Chapter 12 - Junior's Gambit

   We were going in the same circles. The other side was probing, poking. They would inevitably take another prod. Another poke. We get stuck in our roles, its human nature. Everyone brings something different to the table on a team. What you hope, is that what's brought to the table? Makes the meal you want.

   Elise will always point out that our lack of a response will prove fatal if we wait long enough. Panic admits that defense is great, but you can't sit behind a great chess defense forever. You have to open up and start the endgame eventually. Panic will try anything to solve a puzzle, to crack the nut. I was hoping it could be my contribution.

   Every once in a while, I'll treat JG to a little smoke fest. He was a video gamer, long before he was an agent. What gamer didn't enjoy a sack of weed and a night playing… whatever game with his buddies. Even as an agent? He's a tech agent, not what me and Panic call the traditional "football agent". Uncle Mike? Was military, but he was no football player.

   JG does think differently.

   Its the middle of the week right now. The enemy has ritual. Every weekend? You come. You hide. You wait. You watch. You wait long enough, you'll get what you want. We have ritual. On our toes but especially on the weekends. During the week? We can't exactly relax, but… what passes for it. We can't keep this up forever, but we have to until we get somewhere.

   If it ever looks like it, we can take the half a loaf of bread. Simply document the parole violations, and slap the released felon back into state prison. Extend the game another year or two before they kick him loose again. Then, does he learn his lesson? Or does the game just start over. With a now wiser and even more determined and pissed off opponent. Or an opponent that's now so wound up, he just goes in for the throat.

   Which is of course, Little Lightning's actual throat.

   There's a point to all this? And there's no way its good. Its bad, and most likely whatever they have planned, could even be worse then we could ever imagine.

   Middle of the week. Me and Panic took JG out for a walk after dark. We walked around slowly until we found a small playground abandoned for the night. We sat at a picnic table under a pavilion and started talking again. I produced a hand rolled cigarette, and waved it at JG. He always says no no no, and I can always talk him into it.

   We were starting to get into the outlines of what Panic wanted to brainstorm with JG, when a car stopped nearby. Some local cop. We giggled. Unlike normal people, Panic has an FBI ID he can bring up out of his T shirt and drop it down and out. If a cop doesn't look closely? He's simply some FBI agent. If they inspect closely? He's an FBI consultant, but its still got the bureau logo prominently emblazoned on it. It works for all intents and purposes as well as an FBI badge case for 99 percent of any everyday situation.

   JG naturally, has both a very similar ID as well as the actual badge case. I of course have nothing? Because I'm perpetually undercover. But, I have these two. The cop was pleasant, but wanted to know what we were up to. Panic took the lead.

   "Just out enjoying the cool night air, officer. We're… trying to get some ideas on how to go with something. Little walk, change of pace."

   "Well, that's nice. We really discourage people from being in the little park after dark, though."

   "Oh. Sorry. Didn't see a sign or anything. Actually, it being deserted? Made talking here seem like a better idea."

   "Really. What did you need that kind of privacy for, anyways."

   JG smiled at him. He did the gentle badge case flip towards him. The local glanced down, caught the big FBI logo, and smiled. Panic nodded and dropped his neck ID down to hang out. It had the same effect. I had to be the wise ass.

   "I don't have one. I'm a member of a criminal organization."

   The cop caught the giggles.

   "Hey. I was polite. Sorry to bother you guys. Hell. Long as you three guys are here? One less place I gotta patrol tonight."

   A few minutes after he was gone, I sparked up. Junior put up what I think of as his token resistance at the gates, then fell for my usual peer pressure jokes, don't you wanna hang out with the cool kids jokes I always put through me.

   Some soft drinks and a cigarette or two each, saw us standing around the swing set. JG ended up swinging idly and lightly. Gabbing. Panic started his angle.

   "JG? We think differently. I want your take on things."

