“Tell me what you think Riddick, you’ve broken out of enough prison’s, how do you see us breaking into one?”
The lights low, you pore carefully over the pictures, files, the hand written notes. My eyes close, I’m so tired, the coffee isn’t helping.
I have only one frontal view of the house, the rest being aerial shots, via satellite. The resolution is superb.
“How many”
Short, to the point questions. No clarification. It’s expected that I know exactly what you’re asking me, and it’s relevance. A debriefing. You’ve had some military experience afterall, so this isn’t surprising. It’s soothing, in it’s own way. I give myself over to the process.
I lean back, take a sip of coffee, my eyes closed, and run through what I remember, from watching the satellite shots.
“There are at least four trucks on the grounds at some point, you could fit 8 men per, so, what, 30, 35 at the most? Less traffic at night. One truck stays, always. Hefty local supply bill, so that would fit with the amount of guys. Dog food every week, he must have at least 4 or 5 decent sized dogs. No fence. It’s a wooded area, maybe a fence would require too much maintenance. Means sensors.Sensors mean power supply. The house has it’s own. McDermott stays late at the office, means that at least three of those trucks are gone when he gets back. Why does he need less manpower then? Maybe the guys stay in the house, would explain the bill. He stays in a room in the front of the house–the second picture there, with the light–till late at night. Leaves early again in the morning. No wife, no kids, no lovers, by the looks of it, or they’re elsewhere.”
“Your take”
I can’t help but be impressed. “How long have you been watching him?”
“Since he started blackmailing me. About 4 months or so, around the time he gave me your contract. You’d think a guy like that would change his routine more often, but he hasn’t, I don’t like it, it doesn’t fit with the rest of the picture of him. Maybe he’s just stupid or arrogant, but it would be dangerous to assume so.”
“Access”
“One main road, driveway in the front. Gunmen at the front door, that’s to be expected. The rest is woodland. Seclusion fits in with the rest of his scenario”
“Night is best, through the woods. The dogs are a bigger problem than the sensors. As you said, power supply.”
“Two stage break in the power, the first to take out the outer sensors, a later stage, at the house itself. Do both at the same time and the alert will go up”
You’re good, but you’re beat, the coffee doesn’t help.Your voice is starting to drift. You haven’t slept at all, and I think the past little while might have been harder on you than on me.
“Go to sleep Ava”.
It’s said gently enough, but it’s not a suggestion.