Operation 03: The Eurovision Song Contest Job
Two weeks pass after the Little Prince Job.
Heat level -2.
9 May 2013. Jacob performs digital surveillance on the Gary Camon mob. Zlatan gets a new car for the team, a VW Passat, and soups it up for maximum performance.
Sami goes through the London Pure Breed Club to acquire two orphaned adolescent borzoi (which we name Abraham Lincoln and Abraham Van Helsing). In a chance meeting with the Club’s President, Lady Vincent, Sami learns that some lunatic set her dog loose in Waterloo Station recently, resulting in it having to be put down. She’s put a GBP20,000 bounty on the head of the man who got her dog killed. Sami files this away for reference, in case they ever need to convert Jacob to cash.
Sami also calls upon a contact from his Network who has a large farm outside London, a perfect place to raise, keep and train the dogs.
Camon's brother-in-law, Donald Edwin Peters of Peters Gaulle Construction, provides the Camon mob with a new base of operations: The Battersea Power Station site, which is being redeveloped by a Malaysian consortium for condominiums (this is a real thing).
Misha gets some payments from Air Marshal Prince again, together with one MoD cover and some BAE ID cards.
The gangster's moll Rose approaches Misha and offers to provide inside information on the vampire-wielding mobsters in exchange for being lifted and given a new life. It seems Vin is sleeping by day and prowling by night, and is growing more inhuman and brutal, especially towards Rose, who sports black eyes now.
The Agents also learn that Inspector Purcell and his men are still (ineptly) attempting surveillance on the Camon mob. There is a comical roundabout chase scene.
Dr Kana, who has been monitoring his own medical condition, informs the team that:
Jacob sends Kana's notes (redacted) and a cell sample to a contact, Michael Chin, who is a medical lecturer at King's College, London. Michael starts studying the sample.
Rose informs the Agents that Vin has come up with a scheme to send several people to the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden. Their mission is to contact a relative named Milla Cesarescu, a Gypsy Punk protest musician who is involved in the local minorities' rights activism movement. She's the lead singer for a band called Half Kingdom.
It seems Milla and Vin are long-separated cousins. Milla left Romania in 1990 and was adopted by a Swedish family, while Vin stayed in Romania and became a gangster.
Mr Grey, Rose and one other henchman are scheduled to fly to Malmö on the 16th of May to make contact with Milla.
Heat level -2.
9 May 2013. Jacob performs digital surveillance on the Gary Camon mob. Zlatan gets a new car for the team, a VW Passat, and soups it up for maximum performance.
Sami goes through the London Pure Breed Club to acquire two orphaned adolescent borzoi (which we name Abraham Lincoln and Abraham Van Helsing). In a chance meeting with the Club’s President, Lady Vincent, Sami learns that some lunatic set her dog loose in Waterloo Station recently, resulting in it having to be put down. She’s put a GBP20,000 bounty on the head of the man who got her dog killed. Sami files this away for reference, in case they ever need to convert Jacob to cash.
Sami also calls upon a contact from his Network who has a large farm outside London, a perfect place to raise, keep and train the dogs.
Camon's brother-in-law, Donald Edwin Peters of Peters Gaulle Construction, provides the Camon mob with a new base of operations: The Battersea Power Station site, which is being redeveloped by a Malaysian consortium for condominiums (this is a real thing).
Misha gets some payments from Air Marshal Prince again, together with one MoD cover and some BAE ID cards.
The gangster's moll Rose approaches Misha and offers to provide inside information on the vampire-wielding mobsters in exchange for being lifted and given a new life. It seems Vin is sleeping by day and prowling by night, and is growing more inhuman and brutal, especially towards Rose, who sports black eyes now.
The Agents also learn that Inspector Purcell and his men are still (ineptly) attempting surveillance on the Camon mob. There is a comical roundabout chase scene.
