Fred Kaspaw Episode 0
Hi my name is Fred Kazpaw, I work for the federal government in the house cleaning services branch. My official title is Audio and Visual Engineer, which is a fancy title for altering surveillance videos and sound to conceal activity in an effort to protect the identity of our brave governmental assets. I started working for the federal government about five years ago and I still have another 5 years before I can change however, at this point I am enjoying myself. Let me make it clear working for the federal government was my first choice, with my second and only other choice being working with rocks in Leavenworth Kansas. The Government refers to us as Ghosters and even gives us cute little code names. My code name is slumber, I know, it was given to me by my agent he has a unique sense of humor.
I got myself into this situation by working for "We got it covered Private Eye". We were hired by important people to remove any traces of bad visual exposure. When I first signed on I thought it was to touch up photos to assist people in loosing weight in front of the camera or help them loose the extra cellulite that accumulates in the cold Washington winters. I quickly learned that we were hired to hide popular civil servant activities from the public. Some of the activities included madams, new girlfriends, campaign donations or people getting just getting kinky in the break rooms. These activities I thought were not that bad until I removed the only evidence against a very bad man. Because I altered the surveillance video, the government's case evaporated and the investigating agent made it his mission to find me, discredit me, torture me and put me behind bars. Because my talent is so rare I was able to use my talent as a get out of Jail free card. My agent does not forget a thing and has an uncanny way of not just getting even but makes getting back very painful. I was told that the evidence I removed was a video feed of a small time drug purchase, however it was a actually a transfer of secret documents from a well connected politician to a foreign diplomat, oops. The information I deleted actually showed who the politician was, what information was passes and who it was passed to. My agent and a group of analysts had been working on this sting operation for the past four months, but the politician was alerted and has been keeping a low profile ever since.
The agent in charge of this case was Major John Casey. He looks like a body guard for a firefly wearing a full metal jacket into a stargate. He was extremely upset at me for destroying his case. While I was detained hanging upside down systematically being lowered head first into a vat of Jell-O for a month, the politician had all of the staff, evidence and the building eliminated at "We got it Covered". The explosion missed me because I was having fun with Major Casey and his friends. I wanted to help with the information, but I never watched the video to find out who or what was enclosed I just simply deleted all videos evidence. With Major Casey being a First class assassin and a world class spy, the Government was upset that he allowed his evidence to be compromised. For this the Government made me work with him as his personal ghoster thus making my punishment his punishment. By putting us together his insulting quips and facetious statements enables him to constantly drive me crazy. He continually tells me that by existing on this earth, I am his punishment.
A Ghoster follows an agent into any and all crime scenes and removes any trace that the agent was ever there. With the explosion in video surveillance on just about every street corner and walkway everyone is constantly being watched. Removing the assets from the videos keeps local jurisdictions from identifying any of our agents or linking them to their specific missions. But most importantly it keeps the directors from having to answer questions to superiors or other agencies. It also keeps the agents private meetings private so that they do not have to answer to strange expenses. A ghoster has several different ghosting methods. We can eliminate all surveillance videos for that day; we can replace the asset with a different identity hair, face and body type, or just remove the agent from the videos. I never get to see any of the reactions from local jurisdictions but I have heard stories of police detective's screaming after watching an altered video. I enjoy adding other images of prostitutes, clowns or farm animals to videos to make them fun and provide levity. For security reasons we now copy most of the original surveillance videos and send them to our local branch offices where they are logged in and filed. Once we alter a file we have to add our mark to the video letting others know the video was altered and by whom. This helps locate the file in case the original is ever needed as evidence. The image I am forced to use is a pink tutu with the head of a plunger, you can thank Major Casey for this image, he thought it would be cute and says I share a resemblance. I once made the mistake of calling him a name after one of his snide comments. Needless to say I woke up the next morning buried in the sand with a dog using my head as a fire hydrant. Even if I tried to talk back I would wake up in the middle of nowhere with him calling me on the phone saying lets go we have a new mission.
While ghosting, we carry a laptop computer that is capable of locating and tapping into any surveillance system through any video feeds connected to the surveillance equipment. Certain keys have finger print recognition software that has been adapted to my fingers. Without these keys being activated and my fingers, the computer becomes a journalist's record only. This keeps the computer, my asset and my cover safe. The computer contains a special face recognition and image altering software that can quickly locate our agents and alter the video to change any event to fit the specific requirements of the mission. To locate, track and follow our assets they are fitted with a special GPS tracking system. This tracking system is so advanced that only the ghoster can locate, modify or detect the tracker. The tracker is surgically implanted under the skin in an area where the body will not try to remove it. The tracker puts out a one second pulse sending its unique GPS signal. This signal can be picked up by satellite or any cell tower located within a five mile radius. The signal is then uploaded to a satellite and sent to my receiver. I then track the asset locating and altering any and all surveillance videos. Using the one second pulse, conventional tacking detectors and even the most advanced tracking systems detectors can not detect the tracker.
