kirill – a man in his late 20s – is considerably more social, and likes to party. Promising!
Poking around online to learn more about Kirill's hangouts, Anabel gleans from casual chat – mostly among Paris club kids, and mainly girls – that he frequents a goth-industrial club: Psychoxique. Apparently, he especially likes the risqué theme nights. Anabel checks the place's schedule and decides to head over there on the night of Tuesday, September 1. She hits the shops that afternoon to pick up a suitable outfit.
On the taxi ride to Psychoxique that night, the cab driver attempts to dissuade Anabel from going in – he claims the club has a reputation for drugs, kinkiness, rape, and worse. Anabel thanks him for his advice but isn't steered from her mission. As she crosses the parking lot, she observes that the place is an interesting contradiction: It's loud, located in a dingy former factory, and has some fairly scary-looking people out front . . . but the noise comes from a top-notch sound system, the building was obviously converted at great expense, and nobody's outfit is worth less than €2,500. Moreover, the parking lot is filled with costly SUVs, not second-rate used cars.
Anabel heads inside, into her natural element. After some tipping, she learns that Kirill's crew is present, and where they're sitting. After a lot of flirting, dancing, and drinking, she catches the eye of Kirill's hulking, tattooed buddy, Anton. It doesn't take long before she's invited back to the VIP area with Anton, Kirill, and their legion of thuggish pals and eye-popping girlfriends.
It quickly becomes evident to Anabel that Kirill and chums aren't particularly pleasant. They can't speak a sentence without including threats or harsh language, they treat the staff like their personal servants, and they openly carry drugs and handguns. Club security turns a blind eye to all this – Kirill seems to own the place figuratively, if not literally. Anabel plays along with the booze, blow, and other debauchery, and is soon just another pretty face at Kirill's 24-hour party.
During the course of the night, Anabel learns quite a few interesting things – all as a direct result of Kirill and his mates thinking that she's a French party girl who can't understand the Russian they're yelling at each other and into cell phones. In four or five hours, Kirill takes over a dozen calls. Anabel catches mention of "guns gone missing in Amsterdam," "Hristov," and "the girl cut up by that psycho, Pavel." Once Anabel has heard enough, she hints to Kirill that she plans to see him again under more intimate circumstances, talks her way out, and gets a cab back to Le Marais.
Hamid, meanwhile, spends his time preparing his gear. Specifically, whenever Wen, Vinnie, or Zhang phones in an interim report that mentions a specific electronic security measure, he pulls together the tools needed to deal with that equipment. By the end of the week, he has the van all set up and ready to go at a moment's notice.
By mid-morning on Friday, September 4, the squad is ready to act. Their first order of business is to get eyes and ears inside Midas 69, which the team agrees is best arranged via the place's own security systems. To arrange this, Hamid needs to get inside as a "security company representative," which at minimum requires being able to engineer a call to or from said company. This in turn necessitates the ability to intercept telephone traffic – which means getting into a phone junction under the streets of Paris.
Vinnie takes an hour or so to loosen a floor panel in the van so that it can be used as a hatch. A little past noon, the Agents pile into the vehicle: Zhang drives, Anabel sits beside him, and the other three lurk in back. Zhang parks over the nearest manhole he can find in the general area of Midas 69. Then Vinnie opens the van floor and lifts the manhole cover, and he and Hamid grab their tools and head down under the street.
It doesn't take Hamid long to locate the right junction. Vinnie unlocks the box and then Hamid gets to work. Hamid installs a very complex tap, capable of detecting calls inbound to or outbound from the club's phones, looking up the number, and offering the opportunity to listen in on, block, or redirect the traffic. This takes a couple of hours, but there are no unexpected interruptions. On returning topside, Hamid tests his gizmo and confirms that it's working. Then the Agents pull out and head back to the safe house.
The team spends the rest of the afternoon getting ready for the next step of the plan. Hamid sets up the necessary monitoring gear for his tap – and also the cellular-monitoring gear, just in case. He multiplexes everything and serves the output over a few workstations in the van, to allow him and Vinnie to analyze the traffic in real time, and to permit Anabel to get on the circuit and play receptionist when needed. Meanwhile, Wen stencils the logo of an upscale catering company on the side of the van, while Anabel assembles hasty wait-staff disguises to match.
After dark, the squad heads out in two vehicles. Vinnie takes his car and Wen rides shotgun for him. To be precise, Wen brings along the best of the AK-74M rifles, fitted with one of her home-built silencers, and is extra-careful about folding it up and tucking it out of sight under a seat. Once more, Zhang drives the surveillance van. Anabel and Hamid are in the back of the van, electronics powered-up and headsets on.
Luckily, both drivers find parking in sight of Midas 69. Once Hamid radios that he has the place's land lines locked down and is monitoring cell phones inside, Wen leaps into action. In about 10 seconds, she pulls out the rifle, rolls down the window, lines up an oblique shot at a security camera on the side of the club, pops the camera with a single bullet, returns the rifle to concealment, and rolls up the window. Nobody in the area reacts to the muffled report of the rifle.
Less than a minute later, though, a guard emerges from Midas 69's side entrance and looks up at the camera. He speaks into his radio, and in moments, Hamid is intercepting a call to a Paris security company. Anabel takes the call. With Hamid providing cues such as the security company's name and the club's street address, Anabel doesn't miss a beat. She gets the club's customer number, assures the man on the phone that repairs are covered by their service contract, and promises to send a repairman – "Hamid" – immediately.
Hamid grabs his tools and slickly swaps vehicles with Vinnie and Wen; Wen leaves her rifle in the car, just in case. Hamid then takes a 20-minute spin before pulling up to the club. He makes an excellent show of being rushed. With the correct name and service number, and a kit of specialized tools, he easily establishes his credentials.
The club's security men show Hamid the broken camera. Hamid does exactly what he's supposed to do: He climbs up and replaces the camera. He even explains that the thing was shot, in order to buy himself trust while giving the staff something that might be worth calling their bosses about. He then asks to be shown to the monitoring room so that he can verify that the camera is running and check to make sure there wasn't a damaging short-circuit. The guards escort him inside.
In the security office, Hamid convinces the staff that the downed camera caused a fault, and breaks out his tools. Working quickly, he manages to install a high-bandwidth transmitter in the main box for the security cameras. He does this so skillfully that nobody even realizes what he has done. Shortly thereafter, he has the system up and running, and the guards thanking him for his efforts. Then he strolls out the door, gets into Vinnie's car, and drives off.
Meanwhile, Vinnie brings the signal online in the back of the van. Sure enough, he can see through all of the place's interior and exterior cameras. These are expensive cameras, all with PTZ and limited low-light capability (nothing spectacular, but better than nothing). Even better, the indoor units have limited audio. The latter feature is intended for picking up calls for help from the club floor, not for listening in on conversations, but Anabel feels that with a good headset, she could probably figure out what's being said.
With the place's phones and cameras under surveillance, it's time to wait. Given that Hristov's last visit was on a Friday, it might not be a long wait at all . . .