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The Company
Time: Monday, April 25, 2011 (early evening).
Place: London, U.K.
Last Event: Rescuing Stephanie Wakeling and Hamid from a torturer.
In the derelict building opposite Kamal's kebab joint, the Agents stand victorious over the Libyan spies but certainly aren't unscathed. Zhang and Lev's shotgun wounds need more than hasty field dressings, Wen's beating merits medical attention, and Hamid and Stephanie require both a physical examination and a psychological evaluation. Only Klas and Vinnie are truly in good shape. Having called in a report to their allies across town, the field team confers briefly and decides to exit into the alleyway and drive away as quickly as possible.
Vinnie locates a basement exit into the alleyway: delivery doors that open up out of the ground, long-disused and chained on the inside. He confirms to his satisfaction that there are no alarms or booby-traps, and then picks the lock with ease. As he lifts the right-hand door to step outside, he hears a sharp crack nearby – somebody is shooting at him! He dives back downstairs, letting the flap slam shut behind him. The others ask him where the shooter is, but Vinnie has no idea; he didn't exactly have time to look around.
Wen remembers the extensive break-and-enter hardware in the torture chamber, and guesses that given the professionalism with which the Libyans used it at the Ring Snatcher Media offices, it might include search gear. She limps over there and finds what she wants: a mirror on a telescoping probe. Returning to the exit, she opens it a tiny crack and uses the mirror to look around. From her vantage, she spots a man with a rifle crouching between the team's van and car, four motorcycles parked down the alleyway from there, a man with a submachine gun doing something next to the bikes, and two beefy thugs watching the end of the alleyway.
After hearing Wen's assessment of the situation outside, Klas volunteers to go find an alternative exit. Lev says that he'll accompany Klas; his injuries are downright superficial next to Zhang's, so he's still plenty dangerous. They each take one of the captured H&K UMPs, which are suppressed and seem to be in decent shape. They encounter nobody skulking around the ground floor, but a quick check of the front door reveals that somebody has run a heavy cycle chain through the exterior handles and locked it in place. Hearing nobody inside the building with them, they start upstairs to get above the shooters in the alleyway, systematically leapfrogging as they go . . . just in case.
Down in the basement, Vinnie and a wounded-but-mobile Wen manage to drag the unconscious Hamid and Zhang over to the exit. Stephanie is able to make her own way there, albeit at a slow, staggering pace. Wen warns everybody to stay well away from the doors, picks up one of the M4s that Zhang grabbed from the guards upstairs, and draws a bead on the exit. Vinnie readies a SPAS-12 and joins her. Anybody who comes in that way is going to get blow full of holes, damn the noise.
At first, it seems as though the gunmen outside are waiting for the Agents to make the first move. However, not long after Vinnie and Wen take up position, the two smell solvents and see a stream of liquid trickling down the basement stairs; Wen can also hear a muffled sloshing sound. With their extensive personal knowledge of arson, Wen and Vinnie immediately realize that the men in the alleyway intend to burn the place down with everybody inside! Wen signals to Vinnie to force the door open so that she can pop up for a shot. Vinnie acknowledges, and then the two of them stalk forward.
As soon as Vinnie lifts the flap, another bullet cracks nearby – a near miss! Vinnie has been under fire before, however, and takes it in stride. Once the door is fully open, both he and Wen see the man with the submachine gun standing above them, weapon slung as he splashes petrol from a jerrycan. He hastily tosses the can, narrowly missing Wen, and then reaches for his weapon. Wen is faster, though, and fires three rounds from the M4, splattering the would-be arsonist's head across the wall of the building opposite.
Vinnie seizes the initiative, erupting from the cellar doors with his SPAS-12 blazing. Aiming at head level, he blasts shell after shell at the sharpshooter lurking by the group's vehicles, figuring he'd rather do some bodywork on the cars later than spare them and get shot. His target doesn't stand a chance at this range, and collapses out of sight in a welter of gore. As soon as Vinnie moves out, Wen pops out of the basement exit behind him, exposing her head and shoulders, and leveling her M4 at the men down the alleyway.
Upstairs, Klas and Lev hear the muffled pop-pop-pop of an M4 firing from within the basement, followed immediately by the BANG-BANG-BANG of a SPAS-12 being discharged in the alleyway. Both have a good enough ear to recognize the weapons – and to make a reasonable guess at who's shooting what. Knowing that Vinnie and Wen wouldn't be outside shooting if it wasn't absolutely urgent, Lev and Klas run for the nearest window overlooking the lane.
Back in the alleyway, Vinnie and Wen see the two goons at the far end turn their intimidating stares away from passersby and toward them. Both men draw weapons. One pulls out another UMP, its stock folded. The other takes out a strange, bright-red weapon that Vinnie doesn't recognize but Wen does: an Orion flare gun. Clearly, these guys came equipped for arson, and one of them plans to ignite the petrol that's all around and on Wen and Vinnie!
Shouting a warning to Vinnie, Wen takes careful aim at the man with the Very pistol; he's far enough away that she doesn't dare risk a snapshot down a lane that exits into a street full of civilians. Vinnie hears Wen's shout and zigzags down the opposite side of the alleyway, bent on closing the gap to shotgun distance. At the far end of the alley, the man with the UMP takes the time to unfold the stock while the guy with flare gun lines up what is a rather tricky shot, given his imprecise weapon. Indeed, the distance is too great for anybody to hit anything with wild fire.
A tense moment later, Wen fires a single round, aiming slightly low to come in under any body armor. The bullet strikes at groin level and appears to hit the femoral artery – blood sprays everywhere and the man pointing the flare gun collapses as if deflated. The gunman with the UMP opens up, but with Vinnie zigzagging like crazy and Wen less than half exposed, he manages to hit only the vehicles. Before Vinnie can move close enough to take him on, Wen shoots again, once more aiming at the crotch and once more dropping her target.
Above, Lev and Klas hear the shooting and race for the window. They reach it and break it out just in time to see Vinnie and Wen scanning either end of the alleyway and signaling "clear." From their vantage, they see nobody else in the area. Either the thugs scared off the locals by making the whole affair look like something dangerously gang-related, or the Agents simply got lucky. However, as the police are almost certainly on the way, there's no time to waste – Klas and Lev rush downstairs to join their associates.
The team moves quickly, helping Hamid, Stephanie, and Zhang into the back of the van. Wen grabs Ring Snatcher's SSD and jumps in the van as well, while Vinnie takes the wheel and gets ready to leave. Klas and Lev hop in the car, Klas in the driver's seat. Lev ditches his torn-up jacket for Klas' clean one, which he uses to hide his wounds. Everybody wore gloves at Qoqa's insistence, so the Agents see little reason not to leave all the guns behind, figuring that it's better to let the police find the illegal firearms at the scene of the shooting than to have them upending London in search of them.
The vehicles have been hit by gunfire (fortunately, in fenders and doors rather than in tires and windows), so it's crucial that Klas and Vinnie keep to quiet streets and avoid the police. As a result, the drive back is tense, with both drivers following indirect, circuitous routes. Wen calls Anabel from the road. Speaking in Mandarin for extra security, she delivers a briefing on what happened. Wen is exceptionally good at after-action reports, and gives Anabel all the information she needs to make her next move while her allies are still on the way in . . .
Anabel calls Terence West at the number he gave her. Still working the FSB angle, she lets Terence know that "her operators" – implying Russian agents – took down some Libyans who grabbed a civilian. She tells him where, and what to expect there, and explains that she'll return the kidnapping victim to her home, leaving it to her to decide whether to call the authorities. Terence responds by saying that MI5 had a lead on some Libyan spies, and had been watching a kebab restaurant near the address Anabel gave. Anabel apologizes for shooting MI5's targets, but explains that she had her orders and figured that MI5 would forgive her for freeing a British citizen in the course of carrying them out.
Terence doesn't seem thrilled to hear that his kind-of girlfriend and her team of Russian spies are running around the U.K. killing Libyan agents. On the other hand, she is his lover and she did free a British citizen – he seems to know something about that. He agrees to do what he can to take the heat off in the short term, but in return for a concession: He wants a copy of all the intel that Anabel's people grabbed from the Libyans, so that he can show his superiors proof that his methods are working, if need be. Anabel agrees to this, and she and Terence conclude their call.
It's well after dark when Klas and Vinnie pull into the car park downstairs. Their careful driving seems to have paid off – there are no sirens in the distance, and no signs of quieter pursuit. Ben, Jili, Klas, and Vinnie help whisk the wounded upstairs as quickly and stealthily as possible. As soon as everyone is out of sight, Wen tosses Jili the SSD and asks her to make copies of the footage stored on it. Then Ben and a rather tired-looking, bandaged-up Qoqa get to work on Stephanie and the injured Agents.
