xp_logs | Log: Kevin/Darcy: In The Office

Kevin stops by to check in on the newest recruit and has a side job for her.

"So, how was your first week?" Kevin said, appearing out of nowhere at the office. The man, like half of her coworkers, seemed not to make any noise as he moved, just appearing behind her chair and leaning over to look at the work on her screen. "Good, they got you on the new border restrictions in Eastern Europe. Three countries measuring almost identical measures doesn't just happen."

Darcy startled in her seat, clutching the arm of her chair with one hand. "Gonna stick a bell on all of you," she muttered, heart racing. "My first week was fine, thanks," she said with a brief smile before pulling up another document and launching into what she'd found. "Okay, so you're absolutely right that it doesn't just happen. So the clusters of orange here are all related. It's not super obvious; 2nd and 3rd cousins, step siblings, that sort of thing."

"Politics in the region. It's a family thing, like the Mafia. This is good work though. Oh, I see Symanski is back, slimy little fuck." Kevin said, reaching over and clicking through a few pages. "They prepped you on the Beast yet?"

"Not yet." She grabbed the notebook beside her and flipped to a clean page. "Hit me."

"This way. I've booked you some time." She followed him down to another room next to the IT room, with two centers that were faced with a dozen screens each. He waved her into the seat.

"So this is Ramsey's masterpiece. There's an algorithm... program thing... It is an aggregate filtering program. It does a good job linking media and intelligence through patterns without biasing it too much." He let her slip into the chair. "I want you to spend a couple hours a day on this."

"Sounds like a good time to me. Am I inputting the data I have or using best guess searches to try and find more patterns? Or some combination?" Darcy was sure this thing would be useful once she had a grip on using it, but the amount of data at her fingertips was a bit overwhelming.

"The raw data is already uploaded, so it's going to come down to your searches and your instincts." Kevin said, only half understanding the process. "But it learns as it goes, so the more you use it, the more it thinks like you, I'm told."

"A machine that thinks like me? That's not terrifying at all," she stressed, visions of sarcastic skynet in her mind. "Show me how you do searches on this so I can get a better idea of what I'm working with?" She rolled the chair to the side, notebook open as she scratched out loops and arrows in a modified shorthand.

"So let's take our friend Meye Symanski." He clicked on him, and the screens suddenly flared to life with information. Their existing intel was listed alongside media articles, police reports, and social media mentions of the Polish criminal. "So, his mob seems to be more active, even if he's been keeping a low profile after the paid judge that threw out his last arrest was charged. Police report suggests that he's been more focused on moving guns and illegal military tech around. Now, we're going to plug in your search ideas on relations and..."

A few more screens flared to life. "The bills passed are identical to drafts that were offered by the AHF, a conservative think tank headquartered in Krakow, to legislators in all three countries. Symanski's cousin is a senior fellow, so he likely drafted them. Lots of questions about dark money funding the initiatives." Kevin read. "So, Darcy, why would a mob boss whose main income stream is smuggling want stricter border laws?"

"Cut off his competitors, is my first thought," she mused. "Maybe let some of his small stuff get caught up in it to 'show' nobody is above the law, but in practice..." she trailed off mid-thought as something occurred to her. "And stricter border laws are generally harder on people who are trying to do it above-board, so harassing people trying to ship legitimately would drive up the cost of smuggled goods. Pretty smart, if he's got the right palms greased."

"Exactly. It means he's got a system in place within the existing border security on either side of Poland, which gives him a pipeline into the Middle East and the central Russian states. And, since the next big arms race is weaponized mutants, it won't be long before he gets into that business to meet demand. See if you can identify some potential allies within the border security or the military that he could be leveraging. Bring me some names by the end of the day and we'll put our networks on it."

"Oh hell, he definitely, wait--" she leaned forward, awkwardly typing a search command. "Okay yeah, this is color coded on my computer, but that third company on the list is a shell, and if you add in this," she continued typing, screens popping up as she dug. "You eventually get these two as quiet investors. He's military, she's the wife of a doctor that works for a biotech firm." She pointed at a specific screen. "More importantly she's related to this dude by marriage, and he's one of the border captains in the Kaliningrad Oblast, so easy access to the Baltic and wider ocean shipping."

He looked over it quietly for a moment. "Good work. But let's be thorough. If we're going to engage a network, we want to cast a wide net, even if we think there's one person we're sure of. Symanski might have numerous levels working for him, or be interconnected with the organization in ways that aren't direct."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "I have an additional job for you."

She grinned at the praise, nudging him gently in thanks as pride-pleasure flashed across her mind. "Of course." She accepted the note, reading it quietly.

"I think I know what you're wanting here, but spell it out for me."

"Frank Costa. He's a don in the West Coast Maggia. I want to know his organization, his allies, who he has covering for him, doesn't matter how connected or protected they are. I don't want any action. Just names and locations for now." He said. "You can work with Felicia on it. She's our Maggia expert. But outside of her... just keep it under wraps for now. This is a... personal project for now."

"Of course Boss." Her fingers tapped her notebook in indecision. "Speaking of personal projects. Can I use this to make sure any treatments Laurie brings up to me are..." her mouth twisted in thought as she decided on the best phrasing. "Hm, not likely to have her end up as an experiment somewhere?"

"Sure, but any suspicious results, make sure you flag them so we can follow up. I doubt Collins is going to find anything illegitimate that isn't on our radar or isn't just snake oil, but you never know where things are going to show up."

"Probably not, but she's been talking about doing some travel," Darcy shrugged. "Most of what she's mentioned sounds harmless and might bring her some peace, but I'd rather be able to confidently strike off things that might do more harm."

"I'll leave you to it. Find me at the end of the day and we'll go over your findings." Kevin said as he turned away and headed back to his own work.