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.....