Day Four

Woke up bright and early this morning to get a jump on what Ping was up to. Took my portable monitor and went to a hillside overlooking his mansion, so as not to be caught unawares again. Arrived at a really nice spot in the bushes, just as Ping called some official-looking guy into his office. They were discussing the drop! Fortunately, one of my bugs was close enough to catch every detail, as they outlined their plans to meet their buyer at a secluded airstrip that very night!

As I listened, I punched all of the neccessary buttons to send the feed directly to HQ, so they would be informed. I hung out a bit longer to make sure I had everything, then went back to the safe house to make advance preparations to raid the drop that night.

Okay, "advance preparations" don't mean the same thing to me as they do to everyone else. I mean, I'd been ready for this moment for quite a while now, it was the whole reason I'd come, and it's a pretty poor agent who isn't ready for anything at a moment's notice. So for me, when I say "advance preparations," I mean I took a nap.

The second part of my advance preparations is, of course, eating. I can't very well bust a major international gun runner on an empty stomach, now can I? Well, I COULD, but I'm grouchy when I'm hungry, and the last six guys I busted while hungry couldn't testify until after their physical therapy. Except for the one guy, he never came out of his coma. The suits at HQ were a little annoyed about that one.

Anyhow, I'd had my beauty sleep, I'd had my dinner, I was all set! I changed into my black bodysuit, stashed weapons all over my person, grabbed my camera and my personal GPS tracking device, and headed out into the night.

The airstrip wasn't hard to find. I'd seen it earlier in the week, on my morning 20-mile runs. It's basically a bald patch in the jungle. I set up on the perimeter and prepared to photograph everyone that showed up at this little party.

I'm not saying I made a mistake. Experienced agents like myself don't make mistakes. All I'm saying is I failed to adequately examine the evidence I had been presented with in the past couple of days. So what if I didn't realize it was an ambush until ten guys jumped me from behind and took turns hitting me in the head? I recovered!

I had about 6 of the goons down and was working on the last 4 when Ping showed up. I paused politely so he could get his obligatory "recital of the evil plan" out of the way. But he didn't really have much to say, only that they had some guy on the inside of The Agency that had allowed them this chance to capture me, The Agency's finest agent.

I think it was the fine flattery that made me let him live. Well, and the fact that my bosses kind of wanted him alive. So, I only broke one of his legs, and a rib, finished off the rest of his henchmen, and called it a night.

Anyhow, I've got an early flight to catch tomorrow, and a safe house to sterilize of all traces of my presence, so I'd better get started. Good thing I had a nap today!

Until next time.....

Day Three

The day started out so well. I awoke refreshed and ready to face the day. I did my morning work-out routine while watching the video feeds from Ping's place. I showered, sharpened my knives, and painted my nails, all while watching Ping. I made peace with the landlord by giving him some cookies I'd bought at the bakery.

And then, it happened. Ping had a visitor interrupt him when he was just about to beat Level 9 of "Killer Death Commandoes of Blood" (I don't play that game, it's not graphic enough). Anyhow, the visitor took him aside, whispered something in his ear that was too low for my mics to pick up, then the two of them hurriedly left. I watched where they were going on the monitors, ran out of the safehouse and down three blocks to where Ping's street meets town, but there was no sign of them. I totally lost him, and even when I got out my portable monitor and hunkered down in the bushes, there was no sign of him for 5 hours.

When he finally got back, he did something very odd. I don't know what exactly he said, but the next thing I know, every one of his servants is cleaning the house REALLY thoroughly. I mean, they are dusting the BACKS of every painting! This can mean only one thing.

He's on to me.

I don't think they found any of my equipment, I was the top in my class at concealing technology. I can't be sure, it's hard to watch the feeds from 29 different cameras all at once. But I'm still getting a signal from everything, so I think I'm in the clear.

Plus, Ping called in the guy who visited him earlier, and had him shot. So, I guess he thinks the guy was a liar.

