dr_kromm: (Default)
Sean Punch ([personal profile] dr_kromm) wrote2010-07-03 03:37 pm
Entry tags:

The Company

On June 21, we had 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"), and Mike ("Vincenzo Calliente," of many aliases). Torsten ("Qoqa Ramazanov," a.k.a. "Zoya Petrovna Sidorov") was out of town. For those following the campaign: We didn't game on June 14 because I had a terrible sinus infection, and we didn't play on June 28 because I had the day off and was out of town for much of the day.


Time:
March 19, 2010 (afternoon).
Place: Beirut.
Last Event: Keeping a low profile while Qoqa works the hotel.

While Qoqa cleans rooms at the hotel – and incidentally observes its staff and patrons – the other Agents remain aboard the Cephalopod, planning the next step. After a short discussion, they cook up a simple-but-effective way to show Mossad that they've infiltrated the meeting: Qoqa will set the alarm clocks in every room to go off at 02:30. This will demonstrate to Mossad surveillance crews that the "Russians" have an inside operator, as claimed. It should also produce visible chaos out of proportion to the deed. Nobody enjoys being awakened unexpectedly, and both Mossad and twitchy militia bosses will appreciate that a clock could easily be the trigger for a bomb!

Anabel calls Qoqa and brings her up to speed. Qoqa wastes no time; she works extra-fast, cleaning rooms so efficiently that her short-staffed supervisors are more than happy to let her exceed her original assignment and cover as many floors as she can manage. In dozens of rooms – especially those given high priority for "important clients" – she carefully synchs and sets the alarm clocks. By the end of her shift, she has set enough alarms that even if guests reset half of them, the place will be very noisy come 02:30.

Toward evening, Wen calls Chaturvedi on her Company smart phone. She explains the group's cover story as "Russian agents" and the plan to use alarms to send Mossad a message: "We're all over the hotel and we could've blown up the place if we had wanted to." She asks the handler to get a few anonymous phone calls through to the cell phones that Hamid gave the released Mossad men – preferably from hard-to-trace phones in Europe and/or North America – and tell the spooks who answer to watch the hotel at 02:30. Chaturvedi likes the plan, and says that he has the ideal assets for the task.

Come nightfall, Qoqa leaves the hotel on foot and heads for public transit. Vinnie shadows her bus by car, but he doesn't spot anybody else showing an interest. Meanwhile, Anabel quickly disguises Zhang and drives him out to the stop Qoqa intends to get off at, where Zhang gets out and waits while Anabel returns to the yacht. Qoqa arrives safely and meets Zhang, and the two of them walk a few blocks to Vinnie's waiting vehicle. In the car, Zhang removes his disguise while Qoqa changes into different clothing, ditching everything she had with her at the hotel . . . just in case. Vinnie drives back via a circuitous route.

Once everybody is aboard the Cephalopod, it's time to wait. Wen checks in with Chaturvedi, who confirms that he managed to get the team's message through to Mossad. After a short conversation, they agree that it would be wise for Chaturvedi to call the two cell phones shortly after 02:30 to ask the Mossad spooks whether "Russia" can count on their cooperation, now that it's clear that they have agents inside.

At around 03:30 on March 20, Chaturvedi calls Wen back. He says that Mossad called the numbers he left for them and confirmed that they received the message. Israel is willing to let "Russia" handle this one . . . at least for now, and in return for future concessions. Chaturvedi says that he anticipated this, and instructed his people to show good will by pointing Mossad at the residue of Grandfather's arms-dealing ring, some of which was arming militias throughout the Middle East. Of course, Interpol is already sharing similar information, but the Company version includes extra details, making the intelligence both verifiable and clearly higher-level.

Chaturvedi instructs the Agents to remain in place until the summit concludes on the evening of Sunday, March 21. Qoqa continues to work at the hotel, Klas watches the yacht, and the other nine take rooms in several hotels in the area. Vinnie makes sure that the group has fresh rental cars ready, just in case. While there are clearly lots of spies keeping tabs on things, there are no explosions or murders. It seems that Mossad held up its end of the bargain. By the morning of March 22, all the expensive cars and SUVs full of men with poorly concealed weapons have left the hotel.

With their mission accomplished, the Agents decide to leave town, destination Genoa. Vinnie plots a course, Wen asks Chaturvedi to file the necessary false papers, and then the Cephalopod sets out for Italy. The plan is to play things casual, like wealthy tourists on a pleasure cruise, so the team's ETA in Genoa is March 31, 2010.



Post a comment in response:

This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting