![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Company
Time: Sunday, July 3, 2011 (night).
Place: London, U.K.
Last Event: Learning of a Yakuza-Russian Mafia alliance engineered by Toru and Georgi.
Upon returning home, the Agents discuss how best to gather intelligence on their old enemies from Japan and Russia. Messages go out to V, of course, and – on a long shot – to the CBC journalist whom the group tipped off when they brought in the Taluar. As well, Hamid and Jili take the first steps toward hacking into the social networks of Toru's daughter, Asuka, on the off chance that she has information about her father's upcoming travels. All of this ultimately involves sitting in front of computer screens, waiting.
Anabel and Vinnie feel that it would be good to check a couple of other sources, too. Specifically, they want to reestablish contact with the two captives whom the team freed from Grandfather's basement prison – Iannis (the Greek detective) and Olga (the Russian party girl) – and learn what, if anything, they know about Georgi. Poking around in the aftermath of a high-profile police raid is risky, though, and INTERPOL's involvement in both that case and an attempt to expose the Company only heightens the danger. As a consequence, the Agents decide to send a contingent to Paris, to ask questions and poke around the net using rented phones and computers that won't point back to London.
On Monday morning, Anabel and Vinnie head across the Channel, bringing Hamid for his research skills and Qoqa simply because she feels like visiting Paris, her favorite city (although she uses more subtle wording). The other six remain in London. With Klas, Lev, Paul, Wen, and Zhang watching her back, Jili should be able to monitor the computers and phones in safety. Nothing much at all happens in London, though; neither V nor the Canadian reporter replies, and Jili's monitoring of Asuka's online activity reveals nothing about Toru's movements, just pouty mumbling about not getting to travel. In Paris, a day's work rewards Hamid with personal contact info for Iannis, while Anabel turns up a picture of Olga in the advertising of a high-end gentlemen's club in Athens, along with the establishment's address and phone numbers. Qoqa finds a lovely beret and a smashing café au lait.
Tuesday, however, is a day of breakthroughs. Jili receives two important e-mail messages. First, the CBC woman writes to let her "mysterious friends" know that if they want to go voice tonight – perhaps via an Internet chat – then she would be game for that. Second, V replies to say that she's willing to meet on Wednesday evening, and leaves the address of a public park for the meeting. In Paris, Vinnie manages to reach Iannis by telephone, while Anabel has similar success with Olga's employers.
Vinnie's conversation with Iannis is somewhat limited by the fact that Vinnie speaks no Greek while the detective has only rusty Italian. Still, Vinnie manages to identify himself to Iannis' satisfaction by mentioning events that nobody else would know about, whereupon the policeman's manner becomes friendly. Asked about Grandfather's organization – Georgi in particular – Iannis opines that Georgi would have taken charge, and theorizes he would have shifted his base of operations to New York City, where the syndicate has serious inroads. He doubts that Georgi would have gone east, as the all-too-thin INTERPOL intelligence on the man suggests that he has many enemies in Moscow. Vinnie inquires about a Japanese connection, but Iannis says that in years of investigating Grandfather, he never once came across a Yakuza link.
Anabel gets hung up on once, but eventually reaches a Russian-speaking man who instantly turns sleazy on hearing a sexy female voice, clearly assuming that Anabel either wants to work at his club or is calling to proposition one of the girls there (hrr hrr). It seems that Olga hasn't exactly moved up in the world, and that her place of work is expensive but hardly classy. Ultimately, though, Anabel manages to finagle Olga's cell-phone number from the slimeball. Anabel then calls Olga, identifying herself by revealing details about events on Grandfather's island. Olga seems happy to hear from Anabel, but knows nothing about Georgi other than the fact that Grandfather called the man a "ghost" and was afraid of him. Anabel thanks her, and leaves an e-mail address to use in the event that the old gang reenters her life.
It's the evening of July 5 when whole crew is reunited in London. Qoqa recommends a good Internet café for the night's chat with the Canadian journalist, and then she and Anabel head over there, with Vinnie driving and Zhang for security. The newswoman spends most of the conversation trying to get her shadowy sources to spill another story as juicy as the Taluar seizure or the helicopter attack near Irricana. The Agents counter by saying that they have nothing yet, but that they're pursuing a lead involving more Yakuza activity, so if she has any follow-up information on the gangsters involved with the Taluar, sharing it might mean a future scoop. The reporter doesn't have much, but says that word on the crime beat is that there's supposed to be a Yakuza powwow in L.A. next week.
The Agents spend the afternoon of Wednesday, July 6 reconnoitering the park named by V. It's evident that she chose the place for its size, and for the fact that it is very public yet has enough greenery that her security people should be able to cover her without exposing themselves. The team's plan is for Anabel and Qoqa to stroll in openly and meet V at the agreed-upon location. Paul and Zhang will pose as joggers, and Wen as a skateboard brat, to provide close security. Hamid, Jili, Klas, and Lev will lurk nearby in a parked van, listening in via a wire worn by Anabel, ready to react if anything goes wrong. Vinnie will wait in a car on the opposite side of the green, positioned to pick up anybody who comes running his way in the event of trouble.
