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The Company
Time: Sunday, April 24, 2011.
Place: London, U.K.
Last Event: Potential work for the new cover business.
The Agents decide that since their potential client appears to have an emergency (if not, then why call a security-and-privacy firm on a Sunday evening?), they'll send people over at once to assess the situation. Luna-Tech's nominal "talkers" are Anabel and Qoqa, so they get the job. Vinnie drives them to the address given in the call, which proves to be in an area that Qoqa knows is popular with businesses tied to the media and performance worlds – the offices of agents, video producers, and so on. Vinnie pulls up to the slick-looking high-rise, drops off Qoqa and Anabel, and then stays nearby, circling the block.
The watchman admits Anabel and Qoqa, who head to the 14th floor via the lift, noting on the way that the place is empty – predictable, given the hour. Upon reaching the suite number noted in the call, they encounter a large, arty sign next to the entrance: "Ring Snatcher Media." An instant after Anabel knocks, the door opens a crack with a security chain still in place, and a man with perfect hair asks to see some ID. After being assured that he's dealing with Luna-Tech, he visibly relaxes, lets Qoqa and Anabel in, and identifies himself as David Everett, personal assistant to RSM's owner, Roger Morton-Cox. David favors first names and clearly isn't into such formalities as "Ms." and "Mr."
David escorts Anabel and Qoqa to Roger's office, where Roger (who also has perfect hair) wastes no time filling them in on the situation, with David occasionally chiming in to elaborate or validate. Apparently, one of Roger's photographers – someone named Stephanie – returned from away on Saturday afternoon and brought in some valuable footage. David met Stephanie at RSM's suite, unlocked the door, helped her stow her costly camera gear and the SSD containing the footage in a locker, and then locked the place up. Earlier this evening, Roger wanted to view the footage, so he sent David down to fetch the SSD. When David arrived, however, the module was gone! That's when they decided to hire outside help.
Anabel and Qoqa are mystified as to why the men didn't simply call the police, and steer the conversation in that direction. From what Roger says, it seems that the footage's value is too time-dependent to risk leaving the SSD parked in a police evidence room for days or weeks. When Qoqa tries to determine why the recording is so valuable, Roger states that it's a "secret"; until Luna-Tech has accepted the job and signed an NDA with RSM's lawyer on Monday morning, he won't reveal details. What is clear is that Roger and David think that they're edgy, and that their footage is important. In Roger's words, "This isn't like our other work. It's something big that we're branching into."
Questioning regarding the physical circumstances of the apparent theft reveals that the place was locked at the time, and that only Roger, David, and their office manager, Laurel, had keys. Frustratingly, the suite has no surveillance cameras, so there's no security footage to view. When Qoqa asks whether the men have any enemies, or whether any of RSM's competition is aggressive or unethical, Roger states melodramatically that artists in the media business always have competitors – all of whom would do anything to scoop a new idea. In fact, he called Luna-Tech specifically because they're new kids on the block and unlikely to have taken jobs for RSM's rivals in the past. Then he urges Anabel to accept the job and bring her people in to investigate.
Qoqa and Anabel confer for a moment and then agree to take the case, even though it seems extremely fishy. Anabel calls Vinnie in the car and asks him to fetch Paul, Zhang, and the field gear. Then she phones Hamid and Jili. Sotto voce, she asks them to research both RSM and every employee she has heard named so far. Once she's done on the phone, Anabel asks David to show her around the premises, leaving Qoqa to interrogate Roger (politely, of course!).
At first, Roger simply wants to de-stress by talking about how fabulous he is. After a few minutes, he's dragging Qoqa around the suite, talking about his art. The stills on the wall suggest that his work consists mainly of music videos, sex- and violence-laced political statements, and stuff that borders on porn. Qoqa keeps digging, however, and eventually Roger spills: "Libya!"