   "Well. We think differently? Because we have a different thing in life. You? Were military. You play chess, and that's essentially a military game. Now, we share on tech stuff, but even then. You tend to think in terms of military. Everything is a conflict. Everything is… an objective. I don't think like that. Not my experiences."

   "How do you think, then."

   "Not like the other agents, most of them. Mostly college football frat guys. Some military. Some? Both. Now. Take Mike. He's ex military? But… military intelligence. He doesn't think in terms of combat and maneuvers. He thinks? In terms of… information. Its his stock and trade. He wants information, plain and simple. If he wants or needs conflict and maneuvers? He has lots of guys to send in for that. He just picks up the phone."

   "So. How do you think, then. What terms."

   "I'm like Mike. I think? In terms of information. That's the real power. I was a tech pool worker, before the academy. You know information is power, Panic. Its what I like about you. You… blend the information with the conflict and maneuvering and the chess. Me? I'm all information."

   "Junior? You're fine at field work. We hunted together in the frozen rain one night."

   "Its not my main thing. You even told me. Follow my lead. Stick with me. You'll be fine. Look… here? You keep telling me how happy you are I'm here. Now tell me, Panic. What did I bring to this. What was my big contribution."

   "Surveillance. You got the city cams. You got your own grid of cams to take control of. You… put a face to the scary shadow. I don't like thinking about this having gone down without you."

   "Okay. Surveillance? Just information. Me and my cameras. My recording devices. The IT stuff I do. All of it? I just gather and manage information. If I was in charge? If I need… conflict? I would send out you and Elise. Guys? I got the information. I know where he is, and when he's there. Go here… and bring me his head back. And there you go. I'm just… all information. The rough stuff? Useless without the proper information. I try to provide it. Christ. Elise might be more useful to you if we have to take that alley, than I would be."

   "I get you. So. Let me ask you this one."

   "Shoot."

   "Put yourself in the mind of that guy in the alley. The chess game is in a stalemate right now. We have great defense. The other side though? Is poking. Probing. Looking for an opening. I know you play some chess. You know what a gambit is, right?"

   "I give a pawn, I want to take a knight for it. Its the mistake I want my opponent to not see, and make that mistake."

   "Right. What can I… give them? For bait. That they'll swallow."

   "Hmm. See? You're doing it, and you can't help it. The enemy? Has an objective. The objective? Is Lightning. How can I… maneuver? So as to bait them into a fuck up. Then? I can maneuver into a superior position. And win. That? Is how you think. Probably them, too. They just know they want the objective. They're looking for a way to get it."

   "Okay. How would you be different. You, are the alley guy. How would you think differently."

   "Hmm. I can put it into words, yeah. I don't think in terms of… objective. I want Lightning. What do I do… how do I maneuver? That gets me to her."

   "Well. How do you think in that situation."

   "Weren't you listening to me? Or are you turning into a lightweight smoker on me, Panic. Information. Not objective. I think… purely? In terms of information. I mean, do I want my objective? Here, Lightning. Of course. That's a given. But… I mainly think in terms… of the information. Now. What information, will get me, to my objective. What information am I looking for."

   "Go on."

   "Well. What I would crave? Is information. I want… Lightning's schedule. I want… to know where she'll be. Long before she's there. I want that place, to be the right time and place to get what I want. Lightning under my arm, and I'm stuffing her into a trunk, with enough privacy to get the deed done. But… I want information, that provides the opportunity."

   "And how is that so radically different than how I think."

   "I mean, to me? You hunt. You fish. And that, is thinking in terms of conflict again. I need the right bait on the hook. This bait, gets this fish. I throw it out, I wait. That's all Elise knows. Throw the right bait out. Catch when they bite. Its not a put down, but… Elise is very, very geared to a thin mindset. Bait, hunting, then immediately we go to conflict and firepower. You? I think, you have a more advanced form of that, but its the same basic idea."

   "Then how should I think. Your way."

