Her life undercover (Harbinger x Your Little Project)

[Harbinger]

Major characters
((For the start all characters will only have short brief lines of description as the protagonist knowledge of them is limited, but they will be fleshed out as we continue hopefully to help my co-writer to check up on things, names and reference pictures if needed later on instead of having to go through wall of texts trying to find the right description part ))

Arthur Dunham - Senior officer in charge of the operation

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Arthur is highly respected officer in the FBI. He has roughly 40 years of experience ranging from the modest fieldwork all the way to leading countless of operations during his service. In the story he will be considered as the boss of the stories main protagonist.

Donald 'Don' O'neal - Field agent

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Donald, or Don, as everyone call him whether he likes it not, is relatively new agent working under Arthurs leadership. He will be teamed up to work as backup and serve as the first contact for our protagonist. If she needs anything, she should contact him and he should be able to give additional information every now and then.

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Martha Smith - Landlady

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Early in the story, protagonist is given fake identity and with it, she is also presented with a new home. A rented room (or more like second floor) from Martha's house. Martha is completely unaware of protagonists job in FBI and only knows the fake identity that FBI agent who signed the deal with her told. Slightly unethical approach, but if the mission is successful, there might be men out to sniff around her house and ask questions from her landlady, and this way they know she will tell them what FBI wants thinking it to be the truth, hopefully helping main character to keep her cover.

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"Max" - The main target in the syndicate for this mission

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Not much is known about him. He seems to have quite a lot of authority in a criminal syndicate and he is suspected of countless of crimes, but the FBI doesn't have any hard evidence.. yet.

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"Benjamin" - Close associate of Max

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He is often seen accompanying Max and other members of the syndicate in the night clubs that they own. Most probably has some authority in the organized crime but no evidence yet.

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"Barry" - Club owner

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Barry is the legal owner of the nightclub Heaven, place where the syndicate often holds their meetups. Might be only a puppet for legal reasons, or might have some real power in the syndicate. Not enough intel.

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"Hector" - Pimp

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Hector is the only one from the inner circle that FBI has enough evidence to jail for life thanks to his reckless behavior, quick temper and weakness to women, drugs and alcohol. He is often seen with young escort girls, loudly showing off with his wealth and is also known for quickly bursting in anger and assaulting multiple men and women alike. Unpredictable but careless, could be more use to keep him out for now.

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[Harbinger]

Prologue​

It was a rather ordinary Friday morning in the New York City. Arthur, the chieftain of his FBI department of organized crime investigation sat in his office with a heavy mind. For years they had tried to investigate and root out the organized criminal organization vaguely only known as the syndicate out of the city, alas even with their hard effort they have only managed to capture henchmen and thugs doing syndicates dirty work. This time however, they had a risky plan that might bring some highly needed victories.

For the past years Arthur and his team have been gathering intel and managed to profile couple of the main suspects that they think has some real connections and power within the syndicate. Being a realistic Arthur was pretty sure that this was merely a tip of the larger, uglier ice berg hiding beneath the city didn't have much choice but to agree when one of his subordinates, Donald, suggested a plan to get one FBI agent slipped into the syndicate as an undercover spy. After long hours of planning it became obvious that it would be much easier to introduce a female into the inner circles of the syndicate as a possible lover than it would be to get the criminal organizations trust on one of the male agents. According to their intel, one of the prime suspects called as Max, which probably wasn't his real name, was single where all others had wives or/and lover(s). He also seemed to prefer foreign looking girls, especially, but not exclusively Asian girls.

With Arthurs permission a search for possible candidate was made all across the country from different FBI jurisdictions until they found what they were looking for. A young woman named Kim, just recently graduated from the academy. A call was made to ask her to come see him for a job offer, and few hours ago an agent was sent to pick her up from the airport. They should arrive at any moment.

Looking at the picture of Kim, or Sophia, as her name was in the fake ID card he had on his phone he felt horrible. She is just a kid.. I will throw her to lions and they will rip her apart after one small mistake.. he tortured himself in his thoughts as he heard a knock on his door.

Clearing his throat and taking a more professional posture behind his desk he announced "Yes, come in"

Young male agent, still in the academy doing his internship at Arthur's department opened the door and said "She's here" , keeping the door open for her to enter if she pleased.

((The room looks roughly like this, except the chair is on front of the desk turned to face towards it so that two people could essentially sit face towards each other to discuss over the table))

 

[Your Little Project]

Kim Lee couldn't quite accept what was becoming of her career. Her hands pressed gently against the leather seat of the SUV that was currently transporting her to the city's head FBI Chief. Sure, she had graduated at the top of her class and was more than qualified to go into the field, but she knew to stay modest and work just as diligently to keep her place. After all, she had always been warned that most newbies were stuck as desk jockeys or bit assistants to arson cases; but something told her that a flight half way across the country meant that she wasn't on the hunt for some fire bug.

