Southern Hospitality Comes To Frusenland

Frusenland

FRUSENLAND is a small, snowy nation located in Northern Europe. Frusenland is largely rural, and life there is still centered around reindeer hunting and herding. The country has only one major city, its capital, Frusenhagen.

Wiretap

Heather Pennington is an attractive young woman in her early twenties, who stands about 5'6" and weighs around 120. If she hadn't gone into her current profession, she probably could have made it as a model.

She has shiny, straight blonde hair, which she usually keeps neatly fastened back with a fashionable hairclip. Her light blue eyes are far from vacant; she has a very alert and inquisitive gaze, which speaks to the young woman's guile and intelligence.

When she's off-duty, she dresses in nice things, because her salary affords her nice things. Even when dressed down in casual clothing, Heather chooses brand-name styles. Currently, she's wearing a blue-and-white striped polo by Lacoste, True Religion stretch denim jeans, and a pair of black Nine West sandals.

It's almost summertime in Frusenhagen, and while the temperatures aren't exactly warm and welcoming, they're not as brutally punishing as winter. Heather Pennington is glad to be able to leave her parka back at the base. When she tires of military chow, sometimes she just needs a little time at the town's most popular eating establishment. It's a large, cabin-like structure, very rustic and almost medieval in nature. It seems very old-world charming. The menu has a lot of game meat: reindeer, moose, and other local delicacies she isn't used to seeing.

She sits at her table-for-one, holding the menu, and finding herself being distracted by a reindeer head taxidermied and mounted on the opposite wall.

Theres the briefest of breezes and the door opens for another diner. As the place is so popular the diner's informed his reservation has been lost due to a mix up and he'll have to wait until a tables free. If the man's bothered in any way by this development... he doesn't show it. With a casual "Thank you ma'am to the server the gentleman makes his way up to the bar and orders a drink. When asked for ice the reply comes, "Thank you. But no. Had had my fill..." and tosses a look in the direction of cool crisp landscape outside.

Heather's attention is drawn toward Calhoun, mostly because of his VERY out-of-town accent. One American can pick another American out of a foreign crowd quite easily. An expat, perhaps? A GI Joe?? He doesn't seem familiar to her, but she knows how skilled some of the Joes are at disguising themselves. That Southern accent doesn't sound fake or put-on to her, however. It seems quite authentic. But what would an American be doing here in Frusenhagen? This isn't exactly a tourist destination. With a curious frown, she waves the hostess over, and has a brief word with her...

Moments later, the hostess approaches Calhoun. "Sir? If you are willing to share a table, there is a lady over at that small table who says you may join her." The hostess gestures toward the smaller table, where Calhoun would see a blonde woman smiling politely.

"Why thank you. That'd be just fine." is the reply to the hostess. Taking the drink in his hand and walking over to the table the man stops short of sitting, his free hand on the chair, and says, "Evenin'. Only if you're sure I'm not intruding. Calhoun Burns. Friends call me... a lot of things. Not all to be believed. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Smiling politely and with a single nod Calhoun waits to be sure it's a welcome invitation before taking up the ladys time.

Heather smiles at Calhoun politely. "Glad to meet you, Mr. Burns, are you from Texas? That sounds a lot like a Texan drawl," she admits. Her own accent is more Northern in nature...not as strong as New York, but it likely puts her in the northeastern states range. "You know, that isn't a common accent around here. My name's Heather Pennington."

"May I?" Calhoun asks, lifting his hand from the chair, and, when there's no objection, he takes a seat "Thank you. Calhoun or Cal's fine. If it weren't for you I'd still be standin' and waiting at the bar. That's most appreciated." Swirling his ice-less drink a few times but not taking a sip yet he continues with a bright smile, "Born and raised. Don't get me wrong now there's all the space and view you could want for this way out... but work means I need a little less snow and a little more grass on the ground." He then takes a sip of the drink, "So what brings you round this way, if I'm not too bold in asking?"

"I'm an independent contractor for Big Telecom," Pennington says, sticking to her standard 'civilian' story. "On a mission to get Frusenland fully rigged up with towers for the best coverage. Not sure if you've noticed or not, but the cellphone connection is not exactly the best outside of Frusenhagen's town limits. There's reasons for that, and there's also a solution for that." She glances down at her menu, making a face. "Nngh, reindeer steak is the special every time I come here. Think I'm just getting a salad. How about you, what brings you out here?"

"Well I'm a man of two trades as I was raised right and taught to stay busy." Calhoun says taking another sip of his drink, "So, back home I got the finest set of stables eyes can set on. Bred, raised and trained there. Good few champions brought up in my time." glancing at the menu Cal looks thoughtful. If you can't say somethin' nice and be polite... He closes his menu and puts it down neatly on the table. "My other work brought me all the way up here. Architecture, consultin' mostly, but I've done a few builds from the ground up too. Been called in to keep the view out the window and not run in here with the mornin' sun." After he takes another sip of his drink he adds, "Don't want to make it even harder to get a table now, do I?"

