Mission 2: Operation Janus
Disclaimer: Same as before. If anyone can guess, what was Janus the Roman god of?
Story So Far: Rusty successfully saved Vic Fontaine from the Heartless in a daring and bold maneuver culminating with the theft of an airplane and a crash landing in British territory.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Mission accomplished, Puckett." Colonel Hosgrove says, four days after I'd rescued Vic Fontaine, "That information Vic was able to provide us was invaluable. Though I do wish you'd pulled that operation off with a little more discretion than you showed."
"I'm not sure I follow, sir." I reply.
"I do. Engaging in several gunfights, destroying a fuel dump, stealing an enemy airplane, then crashing it into a friendly airfield." Hosgrove replies, "Not very covert, but quite daring."
"Entirely by accident, sir." I reply, "With regard to my actions, in my unit we always say, 'Who Dares Wins'."
"I'm aware of the motto the SAS has adopted since its inception. Anyway, the data Vic stumbled onto is regarding a possible new type of Heartless, designed to operate underwater." Hosgrove replies, "Also he might have just penetrated, though very lightly, the Pipeline."
The Pipeline Hosgrove refers to is the ratline where kidnapped victims, usually orphans or beggars that societies won't really miss, are smuggled along to Maleficent's secret experimental facilities to be transformed into various sorts of Heartless. Shadows are easy to produce on the spot, but other breeds take special processing and equipment and thus many facilities are open for the sinister purpose of creating various kinds of Heartless.
"Anyway, be ready to receive a new mission at any time." Hosgrove replies.
"Yes sir." I reply.
"Dismissed." Hosgrove says. I do a perfect about turn and walk out of Hosgrove's office.
~ ~ ~ ~
Vic Fontaine has set up a little sound stage with microphone and musical equipment at the behest of Sir Niles. Vic is now holding auditions for various personnel for his band. He beams at me and waves saying, "Interested in putting down the sword and taking up the lute?"
"Not really. I enjoy music but can't play it for the life of me." I reply.
Diane is drinking a cup of coffee at a nearby table and I slide into the open seat next to her, "Come here often?" I ask.
"Oh yes, every day." Diane replies, smiling at me. It's that heart stopping smile of hers that could cause a traffic accident if misused.
"So how was the weekend?" I ask, she knows mine was spent lifting Vic Fontaine out of a potentially hairy spot.
"Chris' ship docked in Liverpool." Diane replies, smiling at me like a dark haired pixie, "He called before he came over here, and we spent a three day pass in Blackpool. You were right; it is one of Britannica's better seaside resorts."
"I'm glad you enjoyed your weekend." I reply, "Well, I'd best get going."
I manage to make it to the indoor gymnasium that is part of the estate's grounds, removing my outer shirt of my fatigues I put wraps and gloves on and start punching away at the bag. I've been working up a good sweat for at least five minutes when I hear a familiar voice.
"Anyone I know?" Vic Fontaine asks.
"Perhaps." I reply, giving the bag a couple jabs, a right cross and a particularly vicious left hook.
"Who's the girl?" Vic asks.
"You don't give up, do you mate?" I ask.
"I've been known to be persistent." Vic replies.
"So I gathered." I reply, "Her name's Diane, she's a close friend of mine."
"I can see it now; you're crazy about the broad." Vic replies.
"Perhaps." I reply, giving the bag another vicious combination of jabs and crosses.
"I feel sorry for that bag." Vic replies, with a whistle, because he sees my fists land solid blows in quick succession. My undershirt is now soaked with sweat, my ID tags hanging out of it. More of the stuff is soaking my face and body.
"Anyway, there's no perhaps about it pallie. You have feelings for her. Now what's stopping her from telling her how you feel?" Vic replies.
"His name's Chris Osborne." I reply giving the bag a three punch combo of a jab, cross, and jab as I speak.
"Boyfriend?" Vic Fontaine asks.
"They've been together for ages." I reply, "About seven years to be precise."
"I see, so how long have you..." Vic replies.
"At least for that amount of time." I reply, "We grew up together and just about when I'd gone into high school, I started developing feelings for her."
"Stay friends with the girl, because you never know, you might be the first person she goes to if something goes wrong with Chris." Vic said, "So that's why you were such a 'perfect soldier', when Diane met Chris you felt like you'd had nothing else to live for."
