Operation 02: The Little Prince Job, Part 2

Night of April 27, 2013. After the confrontation at Waterloo Station, Emelia Sanderson's team takes the wounded thief Vin to a secret interrogation facility in a warehouse near London City Airport. Misha's warned them that Vin is dangerous, more than human and has ill intentions towards Her Majesty's Government.
There's three of them:
All of them, like Misha, are off-the-books operatives working for Emelia of the SIS.
Their first mistake is to assume that a woman with her throat ripped out is not a threat.
Dr Kana gets her all to himself in the makeshift medical room he's set up inside the interrogation cell. He makes sure the throat is patched up and gets Vin on a drip. She'll never sing again, he thinks.
He takes samples. He checks her for any other conditions.
Her life signs plummet. She goes into cardiac arrest. He tries to save her. The shock paddles have no effect on her at all.
He pronounces her dead and calls Emelia, who will inform Misha.
Shortly after that, Vin gets back up. Throat's all better now. But she's really thirsty. She tells Dr Kana to sleep. She bites his neck and starts drinking his blood. She takes enough to start feeling all warm and better, then heals Kana's neck and lets him rest.
Then she does something much, much more dangerous.
She takes Dr Kana's phone and starts calling for reinforcements.
There's three of them:
- Dr Kana, former mob surgeon
- Sachs, former mob accountant
- Peltier, driver
All of them, like Misha, are off-the-books operatives working for Emelia of the SIS.
Their first mistake is to assume that a woman with her throat ripped out is not a threat.
Dr Kana gets her all to himself in the makeshift medical room he's set up inside the interrogation cell. He makes sure the throat is patched up and gets Vin on a drip. She'll never sing again, he thinks.
He takes samples. He checks her for any other conditions.
Her life signs plummet. She goes into cardiac arrest. He tries to save her. The shock paddles have no effect on her at all.
He pronounces her dead and calls Emelia, who will inform Misha.
Shortly after that, Vin gets back up. Throat's all better now. But she's really thirsty. She tells Dr Kana to sleep. She bites his neck and starts drinking his blood. She takes enough to start feeling all warm and better, then heals Kana's neck and lets him rest.
Then she does something much, much more dangerous.
She takes Dr Kana's phone and starts calling for reinforcements.
Two Steps Behind
The Agents are at the East Village site, not yet open for occupancy. Still some wiring and plumbing work to be done. Thanks to Snotty, they know the floor and room where Gary Camon stays. Jacob supports the infiltration by sending a quadrotor drone to scout ahead. Zlatan, Misha and Sami go in over the fence and make their way to the ground floor under Gary's apartment.
Sami decides to try hitting the security shack to get access to the site's CCTV footage. Jacob sets a fire in an empty supply drum just outside the site to distract the guards. Sami steals the security shack's computer along with all the recent security CCTV footage.
Upstairs, Misha and Zlatan run into a couple of Camon's thugs in a narrow and cluttered hallway. Misha grabs a metal pipe and lays into the thugs in close quarters. She takes them out quickly with some help from Zlatan.
But Camon's not home. His apartment has been abandoned in a hurry. There's raw bloody beef in the freezer. There's a kept woman's jewelry and makeup. There's not much else - Camon and his people had go-bags and they packed up and fled just a short while ago.
Misha, Zlatan and Sami climb back out. Back into the Land Rover with Jacob. Back on the road.
Jacbo retrieves the CCTV footage from the stolen computer. It shows that an hour ago, Camon gathered two lorries full of thugs and packed bags and Asian girlfriend into a rented Chevy SUV.
After stealing Waterloo Station's surveillance footage with a little help from a government insider named Jill le Fleur, Misha and Jacob also learn that a Metropolitan police inspector, Purcell, was at the station asking questions.
Misha has her own contact in the Met. Her inspector friend, Lestrade, confirms that Purcell is a rather dodgy copper on a London gang taskforce.
Meanwhile, the rented Chevy SUV's plate belongs to Sixt Car Rental. Lestrade calls them up and asks them to track the GPS of the rented vehicle...to a location near London City Airport.
Five hundred metres from where Vin is being held.
Sami decides to try hitting the security shack to get access to the site's CCTV footage. Jacob sets a fire in an empty supply drum just outside the site to distract the guards. Sami steals the security shack's computer along with all the recent security CCTV footage.
Upstairs, Misha and Zlatan run into a couple of Camon's thugs in a narrow and cluttered hallway. Misha grabs a metal pipe and lays into the thugs in close quarters. She takes them out quickly with some help from Zlatan.