Roger explains that after 14 years in the media biz, he wanted RSM to be more political, more relevant, so he sent Stephanie to Libya. His goal was to have her interview people on both sides of the conflict there, in order to show a revolution in action. Stephanie apparently has many relevant contacts and is good at this kind of work, making her ideal for the job. And indeed she got in, shot footage from both perspectives, and made it out again. That's why the footage is so valuable, and why Roger wants to keep it a secret . . . oops.
Qoqa hastily changes the subject to Stephanie, who seems to be a central figure in all this. Roger says that Stephanie and her assistant, Andy, are taking some well-deserved time off. When Qoqa asks how to get in touch with her, Roger becomes defensive again: "I don't give out employee information." Pushed a little, he simply adds that Stephanie likes retreats, and is at one right now – one where they don't allow cell phones or uninvited guests. The moment Roger wanders out of earshot, Qoqa calls Hamid and Jili, shares everything she has learned, and asks them to look into it.
Meanwhile, Anabel finds David rather less informative. About all he can tell her is that he came down to let Stephanie in on Saturday afternoon, and that when he returned to fetch the SSD for Roger on Sunday, it was gone. Since only he, Roger, and Laurel have keys – and only he has ever lost his key, and that wasn't recently – he's convinced that somebody broke in. David does, however, show Anabel where the SSD was stowed under lock and key (for insurance reasons), and point out the inventory and checkout forms where it was listed (also for insurance purposes).
Shortly after Anabel and Qoqa run out of questions, Paul, Vinnie, and Zhang arrive. Vinnie and Paul immediately get to work examining the locks. The suite's main door has a merely average-quality lock, and Paul finds scratches and scoring that suggest that it has been picked. The lock on the equipment room is much better, but Paul deduces that it, too, was picked. Vinnie's opinion is that a pro did this, as no amateur could handle the latter mechanism. The lock on the locker itself turns out to have been cut very finely in a way that wouldn't be obvious to casual viewers, further reinforcing Vinnie's opinion.
The equipment inside the locker proves to be almost untouched – an extremely peculiar situation for a burglary. For instance, the costly Red digital cinema camera, worth tens of thousands of pounds, is present with all accessories accounted for. And while there are many expensive Red-RAM SSDs on the rack, only the specific unit holding Stephanie's footage is missing. It seems that whoever took the module knew exactly which one to grab, implying that the thieves' goal was the data, not the high-priced recording gear. The visible inventory numbers on each item would make such a theft relatively straightforward for someone who had seen the SSD in the past.
Vinnie wants to see the footage from the building's lobby security cameras, if only to learn when the thieves visited and how many there were. Anabel volunteers for the job, and takes the lift downstairs. However, the night guard is a bit of a stiff – a fascistic little dictator of a man with no love for the RSM crew, whom he calls "faggots." He also has no access to the security recordings, and claims that if Anabel wants to see them, she should file a report with the police and have the authorities request that information through normal channels. When Anabel storms off in a huff, the guard doesn't seem to care.
Upstairs, Paul and Zhang behave like the detectives they were, grilling David and Roger about the premises, their staff, and yesterday's events. Qoqa uses this distraction to slip into Roger's office, where a quick search turns up his address book. Qoqa jots down the names of all the employees, as well as their addresses and phone numbers. The complete staff list consists of 11 people:
Owner: Roger Morton-Cox
Personal Assistant: David Everett
Marketing: Louise Waye
Distribution: Helen Wu
Office Manager: Laurel Steele
Production Technician: Annie Billingham
Production Technician: Emily Shaw
Production Technician: James Winstead
Production Technician: Mickey Matthews
Photographer: Stephanie Wakeling
Photographer's Assistant: Andy Morrish
Eventually, Zhang and Paul conclude their preliminary investigation. Their hypothesis is that one or more people wearing gloves came in, quickly defeated the locks, grabbed the specific item they were seeking, and then left, locking doors behind them. The job was clean and precise, the work of high-end cat burglars or perhaps intelligence officers, but not common criminals.