Toward evening, Anabel and Qoqa walk into the park to meet with V, who shows up with two menacing associates in tow. Around the same time, Klas and Vinnie spot two cars circling the block, while Paul notices a camouflaged man with a rifle on his back, hidden up a tree and observing the meeting through binoculars. The Agents keep tabs on these people, but from the look of things, they're with V. Upon greeting Anabel and Qoqa, V mentions that her team has spotted several suspicious characters in the area: "two joggers, a man in a car, and somebody in a white van." Once everybody is done calling in warnings so that nobody gets shot, the meeting begins.
Anabel doesn't beat around the bush – she tells V that Georgi is active again, possibly in New York City, and may be trying to build a new empire by forging an alliance with the Yakuza. V states that she couldn't care less about American or Japanese crime, but that highly placed people in Moscow want Georgi brought in . . . preferably alive. Given the Agents' past services to Russia and their target's importance, V believes that she may be able to convince her superiors to share certain files on the "Red Army" with them. She'll know by morning. She asks Anabel to memorize the looks of one of her bulky associates, and says that she'll send the man to Embankment station at noon, to hand off whatever she can scrape together.
While V clearly isn't interested in chasing Yakuza bosses, Anabel and Qoqa brief her on Toru – he'll certainly become an FSB problem if his summit with Georgi forges stronger East-West ties! Qoqa has especially good notes on Toru, and makes sure that V listens. V agrees to ask her people to broaden their investigation to encompass Toru. She then reiterates that Moscow wants Georgi alive, if possible, given what he knows. She drives this last point home by saying that if the Agents succeed, she'll make sure that they receive the outstanding bounty on the man, through the usual anonymous channels. With that, the meeting ends.
The Agents use Wednesday night and Thursday morning to share notes and update their working files on Georgi and Toru. Toward noon on Thursday, Anabel rides the Tube to Embankment. Paul and Vinnie shadow her from a safe distance, just in case. Anabel proves not to need backup, though; the Russian officer appears, passes Anabel in the crowd, and disappears. Neither Vinnie nor Paul see him hand anything to Anabel, but seconds after the man walks off, Anabel turns and heads back down to the platform.
It's mid afternoon on July 7 when the Agents reunite at the Luna-Tech offices. Anabel does indeed have something from V – a single, unlabeled DVD in a plain sleeve. Jili takes this and starts decrypting it. Before long, she has the data, which comes in two big chunks.
First, there's a dossier on each of 60 former Russian soldiers known to work for Georgi. The "Red Army" men are well-trained in explosives, weapons, dog-handling, electronic surveillance, and almost every other military or security skill salable on the black market. Many are former Spetsnaz. All have been out of the armed services for five years or more. However, while there are photos and detailed service records for Georgi's gang, there's nothing on their boss; even the FSB seems to be at a loss as to who Georgi was in his former life.
Second, there's some kind of massive multimedia file recorded on Saturday, July 2. Taking a look at it, Jili deduces that it consists of both halves of a two-way video conference, intercepted via satellite and then spliced into a single split-screen stream. The technical means involved suggest the work of a national intelligence service – either the FSB or one of its sister agencies. Indeed, the file itself contains several digital clues that Jili claims implicate Russian national assets, though nobody else understands her.
Jili runs the video for the entire crew. It proves to be a face-to-face video conference between Toru and Georgi! It picks up partway into the call, suggesting either that the Russians edited out something sensitive or that their systems needed a transmission of significant length to identify Georgi and start recording. Regardless, the quality is good and there's little doubt as to who's on camera.
It seems that the two mob lords are planning to meet in Wyoming, of all places – ostensibly to hand off one-time pads that will permit future comms to enjoy strong encryption. Both seem confident that any American cops who might object have been paid off, but fear trouble from "our mutual friends, Batman, the Punisher, and Mrs. Peel, the ethical mercenaries" – surely a reference to the Agents. On sharing notes, the gangsters agree that these troublemakers are a team of 12, plus a handler and the handler's spooky Latvian bodyguard. Georgi says that he wouldn't risk worse than "3:1 force superiority," which means 42 men, and proposes that he and Toru each send 21. Toru agrees, and quips "Lucky 21 sounds good . . . I like those odds," which prompts Georgi to shoot him a glare. The call ends with both crime bosses confirming that they will meet in two weeks to the day; that is, on July 16.
As soon as the video ends, Vinnie proclaims that the whole thing stinks. Why would two canny career mob bosses transmit places, dates, and numbers in the clear? Anabel and Qoqa – both expert judges of body language and tells – agree. As far as they could tell, Georgi and Toru were all but reading scripts; the whole thing seemed staged for the benefit of eavesdroppers. All three Agents agree that the Wyoming meeting is surely a lie at best, a trap at worst. But then what's really going on?
Qoqa notes that the only time that Georgi showed genuine emotion was when he frowned at Toru's remark about "lucky 21" and "odds" – and that this quip didn't seem scripted, either. What does it mean, though? Vinnie slaps his head and explains that it's a sly reference to the game of blackjack, which tells him that the real meeting will be in Las Vegas, his old stomping grounds. When the others ask why, he explains that Vegas isn't merely a good place to play blackjack, but has traditionally been "neutral ground" for mob business. Moreover, it's neither the Yakuza's home away from home (L.A.) nor the Russians' U.S. base (New York).