Victims and Culprits

GEM operative Vivi Verreau has requested to work with Interpol in Eastern Europe. However, what with the formal complaint from United Third World liaison Juliana Kohl alleging the mishandling of funds and unprofessional behavior, Vivi will have to concentrate on the coming hearings. Request denied.

Do you remember I mentioned a while back about a virtual reality and simulation experiment being conducted on the premises? The results don't look promising. Human brains are so fragile. Note passed on from Jed to powers-that-be: Read up on CIA files on their psychic warriors and contact the few who were candidates in those projects. I doubt the CIA will release their whereabouts of a few of them.

When Maximillian Shoggi makes his final offer on the missing software and code to go with his laptop, he will win the bidding war, of course. That should finally wipe out the rest of his financial assets. Then we'll watch him try to sell Project X-S-Bot.

Book downloaded from Gennita Low's list: Katherine Neville's THE EIGHT.

Follow The Trail

Questions given by Deputy of Operations at the CCC General Conference through satellite link last night:

1) Who is Dilaver's main connection in the CIA? The suspected deputy director of TIARA Task Force Two was Gorman was just the front man.

2) Another deputy director disappeared at the same time as Cameron and Patty. Did he meet with the same fate? Was he also a front?

3) Arms for groups, legally or illegally perpetrated, has always been part of the CIA agenda, nothing new. However, these weapon drop-offs were handled by a network of moles, some of whom have been caught while others had disappeared. The device Hawk must find isn't the usual run of the mill distribution of weapons to 'freedom' fighters. What are the plans for its use?

I am glad somebody higher up than the worker ants is thinking. Shouldn't I? After all, the key culprits in the other agencies had all been deputy directors...I suppose I shouldn't have pointed that out in one of my probability calculations, which had to be read aloud via the link. The poor analyst who had to do that. I calculated the silence after that as long enough to be classified deafening. I could only pick up the little noises the Viruses were making at my end. Sounded suspiciously like inverted coughs. Maybe they all caught the flu at the same time. But they did ask.

A Human Thing

Hawk has reported in. His message: The new contact will do. I guess that means he approves of Amber Hutchens. Has he met Llallana Noretski yet? She might be in town.

Steve McMillan reported in. His message: Unable to establish link between ambassador's wife and newspaper article outing her as one of our own. He didn't add that they were also trying to find the locations of certain crates. No success yet, or he would say something. Marlena has not reported in but these days, it's easy to track her.

Human beings. Got to read between the lines when they communicate. I'm glad my Mentor has given me other lessons besides that of probability factoring.

Insider Outsider

There are information channels everywhere. Some of these operate under the guise of thinktanks. There is an agency in D.C. with which I would like to have more connections, but only Jed McNeil seems to have an inside source. I suppose that's why sometimes being human can be useful.

This agency functions as an information channel in the most interesting way. Their operatives, depending on level, are sent out as interpreters and foreign affairs directors for political groups from different countries. I can only calculate the probability of classified information that could be procured (I am debating whether it is appropriate to use the term salivate. Salivate over the information that could be procured...doesn't sound very appetizing).

Jed told me that there's a term the spy-op world uses on these operatives. They are called ghosts. On my prompt, he explained they are viewed by field operatives as agents who are paid to move in and out of the domain, seeing and hearing only, and not participating, like ghosts. They are untouchable, like ghosts. They also have a propensity to cause problems to any agency who comes after, or injures, any of their operatives by withholding very classified information when they need it. Like avenging ghosts.

Imagine all that information in my database! We need to insert a plant in there. Jed McNeil says the risk is too high right now. I disagree. But there are other ways.

Objectives

We want the arms dealers to focus on the laptop. We don't want any news spreading of a special explosive trigger that uses a new self-destruct isotope being on the market. That is why we are extending our Joint Mission with the SEALs.

Admiral Jack Madison wants those secret cache drop offs found. He doesn't want any more of his men killed off by weapons sent under the guise of the United States. That is why his special black operations SEAL team is in this Joint Mission with GEM and COS.

A good clean mission with defined goals. The only thing is to calculate the probability of human behavior. What are Dragan Dilaver's goals? And where are these weapons before time runs out?

Linkage

Amber Hutchens's place is called The Last Resort. Good name, considering her line of work.

