Previous Chapter: Mission: Impossible
The first order of business is a disguise. I can’t go about with black eyes! Also, I need to blend in with the local populace. I set up at a desk in the bedroom, applying makeup to cover my raccoons first, then applying a base layer to darken my skin somewhat (I do sun myself, so am not building on a totally white base). I pick through my wigs until I find something I like, select clothes to match the persona I’m building and add in a set of teeth to complete the picture. I look at myself in the mirror and decide a mustache is necessary. As I finish this, I notice Isabel standing in the doorway. I wonder how long she’s been there. I stand up and walk back and forth in front of the mirror that’s the sliding door to the closet, practicing my gait and mannerisms. Satisfied, I give her a nod and head out to the living room. Earlier, I’d noted they had a camera in the hallway. I look at the screen, see that the coast is clear, and head out.
Like so many tropical locations, shortly after the sun is up, the humid air settles like a thick blanket. Sometimes it seems there’s more water than air. I briefly explore the hotel and its surroundings, noting the alleys and back entrances. Determine which fences are easy, difficult or impossible to get over, where the staff enters and exits, etc. I want to avoid going in and out of the same entrance, but don’t want to attract a lot of attention by using a path that’ll seem out of place.
As I move about the city, I start to drink in its culture. I’ve been in several places in Central and South America. Each city, indeed, each location within a city, has a unique culture and way of going about daily activities. I need to blend in, to become invisible in plain sight, so I need to look exactly like I belong. I’ll learn the specialty foods and drinks, how the stoops are kept clean, how the dogs are walked (or not), the smells, sounds, colors and movements. It’s a talent I seem to have been born with; I find the process effortless. It does take time, though, so a large part of the first day is devoted to building an encyclopedic database of these elements in the areas surrounding the target.
Today I’m not intending to get near the target or the suggested places he visits, I just want to become intimately familiar with the area surrounding these places. I listen to the accents, memorizing word choices, curses, jargon, etc. When there are larger crowds, I move among them, observing if my presence causes any change in behavior. I make some small purchases from street vendors trying out various elements of what I’ve learned to see if there’s any suggestion that I’m seen as anything but a local. The day goes by quickly. I sample various foods, trying out the myriad ways the vendors produce arepas and empanadas. Most are quite tasty, though I’m not sure about the squid empanada (at least I think it was squid). The culture changes as the day shifts over to night; the sights, smells, how people dress and even how they talk. I see some professional girls from time to time. Some verge on attractive, but most are rather plain and look like they’ve led a tough life.
It’s well after midnight when I head back to the hotel. Though not dramatically cooler, it’s easier to bear without the sun’s furnace beating down. It's been a productive day. I have ideas for several new disguises and feel I can fit in like a local. I use the back entrance to the hotel, timing my movement to be between bursts of activity. I work my way to our room and, using the key, enter. Eric has stood up from the couch with a gun in his hand and I notice Jeff against the wall, also with a gun raised. Isabel has stood up and is firmly telling them to stand down. I got so caught up in my own thoughts I hadn’t given a single one to the fact that Jeff and Eric had no idea what I look like. Long term habits from working alone, I guess. I pause and stand very still until they’ve relaxed, then I finish entering the room.
“Sorry about that guys! We need to come up with some sort of hand sign I can give as I walk down the hallway. I’m glad, though, that you reacted the way you did, it gives me confidence in my disguise.”
That little drama over, I head to the bathroom to shower. I pause in thought quite often. In between pauses I think about how silly I must have looked to Isabel and the others earlier when I was in pause mode. After I finally finish in the shower, I go lie in bed staring at the ceiling, thinking. At some point I become half aware as Isabel gets ready for bed and slips in, though is keeping her word and isn’t touching me. I lean over to give her a kiss, turn the light off and go back to staring at the ceiling, deep in thought. As usual, the transition to sleep comes over me at some point in my reverie and the next thing I know it’s daylight. Isabel has left the room, so I do my morning bath routine and head out to the kitchen to see what’s available. It seems Isabel has had a chat with Eric (and Jeff, I assume, though I don’t see him); he glances up, but doesn’t make any effort to engage me. I get something out of the fridge but am barely aware of what it is as I eat it. I see they left the dining table as it was when I went out yesterday. I go over to it and begin leafing through the notes again.
