Operation of the Decade

We'd covered everything about the people we were impersonating, investigated and interrogated them.

We knew everything about them.

At least we thought we did. Now I'm finding out that Park has a wife on D-Day. How?

I knew Stiff tortured them, how did he not find out about this? Or did he find out and thought it inconsequential?

Did he suspect me already and left me ignorant of this as some kind of elaborate trap?

What should I do?

“I believe we can use this,” M suggested, tentatively.

“It could be a trap,” I said, looking down at the ringing phone.

“It could be. But I just went through the phone. The number has always been there. Stiff’s IT team did not thoroughly go through the contact list. Or they did and missed some things because of the language barrier.”

That made sense. Park was Korean and the IT guys were all Americans or non-ancestral Americans.

They would surely have had a time going through a contact that looked like it was written with magic runes.

“Also, there's no way Stiff would have found out Park has a wife and not inform Lynx. That information could jeopardize the mission and the last thing Stiff wants is to jeopardize the mission. It is entirely possible that Park endured and said nothing about his wife for how much he loves her.”

That was possible but-

“Why is she only calling now? We have had her husband for some time.”

“I’d shrug if I could. We won't find out why without taking the first step to find out why.”

I sighed and ran a hand through the Asian wig that had been cosmetically glued to my head.

This could jeopardize my entire double agent thing if it went tits up, but M had a point.

“How do you think we could use this then?”

“Lynx and Chasms teams have arrived, they are entering the building with the tools.”

Tool in other words meaning decoupled firearms hidden amongst kitchen wares and smuggled in. Thermal check would detect a rifle but would it detect a rifle decoupled into eight different parts, spread out across twelve checks?

Nope, it wouldn't.

Lynx was in, that meant she'd soon start preparing breakfast. I shuddered remembering what she planned to do with that.

“We need to hurry before Cyborg gains control of the computer systems of the building. What we should do is this-”

I listened as M spoke and hoped, for everyone's good, that this was going to work.

***

M made sure to slip into the building’s digital system before Cyborg took control of it and right now she was providing me real-time footage from the surveillance system around the building.

I was currently watching Trojan. Or as she was called, Cho Han Na.

I didn't know if that was her real name. At first I was surprised to see that she was Korean before realizing it would have been stupid to have anyone else but a Korean play the role of Trojan.

She was dressed in a crisp business suit, entered the building and blended with the diplomatic meeting guests. She made her way to the Foreign Director's office, exchanging pleasantries with the staff.

"Hi, I'm Cho Han Na, the new intern. I'm here to assist with the reception."

M was in all their systems, so was using all phones and computers microphones to obtain audio which she transmitted to me through Park's monitor.

The Foreign Director's Assistant, Mrs. Go Yun Jin, smiled. "Welcome, Miss Cho Han Na. You're just in time. We need help with the guest list."

On another feed, I watched as Cyborg got to work. Disguised as a catering staff member he accessed the embassy's server room. He swiftly disabled the security cameras and alarms, creating a blind spot around the vault.

I checked the time. 08:20.

It would soon be Hammer's time to coax the Foreign Director and the foreign guests to make sure they remain peaceful and diplomatic.

“M, alert the authorities of what's going on. Pretend to be one of the staff inside the building,” I ordered.

It was time to blow the whistle. Cyborg might be blocking communications from entering or leaving the building but M was in his systems.

I watched as Hammer entered the conference room where the guests and Consulate executive staff were already gathering for the meeting. He stepped in, in the guise of delivering some coffee from the kitchen, carefully pushing a trolley covered by a tablecloth.

Hammer had to go through a biometric scanner but Cyborg quickly and expertly bypassed that. The scanner went green, fooled to believe Hammer was who he was pretending to be.

The door opened and Hammer pushed the trolley into the conference room.

The door shut close behind him and went red. No one noticed, no one was supposed to notice.

Cyborg had locked them all in the room with Hammer.

The staff and diplomatic guests were mingling in the hall, scattered all about. There were a few security officers within, officers who were already sweating.

Hammer reached underneath the tablecloth and pressed a button underneath the trolley.

A white fog began to spread from the trolley slowly covering the room.

The guards noticed and immediately began trying to find the source of it while other guards corralled the VIPs towards the door.

I watched intensely as they reached the door only for it to not open up.

Already some guards were beginning to fall.

I promise to never let Lynx cook for me again.

Surprisingly she was a really good chef, but what she did to the guards was pure evil.

Nitrous oxide-infused whipped cream and Aerosolized medications missed in with coffee, that was part of the breakfast that had been served to all the guards and why they were all passing out after inhaling the chemical fog.

Nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, can cause dizziness, disorientation, and even fainting when inhaled in large quantities.

If someone were to inhale a chemical fog after consuming nitrous oxide-infused whipped cream, as the guards had unknowingly done, they could experience severe symptoms.

I struck the ‘could’ from that.

For those who had both the cream and the coffee it was double symptoms for them, as opposed to those who didn't get the coffee but had the cream, or those who didn't like whipped cream but drank the coffee.

Medications, such as asthma inhalers, amongst other aerosolized treatments, capable of causing dizziness, lightheadedness, or fainting when inhaled in excess were what Lynx used in preparing the coffee.

Inhaling a chemical fog after imbibing one of these medications would incur adverse reactions, it could even be deadly.

In seconds the guards were out, splayed out on the floor.

Cyborg, still in control of the building, which included the ventilation system, aired the hall and cleared the fog.

The VIPs were staring around in horror at the unconscious guards.

They were asking each other what was happening, completely taken aback by what had happened.

Others were trying to get the door open, completely in panic mode now.

I heard before them. Probably because M was feeding me audio from all their devices’ microphones, including Hammer's, who was closest to it.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

It took a few more seconds before the noise was heard.

Everyone looked around searching for what was making the awfully familiar noise.

Seeing that he'd gained their curiosity, Hammer, with a flare, took off the table cloth covering the trolley to reveal-

Well, it certainly was not coffee. Not that I thought anyone in that hall would appreciate more coffee.

They all took a step and one foreign minister even fainted as they laid eyes on what the trolley carried.

Bombs, it carried bombs.