Part 11: Travel Tech. You’re Going Places With Us.

– Travel Tech. You’re Going Places With Us.


Last time, John Blake promised us more information about Procat. We head to London to take him up on the offer.









On ringing the doorbell, we hear a voice call out.



I’m in the back!



Thorn, I’ve been expecting you. Please, have a seat. I’d hoped this Procat affair would stay in the distant past, where it belongs. I was working with the Agency to take down Nicholai Melnachov. They called him the butcher of Jahalabad because he terrorized the locals by putting bombs in childrens’ toys.

After Afghanistan he turned capitalist and went on to form Procat. You know, it means “for hire” in Russian. Bloody bastard. We had to do something. Now if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I’ll gather that information I promised you.

Blake leaves at this point, and we’re free to poke around.











Here you go. You’ll need this more than I ever will. I call this my encyclopedia Procat. A compendium of facts and figures on Procat activity past and present. As far as I know, there are no more than a handful of spy mercenaries. Don’t be fooled though, they’re all lethal in their individual ways. Everything I know about Procat is in this folio. I have several stored at strategic locations as a precaution.



What do you mean precaution?

if Melnachov isn’t in his grave, don’t you think he might come after the man who tried to put him there? The other pages are no mere academic exercise. Consider them a survival manual. Put them to good use during your investigation.



But didn’t you kill Melnachov?

If only I could be sure that I put him in his grave. The car exploded, yes, but I had to withdraw once the device was planted, and MI6 never confirmed the kill. Probably only a formality, but a professional likes to be thorough.



So, who do you think is running Procat?

Apparently the new leader doesn’t want to suffer Melnachov’s fate. He’s known only by his code name - Mirage. And that’s exactly what the bugger is – no photographs, sitings, not even a bloody shadow. I’d wager even Procat members don’t know who he is. Or her. No reason Mirage has to be a man.



No, no, it was my pleasure.

Before we can go through the file, we receive a message from Colby:



It seems both Holt and Seaton are now under suspicion. We’ll have to head back to Washington to check them out.



Now, let’s see what Blake’s file holds.



























There a few interesting things here. First, Blake (and presumably, MI6) have a lot less on Grendel and Harmonica than we have. But that’s to be expected.

Second, the details on Onyx’s travel habits should help us track him down.

Before that, we’ll head back to Washington to check up on our support spooks.







This is Seaton’s office.



The security camera has been disconnected.



A trip on Sun Cruise Lines.







So she’s been turned down for a promotion. A motive?



Let’s poke around in whatever this thing is.





























So Seaton has some dissatisfaction with her job, and she doesn’t like Sterling. But she does offer an explanation for the security camera being disconnected. And who’s the David she was with?

Let’s check out Holt.













That picture on the wall appears to be the one from Blake’s file on Melnachov. Why would Holt have that picture on his wall? And it looks like he also enjoys a cruise now and then. Do he and Seaton have a personal relationship that’s not in the files?

There’s a lot to process here, but it’s time to head back to Moscow.







Good news! We found Birdsong! But I’m not sure he’s going to cooperate.

Offer him a house in the Montana in exchange for his cooperation.

Right! Can’t hurt. I’ll let you know what happens.

If you had pressured Birdsong into killing the Mafioso earlier, the option here would be to threaten to turn him in for murder. That’s really the only consequence to that choice.



I found another set of Beale codes. These were in the newsgroup rec.music.blues. It’s a pair of messages from a Fred Vorbel at Georgetown University. I checked him out – no such person.

I managed to break Vorbel’s Beale codes. Listen up. One reads – Operative to London. The other – Operative to Moscow, Raven captured. This matches your travel itinerary. I smell a mole.





Thorn, before you get too cozy with your fellow team members, keep in mind that where this mole is concerned, nobody is above suspicion.



So the mole knows when we jet from country to country. Colby has updated Eclipse to show who had access to that information. Let’s check it out.



Admin is the new addition here. All the bean counters would have known our movements.













However, none of them had access to information on the PEG and Procat. At least not official access.





Our whole team had that information. Not much help here.







We should keep in mind that surreptitious personal relationships could explain someone having knowledge they aren’t cleared for. Like the possible one between Holt and Seaton.

For now, it’s back to our home-away-from-home in Pearson’s old office. We barely sit down before the phone rings.



Is it possible to meet at my office? I have something to share with you.

So it’s back to Yasevno. Jet lag has to be kicking in by now.



Here. This might be of use.



Please do not ask where I got this. We are both professionals. You need it, I have it. Even that is more than I should say. You should go now. I do not want to get caught, here, together, with what you have in your hands.



You have far more pressing problems, my friend. I suggest you keep your priorities straight. I have jeopardized my standing in SVR to help you; do not make me regret it. Now, please. I am very busy.









This is more information that will help us track down Onyx. But how did Yuri get it? And is he planning to burn us as he has American operatives in the past?



Glad to see you’ve got a lead on the pit sale, Thorn. Good luck.



Time to track down Onyx. Here’s what we know. He has meticulous travel habits. He’ll only fly business class, in an aisle seat, and the meals have to be vegetarian. We also have the money serial numbers to consider.



We’ll flip through flights registered to Onyx’s known aliases to find ones that meet all the criteria.













Aisle seat, but no veggie meal.





AirThai flight #742 from Bangkok to Delhi fits.



Another flight, same day, from Delhi to Berlin.











The rest don’t really fit. So we can guess that Onyx got to Berlin on 3/06. Let’s track those bills.















So bills with those serials were used in Berlin on 3/07, when we know Onyx was in Berlin. In fact, they were used at Flieger Air. The alias on the Flieger Air fight from Berlin to Heidelberg didn’t request a vegetarian meal, but that’s a pretty short hop. It looks like Onyx is in Heidelberg.

We can also track bill use by location. Looks like Onyx is holed up at the Hotel Schlumphen.



Time to report in.



The bat-phone rings:





Please hold for the President of the United States.

I appreciate your efforts concerning this assassination conspiracy. But I’ve just been briefed on this nuclear pit situation. Now Pete Sterling and I agree that it must take precedence. He’ll follow up with you shortly. The country’s counting on you. God bless and good luck.





Thorn, I understand the President has already contacted you. Finding the pit is the top priority. Put the Harmonica hunt on hold.

Next time, we’ll drop everything and head to Heidelberg to try to stop the pit sale.