But Camon's not home. His apartment has been abandoned in a hurry. There's raw bloody beef in the freezer. There's a kept woman's jewelry and makeup. There's not much else - Camon and his people had go-bags and they packed up and fled just a short while ago.
Misha, Zlatan and Sami climb back out. Back into the Land Rover with Jacob. Back on the road.
Jacbo retrieves the CCTV footage from the stolen computer. It shows that an hour ago, Camon gathered two lorries full of thugs and packed bags and Asian girlfriend into a rented Chevy SUV.
After stealing Waterloo Station's surveillance footage with a little help from a government insider named Jill le Fleur, Misha and Jacob also learn that a Metropolitan police inspector, Purcell, was at the station asking questions.
Misha has her own contact in the Met. Her inspector friend, Lestrade, confirms that Purcell is a rather dodgy copper on a London gang taskforce.
Meanwhile, the rented Chevy SUV's plate belongs to Sixt Car Rental. Lestrade calls them up and asks them to track the GPS of the rented vehicle...to a location near London City Airport.
Five hundred metres from where Vin is being held.
Reinforcements

Zlatan starts driving. He drives fast. He knows London, knows the quick way to London City Airport.
Emelia calls Misha. Vin died, she says.
A short while later, a panicked call from Peltier, one of the three men guarding Vin.
Vin tried to escape. She came back to life and tried to escape before they even knew what was happening. She picked up Peltier and threw him into a wall, broke his arm. Sachs and Peltier put five rounds into her chest, but all it did was drive her back into the medical room.
Sachs pursued her into the room. There was a commotion. Sachs hasn't been seen since.
Peltier is alone now, guarding the front exit, screaming for backup.
Also, Vin has a phone. This explains why Gary Camon and two lorryloads of thugs are about to storm the industrial park.
Zlatan is an amazing driver. The Agents arrive at the warehouse just ahead of Camon's gang. Misha waves her pass to the gate guards and the Agents go on in. They say they heard some banging noises from inside the warehouse. That's not construction at this hour, is it? Of course not.
Misha, Zlatan and Sami go inside, find Peltier barely managing to hold on. Misha's old colleague Dr Kana sleepwalks out of the medical room, looking pale and confused. He has no memory of what happened to him, but the Agents don't care, they tackle him anyway.
Vin is lurking inside the medical room, hovering over Sachs' corpse. Staying just around the corner, Misha has an exchange of words with her. Vin is confused and angry, complaining of bright lights and other odd physical effects. That torn throat sure does seem to have healed quickly, though. Benefits of her new upgraded condition.
We didn't do this, I swear, says Misha. There's no need to fight. We can work this out.
The time for words is over, though. A lorry full of Camon's men smashes through the guard house outside. Shotgun blasts ring out. The security guards at at the gate are dead.
Heat level +1.
Sami and Zlatan start looking at the gas mains. Zlatan figures out a way to breach the pipes and start a fire. At the very least, they can keep this monster from escaping and burn it all down.
Out in the car, Jacob sees lorries rolling right up to him. He drives around back to the rear entrance and hauls the half-conscious Snotty out just as a lorry rams the Land Rover. Shotgun blasts ring out as Jacob and Snotty make it through the back door.
They're all trapped inside now, with twenty thugs outside both entrances. Sami and Zlatan are prepared to shoot them at the choke points. Misha calls up Gary Camon and tries to negotiate a truce.
She tries being sincere and convincing. Doesn't work. Sami takes the phone and simply threatens to torch the place, and Vin with it. Sponsored by British Gas, he says.
Police are on their way, and Camon needs Vin back. He agrees to pull his men back and let the Agents go. The Agents, Peltier and Kana get into Peltier's car and drive out past the dead guards and the Chevy. They leave Snotty and Vin behind for the Camon gang.
Emelia calls Misha. Vin died, she says.
A short while later, a panicked call from Peltier, one of the three men guarding Vin.
Vin tried to escape. She came back to life and tried to escape before they even knew what was happening. She picked up Peltier and threw him into a wall, broke his arm. Sachs and Peltier put five rounds into her chest, but all it did was drive her back into the medical room.
Sachs pursued her into the room. There was a commotion. Sachs hasn't been seen since.
Peltier is alone now, guarding the front exit, screaming for backup.
Also, Vin has a phone. This explains why Gary Camon and two lorryloads of thugs are about to storm the industrial park.
Zlatan is an amazing driver. The Agents arrive at the warehouse just ahead of Camon's gang. Misha waves her pass to the gate guards and the Agents go on in. They say they heard some banging noises from inside the warehouse. That's not construction at this hour, is it? Of course not.