With that, the Agents take their leave, promising Roger and David that they will return first thing in the morning to sign papers with their lawyer and get down to work in earnest. It's the wee hours of Monday, April 25 when the five return to their car. There, they have a quick meeting and agree that it would be best to check out Stephanie's place right away, in case she's either responsible for or a victim in all this. Vinnie heads to the address Qoqa has for the photographer, about 45 minutes to the west, in a middle-income neighborhood.
Stephanie's area is quiet at 02:00 on a Monday. Vinnie pulls up a short distance down the road from the flat and tells the others that he'll sneak in and turn on the lights as a signal. Then he vanishes into the night. A few minutes later, the lights in Stephanie's place come on. Paul and Zhang slip out of the car to help Vinnie investigate, while Anabel and Qoqa stay with the car – Qoqa in the driver's seat, just in case.
Inside Stephanie's flat, Paul, Vinnie, and Zhang split up to look for evidence of foul play. It doesn't take long – in the bedroom, Vinnie discovers personal items knocked everywhere, a cracked mirror, and bedclothes dragged across the floor. There was clearly a scuffle of some sort! In the study, Zhang notices a conspicuously empty, dust-free spot on a shelf otherwise laden with high-tech photographic gear. His instincts tell him that the missing item was an equipment case, removed very recently.
Further searching turns up things that people rarely leave behind when leaving the house: handbag, cell phone, keys, etc. Vinnie notes that the car keys are for a Mini, and recalls seeing a Mini parked just out front – Stephanie almost certainly didn't take off in her car. The Agents photograph everything they find. Once they're done, they carefully pack up the cell phone and laptop computer (which, strangely, the thieves didn't touch). As they're getting ready to leave, they hear a loud crash outside.
Anabel and Qoqa have almost no time to react when a Range Rover suddenly appears in the rear-view mirror, bearing down on their parked car at high speed. With their engine off and their belts on, all they can do is brace for impact. The collision is severe and painful, pushing the car 10m down the street into a signpost and causing the airbags to deploy. Anabel passes out from her injuries at once. Qoqa remains conscious – but as she uses her knife to deflate the airbag that's in her face, she hears some shouts in Arabic, after which a man appears in the window and bludgeons her unconscious with a tire iron.
Zhang, being a lightning-fast traceur, is the first out of Stephanie's apartment and onto the sidewalk. He sees a trail of broken glass and auto parts leading down the street, where the group's car is thoroughly wrecked against a pole, a Range Rover ploughed into it from behind. There are four men on the scene, two keeping watch by the Range Rover while the others drag the limp forms of Anabel and Qoqa up the street. Zhang sneaks down the street in the shadows, until he comes parallel with the guy dragging Qoqa. Then he leaps from concealment and kicks the brute in the temple, dropping him to the gutter in one shot!
Zhang's dramatic entrance results in two of the strangers pulling knives, while a third raises a tire iron. All three come for him. Knowing that he has two allies coming from behind the men, he backs away down the street – remaining on the defensive – in the hope that he can buy Paul and Vinnie an opening for a surprise attack. The armed goons fall for it, converging on Zhang as Vinnie and Paul steal up behind them.
After that, chaos ensues. Paul, having picked up an athletic weight as a makeshift fist load before leaving the flat, drops one man with a vicious, skull-cracking blow. Vinnie fails to connect with his target – but fortunately, this gives Zhang an opening to go back on the offensive. He takes the man down and promptly overbears him in the gutter. The third chap manages to crack Paul a nasty one with a tire iron, sending him reeling and wheezing with several broken ribs. In the confusion, though, Vinnie is able to slip up behind Paul's assailant and knife him in the kidney, ending the altercation.
When the violence stops, Vinnie and Zhang are fine; Paul is staggering around, barely conscious; and Anabel and Qoqa are unconscious in the street. Nearby, two of the Agents' attackers are "merely" badly beaten up by Zhang, one is severely concussed from Paul's weighted blow to the skull, and one is dying from Vinnie's lethal knife attack. The car is a write-off, but the Range Rover looks to be running, and Stephanie's Mini is parked nearby. There are no sirens yet, but lights are coming on in windows, and doubtless somebody has already punched in 999.
I'm enjoying these write-ups