Thursday, 2008-01-31, 13:17 Zulu Time.
36° 47' 59.77" North Longitude
10° 10' 51.24" East Latidtude
Agent Wade and 00Judkins were walking down the main street in the center of Tunis, and had a very bizarre encounter that instilled excitement and wonder into their already interesting day.
They were heading for the old town - the medina - where a maze of small alleys are filled with a myriad of shops and cafes when all of a sudden some "random guy" made eye contact with Tim and altered his course to "contact" him.
The agents were just outside of a hotel-ish looking building, on a crowded street when the operative, Superspy, made contact with Tim. He was carrying a cell phone in one hand, and a laptop bag around his opposite shoulder. The laptop bag very obviously contained no laptop at all. Superspy changed his direction and thumped Agent Wade's arm as we walked by. Tim and Andrew looked back and wondered, "What the hell?" as Superspy maintained his eye contact with Tim and made a gesture that neither of the two former Peace Corps Volunteers understood. Then the operative followed them.
Superspy was casual and looked like any ordinary operative on the street. He walked so as not to attract attention and carried himself in a way that let him blend into his surroundings like a fat guy standing next to a hotdog cart.
Tim and Andrew decided to stop at a tourist shop and look at some postcards to see what Superspy would do. He waited for them. They were intrigued and wondered what their next move should be. Andrew wanted to take a picture of the operative to gauge his reaction. Tim shot down his idea saying, "Are you nuts, Double "O" Judkins?! That technique is not the wisest option!" They decided instead, to continue onward to the medina - with Superspy inconspicuously on their tails.
He finally stopped following them at one intersection and watched them disappear into the crowd. They laughed at what their imaginations thought they had encountered and joked about the mysterious, classified contents of the laptop bag. After some manipulative talking, Andrew was able to convince Tim to walk back to the "contact location" to see if Superspy had returned to meet whoever he mistook them for. He was gone though - obviously he terminated any further progress as he felt his confusion had compromised the mission.
Better luck next time, Superspy!
Names and places in this story have not been changed in order to protect the identity of the fat guy next to the hotdog cart.
2 comments:
The anonymous agent's mission was to have a physical contact with one of the suspicious tourists in order to stick a microscopic satellite tracking device. The final scope was to follow the movements of the suspected individuals. The mission was successful and revealed some top secret details of the foreigners plans including the visit, later that day, to a radio studio for a live interview. The recording is still under heavy analysis to extract any hidden material on it sent to the enemy forces.
The device was found, few days later, in Bizerte, a city in the north of the country, without the 2 agents.
That's a game my friends and I have played in Asia - the streets there are just as crowded as Tunisia. As you're walking, choose an oncoming pedestrian and assign them to the other player. As in: "Lady on the left, blue hat." The other player then has to touch that pedestrian, in such a way as to not arouse their suspicion. Bumping them, maybe asking for directions or the time, even high-fiving them. Then it's their turn to choose. Repeat.
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