by David Hunter
~ ~ ~
The briefing continued into the late hours of the evening, each team member memorizing schematics of the resort, and a map of the surrounding area.
Of the five, Jeff was the only person fluent in Portuguese; a language he had learned as a missionary in Brazil, fortuitously maintaining fluency during the intervening years.
All five spoke English fluently, the other four agents having immigrated to Israel from English speaking countries. One had a New Zealander accent that was difficult for Jeff to understand if he spoke too quickly.
Their cover was that they were international purchasers for a large corporation that was looking to expand into the South American market, locating their regional offices in Rio.
Jeff would take the lead in any matter which required communication with the locals. Each of the other four agents had their own specialties: human and electronic surveillance, interrogation, extraction, and counter-espionage.
The General had hoped to send them back a full thirty days before the abduction occurred but a review of the records of the resort indicated that they were better served landing eight days before the abduction. In this time frame, it was learned, two suites on the same floor as the Levins' would be available. Each agent would occupy their own suite of rooms, requiring the other three to stay on different floors.
It was vital that the team not make any contact with the Mossad operatives assigned to the Levins. They were there strictly to observe, not interfere in any way whatsoever unless their lives were threatened.
"That concludes the briefing, gentlemen, are there any questions?"
"If we are unable to get the radioisotope tracker in Dr. Levin's food, what is the fallback plan?"
"The fact that he and his wife will have Mossad agents with them at all times, the reality is that you probably won't be able to introduce the isotope into his food. Because we have to be careful to not tip off the assigned agents to the fact that something is amiss, there is no fallback plan. Just do the best you can to identify those involved in the abduction, photographing and recording their movements and all others with whom they make contact, even those contacts which may seem unimportant."
"We are not so much concerned with tracking Levin, as we already know that he has been placed on a yacht, headed toward Europe. We are tracking that yacht via live visual and infrared satellite feeds from here. Your sole goal is to fully document the persons involved, allowing us to not only identify them but, hopefully, also identify the mole within The Project."
Table of Contents
5. Loose Ends
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” - Scott Adams
MI6 Headquarters and Office of the British Prime Minister, London, England
Sir Neville Pearce, III was furious. His bulbous nose and cheeks, already reddened by broken capillaries thanks to his Irish genetics, now matched the rest of his face and visible neck.
"This is unacceptable. Unacceptable! Do you hear me?"
The mercurial nature of the Director of the Secret Intelligence Services was well known within the rank-and-file. Best known simply as the SIS, more typically known by the defunct title MI6 to outsiders and still used jokingly by insiders mocking popular television shows, Sir Pierce was the best Director the organization had ever known. Without question, the reason for his high level of success was most likely because he was the most demanding.
The poor sod delivering the decrypted message had no choice but to endure his full wrath.
"Sir, yes sir. Totally unacceptable."
"I want it confirmed that the execution order was not fulfilled."
"That has been confirmed, Sir. Agent Hampton called the order in to HQ for the kill confirmation. He was told to not execute Dr. Levin under any circumstance. The on-site doctor is keeping Levin under heavy sedation until they arrive at their destination."
"And Agent Northrup? Where is she now?"
"Sir, she is en route to the facility where she is employed. Her cover held, nobody appears to have missed her these last couple of days."
"Thank heavens for small favors. Under no circumstances do I want her making contact with us again, unless it is an absolute emergency. She screwed up so badly, after this operation, she is to be dismissed from service."
"Yes sir."
"After his debriefing, agent Hampton is to be restricted to a desk job, until I say otherwise. That he killed Mrs. Levin was appallingly poor judgment on his part. Were there a possibility to get information from Dr. Levin, it died with her. After the dust is settled, he'll be lucky to be scrubbing toilets!"
"Will that be all, Sir?"
"For now, yes. When you get to your desk, tell Reginald I need to see him."
Reginald Davies, 'Reggie' to everybody but the formal, unyielding director of the SIS, was the man you wanted when a mess had to be cleaned up quickly and with utter discretion and anonymity.
Not a loner in the strictest sense of the word, Reggie preferred to blend into the background socially; that was just his way. Slight build, thick glasses, intelligent but with the logic that often eluded others, he took great pride in his work.
Reggie knew how to 'doctor' computer documents, reinserting the altered documents to match the appearance and electronic meta tags of the original. No evidence of computer or network tampering was ever left in his wake.
His skills didn't stop there. A master manipulator, he was able to get people to do as he pleased, utilizing blackmail on rare occasion when nothing else would suffice. An assassin, par excellence, his victims never once saw his face. As a matter of fact, Reggie was never near his victims when he sent them to meet their Maker.
Specializing in bombs, detonated either by a remote signal, air pressure, or timer, he altered the explosive materials and detonation construction, each time, so that he would never be identified as the common denominator in each assassination. No two bombs had a matching design 'fingerprint' that could be traced back to him, or his organization.
Reggie didn't relish those instances when he was required to carry out 'wet work,' eliminate a person, or group of people. It simply was something that had to be done for the greater good, and he was exceptional in this particular skill set.
Cool, calculating, ruthless, efficient, an imperceptible 'ghost' when needed, with a childlike face of perfect innocence, Reggie was well like by those who didn't know his job description. Those who did know respected him while maintaining a healthy distance.
A slight rap on the solid oak door alerted the Director to his arrival. Walking furtively as a cat the Director realized that he had never heard Frederick walk, or make any other sound as he moved about; not once.
"You requested my presence, Sir?"
"Yes Frederick, it seems we have a rather unfortunate situation on our hands."
The Director always referred to him as, 'Frederick,' never by his title 'Special Agent' or by his last name. Freddie mused that this was either out of respect, subconscious fear, emotional distancing, or more likely a combination of the three.
"So I am given to understand. How would you like me to proceed?"
The already irate director was a little irritated by his response, but not in the least surprised by the fact that Frederick was already aware of the situation. His ability to deftly extract information from people, without them realizing it, was one of the reasons he was so exceptionally good at what he did. Thankfully, his allegiance to the Director and the SAS was absolute. It wouldn't do to have such an efficiently treacherous man as an enemy.
"As you are no doubt aware, we abducted an Israeli scientist from a resort in Brazil with the expectation of obtaining vital information that we need to complete a project currently underway. In the course of the kidnapping, the wife of the scientist was killed along with three Mossad agents."
"Quite right. I can see how that would pose a problem. Again, how would you like me to handle this?"
The man was so
damned infuriating!
Shaking his head slightly, the director spelled it out for him, "The Israelis know what happened. What they don't know is who was behind it. They're sniffing around the resort, gathering forensic and trace evidence. They've already interviewed the general manager as well as the person in charge of human resources, nothing we can do about that now."
"I need you to go to Israel. We have an operative working in a top-secret facility there. She has become a liability that, if discovered, would prove London's complicity in the abduction. Eliminate her with extreme prejudice. Take whatever assets you require."
"I think it best that I do this job alone. I have a source in Israel who can provide me with whatever equipment I need, for a price. Has the packet on my target been completed?"
"Yes. Maria has everything prepared, including your cover documentation, money wired to an account in Bank Hapoalim, with a corresponding passport. I would remind you that your target works at a high-security location in Israel. Security there is, in fact, tighter than that around the Knesset."
"I don't anticipate, Sir, that to be any problem whatsoever."
"Good man. I didn't think that it would."