Misha, Zlatan and Sami go inside, find Peltier barely managing to hold on. Misha's old colleague Dr Kana sleepwalks out of the medical room, looking pale and confused. He has no memory of what happened to him, but the Agents don't care, they tackle him anyway.
Vin is lurking inside the medical room, hovering over Sachs' corpse. Staying just around the corner, Misha has an exchange of words with her. Vin is confused and angry, complaining of bright lights and other odd physical effects. That torn throat sure does seem to have healed quickly, though. Benefits of her new upgraded condition.
We didn't do this, I swear, says Misha. There's no need to fight. We can work this out.
The time for words is over, though. A lorry full of Camon's men smashes through the guard house outside. Shotgun blasts ring out. The security guards at at the gate are dead.
Heat level +1.
Sami and Zlatan start looking at the gas mains. Zlatan figures out a way to breach the pipes and start a fire. At the very least, they can keep this monster from escaping and burn it all down.
Out in the car, Jacob sees lorries rolling right up to him. He drives around back to the rear entrance and hauls the half-conscious Snotty out just as a lorry rams the Land Rover. Shotgun blasts ring out as Jacob and Snotty make it through the back door.
They're all trapped inside now, with twenty thugs outside both entrances. Sami and Zlatan are prepared to shoot them at the choke points. Misha calls up Gary Camon and tries to negotiate a truce.
She tries being sincere and convincing. Doesn't work. Sami takes the phone and simply threatens to torch the place, and Vin with it. Sponsored by British Gas, he says.
Police are on their way, and Camon needs Vin back. He agrees to pull his men back and let the Agents go. The Agents, Peltier and Kana get into Peltier's car and drive out past the dead guards and the Chevy. They leave Snotty and Vin behind for the Camon gang.
Got My Eye on You
Morning of 28 April, 2013. The Agents and their allies, tired and shaken, are recovering at a safe house in Bexley - actually a disused building at a boarding school. They're pleased to note that nothing odd happens to Dr Kana when daylight touches him. Emelia and Lestrade arrive and Misha breaks it down for them:
Emelia's running short of resources and functional operatives at this point. She's got her hands full just keeping all of her involvement hidden from her bosses in Westminster. But everyone agrees that whatever Vin is, she's a real threat. Camon's gang still need to be taken care of, because of the stolen files. But this "vampire" is the primary concern now.
Dr Kana determines that Vin's bite transmitted some sort of Haemocanis bacteria - a dog parasite. What it's doing surviving in his bloodstream, nobody knows. Emelia arranges to keep Kana under close watch.
Misha turns on one of the cell phones she captured from a thug and calls Camon to set up a rendezvous the following night at the London Eye. This time, Air Marshal Prince gives them permission to pay up to a million pounds to keep the files from being released. But the situation doesn't look so hopeful anymore - the files could have been copied any number of times by now.
Evening of 29 April, 2013. Misha and Sami rendezvous with some of Camon's people at the London Eye:
Jacob plays watchdog from a nearby hotel with drone and some remote cameras. Zlatan watches things from the top floor of a multistorey car park, with a sniper rifle at the ready.
Misha sizes Grey up, and she can tell he's we'll trained. Grey has his eye on Misha and Sami as well, and pegs them for military veterans, too. Misha hands over a quarter of a million pounds as a first payment. Grey hands over the tablet - but of course they've made copies by now. There will be future demands.
Jacob and Zlatan spot some people who've been tailing the Camon gang members, and warn Sami and Misha. After the meeting ends and the two groups split, the tails try to follow. Jacob and Zlatan arrange for some diversions to help Sami and Misha lose their tails. They reverse the tail and track the men back to a rendezvous with some fellow whom Misha identifies as Inspector Purcell, who in turn heads for the offices of the UK Border Agency immediately afterward.
The Agents decide not to take things any further just yet. They get the tablet back to Air Marshal Prince, who tells them that the jet fighter procurement crisis is going to blow up within a month anyway, after which the lost files will greatly depreciate in value. But scandals don't concern the Agents as much as the possibility of a vampiric conspiracy does.
Jacob, Sami and Zlatan have all crossed paths with darkness before.
Jacob has seen operatives move as quickly as Vin did, during Project Raven, which died in flames, gunfire and explosions in Berlin in 2009. Brigadier-General Lennart's files mention this case. Lennart had drawn connections to the drug company EMARTECH, part of the powerful Inish Medical Group. Today, EMARTECH is working on drug treatments for photosensitivity.
Zlatan is now certain that Vin was some kind of lampir, a Balkan folk monster. And his family was killed by similar creatures during the Bosnian war.
Sami once saw a monstrous hound on the border between Finland and Russia, but his superiors covered it up.
