Guns for Hire - Script Sixty Six

Estancia Don Joaquin, San José de Mayo 11.58pm 27/11/17

On hearing T-Bird, Alex & Vrasten had returned Skinpin, ever so slightly wasted, joined the discussion, after a cold shower a coffee he informed the others that after agreeing terms with the hospital administrator that afternoon he spotted Satish in the hospital, in fact he even had a brief conversation with him.

"I was returning to the A&E unit after a coffee & a cigarette with a couple of cute nurses when this orderly, Satish as it turns out, steps out of a service elevator pushing a sheeted gurney towards the hospital morgues incinerator unit. I made sure I knocked into him & apologised for being a clumsy twat using it as an excuse to play lost/first day here etc & spark up a conversation. It seems Satish, or Laham D'Souza, as his ID tag proclaimed him to be has working as a hospital porter here for the last five months or so. He's clearly not overjoyed with what he's doing. After asking him for directions we parted but I know where to find him now whatever we do"

Without too much arguing they decided that caution was the word, Skinpin would continue volunteering at the hospital in order that he could maybe talk more with Satish or try to befriend him whilst T-Bird, Vrasten & Alex would continue to watch Satish's movements outside of the hospital to establish what he was really up to as well as where he was living.

Vrasten suggestion that they maybe try to rent one of the rooms opposite where the laundry where he'd disappeared into assuming he was living in one of the apartments above got a nod of approval from all.

Candido Marin, San José de Mayo 12.42am 28/11/17

The following morning having again shepherded Satish & his unknown Latino friend to work Vrasten & Alex did a tour of the apartments opposite & without too much trouble arranged to rent an unfurnished two bedroom apartment on the second floor of the block opposite where they assumed Satish was living.

Over the next couple of days they established that Satish was renting a bed-sit on the third floor of the block opposite around forty feet east of their own apartment, they were pretty sure he lived alone. It looked like the adjoining buildings in Satish's block had been interconnected above ground level with access to the upper floors via the ground floor 24/7 laundry.

Candido Marin, San José de Mayo 9.13am 30/11/17

Apart from the lift to & from the hospital Satish seemed to keep himself pretty much to himself, he frequented the street vendors along Candido Marin as well as the 7-11 convenience store along from the laundry but apart from that he didn't seem to go anywhere when not at the hospital.

It was all looking just a bit too easy thought Skinpin.

Candido Marin, San José de Mayo 11.56am 30/11/17

As the clock ticked on Satish hadn't left for work as normal, he'd appeared briefly to buy coffee & breakfast but had then gone back inside, Skinpin called just after noon to confirm that he'd checked the rota & Laham D'Souza was logged as being of shift for a couple of days.

Candido Marin, San José de Mayo 3.28pm 30/11/17

Marginally bored Vrasten continued to watch the cameras picking random strangers to track across the streets of San José de Mayo, Satish was ensconced in his bed-sit, T-Bird was out shopping, Skinpin was still at the hospital & Alex was out getting coffee.

As he glanced at the screen linked to the relocated camera from the rented office outside of the hospital entrance, they'd abandoned the rental as they'd clearly confirmed Satish was working there plus he only used the rear hospital service entrance so the rented office was a dead duck, he watched some dude sat on a step to one of the ground floor units just along from reading a paper & smoking a cigarette.

Vrasten continued to watch, the more he watched the more he was convinced that something didn't add up, call it a coppers sense but it didn't feel kosher. The guy, definitely not a Latino, maybe European, occasionally got up & stretched his legs or wandered into the convenience store however when he did it wasn't for long & Vrasten began to suspect he wasn't just an out of work resident with nothing better to do.

Before alerting Alex to his suspicions Vrasten flicked through the recorded images of the last few days around the time Satish was heading to & returning from his shift at the hospital, fucking bastard thought Vrasten, that twat's always somewhere in shot.

When Alex returned with doughnuts Vrasten pointed out Satish's new best friend.

Candido Marin, San José de Mayo 4.53pm 30/11/17

By early evening Satish's guardian angel had obviously decided that hanging around on the street on Satish's day off was just a bit too obvious & had made himself scarce but not before Vrasten had cropped several images of him & forwarded them to Hope's net-runner to attempt a trace on him & incorporate as a target in the face recognition software.

On Skinpin's return from the hospital they again discussed what was to be done, they concluded that they would continue to watch for the moment.

Candido Marin, San José de Mayo 6.47pm 30/11/17

With little else to occupy their time they settled in for an evening of fun, unfortunately fun was in short supply.