"Rusty?" Diane's voice echoed, "Are you in here?"
"I am." I reply, thanking God I'm being saved from this pesky lounge singer.
"Colonel Hosgrove has an assignment for you." Diane replies.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Good afternoon, lieutenant. I see you've been taking advantage of the estate's athletic facilities." Hosgrove says, noticing I'm still slightly sweaty and flushed from my rounds at the bag.
"Yes sir." I reply.
"Well I'll get right to the point. Your mission, pure and simple is to kill a man." Hosgrove says, "After he helped the Heartless destroy his world, Claude Frollo has been one of the key members of Maleficent's Pipeline. All attempts to bring him to justice have failed, civilian authorities on the worlds he's been on either are too intimidated or if they do catch him cannot find any evidence to support their allegations. So the mission was entrusted to us. You're mission is to discretely kill Claude Frollo."
I look at the folder handed to me by Hosgrove. Frollo's an intense older fellow with gray hair, a long nose, and a narrow face and frame. Every inch of him radiates tyrant. But I'm not here to judge his appearance; my mission is to assassinate this man. If the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) wants him dead, then they want him dead. What they need is a triggerman, and that's where 1st Lieutenant Russell George Puckett, 1 SAS, fits into this equation.
"Wouldn't it make more sense to capture him alive, sir?" I ask, "I'm sure we could crack the Pipeline if we caught him."
"We don't want Maleficent or her henchmen to realize Vic knows anything about their Pipeline." Hosgrove says, "I don't like this mission any more than you do Rusty, but if Command wants him dead, then we'd best carry the order out. This mission is Top Secret, if you are caught expect your very existence to be erased. The man known as 1st Lt. Russell George Puckett, His Majesty's SAS will never have existed. All records of your life will be destroyed; you'll barely be a memory."
"But this is what you signed up for, Puckett, isn't it?" Hosgrove continues, "The thrill of the chase, for the danger, for the idea of taunting death?"
"Yes sir." I reply.
"Well, you know your mission, Lieutenant." Hosgrove says, "Lieutenant Schonke will brief you on the particulars and equipment needed for this operation. Take care that she learns nothing of what we said here for operational security. As far as she or anyone else knows your mission is reconnaissance, not assassination. The only people in the loop are you and I in this building in addition to one or two others at Allied Command."
"Yes sir." I reply.
"Dismissed." Hosgrove says. Again I execute a drill perfect about turn that would make my old Sergeant Major at Sandhurst proud.
I enter the card room where Diane's waiting for me with a set of civilian attire on one arm and a file under the other. "Globetrotting are we?" Diane asks.
"Yes." I reply dourly, trying to hide the nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach that this mission is arousing. Granted I've killed many times, but this seems particularly cold blooded, being appointed judge, jury, and executioner of one Claude Frollo.
"Well, your area of operations is Traverse Town." Diane begins, "And your mission is to shadow Claude Frollo and report on his activities."
Oh how innocent you are of my true mission, Diane. She continues, "He'll be attending an Opera in the Second District. Traverse Town, as you know, is a regular hotbed of enemy activity, and your best defense is remaining inconspicuous. Towards that end, we're issuing you with a Hi-Standard Suppressed Pistol. It's a .22 caliber weapon that sounds like a BB gun when fired, but it's a good deal more deadly."
Sounds like the perfect weapon for a covert assassination mission. "To follow Frollo into the Opera there will be a dead letter box, located behind the mirror of the sink in the bathroom of Cid's Item Shop, in it will be a ticket and another set of forged papers complete with disguise accessories."
When I enter Traverse Town I'll look like myself, but once I hit the DLB I will appear to be another person. A wig and false glasses can do wonders for altering one's appearance temporarily. The assassination of Sir Danvers Carey fifty years ago of the House of Lords was a classic example. When he watching a play in a London theater, a young man wearing thick glasses with red hair stabbed him between the ribs then escaped during intermission. Scotland Yard was on the hunt for a red haired youth with thick specs, but by the time anyone noticed Sir Carey was dead, the red haired, bespectacled youth became a brown haired youth minus the specs. The glasses and toupee were false.
"You'll be flying in by Lysander this time again." Diane continues, "And we'll pull you out at 2200 (10 PM) tomorrow night. Details on your extraction package will be in the DLB in Cid's after 2100 (9 PM). He runs the safe house for Traverse Town, so there's no need for you to enter the Second or Third Districts."
