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The Company
Time: Monday, August 9, 2010 (evening).
Place: Vancouver, Canada.
Last Event: Buying equipment like crazy!
Anabel sits through the meeting that hippy chick Star got her into, which proves to be about planning an animal-rights rally. When Stan Paulow shows up, he's obviously in a hurry and present mainly to "show the flag" as a big-name figurehead. Anabel realizes that she must act quickly. She draws attention to herself with a loud, controversial political claim, and then segues into her pitch: She's a British activist whose organization wants to carry out an "emergency intervention" in the Pacific, and they have funding but no ship.
Unlike most of Anabel's marks, Paulow doesn't seem especially impressed by her sex appeal. However, he sympathizes with her political cause and hints that he may be able to be of some assistance. He says that after the meeting, he and some organizers intend to retire to his nearby café, where he plans to stay for perhaps an hour. He suggests that Anabel join them there if she wants a lead on a ship.
Anabel thanks Paulow, and then whips out her cell phone and calls her associates. Knowing that Ben once studied the life sciences and is Canadian, Anabel decides that he'll be the local scientific mind behind the operation . . . and her boyfriend, if convenient. She asks him to "dress hippy" and meet her at the café; Ben dashes off to prepare. Anabel also asks Jili to deploy a fake "Save Our Sharks" website ASAP – preferably one that depicts people saving sharks, but with Anabel's image shopped in – just in case. Jili complains about the schedule but says it shouldn't be a problem, as she had already been thinking along those lines.
When Ben joins Anabel at the café about an hour later, he looks nothing like his usual buttoned-down self. The two of them immediately go to work on Paulow. Ben spews a believable line of bull about using pheromones and electrical signals in the water to drive away sharks for miles around, thereby foiling finning vessels. Paulow has less trouble with that than with the fact that Anabel might not have a qualified crew. He clearly doesn't want to be implicated in getting a bunch of people drowned! Anabel defuses Paulow's concerns by assuring him, quite convincingly, that she has a suitable crew here in Vancouver.
Eventually, Paulow gives Anabel a lead on a ship: His organization's old flagship, RV Gaia Defender, is currently impounded by the Canadian government with $1.8 million in outstanding fines and damages due. His group has no intention of paying up – it's a matter of principle – but he'd be happy to make the necessary phone calls and hand over the relevant papers for Anabel to try her luck. As far as he's concerned, if she can bail out the vessel, she can have it. Anabel agrees, and gives Paulow her contact info.
When Anabel and Ben get back to the hotel, they brief their associates on the Gaia Defender situation. The Agents agree to the use of funds; $1.8 million is a substantial portion of the price of a ship, but presenting Paulow's papers and paying the fines means taking immediate possession of a craft famously used by eco-terrorists. The alternative is waiting days or weeks to obtain a vessel that doesn't neatly support the team's cover activity. After making this decision, everybody heads to bed to get some rest before what promises to be a long day of wrangling government officials and, hopefully, getting a ship ready to put out to sea.
The morning of August 10, Vinnie heads out to make the rounds of legitimate sporting-goods shops. His ostensible activity is buying flashlights, multi-tools, scopes, and other items the group actually needs. However, his real goal is to locate a business that carries a good selection of firearms, and then to evaluate its internal and external security measures. His hope is to find a place that's a suitable target for a visit on the night before the group leaves Vancouver.
Qoqa goes shopping as well. She simply wants to buy some additional bulk food, just in case the operation really does turn up a human cargo. Slavers might feed their victims to protect their investment, but they're unlikely to take complications into account – and the Agents' planned raid will definitely constitute a huge wrinkle!
Anabel and Ben dress respectably, pick up the necessary documents from Paulow, and head down to the port to see about the ship. As Ben's false papers identify him as a Canadian, he does much of the speaking and all of the signing. Once his ID checks out, the clerk rattles off the running tab on the Gaia Defender. Damages and fines levied by the court, fees for mooring the vessel (at the owner's expense, naturally), permits to move it, and various penalties, surcharges, and taxes add up to far more than the $1.8 million that Paulow was cited in 2007 – they come to $3.5 million!
Ben requests some privacy to call his bank to about a funds transfer. Once he and Anabel are alone, they poll the other Agents as to whether they want to part with that kind of money to get hold of a ship. Nobody is happy with the situation, but it isn't as if there are many alternatives if the group wants to acquire a vessel overnight. The team has a substantial budget after selling the Cephalopod and other assets confiscated from Grandfather, and can easily afford it, so the final decision is to go for it. Anabel calls Chaturvedi and has him set up the transaction.
