VANITY CASE By Russell Iles Mission one. 1.1 CARGO OF FEAR © 2002 Vanity case was relaxing at home, when she received an urgent message from SID (special investigations division), Vanity this is colonel Bentley are you ready for your first mission with team trident. Yes, we are ready for anything, said Vanity, What does the mission involve, it's a terror group known to us as Dark Rain, they have been threatening to poison water supplies in northern England by contaminating the water supply, unless the government pays them £100 million within forty eight hours, said Bentley, we need Team Trident to get aboard a Turkish registered freighter before it unloads it's cargo and for you to find and place a tracking device on the chemicals destined to be delivered to dark rain. When the chemicals are loaded on to a container lorry follow it to its destination, find out where dark rain are based and who is behind the organisation, destroy the chemicals and round up the ringleaders, the freighter is due in on the east coast tonight, I will send maps of the docks location to you via your computer straight after this call, make sure you get aboard the freighter and leave the dock yard area undetected, good luck to you and your team, thank you colonel, said Vanity, you can depend on us, over and out, Vanity Case then contacted team Trident members Eva Manova and John Sterling and told them to meet her at the birdcage in two hours. At the birdcage Vanity explained the mission details to Eva and Sterling, it's imperative that we are successful, as many thousands of innocent lives could be at risk, it's our first mission as a team, so lets make sure we can put a stop to this organisation known as dark rain, there's a deserted farmhouse about three miles from the dock, we will meet there tonight at eleven pm, here are directions. Later that night Vanity arrived at the deserted farmhouse, riding her state of the art motorcycle and wearing an 'all in one black leather outfit and boots' ten minutes later Eva and Sterling both arrived also on motorcycles, as Eva dismounted Vanity said 'snap', Eva your wearing the same outfit as me, yes said Eva, but my cat suit is a burgundy colour, oh very nice, and it's the perfect attire for the mission, said vanity, yes and you both look stunning said Sterling. Lets get on with the mission at hand, said Vanity, I have surveyed the dock, the ships crew are on shore leave, but there are two guards on board the freighter and three guards in the dockyard warehouse area, it's important that we get into the dock compound, on board ship and out again without being detected, Sterling and I will get aboard the freighter and search the two holds for the chemical containers, as soon as we find the containers and set the tracking device we will contact each other, using our watch receivers and make our escape, Eva I need you to get into warehouse number 8 via the roof and search the office and photograph any documents concerning the cargo on board the Turkish freighter, then get back onto the roof and keep watch until Sterling and I make our escape, if there is trouble make contact and warn us. If any of us are detected, make sure the guards are not harmed permanently just disable them until we have made our getaway, there is a wooded area about 800 yards from the dock' we will meet there in fifteen minutes, we can hide our motorcycles in the undergrowth and then make our way into the dock compound. The team met as arranged in the small wood near to the docks, 'ok said Vanity' we all know what we have to do, Eva you will need to locate warehouse 8, get onto the roof and get in, you know the rest, Sterling and I will get aboard the freighter, we will split up and make our separate ways into the compound, if anyone gets into difficulties use your wrist communicators and warn the others, good luck team, lets make our first mission a successful one, right said Sterling, lets go. The team split up, Vanity made her way to the compound fence, using wire cutters she managed to squeeze through the gap and into the compound, to her left was the cargo freighter, she made her way very quietly to a stack of crates and crouched down behind them, she made sure the coast was clear and got herself into a position where she could get a better view of the freighter, the dock was dimly lit so Vanity kept to the shadows and made her way silently to the freighter, keeping her eye's open for any sign of guard movement. Meanwhile Eva had got into the compound via an old telegraph pole next to the fence, she climbed the pole and by using a thin, but strong cable from her belt, she swung across to the warehouse roof, silently she made her way to the edge of the roof, to check for guard activity in the compound below, she could see a guard directly below her checking the warehouse doors, there was no sign of the other two guards. Eva then made her way across the roof, to locate warehouse 8, using miniature binoculars she located warehouse 8, but she had to jump from where she was across to the next warehouse block, that was easy enough for her to do, but she had to make sure she did not alert the guards, she made sure the coast was clear and leapt over to the adjoining warehouse roof, executing a perfect parachute role on landing, she checked again for guard activity and then made her way across the roof to a sky light, she silently broke open the sky light hatch, she attached the end of her cable to the sky light frame and gently lowered herself down into the dimly lit warehouse. Eva lowered herself to the floor, the warehouse was crammed full of crates, at the far end of the warehouse she could see steps leading up to the office, firstly Eva made her way to a window just to make sure that the guards were not outside, then she made her way to the office stairs, she quietly climbed the stairs and reached the office, she checked to make sure that there were no security cameras present and proceeded to break the door lock and get in, Eva using her torch searched the office desk drawers, she found nothing useful, she then walked across to the