Modele’s exploits as an undercover agent in the Republic of Abadini made him the darling of his superiors back home in Casablanca who now set great stores by him. In another act of swashbuckling courage, Modele weakened Abadini’s capacity to develop nuclear weapons. Here, Modele learned, again, from one of the loose comments from some top airforce officers that were passing through the door of his duty post about the transport of some sensitive materials through the airport.
Not knowing what these sensitive materials were or when they were to come in, Modele was left in a quandary as to how to turn this delicious lead into well processed intelligence. An essential ingredient for success in every endeavor is luck. And Modele had luck in abundance. About a week after overhearing the discussion of the top echelons of the airforce, some Department for State Security officials were returning from an overseas trip to Pakistan, a nuclear power.
This Pakistan trip by the DSS officials set off alarm bells in Modele’s sharp mind. And his gut feeling told him that this trip had something to do with the expected classified materials. In a moment of shock and pleasure and horror, Modele spotted what he was looking for in the hands of one of the DSS officials. It was a small black box that had top secret written on its body. A surge of adrenaline swept through Modele’s body. How does he get hold of this box without blowing his cover? This was the question of the moment.
Modele was a talented thief, his pilfering skill hound in the crucible of formal training by the Casablanca government. But attempting to steal this box, with Close circuit camera’s dotting the length and breadth of the Airport would have been risky to the point of irresponsibility. What was he to do? Immediately, through a secure line, Modele called his office in Casablanca and informed them about this movement. His office in Casablanca swung into action immediately, activating some other assets in Abadini who were mandated to take that small black box by any means possible.
The path from the airport to the DSS head office was a 45 minutes’ drive. And for the most part, this path was lined by thick forest as the airport, like most others, was built in the outskirt of the city. As a testimony to the effectiveness and agility of Casablanca’s intelligence agency, it only took about 45 minutes to get its assets to lie in wait for the DSS Vehicle. The assets described here were highly competent veterans of the cold war, when Casablanca fought side by side with America as the dismantled the berlin wall and forced the collapse of the Soviet Union. The end game was the regression of communism in the world.
The assets were always on standby to serve Casablanca with all they had for loyalty must first be to the motherland. They were three in number and the navigated the thick forest using power bikes. As they lurked in the forest, awaiting the passing of the Convoy, a clear understanding of the assignment was written all over their faces- “take the black box labelled “top secret” and deliver same to the powers that be in Casablanca.
#MMBA3
Biases and their effects on decision making