Candido Marin, San José de Mayo 10.21am 01/12/17

The following morning Vrasten pointed out that Satish's watcher was back in position although by late morning he had again departed when it became clear that Satish was again off shift.

With nothing else to do they Vrasten & Alex continued to hang around in the apartment while Skinpin again volunteered at the hospital, of T-Bird there was no sign, Alex concluded he was again off entertaining his pet whore.

Candido Marin, San José de Mayo 11.49am 01/12/17

As noon approached Vrasten received an e-mail from the Hope's net-runner confirming that the watchers face was now being scanned for via the cities piggybacked CCTV, he also confirmed that he run a library search on the face but hadn't managed to come up with a positive ID, he said he'd keep trying but it wasn't looking hopeful.

Candido Marin, San José de Mayo 2.27pm 01/12/17

Mid-afternoon Vrasten received an alert that KDE face recognition system had picked up Satish's watcher, on screen Vrasten could see him sat with three other non-Latino males outside a café bar elsewhere in San José de Mayo enjoying a late lunch, for what is was worth Vrasten captured face shots as best he could for onward transmission to their pet net-runner.

Candido Marin, San José de Mayo 2.27pm 01/12/17

When Skinpin eventually returned to the apartment he confirmed that he'd checked Satish's work rota & he was scheduled to be back on shift tomorrow.

Candido Marin, San José de Mayo 10.48am 02/12/17

The next morning Satish had been picked up for work by the unknown female as expected, also as expected his watcher was on the street to witness his departure, immediately Satish had gone his watcher departed in the opposite direction climbing into a waiting taxi further along the street.

T-Bird, who had been sat waiting in their own hire car around the corner set off in pursuit of the taxi however at the first set of lights he was stuck in the wrong lane & in his eagerness to stay close he got a tad too close, the taxi immediately sped off jumping the lights, embarrassed T-Bird reported back that he'd lost the taxi, if indeed it was a taxi, & that he thought he'd probably been made.

Alex's reaction over the phone wasn't exactly complementary.

When Satish arrived at the rear of the hospital Vrasten called Alex to confirm his arrival, Alex was already in position as she wanted to see where the female went after dropping off Satish, the cameras under Vrasten's watch not picking up the far end of the street.

San José de Mayo, San José Department, San José de Mayo 11.41am 02/12/17

As Alex stood around the corner she watched Satish slouch through the security point as the car drove away, fifty yards up the road in turned into a side street before disappearing through a secure checkpoint leading into the hospitals underground parking lot, disappointed she headed back towards the apartment via the hotel, the apartment might be convenient but its didn't have a shower.

Candido Marin, San José de Mayo 12.19am 02/12/17

Vrasten confirmed he'd picked up the watcher, he was again sat at the same café bar with just one of his compatriots from the previous day.

Candido Marin, San José de Mayo 1.42pm 02/12/17

Gathered back at apartment Vrasten, Alex & T-Bird eventually decided to push matters on, Skinpin, who wasn't attending the hospital today, was dispatched to the hotel to clear their rooms & bring all their outstanding kit to the apartment but to ensure the hotel kept their booking live just in case they wanted to delay matters further, or in Alex's case have a shower.

Positive that Satish lived alone Vrasten & T-Bird decided to up the ante & have a poke around Satish's apartment block.

Candido Marin (Service Road), San José de Mayo 2.06pm 02/12/17

With T-Bird parked at the end of the rear service road, which over the years had been bollarded off to prevent vehicle access, Vrasten & Alex stood outside the wall of what they were sure was the rear of the apartment block in which Satish resided, apart from the odd kid & mangy dog nobody was about.

Peering over the yard wall it didn't look like Satish's block had a rear exit but there was a rusted external fire escape leading up the full height of the building possibly serving the interconnected row of apartment buildings.

With Vrasten keeping an eye out Alex shinned over the wall & pulled herself up onto the first landing.

Candido Marin (Satish's Apartment Block), San José de Mayo 2.11pm 02/12/17

On the third level Vrasten peered into what looked like a child's dilapidated bedroom, the window was propped open an inch or so & whilst she could hear some voices & possibly a radio it was sufficiently muffled to suggest it was not from this apartment, tensing Alex slid the sash window & slipped inside.

Moving quickly through the apartment Alex confirmed over the comm's back to Vrasten that the apartment was empty, it was somewhat larger than what they thought Satish rented on the front of the building & if it was anything to go by Satish's neighbours were at the lower end of the pecking order.

Listening at the front door Alex could hear nothing to suggest there was anybody in what she guessed was a communal corridor running the length of the apartment blocks, shrugging she eased the door open, the corridor was indeed empty, propping the door to the apartment from she had gained entry to the block ajar Alex stepped into the corridor.