They need to find out more. They hit up Emelia for more funds and Air Marshal Prince for some MoD cover identities.
Time to get to work again.
- The bad guys have some sort of blood-drinking superpredator.
- But she doesn't seem to know what she is.
- The Air Marshal's tablet and files are still in Camon's hands.
Emelia's running short of resources and functional operatives at this point. She's got her hands full just keeping all of her involvement hidden from her bosses in Westminster. But everyone agrees that whatever Vin is, she's a real threat. Camon's gang still need to be taken care of, because of the stolen files. But this "vampire" is the primary concern now.
Dr Kana determines that Vin's bite transmitted some sort of Haemocanis bacteria - a dog parasite. What it's doing surviving in his bloodstream, nobody knows. Emelia arranges to keep Kana under close watch.
Misha turns on one of the cell phones she captured from a thug and calls Camon to set up a rendezvous the following night at the London Eye. This time, Air Marshal Prince gives them permission to pay up to a million pounds to keep the files from being released. But the situation doesn't look so hopeful anymore - the files could have been copied any number of times by now.
Evening of 29 April, 2013. Misha and Sami rendezvous with some of Camon's people at the London Eye:
- Grey, a hard-looking ex-soldier, Camon's right-hand man
- Rose, a pretty Asian woman, Camon's girlfriend
- Snotty, still looking bruised and resentful
Jacob plays watchdog from a nearby hotel with drone and some remote cameras. Zlatan watches things from the top floor of a multistorey car park, with a sniper rifle at the ready.
Misha sizes Grey up, and she can tell he's we'll trained. Grey has his eye on Misha and Sami as well, and pegs them for military veterans, too. Misha hands over a quarter of a million pounds as a first payment. Grey hands over the tablet - but of course they've made copies by now. There will be future demands.
Jacob and Zlatan spot some people who've been tailing the Camon gang members, and warn Sami and Misha. After the meeting ends and the two groups split, the tails try to follow. Jacob and Zlatan arrange for some diversions to help Sami and Misha lose their tails. They reverse the tail and track the men back to a rendezvous with some fellow whom Misha identifies as Inspector Purcell, who in turn heads for the offices of the UK Border Agency immediately afterward.
The Agents decide not to take things any further just yet. They get the tablet back to Air Marshal Prince, who tells them that the jet fighter procurement crisis is going to blow up within a month anyway, after which the lost files will greatly depreciate in value. But scandals don't concern the Agents as much as the possibility of a vampiric conspiracy does.
Jacob, Sami and Zlatan have all crossed paths with darkness before.
Jacob has seen operatives move as quickly as Vin did, during Project Raven, which died in flames, gunfire and explosions in Berlin in 2009. Brigadier-General Lennart's files mention this case. Lennart had drawn connections to the drug company EMARTECH, part of the powerful Inish Medical Group. Today, EMARTECH is working on drug treatments for photosensitivity.
Zlatan is now certain that Vin was some kind of lampir, a Balkan folk monster. And his family was killed by similar creatures during the Bosnian war.
Sami once saw a monstrous hound on the border between Finland and Russia, but his superiors covered it up.
They need to find out more. They hit up Emelia for more funds and Air Marshal Prince for some MoD cover identities.
Time to get to work again.
Operation 02: Director's Notes

This two-part operation had two functions: Provide an alternative entry into the conspiracy, since the Agents slipped out of Bosnia quicker than a greased pig in Operation 01. And it had to be an entertaining spin around London, as well. I came up with the "spoilt son of a MoD official loses valuable files" plot rather quickly, stole a couple of names from Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn: The Final Empire and we were set.
Khairul Hisham's character Zlatan added a lot to the mix. Hisham played enthusiastically and blogged enthusiastically about it afterwards.
Douglas had created Misha with British Intelligence (SIS, otherwise known as MI-6) in mind, so I made Misha's handler Emelia a big part of the adventure, behind the scenes. I created a team of three black operatives as allies for the Agents...then I ruthlessly trashed them and left them broken to show how deadly Vin could be.
I should have been a bit more liberal in allowing the players to try awesome stuff. Hisham wanted to use Zlatan's Investigative skills to provide tactical benefits for the team in Waterloo Station. Macx wanted to have Jacob hack the rental car's immobiliser. I was a bit too strict on them. In the future I'll ease up a bit.
In the climactic confrontation, I had intended for Gary's thugs to be one-hit-one-kill mooks, making it easy for the Agents to mow them down in large numbers when they assaulted the warehouse. But my players figured it would be a suicidal fight. At this point, I read out to the group the rules for getting captured and the game's promise and benefits to captured agents. But not surprisingly my group didn't want to give in - who does?
