“Come again?” Silva says after a double-take.
“To get to Ross, we need to get into the evidence room. With Carlyle keeping watch, he’ll suspect anyone getting in of theft. Unless we snatch someone who has a reason to get inside, we won’t have enough time to hide Ross and get out.”
“Yeah,” she admits. “That sounds plausible.”
“Now,” you say, “if we snatch Carlyle himself, we could figure out why he’s so interested in everything, and have the authorization to get Ross away from evidence. We check his lead, check if Carlyle knows something, we get two leads instead of one.”
She nods in satisfaction, but her slowly creeping grin tells you she’s got a rebuttal. “Well thought. Now, how will we snatch Carlyle?”
“This’ll have to be a team effort,” you quickly rebut. “We need to catch him unaware. That means keeping an eye on schedule, on meetings, on anything that could keep him out of sight. One on surveillance, one on...uh, whatever’s the name for the one doing the operation.”
“Operative,” Silva corrects you, amused. “Sounds like a plan. When can we start?”
“Surveillance first. We can do this together – you as Clarice, I stay as you.”
“You’re saying that because you like the job, don’t you?”
You grin, but you respond very honestly. “That’s half of it. To be fair, I need to learn more about being you, and you’re better at acting like her. We gotta play to our strengths.”
Your words make Silva stretch the face of a woman almost in her fifties into the proud grin of a mother hen. “Excellent. We’ll keep Carlyle under surveillance. You’ll decide when it’s the right moment to act. One more thing. Should we tell Clark?”
“I dunno...” So far, he’s been a good asset, but you’re unsure how much Silva wants him close. “He could get us out of trouble, but--”
“Think about it while we do surveillance. I’ll keep you informed of anything I get.”
As Silva leaves, the realization dawns on you. She left you in charge of this operation. Does she truly believe in your skills, or is she setting you to fall to learn another valuable lesson?
--
Your plan has a side benefit – you get to learn how the Science and Technology branch of the FBI works, and how Silva fits in the machine.
Adrienne Silva officially works for the Operational Technology division, which – amongst other things – lets her gather digital evidence but not process it. She spent two years as a field agent, however, which lets her do field work when necessary – like in the Wright case. Because the “extraneous devices” could be surveillance tech, she was called in to collect them, then give it to Forensic Sciences to process it.
Before your call, Silva was studying the potential data trails in the manufacturing lab she previously mentioned. Your call, and the confidence provided, allowed you to enter the case as a specialist, but insofar as the pens were involved – once they were handed to Forensic Sciences, that was as far as you could get.
However, Clark’s pull and your experience, as well as the nature of the sting operation itself, allowed you to convince the agent in charge to devise the parameters of the operation itself. This would ensure that no one would know how the pens worked except for you, minimizing potential risks. Of course, the operation had to be sanctioned by someone, and that was director Carlyle, who oversees all operations in the area.
Thanks to Silva’s own report, you know what you’re facing. It’s more than obvious that Carlyle suspects you know more than you’re telling him, and he’s keeping you under watch. Organizational hierarchy is invaluable for smooth operations, and having someone keep secrets regarding something as important as this will make you invaluable.
This will be a difficult mission, but you fear it won’t be impossible. The real Silva – as Clarice – is working under Human Resources, which means she has a better chance of gathering intel on his comings and leavings, and whether he’s being guarded; your task is to check his digital footprint, including any calls or e-mails from his official sources.
But getting to his secure lines and private devices will be another thing. Your knowledge of computers (well, hers and yours) is rather limited, which means you need to cozy up to one of the geeks in Digital Forensics and have them put a tap on Carlyle.
And to your fortune, you got a couple tricks under your midst. “Hey guys,” you saw as you sway your hips around their desks.
Robbins and Kerensky leer madly at you, but you’re aiming for someone else. Larry Scierka is known throughout the division for being a former black hat hacker, but also notoriously hard to convince. Still, it’s not a bad idea for you to try. “Hey, Scierka,” you purr at him.
“What do you need me for, Silva?”