On the front side of the building twelve doors were roughly spaced along the length of the corridor, to the east end the corridor ended in a blank wall. At the west was a door leading into a stairwell which presumably connected to the apartments below as well as the staircase in the laundry at ground level, halfway along the corridor was a broken & propped open fire door.

Alex looked at the doors opposite, weighing up where she'd entered the corridor relative to where they knew Satish's window looked onto the street there were two doors that possibly were his, listening to the door on the left Alex was sure she could hear a radio & muted voices; the door to her right was silent.

Slipping her oft unused picks from her shoulder bag Alex quickly addressed the door lock, it was a cheap affair to say the least however it was some considerable time since she'd attempted to use her rusty intrusion skills, as she fumble to select & insert the correct pick the door clicked open the latch having barely been seated in the broken lock receiver. Easing the door open the dingy apartment was clearly unoccupied, slipping inside she breathed deeply & confirmed to Vrasten she was inside.

Candido Marin (Service Road), San José de Mayo 2.19pm 02/12/17

Vrasten, nervous of being seen hanging around the alley quickly shimmied up the fire escape into the rear apartment.

Candido Marin (Satish's Apartment Block), San José de Mayo 2.21pm 02/12/17

Inside the rear apartment Vrasten quickly made his way towards the front door, just as he reached the door however he heard female voices in the corridor immediately outside of the apartment he was in, unhesitatingly he retreated to the rear child's bedroom & out onto the fire escape making sure the window was propped open as before.

From where Vrasten crouched he could hear voices in the apartment, translating what he could hear it sounded like a couple neighbours of the absent Señorita Páez Vilaró, seeing why if she was not at home her door was open, after a few moments nosing around the apartment & loudly criticizing its contents Vrasten heard them leave pulling the door closed behind them.

Giving them several minutes to piss off he climbed back into the apartment & doing his best to pull the front door as closed as he could without it locking he tapped on the door to Satish's room & joined Alex inside, there wasn't a great deal to it.

The room was some twelve feet wide by twelve deep with a small alcove to the front left corner containing a kitchenette as well as the only window into the apartment. Apart from that it contained a small hand basin, a bed, a small folding table with two rickety chairs & a mismatched set of draws, bloody hell thought Vrasten where does he crap.

From the window they could see the window of the apartment they rented across the way, it was off to the left & some forty feet as the crow flies as well as being one floor below them.

Candido Marin (Satish's Apartment Block), San José de Mayo 2.32pm 02/12/17

A cursory search of Satish's room didn't reveal much but then there wasn't much in the room to search, it was pretty obvious that Satish wasn't living the high life on the quiet, Vrasten & Alex looked at each other & made a decision, it was time to take Gopala Satish back to Agent Lynch.

Vrasten put a call into Teodozji Bembeneck, the C-130 flight navigator,

"About bloody time, we were starting to think you'd forgotten all about us, Mulligan was starting to have kittens & it was getting harder & harder to justify why we were still sat here"

Bembeneck was quite happy therefore to receive Vrasten's confirmation that they'd be ready to depart San José de Mayo the following morning & to expect a reluctant guest, Bembeneck wasn't sure how this would go down with the skipper but added telling him know would at least give him chance to cool his heals, hanging up Vrasten let both T-Bird &Skinpin know that it was time to move, the plan was simple wait here for satish to come home, tranquilize him & drive out of town until sun up before heading to the airport, simples really.

Looking around the room there wasn't really anywhere to hide, they couldn't even wait behind the door as it was smack in the corner of the room & there were no legs on the bed so you couldn't squeeze underneath it. Alex had the bright idea of loosening the light bulb, the room was pretty dark anyway so when Satish returned it would be in near darkness, he'd found a single spare bulb under the kitchen sink, it seemed likely that if Satish thought the bulb had blown he'd feel his way across the room to fetch the spare bulb, from there it would simply be a case of shooting the door & putting Satish to sleep.

Making themselves as comfortable as they could they waited.

Candido Marin (Satish's Apartment Block), San José de Mayo 3.46pm 02/12/17

To help pass the time Alex & Vrasten decided to carry out a thorough search of Satish's room, they didn't expect to find anything but it was better than twiddling their fingers, surprisingly Alex found an envelope celotaped to the underside of the loose bottom shelf under the sink unit, in it was Satish's passport along with various personal papers, Alex tucked them in her bag for later.