Dr Kana, who has been monitoring his own medical condition, informs the team that:
- The vampire bacteria gave him temporary strength, vigour and cravings for meat, even though he is a vegetarian.
- The vampire bacteria died off after a few days - the human bloodstream is not really suitable for the parasite.
- He appears to be cured...at least, so it seems.
Jacob sends Kana's notes (redacted) and a cell sample to a contact, Michael Chin, who is a medical lecturer at King's College, London. Michael starts studying the sample.
Rose informs the Agents that Vin has come up with a scheme to send several people to the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden. Their mission is to contact a relative named Milla Cesarescu, a Gypsy Punk protest musician who is involved in the local minorities' rights activism movement. She's the lead singer for a band called Half Kingdom.
It seems Milla and Vin are long-separated cousins. Milla left Romania in 1990 and was adopted by a Swedish family, while Vin stayed in Romania and became a gangster.
Mr Grey, Rose and one other henchman are scheduled to fly to Malmö on the 16th of May to make contact with Milla.
|
So the players decide that Jacob, Sami, Zlatan and Van Helsing will take the Harwich-Esbjerg ferry, drive across Denmark, then cross the Øresund Bridge to get to Sweden. The trip will only take a day and sidesteps the problem of getting expensive and scarce tickets to Malmö at this late hour. Plus, it’s easier to transport the dog by surface routes.
Languages: Jacob and Sami both speak Swedish, while Zlatan speaks with just his driving. They should be able to get by. Misha will stay behind with Lincoln to do surveillance on the Camon mob and keep in touch with Rose. It's time to go to Eurovision. |
The Big Story
Meet Ebba Östberg, a journalist working with Millenium Magazine in Sweden. She’s known this mysterious guy named Jacob Bjork for a few years now, and he’s helped her out with a couple of investigative stories. Now, he asks her if she’s doing any reporting on Eurovision. As it happens, yes, she’s doing a story about how white supremacist groups are threatening to cause trouble at the Eurovision Song Contest. What a coincidence! Jacob wants to do a story on Milla Cesarescu, who happens to be one of the singers receiving death threats from the racist scumbags. Ebba agrees to team up with Jacob for this job.
13 May 2013. Ebba meets Zlatan and Jacob in Hyllie, Malmö.
Number of times across the Øresund Bridge: 1
Everyone's friendly but Jacob gets automatically suspicious of Ebba’s fancy car and expensive rented place in Turning Torso, one of the most exclusive office towers in Malmö.
I have wealthy clients, she says. He just gets more paranoid.
Moving on. The team rents rooms at a bed-and-breakfast. They get some rest after the long drive. Tomorrow will be long.
13 May 2013. Ebba meets Zlatan and Jacob in Hyllie, Malmö.
Number of times across the Øresund Bridge: 1
Everyone's friendly but Jacob gets automatically suspicious of Ebba’s fancy car and expensive rented place in Turning Torso, one of the most exclusive office towers in Malmö.
I have wealthy clients, she says. He just gets more paranoid.
Moving on. The team rents rooms at a bed-and-breakfast. They get some rest after the long drive. Tomorrow will be long.
Carnivale in Malmö
14 May 2013. Carnival atmosphere here in Malmö this morning. Bands are performing live shows throughout the day, even from the morning. Tens of thousands of visitors throng the city. The police presence is strong, too. It's the premiere tourist event of the year, and they can't afford to let anything go wrong.
Jacob, Zlatan and Ebba visit the Moorish Pavilion, where Half Kingdom is playing, to interview Milla. After being screened by Zoë Lindstrom, Milla’s partner and manager, the would-be journalists film an interview with the Romanian immigrant turned punk star.
Milla speaks up against racism and violence against immigrants in Sweden. She only escaped Romania as a kid in 1990 because Zoe’s aunt Nova Lind personally rescued her from a wild dog attack and arranged for the kid to be adopted in Sweden.
