Training Chapter 4: Little Lacunas

"In your light, you say?" Raballo leaned on his cane and stared at the treeline. "Well, you know what that means, don't you?"

"What does it mean?" Paolo noted the tip sank into the grassy field.

"Your girl is sharper than you are. Didn't I tell you to always check for bugs, too?"

"Yes, but this is Agency grounds. I figure we have people who sweep for bugs. Besides, who could sneak in here and plant them without us catching them?"

Raballo spun toward Paolo, his hand raised across his body, ready to backhand his former subordinate. "You are an idiot! And to think I fought for you to get this job. Have those three years out of SISME made you this stupid?!"

Three years or not, Paolo snapped to attention, eyes forward, mouth pressed tight.

"Think! Think! Remember, you always have to think! Always!" The captain lowered his arm, blow undealt. "All right. Think about it. You're right. We have a crew from Section One that scours this place for listening devices each month. And you're right, we have good perimeter security. Good, not great, but The Director hasn't seen fit to implement my suggestions." He sighed. "So how did the device get into both your dormitory and your girl's room?"

A cold realization crawled down Paolo's back. "If it's not one of them…"

"… then it's one of us." Raballo nodded. "That means we have an internal security problem. Keep it to yourself."

"I'm not that rusty, Captain. Standard information containment protocols. You'll notify the appropriate parties?"

Raballo answered by stalking back toward the cluster of buildings, leaving Paolo to wonder how much of his edge he lost.

Ξ§§§Ξ

The loading dock by the kitchen was a good place to meet. Concrete walls, driveway, and ceiling were plain and solid, so embedding any surveillance devices would be difficult to hide and ineffective if covered. The ventilation fan was always on, no matter if the kitchen was in use or not, masking even shotgun microphones. Finally, by keeping their faces pointed towards the boxed in wall, Paolo and Raballo were safe even from observation optics.

"Thanks for meeting me out here, Paolo." Raballo cupped his hand and whispered into his former subordinate's ear, then tilted his head to indicate Paolo should do the same.

"Of course, sir. Though, I had a hard time remembering that voicemail dropbox's password, I'll admit." Paolo finished whispering, turned and presented his ear to the captain.

"I'd normally chide you for getting sloppy, but there's no time for that. They probably expect me to tell you this even though they said not to."

Tell me what, Captain? Paolo kept silent, nodded once and waited.

"You are under observation. That bug will be removed, but I am sure they'll plant two more in both your rooms, and in less obvious places." He paused. "By the way, good job teaching your girl how to search a room – taking apart the lamp isn't something I'd expect one of them to think of."

Paolo nodded.

"Don't go looking for them. If you happen to come across one, leave it alone. Assume you're being observed at all times."

So that's why we're whispering like schoolgirls. Paolo nodded again, bidding Raballo to continue.

"I don't know why they're doing this. I don't think this is normal."

Oh, I know why.

"But keep your nose clean and they'll probably stop once they see you're trustworthy. Probably."

Paolo had plenty to say, but not here, not now. He turned and whispered, "Thank you, Captain. Good night."

"Look at the good news. We don't have an internal security problem. Get some sleep."

That night, Paolo had a hard time sleeping.

Ξ§§§Ξ

The shoot house was relatively safe, he guessed. As part of his requested modifications, all the windows were boarded shut, so no one could spy on them from afar. As for the inside, a thorough sweep found nothing. Paolo could already hear Raballo, "That just means it is unlikely you're being bugged. There's no way to be sure you're not being bugged." The key objective was to make sure there were no cameras planted inside the structure. Audio bugs could be very small and hard to find. Cameras needed to be bigger, hence Paolo was comfortable there were no hidden cameras in the building.

Dina came skipping into the simulated one-bedroom house. "Why are all the windows shut, Signore Paolo?"

"Close the door and you'll see." After she did so, he switched off the lights and plunged the room into absolute darkness for a moment, then back on. "We're going to practice blind fighting."

"Okay, that sounds like fun."

He handed her a pen and notepad. On it he had written Talk normally, but pretend there's a bug in this room.