That certainly makes sense, because the Second and Third Districts are infested with Heartless and that means I'm going to have to engage or evade them.
I go to the armory and draw out my weapon for this assignment, the Hi- Standard Suppressed Pistol. It's a small weapon, easily concealable if worn under a jacket. For added security I've kept it broken down in parts for when I enter Traverse Town, as Diane said, its stealth, not firepower that's gonna be my greatest asset. I've got a full magazine of ten rounds of .22 LR ammunition, but if things go right all I'm gonna need is one shot, no more. With this weapon hidden in my jacket I can sneak up behind Frollo in a darkened theater and fire a single round into his head. I know the .22 is seen as 'a BB gun with a bullet' in military circles, but a close range head shot is a definite fatality. If I need to fire more than one shot, then there's gonna be trouble, because that means I missed or failed to kill my quarry.
~ ~ ~ ~
An hour later I'm in the air, in a Lysander monoplane. But there's a difference. The aircraft is marked with a Britannica Air Mail logo and the pilot is wearing civilian attire. There isn't a single marking to place this aircraft as belonging to the RAF. The older model Lysanders are fairly common courier aircraft in Britannica and many other worlds, and the Lysander Mk III looks exactly like its older sisters, the only difference being she has a more powerful motor driving her propeller.
As I land in Traverse Town I make my way to Cid's Item Shop. I see that the flower pot in the window is on the right side of the sill as I face it. That means its safe to enter. Were it centered it would be a signal to wait. And if it was on the left side it would mean to remain clear of it.
The DLB is located in a false panel behind the mirror in Cid's bathroom. It contains a toupee, a pair of wire rimmed glasses, forged papers and a ticket to the Traverse Town Opera House. I find the package and make sure to store it safely in the small briefcase I'm carrying, looking for the world like a busy citizen coming home from work. In the briefcase, behind a false bottom are my weapon and ten rounds of ammunition, and the contents of the DLB. If my briefcase is searched all they will find are mundane inventory notes and personal papers of one Russell Pemberton.
Tonight the order of business is a little close target reconnaissance of the First District, and a closer look at the Opera House for convenient bolt holes in case this op goes to hell. I walk around Traverse Town's first district, taking note of various back alleys, gates, and possible areas to hole up for the initial commotion of Frollo's assassination.
I see the layout of the place puts my safe house right smack in the middle of the district. The theater is to the right as I face the Item Shop. I notice there is a back alley, with only two ways in or out. That won't do. Security forces will automatically expect an assassin to use such an exit.
At the worst case scenario someone will discover Frollo is dead as soon as I've put the round through his head, so I'd best be prepared to make a quick exit out of the theater. There is a ventilation duct I notice that leads into an abandoned building that borders the Second District. If I have to, I'll use that. After all, what foolhardy assassin would try to escape into a known hotbed of Heartless activity?
But in the best case, after I've killed Frollo, I will get up from my seat, calmly, ostensibly to use the toilet. Then once I've reached the toilet I will shed my disguise and the temporary identification I will use for the actual assassination, placing it into a pre-positioned DLB inside a supposedly broken toilet. Then afterward I will calmly exit the theater without speaking to anyone and go back into the First District.
~ ~ ~ ~
Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe walked into 'Casablanca' the name the soldiers at the mansion gave to the room Vic Fontaine used as his entertainment area. It was where Vic asked to meet him.
"Colin, how are you?" Vic said.
"I prefer to go by Blythe if you don't mind."
"Makes you sound more distinguished. More power to you." Vic replied, "I need you to do something for me?"
"What would that be?" Blythe replied.
"I notice Lieutenant Schonke's been a bit stressed lately." Vic replied.
"We've all been a tad overworked." Blythe began, "The Encryption department's had a lot of work lately."
"I mean besides that." Vic said, "I know you're her boss..."
"She's one of my best cryptographers. She cracks codes in half the time it takes a lot of the others to." Blythe replied, "She was part of the team that broke Imhotep's code in time to stop one of his major attacks in Egypt. The Desert Rats were able to rally and defeat the Heartless partially because of her work."
"Major Darby's put a lot of stress on you guys lately." Vic mused, "She seems to be hit hardest."
"Diane's a bit of a perfectionist. But Major Darby seems to have a hard time complimenting anyone." Blythe replied, "He yelled at her over something or other, and I saw it took all the composition she had not to yell back."