Nova was an angel of mercy, says Milla. An activist who spoke out for the weak and powerless. Also, she fought like Hell and bit the dog back. Yeah, that's going to be important.
Nova Lind retired from public life ten years ago. Half a year back, racist attacks on the Romany and immigrant communities got really bad. Nova said she was going to come out of her seclusion to do something. But instead they did it to her first. Her house in Malmö was firebombed. They never found her body.
Milla swears she'll get justice. Interview is over, time to leave.
Sami and Abraham Van Helsing are in the Passat, cruising past the Pavilion, scanning the crowds, when the dog goes nuts. Vampire nearby.
What the Agents don't know: Mikko Mikkel-Mikkelsen, a tall, block-jawed blond Finn dressed like a biker, is here to cause trouble. A lot of trouble. Sami gives the description of Mikko to the others over radio earpiece. Zlatan comes out to to help with counter-surveillance. He switches places with Sami - he'll drive the Passat, Sami and Abraham Van Helsing will walk.
Jacob hangs out with one of Milla's female bodyguards at the back door of the Pavilion, sharing a joint (he picked up some fine weed while passing through Copenhagen) and gossip.
Some skinheads run interference for Mikko by luring a passing policeman into a restroom and mugging him. While the police are busy trying to catch these guys, Mikko hits the Pavilion through the back entrance. Jacob and the guard, Heidi, barely slow the vampire down. He hypnotizes Heidi right before Jacob’s eyes and walks on in.
Jacob tries to snap her out of it. Did you see that? he asks. You just let a big biker guy in!
What are you talking about? she asks. Are you high?
No! he says, coughing because he has been smoking a lot of weed.
Jacob, who is totally not a combat type, goes in after Mikko. He finds the brutal biker vampire in a closet, in the process of picking up another guard and piledriving him into the floor. Mikko tries a mental attack. Jacob resists (the player, Macx, burned a lot of Stability to keep from being hypnotised). Jacob tells Mikko it didn’t work. Mikko goes for him. Jacob flees for Milla’s dressing room and warns all the guards. Mikko follows, but seeing all the guards on alert, he backs off. Flees out of the Pavilion and heads for a nearby music theatre across the road.
Zlatan spots Mikko knocking at the back door of the music theatre. A weasel-faced white man whom we shall call Weasel Face greets Mikko, lets him in. Zlatan plants a disposable camera to watch the back alley.
Sami's spotted a mysterious gray-haired Brochure Man in the crowd, actually a veteran Swedish spook named Snorre Dahlquist. Sami tails Snorre, watches him. Brochure Man plays it very cool and patient, sitting at a cafe next to the music theatre while very silently signalling for the police to move in.
Couple of cops try sneaking in the back. They never come out. Sami and Brochure Man just sit there and watch as a whole bunch of counterterrorist cops show up. Mikko leaves through the back alley. The cops rush the theatre. Gunfire inside. Weasel Face flees too.
Zlatan tails Mikko in the Passat. Mikko takes the bus heading to Copenhagen. Sami and Van Helsing take the bus too, with Brochure Man following.
Jacob keeps track of all this over the police channel. The cops are talking about men down in the music theatre.
Jacob spots Weasel and other shifty fellows moving through the crowd, heading for the parking lot. Jacob takes a risk and starts speaking on the police channel, trying to make himself sound like one of the cops. He tips off the police and starts a manhunt for Weasel Face. Weasel Face makes it to a van in the parking lot. A lone cop tries to stop him. The bad guys start the van and run the cop over as they flee.
Jacob blows his cover over radio trying to get the cops to come. Instead, now some of them are hunting him. Jacob gets to Ebba and her car and they follow the police pursuit of Weasel Face.
Soon, the police find the van abandoned below an overpass. Weasel Face and the others get away.
Jacob, Zlatan and Ebba visit the Moorish Pavilion, where Half Kingdom is playing, to interview Milla. After being screened by Zoë Lindstrom, Milla’s partner and manager, the would-be journalists film an interview with the Romanian immigrant turned punk star.