Today I’m going to start my examination of the target’s location, so want to spend more time on my disguise. In the bedroom I lay out what I’ll be wearing, then start on the makeup. I want to look like a local, but not the local I looked like yesterday. I want to tune the look to even better match what I got from my cultural immersion yesterday. It’s around noon before I’m ready. As I go out, I see Jeff this time, no sign of Isabel or Eric. I briefly discuss the hand signal I’ll use as I come up the hallway so we can avoid the standoff from last night.
How exciting. Just as I exit we get a drenchpour, my term for the windless buckets of rain tropical weather can so often bring. Though my makeup is largely water resistant, going out now would change the look I’ve so carefully crafted. I’m not the only one lingering in a doorway. These rains are such a fixture here most buildings have covered entries and I see many are populated. As is common in this area, the rain quickly passes. The brief relative coolness is rapidly replaced with oppressive heat and humidity. I get back to work.
I’m out and about over the next several days. Sometimes with the same disguise the whole day, sometimes changing it several times on-the-fly, occasionally heading back to the hotel for a more thorough alteration. As the days go by, my black eyes start to fade, though my nose remains tender. It might very well be a month or more before it’ll have completely healed. The only problem is when I forget and scratch it, or try turning my head at night while I sleep. I generally lose weight during this part of my research, I’m so focused on what I’m doing I often forget to eat. I also get soft. Though I’m walking all over the place, I’m not getting the focused exercise that’s necessary to stay in the shape that is, from time to time, so critical to survival in my line of business.
After all this time I’m not finding any gap in the target’s protection either. It’s starting to frustrate me. Though I’ve turned down a couple of jobs over the years, it’s rare and generally because the client was too cheap to compensate for the risk. This case is different. The target is really well protected, is never alone in public and, with his use of body doubles, hard to predict. After I get back from my fifth or sixth day, I’m feeling vexed. Today it’s mid-afternoon; the use of the hand signal has kept everyone in a more relaxed frame of mind. When I get in, Eric and Jeff are doing some sparring. I watch, thinking if I can avoid getting tagged on the nose this might be just the thing.
“Can I get in on some of this action?”
They pause. Jeff says, “I’m just warming up, Eric’s just winding down, how about you and I go toe to toe for a while?”
“Perfect. Let me shower off my makeup and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
I come back to the living room with my pads on. Eric has retired to shower, Isabel is out. Jeff is poised and ready. We get into it right away. He is, as I mentioned much earlier, quite good on his feet. My original conclusion is reinforced: I never want to get into a fair fight with him. I would probably get my clock cleaned. We try not to make too many loud thumps. Though the suite we’re in is off to one end, it does have rooms above and below. Though we think the rooms are empty (the hotel is only at a third occupancy at the moment) we don’t want to attract any unnecessary attention.
I compliment Jeff on his style. He uses his bullet head and broad shoulders as a shield, keeps his fists tucked into his middle and hunches somewhat, so it’s very hard to get to his ribs or abs. I try a couple of kicks and, though he’s competent at blocking my efforts, I see this isn’t a great strength of his. He gives as good as he gets and we trade blows for a while. He’s obligingly avoiding my head, but is going to town on the rest of my body.
As we jockey around for position, I mention that Isabel is also quite a sparring partner. Jeff remarks that he’s pretty evenly matched with her as well. Because he isn’t interested in her physical charms, he has no qualms about going all-out, something she says she appreciates. He hasn’t, though, been able to take on Tessa with any success. I grimace in sympathy; I’ve tried for years to best Tessa with no success at all. It’s frustrating for me, it must be more so for Jeff, as he’s much bigger and heavier than I am. Jeff says that Eric once took on Tessa and was so frustrated with his inability to take her down he never tried again. We agreed he was being a sexist pig, why not accept that she’s better and he has room to improve?
