Guns for Hire - Script Sixty Four
Uzzit Farm (AKA Wildgoose Sanctuary) Mariposa 11.52am 18/11/17
Just under an hour after Lynch had departed Mariposa Vrasten's phone rang, number withheld, answering the call, half hoping it was a certain young forensics technician, he was disappointed to hear Lynch's dulcet tones,
"You'll
receive a package by courier on Monday morning; your flight will go out of Beale
Air Force Base at Marysville under the auspices of a US military aid flight
to Cesáreo L.Berisso International Airport at Carrasco. All you are required
to do is attend Beale AFB with proof of ID, all other arrangements will be in
hand, so, how soon can you be there baring in mind I need a minimum 12 hour
notice period."
Vrasten slipped his hand over the phone & mouthed Lynch's name to T-Bird & Alex,
"He wants to know when we can role"
A few seconds later he spoke again to Lynch,
"How about Wednesday ?"
Lynch paused for a moment possibly whilst he spoke to somebody else,
"Fine, if that's the best you can manage it'll have to do, let's hope nobody else is in the market for a road trip, 8.00am Wednesday OK, please do not be late"
Whilst Alex & Vrasten put their heads together on best how best to go about this T-Bird surreptitiously ran a search on the Internet for brothels in Mariposa, pleasingly he found two state licensed establishments, all he had to do now was work out how to sample their wares without Alex cottoning on to it.
Uzzit Farm (AKA Wildgoose Sanctuary) Mariposa 12.13pm 18/11/17
As Elodia started to prepare the evenings extravaganza T-Bird made plans to slope of for the night however the Ortega girls but a damper on things when they reminded honorary Uncle T-Bird that he'd promised to take them camping in his new van, smiling outwardly & feeling slightly guilty he turned to Elodia half hoping she'd kibosh the camping trip as she'd be wanting the girls to about when Vrasten's new lady came to tea. Unfortunately for T-Bird she thought the camping was a good idea, not to be totally thwarted T-Bird announced he wanted to pop into Mariposa for a few things so he'd be back around three o'clock for the girls.
Alex watched as T-Bird left the house, she new he was up to something but wasn't sure what.
Uzzit Farm (AKA Wildgoose Sanctuary) Mariposa 12.31pm 18/11/17
Around lunch time Vrasten took a call from Miranda Fox to say she was on route & was looking forward to seeing him again.
Uzzit Farm (AKA Wildgoose Sanctuary) Mariposa 12.33pm 18/11/17
As
Alex & Vrasten continued to discuss matters it became clear that when it came
to using computers they were to put it mildly a tad dumb, like most people they
could run a library search but what they really wanted to do was hack into any
public access CCTV security systems in San José de Mayo or anywhere else for
that matter & run the KDE face recognition software they had, eventually Vrasten
put a call into Dolarhyde at the Hope.
Vrasten explained to Dolarhyde what they were after, William promised to make some inquiries & get back to him, whilst he was on the phone he put an order in for a couple of cases of darts for the Avante needle guns they'd picked up along the way, again Dolarhyde said he'd sort it & call back.
Uzzit Farm (AKA Wildgoose Sanctuary) Mariposa 1.36pm 18/11/17
Twenty minutes or so after she was expected a flustered & apologetic Miss Fox called Vrasten to say she couldn't find the drive to the ranch, Vrasten immediately headed off to find her.
Uzzit Farm (AKA Wildgoose Sanctuary) Mariposa 2.17pm 18/11/17
Eventually Vrasten found his fuck buddy & escorted her back, after the introductions were over Alex made herself scarce & left the love birds to play house.
Uzzit Farm (AKA Wildgoose Sanctuary) Mariposa 3.02pm 18/11/17
T-Bird
arrived back at around three o'clock as promised laden with supplies for a night
with the girls & having checked out the establishment addresses he'd found online.
Camper-van packed & with the girls in tow he headed off promising Elodia he
wouldn't go far, probably staying within the confines of the ranches boundary.
Vrasten, as happy as he'd been in a long time, saddled up a couple of the ranches resident horses & took Miss Fox on a tour of the ranch.