Major Casey is a large man who travels's the world making our country safe by getting rid of all types of unsavory characters, villains and all around bad guys. Major Casey is one of the world's best assassins but he will agree to being called a cold blooded killer. Major Casey was the best possible asset to train under and to perfect my craft. John Casey could walk through the most watched airports in the world and would never leave a frame of his face or profile, he was so schooled in the old ways many thought he was a ghost as well. Working with Major Casey was quite challenging because I would have to review every camera in several countries, cities and towns to insure there was no trace of him. The normal ghosting software used just would not work for Mr. Casey so I had to develop specialized software that can quickly identify the way he walks moves or stands. These enhancements were copied and modified to help other ghosters locate and erase images of their assets.
Major Casey has a number of ways to contact me and let me know specifics of what he needed, where he is going, or where he has been, but my least favorite is the face to face meeting. Many times I was already on the site cleaning things up and the next moment he is there standing looking at me. He was a man of very few words trying not to blow my cover, but would say what he needed to tell me, not to screw it up and then quickly disappear. I used to wait until I got the call from him to go clean up after him but I realized that I was missing too videos and could not keep up, now with my tracking and altering software I try to stay under a two minutes behind him and can easily clean us both up at the same time.
After the politician incident and before I started working with him, Major Casey was sent to Chechnya, while there something happened to him that changed him and made him temporarily not care that he was a spy or being careful. He would boldly walk through any area under surveillance and smile at the cameras. Many calls came in from other governments wanting to know why he was in their country. This behavior was what initiated my release from prison and forced me to work with Major Casey. The first thing he said to me after knocking the wind out of me was "never date a photo journalist".
After a brief training session and a get to know period, we were sent to disrupt the drug cartels of Central America. For weeks we did surveillance on all the local cartels finding out who the different drug king pins and their key members. We had hundreds of hours of video showing different angles and faces of each cartel members. Major Casey would study the habits and traits of each member and formulate a plan. Meanwhile he had me sneaking around rooftops moving cameras to specified locations for additional data. After about two months he informed me that it was time to cause a little trouble. He would walk up to the members of one cartel and kill two or three of their top leaders; I would replace the surveillance images of him with a member of a different cartel. Soon the cartels were fighting against one another killing each other and burning their product.
We then went to Prague, here we were to take out an opium smuggling ring. Major Casey planned to bankrupt the ring and everyone who did business with them. For this I planted several small high intensity cameras drilling in walls and ceilings of the main leaders. One day we got lucky and got images of all bank accounts and from the supplier, the smuggler and distributor. With this information, the Government could drain the accounts and halt further contamination. After I enhanced the information Major Casey took the data and was headed to the airport. Major Casey never left his hotel room and after watching him not move for a day, I broke into his motel room with a do not disturb sign on the door and found him with both of his ankles handcuffed to a metal bed and a trip wire wrapped around both wrists fastened to a bomb. He was gagged and was only wearing socks and boxer shorts. I was going to ask him what happened but when I removed the gag he instructed me how to remove the trip wire and told me "if you tell anyone about this you will be the first to die". Immediately I copied the information and we left for Washington. Once there we found out that the American DEA had emptied the accounts and were using the money to fund anti-drug campaigns. We will not discuss the pictures of Major Casey hanging above the water cooler.
Our next assignment took us to Singapore. Here Major Casey was to take out a major gun smuggler. After spending weeks getting video of male smugglers to set up, came the time to meet with the smuggler, he was a she. She was a beautiful woman of Asian dissent extremely schooled in Kung-fu and using knives. She tried to double cross Major Casey and a fight broke out. After several minutes Major Casey went flying back, pulled out his gun and shot her Indiana Jones style. During the attack Major Casey received a deep cut to his cheek and arm and carries the scars today. Our covers were quickly blown and all I could do was to remove his image before I was trapped hiding under a floor. Major Casey got out the next morning, while it took me three days just to make it to the airport, but I left no images. After this I wanted to go back to prison to get some rest. However, Major Casey was waiting for me in Fiji and when I finally got there we rested on the beach for a week drinking in the local customs. After every third mission, we agreed to meet on a quiet beach that he would select, drink in the local customs, smoke fine cigars, eat Kettle Chips and Twisters