Chapter 06

Crafty People

For a few years high quality imitations of ancient jewels and famous paintings have been cropping up around the world. They’re so good many of the experts have trouble telling them from the real thing. All of the investigations by law enforcement organisations around the world lead to blank walls of false identities or dead investigators.

In mid 2004 the Royal Intelligence Service (RIS) learns about a group of artists in Berana who’re making high quality forged documents. They can’t get any more information because the group has very strong security and the person who approached them about turning the group in for immunity is found dead, but not until after hinting they do much more than just documents. The first agent sent to check them out goes missing without a trace. RIS are concerned because their people are good investigators, but they’re not that good in fighting or combat skills. They need someone with both, or someone who can look after themselves while they get close to the small group of targets who’ve already been located.

The group operates from a large warehouse beside a vacant factory site near the Berana International Airport. Near the old factory another has been torn down and is now a big vacant lot. The kids from a nearby housing estate for the poor use it as a playground. The criminal group doesn’t mind as it makes it easier for them to tell when police spies are around. The kids react to unknown adults and the criminals take that as a hint to check them out. Most are minor criminals who are strongly encouraged to go to work another area when they get out of the hospital.

In late 2004 the Berana RIS Commander learns of a very smart Guards officer who’s only thirteen years old. After reading the officer’s short file, and noting he’s a Sensei Cho in the Way of the Hand, he requests the loan of Junior Lieutenant Gordon Mannheim to help with this case. He figures Gerry can protect himself, and being so young should put him below the criminal group’s security radar.

Target in Sight

In the first week of January, 2005, Gerry is in Berana temporarily living with a family from the Amiri tribe that isn’t doing well. The father is too ashamed to move back to the tribal lands as a failure. The business he set up went well for a few years then it failed. After being approached by his Clan Father to provide Gerry with housing the man agrees to help out without being given any information about why Gerry is there. He introduces Gerry to his children as a distant cousin from View Port who needs to be away from home for a few weeks because of some trouble being sorted out.

Since the man is helping with the operation he’s paid board for Gerry living with them, the payment is the per diem accommodation and meal rates of a Guards Officer staying at a mid-level hotel in the city. Being a payment from the Guards this doesn’t affect his family’s welfare payment and it’s more per week than the welfare. He explains to his family Gerry’s people are paying them board to look after him and this will help improve their situation. They’re paid four weeks in advance, so belated Christmas presents are now possible for the children. The daily food is also improved and appreciated by all.

The children are aged eight to eleven so they easily slot Gerry into the local groups of children. He’s introduced as a visiting relative staying for a few weeks, and he’s soon assimilated into the local kids’ culture. His introductions are noticed by the criminal gang’s security, but they note it’s the same as any other new kid in the area. After seeing him around for a week they place him in the category of ‘new kid, nothing to worry about.’

During the day Gerry is able to take note of the activities in the warehouse and to send a report off each night. On the fourth day he’s able to place a listening device against the sheet steel wall of the warehouse. This doesn’t give out a general radio signal as it uses a directional signal on a microwave beam to a receiver on the other side of the vacant block. The receiver records, and reports each hour via a phone call to RIS. The criminals aren’t even aware of its existence. Their listening device detectors search for broadcast radio signals on the frequencies usually used by such devices. This is right outside of their detection equipment’s range. Also, both parts of the device are arranged to look like normal parts of the buildings, so they fit in. All they listen in on is useful and it helps to identify some of the group’s contacts, but it doesn’t help with evidence for court or key contacts. Gerry has to get inside the gang, somehow.

The building operates as a small white goods warehouse as a front. Gerry tries for an unconventional approach. He prepares an entry kit of a battery operated screwdriver, some screws the same colour as the door’s sheet metal, two narrow step ladders, and drill attachments.

One night he sneaks up to the building’s main vehicle entrance. Placing a step ladder in front of the building he stands on the ladder and he uses the drill to remove the pop rivets from the hatch they use to see who’s at the door. The hole this creates is just big enough to let him in. Placing the hatch on the ground he puts the second step ladder inside and he climbs in. He checks out the front storeroom, but he doesn’t try to enter the more secure back rooms because he can see the higher security systems on it. Selecting a few items from the stored stock he carries them to the door. He lowers them out of the hatch to the ground with care. When finished he climbs out and he removes the inside ladder. He screws the hatch back into place. After packing everything up he heads back to the house for the rest of the night.