Candido Marin (Satish's Apartment Block), San José de Mayo 4.27pm 02/12/17

Around 4.30pm Vrasten received a text from Skinpin, he was back from the hotel have collected all their remaining kit & had checked Vrasten's laptop for any further alerts, whilst doing so he noticed an e-mail marked as high priority from Werner Lorenz at MSL, it simply said for Vrasten to call him urgently & gave a cell number, 1 - 831 486 2255, that Vrasten didn't recognise. It also suggested that if he, Werner, didn't answer then hang up & not to leave a message, bizarrely it also said that if Werner ever mentioned buying a boat then the telephone number was compromised.

Slightly bemused Vrasten relayed the contents of the e-mail to Alex before dialing the number, Werner answered almost immediately,

"Vrasten, how you doin' mate, sorry for all the cloak & dagger shit but things have got a bit tetchy of late, after all the shit that went down when you landed back at RIA last month, we, that is MSL, curtailed a number of our out of town activities, you know, just to let the dust settle & make sure there wasn't gonna' be any unnecessary fall out, obviously the main shipping services kept going, they're a hundred percent kosher."

"Surprisingly, or may be unsurprisingly, there didn't seem to be any kick back, well, there was a 'surprise' visit from Customs & Immigration as well as a couple of FBI jobworths turned up, nothing that couldn't be handled by yours truly. As I said we'd relocated your Spartan's crew & we were running all our other overseas operations from elsewhere, there was a FAA investigation but that's all bullshit & not worth the paper its printed on."

"But, funny how there's always a but, two days ago I get a visit from some suit who eventually introduces himself as Lynch, no first name, just Lynch, he suggested he was an associate of yours."

"All in all this dude seems to know way to much about MSL's overseas set up, particularly in connection with the services we'd provided to you, I gotta admit he rattled my cage. This spook, cos' that's what he's gotta' be, CIA or some other black op's outfit, suggests he's only lookin' out for his friends, some fuckin' friend, I mean c'mon, what the fuck does he take me for ? Anyway's, he finishes off by leaving me his contact number just in case I felt I needed to tell somebody that cared if you fellas decided to take any unexpected holidays in the near future."

"I'm pretty sure that after he came a callin' the MSL land lines in NC were tapped but as I said all the NC warehouse operations are legit so I'm not overly concerned on that front but I thought it'd be a good idea if maybe you didn't come a knockin' for a while. If you do need to talk this cell number's secure but don't bother replying on the e-mail address I used, it's already dead"

After Werner had finished Vrasten admitted to him that they did indeed know Agent Lynch & he was to some extent currently pulling shier strings & thanks for letting them know about his visit, Vrasten added that he'd reciprocate the buying of a boat comment if Werner phoned them if they too were compromised.

Candido Marin (Satish's Apartment Block), San José de Mayo 10.48pm 02/12/17

After what seemed like an interminable wait T-Bird phoned through to say Skinpin had just picked up Satish being picked up at the hospital & he was on route back to the apartment, ETA around twenty minutes.

Candido Marin (Satish's Apartment Block), San José de Mayo 11.09pm 02/12/17

Secreted in the darkened room Vrasten & Alex waited for Satish to open the door, Alex had made sure the light wouldn't come on & Vrasten had loaded the needle gun with a clip of the new tranquilizer rounds, over the comm's Skinpin broke the silence announcing Satish's lift had just drawn up to the curb, at the same time as they heard a muffled scream from outside Skinpin hollered over the radio,

"ER, guys, I think you better take a look outside"

Candido Marin (Satish's Apartment Block), San José de Mayo 11.10pm 02/12/17

As Skinpin's words faded away both Vrasten & Alex ran for the window, on the street below the latino woman's city runabout was pulled up against the curb, instead however of Satish heading for the stairwell he was being pushed by two figures into the back seat of a second vehicle that was slew across the road preventing Satish's lift from driving away, over the comm's Vrasten bellowed for Skinpin to let T-Bird, who was waiting in the hire car around the corner, know what was going down.

Alex, vaguely recognising at least one of the snatchers from the clip Vrasten had recorded of Satish's third party watchers group, desperately wrenched her Ingram from her shoulder bag as the kidnappers vehicle started to pull away.

Knowing that Lynch would prefer Satish dead rather than in the hands of others but believing they could recover the situation she peppered the front of the accelerating saloon as best she could as it shot forward, as the slugs ripped into the front hood & roof of the car the front windshield exploded, in addition the front passenger door which haddent bean fully closed spilled open & a body rolled from the car.

Vrasten not to be outdone drew & snapped of a shot from his Techtronica Microwaver 15 pistol, disappointedly however the car kept going, he was sure the bloody thing had worked as the activation warning light had come on but he'd expected it to completely fry the car's electrical system, sadly it hadn't, cursing he shouldered past Alex, clambered out of the window & dropped from his finger tips hoping that he wouldn't break his ankles from the twenty-five foot drop.