So, it all turned out okay, but I'm not looking forward to telling HQ that I lost Ping for 5 hours. He could have been doing anything in that time! I'll have to go over there tonight and bug the cars. I would have done it before, but Ping wasn't home at the time.

As punishment tonight, I made myself do twice the number of pushups, only without using my hands. I had soup for dinner, my tongue was kind of swollen. Then I took out my frustration on my "Whistler's Mother" protrait. Since the bullet holes had already weakened the wall, it was child's play to knock it down with my bare hands (and feet). Also, very therapeutic.

Well, I'm all worn out, and I'm not sure the soup agreed with me, so I'm going to turn in for the night.

Until next time.....

Day Two

I always hate it when I wake up to the sound of my silent alarm! Some people would argue that silent alarms don't make noise, but mine does. Well, it's not an alarm so much as a booby trap. And the trap itself operates silently, usually all of the noise is coming from whatever idiot has gotten himself into it. Anyhow, screams of pain aren't the best thing to wake up to in the morning. I guess my landlord won't be as nosey in the future.

Today was "Electronic Surveillance Day". I put taps on all of Ping's phones, bugged his entire property, and set up a few surveillance cameras. It wasn't too hard, only half of his security staff was home, the rest were off making advance preparations for some big meeting I'll probably have to check on. So, anyhow, there were just the ten thugs with guns, and the 20-or-so housekeeping/groundskeeping staff. Pretty easy to sneak around them.

I set up the broadcast antenna, then headed back to the safe house to set up my computers and monitor the action. It was a pretty slow day for the bad guys, Ping mostly practiced his putting in his office all day.

I ordered out again for lunch, but decided to do some of my own cooking for dinner. The place came with a barbeque, so I got a chicken, had fun practicing my survival skills by skinning and gutting it while blindfolded, then headed out back to the barbeque. Which collapsed into a pile of rust as soon as I looked at it. Fortunately, I brought my flamethrower.

I wound down the evening by working on my aim with a blowgun. The annoying neighborhood kids that had been running around screaming in the streets all day suddenly got very sleepy. But I watered down the drug on the darts, they'll wake up in a few hours.

Well, I'd love to talk more, but it's time for me to clean my weapons. And considering how many I have, it could take a while. Maybe I'll just do the guns tonight, and save the bazookas and so forth for later.

Until next time.....

Day One

Woke up and ate a glorious breakfast of local cuisine. When there's that much sauce on it, you hardly notice that you're eating rat! Then I got my morning calisthenics out of the way, re-set the timer on the auto-destruct mechanism for the safe house, and set out to find the suspect I'd been sent to investigate.

It wasn't hard to find him. His name is Li Ping, and he runs a pogo stick factory. Kind of an odd business to run in this area of the country, but I guess he does okay for himself. Of course, I think the gun-running he's suspected of might have helped him buy the mansion. The pogo business probably isn't even enough to pay for the fuel for his helicopter.

I spent most of the day watching his place, figuring out points of entry, making note of security, sneaking food from the kitchen, etc. Typical stuff. I took some photos. The view was breathtaking. I remembered to get the mansion in a few of the shots.

I hung around until dinner time, then I figured I'd been bored out of my skull enough for one day. Stopped at a little restaurant on the way home and got some chicken fried rice. Pretty good! I was eating it as I was walking, so I was pretty upset when the muggers made me drop it. Of course, once the food is ruined, there's no point in keeping the chopsticks clean. Two muggers, two chopsticks - really wasn't that complicated. I have to laugh at their injuries - their matching eye patches will make them look like twins!

Anyhow, after I got some more food, I went back to the safe house, made my report to HQ, and spent some more quality time with the various weapons I'd brought with me. I practiced my knife-throwing this time. I'm happy to report, there are no more flies in the house!

Well, it's getting late, so I'd better go to bed.

Until next time......