She dressed as professionally as she could having boarded a red eye flight at the last minute: a long-sleeved button up, and a slightly wrinkled black pencil skirt with a hem down to her knees with her hair pulled back into a simple, yet full ponytail. Had she been caught out on the street she'd appear to be a young professional or business major.

Ushered into the waiting room, the Chief's assistant did little more than offer her a brief handshake a nervous smile before wheeling about to go knock on the Chief's door. She fluffed up her bangs before taking a few steps through the opened door and into the office. Little did she know that by the time she was leaving his office her entire identity would be changed.

 

[Harbinger]

Arthur was wearing a typical, deep navy blue suit with a black tie and white collared shirt underneath. His face was clean shaved and his graying hair kept short. He often gives out very professional first impression, yet - despite his slightly old fashioned militaristic look and manners, his eyes were kind and his brows heavy, like he would have carried a lot of responsibility through his career.

Standing up from his chair he quickly, almost instinctively made a subtle pull from the hem of his suits jacket to get rid of any possible wrinkles on it, further emphasizing his disciplined lifestyle before he walked past his desk to shake her hand. His handshake firm and determined as he introduced himself professionally.

"You can leave us.. and close the door" he said looking at the young intern who nodded, seemingly happy to be off the hook as he seemed slightly nervous around his "big boss".

The door hinges squeaks as the door shuts, making another frown appear on his forehead. "I need to fix that..." He muttered mostly to himself as he walked back to his seat and sat down.
"Please, sit by all means" He said politely gesturing towards the comfortable looking chair facing him on the other side of his table.

Giving her a brief moment to get comfortable position of her choice before continuing.

"I am known as a man of few words so if you don't mind, I'd like to be rather forward with you and go straight to the business" He said opening the top locker of his desk and bring up a file casing, roughly half way full of papers of different sorts.

"I would like to offer you a job under my supervision, it would involve planting you as an undercover agent into the fastest growing criminal organization in our city - I read your teachers recommendations and she told me you were best of your class" He pauses for a moment as he pulls out one paper from the case and places it on the edge of the table on her side so she could see it without having to move or pick it up. It seems to be just a paper of recommendation from her old teacher that thought her the art of disguise, spying and most of the related classes, an old spy who used to make a name for herself during coldwar and is now teaching young ones on her older days.

"These would be your main targets" He says as he picks few papers from different file casing and spreads them on the table edge as well for her to see. They are portfolios of few main suspects. "Those are Max, Benjamin, Hector and Barry.. we have reasons to believe they are part of the small group that pulls the strings within this organization called only as syndicate. Your job would be simple, yet not easy. Get yourself close to them, get them trust you and find out what you can, anything, names, places, codes, their personalities, does some of them hate each other, anything like that we could possible use against them or information that we could abuse to provoke them to do mistakes."

Arthur leans forwards and taps the portfolio with Hector on it. That guy we already have enough evidence to bust him, but he is by far the most reckless of them and we think he might be useful in the future if we leave him be for now."

Arthur looks her straight into her eyes trying to see how she reacts as he states "That man has raped and assaulted 7 different women and beaten 9 men that we know of, one of them might never leave hospital" Leaning back against the back of his chair he sighs. "But don't be fooled, they are all criminals, don't let their good behavior fool you.. anyway let's talk about the contract. We would pay you the typical hourly pay of a senior agent since this mission is so challenging. You would be considered to be working 24/7, so we will pay you for 168 hours each week, double payment for night hours and weekends and triple for weekend nights. You will also receive a hefty bonus for working under imminent danger" He tells her the economical benefits that hopefully sounds good for a fresh agent.

"Before going further into details, what do you say? Can we count on you in this hour of need?" He asks quite dramatically but still keeping professional touch without pressuring her too much, unconsciously wishing she would decline so she wouldn't end up as yet another young life lost under his command.

 

[Your Little Project]

Kim didn't mind the fact that the office was neither opulent or overly decorated. It was a sign of a man that preferred to focus on his work more than his rewards and she knew he wouldn't be carelessly considering her for a role in their operation if he didn't see or read something in her that didn't come as necessary.

She was quiet, studying each file and photo that he found pertinent enough to explain the plot and then admit to how little they really knew about any of it themselves. Kim was a bit surprised. Here she was a fresh graduate, and they didn't even know how they acted among each other? The lack of information was intimidating enough, then he mentioned Hector. Her doe-like gaze met Arthur's and it was obvious that she understood the gravity of his warning. Despite the fact that she was easy to look at, there was an intelligent look to her that alluded to her studies.