After an entire morning of administrative work, the Agents have themselves a ride. The Canadian functionaries warn that there's an injunction against members of the ship's previous crew so much as stepping aboard. Anabel manages to assure them that this won't happen. Then the officials add that for the vessel to leave impound, someone with an up-to-date captain's ticket will have to sign in with them. Fortunately, JB has false credentials that claim he's a certified ship's master under Spanish law. Ben provides JB's assumed name and promises that their captain will check in shortly.
With that done, Anabel and Ben are allowed aboard the Gaia Defender, escorted by a guard, to check out its seaworthiness. The situation isn't pretty – the vessel is in desperate need of repairs. On leaving the impound dock, they immediately start searching for mechanics who can sort things out quickly. The first few places tell them that nobody works that fast, but they eventually find someone who's willing to take the job . . .
Their savior is a Chinese-Canadian entrepreneur who, on hearing their ship's name, immediately concludes that they're involved in eco-terrorism. He says that given that they're already planning to break the law, they surely won't mind if he farms out the job to his bevy of brothers, cousins, and brothers-in-law, all of whom are working in Canada without work visas. These guys are all "first rate" mechanics, of course – it's just that they aren't certified in Canada, and don't have insurance. And they'll want to be paid in cash. Oh, and they mostly don't speak English. None of that's a problem, is it?
As it happens, this isn't a problem. Fast work with no paper trail, by people who can no more afford to be caught than the Agents, is almost ideal. Chaturvedi will certainly be able to arrange the necessary cash. And of course Anabel, Wen, and Zhang all speak perfectly good Mandarin. Anabel tells the man behind the desk to call his family.
While Anabel and Ben are negotiating, JB arrives at the impound dock with some of his "crew" (Hamid, Jili, Klas, Lev, Paul, Wen, and Zhang). Once everybody's papers check out, the Canadians let JB and company take command of the vessel. JB slowly and painfully maneuvers the ship to the mooring designated by Anabel and Ben's new friend, where a small army of Chinese men wait – being paid by the hour, of course. As soon as the vessel is moored, the mechanics swarm aboard and get to work.
Qoqa and Vinnie join the others shortly after dusk. Vinnie reports that he found a dodgy-looking "sporting goods" shop that carries little but firearms, in a crime-ridden part of town. It has minimal security, and a none-too-subtle unmarked car parked out front watching the place. The main disincentive to ripping off the place is being nabbed by the police in seconds if the hit is during business hours, and gang retaliation at any other hour. The Agents have no compunction against robbing such an establishment; indeed, doing so probably means fewer guns in the hands of thugs on the street. They send Lev and Zhang to watch the place by night.
The other 10 Agents remain aboard the Gaia Defender. Using Wen as her translator – and not letting on that she herself knows Mandarin – Anabel tells the laborers that she needs everything ready within 48 hours, and that there will be a large cash bonus if this comes to pass. She then proceeds to hover and play the part of the anxious client while covertly eavesdropping on the work gang's conversations. Wen continues to pose as Anabel's translator as required. When not needed in this role, she makes herself useful as a gofer, keeping a close eye on the mechanics and chatting with them in their mother tongue.
The Chinese workers see to the hull and mechanicals, but Hamid and Jili mark the bridge off-limits to them, taking care of the electrical and electronics overhaul personally. Ben and Vinnie lend a hand with the engine repairs. Qoqa collars the Agents with no specific duties – meaning JB, Klas, and Paul – and makes sure that everything dirty gets hosed, pumped, swabbed, and wiped.
Work proceeds nonstop in shifts throughout the night and following day. The workers prove to be quick and efficient, although "safe" isn't one of their virtues. Still, there are no disasters that Qoqa can't bandage up. By the wee hours of August 12, it's evident that the Gaia Defender will be in sufficiently good shape to put out to sea at daybreak, after perhaps 36 hours of work. By JB's calculations, if everything really is ready to go by dawn, the group should be able to intercept the smugglers' vessel on the high seas – if only barely.
This means loading everything the Agents need – both the gear they've procured so far and the guns that Vinnie plans to steal – before the sun comes up. To this end, Lev, Vinnie, and Zhang head for the gun shop with their burglary tools. The others, under Qoqa's careful eye, start ferrying their equipment from storage to the ship.