Milla speaks up against racism and violence against immigrants in Sweden. She only escaped Romania as a kid in 1990 because Zoe’s aunt Nova Lind personally rescued her from a wild dog attack and arranged for the kid to be adopted in Sweden.
Nova was an angel of mercy, says Milla. An activist who spoke out for the weak and powerless. Also, she fought like Hell and bit the dog back. Yeah, that's going to be important.
Nova Lind retired from public life ten years ago. Half a year back, racist attacks on the Romany and immigrant communities got really bad. Nova said she was going to come out of her seclusion to do something. But instead they did it to her first. Her house in Malmö was firebombed. They never found her body.
Milla swears she'll get justice. Interview is over, time to leave.
Sami and Abraham Van Helsing are in the Passat, cruising past the Pavilion, scanning the crowds, when the dog goes nuts. Vampire nearby.
What the Agents don't know: Mikko Mikkel-Mikkelsen, a tall, block-jawed blond Finn dressed like a biker, is here to cause trouble. A lot of trouble. Sami gives the description of Mikko to the others over radio earpiece. Zlatan comes out to to help with counter-surveillance. He switches places with Sami - he'll drive the Passat, Sami and Abraham Van Helsing will walk.
Jacob hangs out with one of Milla's female bodyguards at the back door of the Pavilion, sharing a joint (he picked up some fine weed while passing through Copenhagen) and gossip.
Some skinheads run interference for Mikko by luring a passing policeman into a restroom and mugging him. While the police are busy trying to catch these guys, Mikko hits the Pavilion through the back entrance. Jacob and the guard, Heidi, barely slow the vampire down. He hypnotizes Heidi right before Jacob’s eyes and walks on in.
Jacob tries to snap her out of it. Did you see that? he asks. You just let a big biker guy in!
What are you talking about? she asks. Are you high?
No! he says, coughing because he has been smoking a lot of weed.
Jacob, who is totally not a combat type, goes in after Mikko. He finds the brutal biker vampire in a closet, in the process of picking up another guard and piledriving him into the floor. Mikko tries a mental attack. Jacob resists (the player, Macx, burned a lot of Stability to keep from being hypnotised). Jacob tells Mikko it didn’t work. Mikko goes for him. Jacob flees for Milla’s dressing room and warns all the guards. Mikko follows, but seeing all the guards on alert, he backs off. Flees out of the Pavilion and heads for a nearby music theatre across the road.
Zlatan spots Mikko knocking at the back door of the music theatre. A weasel-faced white man whom we shall call Weasel Face greets Mikko, lets him in. Zlatan plants a disposable camera to watch the back alley.
Sami's spotted a mysterious gray-haired Brochure Man in the crowd, actually a veteran Swedish spook named Snorre Dahlquist. Sami tails Snorre, watches him. Brochure Man plays it very cool and patient, sitting at a cafe next to the music theatre while very silently signalling for the police to move in.
Couple of cops try sneaking in the back. They never come out. Sami and Brochure Man just sit there and watch as a whole bunch of counterterrorist cops show up. Mikko leaves through the back alley. The cops rush the theatre. Gunfire inside. Weasel Face flees too.
Zlatan tails Mikko in the Passat. Mikko takes the bus heading to Copenhagen. Sami and Van Helsing take the bus too, with Brochure Man following.
Jacob keeps track of all this over the police channel. The cops are talking about men down in the music theatre.
Jacob spots Weasel and other shifty fellows moving through the crowd, heading for the parking lot. Jacob takes a risk and starts speaking on the police channel, trying to make himself sound like one of the cops. He tips off the police and starts a manhunt for Weasel Face. Weasel Face makes it to a van in the parking lot. A lone cop tries to stop him. The bad guys start the van and run the cop over as they flee.