They proved to be quite willing to negotiate with the enemy, and Gary Camon could be considered a somewhat reasonable businessman himself. So while there was a bit of blood spilled by the bad guys. the Agents took the pragmatic approach and did not unleash a torrent of carnage upon the Docklands. They actually cut a bargain and minimised the potential damage. They also tried to do a good job of sanitising their tracks, so their Heat level never went above 4.
This meant the Camon Gang would be a factor going forward. Although the players had no idea what that would be.
Our games actually involve a fair amount of humour and table banter. Mockery of characters named Lestrade and Rose ("is she played by Billie Piper?"). Endless fun speculating on what to do with Rodger's corpse, which is still in the safe house freezer. And a passing fancy by Ivan to pull a 1941 on the London Eye...
SESSION STAT TRACKER:
Covers blown: 0
Current Heat level: 4
Highest Heat level: 4
Infiltrations: 1
Foot chases: 0
Car chases: 0
Fights: 2
Shots fired: 0
Vampires destroyed: 0
Conspyramid Nodes discovered: 1
Conspyramid Nodes destroyed: 0
XP awarded: 2
CAMPAIGN STAT TRACKER:
Sessions: 3
Countries visited: 3
Covers blown: 3
Current Heat level: 4
Highest Heat level: 4
Infiltrations: 2
Foot chases: 2
Car chases: 0
Fights: 3
Shots fired: 0
Vampires destroyed: 0
Conspyramid Nodes discovered: 1
Conspyramid Nodes destroyed: 0
XP awarded: 6
Khairul Hisham's character Zlatan added a lot to the mix. Hisham played enthusiastically and blogged enthusiastically about it afterwards.
Douglas had created Misha with British Intelligence (SIS, otherwise known as MI-6) in mind, so I made Misha's handler Emelia a big part of the adventure, behind the scenes. I created a team of three black operatives as allies for the Agents...then I ruthlessly trashed them and left them broken to show how deadly Vin could be.
I should have been a bit more liberal in allowing the players to try awesome stuff. Hisham wanted to use Zlatan's Investigative skills to provide tactical benefits for the team in Waterloo Station. Macx wanted to have Jacob hack the rental car's immobiliser. I was a bit too strict on them. In the future I'll ease up a bit.
In the climactic confrontation, I had intended for Gary's thugs to be one-hit-one-kill mooks, making it easy for the Agents to mow them down in large numbers when they assaulted the warehouse. But my players figured it would be a suicidal fight. At this point, I read out to the group the rules for getting captured and the game's promise and benefits to captured agents. But not surprisingly my group didn't want to give in - who does?
They proved to be quite willing to negotiate with the enemy, and Gary Camon could be considered a somewhat reasonable businessman himself. So while there was a bit of blood spilled by the bad guys. the Agents took the pragmatic approach and did not unleash a torrent of carnage upon the Docklands. They actually cut a bargain and minimised the potential damage. They also tried to do a good job of sanitising their tracks, so their Heat level never went above 4.
This meant the Camon Gang would be a factor going forward. Although the players had no idea what that would be.
Our games actually involve a fair amount of humour and table banter. Mockery of characters named Lestrade and Rose ("is she played by Billie Piper?"). Endless fun speculating on what to do with Rodger's corpse, which is still in the safe house freezer. And a passing fancy by Ivan to pull a 1941 on the London Eye...
SESSION STAT TRACKER:
Covers blown: 0
Current Heat level: 4
Highest Heat level: 4
Infiltrations: 1
Foot chases: 0
Car chases: 0
Fights: 2
Shots fired: 0
Vampires destroyed: 0
Conspyramid Nodes discovered: 1
Conspyramid Nodes destroyed: 0
XP awarded: 2
CAMPAIGN STAT TRACKER:
Sessions: 3
Countries visited: 3
Covers blown: 3
Current Heat level: 4
Highest Heat level: 4
Infiltrations: 2
Foot chases: 2
Car chases: 0
Fights: 3
Shots fired: 0
Vampires destroyed: 0
Conspyramid Nodes discovered: 1
Conspyramid Nodes destroyed: 0
XP awarded: 6
Part 1
PICTURE CREDITS, from top to bottom, left to right.
Banner picture © Wgy1952 | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos
Warehouse © Bwhatnall | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images
London City Airport © victor abellón used under a Creative Commons license | Flickr
All silhouettes built from vectors © all-silhouettes.com
Banner picture © Wgy1952 | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos
Warehouse © Bwhatnall | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images
London City Airport © victor abellón used under a Creative Commons license | Flickr
All silhouettes built from vectors © all-silhouettes.com