As the weeks dragged on, Val contacted Deep Throat to try and dig him up some more information on this elusive Two Hands. Deep Throat poured though various medias trying to find some tidbit of information to pass on to 47. Deep Throat, while presenting in a squeaky voice when he spoke to 47, was actually a 74 year old man. His wife was battling aggressive cancer, and he was quickly running out of money. In a surprising twist of fate (or misfortune depending on how you looked at it), he stumbled across the world of handlers; people who assign others jobs and take a cut off the top for themselves. He prided himself on his computer skills despite his age (having worked for a company that specialized in procuring resources for its clients manufacturing needs), along with his powers of observation. So when he noticed a pattern in several recent deaths of gang leaders all over the world, he set up a sting to make contact with the man who was doing the work. The ploy paid off, and he made contact with a man calling himself 47. After words were had, and if Deep Throat was honest, a little bit of pants shitting from the threats issued by 47, the two agreed to become tentative partners. This allowed Deep Throat to make some easy money to care for his wife, and made it easier for 47 to get work. Deep Throat preferred not to hear from 47 until after a job if at all possible, not caring to know what he did to complete, only caring that the two got paid. While he knew that what they were doing was illegal, and probably resulted in many lives lost, he only cared so far as the money that kept the love of his life alive. So thus when they did talk it was usually short and with limited details if at all possible. The things one does for love...
While neither had any way of knowing at first, they were in-fact stirring the pot in their quest for Two Hands. Deep Throat had managed to access the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States of America on his quest to find out more on the woman they were after. He had found a project called Red Fraction. It was a detailed plot by the CIA to manipulate crime in the South China Sea to allow the US Military to move freely in that area, thereby enabling them to target perceived threats to the US that were coming out of the area. But what was more interesting was what was found in the personal file of this project.
Val was sitting outside by the docks, facing out to the ocean, having yet another smoke as he processed the information he had gathered that day. He had forgone his coat and hat this particular evening, trying to change up his appearance as not to draw anymore attention. He was about to get up and head out when his cell rang.
"47" He answered.
"Hey. It's me" Deep Throat replied. "I found out some interesting info about Two Hands. I was able to get into the CIA databases and do some snooping. You need to go to a place called-"
The phones screeched in both of their ears, causing Deep Throat to throw off his headset and 47 to hold the phone at arms length away from himself. When the noise finally died down, both put their respective speakers back to their ears and listened.
"Do I have you attention now gentlemen" A voice cut over the line. This voice, while masculine in nature, sounded like a 90 year old man who was a pack a day smoker"
"Who is this?" Val asked in mild annoyance.
"That's not important. But if you must call me something, call me Langley"
Both men were shocked at this, Deep Throat more so than Val. Deep Throat proceeded to ball up his fist and bite down on it. Langley was the code name for someone who worked at the CIA, the very same organization who's information Deep Throat had been sifting through.
"What do you want?" Val asked, breaking the silence.
"It has come to my attention that you are looking for the woman called Two Hands. I cannot allow you to continue your search. I have a particular interest in her and will not have wannabe mercenary hotshots interfering"
The silence was deafening. Deep Throat felt for sure that any minute, agents would be storming through his door to take him away. Val, on the other hand, just put out his cigarette before removing a new one from his pack and lighting it. He took another drag before responding.
"And what would make you think we are looking for the one you call Two Hands? And how did you draw the conclusion we are mercenaries?" Val asked, attempting to get the agent to tip their hand.
"Your partner left a trail when he snooped through our systems looking for information on Roanapur. From there it was easy to back trace where the breach came from. Jamming the call was even easier. Pretty sloppy if you ask me. And as for what you are, well you look the part" Langley replied, a slight chuckle in his voice.
Val took a long drag from his cigarette, before answering, chuckling himself.