Jacob blows his cover over radio trying to get the cops to come. Instead, now some of them are hunting him. Jacob gets to Ebba and her car and they follow the police pursuit of Weasel Face.
Soon, the police find the van abandoned below an overpass. Weasel Face and the others get away.
Across the Øresund Strait
Three vehicles of note enter Denmark via the Øresund Bridge:
Number of times across the Øresund Bridge: 3 (separate crossings)
They encounter no immigration procedures worth a damn. Zlatan tails Mikko to his safehouse – the basement level of an IKEA warehouse.
When Sami's bus arrives in Copenhagen, he visits a photocopy shop to print a picture of Mikko taken by the surveillance camera, writes the IKEA address and turns to present Brochure Man with a free tip. Brochure Man passes Abraham his calling card, tucked in the dog collar.
Zlatan, Sami and Van Helsing stake out the IKEA with cameras and a car. Brochure Man and a bike courier show up to do the same thing, except with fewer resources. Jacob hangs out in a café and watches everything on the cameras.
Evening. Mikko gets picked up by a couple of other skinheads and they drive off. Bike Courier and Brochure Man follow in a taxi.
Sami locates the junction box for the IKEA. Jacob hacks in remotely and compromises the alarms and security cameras. Zlatan and Sami draw arms from the Passat and leave Van Helsing to guard the car. They infiltrate the IKEA’s basement storage rooms.
Mikko's bolt hole has a mattress, drink bottles and used bandages. Sami and Zlatan take samples of everything. Blood and other samples go into Sami’s Orangina bottles. The Passat’s smuggling compartment comes in handy – it carries thermite, guns and ammo, and now serves as a hiding place for vampire blood samples.
Back to Malmö. Number of times across the Øresund Bridge: 4
- Mikko on a bus
- Zlatan in the Passat
- Sami, Abraham Van Helsing and Brochure Man on another bus
Number of times across the Øresund Bridge: 3 (separate crossings)
They encounter no immigration procedures worth a damn. Zlatan tails Mikko to his safehouse – the basement level of an IKEA warehouse.
When Sami's bus arrives in Copenhagen, he visits a photocopy shop to print a picture of Mikko taken by the surveillance camera, writes the IKEA address and turns to present Brochure Man with a free tip. Brochure Man passes Abraham his calling card, tucked in the dog collar.
Zlatan, Sami and Van Helsing stake out the IKEA with cameras and a car. Brochure Man and a bike courier show up to do the same thing, except with fewer resources. Jacob hangs out in a café and watches everything on the cameras.
Evening. Mikko gets picked up by a couple of other skinheads and they drive off. Bike Courier and Brochure Man follow in a taxi.
Sami locates the junction box for the IKEA. Jacob hacks in remotely and compromises the alarms and security cameras. Zlatan and Sami draw arms from the Passat and leave Van Helsing to guard the car. They infiltrate the IKEA’s basement storage rooms.
Mikko's bolt hole has a mattress, drink bottles and used bandages. Sami and Zlatan take samples of everything. Blood and other samples go into Sami’s Orangina bottles. The Passat’s smuggling compartment comes in handy – it carries thermite, guns and ammo, and now serves as a hiding place for vampire blood samples.
Back to Malmö. Number of times across the Øresund Bridge: 4
Half Kingdom Come
That evening, the Agents regroup and stake out the hotel where Milla is staying. Good news: Security has been tightened. Less chance of someone hitting Milla successfully. Later that night, the Half Kingdom band performs at another Malmö club. The Agents shadow Milla and watchdog the whole show, but security is good and everything goes well. Until they finish their short set.
Milla announces to her cheering fans that she is going to reveal the names of thirty MPs who are supporting anti-immigrant gangs at the Eurovision finals. Tempting fate.
The Agents decide to contact Brochure Man, offer data on the bacteria and share information about the white supremacists.
