Chapter Seven: Tradecraft, Preparation, and Facehuggers
Disclaimer: Same as before.
Enroute to Kokua Town
8 June 2003, 1750
Near Kokua Town, HI
United States
"Oh this isn't good," Lindsay groaned as she listened to the telephone call.
"What isn't good?" Henry replied.
Lindsay covered the mouthpiece of her cell phone before she responded, "Evidently Firefly with Gnomekop in tow tried to raid the house."
"Did they manage to get anything or anyone?" Henry asked.
"They didn't," Lindsay replied, "Thank God."
"Well we at least know Jumba's inventions can be helpful in a pinch, as you Yanks say," Henry replied.
"Not entirely," Lindsay replied, "Evidently Jumba got ensnared with his own net. And shocked by it too."
"How the devil did he do that?" Henry asked, as they took the turn towards Kokua Town.
Pelekai Residence
8 June 2003, 1744
Kokua Town, HI
United States
"How did you two get ensnared in your own net?" Cobra Bubbles asked as he used an insulated pole with a hook on it to pull the net off of Jumba and Pleakley.
"It was accident," Jumba said, pointing at a roller skate he had stepped on while trying to fire his rocket propelled net launcher.
"That explains it," Cobra replied.
"Henry and Lindsay are on their way back," Chuckles said, "And it sounds like they spotted the Baroness at Kapaa Beach Park."
"Who's the Baroness?" Pleakley asked, brushing soot off of the red and white muumuu he was wearing.
"She's a Cobra espionage expert," Chuckles replied, "Used to work for Romania's intelligence services. And she was too ruthless even for them."
"There was some other fellow too," Jumba said, "A man in grey and black camouflage with a mask."
"That was Firefly," Chuckles supplied, "Cobra's sabotage expert. He's the one who blew up the sign and Mrs. Edmonds' car."
"Well, there's some good news," Jumba said.
"Oh, what's that?" Cobra said.
"My bouncing skunk bomb works!" Jumba said, "And Stitch was able to drive off Firefly."
"At least for now," Chuckles said, "If I know those snakes, they'll be back with another plan."
"And we'll be ready for them," Jumba said.
"With what?" Cobra replied.
"Behold!" Jumba said, reaching into his pocket and tapping on a button for the remote.
From a hidden panel came what looked like a large can of Fosters with a sprinkler head on top and mechanical arms and legs.
"That looks like walking cherry bomb," Lilo asked as she walked out onto the porch.
"Eh, close, except it's not designed to explode unless its self destruct mechanism is engaged," Jumba replied.
"Ok, what does it do?" Cobra asked.
"It's designed to spray concentrated pepper spray and skunk scent in a 360 degree radius for several feet. And if it's taken a certain radius from the house it will explode. I am a genius. Hahahahaha!" Jumba replied, lying on his back and giving a great belly laugh.
"More like a lunatic," Chuckles groaned, "And we have no idea where Firefly and the Baroness are so we will have to wait till they..."
"Guys…" Lilo began.
"Given what just happened we won't have long to wait," Cobra added.
"Guys…" Lilo continued, a bit more insistently.
"Well, maybe I can invent some other protective measures for the house," Jumba continued.
"Guys!" Lilo shouted.
"What does little girl want?" Jumba asked.
"Didn't you build location sensors into Gnomekop and Turbo Troll?" Lilo replied.
"Hey, little girl is right!" Jumba declared, "We can track Firefly's movements based on where Gnomekop is."
"That is good news," Cobra said.
"And everyone's gotten home in time for us to let them know about it," Chuckles replied as they all saw Nani's jeep coming up the road with Henry and Lindsay following not too far behind.
"Were you guys following me at Kapaa Beach Park?" Nani asked Henry and Lindsay as the entire group had assembled in the kitchen.
Lindsay looked slightly chagrined that she had been spotted. You're not much of a spy if you can't follow someone without being detected, as my old instructors used to say.
"Yes," Henry replied without hesitation.
Not helping, Tresckow, Lindsay thought, fixing him with a glare.
"Why?" Nani asked.
"Well, for one thing you picked up a rather dangerous watcher," Henry replied, "The Baroness, a Cobra espionage expert to be precise."
"So while this dangerous Cobra espionage expert was watching me you two were messing around in the surf?" Nani asked.
"Now wait just a minute," Lindsay countered, standing up from the chair she was sitting in.
"Alright," Chuckles said, putting a hand on Lindsay's shoulder, "Nani, what Lindsay and Henry were doing was good countersurveillance."
"What's that?" Nani asked.
"It's precautions we take when we're being watched," Lindsay replied, as she sat back down, "The point of that is to bore whoever is watching you. For instance if your car's being tailed don't run yellow lights, or perform illegal u-turns or do something Evil Knievel-like."
"You want to convince them that you're anything but a spy," Cobra added.
