The Europcar representative is happy to accept $93.00 in American dollars for the week, and the keys to a white Ford Fiesta with Spanish plates are soon in hand.

The ferry crossing is uneventful - passengers in summer wear chatter in Spanish, French, English and German. Most of the cars in the auto deck as similar to the Fiesta, family cars and econoboxes, but one stands out, a dark blue Mercedes 300TD touring car. Four men in business suits arrived in the Mercedes - a driver, a passenger, and what appear to be two bodyguards in dark glasses hovering protectively, keeping others at a respectful distance. The passenger is older, heavy set and balding, with a fringe of grey hair and thick glasses; he's dressed in off-the-rack Nino Cerruti, with a large diamond pinkie ring on a plump finger and a shining Rolex wrapped around a thick wrist.

The ferry arrives in Tangier on-schedule. With hotel reservations in hand, the customs and passport inspection is perfunctory and the three agents retrieve the Fiesta by 1315. The ferry dock is immediately below the walls of the Casbah, and at the top of the walls, overlooking the port, is the Hotel Continental. A check of the Michelin map suggests that the villa is about ten minutes away.

LOL! Fiestas ROCK!




Slade notes the men and the license plate to their car with the idea of calling the whole business in later to headquarters.

Once the Fiesta is loaded, he gets in with his two companions.

"Do you want to cruise by the villa before checking into our rooms?"

"I'd say so," Gideon suggests. "Just to get a quick lay of the land. Plotting on a map or schematic is one thing, but places look different up close, and I'd like to see what we're in for..."

Slade nod and puts the Fiesta in gear, following the Michelin map over to the villa. Once near the villa he will cruise past and allow for all to look it over.

According to the Michelin map, the villa is located on the north side of the medina, but the easiest way to get there is to skirt around the maze of streets and alleys that make up the historic center of Tangier. From the port, Slade guides the Fiesta along rue de la Plage to the Grand Socco, the large square that divides the historic medina in the north from the modern ville nouvelle to the south.

Slade climbs the Rue de la Kasbah, up the bluff where the medina is situated, and after a couple of quick turns, the Fiesta enters Rue Raid Sultan. To the north, Spain peeks above the marine haze in the strait of Gibraltar. The villa is located on the north side of the street - that means the back faces the bluff down to the beach highway along the edge of the coast below. A pension, a couple of coffee shops, and a bakery occupy the south side of the street, interspersed with two- and three-story homes.

The villa approaches on the left. A whitewashed stucco wall, eight feet high, faces the street; beneath a taller archway at the southeast corner of the wall, two large wooden gates shut off the driveway from the street. Inset into one of the gates is a smaller pedestrian gate. The wall encloses a garden, with a pair of sizable palms visible; the second floor windows of the villa can be seen as well.

The buildings on either side of the villa are more modest; the one to the west appears to be a two-story residence, the one to the east a single story.

At one of the coffee shops, a few doors down and opposite the villa, three old men sit around a small iron table, sipping cups of coffee, gesturing often with their hands as they talk. Two young boys nearby kick a soccer ball against a wall, again and again, laughing and taunting each other's skill as they play. A number of cars and scooters are parked along the street.

Quote from: Black Vulmea;778284The villa is located on the north side of the street - that means the back faces the bluff down to the beach highway along the edge of the coast below.

Slade navigates the Fiesta down to the beach highway so his mates can get a look at the bluff and the back side of the villa.

OOC: Everyone give me a percentile roll, please and thanks.

(OOC: Rolled a 63)

OOC - rolled 39

OOC: Would one of you please roll for Imperator? he hasn't been on the site in a couple of weeks, but I don't want to cut him out just yet.

OOC - Okay, his roll is 28

"Look at the doors," Alexander says as the Fiesta rolls by the villa. "The driveway doors are locked with a padlock, but the padlock is off the pedestrian door."

"Good Catch Alexander!"

Turning to Gideon,"What do you think it means? Perhaps the target is here early, maybe his aides, or perhaps just a cleaning crew?"

OOC:My apologies for the disconnect. I've been on holidays and I was supposed to be able to acess Internet but, as it happens, we didn't even have a landline. Great for relax, but I was not able to give a proper warning. Again, I'm sorry. I'm now online again and ready to jump back.

OOC - Good to have you back! What do you think of the current situation?