I'll request one last thing-a picture of Steranko and known associates. After that, I'll get into my new car (yay) and drive off, checking the GPS for the location of the casino, my first destination.
Oh, as a bonus, after dawning the x-ray glasses, I'll activate them and look at my female chauffeur, give her a wink, and head out.
So I'm off to be a secret agent...
Pictures:
- Augustus Steranko is mid-forties, European but dark coloring, very professional in appearance.
- Areola Canasta is the twenty-something aspiring model who has been seen in his company over much of the past year or so, long dark hair and svelte.
- Ilsa Grunt is a short forty-something woman who works as his personal assistant in some capacity, and usually travels with him.
- Zigesfeld, listed as bodyguard, is also in his forties, stocky and muscular.
At the moment you look at the female agent who picked you up at the airport, she is standing behind the male agent who was also there, so you only see him.
You start your journey to the casino.
As you pull out of the underground garage onto the street, you pick up a tail in a small sports car. It looks like a girl, maybe nineteen, pretty, and not one of those you saw in the pictures.
At the moment she is stuck behind you, following closely as if she's trying to pass, but city traffic, although moving rapidly, is not allowing her to get out. The GPS is taking you by a quick route out of the city, though, and it looks like you'll be on open road fairly soon.
--M. J. Young
Upon reaching open road, I'll put more gas on the vehicle, in an attempt to outrun her.
If the woman proceeds to follow me, increasing her speed as well, I'll pull the car over, and see what she wants with a verbal confrontation if she gets out of her car.
As you reach the outskirts of the city, you realize that you have picked up a second vehicle--a black compact sedan, maybe German, keeping pace behind the two of you. It is still at some distance back, and at this speed not gaining. The vehicle is too far back to get any view of the driver.
The girl seems to be trying to pull alongside you, but your car is an easy match for her; you could leave her behind, and maybe the German, too, but it would require moving at a speed at which you are not accustomed to drive.
--M. J. Young
Did the agents equip me with any weapons?
They certainly did. You have several heavy caliber machine guns and a few rocket launchers built into the car.
They did not give you a handgun; they probably assumed you had your own.
They did put your luggage in the trunk for you, except the cat, which is still in the cat carrier on the back seat.
--M. J. Young
I'll continue going and press harder on the gas, to increase my speed.
At this speed, I'll try to recall tips that a friend of mine gave me when he told me a story of when he ran from the cops in his car one time. It's very important to keep full control of the wheel, and not even let it turn a little unless you intend to. Look far ahead, and try not to take your eyes off far-down the road.
How good a driver are you?
--M. J. Young
I've had a license for 3 years now, but I don't drive very often. I still think I'm better than most of the people on the road, but I can't say for sure in a lot of cases.
Shall we go with a low amateur level for driving? While I am a safe driver, I've never driven above 90 mph before.
I should have asked this already: do you have computer skills that go beyond ordinary use? This would include programming in any computer language, repairs or modifications, et cetera.
You push the car, but apparently the girl knows what she's doing. She pulls out alongside you. She's trying to get your attention and trying to say something to you, mouthing something, first one syllable that pushes her lips forward, and then two syllables in which her upper teeth touch her lower lip in the middle as her mouth generally moves from open to closed. She does this several times.
The other car is not gaining at this point.
--M. J. Young
I don't have any knowledge about computers other than typing, pointing, and clicking.
I'm not usually computer savvy, let alone able to program or repair computers.
I sound out what the woman is saying, and come to the conclusion that she's probably saying "move." At that, I'll slow my car a bit, so that I can possibly make out the sound of what she's saying over the blowing winds, which should quiet with the reduction of speed.
It takes a couple times, and you're having a difficult time driving and reading her lips--but you're pretty sure she's mouthing, "Pull Over".
The other car is still following.
--M. J. Young
I think for a moment about the issue at hand. She could either be there to help me or harm me.
I'm most defended in the car.
...but I'm immortal anyways. I pull the car over, but I only roll down the window, instead of getting out of the car to talk to her. Do I recognize this woman when we've stopped?
She pulls over next to you. Her passenger side window is already down.
"You're the new spy, right?" she says. "You've got it wrong--Steranko is the...."
At this point the other car comes up, and the man inside aims a pistol in your direction. He has not slowed down much, and appears to be attempting to shoot someone without stopping. He does look familiar: he looks like Zigesfeld, the bodyguard included among Steranko's associates.
