August 05, 2023: Paris, France
A german woman named Zelda, or 'Z' for short, was sitting at a table outside a restaurant, drinking her iced tea in the summer day and watching the comings and goings of people at the entrance of a four-star hotel. She was thirty-eight years old, her brown hair was dyed blonde and tied in a high ponytail, and she had dark eyes behind her yellow-tinted, wire-framed sunglasses. She was wearing a white, spaghetti-strap tank top that revealed the red straps of her bra, her muscled yet feminine arms and shoulders, hard stomach, and her firm d-cups. Her necklace was a braided, plain metal string and whatever pendant that hung from it was hidden away within her cleavage. Despite the heat, she was wearing a pair of black cargo pants that hugged her voluptuous rear and a pair of six-inch tactical boots.
Her companion at the table was an english man in his late twenties named Scott and was wearing a pair of khaki pants and a blue short sleeve, button-up shirt. His dark hair was short, and his face was covered in a thick beard and a pair of dark shades. They were talking and smiling like any other couple on the street, but he was watching the same hotel entrance from the reflection in the restaurant's windows.
They both were in France on an operation looking to capture a double-agent named Stahl, who was wanted by the german government for espionage. Normally, InterPol would conduct the investigation and the host country's law enforcement agencies would make the arrest and extradite him, but since he was a traitor selling state secrets on the black market, Germany considered it an internal matter.
He might have even been selling the secrets to the frogs themselves.
If that were the case, then the french law enforcement agencies wouldn't intervene with the sale and, either way, if the
Bundesnachrichtendienst
or BND (german intelligence) sent their own people into France to hunt him down, then the
Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure
or DSGE (french intelligence) would get very curious as to what they were doing in France and a whole international incident could occur.
So, a private contracting company that Z and her companion worked for was hired to find him. They'd be prosecuted for any french laws they were caught breaking, but that's why they were paid so well.
There were two other operatives in the hotel lobby, playing a gay couple, since there were very few women in their line of work. Their search led them to that hotel, and they were waiting for him to leave his room so they could tail him to his buyers, find out who they were, stop the sale, and bring him and the information he stole back to Germany.
"So, dahling..." Z began, speaking english with her german accent, "how long have you vwerked for zhe company?"
"Only two years." Scott replied with his english accent. "Before that, I was a freelancer. What about you?"
"Six years. Before zhat, I was in zhe Bundeswehr for tvwelve years."
"How do you say, 'Rapid Forces Division' in german?" he smiled.
"
Division Schnelle Krafte
." she smirked. "You've been checking up on me, haven't you?"
"Only after I heard a rumor about you around the water cooler."
"And vwhat rumor is zhat, dahling?"
"That you left the german army as a man and joined the company as a woman."
She looked into his eyes and asked, "Is zhat a problem vwith you?"
"Not in the slightest." he smirked, looking off into the distance. "Although I can imagine others might think differently."
"Yes, many ozhers do."
They both suddenly got a text, saying that Stahl had just gotten out of the elevator with a briefcase in hand. Ending the conversation, they smiled into each other's eyes and waited for the target to exit the building. The man walked out onto the street less than a minute later. He was wearing dark grey dress pants and a white polo and had short, cropped hair, almost like a buzzcut after two weeks. He stood there for a moment to study the people around him and then began walking. Once he was fifty meters away, Z and her partner grabbed their bags and stood up to follow.
As they walked, Z took out a baggy t-shirt, put it on, and removed her hair tie, changing her appearance so the target wouldn't recognize her. Scott did the same, removing his blue button-up and replacing it with a black t-shirt. They both also removed their sunglasses. Behind them, the operatives from the lobby exited the hotel with shirts and sunglasses they weren't wearing just minute earlier. Together, the four of them took tailing positions.
Scott took position A, behind the target, and Z took position B, twenty meters behind Scott. One of the other operatives, Decker, took position C, on the opposite side of the street, and worked his way to get even with the target. The fourth man of the team, Mansfield, went to the team's full-size 'delivery' van, and waited to be called to action by the team following on foot.
Stahl continued straight for several blocks and Mansfield was called to drive to a parking spot a block behind each time they crossed the street. When he turned the corner, Scott proceeded straight across the street and took position C, while Z replaced him in position A, twenty meters directly behind him, and Decker took position B, twenty meters behind her.
After another few minutes of walking, Stahl suddenly hailed a taxi and Mansfield was informed to drive to that street and look for the taxi with the number '9F75' at the base of the white plastic advertisement pyramid on top, and to continue surveillance. On the way, he picked up Scott while Z and Decker hailed their own taxis. With Mansfield following, Scott changed his shirt and pants in the back, and Z and Decker changed their shirts in the backseat and put on hats and different sunglasses while their taxi drivers followed.
Stahl's taxi stopped at the corner where
Port de Montebello
met the bridge called
Pont Au Double
and he paid his fare. Mansfield pulled over on a cross street called Rue
de L'Hotel Colbert
and let Scott out while he searched for a place to park. Both Z and Decker had their Taxi's stop short of the bridge and they got out. Z resumed position A while Decker moved to position C and Scott took position B.
Stahl turned on the bridge toward Notre-Dame Cathedral and proceeded to join the crowd of tourists going inside. Z put on her blutooth earpiece and made a conference call with the other operatives.
"Zhis has to be vwhere he's meeting his contact." she said.
"About bloody time,"
Scott replied.
"but I don't suppose any of you bought tickets to enter."
"There's no admission fee unless you want to go into the Tower."
Decker said, speaking with a lighter german accent than Z.
"Been here before?" Scott asked.
"Once or twice."
Once inside, Z kept an eye on Stahl from behind while the others stood back. He went directly to the main arcade, a large room about a hundred meters long filled with rows of wooden seats facing the alter with thick columns supporting large archways that had chandeliershanging below. As he slowly walked between the two sets of rows of chairs, Z held back to watch as the others meandered their way to observation posts to keep him in sight. He scanned the people on his right as he moved until he found the one he was looking for and proceeded to walked to the seat next to a man wearing a red american baseball hat and a black t-shirt with 'I "heart" Paris' printed on the back.
Z retrieved a directional microphone from her bag and recorded their conversation while the others took out cameras and took pictures of them while pretending to be tourists taking pictures of everything else.
"Not a very discrete meeting place."
Stahl said, speaking french.
"No, but we're just a couple of tourists visiting the famous cathedral of Notre-Dame. Nothing more."
the buyer replied.
"Do you have it?"
"In here."
Stahl answered, gesturing to his briefcase.
"Do you have my money?"
"In here."
the buyer gestured to his plastic shopping bag with an Eiffel Tower on the side.
"Do you intend on me counting it in front of everyone?"
"Hm, of course not. Follow me."
They stood up and maneuvered themselves through the crowd of tourists until they exited through the cathedral's side entrance, which was in the rear of the main arcade, opposite the alter. Z told Mansfield to be at the southwest side of the cathedral as she and the rest of the team followed them.
"You'll have to park on the eastern side of the cathedral."
Decker said.