One More Job

Shadow Scream, now there's a name I've not heard in quite a while... Linus thought to himself, heard they were out of the game. Should have guessed they'd find the perfect hiding spot right under the fed's noses. Credit where it's due, I suppose.

Linus turned to Agent 115, "Not to go ruffling any feathers prematurely, but doesn't it seem like this is an affair more suited for the State department or Interpol? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a night on Big Dog just as much as anyone, but perhaps you should be courting a group more concerned with...legal adherence. After all, a few compromised first-world governments just sounds like more business for me and the lads back home. Likewise, I imagine we're slightly more expensive than your local representative. What precisely is the quid pro quo here?"

Bruce could care less about the politics behind the mission. He is here for one reason, and it isn't patriotic duty.

"As long as you keep your promises."

Before leaving, Tom had grabbed whatever equipment was available to him then piled into the back of minivan. Took him back to sweet memories of the family.

A hacker huh? I hate tracking down and getting rid of my cousins like this, but I've got to do what I've got to do to get out of this situation. "Do you know anything about this hacker? Who they are or what they're doing there? And are you asking us to grab them and bring them in or work our way into the organization and get to the top of Shadow Scream?"

Dominque shoved a few of the power bars and drinks into her bag and raided the equipment cabinet. She lit up as her eyes landed on her special tools. The very same one’s Agent 115 had so rudely confiscated from her at the beginning of their relationship. Knowing she had kept it all this time gave Donnie a warm fuzzy feeling.

Agent 115 and the boys went back and forth as she found her seat, she strategically picked the one behind Agent 115. She swayed her body, dancing along to music that no one else could hear.

Before the Agent could respond to Tom, Dominque leaned forward against the Agent’s seat and now clearly invading her personal space.

"You always seem to have your hands filled with something and yet still find time for me." she finished with an exaggerated swoon placing her hand over her own heart.

Linus carefully weighed the options Thomas mentioned before adding his two cents. "For what it's worth, I doubt a full-fledged infiltration is our best line of play. The sheer amount of time required to properly earn their trust, set up a patsy, run the scam and execute an exit strategy would be monumental, and likely outside our price range. Moreover, we don't need to take the whole organization, just their intel. I suspect this is a smash-and-grab operation: go in, get the goods, get out, don't get captured. Though I am curious as to the nature of our target hacker and their relation to the Shadow Scream bosses."

The corner of Bruce's mouth rises a bit as Dominique's provocation strikes the agent's nerve. To be honest, he liked Dominique's bubbly nature more than the agent's openly condescending demeanor. However, he was still undecided on Dominique's competence at being "a ringer". It wasn't like he had much choice in the matter of teammates though. He'd just have to believe in the discerning judgement of Agent 115.

Speaking of the agent, he holds out his hand towards her.

"Keys."

Obviously the team was going to need a vehicle for him to drive. Even if he had his skeleton key gadget, he would like to get what support he can get from.

Hmmm... The recruitment bait and switch, aye... His heart sinks a bit more seeing 115s utter disregard for this hacker, but that's why they're a spy master and Tom is just collateral damage.

Thomas pulls out a laptop and starts typing. "While the old go in as married couples play works, if we're trying to recruit him and get him on our side, then maybe we should try to pull off a bait and switch. I can try to hack into the system from a secured site that they will have to personally investigate, bringing them into the open physically. Once there, we can convince them that they should help out on our gig since they are so... "talented". And that will allow 115 to spring the honey pot. If they don't fall for it, then we can nab them and 115 can do their convincing. What do you all think of that?"

Tom's pulling up the blueprints and networking diagrams of the casino to try to figure out what would get the hacker out and where they may be set up at.

Bruce personally didn't see the difference between the two plans if they were going to find and "recruit" this person anyways.

"I don't get the point."

His hand is still open towards Agent 115, waiting for a key to fill it.

Oh Bruce, don't overexert yourself on this one, Linus thought to himself.

"It comes down to coercion, Bruce. Everyone has a price, but not everyone accepts the same currencies. Threaten two different persons with the barrel of a gun and one will turn tail while the other fires back at you. The point is that we don't know what our mark's currency is. We'll start with the universal language, and work our way out from there. Sure he ends up dead regardless, but don't we all? It's what happens in the interim that makes all the difference."

Linus gives Thomas's strategy a moment of consideration. It's a better plan than Thomas probably realizes. He addresses the team as a whole, but tends to linger longer on Thomas than the others. "If there's one thing I know about these mid-tier types it's that they're egomaniacs, the whole lot of 'em. The ones at the top don't respond to recognition or praise - they don't have the patience for others reiterating what they already know. But for middle-tier talent, it's their kryptonite, scraps from a feast they haven't been invited to, yet still feel they are entitled to attend."

Linus turns to 115 deliberately. "We'll start with a honey pot. It's a more discreet point of contact and harder to trace back to us, especially if Thomas is as good as you say he is. If the mark doesn't take the bait, we escalate and apply further pressure. Either way, you'll have your man shortly."

Dominique fell back into her seat with a playful pout at the Agents comment. "Our-friend-of-few-words is right. We don’t really need to recruit a low-level hacker. We just need information on his boss… And then to make sure he doesn’t tell anyone we know. Right? Although, you catch more flies with honey I supposed" She tapped a finger against her chin. "Either way, its a free day at a resort. I can only assume you have ‘blend in’ money for us not to blow on gambling and drinking?" After all if she was going to be forced on this stage of the mission she was at least going to have fun with it.

Linus chuckled at Dominique's assertion. There were far worse places to run a job. "On the contrary, blowing money on gambling and drinking is the best way to not draw attention to ourselves. It's simply a business expense at this point, part and parcel with disguises. After all, when in Rome..."

Bruce nods as Linus explains the nuances of Thomas' plan. As expected of the smooth talker, he was not only quite informed about the psyche of someone who he's never met before, but was adept at explaining it to someone who usually didn't care about that kind of stuff.

Her early comment was cheerfully sarcastic. No matter what her instructions were, most of that money was going to be lost letting it ride on Roulette and the rest was going to ensure she was just drunk enough to do whatever needed to be done. Maybe a few shots of tequila would get Silent but deadly here to open up a bit. Although it seemed like watered-down-savor-the-flavor whiskey was more his speed. She flashed Linus a quick wink "Oh hear that Agent? We basically need it to do our jobs. No expense is too much for a job done right."

Bruce looks up at the front of the casino.

"...By the way, why is the hacker here?"

"So what do we feel the play is here? Just go in and butter him up? Or try to draw him out into a more weakened position and get him? Either way can work for me?"

Thomas looks up from his computer and polls the group. He just did a cursory check, and hadn't started anything yet, but has an idea of what he could do to the systems if needed.