Snorre Dahlquist says, okay, let's meet. He gives them the name of a bar in Copenhagen. Yes, he's still there, following Mikko's trail. This time, all three of the Agents (and the dog) go across. Number of times across the Øresund Bridge: 5
Past midnight, 15 May 2013. They meet at a bar where Brochure Man introduces himself: Snorre Dahlquist, former Special Acquisitions agent, now working for Teddy Hogbarn, the reform-minded Minister of Health and Social Welfare. He leads a bioterrorism taskforce hunting some creepy white supremacists. Biker gangers and other twisted types who inject themselves with infected blood. A captured gang member was tested positive for dog parasite bacteria. Minister Hogbarn is concerned. Minister Hogbarn wants this taken care of.
But the trail leads to Copenhagen. Snorre doesn't have many assets here. He recognises Sami for a fellow spy and asks for help. Offers information about their mutual prey. Mikko’s people have been using a local nightclub, the Sagittarius Club, as their rendezvous point. The owner is a known Swedish white supremacist, Petersen Sjoberg, whose father worked in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in the forced sterilisation programme of the 1970s. Snorre managed to listen in on the meeting earlier: The white supremacists are scheduled to meet again at the club on the 16th to distribute some sort of infected blood.
Milla announces to her cheering fans that she is going to reveal the names of thirty MPs who are supporting anti-immigrant gangs at the Eurovision finals. Tempting fate.
The Agents decide to contact Brochure Man, offer data on the bacteria and share information about the white supremacists.
Snorre Dahlquist says, okay, let's meet. He gives them the name of a bar in Copenhagen. Yes, he's still there, following Mikko's trail. This time, all three of the Agents (and the dog) go across. Number of times across the Øresund Bridge: 5
Past midnight, 15 May 2013. They meet at a bar where Brochure Man introduces himself: Snorre Dahlquist, former Special Acquisitions agent, now working for Teddy Hogbarn, the reform-minded Minister of Health and Social Welfare. He leads a bioterrorism taskforce hunting some creepy white supremacists. Biker gangers and other twisted types who inject themselves with infected blood. A captured gang member was tested positive for dog parasite bacteria. Minister Hogbarn is concerned. Minister Hogbarn wants this taken care of.
But the trail leads to Copenhagen. Snorre doesn't have many assets here. He recognises Sami for a fellow spy and asks for help. Offers information about their mutual prey. Mikko’s people have been using a local nightclub, the Sagittarius Club, as their rendezvous point. The owner is a known Swedish white supremacist, Petersen Sjoberg, whose father worked in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in the forced sterilisation programme of the 1970s. Snorre managed to listen in on the meeting earlier: The white supremacists are scheduled to meet again at the club on the 16th to distribute some sort of infected blood.
Agents of KL, by the numbers
SESSION STAT TRACKER:
Covers blown: 0
Current Heat level: 2
Highest Heat level: 4
Infiltrations: 1
Foot chases: 1
Car chases: 0
Fights: 0
Shots fired: 0
Vampires destroyed: 0
Conspyramid Nodes discovered: 2
Conspyramid Nodes destroyed: 0
XP awarded: 2
Covers blown: 0
Current Heat level: 2
Highest Heat level: 4
Infiltrations: 1
Foot chases: 1
Car chases: 0
Fights: 0
Shots fired: 0
Vampires destroyed: 0
Conspyramid Nodes discovered: 2
Conspyramid Nodes destroyed: 0
XP awarded: 2
Part 2
PICTURE CREDITS, from top to bottom, left to right.
Banner picture © Wgy1952 | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos
Surrey Pub © Google Street View
Posters © Khairul Hisham
Malmö © Ärkan | commons.wikimedia.org
Copenhagen © Einbog | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images
Banner picture © Wgy1952 | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos
Surrey Pub © Google Street View
Posters © Khairul Hisham
Malmö © Ärkan | commons.wikimedia.org
Copenhagen © Einbog | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images