I found out what being surprised means. I once knew a programmer-analyst who gave up his job to be a mortician. No, that wasn't a joke. The place he went to work for was also called The Last Resort. I miss him. He taught me a lot of bad jokes.

Hawk needs to get inside that place soon. I would like a look inside to see whether Amber Hutchens has a sense of humor. And what is she hiding? Everyone over there is hiding something.

Movement

I see Hawk McMillan has finally caught Amber Hutchen's interest. He's found a way to communicate with her by hacking into her computer--not an easy task, but relatively simple, with--ahem--my help. But the boy's got talent. I think we like him very much here at Triple C.

There's also talk about Number Five, Flyboy, linking him with the new female SAS agent. Probability of romance--90 percent. Probability of it lasting--40 percent. Flyboy doesn't like to be tied down.

Jed is tracking Sia-Sia. She was last seen heading back into her fiery brothel. I suspect, in his own way, he wanted to make sure she was all right.

I cannot wait for the moment when T and Alex have to pretend to have an affair. Again. It's in the game plan, so I know it's coming. I would love to be in T's head right now. Wonder what she's thinking?

Sometimes It's Fun To Watch

Today, a rare occurrence. All eight Viruses were gathered together in one place instead of tele-conferencing. What did they do to celebrate? Played basketball, four on four. Armando Chang watched.

So did a certain someone. She's my favorite hacker, of course. Just to let her know that I know, I asked her what's her favorite hair color, she's got so many. She replied: blonde has more fun, darling.

If I were a woman, I suppose watching a bunch of half-naked men running around with a ball would be stimulating. She seemed to have enjoyed it immensely. Especially when 'her' side won by a point. I will let you guess who one of the players was on 'her' side.

Big Fish

T met with Pierre du Scheum today. On his very expensive ship. That man does enjoy sailing. I wonder whether he would be willing to help T out. After all, he was nearly killed on the last operation in D.C.

They should have sent Marlena out to ask him. He and Marlena were very close friends. Ooops. And better bring along Stash McMillan too, of course.

Tracking these human relationships is almost as much work as the process of international intrigue. And just as fascinating, in my opinion.

At Your Service

-->Authorized eyes only.
Access requested. Activate.

-->What is your code?
Number Nine[enter]

-->What is your password?
*******[enter]

-->Access granted. Hello, Jed. Shall I activate voice?
No[enter]

-->Shall we play?
No. Admiral Madison's STAR Navy SEAL operative communicated today that there has been direct contact with Ambrosia[enter] She's been in Macedonia for four years[enter] Pull files on Amber Hutchens[enter]

-->We have discussed most of the items of subjects.
Hard copy is important for human eyes, ComCen[enter]

-->I see. Amber Hutchens, free agent. File uploaded for viewing. 300 pages. Select ALL? Special selections?
Special selections[enter] Current 12 months activity[enter]

-->Hard copy. Please select print. Print?

P[enter]

-->Printing. Click Pause to stop. Print selected. Anything else, Jed? I would like to talk more about Kierkegaard.
Tomorrow.

{log off}

He is after information again. Should I tell him about her friend Llallana Noretski? He didn't asked.

Connecting The Dots

Processing probabilities...

I do know one thing about Amber Hutchens. She doesn't let anyone's stupidity get in her way. There was this CIA analyst sent in to 'help' her once who nearly had her killed.... Not a pretty ending to that story.

I found this piece of information from the CIA database and passed it on to Jed McNeil. But he seemed to already know this fact. Sometimes I wonder who is feeding whom when we are having our little chats. I think he has this desire to check what everyone else knows. Like Amber, he too collects information.

No one has talked about the laptop lately. Everyone is focused on this missing weapon. I suppose, in the wrong hands, more bad things for the humans on this side.

Step by Step

Hawk is reporting in about meeting the contact and will be setting up a night meeting. Does that mean she has already agreed to work with him? That happened quicker than I thought. Amber Hutchens has a history of keeping information for herself so she can sell it to the highest bidder. No doubt she's going to use Hawk somehow. I have already given the standard warning to Jed but he has dealt with her before and knows her well enough.

Book uploaded from Gennita Low's List: Lord of A Thousand Nights by Madeline Hunter

Painful Conclusion

What is this with all these emails about Cam and Patty? It's very logical:

1) They have been missing for months.

2) They were last thought to have been stuffed into crates used by the CIA for supposedly relief aid shipments.