We spend about an hour on this and have both worked up a nice sweat. I thank him for the workout. It’s helped clear my mind and stretch my muscles, though no doubt I’ll be sore getting out of bed tomorrow. As I head back to the shower, I notice Isabel came in at some point and is now napping. In the shower, I come up with a thought and just stand there going over it. After some time, Isabel looks in on me; worried, I guess, because the water has been running so long. I snap out of my reverie and tell her I may be onto something. I hop out of the shower, spraying water everywhere; she makes disgusted noises as I get her wet. I grab a towel and rush out to the table in the dining area. As I drip on the table, I start drying myself off, sifting through the papers looking for certain ones. Sure enough, I think I see a vulnerability. I need to check it out. I barely notice Isabel and Jeff staring at me as I head back to the bedroom to start on a disguise. Isabel looks in from the doorway, wondering, I’m sure, what’s got into me. I’m too focused to take the time to explain right now.
I spend the rest of the day and part of the night checking things out, concluding that this should work. I head back to the room, grab something out of the fridge and sit down at the table, ready to explain. They’re all there, eagerly looking at me. Once I have the first mouthful, I realize I’m starving; they have to wait a few more minutes before I stop stuffing my face. I gather them around the map and start to explain:
“As far as your notes show, there’s a high probability that it’s really him and not a decoy every time he visits this location,” I point on the map. Eric, Jeff and Isabel look closely, leaf through their notes and agree. “OK, here is what is special about this particular spot...” They get it very quickly, and agree that the only concern is whether it is, indeed, the target in the car.
Isabel says to Jeff, “Don’t you have a contact in the imagery world?”
Jeff nods, “I’ll get on that right away. He’s close by. I might be able to get something quickly.”
Though they’ve noticed some patterns in his activity, they only feel around seventy-percent sure it’s really him. We want to be one-hundred percent sure as there’s no question if we miss he’ll become so difficult to take out it’ll require blowing up an entire block to get him; something that’d have way too much collateral damage for Isabel or her organization. I’m not interested in mass murder either; though an unabashed killer, I prefer clean, one-on-one interactions.
After I outline my plan for taking out the target, Isabel gets a studious look on her face. I’ve learned to recognize that look. She’s accessing her copious mental database.
She looks at Eric. “Those contacts we’ve used before in this area.” Eric nods. “Please refresh them and see if they can supply us with what we need.”
Our discussion continues for a while before everyone is satisfied with the strategy. As I wind down, I realize I’m tired from the day’s activities and decide to go to bed. Isabel joins me, leaving Jeff and Eric continuing their discussion. Discarding my clothes, I lay down on top of the blankets with a sigh, stretching out and thinking about how sore I’m going to be the next morning.
“I agreed not to tempt you while you were on the job, how about you return the favor?”
I glance up at her and see she’s running her eyes up and down my body. Looking at her, even in her baggy pajamas, I feel stirrings I’m loath to continue, so get up and put on something. She’s sitting up in bed and clearly wants to chat. I get under the covers and slide over so we’re sitting next to each other, then take her hand in mine; the most distraction I’m willing to allow.
“I believe I owe you for your research, right?”
I nod.
“What’s the bill for carrying out the contract, then?”
I consider this for a while, leaning my head on her shoulder, wishing I could enjoy the fragrance of her hair. Idly I grab a few strands with my free hand. I love the silky feeling as it runs through my fingers.
“The risk level for this job is comparatively high. I’ll be in close proximity to the target when setting up and won’t have very many viable escape paths. I don’t see it as having the option of more than one attempt. Either this works or the guy goes into a cave so deep he’ll be impossible to dig out. Getting it right the first time is an absolute requirement. So much so I’m only comfortable taking on the job if I’m able to practice, much like back in Monaco. Given your amassed information on his behavior, I suspect that this could be wrapped up in a couple of weeks. With all that, I propose a price tag of two-hundred and fifty grand, US. In addition, of course, to the fifty for the research, so three-hundred for the job.”
She turns to look at me, causing her amazing hair to move across my face.
“I’m fine with that. I’ll authorize it first thing in the morning and get it transferred. I’ll get Eric to do some research on how/where we can test the setup and try to get that arranged in the next few days. In the meantime we can test our theories on his travel to ensure when you do the job it’s on the real guy.”
She slouches down on the pillows, reaching out to turn off the light. We snuggle together, still holding hands. I turn away from her so I don’t keep focusing on my crotch, but pull her toward me so we’re spooning. I pull her arm across my chest and keep our fingers intertwined. I idly kiss her fingers from time to time as I think about details on my approach, gradually drifting off to sleep.