My name is Michael Weston. I used to be a spy. When you're burned you've got nothing; no cash, no credit, no job history. You're stuck in whatever city they decide to dump you in. You do whatever work comes your way. You rely on anyone who's still talking to you: a trigger-happy ex-girlfriend, a friend who's informing on you to the Feds [later: who used to inform on you to the Feds], and family too (if you're desperate). Bottom line: until you figure out who burned you, you're not going anywhere.
International conferences attract spies for the same reason hotel bars attract hookers: you can do business and drink for free. Any high security function is going to have a lot of oversight, a lot of meetings, a lot of bureaucrats checking up on each other. In all the confusion of a big event it's easy for another bureaucrat to just show up. The important thing is to disappear before people can ask questions. If they do decide to ask questions, you just have to hope that you are in a building with a lot of hallways, a good service basement, and plenty of exits. But in the end sometimes an escape is just about being willing to do what the guy chasing you won't, like jump off a building.
Asking my mom for anything is like asking a favor from a Russian mob boss: he'll give you what you want with a smile, but believe me you'll pay for it.
My fathers approach to machinery was the same as his approach to family: if you don't like how something works, keep banging on it until it does what you want. If something doesn't fit, force it. And above all, make sure it looks good on the outside.
Convincing a bully to back down is usually just about showing him you aren't afraid of him. Of course, some bullies have guys with .357 magnums. Then you change tactics. When faced with a superior force you can do two things: you can retreat quietly, or you can attack with as much fanfare as possible.
Outfitting a safehouse is about two things: know if someone's coming and you need to know how the folks you are protecting are going to get out of there if they do. And if you can't be on baby sitting duty all the time, you need to make sure you know the minute something's wrong. A $35 outdoor floodlight has a decent motion detector on it. Wire that to a cell phone and you have a remote alarm system that will call you if there's trouble. (He also booby traps the door handle to electrocute anybody who touches it)
I love commuters, anybody who drives the same route to work everyday, it's like they're doing all the work for you, and a punctual commuter, a guy who is at the same place everyday at 8:36am, it's almost too easy.
Threaten any serious criminal organization and they are going to do one of two things: they'll send someone to make a deal or they'll send someone to make a corpse. Either way you've got something to work with.
When you go on the run the first thing you do is lay down tracks in the opposite direction, but that only works if the bad guys find the trail and believe it is for real, which means selling it. You need to put on a little show, make them feel clever. When you make a person work to get a piece of information they'll believe it that much more because it's hard to get.
Approaching a spy in the middle of a job gives you a lot of leverage. They're playing a delicate game and the last thing they want is someone coming in and smashing their delicate game with a brick.
Basic rule of body guarding: never fight with the protectee around. Mostly because if they happen to catch a stray bullet you just lost your job.
Modern technology has made it possible to do sophisticated electronic surveillance with stuff from you local electronics store. It sounds more fun than it is. Faking surveillance video has come a long way. It used to be you'd spend days slaving over a VHS tape with a razor blade; now, a few hours and a computer.
A drug cartel is a business. If killing a witness to protect a valued employee from jail time is the best way to keep making money, they'll do that. If it looks like that employee is testifying to the FBI, though, they're just as happy to leave the witness alone and take care of the problem another way.
An alphanumeric tracking code and a special access program code name, it's not much, but it's a start. (In reference to seeing the copy of his burn notice)
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