He moved on to the pay and quite frankly that was the farthest thing from her mind. She felt like she was having an out of body experience, watching herself as she seriously mulled over the idea of trying to snake her way in to an authentically deadly crime syndicate as her first case. He asked her if she was in and she immediately stuffed down the nausea that bubbled in her stomach.

"This is all we know?"

It was the first time she spoke and her voice was gentle, yet just as no-nonsense as him. Her hand reached out for the photographs of the targets, all of them candid shots from previous agents in the streets. They were an eclectic collection of men, to say the least. From their ages down to what little was known of their backgrounds.

She sighed. "If my country needs me, I'm here."

 

[Harbinger]

"Good" He said without showing barely any emotion at all, clearly wanting to keep it as professional as possible. It was also a coping mechanism for him, as under all that stern hard cover he was a kind old man who was afraid to get attached or befriending any of his subordinates.. not anymore after he lost few who were dear to him.

Again standing up from his chair he briefly rummaged through the papers on his desk until he found the fake ID card he was holding before she came. This time walking to the side of his desk he handed the fake ID card personally to her.

"Here, from now on your name will be Sophia. We have taken all the necessary preparations for you to start as soon as possible. You are a young woman from broken family. Your father and mother are divorced and you were left to live with your mother that you never liked and often ended up in arguments and fights with her. Lately your grandmother died who was closer to you than your own mother. She gave you a moderate amount of money in her will and using that money you saw opportunity to leave the house and go on your own.." He takes a short break as he moves next to the window looking outside, his back facing her as he continues. "We already rented a place for you to stay. The house is two stores high, you will be living in the second floor and a lovely woman named Martha will live on the first floor and she will be your Landlady. She knows you are a runaway brat who doesn't go to work and doesn't study, merely spends her time in nightclubs and whatnot wasting her grandmothers fortune she inherited... She will probably lecture you and hate you but it is for your own good as these guys ain't stupid.. if you get involved closer to them, they will probably do some background checks on you..."

He turns around to face her once more.

"We left your background quite open so you can think of it for yourself. That way it is easier for you to remember and keep your story coherent if it's your own and not learned from a paper we wrote" A glimpse of smile can be briefly seen on the corner of his lips. He walks towards you until he is standing next to the chair she is sitting on, looking at the papers in front of her on the edge of the table from her point of view.

"We aren't that incompetent, we do know more than this but it is best for you to not know everything we know, otherwise we risk your exposure.. if they realize you know something you shouldn't know. I'm sure you understand..
What we do know is that him." He points towards the portfolio coded as Max. "He is your main target. Try to get close to him." He picks the portfolio up from the table and gives it to her to hold. "If our department of psychological behavior is correct in their estimation you should be.. how to say.. his type of girl" it feels like his sentence somehow ends too early, as he spites the idea of asking young woman to use her sexuality to get her job done, especially when done with criminals such as these, but the intention is still very clear. Hoping that she got the idea why they asked specifically her.

For a moment Arthur looks worried as his eyes meets hers before returning to his emotionless professionalism. "The way of getting you in is really up to you, but we have thought about few options. We know that the syndicate is holding some sort of birthday party to Barry at his nightclub called Heaven. The party is going to happen tonight.. that's why we had to fly you here as fast as we could if we wanted to take this opportunity. We both probably know, that when powerful rich men throw a party, there are always girls involved. The easiest way in would probably be to first contact Hector.. He is the one often responsible for hiring girls and entertainment." His voice felt tense as he spoke from behind his teeth, not hiding his disgust towards Hectors actions.

"Another option would simply try to go there as normal customer and hope that they let you in, there might be special arrangements for special event, we aren't sure who they let in. And you can of course come up with your own idea, maybe try to bump into one of them as they arrive and somehow make him invite you perhaps? Or if you feel this is too much too fast, we can of course pass this opportunity and prepare for some other plan to get you in later, it's really up to you Sophia" He smiled properly for the first time as he finished his last sentence using her new fake name giving her time to think in peace as he walked to look out from the window again, enjoying the spectacular view over the city as the rays of sun are passing beautifully between the tall buildings on the skyline.

 

[Your Little Project]

As the Chief explained the reason for her being summoned so hastily to the city, she was immediately grateful that she’d been told to prepare for a more permanent relocation. Out in the waiting room her entire life had been packed into three decently-sized suitcases. She realized that she would definitely be using her civilian clothes quite often and her wardrobe would have to be expanded if she were to look the part of a girl living off of a nice inheritance.

“I don’t think I should try to work, especially if I’m meant to be more of this party girl...” She studied her ID. It was her face, but absolutely nothing else was familiar. Sophia the lucky inheritance winner. Her birthday had changed, and she made a note to memorize it.