The next morning he surprises his hosts with a gift of a new kettle as the old one is faulty and it gives a slight charge. He damages the old one beyond use and he throws it away. During the day he visits local pawn brokers to sell brand new kettles and toasters very cheap. He uses the money to treat his host’s children and some of their friends to a nice lunch.

For the next three nights he makes regular trips to the warehouse to steal small items and then sell them locally. Finally one of the group members notices they’re short some stock and some new stocks of the same items are being sold locally very cheap. They soon work out one of the locals is ripping them off, somehow, but they can’t work out how. They check all of their security systems, but no breaches are detected.

Gerry is aware of all this due to the listening device. That night he sneaks in with faked invoices and address labels. He spends his time preparing two pallets to be shipped to a store a bit further away by placing the faked invoices and labels on them. They’re based on real ones he stole earlier in the week. The store the goods are going to is a regular fencing operation and RIS has a man inside it. Gerry has an agreement to get fifty percent of the value of the goods shipped there from this warehouse paid to a bank account in a false name. The next day the pallets are shipped out as organised. That afternoon they’re missed. Now the thief is stealing whole pallets and this is really blowing their minds. They’re at a total loss on how it’s being done. They’re not reporting any of the thefts to the police because they don’t want them checking the place over. Each night Gerry is upping the number of pallets being shipped. Over the next three days ten more pallets go missing when they’re shipped out for him.

Finally Gerry ups the outgoing load to the point where the total of the shipments won’t fit on the truck and the driver is asking which load to leave behind. Knowing they always tailor the loads to be less than a truck load they check all of the shipments and they find the fake shipment. Now they know how the pallets are being shipped out. The truck leaves without that load. They marvel at the quality of the work done on the labels etc. because it’s very good.

They visit the fence the shipment is addressed to and they learn about the arrangement with Gerry, but they have no idea how it’s organised or who he is. That night they’ve extra guards in place inside and outside. Gerry notices them so he doesn’t attempt an entry. It’s the same for two more nights.

The next day they receive a letter in the mail saying, “If you want to know how you were ripped off bring ten thousand dollars to the fountain in the Banashee Mall tomorrow at noon.” Some of the leaders are angry while others are amused and the big boss is intrigued. It’s clear their thief knows they’re watching for him and he’s still interested in getting more money out of them. It’s also clear he knows they haven’t gone to the police and he suspects they won’t.

Mall Manoeuvres

The mall is a large one of five floors with a central open area for the full height. However, each higher level hangs out over the lower levels for half a metre per level; not by much, but enough to allow unobstructed views down from each level. The fountain is at one end of the open area.

At noon the next day two of the group’s people are at the fountain with a bag and with several more people spread about the fountain set to catch the collector of the bag. A man in a general courier company uniform approaches them with a clipboard and a small parcel, they get set to take him. He says, “One of you two from Walking Wares.” One nods yes, so the courier hands them the small parcel from under his arm with the clipboard while saying, “Please sign.”

Amazed, they sign for the parcel, he takes his clipboard, turns and walks away. The parcel is addressed to ‘Walking Wares,’ it’s from ‘Fly by Night Operations.’ They open it to find a mobile phone, it rings. They answer it.

A voice says, “Open the bag and show me the money.” They look around, hundreds of people are looking down, but none have a phone in their hands.

While grimacing one replies, “OK, just a moment.” He signals to another man who brings a second bag over and they change bags. He opens it up to show the money in the bottom of the bag.

The voice says, “Good. Now place the phone in the bag, I’ll be there shortly.” They do as told.

A moment later they hear people on the levels above them gasp, looking up they see a small man falling down the open area. He’s almost on top of them. He stops in the air in front of them and he grabs the bag of money. He hands them an envelope before he vanishes upward. He’s wearing a flesh covered mask and a bungee jumping bracing frame of webbing material. The bungee cord pulls him back up two levels. A hand reaches out and grabs him to pull him in. Seconds later the empty frame falls over the edge. A few seconds later the frame and cord are pulled in at the top level as they vanish over the rail.