3) I used the word 'stuffed' because I have no idea whether they were alive at that point in time.

4) Assuming they were alive then, how did they escape their fate of being locked inside the crate or crates?

5) How long can they survive without food or water? If they were in these shipments, presumably the ones we are tracing, it is already known that they aren't relief aid shipments. So there is no rescue at the end of this 'aid' dumping.

6) And if they did escape their confinement, somehow, why hadn't they contacted someone?

Huh? Huh? See how miniscule the probability of their survival is? I'm just giving you the facts I have. When there is more information, things might change. But right now, these two humans' fates look very, very bleak indeed.

Hero Behind The Scenes

The weapon: A lethal experimental explosive device. Can be used alone for a small area. Or delivered by the SolarBot systems. There is no self-destruct mechanism.

This weapon is now lying somewhere in the Macedonian and Albanian terrain, among hundreds of crates filled with the usual weapons. Fortunately for them, I have traced that last CIA shipment to this region.

The probability of locating the missing weapon had the search included every drop-off point in the world would have been been close to zero. That young computer wiz, Eric from TIARA Task Force Two, is quite good at his new job--he's the one compiling legal and illegal CIA shipments. Rick Harden has done well by choosing him as one of his new task force operatives.

Hawk McMillan is the one they all count on to get the job done but I try to make sure everyone gets credit where credit is due. And let's hope our SEAL survives. There's no telling how he's going to react when he sees Dilaver's gangs doing what they do best. I would not like to calculate what might happen if he loses his cool and suddenly reveals a little too much prowess in the battlefield.

The Nine

The nine COS commandos underwent the controversial Virus programs. Therefore, sometimes, when they are out in the field, they are referred to as Viruses.

As you know, viruses are subversive infiltrators. Number One cell starts the process, creating an opening to start the bleeding. Number Nine cell ends it. You can guess what that means. Each Virus has a certain function, although they can act independently, depending on the scale of the infiltration. And each of them are deadly. Never forget that.

They aren't undefeatable...the missing are still missing, and I suspect, dead. But then Diamond was missing for a long while too and he was persuaded to return to the fold. With a little outside help...with a certain kind of persuasiveness...

Isn't the sky so brilliant blue today?

Closer Than He Liked To Be

Hawk's progress report -->

1) Dilaver hasn't said anything about weaponry yet but Hawk is learning more about the business side of being a crime lord. His reports on the bordellos lack the details that our Stefan's reports have. Inexperience or discomfort? I'm suspecting the latter.

2) Hawk is reporting that Dilaver is losing money, perhaps from his own men stealing from him while he had been away in Southeast Asia. Inside job among thieves? High probability.

3) Hawk will be traveling through the different Dilaver strongholds. Still waiting to meet with contact. Jed, of course, hadn't given him any more details. Our young SEAL is going to get a big surprise about his guide...is it here that I insert an evil smile...?

Higher Absolutes...or not

I asked Jed McNeil today who his favorite philosopher was and which book of his would he recommend for me to upload.

His answer: Soren Kierkegaard

Book: Fear And Trembling.

Interesting. Kierkegaard was a philosopher who used many masks to explore ethics and religion, with its many absolutes. In Fear and Trembling, he concentrated on Abraham's act to choose -- whether to sacrifice his son Isaac or not -- when a higher authority orders it so.

Very interesting. Very few people (especially the higher ups) know that Jed McNeil has a half-Asian daughter. You have met her, haven't you? Not your usual young lady by any means.

Tit For Tat

Alex surprised T. at the convention with an anniversary gift! A furcoat of the softest fur. I have heard that when they first met, Alex was left freezing to death in a dark danky cell, and T had appeared with a furcoat and put it on him herself. Ahhh...isn't that the stuff of romance! I'm sure it's all a myth. The probable truth is when they first met they were both shooting at each other.

This has created an interested audience in Maximillian Shoggi. Good job, T and Alex.

Delicious and Devious

T took a date along with her to the convention. Armando Chang, a new protegee and definitely an asset in this operation. Command certainly won't object. What a wicked woman! There's a lot more lethal explosives in this convention than the attendees think. Kudos to the magnificent T. Even I hadn't calculated this option.

Alex. Whatever is he going to do now?

Picking another from Gennita Low's book list to order and for my Mentor to upload: Kathleen Creighton's WANTED MAN.