"Well I have never seen Deep Throat's appearance, but I am fairly confident he looks nothing like a mercenary. So that means you are calling with eyes only on me. But, given you didn't address me by name, you have no clue who I am. My guess is you are currently observing me, but are too far away to see what I look like so you just concluded that I am a mercenary. And if I'm being honest though, this was a set up. I needed to know if you had agents here, especially after we found detailed notes about this city on the CIA database under the Red Fraction file. So I had Deep Throat purposely leave an easy trail for you to find, leading you to our dummy system, which is a joke by anyone's standards. I am surprised however, that you were so quick to find me. Normally the CIA is quite behind compared to other US government agencies"
On a far a way roof top, Eda silently cursed as she watched Val with a pair binoculars. While she couldn't see his face, she could see the mans brown shirt, and a gun on a shoulder holster. What she couldn't see were the mans boots, beard, Colt 1911, knife, derringers, face, or sunglasses. Nor could she know that he had forgone his standard coat and hat on this outing. Essentially, she really knew nothing about this man or his true appearance.
Damn this guy is good. He knew I was here from the moment I opened my mouth. I better play this carefully. If he knows I'm here, he could start trouble. But he doesn't know what I look like, so maybe this is just a bluff.
Eda remained silent for a moment, before replying, using the voice changer built into her phone.
"I see. You are quite talented in the field of deduction, Mr. Merc" Eda/Langley said, slightly smiling as she did.
"Coming from the CIA, I'll take that a a complement" Val replied, smiling at the compliment/insult.
"I don't know what you are getting paid for this job, but I can assure you I can double it if you leave Roanapur and promise to keep you mouth shut"
"I have no doubt you could, Mr. CIA" Val replied, mocking the tone the "man" had just used with him. "But I am not in the habit of breaking an agreed upon contract just because someone offered me more money. It's bad for long term business. So you do what you need to do and I'll do the same"
Val paused for a moment before continuing. "However, I feel I must tell you something important. You are not the only government agency interested in Two Hands" Val fibbed. He hoped that the illusion of him being with a foreign government agency would throw the CIA Agent off.
This was all true of course. Deep Throat had been pouring other databases as well and found several other first world countries who were interested in acquiring Two Hands for their organizations. But Val wasn't going to tell the CIA which ones, lest he give up too much info.
Eda remained silent on the other end of the line. This guy had her cornered. He already know the CIA was in Roanapur and had set a trap for them. While he hadn't said which agency he was with, indicating he wasn't with one, to talk like that was someone who was very prepared. And if on the off chance he was with another government who was friendly with the US, pissing him off wouldn't do anything for international relations. She cursed silently once again before trying to get herself out of this failing conversation.
"Very well then. Do as you must and I will do the same. But I will not hesitate to eliminate you should you interfere with my operation"
Val sighed internally as the answer proved they knew nothing of the actual plan.
"I wouldn't have it any other way" Val replied.
The phones screeched again before returning to normal.
"You still there Deep Throat?"
"Yeah. Though I will probably need a new chair after that"
"Buck up buttercup. You knew we were going to have to deal with the CIA sometime. That's why we played this hand like we did. I refuse to go into a job without knowing all the players. And by their response, they know nothing of our plan. You did good work" Val paused for a second. "Besides, with what we are getting paid you could get 7 new chairs, one for each day of the week" 47 replied, chuckling at his own bad joke.
"I just might" Deep Throat replied indignantly. "But beyond that, you need to got to a bar called the Yellow Flag. I've gathered that it is the place where the Lagoon Company goes to drink after jobs. Rock will probably make an appearance one of these nights, hopefully with Two Hands. She is known to drink there quite often as well. Just follow the sounds of angry gunfire."
"I've been by that place a few times and have never seen any of the Lagoon crew there. Seems a little out of character based on the CIA's notes. I'll look into it. 47 out" he replied before closing the phone. He tossed his smoke into the ocean before getting up and returning to his motel room, taking a different and substantially longer route back. While he was certain the CIA wasn't going to move on him tonight, best to be careful none the less.
A/N: And here is Chapter 2. I was reviewing my notes and think the first 4 chapters or so will be up today. They all have been edited multiple times so they should be good to go. Its the later chapters that I recently written that need more work. I know that the OC's are a little under explained. I am doing it in a series of retrospective flashbacks to help stress the various situations. It'll make more sense later. For now, I hope you've enjoyed it.
-NightSteed out