"Remind me not to tell Rusty." Vic replied.
"Oh, you seem to be subscribing to the theory Rusty's in love with her. I figure it's barracks nonsense." Blythe replied.
"Barracks nonsense my foot, Rusty's crazy about her. All I can say is Major Darby's lucky he outranks Rusty otherwise he might just wind up being thrown through a window." Vic replied, "That's what I wanted to tell you, be sure that Diane doesn't work herself too hard."
"I'll keep that it mind." Blythe replied, "Thank you Vic."
"Your welcome, Blythe." Vic said, "Between you and me, I think Rusty should tell Diane how he feels about her. He's kept it a secret for too long."
"How long?" Blythe asked.
"Seven years." Vic replied.
"Seven years! Good God!" Blythe replied, as he walked out of the room, towards the card room, across the foyer.
~ ~ ~ ~
"You read my mind, sir." Diane replied, as Blythe offered her a cup of coffee.
"I don't know how you Yanks can take coffee. Bloody chalk dust and water it is." Blythe replied.
"It's an acquired taste." Diane replied.
"Perhaps." Blythe replied, "But I'd prefer my Earl Grey any day of the week. You don't look so good."
Diane had bags under her eyes, "I'll manage sir."
"Bollocks." Blythe replied, "As your superior officer, I definitely believe you need rest."
"I'm doing fine, sir." Diane replied.
"Go to bed, lieutenant." Blythe replied, "I'll take over from here. If you persist in staying up late, you're headed straight for sick call first thing in the morning. You're overstressing yourself."
"Its just that every message I decode could save lives." Diane replied.
"You're not the only cryptographer in the building, lieutenant." Blythe replied, "There is our staff of a couple dozen blokes. You're the best I've got, but even the best need to rest."
"I guess you're right, sir." Diane replied, "You know I spent a good part of my weekend in Blackpool sleeping. Chris was a bit annoyed; I think he was expecting a bit more spice than just tucking me in Friday night."
"Take care, lieutenant." Blythe replied, taking the transmission reports from Diane.
"You too sir." Diane replied, heading off for her room.
~ ~ ~ ~
TBC
Disclaimer: Same as before. If anyone can guess, what was Janus the Roman god of?
Story So Far: Rusty successfully saved Vic Fontaine from the Heartless in a daring and bold maneuver culminating with the theft of an airplane and a crash landing in British territory.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Mission accomplished, Puckett." Colonel Hosgrove says, four days after I'd rescued Vic Fontaine, "That information Vic was able to provide us was invaluable. Though I do wish you'd pulled that operation off with a little more discretion than you showed."
"I'm not sure I follow, sir." I reply.
"I do. Engaging in several gunfights, destroying a fuel dump, stealing an enemy airplane, then crashing it into a friendly airfield." Hosgrove replies, "Not very covert, but quite daring."
"Entirely by accident, sir." I reply, "With regard to my actions, in my unit we always say, 'Who Dares Wins'."
"I'm aware of the motto the SAS has adopted since its inception. Anyway, the data Vic stumbled onto is regarding a possible new type of Heartless, designed to operate underwater." Hosgrove replies, "Also he might have just penetrated, though very lightly, the Pipeline."
The Pipeline Hosgrove refers to is the ratline where kidnapped victims, usually orphans or beggars that societies won't really miss, are smuggled along to Maleficent's secret experimental facilities to be transformed into various sorts of Heartless. Shadows are easy to produce on the spot, but other breeds take special processing and equipment and thus many facilities are open for the sinister purpose of creating various kinds of Heartless.
"Anyway, be ready to receive a new mission at any time." Hosgrove replies.
"Yes sir." I reply.
"Dismissed." Hosgrove says. I do a perfect about turn and walk out of Hosgrove's office.
~ ~ ~ ~
Vic Fontaine has set up a little sound stage with microphone and musical equipment at the behest of Sir Niles. Vic is now holding auditions for various personnel for his band. He beams at me and waves saying, "Interested in putting down the sword and taking up the lute?"
"Not really. I enjoy music but can't play it for the life of me." I reply.
Diane is drinking a cup of coffee at a nearby table and I slide into the open seat next to her, "Come here often?" I ask.
"Oh yes, every day." Diane replies, smiling at me. It's that heart stopping smile of hers that could cause a traffic accident if misused.