Zhang and Lev are the first to get treatment, by Qoqa and Ben, respectively. The medics extract shot, clean and stitch up wounds, and administer antibiotics, just in case. As luck would have it, neither patient was hit anywhere vital, so the prognosis looks good. Qoqa finishes up first, and plans to see how Wen is doing, but by then Wen is off raiding a kitchen somewhere, and not to be found. The beating couldn't have been that bad . . .
After treating the team's gunshot wounds, Ben and Qoqa see to the torture victims. Ben examines Hamid, who is in unusually good spirits given what happened. He seems proud of the fact that he told the Libyans nothing, and that his mind proved more powerful than the torturer's "bullying and violence." Ben finds nothing terribly wrong with Hamid physically, but suggests that he ought to get some rest.
Meanwhile, Qoqa gives Stephanie a physical and psychological checkup. Stephanie actually seems to have received milder injuries than those suffered by many of the Agents during this investigation – certainly nothing as grievous as Zhang's gunshot wounds or even Qoqa's head blow from a tire iron. Psychologically, Stephanie appears to be rather tough; she's shaken but not broken, and entirely willing to converse with her rescuers.
During Qoqa's interview of Stephanie, she learns that the photographer is a self-described "guerrilla journalist" who has worked in a lot of trouble spots over the years. Her goal in Libya was to "pillory Gaddafi" by bringing home footage of such atrocities as kidnappings, tortures, and executions. She freely admits to having entered Libya illegally with the aid of unspecified "contacts," and to using means that resemble electronic surveillance more than photography. She adds that she had to pull out when somebody got wind of her activities, and that it's entirely possible that in her haste, she left clues that might enable somebody to follow her home. Qoqa also learns that Stephanie appears to have developed a crush on Wen during their short time together, which Qoqa puts down to the stress of torture and relief at being rescued.
After that, Qoqa checks in with Ben and Hamid, and finds Hamid nattering at Ben – probably a side effect of whatever "truth drug" Hamid was given. He admits to a variety of odd behaviors, including watching Anabel undress. Qoqa finds this distasteful, but concurs with Ben that Hamid should be fine. Then she goes off in search of Wen and Anabel, to tell them what Stephanie and Hamid said, respectively.
Qoqa finds Wen and Anabel working together on an intelligence report for Terence. They're just about done when Qoqa shows up. Neither has much time to respond to Qoqa's gossip, though, because Jili walks in an instant later and announces that she has finished making copies of Stephanie's footage. One duplicate will accompany the brief intended for Terence; another is for the Agents' own files.
At this stage, everyone agrees that it would look good on Luna-Tech's record to get the SSD back to Ring Snatcher Media tonight – a mere 24 hours after taking the case. Anabel calls Roger Morton-Cox and David Everett. Given the momentous news, they agree to be in the office despite the hour. Since Agents will be heading out take care of that matter, Qoqa asks Stephanie whether she would like to spend the night here, be taken to her office, or simply go home. Stephanie wants to go home, claiming that she feels up to it and has no intention of going into work late at night during her time off.
Klas and Vinnie, being in the best shape, are chosen for night's business. Klas drives Stephanie home in her Mini, with Vinnie tailing in the group's least-damaged rental car. On the way, Stephanie pressures Klas to tell Roger that she won't be at work for a while. After Klas sees Stephanie safely inside and makes sure that she bolts the doors, he joins Vinnie and the two head over to Ring Snatcher Media to deliver the SSD.
Roger and David are clearly thrilled to get the footage back. They're also horrified to hear what happened to Stephanie . . . for a whole 10 seconds, maybe 15. Then they start talking about how to "tell her story," making it painfully obvious that they want to exploit her kidnapping as part of whatever plans they have for exposing Gaddafi-backed atrocities. Klas and Vinnie make it clear that Stephanie wants some time alone, but Roger doesn't seem to hear them over the sound of how fabulous he is. The two Agents decide not to mention the violence surrounding Stephanie's rescue, or the injuries their team sustained in the process.
Eventually, Vinnie manages to get Roger to stop scheming for long enough to sign off on Luna-Tech's payment, which comes to £15,000 all told. This seems a pittance in light of the fact that Hamid was captured and tortured, Paul and Wen were beaten unconscious, Anabel and Qoqa suffered injuries in a car wreck, and Lev and Zhang got shot. Then again, it isn't about the money but about Luna-Tech's reputation – and from Roger and David's reactions, it sounds as if that's about to get quite a boost. Thus, with a check and some handshakes, Vinnie and Klas take their leave and head back to the condos, where the matter of what to do with Kamal and his four thugs is still unresolved.