Private Kade. I, Spy.

[Her]

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Tag: Evan Kade

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The hallway was illuminated by flashing orange lights depicting eyes and Aurebesh symbols lining the pictures as they played on the advertisement boards. Someone had done their due diligence close-by. A table had been set-up on the edges of the hallway where one of the walls could be found. A tea pot, two cups and an assortment of other things to go with them (such as milk or sugar) were displayed neatly in-between two seats. It had all the trappings of mere business and yet the two participants in this conversation were aware enough that this was nothing but straightforward or normal.

At the end of the corridor a lift door opens and walking over the threshold emerged a woman as they made their entrance into the hall. The soft klick-clack of their boots echoed along the hallway as she walked up towards Evan. She stops near the table and lowers her gaze to the steam coming up from the base of the pot.

"I know why you are here," Her said to Evan as wisps of steam disappeared in the artificial air around them. "I admit that I am tired of the pleasantries that I have to adopt with those who I work with, and considering this is unpleasant work, I would rather skip to the heart of our conversation. Shall I pour you a cup of tea while you tell me about yourself?"

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[Evan Kade]

Evan regarded the woman for a moment, his expression giving away little beyond a faint hint of amusement at her bluntness. At least she was saving them both the trouble of pretending that this was an ordinary meeting. His gaze briefly flicked toward the second cup before he pulled out the offered chair and gestured toward it. "Please. Sit." He waited for her to do so before settling into his own seat. Rather than immediately launching into an explanation of himself, Evan reached for the teapot and poured himself a cup, taking a leisurely sip as though they were two acquaintances meeting for an afternoon conversation rather than two people arranging business in a corridor.

"I suppose that the short version is that I'm a watcher," he said eventually, lowering the cup into his hands. "An observer. I tend to notice things." His blue eyes moved briefly toward the corridor, taking in the flashing advertisements and passing surroundings before returning to her. "People, mostly, places, conversations, the things that people say when they don't think that anyone is listening. The things that they don't say when they know that someone is."

He made a small shrug as though he favored neither over the other. "I don't always need to interact. Usually, it's better if I don't. Watching from the sidelines has it's advantages. But if the situation calls for me to step in, I can do that too."

Evan took another sip of his tea, entirely at ease. "I can be whoever the situation requires. A stranger who happens to be standing nearby. Someone who belongs in the room. Or someone who absolutely shouldn't be there." His expression shifted into the faintest smile. "It depends on what you're paying me to be."

He leaned back slightly, studying her over the rim of his cup. "As for who I am...That's a considerably less interesting question." His smile remained. "I've been a courier, a merchant, a traveller, a security consultant, a researcher, a man looking for someone, a man running from someone. I've had military training, according to one person. Yet according to another, I've never held a weapon in my life." He gave the tiniest lift of his shoulders. "People tend to believe whichever version that they find the most convenient."

He paused to savor another sip of tea. "But you didn't bring me here to hear about my childhood. You already said you know why I'm here." Evan set his cup down and fixed his gaze upon her. "So perhaps you should tell me what you need watched."

Tag: Her

 

[Her]

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Tag: Evan Kade

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"It depends what you're paying me to be."

Her took the other seat after Kade made his invitation and begun pouring the tea. She didn't go for the tea pot, however. Instead, Her slipped a case out from one of her pockets and produced a cigarette from it. Seconds later there was the familiar yet distinctly awful smell of smoke hanging in corridor that even the artificial air scrubbers above were having difficulty in getting rid of. As she smoked the cigarette, Her thought about the man to her side and what he had said about himself. Her considered every detail carefully and bounced it off the other things that she knew about the men, women or others that were on Mahporeem.

More questions came to mind.

"So perhaps you should tell me what you need watched."

"There was a summit here in Corrox that was held recently," Her explained to Kade as she lowered the cigarette from her lips and exhaled a plume of smoke away from the would-be spy. "It revolved around a business plan of a new subsidiary recently acquired by a pharmaceutical company regarding the construction of a two-way hyperlane between Mahporeem and a star system located along the Five Veils route. A number of individuals involved in the summit have expressed interest joining in on the project of the Svivren Pass."

Lowering the cigarette down onto an ash tray situated in-between the tea pot and cups, Her turned her hand towards a remote on the table and lifted it towards the advertising board. There she programmed the blinds covering the windows which overlooked Corrox to close before the boards begun to play a recording of the Tarsai Summit.

"This is a security recording of the event," Her continued to explain to Kade. "What I want is a detailed background check and information about every individual that was in attendance. How would you go about gathering this for me?"

There was no audio coming from the advertisement boards while they were being used to play the recording taken of the summit. It's angle suggested some type of security device that was positioned in the corner of the room while the individuals in play entered and begun talking to each other. Whoever had taken the recording seemed to have removed or edited out the audio so there was no sounds to be heard. However, the distinctive faces of each attendee was caught and captured by the camera as it hung there as the quiet observer.

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[Evan Kade]

Evan's attention shifted toward the advertisement board as the recording began to play. He made no immediate comment. Instead, he watched. The absence of audio didn't bother him. Not particularly. Sound could be useful, certainly, but it was hardly the only thing that people revealed about themselves. Faces were captured clearly enough. So were clothing, posture, proximity, and the subtle ways that people positioned themselves around one another. Who approached whom. Who seemed comfortable standing together. Who kept their distance. Who appeared to be listening and who appeared to be waiting for an opportunity to speak.