Uzzit Farm (AKA Wildgoose Sanctuary) Mariposa 4.29pm 18/11/17
Alex meantime had kept herself busy trawling the social as well as any public access professional networks she could view looking for any trace of Dr Gopala Satish, it had taken several hours but by the end of it she was pretty convinced he'd fallen of the edge of the world. Like a lot of people he'd been reasonably active online but it seemed that he'd virtually ceased to exist after he transferred to the research facility at JSBFS. Post destruction of the facility & the release of the Kaiju he'd completely gone to ground to the extent that former contacts & friends had presumed his demise.
On the off chance Alex ran a search of the the hospitals in San José de Mayo, there were two, the Hospital San José de Mayo & the Sanatorio de la Asociación Médica, with the pages translated Alex searched as best as he could for listed doctors, unsurprisingly Satish didn't get a mention.
Uzzit Farm (AKA Wildgoose Sanctuary) Mariposa 11.16am 19/11/17
The
following morning Vrasten rose late & left Miranda asleep in a tangle of
sheets & went in search of coffee. Gingerly he slipped on his trousers grimacing
at the pain in his arse from yesterdays horse ride, he'd picked up the basics
since moving onto the ranch but he was by no means an accomplished equestrian
as his sore arse was testament to, a night in the sack with the delectable Miss
Fox hadn't helped.
When Vrasten finally made it down stairs he saw that T-Bird & the girls were already home & Skinpin was being updated by Alex as to what was in hand, grinning like a kid in a sweet shop he grabbed a fresh pot of coffee & headed back upstairs.
Uzzit Farm (AKA Wildgoose Sanctuary) Mariposa 2.48pm 19/11/17
Miranda Fox kissed Vrasten good bye & headed off back to Night City mid afternoon but not before she'd made sure Vrasten was going to phone her during the week.
As they'd lain in bed earlier she'd tentatively quizzed Vrasten over what he was up to these days, assuming he was in private security or investigations, Vrasten had shrugged the question off with as little said as he could suggesting that yeah it was something like that, he'd then done his best to divert Miranda away from this line of questioning with some success albeit at the expense of several silk ties.
Uzzit Farm (AKA Wildgoose Sanctuary) Mariposa 8.49pm 19/11/17
Late in the evening T-Bird slipped out muttering something about needing some air, outside he fired up the camper-van & headed for town a roll of dollars in his pocket, it was after midnight when he got back to the ranch, somewhat poorer but evidently pleased with himself.
Uzzit Farm (AKA Wildgoose Sanctuary) Mariposa 7.34am 20/11/17
As promised by William Dolarhyde a courier arrived promptly on Monday morning, the package was signed for by Hercaclio as nobody else was about, later in the morning Vrasten checked out the box's contents confirming it was four boxes of darts, two simple knock out shots & two something far more lethal.
Later that afternoon a plain envelope was dropped of by a second unmarked courier, inside was a single image of Dr Gopala Satish stood outside the main entrance to the Sanatorio de la Asociación Médica, on the back was a hand scrawled date, 29/10/17.
Uzzit Farm (AKA Wildgoose Sanctuary) Mariposa 11.24am 21/11/17
Killing time whilst they waited for Wednesday's departure to roll round Vrasten along with the others were giving Hercaclio & the hired handsany help they could with various jobs around the ranch as well as going over the figures Walter Deutch, the ranches accountant & money launderer when Vrasten's phone rang, it was William Dolarhyde,
"Afternoon Vrasten, you good to talk, yeah, OK then. I've had one of our resident geeks run over what you wanted, you still want this I'm assuming, he tells me at this short notice he can't give you exactly what you wanted, not without boosting whatever kit you'd be running it from anyway plus giving you the rundown how it works, the good news is though that he can run it from his desk & drop you a slave so you can simply hit the app to view whatever he's managed to hack in to, how's that figure for you ?"
Vrasten reckoned it was a pretty good compromise & agreed to go with it to the tune of $8K, Dolarhyde reckoned it would be in place by Thursday, Friday at the latest.
Uzzit Farm (AKA Wildgoose Sanctuary) Mariposa 3.51am 22/11/17
Having informed Hercaclio the night before that they'd be away for a couple of days, a week maybe at most they headed off, Vrasten at the wheel of the Ford Madison.
T-Bird called shotgun.
Beale USAF Base, Marysville, California 7.56am 22/11/17
As instructed by Lynch they presented themselves at Beale Air Force base checkpoint at 8.00am with nothing other than civilian proof of ID, it seemed they were expected.