filing cabinets, to her surprise she found them unlocked, she found files relating to the cargo aboard the freighter, including the chemicals intended for dark rain, Eva proceeded to photograph the relevant documents, then she put them back into the cabinet and made her way out of the office. As she reached the bottom of the stairs she could hear someone entering the warehouse door, she silently climbed onto some crates to see who had come in, it was one of the guards, he started to walk toward Eva's position, but he could not see her, but he did spot her cable hanging from the skylight with his torch, as the guard walked beneath Eva's position 'she pounced' Eva jumped down on top of the guard, knocking him to the ground, before he had time to react Eva rolled onto her back and trapped his neck between her thighs in a sleeper hold, she tightened her grip until he lost consciousness, that will keep him quiet for a while, she thought to herself, Eva then bound and gagged the guard, just in case he woke up before the team had made their getaway, then using the cable she made her way back onto the warehouse roof. John Sterling had already got on board the freighter' the hatch to cargo hold number 1 was sealed, so he made his way into the hold through an air vent, he then climbed out of the vent and into the hold, there was no sign of any guards and the hold was very dark, the only light came from emergency lighting at each end of the large hold, Sterling then proceeded to search for the dangerous chemical, it seemed as though it would be a long search as the hold was full of crates and containers. Vanity meanwhile had got onboard and found the hatch to hold number 2, she checked the lock and it was open, she was about to climb in when she heard footsteps, she silently made her way into a dark doorway, she could see two guards walking toward number 2 hatch, but they carried on walking, when they were out of sight Vanity made her move, she made her way back to the hatch, and quietly opened the door, she stepped onto the ladder, closing the hatch door behind her and made her way down into the hold, halfway down she surveyed the hold for guards, there was no sign of any guard movement, so Vanity carried on down the ladder, as she reached the bottom her wrist receiver started to flash, it was a message from Eva, Vanity I have managed to photograph the cargo files, but I had to disable a guard who got too close for comfort, it's ok I have put him to sleep for a while, I just hope that the other guards don't miss him, well done Eva, said Vanity I will contact Sterling and tell him that we need to locate the chemicals quickly and get out of here, Eva you keep a lookout from the warehouse roof, if there are any problems contact us immediately, over and out. Vanity contacted Sterling and told him that it was imperative that they located the chemicals quickly, she then began her search of hold number 2, all of a sudden the hatch doors opened above her and a guard shone a light down into the hold, Vanity quickly moved out of sight behind a container, the guard started to make his way down the ladder, halfway down he stopped and shone his light again, then he made his way back up the ladder to the deck and closed the hatch doors behind him, when it was all clear Vanity proceeded to carry on her search of the hold, she came across some chemical drums but they were not the ones they were looking for, then she received a message from Sterling, Vanity I have located the chemicals and I will now proceed in planting the tracking device, well done Sterling, said Vanity, plant the device and make your way back up on deck and wait until it's clear to move out, over and out. Vanity made her way back up the ladder, at the top she stopped to listen for any guard movement before quietly opening the hatch doors and stepping out onto the deck, she silently made her way to a safe position were she could view the compound area and not be noticed by the guards, Sterling had also managed to get onto the deck safely and was also hiding, waiting for a safe time to get off board and out of the compound. Vanity received another message from Eva, Vanity I think the guards have realised that one of their men is missing' they have started to search the dock compound, would you like me to cause them a distraction, yes that would be a good idea, said Vanity, make your way down into the compound and place an inscendary device on some of the wooden crates near to the warehouse, hopefully they will all be busy in putting out the fire and we can get away without being spotted, ok said Eva, leave it to me, good girl said Vanity, over and out. Eva attached the end of her cable to a steel roof girder and made her way down the side of the warehouse to the ground, keeping her back to the wall, she peered around the corner, she could see three guards searching the compound area, when the guards disappeared out of sight Eva made her move, she made her way quickly and quietly to a stack of wooden crates and set the inscendary device, making sure it was safe to do so she moved back to the warehouse wall and proceeded to climb back onto the roof, Eva then crept to the edge of the roof and set off the inscendary device by remote control, the guards spotted the fire and ran toward the crates to try and put out the flames. Eva then contacted Vanity and Sterling and told them that all four guards were now preoccupied in putting out the fire, and that they were free to escape unhindered, brilliant work Eva, said Vanity, I can see the flames from here, we will meet you outside, over and out, with that all three made their way out of the compound undetected. Team Trident met up outside the dock compound in the wood, Vanity said congratulations on a job well done, but there's a long way to go yet, we will stay at the deserted farmhouse, as soon as the cargo is moved in the morning we will be alerted by our wrist receivers, we can then follow the container lorry to it's destination, Team Trident then mounted their motorcycles and headed back to the deserted farmhouse for a well earned rest.