As the saloon accelerated away Alex again pulled the trigger, this time however only firing a short burst hoping to shred the rear tyres, she grunted in satisfaction as the drivers side tyre began to flap, assuming the vehicle wouldn't get much further she followed Vrasten out of the window.

Candido Marin, San José de Mayo 11.12pm 02/12/17

Landing in a controlled roll Alex disappointedly watched as the saloon continued to pull away before sliding around the next left turn, from behind she heard what she hoped was T-Bird gunning shier hire car towards her, satisfied it was she ran to intercept it screaming for T-Bird to slide across into the passenger seat.

As she hit the accelerator she saw Vrasten hobble to his feet & pull the still hollering female Latino out of the drivers seat of the false plated city runabout, as she headed past Vrasten T-Bird gestured wildly towards the right hand window, cursing the delay she hit the breaks as Skinpin legged it towards the car trailing leads from Vrasten's laptop, out of breath but grinning he dived into the rear of the car & began to fumble over the back seat amongst their kit recovered from the hotel for a gun.

Route 11 West, San José de Mayo 11.18pm 02/12/17

Although the roads in town had been pretty busy once they'd left the vicinity of Satish's apartment Alex had been unable to overhaul the oppostions vehicle, it clearly wasn't driving to well & sparks were starting to fly from the blown rear tyre but the bastard just wouldn't give up, glancing in the rear view mirror she could see Vrasten following close behind her.

Route 1 West, Ecilda Paullier 11.53pm 02/12/17

Without really having any clue where they were heading Alex followed blindly as the kidnappers vehicle drove through Ecilda Paullier & continued west on onto Route 1, twenty minutes later they passed by Colonia Valdense still traveling west. By know there was nothing left of the drivers side rear tyre & not a great deal left of the rim other than a trail of sparks, she was quite amazed that the driver of Satish's snatch squad was still in control.

For some reason Vrasten had fallen around half a mile back but then she guessed the city runabout didn't have much of a top end, but then neither did shier hire car, figuring it was now or never she floored Hertz's best for all it was & as she drew level attempted to PIT maneuver the by know ailing vehicle in front, as she flicked the wheel hard left the bastard in front anticipated her move & slid out of the way, cursing profoundly Alex ran of the road & rattled across the hard packed dirt into a field of tall grass taking out a barb wire fence on the way. Somehow she managed to keep going without trashing the hire car & in a burst of shattered bumper she hurtled back onto the road.

The failed maneuver had allowed the target to pull around a quarter of a mile ahead as well as allowing Vrasten to catch up.

Route 1 West 11.53pm 02/12/17

Shortly after clearing Colonia Valdense the kidnappers car abruptly stopped.

Route 1 West 11.54pm 02/12/17

From the drivers door of the smoking saloon unfolded the driver. He immediately dragged open the rear door & half pulled Satish out across the lap of one of the other two rear seat occupants putting a gun to Satish's head & waited.

Alex pulled up fifty yards or so behind & immediately got out refreshing the clip in her Ingram, for the moment T-Bird & Skinpin stayed where they were.

Vrasten didn't bother stopping behind Alex & continued past pulling up across the lane ahead of the stopped vehicle, getting out he stood using the Latino womans car as a shield.

Route 1 West 11.55pm 02/12/17

Alex, Ingram at the ready, took several steps forward & then hesitated unsure whether to simply empty the clip into Satish putting an end to the affair.

On the opposite side Vrasten fingered a sleep grenade debating whether he could bowl it under the kidnappers car.

Before either reacted the driver spoke.

Route 1 West 11.56pm 02/12/17

"Before anybody gets hurt why don't we just talk this one through OK"

For the next half dozen minutes Alex & the unknown spokesman compared testerone, Alex suggested they were working for the US government, smartarse said he wasn't, Alex suggested she & her friends were happy for smartarse to put two slugs between Satish's ears, smartarse wasn't, smartarse was happy to retire to somewhere they could discuss the dilemma like grown ups, Alex wasn't, all in all it wasn't the most constructive of discussions.

For the moment Alex had agreed to lower her MAC 14 & had returned it to her shoulder bag, smartarse for his part had pushed Satish back into the car & put his gun on the roof of the getaway car although he was still stood behind the open door from which he'd dragged Satish.

As they tensely continued to eyeball one another nobody spotted the flashing emergency lights approaching from the direction of San José de Mayo.

Back to Guns for Hire