Pulling up in front of the security station, the largest of five entrances to the base, they joined a line of various vehicles on the morning shift, most seemed to be civilian contractors although there were a few in fatigues. Vrasten had run a search on Beale the evening before, it appeared to be the center of operations for the USAF's 9th Reconnaissance Wing who's principle roll was intelligence, no surprise then that the CIA were running covert op's out of the place.
Eventually they made it to the front of the queue, Vrasten rolled down the drivers side window & smiled,
"Vrasten Nordskov reporting for duty I think"
Unceremoniously the unsmiling guardian of the free world checked down a list of names until he found what he was looking for, similarly he checked of T-Bird, Alex & Skinpin before asking Vrasten to pull the vehicle to one side & open the trunk.
Efficiently the corporal checked the trunks contents whilst his colleague ran a camera search of the vehicles undercarriage, Vrasten did wonder what the fuck the trunk inspection was all about as the corporal simply ignored the the collection of small arms it contained, satisfied with what he'd seen he gave Vrasten directions where to go & suggested he didn't get lost or make any detours as if he wasn't where he was meant to be in ten minutes then figuratively speaking the dogs would be released.
Acknowledging the corporals sentiment Vrasten didn't make any detours & amazingly didn't get lost.
Beale USAF Base, Marysville, California 8.19am 22/11/17
Pulling into parking lot East 4 Vrasten was flagged down by an armed grunt who pointed towards a waiting jeep,
"Please follow the jeep sir"
As the jeep pulled out of the parking lot the grunt climbed into the passenger sheet & nodded to the driver to proceed.
Eleven minutes later the jeep swung off the road & headed across a vast area of concrete hard standing before entering the shadowed interior of a hanger marked in large letters West 27B, Vrasten slowed & followed the escort inside.
Beale USAF Base, Marysville, California 8.19am 22/11/17
Inside
the cavernous hanger was a single aircraft, a RC-130S along with a number of
trucks off loading crates ready to go into the aircraft's hold.
Stood waiting under the nose of the plane was the aircraft's unsmiling crew.
Beale USAF Base, Marysville, California 8.27am 22/11/17
Without any introduction the accompanying jeep & its occupants simply turned about & departed the hanger although Alex's offer of a tip for their helpfulness did raise a smile.
Vrasten, Alex, T-Bird & Skinpin slightly awkwardly removed their kit from the trunk of the Madison under the silently watchful eye of the flight crew & waited for instruction, after what seemed like forever the aircraft's captain cleared his throat & spoke, it was self evident from his tone that if he had any choice in the matter he wouldn't let what he assumed to be CIA field operatives anywhere near his precious plane.
Curtly, the captain, Mulligan as he reluctantly communicated, suggested the four stow their kit in the hold & then amuse themselves with what ever they felt appropriate as the flight would not be departing until zero nine fifty Juliet, when he saw Vrasten looking back at the Madison he suggested they move it to one side where he was sure it would be left alone until whenever or if ever they returned to Beale to collect it.
Finally & dismissively Mulligan confirmed they would be landing at Carrasco International Airport, a flight of approximately seventeen hours duration, it was anticipated therefore that they would arrive at approximately ten hundred hours Juliet the following day.
With that Captain Mulligan turned away & returned to the flight deck thus negating any further need to talk to the men from the CIA, apologetically his two flight officers shrugged & pointed out the coffee machine & rest room as well as the half basket ball court & football on the other side of the hanger before returning to overseeing the loading of the hold.
"I could get used to this" suggested Vrasten
Beale USAF Base, Marysville, California 9.12am 22/11/17
Whilst Vrasten & Skinpin were going one on one T-Bird sidled up to Alex & revealed himself,
"Alex, you and me babe, how 'bout it?"
Carelessly Alex looked T-Bird up & down, "What're you got in your pockets, anything precious ?"
T-Bird dug deep & produced a roll of $500
Alex eyed the bank roll & put her out, "Give it here & we'll see what happens"
For a second T-Bird hesitated before stuffing the roll back in his pocket, as he walked away Alex could here him muttering, "Not fucking likely, I can see the future"
Beale USAF Base, Marysville, California 9.48am 22/11/17
At the appointed hour the RC-130S taxied out of the hanger, from the way it bypassed a number of waiting departures it was pretty clear it had priority clearance.
