The Attack On Axnan Headquarters
An Espionage Operation
by
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He now knew where Hassan would be sleeping and where he might have some confidential meetings. That was obviously one of his targets. He did not know which of the hotel meeting rooms would be used for the conference but he guessed that that information would be posted on the bulletin board in the lobby soon if it was not there already. The other things that he did not know were whether his master key would work on the door to Hassan's room and when he could make his entries into the meeting room and Hassan's room. To remove one of the unknowns, he went down to the lobby to check the bulletin board. Sure enough, the meeting of the Axnan group was shown as beginning at 9 AM the following morning in the Pinetree Room, which happened to be the room that he had inspected the night before. Armed with that information, Tom went back to his room and took the wood blocks with their bugs out of the suitcase in which they had been stored. He set the timers in the two that would go into the Pinetree Room so that they would begin to transmit at 9 o clock the following morning. Then he set the timer with the bugs for Hassan's room to actuate at 11 AM, two hours later. He assumed that he would not be able to install them in Hassan's room until the dinner hour and that there might be a sweep after that or early the following morning. The reasoning might have been faulty but he felt that he probably would not miss anything important if he erred on the side of caution and kept his bugs off the air for as long as reasonably possible. His big problem now was to know when he could enter Hassan's room. The conference room could be entered any time after things got quiet in the hotel. Obviously, Hassan's room would have to be vacant when he entered it and that meant knowing Hassan's, George's and the assistant's whereabouts at the time. *** He felt himself getting tense as the sweep hand of his wristwatch approached 9 o'clock. His receiver was set to the frequency of the transmitter in the podium and soon he would know if its signal would appear. A few seconds of listening then would tell him if the signal would be clear enough to monitor and record the conference from his room. If it wasn't, he would have to set up an LP in his car and make repeated trips back and forth to change recording tapes. At the least, he would know if the transmitters were still there even though he wouldn't know if they had been discovered and left in place. He guessed that the level of professionalism that George displayed would not make that a strong possibility. A transmitter, if found, would almost certainly be pulled out by the roots and waved around until it created quite a stir in the Axnan group. There had been no indications of such that morning when Tom watched the group arriving for the conference. At precisely 9 o clock, the signal popped up on the S-meter and Tom could hear the murmur of voices as people in the Pinetree Room talked among themselves while waiting for the meeting to start. Tom tuned the receiver to the frequency of the second bug and found it there, as it should have been. The audio quality was also good and he was pleased to see that the signal strength was more than ample to give him good recordings of the meeting as it progressed. It also meant that he would not have to operate a separate LP from his car, assuming that the signals from the bugs in Hassan's room would also be clear when they were received in Tom's room. He settled down to the dull routine of monitoring and changing tape on the recorders when it became necessary. After the activities of the preceding few days, this was a letdown and he felt the usual post-operation fatigue begin to take hold of him. He resisted it and turned to reading material and the television set to entertain him as he listened with one ear to the conference and to the television at news time with the other.
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About the Book
The story deals with an espionage attack against the corporate headquarters of a multi-national company based in the USA. The attackers are professionals who gained their experience through many years of work with the US Federal Government. The bugging of the US Department of State by the Russian government that occurred last year (1999) makes this story appropriate at this time. It describes how a team of professionals work against a target. Their practice of tradecraft has none of the lapses that were displayed by the Russians. The original goal of their sponsor was to obtain information on the target that would give him a competitive advantage in the marketplace. As they progress, however, they discover that something other than normal business is going on in the target that might endanger the national security of their country. This presents them with a predicament because they feel that they should tell their government about it. But they are prevented from doing so because their own operation against the target is illegal. Their decision on handling the matter is thought provoking, to say the least. During the course of the attack, they devise ways of penetrating the target to the extent that they are able to eavesdrop on all the sounds that occur in the head of the company's office and conference room. Their methods are described in considerable detail and are as elaborate as those used in some of the best Cold War operations.
About the Author
Glenn H. Whidden worked with the Clandestine Service of the US Central Intelligence Agency for more than 20 years. He conducted clandestine operations in 50 foreign countries. The majority of them were successful and productive. Since retirement from US Government service, he has operated a business specializing in the design of espionage defenses. He also operates a professional association of counterespionage professionals who are scattered throughout the world. That combination of activities keeps him current with hostile espionage activity as it occurs. He resides in the Washington, DC area and travels worldwide to meet operational requirements as they arise.