"Basically all we wanted the Baroness to see was just a normal tourist couple," Lindsay added. Way to force our hand, Tresckow. Methods of tradecraft aren't things that the Pelekais should know about.
"Ok, I get it," Nani said, "But what if the Baroness wanted to grab me or something?"
"Chances are she wouldn't have tried anything by herself and at a crowded beach," Henry began, "Too many witnesses. Now, do you work late at either job that you have?"
"Sometimes I get the early shift when I'm at the Concierge at the Marriott," Nani replied.
"Right, that's when you're most vulnerable," Henry replied.
"Do you have sick days you can use?" Lindsay asked, "Maybe take a couple while we take care of this."
"I can't do that!" Nani protested, "I have Lilo to support and not to mention bills to pay."
"And besides that might alert the Baroness that we're onto their little operation," Chuckles said.
"She probably is already aware of it, given Firefly and Gnomekop's failed attempt to reconnoiter the house," Cobra said.
"Right," Henry replied, "So looks like they've got two options, either make a move tonight or give up."
"But then again they probably know we're on the alert tonight," Lindsay added, "So why not wait us out till we get complacent."
"Always a good choice," Henry replied.
"Unless, of course, The Baroness and Firefly are working on a timeline," Chuckles said, "If it's just those two here on Kauai that means they're just part of a small advance team."
"Meaning they don't have a lot of resources and the like," Henry added.
"And the probably have to justify expense of running an intelligence operation out here," Lindsay replied.
"So they're likely to try and pull something off within the next day or so," Henry concluded.
"Or they're likely to try and wait us out if they're playing the long game," Lindsay countered.
"How many bosses have you had that are the very patient sort?" Henry asked, "Especially when trying to justify expenses for new and likely unproven operations."
You do make a good point, Tresckow, Lindsay thought to herself, before saying, "Alright, if that's the case…"
"Then we're ready for them," Lilo said, "Right Stitch!"
"Jabba Gabba!" Stitch replied, laughing.
"Alright, we know what we need to do," Cobra said, "Let's make sure that the Baroness and Firefly get a good reception."
The group broke and as they did, Lindsay walked up to Henry and said, "We need to talk."
"Alright," Henry replied.
"Meet me in the living room," Lindsay replied.
"What was that all about?" Lindsay asked as Henry walked into the living room.
"What was what all about?" Henry replied, his eyebrows furrowing as his forehead clenched in thought.
"Flat out telling Nani about what we were up to in Kapaa," Lindsay replied.
"So she made us," Henry replied, using the tradecraft term that Nani had spotted them at the beach.
Yes, she made us, and now knows all about the Baroness poking around. Lindsay thought.
"What the devil did you want us to do? Lie about it?" Henry added.
"If necessary, yes," Lindsay replied, "You compromised our surveillance operation."
"By coming clean? Oh for God's sake," Henry countered.
"And telling Nani about methods to counter surveillance, that might be hard for Chuckles and I to explain to headquarters," Lindsay exclaimed.
"Well, given that the Pelekai family is likely to be of interest to Cobra because of Stitch, Dr. Jookiba, and Pleakley it makes sense they know how to spot and counter surveillance," Henry replied, with a smile.
Lindsay paused for a moment, squinting as she mulled what Henry had to say. That is a good point. Damn, that smile…
"You do make a good point," Lindsay replied, "And that's a great justification. I hope Adler doesn't get bent out of shape over this."
"We do make a good team," Henry observed, smile broadening.
"I agree," Lindsay replied, "Even if you do tend to make things up on the fly."
"Hey, in the Rhodesian Army, especially on fireforce missions one didn't always have the time for detailed and deliberate planning," Henry replied.
"Fireforce?" Lindsay asked.
"Oh, those would be stints where we'd be posted at an airbase of some kind and when patrols ran across terrs we'd get on planes and parachute into the combat zone," Henry replied, "We learned to embrace the chaos and…"
"YAGGHH!"
"Speaking of chaos," Lindsay groaned, as they both heard the sound of a muffled scream coming from the front of the house.
"I wonder what Jumba's invented this time?" Henry replied.
"What makes you so sure Jumba is responsible for this one?" Lindsay asked as they both headed for the front door.
Henry flung the door open just in time to see David Kawena staggering around the lawn with an eight legged arachnid with a tail clinging to his face.
"HAHA!" Jumba called out as he ran down the stairs, "The Facehugger mine is a success!"
"The what?" Henry asked.
"The Facehugger mine," Jumba said, as he stepped out onto the porch with Henry and Lindsay.
"I'm almost afraid to ask this, but what's a Facehugger mine?" Henry asked.
"Oh, very simple, I actually have one here," Jumba said as he held up a plastic cylinder with a two foot long wire that ended in a small, thumb sized cylinder topped with three tiny prongs.