"So how was the weekend?" I ask, she knows mine was spent lifting Vic Fontaine out of a potentially hairy spot.
"Chris' ship docked in Liverpool." Diane replies, smiling at me like a dark haired pixie, "He called before he came over here, and we spent a three day pass in Blackpool. You were right; it is one of Britannica's better seaside resorts."
"I'm glad you enjoyed your weekend." I reply, "Well, I'd best get going."
I manage to make it to the indoor gymnasium that is part of the estate's grounds, removing my outer shirt of my fatigues I put wraps and gloves on and start punching away at the bag. I've been working up a good sweat for at least five minutes when I hear a familiar voice.
"Anyone I know?" Vic Fontaine asks.
"Perhaps." I reply, giving the bag a couple jabs, a right cross and a particularly vicious left hook.
"Who's the girl?" Vic asks.
"You don't give up, do you mate?" I ask.
"I've been known to be persistent." Vic replies.
"So I gathered." I reply, "Her name's Diane, she's a close friend of mine."
"I can see it now; you're crazy about the broad." Vic replies.
"Perhaps." I reply, giving the bag another vicious combination of jabs and crosses.
"I feel sorry for that bag." Vic replies, with a whistle, because he sees my fists land solid blows in quick succession. My undershirt is now soaked with sweat, my ID tags hanging out of it. More of the stuff is soaking my face and body.
"Anyway, there's no perhaps about it pallie. You have feelings for her. Now what's stopping her from telling her how you feel?" Vic replies.
"His name's Chris Osborne." I reply giving the bag a three punch combo of a jab, cross, and jab as I speak.
"Boyfriend?" Vic Fontaine asks.
"They've been together for ages." I reply, "About seven years to be precise."
"I see, so how long have you..." Vic replies.
"At least for that amount of time." I reply, "We grew up together and just about when I'd gone into high school, I started developing feelings for her."
"Stay friends with the girl, because you never know, you might be the first person she goes to if something goes wrong with Chris." Vic said, "So that's why you were such a 'perfect soldier', when Diane met Chris you felt like you'd had nothing else to live for."
"Rusty?" Diane's voice echoed, "Are you in here?"
"I am." I reply, thanking God I'm being saved from this pesky lounge singer.
"Colonel Hosgrove has an assignment for you." Diane replies.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Good afternoon, lieutenant. I see you've been taking advantage of the estate's athletic facilities." Hosgrove says, noticing I'm still slightly sweaty and flushed from my rounds at the bag.
"Yes sir." I reply.
"Well I'll get right to the point. Your mission, pure and simple is to kill a man." Hosgrove says, "After he helped the Heartless destroy his world, Claude Frollo has been one of the key members of Maleficent's Pipeline. All attempts to bring him to justice have failed, civilian authorities on the worlds he's been on either are too intimidated or if they do catch him cannot find any evidence to support their allegations. So the mission was entrusted to us. You're mission is to discretely kill Claude Frollo."
I look at the folder handed to me by Hosgrove. Frollo's an intense older fellow with gray hair, a long nose, and a narrow face and frame. Every inch of him radiates tyrant. But I'm not here to judge his appearance; my mission is to assassinate this man. If the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) wants him dead, then they want him dead. What they need is a triggerman, and that's where 1st Lieutenant Russell George Puckett, 1 SAS, fits into this equation.
"Wouldn't it make more sense to capture him alive, sir?" I ask, "I'm sure we could crack the Pipeline if we caught him."
"We don't want Maleficent or her henchmen to realize Vic knows anything about their Pipeline." Hosgrove says, "I don't like this mission any more than you do Rusty, but if Command wants him dead, then we'd best carry the order out. This mission is Top Secret, if you are caught expect your very existence to be erased. The man known as 1st Lt. Russell George Puckett, His Majesty's SAS will never have existed. All records of your life will be destroyed; you'll barely be a memory."
"But this is what you signed up for, Puckett, isn't it?" Hosgrove continues, "The thrill of the chase, for the danger, for the idea of taunting death?"
"Yes sir." I reply.
"Well, you know your mission, Lieutenant." Hosgrove says, "Lieutenant Schonke will brief you on the particulars and equipment needed for this operation. Take care that she learns nothing of what we said here for operational security. As far as she or anyone else knows your mission is reconnaissance, not assassination. The only people in the loop are you and I in this building in addition to one or two others at Allied Command."