Aeropuerto Internacional de Carrasco, Canelones, Uruguay 10.09am 23/11/17
True to his promise the flight dropped towards runway 06/24 some seventeen hours after leaving Beale AFB the previous morning, on touch down it was directed to the facilities utilised by the Uruguayan Air Force, Air Brigade 1.
As they waited for the tail to drop T-Bird pondered on his conversation of yesterday with Alex, unsure where he stood, it had been a tedious flight & mainly they'd tried to sleep as Mulligan had seemed to go as much out of his way as he could to be non cooperative but at least the coffee had been hot.
Aeropuerto Internacional de Carrasco, Canelones, Uruguay 10.09am 23/11/17
On the deck, Teodozji Bembeneck, the flights navigator, confirmed that transport to the civilian terminal had been arranged but that it would conveniently drop them off beyond customs & immigration so their was no issue with the weaponry they'd brought along, well no issue if you ignored the fact that they were effectively here illegally carrying military spec weapons.
Finally he handed over a telephone number scrawled on ragged beer coaster suggesting they try & give at least 12 hours notice of their return & wished them good luck.
Aeropuerto Internacional de Carrasco, Canelones, Uruguay 11.13am 23/11/17
An hour later they were stood outside of the AVIS office's waiting for a runabout to be dropped of with them; initially they hired it for a week but left the hire open in case they were here longer.
Having spent a couple of hours reading up on San José de Mayo, they'd not bothered pre-booking any hotels preferring to play it by ear on arrival, it didn't look that bigger place, maybe 38,000 inhabitants give or take with a mix of modern & colonial buildings around the central plaza area with gradually decreasing wealth as the city ran to its outskirts & the surrounding cattle country.
Eventually the hire car arrived; thankfully it wasn't as bad as they'd thought it would be, it even had occasional air conditioning.
San
José de Mayo, San José Department, Uruguay 1.08pm 23/11/17
Making use of the set of street map chips that Vrasten had bought the first time they came south Vrasten didn't get too lost as he drove around the grid laid out streets of the city, they'd checked out a number of hotels but eventually agreed upon the Estancia Don Joaquin.
Having taken four separate but adjoining rooms Alex made sure she locked her door before dissolving into a bath for several hours whilst T-Bird & Skinpin parked themselves in the hotels bar. Vrasten however, again aided by his implanted memory chip spent a couple of hours familiarising himself with the city streets & trying out the numerous street vendors offerings returning late in the evening to join the others.
Estancia Don Joaquin, San José de Mayo, San José Department, Uruguay 9.18am 24/11/17
The following morning all four of them took a tour of the city streets paying particular attention to the area around the Asociación Médica San José at 633 Treinta y Tres as this was where Lynch alleged Satish had been seen.
As they were walking the area around the hospital T-Bird suggested that maybe Skinpin could offer himself as a volunteer figuring that the ailing hospital would probably welcome somebody of Skinpin's talent & it would allow at least one of them some freedom of access within its walls. Skinpin had no problem with this providing somebody kept an eye on his dog, sighing Alex took the imaginary lead from Skinpin & smiled.
With that Skinpin casually headed for the main entrance without a care in the world.
San José de Mayo, San José Department, Uruguay 10.24am 24/11/17
Having scouted out the area Alex suggested they maybe try & rent one of a number of properties around the main hospital entrance from which they could set up a watch, this actually proved far easier than expected & by lunch time they had the keys to a second floor vacant office with a good view of the hospital main doors & the street itself. Alex had as usual used her twin charms on the letting agent who for cash had agreed a weeks hire, any longer he said & he'd have to make it official suggesting that the roll of dollar bills handed over wasn't going to the property owner. Unfortunately the office didn't have any power but the letting agent suggested if they were to stay longer he could have it switched back on within a couple of days.
Rented Office, Zorrilla de San Martin, San José de Mayo, San José Department, Uruguay 2.19pm 24/11/17
By mid afternoon they'd set themselves up in the overlooking office hoping to get this wrapped up sooner rather than later, several times Alex had voiced her lack of interest as to whether they'd actually succeed in retrieving Satish however Vrasten had pointed out that if they did it may go some way in persuading Lynch to releasing all or part of the funds he'd confiscated.
Alex wondered if it was really worth the bother, Vrasten assumed it was that time of the month, T-Bird new it was always that time of the month.