--M. J. Young
"Get down!" I shout at the woman, and drop my head, in an attempt to avoid any bullets.
After the man passes, if I'm still alive, I get out of the car and check on the woman, to see if she's okay.
The black car which Zigesfeld is driving pulls ahead perhaps fifty yards and does a skid turn, now facing to come back toward you.
The girl's windshield shows a crack from being hit; your car seems to have deflected the bullets, although one deflected off the inside of the passenger side window and sank into the back of the seat next to you.
Before you can open your door, the black car is accelerating back toward you.
The girl has sat up again, and appears unharmed. It is not entirely clear to you whether the Zigesfeld was shooting at her or you; he could have hit either or both.
--M. J. Young
I attempt to grab the woman and hurl her into the passenger seat of my car as quickly as possible.
After that, I'll slam the door with just as much emphasis on speed.
Once I'm in the car, I'll attempt to begin pursuit of Zigesfeld and figure out how to use the machineguns attached to the car.
I am confused about what you think you are doing. Let me attempt to put it in perspective, because one of us doesn't understand what the other has described. Sometimes that turns out to be me.
You were being pursued by two cars, one containing a maybe nineteen year old very attractive girl and another containing a man you recognize as Zigesfeld, one of Steranko's bodyguards. The girl pulled up alongside you and yelled for you to pull over, and you did. She started to say something when Zig shot past and opened fire as he did so. You are sitting in your car, her car is stopped on your driver's side, she is sitting in her car.
Zig continued past you about fifty yards and did a one hundred eighty degree skid turn so that his car is now facing back toward you for another pass.
What you describe to me would involve:
- You open your door and get out of your car.
- You run (in front or behind) around her car and open her door.
- You pull her from her car and drag her (hopefully she is cooperating) around both cars to the passenger side of yours.
- You stuff her in the passenger side and run back around to the driver's side of your car. If the door is still open, you hop in.
--M. J. Young
Ooooh, okay, I did misunderstand. I thought she was outside her car by my driver's side window for some reason.
Instead, I'll nod at the woman while checking to see if she's alright. At the same time, I'll press on the gas and roll up the window. Then, I'll investigate if I know how to use the machineguns attached to the car.
If I do, then I'll dive toward's Zig and start firing when I get 30 yards away.
The girl puts her car in reverse and backs away from you; you are barely aware of this as you scan panels--geosynchronous location system, database, communications, finally finding weapons systems. You hit that button, and a panel opens on the center console as a pleasant female voice says, "Weapons Systems Active". Scanning this, you see selectors for rear blast shield, fore and aft rockets, oil slick, smoke, finally what must be machine guns, plus a targeting joy stick. You hit the button.
As the voice says "Machine Guns active" the system shoots, and one bullet cracks the windshield of the car that is almost upon you. The driver veers, fires his pistol out the window; the bullet glances off your side window without leaving a mark, and Zig sails past you, now behind you.
A glance in your mirror shows that the girl has put some distance between you, heading back toward the city Zig is slowing, as if trying to see what he might have done.
--M. J. Young
I'll start heading the direction that I initially was, with the intention of going as fast as I was before.
I'll check the rearview mirror every so often, and I'll turn off the machine guns if Zig is out of sight.
You shoot out of there.
Zig is in pursuit. You've got the faster car, but he's driving extremely well and you are encountering enough traffic that you have to negotiate around it to stay ahead.
You don't see the girl at present.
--M. J. Young
I'll continue along my path, keeping an eye out for Zig as I continue. I'll follow my GPS to the casino that I was originally heading to.
Traffic suddenly starts to bunch up and slow down, and you realize that it's going to come to a near standstill soon--in which Zigesfeld will be able to get within a few car lengths of you probably fairly easily, and you won't be able to maneuver your way out.
This is the road to the casino, although the GPS shows an exit about a mile ahead, which you might reach before Zig reaches you. It's not clear where that would put you, and a downtown area might be worse than this if it's congested and has traffic lights, but it is pretty certain that staying here will mean another confrontation with Zigesfeld.
--M. J. Young
I'll think fast.
I'll try to take the exit, and at the end of the exit ramp, I'll turn the car around as fast as I can, while I activate my machine guns on the car.
I plan on waiting there until Zig comes off that exit, and I'll try to gun him down.