"Yes sir." I reply.
"Dismissed." Hosgrove says. Again I execute a drill perfect about turn that would make my old Sergeant Major at Sandhurst proud.
I enter the card room where Diane's waiting for me with a set of civilian attire on one arm and a file under the other. "Globetrotting are we?" Diane asks.
"Yes." I reply dourly, trying to hide the nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach that this mission is arousing. Granted I've killed many times, but this seems particularly cold blooded, being appointed judge, jury, and executioner of one Claude Frollo.
"Well, your area of operations is Traverse Town." Diane begins, "And your mission is to shadow Claude Frollo and report on his activities."
Oh how innocent you are of my true mission, Diane. She continues, "He'll be attending an Opera in the Second District. Traverse Town, as you know, is a regular hotbed of enemy activity, and your best defense is remaining inconspicuous. Towards that end, we're issuing you with a Hi-Standard Suppressed Pistol. It's a .22 caliber weapon that sounds like a BB gun when fired, but it's a good deal more deadly."
Sounds like the perfect weapon for a covert assassination mission. "To follow Frollo into the Opera there will be a dead letter box, located behind the mirror of the sink in the bathroom of Cid's Item Shop, in it will be a ticket and another set of forged papers complete with disguise accessories."
When I enter Traverse Town I'll look like myself, but once I hit the DLB I will appear to be another person. A wig and false glasses can do wonders for altering one's appearance temporarily. The assassination of Sir Danvers Carey fifty years ago of the House of Lords was a classic example. When he watching a play in a London theater, a young man wearing thick glasses with red hair stabbed him between the ribs then escaped during intermission. Scotland Yard was on the hunt for a red haired youth with thick specs, but by the time anyone noticed Sir Carey was dead, the red haired, bespectacled youth became a brown haired youth minus the specs. The glasses and toupee were false.
"You'll be flying in by Lysander this time again." Diane continues, "And we'll pull you out at 2200 (10 PM) tomorrow night. Details on your extraction package will be in the DLB in Cid's after 2100 (9 PM). He runs the safe house for Traverse Town, so there's no need for you to enter the Second or Third Districts."
That certainly makes sense, because the Second and Third Districts are infested with Heartless and that means I'm going to have to engage or evade them.
I go to the armory and draw out my weapon for this assignment, the Hi- Standard Suppressed Pistol. It's a small weapon, easily concealable if worn under a jacket. For added security I've kept it broken down in parts for when I enter Traverse Town, as Diane said, its stealth, not firepower that's gonna be my greatest asset. I've got a full magazine of ten rounds of .22 LR ammunition, but if things go right all I'm gonna need is one shot, no more. With this weapon hidden in my jacket I can sneak up behind Frollo in a darkened theater and fire a single round into his head. I know the .22 is seen as 'a BB gun with a bullet' in military circles, but a close range head shot is a definite fatality. If I need to fire more than one shot, then there's gonna be trouble, because that means I missed or failed to kill my quarry.
~ ~ ~ ~
An hour later I'm in the air, in a Lysander monoplane. But there's a difference. The aircraft is marked with a Britannica Air Mail logo and the pilot is wearing civilian attire. There isn't a single marking to place this aircraft as belonging to the RAF. The older model Lysanders are fairly common courier aircraft in Britannica and many other worlds, and the Lysander Mk III looks exactly like its older sisters, the only difference being she has a more powerful motor driving her propeller.
As I land in Traverse Town I make my way to Cid's Item Shop. I see that the flower pot in the window is on the right side of the sill as I face it. That means its safe to enter. Were it centered it would be a signal to wait. And if it was on the left side it would mean to remain clear of it.
The DLB is located in a false panel behind the mirror in Cid's bathroom. It contains a toupee, a pair of wire rimmed glasses, forged papers and a ticket to the Traverse Town Opera House. I find the package and make sure to store it safely in the small briefcase I'm carrying, looking for the world like a busy citizen coming home from work. In the briefcase, behind a false bottom are my weapon and ten rounds of ammunition, and the contents of the DLB. If my briefcase is searched all they will find are mundane inventory notes and personal papers of one Russell Pemberton.