"You bury mine in the ground with the wire and the little prongs sticking out. Then if someone steps on prongs out pops Facehugger that grabs intruder's face and holds on," Jumba replied, "I am genius! HAHA!"
"You are something, I'll grant you that," Henry commented.
"Jumba, first off, how do we get this thing off of David's face? Ideally before Nani has a conniption," Lindsay interjected.
"It automatically detaches from face of victim when victim is unconscious," Jumba said, "Which should happen around now with the Facehugger's built in tail taser."
"You did not just use the words tail and taser in the same sentence, did you?" Lindsay asked.
"Perhaps other big girl needs to have her hearing checked," Jumba said, puzzled.
"Clearly sarcasm is a foreign language to you," Lindsay replied.
True to form the Facehugger zapped David, who fell onto the grass unconscious before the Facehugger scurried a few feet away and flopped over onto it's back where its legs and tails curled inward.
"Now all it needs is recharge and it can be put back into the mine," Jumba said.
"Let me guess, Jumba, you were inspired to create this by a couple 80s era science fiction films, right?" Lindsay said.
"Yes, little girl and I watched four movies about thing called Xenomorph," Jumba replied.
"And you didn't happen to watch another movie involving a little blonde haired kid and two burglars, did you?" Lindsay added.
"Yes," Jumba said, "Did you become psychic?"
"No," Lindsay replied, "It was just a good old fashioned bit of guess work and the stack of DVDs rented from the Blockbuster down the street next to the TV."
"Hey Home Alone and Home Alone 2 are classics," Jumba said.
"I'm expecting paint cans suspending from the ceiling to come swinging down any moment…" Lindsay said as she and Henry stepped outside to help David.
"That's a good idea actually," Jumba said.
"Don't encourage him, Henry," Lindsay interjected.
"By the way Jumba, how many Facehugger mines did you plant?" Henry asked.
"Only one or two…" Jumba replied.
"That's not quite good defense in depth," Henry began.
Lindsay admonished, "Quit encouraging him!"
"...one or two dozen," Jumba finished.
"Oh, better," Henry replied before Lindsay elbowed him in the ribs.
"You've officially gone native," Lindsay said as they went to help David, "And you might be opening Pandora's box by teaching Jumba military defensive measures involving his inventions."
"Well, we do have Cobra poking around here," Henry said, "It's best that the Pelekai household be able to protect itself."
"I see your point, warped as it is," Lindsay countered.
"Oh, and I don't think that Pandora's box was opened by that comment," Henry replied.
"Ok, smart guy, how do you think Pandora's box got opened at the Pelekai household," Lindsay replied.
"Easy, when Jumba got his Blockbuster Video membership card," Henry remarked with a wry smil.
"I get the scary feeling your ideas are going to make my reports back to headquarters very interesting reading," Lindsay replied as they walked out to the lawn. Hopefully Adler doesn't have me committed to the mental institution because of them.
"Oooh...what happened," David groaned as he sat up, noticing Lindsay and Henry standing over him.
"You inadvertently tripped one of Jumba's inventions," Henry replied, pointing to the curled up Facehugger on its back in the lawn.
"Someone definitely ought to cut up Jumba's Blockbuster video card," Lindsay added.
"I'll help," David offered, "if it reduces the number of insane inventions he comes up with."
"Something tells me that wouldn't work," Henry replied.
"Nailing the door to his workshop shut would, however," Lindsay added.
"Count me in," David said.
Cobra Safehouse
June 8, 2003,1930
Kokaua Town, HI
United States
"We must assault the Four Eyed Giant's fortress immediately!" Gnomekop said, for fifth time in the past hour.
"We have to be a lot more deliberate about what we're doing!" Firefly snapped angrily, "Especially because we got compromised."
"Turbo Troll was near! Gnomekop had to destroy him!" Gnomekop replied.
"Gnomekop should've waited till he had to opportune advantage!" Firefly snapped.
"Turbo Troll has to be destroyed!" Gnomekop replied, "He is the scourge of the elven realm!"
"Well now that Four Eyed Giant and his minions know we're here!" Firefly shouted.
"Gentlemen," the Baroness replied, "Stop bickering, we've got a mission to accomplish. Now, Firefly, from the sketches and photos you were able to make, it looks like the woods are the best way to sneak up to the house. But we will need a distraction."
"Gnomekop will attack the Four Eyed Giant's fortress," Gnomekop declared.
"Good," Baroness said, "Then bring Turbo Troll here so he can face justice."
"Gnomekop will sortee out to!" Gnomekop ran out of the house.
Firefly groaned, "I'm going to kill him…"
"We can use that to our advantage," the Baroness said, "If he distracts the Pelekais long enough then we can steal more technology from Jumba's lab."
"If is good," Firefly nodded as he and the Baroness left the house, getting ready to sneak towards the Pelekai household…
To Be Continued…