The waiting catchers scramble to get up to the higher levels. More men flood the mall from the car park. They activate the tracer in the bag. Only to find the empty bag in a rubbish bin on the second level. Asking questions finds no one who saw anyone with either a bungee jumping outfit or the orange jump suit the man wore and no one spoken to admits to being on the second level when the jumper got off the cord. Many people think the fellow did it as stunt to thumb their nose at the excessive mall security, so they won’t tell anyone a thing.

The gang examines the envelope contents. It tells them about the screws in the hatch, how he’d entered, and how he beat the security system, but nothing about the forged documents. Most of the gang leadership are angry they missed him, but the big boss is glad because it proves this person is smart and just the sort to recruit. He wants him in the gang. The next day he places an ad in the Personal section of the newspapers - ‘Banashee Bouncer, please contact Walking Wares re job offer.‘ Banashee Bouncer is what the media have labelled the bungee jumper.

Going In

Gerry sends them a letter offering to talk to their leader. It gives them another meeting spot in the local area with a time that day. The leader arrives at the spot, no one with him as per the instructions. A nearby public phone rings. He’s beginning to like this guy because he knows about security and keeping cover. They talk at length then he offers Gerry a job as a courier and planner. He likes the way he thinks and he’s prepared to write off the current losses as a recruitment bonus. Gerry agrees to think about it and he’ll contact him. He’s given a name to ask for.

A little while after the man leaves the phone Gerry and a couple of local girls enter the phone booth. While one of the girls appears to talk on the phone by using a handset Gerry brought he wraps the other in a plastic bag and he removes it to replace it with a third after he places the original in his bag. The girl hands the phone to Gerry, in the process the fake is slipped into his bag and he speaks into the new one.

That night Gerry passes the phone over to his RIS contact. He’d wiped the phone just before the appointed time so the only prints on it are the target’s prints. During the night they run the prints and they get a match with a known local and International criminal.

Mid-morning the next day a boy walks into the warehouse, he looks around then he enters the office to ask for the name given him, it’s not the man’s real name. The man comes out from the inner office.

Gerry says, “Yesterday you forgot to mention a monthly pay rate.” The man’s jaw drops, this kid’s the one running them around in circles. No way.

“Funny, kid, now you go tell who sent you I want to speak to them.”

Gerry smiles, “You want me to work for you, or not.” He points at a man against the wall, “That’s the guy I gave the envelope to. Oh, by the way, there was only nine thousand five hundred dollars in the bag, so someone stiffed us both.”

The leader replies, “No, I left it short as a later check method.”

Gerry nods, “Must remember that one myself. Did you change the hatch to a double sided one yet?”

The man nods yes, because he’s now convinced this is his antagonist. He says, “Come into my office and we can talk. I must admit I’m a bit surprised by your age.”

A smiling Gerry follows him into the office. One of the heavies starts to follow, only to watch Gerry whip to the side and make sure he has plenty of room between them. In the process the two men notice the small handgun under Gerry’s coat. He says, “Yes, I’m carrying, and I know how to use it, too. So don’t try anything we may both regret. I came in here trusting you to keep your word. I suggest you do.”

They all sit down to have a lengthy talk. As a test the boss lays out the plans for a coming job and he asks Gerry’s advice. After looking it over and asking several pertinent questions he asks if certain skills and resources are available. On being assured they are he lays out a plan that’ll work, based on the information given. They like it because it’s close to what they had planned already. Gerry says, “Are you sure you know everything about their security arrangements? If you’ve missed anything you’ll lose people. These people seem the type to have something much heavier than what you’ve mentioned.” In truth, he knows there’s a lot not mentioned, probably because they don’t know about it all. Gerry helped plan the security and defences for this house when his sister said she was building one in the city.

The boss says, “Yeah, I’d have expected a lot more, but they’ve a lot of people on guard. My contact only visits a lot, but she doesn’t live there. However, she assures me that’s all they have!” Gerry slowly nods his understanding of the situation.