Tonight the order of business is a little close target reconnaissance of the First District, and a closer look at the Opera House for convenient bolt holes in case this op goes to hell. I walk around Traverse Town's first district, taking note of various back alleys, gates, and possible areas to hole up for the initial commotion of Frollo's assassination.
I see the layout of the place puts my safe house right smack in the middle of the district. The theater is to the right as I face the Item Shop. I notice there is a back alley, with only two ways in or out. That won't do. Security forces will automatically expect an assassin to use such an exit.
At the worst case scenario someone will discover Frollo is dead as soon as I've put the round through his head, so I'd best be prepared to make a quick exit out of the theater. There is a ventilation duct I notice that leads into an abandoned building that borders the Second District. If I have to, I'll use that. After all, what foolhardy assassin would try to escape into a known hotbed of Heartless activity?
But in the best case, after I've killed Frollo, I will get up from my seat, calmly, ostensibly to use the toilet. Then once I've reached the toilet I will shed my disguise and the temporary identification I will use for the actual assassination, placing it into a pre-positioned DLB inside a supposedly broken toilet. Then afterward I will calmly exit the theater without speaking to anyone and go back into the First District.
~ ~ ~ ~
Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe walked into 'Casablanca' the name the soldiers at the mansion gave to the room Vic Fontaine used as his entertainment area. It was where Vic asked to meet him.
"Colin, how are you?" Vic said.
"I prefer to go by Blythe if you don't mind."
"Makes you sound more distinguished. More power to you." Vic replied, "I need you to do something for me?"
"What would that be?" Blythe replied.
"I notice Lieutenant Schonke's been a bit stressed lately." Vic replied.
"We've all been a tad overworked." Blythe began, "The Encryption department's had a lot of work lately."
"I mean besides that." Vic said, "I know you're her boss..."
"She's one of my best cryptographers. She cracks codes in half the time it takes a lot of the others to." Blythe replied, "She was part of the team that broke Imhotep's code in time to stop one of his major attacks in Egypt. The Desert Rats were able to rally and defeat the Heartless partially because of her work."
"Major Darby's put a lot of stress on you guys lately." Vic mused, "She seems to be hit hardest."
"Diane's a bit of a perfectionist. But Major Darby seems to have a hard time complimenting anyone." Blythe replied, "He yelled at her over something or other, and I saw it took all the composition she had not to yell back."
"Remind me not to tell Rusty." Vic replied.
"Oh, you seem to be subscribing to the theory Rusty's in love with her. I figure it's barracks nonsense." Blythe replied.
"Barracks nonsense my foot, Rusty's crazy about her. All I can say is Major Darby's lucky he outranks Rusty otherwise he might just wind up being thrown through a window." Vic replied, "That's what I wanted to tell you, be sure that Diane doesn't work herself too hard."
"I'll keep that it mind." Blythe replied, "Thank you Vic."
"Your welcome, Blythe." Vic said, "Between you and me, I think Rusty should tell Diane how he feels about her. He's kept it a secret for too long."
"How long?" Blythe asked.
"Seven years." Vic replied.
"Seven years! Good God!" Blythe replied, as he walked out of the room, towards the card room, across the foyer.
~ ~ ~ ~
"You read my mind, sir." Diane replied, as Blythe offered her a cup of coffee.
"I don't know how you Yanks can take coffee. Bloody chalk dust and water it is." Blythe replied.
"It's an acquired taste." Diane replied.
"Perhaps." Blythe replied, "But I'd prefer my Earl Grey any day of the week. You don't look so good."
Diane had bags under her eyes, "I'll manage sir."
"Bollocks." Blythe replied, "As your superior officer, I definitely believe you need rest."
"I'm doing fine, sir." Diane replied.
"Go to bed, lieutenant." Blythe replied, "I'll take over from here. If you persist in staying up late, you're headed straight for sick call first thing in the morning. You're overstressing yourself."
"Its just that every message I decode could save lives." Diane replied.
"You're not the only cryptographer in the building, lieutenant." Blythe replied, "There is our staff of a couple dozen blokes. You're the best I've got, but even the best need to rest."
"I guess you're right, sir." Diane replied, "You know I spent a good part of my weekend in Blackpool sleeping. Chris was a bit annoyed; I think he was expecting a bit more spice than just tucking me in Friday night."
"Take care, lieutenant." Blythe replied, taking the transmission reports from Diane.
"You too sir." Diane replied, heading off for her room.
~ ~ ~ ~
TBC