   "Am I talking to someone so high-ed up, I have to keep repeating myself over and over? Information, Senpai. Quit thinking in terms of the right bait. We all know what that bait is? And I sure hope we aren't throwing Lightning out on a hook in front of that alley at 4 in the morning. The bait? Your chess gambit… is information. You need, and this is just my way of thinking. You need some way of letting them think, that they just discovered information… that gives them that crucial bit of intelligence they crave. Here? Advance knowledge of some perfect time and place to get what they want. Now. That's the extent of my contribution, I think. You? Can figure out what that information is, and how to toss that INFORMATION out on the hook. For them to take the bait. The bait? Is the information."

   "Okay, JG. I like it. Back to chess and conflict though? They don't know we're onto them. I don't think."

   "No. I agree. No way they'd have the balls to try walking into that apartment building, and try to play social engineering games at her front door to her apartment, trying to get lucky and she opens up."

   "Okay. This gives me a different strategy. I want to leak, incorrect information. They'll pretty much snap up anything I leak, as long as they don't know we're onto them."

   "Or. Same idea but slightly different? You hide information, and let them think they stole information. Whatever they think they stole or intercepted? They'll pretty much believe it. They have no defense. They're… just pigs looking for scent of a truffle. Toss what smells like a truffle out? Pig will go right to it."

   "That's the gambit. Now? We know what we have to do. And? We can all sit around and figure out the best way to do it. We're reacting and not acting? This solves that. We have time? We have something very constructive to spend all our defensive time on. JG? You're a genius."

   "If you say so. But you see it now? To me, its not about… conflict. Bait. Maneuvers. Its an information war."

   We decided we had the solid gold idea we might be looking for, so… I rolled up another hand rolled cigarette, and went through it again. This time though? There was no philosophy talk. It was just giggling, jokes, and mindless childish fun. On the walk out of the little playground park? The same local cop went past, and he waved and pointed at us. We all waved and walked back.

   It worked. Or, it at least seemed like it was working. The mood changed. The group dynamic and mood. Elise was normally stuck in her zone, her mode. We need to act, we need to act. This revelation. That it was an information war, not a struggle over some objective. It got her unstuck. No more accusations. Which eliminated the tire spinning of everyone being on the defensive to her accusations. We had a novel strategy path now, and we all sat and had something different to brainstorm on. It seemed more productive.

   The next night, still in the middle of the week? It was me and Panic's turn to go out and relax a little for a bite to eat and to walk and talk ourselves. We got talking about general terms, and I confided something that had started bugging me.

   "What. Spill it."

   "I think we got very lucky."

   "In what way."

   "Timing. I don't think they had very much time, before we were out here, and Elise happened along… and this came together. I think if they had more time without us on this? We would have just woke up one day, and Little Lightning wasn't answering her phone and we were wondering why."

   "I try not to think about it like that. Fortunately? The universe didn't want that. It led us up the mountain. When and where we needed to be."

   "Me and my psychology. We spend all our time, talking about strategy. My psychology? Its mainly about motivations."

   "What are you getting at."

   "Well. Mike let me know about the release quick. We started looking into things, immediately. We got lucky, we got the drop on this whole thing. And thank god we did, you know."

   "Definitely. We're up on the mountain, before someone fell off and we had time to help."

   "Motivation, though. I already know if I asked Little lightning, who was the most dangerous person right now? I guarantee it. She'd look at me like I was from another planet, and point across the street, to the alley. Him."

   "Very normal reaction, there. Guy was at her door, trying to get her to open it. He's a very real threat. A big one."

   "And Elise. She's a very head on person. Guy in alley. Confront. Eliminate the threat. Its a great way to think, sometimes you need that. I mean in some way, you always need that. She'll remind anyone if they forget."

   "Again. Shadow in alley. Shadow at door. Its not a bad train of thought."

   "But, remember where this all starts. The guy that… actually… got convicted of the conspiracy? Gets out. Immediately? Look what got started."

   "Keep going."