Are you going to find a block to go around, turn around in a parking lot or driveway, do a three-point turn on the local roads or on the highway offramp, or attempt a 180 skid turn somewhere?
--M. J. Young
If he's a distance away, I'm going to do a three-point turn; however, if there isn't time for that, then I'm going to attempt a skid turn on the highway offramp.
You've got the head start, and you pull the three-point turn. The only problem is that you're not the only person who decided to avoid traffic by getting off at this ramp--a blue Mercedes is between you and Ziggy, and he's blowing his horn like he thinks you're an idiot.
You hit the selector to arm the machine guns, and the Mercedes driver blanches and swerves to the opposite shoulder of the off-ramp to avoid you.
Ziggy is coming down the ramp behind him.
--M. J. Young
I'll accelerate towards Ziggy while I let the machine guns blast at him.
You plow upwards and fire.
The oncoming car veers sideways, blocking the ramp; the driver is on the far side, but his door pops open. A moment later you see the fleeting form of a man leap over the edge of the offramp and out of sight.
I presume you step on the brakes and avoid a collision with the now stationary and empty car.
--M. J. Young
A sudden realization of "what the hell am I doing" comes to mind; however, I step on the break still.
If I read this correctly, the guy in the mercedes is the one who got out of his car and is fleeing, while Ziggy is still approaching; however, the mercedes is currently in the way of me shooting him up, correct?
If that is true, then I'll also put the car in reverse, using memory of going up the ramp as well as looking through the rearview mirror to drive down it. I still have the machine guns on, but not firing.
Sorry, my confusion--let me try again.
Behind you was a blue Mercedes; Ziggy was behind him. When you turned around, the Mercedes blew his horn; when you armed your machine guns (and they popped into view) the Mercedes swerved over to the far shoulder and continued trying to get past you down the ramp.
That put Ziggy in front of you, and you charged toward him and opened fire. He swerved the car so that he would be behind it when he popped out the driver's door; he then leapt over the side of the offramp, leaving the car blocking the ramp, bullet holes in your side. The Mercedes will have gotten past you (or you past it) already, and the ramp is blocked between you and the highway, while Ziggy has presumably leapt to whatever is below the ramp there (possibly the street, possibly the roof of a low building).
You can still back down the ramp (slowly without any problem, quickly is more difficult).
--M. J. Young
I decide that it would be best not to pursue Zig without first taking note of everything that they had to offer me back when I got the car. I pull to the side, turn off the machine guns, and pop the trunk open.
Then, I go around my car careful not to be hit by traffic and see what's inside.
I'm just a little confused as to exactly where you've put the car. You had been coming down an off-ramp from a highway, and you turned around to face up the ramp. The Mercedes got around you on the opposite shoulder, and Ziggy dumped his car and bailed over the rail out of sight. Are you still on the ramp, facing the wrong direction, or are you backing off it first?
The trunk contains a scuba suit with air tanks, a tuxedo with dress shirt, and a pair of sneakers they called Gecko Boots, plus a suitcase full of French money. You also were handed a pair of dark glasses, but they're probably inside the car. I don't specifically recall anything else, but if it was stated earlier that they gave it to you, you have it.
--M. J. Young
There's no confusion-that's exactly what I did.
I'll go over to his car, bringing the sunglasses with me, and I search for clues inside. My first place to look is the glovebox, then the trunk. I take everything that I find and put it in my own car.
If everything goes smoothely, I get back into my car, get turned around correctly on the ramp, and use the GPS to find the nearest hotel.
The vehicle is registered to Augustus Steranko, at an address in Austria. There are some maps of France on the front seat, and papers for a room at a casino hotel on the Riviera, including a key card.
In the trunk you find several guns--one sniper rifle with scope, one shot gun, one nine millimeter pistol. Each is in its own metal suitcase.
--M. J. Young
I grab it all and hurl it into the back seat of my car, next to Harry's cat carrier.
Then I start driving while using the GPS function of the car to find a mid-expensive hotel. On the way to it, I use the car phone to contact the agency that I'm currently working for, the phone they said to use if I needed any more cash.
"Good afternoon, how may I direct your call?"
The operator's female voice gives away nothing concerning whom you may have reached.
--M. J. Young
Well...if this is any other James Bond movie, then the operator is definately with the agency that hired my 'other' of this world to do this job.
"I have new developements, may I be blunt?"
"Recording activated. Go ahead."
--M. J. Young