His eyes moved across the screen with quiet concentration. He took note of faces first. Then the clothing. Then the groupings. He began mentally cataloguing them, attaching names where he could and question marks where he couldn't. There were a few people in attendance that he already knew of, though knowing of someone and actually knowing them were two very different things. That, at least, gave him somewhere to begin.

Evan leaned back slightly, his expression remaining almost irritatingly calm. "Interesting." His gaze remained fixed on the recording for another moment before he finally looked toward Her. "Asking me how I would go about it is rather like asking a locksmith to explain how he opens a particular door. You've given me the faces of the people involved in the summit. That's enough for me to get started." He glanced back toward the screen. "The rest comes from elsewhere."

Where elsewhere was, he did not elaborate. There were public records, business dealings, professional associations, financial connections, old acquaintances, employment histories, travel records, personal disputes, rumors, and a thousand other places where information could hide. Some of it could be found without ever speaking to another person. Other information required considerably more creativity. Evan had never been particularly fond of explaining which was which.

"Of course, what I can find and what I can confirm are two different things," he continued. "And if you want a detailed background on every person in that room rather than a collection of names and whatever happens to be publicly available, I'll need to dig considerably deeper." He reached for his tea and took another unhurried sip. "The good news is that I'm quite comfortable digging." His gaze returned to the silent images of the summit. "The better news is that I don't need you to tell me how to do it."

A faint smile touched his lips. "What I do need to know is how much time you've given me." He set the cup down smoothly. "What's your deadline?"

Tag: Her

 

[Her]

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Tag: Evan Kade

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"What I do need to know is how much time you've given me. What's your deadline?"

Her admired the smoke wafting up from the lit cigarette as she considered Kade's question. Raising a cupped fist to her lips, Her coughed into it for a moment and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand to clear the bile that had built up there. Reaching for a napkin Her cleaned the back of her hand and went to pour herself some of that tea after all to quench her dry throat and mouth. Smoking always has it's affects. Still, as she poured the tea, Her considered the deadline in question. How long did she have to build the Svivren Pass?

"Eight months," Her muttered before taking a sip of the tea. As she replaced it back on the table, Her reached out for the cigarette and took another drag on it. "But I would need to know more about these people within three," Her then admitted while wisps of smoke came out of her nose and mouth as she answered Kade's question.

There were many moving pieces that were in play. Her needed the Svivren Pass to be established by eight months and yet the people involved were numerous enough to pose logistical issues to the construction project by themselves. Everyone brought into the project had their own ulterior motives that could either slow down or change the principles in play entirely as Her sought to obfuscate the true ulterior motives behind the hyperlanes construction. She needed to know how to leverage these people who Her called their associates and yet they were beginning to smarten up to the idea that letting this peculiar, enigmatic woman know enough things about them was not in their best interests.

That was why she needed Kade.

"Tell me what you need to give me useable intel within three months and I will arrange it for you to have," Her explained. "What kind of access will you require, for example? I can put you in a room with these people..."

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[Evan Kade]

Evan listened without interrupting. Three months. That was more than reasonable.

The faint smile remained as he lifted his tea again, taking another measured sip before setting the cup down. His gaze lingered on Her for a moment, considering not only what she had offered, but the fact that she had offered it so readily. "Three months will do." He leaned back slightly in his chair. As for access, I don't need you to put me in a room with them." The amusement in his expression was subtle, but unmistakable. "Not directly, anyway."

Evan had his own people. Trusted slicers, researchers; contacts who could acquire records that weren't particularly interested in being found. People who could watch a door without looking like they were watching a door. He didn't make a habit of doing every part of an operation himself. That was how amateurs got caught. If someone else could perform a task without knowing the entire purpose behind it, there was no reason for Evan to put himself in unnecessary danger.

"I've already got people I trust to handle the less visible parts of the work. I'll give them what they need when I need it." He paused, his fingers resting loosely against the side of his cup. "What would be useful from you is knowing where and when these people are going to congregate." His eyes returned briefly to the recording. "Not necessarily official meetings. Those are usually the least interesting places to observe someone. I want the receptions, private dinners, business gatherings, conferences, clubs, fundraisers and regular establishments. Anywhere two or three of them might happen to cross paths." He looked back towards Her. "If you can tell me that one of them will be at a particular restaurant on a particular evening, I'll make use of it. If six of them are attending the same function, even better. But you don't need to arrange an introduction unless there's a reason to. Just give me the opportunity and I'll decide what to do with it."*

That distinction seemed important. Evan wasn't looking for access. He was looking for proximity. The difference there was considerable.

"As for being put in a room with them..." His mouth curved upward slightly. "If circumstances make that convenient, I won't complain. I can be remarkably sociable when there's a reason to be." He took another sip of his tea. "But I'd rather not have everyone involved know that you're helping me. Or that I'm looking into them." His gaze settled on Her again, both calm and unreadable. "The less that they know about what I'm doing, the more useful what I find is likely to be." He let that sit for a moment before adding, almost casually, "Give me the names, the faces, and whatever you're able to tell me about where they'll be. I'll handle the rest."

Three months was enough time. More importantly, it was enough time to let other people do the looking while Evan remained exactly where he preferred to be. Somewhere nobody thought to look.

Tag: Her