Spy Tips on Bribery, Deliveries, Fanatics, and more…
Spies live in the shadows, but they dream of the light. When you’re working covert ops for low pay in life-threatening conditions, the idea that your work won’t remain secret forever keeps you going. One day the world will learn what you’ve done, even if your name is never known. Some of the sweetest moments come when the job ends and the bullets stop flying. That is, unless one of those bullets rips through your chest.
The site of a break-in is like a broken bone. Years later, the spot will have either been made stronger or weaker by the ordeal. A replacement window pane installed with putty and weather stripping costs about 10 cents to remove.
You need confidence and a can-do attitude to make it in the field. But if you don’t have the physical strength to match your attitude, that confidence can just as easily get you killed.
Bribery’s a delicate art. Success often depends less on how much cash you offer and more on how you offer it. Pretending to believe there’s a standard fee for what you’re asking for means you’re less likely to report the bribe. And if you come across as unlikable, even a normally ethical person might not pass up the chance to make a buck off your stupidity.
Despite the expression, very few people actually shoot the messenger. Making a fake delivery is a great way to get close to a well-defended position. Carry a large enough bouquet, and you can get very close without being I.D.’d.
Foot chases rarely last long. During the initial burst of adrenaline, it’s important to keep your target in view. If you can, you’ll probably catch up. Few people have anything left in the tank after a quarter mile at top speed.
Triangulating someone’s position from a radio or cellular signal works exactly the way it sounds. by recording the time and intensity of the signal from three separate positions, it’s fairly easy to calculate the position of origin. And a computer program can do the work a lot faster if your trigonometry is rusty.
More than anything, fanatics crave an audience. Fanatics, at their core, believe they have something to teach the world. Dealing with a fanatic, then, is often just a matter of being a very good student.