“It’s a club, right? I’m sure I could put something together that would convince a bouncer to let me in...” She trailed off, her brows furrowing as she mentally worked through her wardrobe. A trip to one of those fast fashion stores might be necessary. Kim hadn’t exactly been very into the party scene for a few years now, especially as her training had started to take up more and more of her free time.

“I used to be able to get into places long before I was the appropriate age for it.” Her tone was confident. “So, will I be calling and checking in with you on a daily basis? I can’t imagine I’d be able to physically come back here if they like me.”

 

[Harbinger]

Seeing her confidence in her skills brought hint of an smile on Arthur's lips as he once again, turned to face her.

"Yes, it's a club, and I'm sure you would normally get in just fine, but tonight they are holding private party for Barry as I mentioned, getting in might not be as easy as you'd think." Arthur tried to warn her, not doubting her skills, merely wanted her to be careful and understand the risks as he did not want her to get in trouble, which was quite a paradox as she is going there by his orders - the weight of leadership that had shadowed him most of his life.

"And no, you will not contact me at all. I am too high profile so if they can trace you contacting me, you'll be dead." The Chief stated bluntly, again trying to highlight the importance of caution as he picked yet another small card from his desk and handed it to her.
It was a business card, quite simplistic in style with text. Donald O'neal - Professional photographer for weddings and gigs alike. 212-509-6995.

"Donald will be your contact and his job is to try to keep you save and give you any crucial updates if we find out something, and if you find out anything you can tell him. Donald isn't his real name, it's his cover as is his small one man photography business. You two have been friends since childhood and he is your closest friend, like a brother if someone asks. When you two meet under suspicious eyes, try to act relaxed like old friends would. He is off the clock at the moment but you will meet him in the near future" Arthur explains and hands her a picture of him to help her recognize him.

Arthur walks back to his chair and sits down. Opening the lowest drawer of his desk this time and pulls out a pile of papers attached together by paperclip and put's them on the tables edge on her side on top of the portfolios he put there earlier.

"If you still are up for the task, I'd need you to sign your name.. real name. on all of these papers, they include your contract with the pay we discussed earlier as well as release of responsibility if something happens to you..." Arthur said solemnly as he offered her a pen.

 

[Harbinger]

Chapter 1 - Birthday party
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Night had already fell over the city, roughly at 10 PM when Donald's car parks one block away from the nightclub that also works as one of the regular places where syndicate members seem to spend their free time and most likely also talk their business.

The handbreak crunched as Donald parked his small volkswagen at the side of the road, a car that had nothing spectacular on it and was easily forgettable, a perfect choice for his tastes. Wearing casual clothes in form of NY Yankees baseball cap, old, worn out Metallica shirt and very normal looking blue jeans and white sneakers that had turned out grey/light brownish from the dust and whatnot.

"Okay.. I have to leave you here, the club is straight ahead along this road, you can already see it from here" He said pointing out a large building, separate from others so it wasn't like a basement floor of a taller building but rather a building on it's own that only consisted of the nighclub. It was roughly two / two and half stores high, or atleast that's how it seemed from the outside, however the windows were so tall that it probably just had one floor with very high ceiling inside, maybe some balconies and drinking areas built at the edges of the room, or at least that's how it looked like at least from their point of view.

There were total of three entrances to the building. The big main doors at the front, with a purple sign Heaven right above them. There were already a long line formed in front of the doors, consisting of young beautiful people wearing expensive, latest trend clothes signaling that the club had high standards and something that pulled people like them into it, was it just prestige or maybe some drug business - It was certainly a possibility but there were no evidence of that.. yet.

Right next to the main door there was another entrance, most likely used by staff member, VIPs and such to cut the line.
The third entrance was at the side of the building, a small ramp built to the road with stairs going down below the ground level with a door to the basement at the end.

A muffled sound of a bass beat can be heard from the nightclub right after she would open the cars door and step outside. The line in front of the club doesn't seem to be moving at all, almost like they didn't want to fill the place with regular customers this night as they were holding a special event for one of their members and didn't want the place get as crowded as it usually were during friday nights.

"Alright, so you have three ways of getting, either you can go to the line and wait but if we look at the pace it is advancing it might not work out. You could also try to get in through the VIP entrance but it could be really difficult.. I couldn't do it at least. Or you could try go knocking on the basement entrance but it is unlikely anything will happen.. Or do you have other ideas? Anyway do what you must. I will stay nearby and if I hear gunshots or something I'll storm in with the police.. I highly recommend you don't bring a gun in there yourself as it would be too suspicious.. Take care out there" Donald wished her with a warm, cheerful smile as he made a thumbs up gesture with his right hand.