"Uh, okay. So, uh, what's the first thing to do?" She spoke haltingly while she scribbled on the paper. Should I look for it? In contrast to his draftsman-like block printing, her handwriting was curvy and tilted. The characters were legible, but to Paolo, they also hinted at a sense of whimsy

He shook his head. "Well, first we'll just do normal grappling." He held up the pad. Your room still has bugs in it. Don't look for them, leave them alone, and act natural.

She nodded. "Okay, ah, then what?" There was a short pause as she wrote, Why?

"Next, you'll wear a blindfold." They don't trust me. They think I left something out when I joined.

"How about you, Signore Paolo?" What?

"Sometimes, both you and your opponents are blind. Other times, only you. It's important that you be able to deal with that." Now on a familiar topic, Paolo could rattle off answers easily and without distracting from his writing. My brother was a Padina leader. He's dead now. I killed him.

"Really?" She gasped. "Sorry, I mean… uh, really, you had to, uh, fight like that?"

It's okay. I just wanted to tell you they don't trust me, and because of that, don't trust you. As he wrote, he said, "Yes, and multiple people, too. There are other ways to be blinded – flashbang grenades, strobe lights, and smoke. We'll be going through all of them." He paused, then added on his paper, But I do.

Dina smiled. "Thank you, Signore Paolo," she said very softly as she rushed to embrace him.

Ξ§§§Ξ

Paolo switched off the strobe light and flexed his aching shoulder. It hurt, but he ground his teeth and prepared to continue. There was no way he was going to let Jean see him even with the slightest bit of injury. He wasn't going to let that man get the satisfaction.

Dina lowered her arms and rose from her crouch. "How did I do, Signore Paolo?"

"Excellent, Dina. The strobe and siren drill is one of the most disorienting scenarios, and you were great. I'm used to it, and you still got the better of me."

"Oh, I'm sorry Signore Paolo! Are you all right? I'm sorry if I hurt you!" She rushed to hug him.

"It's fine, it's fine, Dina. Look, I'm your teacher, right? Well, let me tell you a secret: every teacher wants his student to be better than him. I'm proud of you for beating me."

"Uh-huh!" She grinned widely and her head bounced as she nodded happily.

Wordlessly, he stood there, smiling and with a lighter heart, sharing in her joy.

Eventually, she stopped and looked up at him with those deep and expressive brown eyes. "What are we going to do next, Signore Paolo?"

He held up a can, one slightly larger than a household aerosol can. "This is a smoke grenade. Not only will it make it impossible to see, it will also make it very hard to breathe. The two most important things to know are to not touch it – these things burn at a very high temperature, so even brushing against one will burn you. The other thing is to get down. The smoke won't be as thick, so you'll have both better air, and a better view of the surroundings."

She nodded, eyes wide.

"When you're down there, look for feet and knock them down. Take a big gulp of air so you can rise from the floor and take them out. Got it?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Okay, I'm going to pop smoke and throw it in the corner. That way, we don't have to worry about coming into contact with it." He looked at her intently. "Are you ready?"

She backed away and dropped to a low combat crouch.

He shook his head. "Remember what I said? As low as you can."

She threw herself prone, then turned her head so she could wink at him.

Paolo pulled the pin and threw the can. The lever clattered madly on the cement floor while the grenade gave a sharp pop, an angry hiss, then a continuous whoosh as grey smoke billowed out.

Paolo dropped to the floor and searched for her.

Instead of her prone form crawling at him as he expected, he instead saw her red boots staggering wildly, backing into a corner.

"What are you doing? Remember what I told you! Get down!"

"Signore Paolo! Signore Paolo!" She cried out, coughing as she did.

Taking a huge lungful of air, he stood and rushed to the sound of her cries. Through the billowing smoke he could barely see her.

She was backed into the corner, hands pressed against the two walls, feet trying to press her further into the corner. At his touch, she stopped crying for him, but was still trembling.

He wrapped his arm around her and guided her toward the door. He tried the handle, but heard an angry buzz and saw the barest hint of a red flashing light.

Of course! The safety lock! While the shoot house was in use, the door would be locked until the exercise was completed. In the event of an emergency, one could punch in a simple override code on the keypad to override the lock.

That is, if one could even see the keypad. Paolo knelt and groped for the unit. 1, 2, 3, 4. He just had to feel for the buttons.

Before he knew it, he was lying on the cement outside, Dina beside him. He looked at the shoot house. The door, hanging on one hinge, toppled at that moment.