   "I intend to. This? Could have gone on long before that guy got out. It didn't He gets out? There it starts. The gun doesn't go off? Until the trigger gets pulled. The guy in the alley is the gun. The guy I originally was looking at? Is the trigger."

   "Interesting take. Continue, science girl."

   "Thank you. Go back in time. The original conspiracy. Sure. That guy that Elise took out, was the shooter. But. For the conspiracy? The guy they put in jail for the conspiracy, was… the guy suggesting it. Egging him on. Go on, do it already. Once again? He, is the trigger. Some other guy? Played the part of the gun."

   "I'm following. Take it to the conclusion."

   "We get the guy in the alley? And if we end up just putting the other guy back into prison for a year or two on… parole violations? This already went on. Twice. We'll go through it a third time, a year or two later when he gets out for violating the shit out of his parole. Why? He never kills anyone. He just, somehow, some way? Always just happens to get someone else to go and do it."

   "I see it."

   "Good. It takes a dominant personality, and a weaker personality… to team up and do these things. The other guy? Has an uncanny way of suggesting things like this, and gets others to follow his ideas. He's the head of the snake. It needs cut off. My big problem? Once again… some other guy is the violent offender. Once again? He's non violent. We can't depend on prosecutors and juries to sort this out. Not if you see this like I just laid it all out."

   "I agree. My turn now."

   "Go."

   "You? Wanted to kind of… go cowboy this guy when he got paroled. You didn't come up with all this back then, right?"

   "No. I got on this over time."

   "Yeah. But I'm pointing out. You had an instinct. This guy? Egged someone on to kill my fiancee. Fuck him. Your instincts? Were spot on. If we had simply cowboy hit him, quick? We wouldn't ever be in the pickle we're in. Me? I held you back. Made you take the high road. I apologize. The way you explain it, instinct was better than strategy. This time."

   "Wow. Thank you. I'm touched."

   "I have more… commendations to hand out. Lightning? Took one glance. And if a person so much as resembles superficially one of the cops she remembers from her teenage years? Won't talk to him. I mean, one of these guys could have driven by, she's walking cause her car broke down. She wouldn't get in that car, as helpful as it was… for no other reason than her instincts told her you know what? You look like one of them? I won't look at you, I won't hear a word you have to say. Good, no… great instincts."

   "On behalf of Little lightning? Thank you."

   "Little Robbie is big on hunches and instincts. His lectures? Animals with good instincts tend to survive and breed. And it makes sense. Robbie? Big sports star, at his kick-boxing. You two? Big university sports stars. Athletes that are successful? Tend to have good instincts."

   "The bureau. Got along pretty well, for a long time. Looking for successful college athletes that were socially successful. They don't even realize, they were just seeing the results of athletes and their quick instincts and the results they bring. You can't explain instincts. They just work."

   "But… me and JG. Mike… people like us, we add to what's on the table."

   "Oh. Definitely. Its like you and Little Robbie. One big thinker, one direct instincts sports star. Together? You balance each other out, learn from each other, and you were successful."

   "I don't know about successful, but… as animals? We stayed alive. Intelligence and instincts both helped."

   "So. You agree. The guy in the alley? We're treating the weed showing. Not getting the root of the problem pulled up."

   He sighed.

   "Definitely on board with you there. If it comes to it? I'll go cowboy him myself if I have to in the end. And, can I point something else out here?"

   "Sure."

   "I'm learning back off of my student."

   "Does, that make me a good student."

   "Nope."

   "What?!?!"

   "It makes you a great student."

   "Oh. Well, thanks again. I suppose, that makes you a great teacher instead of just a good one."

   "Flattery will get you everywhere. But… what do I get out of all this."

   "Hmm. You? When all this is over, of course. And privacy is to be had once again. I, want you? To use your imagination. About how much fun you're going to have. With me? And Little Lightning."

   "I have a lot of fun with you two sweet little girls. What more fun could I possibly have."

   "Oh. I don't know. But what I do know?"

   "Hmm."

   "We're going to find out."