Heather perks up. "Architecture? What sort of buildings? Do you build private residences...or business towers, or what sorts of designs?" To Heather, Calhoun couldn't possibly be out here to enjoy reindeer sightings. He strikes her as either a Joe agent, or perhaps if his story is true, he's looking to make some money. "Because...I have associates who might be interested in your work."

"Very reason I'm more in consultation is that I've built everything from housin' to hydroelectric dams. Other things too but, military 'n' all, I can't say much about that. Sorry ma'am. Most people can't afford me these days so they only bring me in as a part timer. Gives me time to enjoy the finer things so, can't complain." After another sip of his drink Cal asks, "Forgive me if this is a little outta line... but the menu's not gettin' me anythin' I want to keep down. I might just have another drink... if all's the same to you?"

Heather narrows her eyes in thought. Military? That certainly had her attention. What also had her attention was 'most people can't afford me'. She would almost certainly need to report this man, and keep tabs on him so long as he was so close to the base. "Hm? -- Oh, sure! Have whatever you like," she laughs. "I'm not a vegetarian, but I'm used to more American fare, I guess. The game meat they serve here is always kind of...served lukewarm, and still bloody. Not really to my liking but that's how they do it in these parts. So what are the chances of you opening up a stable in the countryside? Or is it too cold here to have such a thing?"

"The cold's one thing, snow shoes instead of horse shoes'd be another." Cal chuckles at the thought. There's a few of the more firey ones back home that'd object to that! "Can't give away those secrets that have been passed down to me but the land those sleepin' in the stables tonight is the same that their great-great-great-great granddaddy roamed on. That matters a lot to them... an' they don't even know it."

With a polite request to a passing server Cal puts in an order for another drink, then says before the server can move on "Ma'am? Can I get you anything at all?" Once ordering has been sorted, whichever way, Cal continues, "There's enough here to keep me going for some time yet. So I'll certainly be at your service should there be something you or your associates need of me. I don't do cards, not my style, but I can give you the local office number for anything you need."

Heather considers. She still needs to head back to base and check up on her Tele-Viper team. She'd better steer clear of alcohol. "Just a Perrier will be fine, thank you," she says gratefully. She wants to find out more about the 'military' angle, but decides that instead of placing a bug on Calhoun, she'll just go the non-technical route and perhaps meet him to plan some more business. "By the way, should you have any cellphone-related needs such as signal boosters while you're here, this is my business card." Heather passes a very ordinary-looking business card over to Calhoun, identifying her as a telecomm consultant to a very large company (of which the parent company happens to be the world conglomerate Extensive Enterprises, but that name doesn't actually appear anywhere on the card). "And do you happen to have yours? I'm serious when I say I know some associates who are looking for an architect's expertise, and they may be able to afford you."

"Why thank you, I'll keep that in mind. If I need anything like that you'll be my first call." Cal says, taking the card and putting it in his inside coat pocket, then, after a moment's thought he says, "I don't usually do cards. As I've been on the move a lot what with these multiple sites and the demo works the office did make up a few of these to pass about to the different site managers." Taking a card and pen out of his other coat pocket Calhoun writes another number below those present already. "Local office, Head Office and my satellite phone. I added the sat-phone but it won't be ready to receive calls yet. Built into the car and that's still being shipped across." He chuckles, "Phone's only any good while it's on you!"

Heather grins. A number. Excellent. She would be putting one of her Tele-Vipers to work tapping the phone of this Calhoun Burns, to listen in on his calls. Cobra's operations in Frusenland couldn't afford to be jeopardized. "Right, of course," she exclaims. "Well you'll definitely be hearing from me again. In the unlikely event I'm not able to drum up some work for you, we can at least hang out again. I can't tell you how nice it is to meet another American out here."

As it's clear the lady's leaving Cal stands as politeness dictates. Those numbers can be checked and will draw rather interesting results. It'll certainly confirm that the firm Calhoun owns has had its pick of the best contracts across all sectors in any country you care to mention but, aside from that, just an architectural firm.

If Heather'd taken the time to look at Cal's wrist she may have seen the comm watch that all MASK agents wear... but there's still time. The next time. Calhoun nods politely and says, "I'd certainly like that, if that's what best pleases you. Have a good evening ma'am. I'll cover this." he briefly waves to the table and the bill soon to appear for it's contents. Then, finishing his drink, Cal reflects on the chance meeting. In his third line of work little's left to chance...

(...Later...)

=================================== Cobra ====================================

Message: 7/30                      Posted        Author

Calhoun Burns                      Tue May 31    Wiretap

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((Wiretap is shown at her office in the Cobra Embassy in Frusenland.))

"I was in Frusenhagen the other day, when a man very clearly NOT from the area walked in. He identified himself as Calhoun Burns, an architect and horse enthusiast. Sounded very much like he was from the southern United States. Definitely NOT FROM AROUND HERE."

"Tele-Vipers, I want you to vet this man thoroughly. Put his voice through the modulation identification system. He didn't give me the impression of a disguised Joe, but those disguises can be extremely good. As we know. I do believe he's some sort of agent, either attempting to contact the Joes or perhaps infiltrate our operations in Frusenland. And if he isn't...then we need to offer him an assignment before the Joes pick him up. A decent architect could be a valuable asset to our operations. Wiretap, out."

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