You notice he’s in the middle of an online match – specifically, a Team Deathmatch in Mutant Rivals, a game you’re not a master of but are familiar with because Jimmy’s obsessed with it – and that he’s quite focused. You also notice that he’s not doing very well, for one glaring reason. Thus, you make an unusual move. “Business. I wanna see if you got the guts to tap Carlyle.”
“I got the guts. I only need to know why.”
“Like you need a reason why.”
“If I want to keep my job, I shouldn’t do stupid things. Ergo, a good reason.”
“I can make it worth your while...” You rub your finger on him, and you notice his companions are jeering at him. A glance to his eyes tells you it’s not going to work.
And, as you deduced, it didn’t work. “I don’t date coworkers.”
Robbins cackles while drawing nearer. “Unless you got big eyes and talk like a chipmunk, you won’t get his attention. Shame, though – I'd be right up your alley.”
Which is why you appeal to his geek instinct. You point at the monitor and show him the fatal flaw that prevents him from winning. “I’m surprised a master gamer like you didn’t notice Farlanzer camping on that spot.”
“Camping’s a viable strategy,” he retorts, trying to act unfazed. But you know Jimmy loves using it (because it annoys people), and you know how angry he gets if someone calls him out. But most importantly...
“You’re losing 1-3, there’s a Hoggsworth dropping all kinds of smogs, and you know that Farlanzer is sniping anyone going against it.” You point at one of his teammates, a demolitionist by the name of Boombadar. “Take him to that spot, take the Farlanzer and mine the shit out of that place.”
Then, you point out one of the enemy names, and then to the timer. “You can take out Rahzaar easily. That’s one kill. Take out Farlanzer, that’s two. Mine the spot, he either has to play clean or you get another kill. That’s three kills under one minute – if you play things right, you can get two more and get the Unstoppable buff.”
You see his mask of stoicity crack, as he taps into his headset. “Boom, follow me. Tank, run some distraction. We’re taking the Lanzer up top and screw his place. I think we can pull an Unstoppable under a minute.”
As you see your plan coming into fruition, you notice someone coming in from the corner of your eye. You quickly intercept Anna Gelding, the girl in charge of these nerds, and run your own distraction. “Gelding! Haven’t talked in a while, haven’t we?”
“Silva, what’s your business here? I don’t want you distracting my guys--”
“I was checking if they had a lead on the drug lab electronics I brought them. The Wright case seems to be linked to them.”
“Yeah,” Kerensky leaps to your defense, running interference. “Heard one of the Wright girls was running a drug operation in the pharmacy she worked.”
“Under coercion, Kerensky. Turns out, the heads of the operation were threatening her to do so or else they’d harm her sisters.”
“And did you get it?” She leans aside, and you meet her face.
“Still nothing, but I might get a solid lead soon enough. If you let them.”
Anna glares at you, pushing you aside. “As long as you don’t distract my boys.” She runs towards Scierka, who minimized the window, and chastises him. “And I don’t want to see you playing that damn game during work hours, you hear!?”
“Am I?” The two get into a tense staredown, which he ultimately wins.
“You’ve been warned.”
As soon as she locks up in her office, you see your plan worked. Not only did Scierka’s team got the Unstoppable buff, but also racked up five more kills, letting them win narrowly by one. Earning some valuable moments of his time, you drop your request.
“Tap Carlyle. Phone, tablet, whatever the fuck he connects in. I wanna see what porn he likes and what shit he buys. Can you do that for me?”
“As long as you get Gelding off my ass, you’re set.”
--
And that’s how you know exactly how to snare him. (Carlyle, that is.) Turns out, his frequent visits to one site “designed by KrakPot” has him connected to one of Tessa’s escorts. You’ve got blackmail content right then and there.
But your intent is to grab him, and fortunately, you got access to them. Turns out, Tessa’s “escorts” were really clones, which means you can wear one of them and catch him at his own home.
“There’s three spots where we can catch him,” you tell Silva, who switched out of Clarice. “The guys at DF spoofed the site and the chat, so we know where he’s snatching her, where he’s taking her, and where they’re ending the night. All we need to do is know when to hit.”
“Excellent,” she says with a satisfied tone. “So what’s the plan?”
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