After an exhausting few days, the crew takes some time to flush out their next moves and take stock. They decide that they need to head to Morocco, Alyssa Delacroix was clear that they pursue the organization behind the assassination attempt. There was also something else she was clear about, execution of their prisoner, Mohammad.
This is where things became a bit divisive, as some of the crew thought the easiest play was to simply send the faked execution footage to Alyssa when they sent it to al-graim al-moharra as proof of death. Other members commented that they didn’t need to and it might put their footage into further question as to its legitimacy. Additionally, Alyssa had said she wanted him dead, but Glenn had picked up from her voice that she didn’t really want him dead, but thought it necessary. For the time being the crew decided not to send her the footage.
They first took a road trip from their air bnb in rural France; Riordan planning out the route to avoid the authorities, dropping Mohammad off in a central French city, where he would wait for things to blow over, as well as being easily accessible/contactable by the crew if his help was needed.
Then Eyevan chartered a small sail boat, using Gustav’s itinerary, which went to several ports before they would disembark in Nador, Morocco. Eyevan was drinking heavily now, and had been since seeing Gustav for the first time since the attack, with only one arm. Riordan chose to use this as an excuse to indulge himself as well, and not an obvious sign that something wasn’t right with Eyevan.
Arriving in Nador, Eyevan rented a vehicle and they proceeded to Marrakesh by road, arriving in the ancient town, deciding to hold up as tourists downtown.
They had the address from Mohammad for his house, where his wife and child would be living at this moment, unaware of the fate that had befallen their father, and the false fate they would be told that befell him (his execution). Checking on google maps, Gustav couldn’t narrow down the exact house, instead only getting as close as a few blocks of a suburban part of Marrakesh, at the edge of town. Checking with the hotel, he learned this wasn’t a great area, the suburb was fairly new, but there was some squatting activity near there and it wasn’t recommended as a tourist destination.
The crew decided it would be best if Gustav went to investigate and perhaps chat with some locals to find the exact house, and then they would proceed from there, as Gustav would be able to blend in.
Taking a bus out to the area, Gustav could see what the hotel staff had meant, it was a fairly new (and clearly partially empty) suburb development, small houses complete with garages. Narrowing down the address to one street Gustav could see at one end was a field that had started to become a shanty town, complete with its own small market. Making his way down the street Gustav engaged an older woman and she pointed him to the house he was looking for. Gustav had made sure to use the address one over from Mohammad’s to try and avoid suspicion.
The address found, he returned to the crew, and they decided to take up residency in a vacant repossessed house across the street. Eyevan wasted no time and setup a covert network of surveillance cameras along the block, as well as constructing a small fixed wing drone, painted to look like a bird and be fairly silent. Glenn setup in the living room with his camera, a lawn chair, and takeout.
The crew took shifts in the vacant house, watching the cameras and the house, and sleeping or exploring the ancient city when they weren’t busy. Except for Glenn, who’d gotten some bad saphron rice and spent the next few days barricaded in the bathroom and rambling about this being worse than that time in Indonesia.
Mohammad’s wife was easily tagged and Riordan made it a habit to tale her (covertly) as she went about town, usually only going to the market, dropping off and picking up her son, and occasionally going to her mother’s house.
The crew dropped the video where al-graim al-moharra could find it as soon as they’d setup and tagged Mohammad’s wife. Hours turned into days, and after almost a week barricaded in the house and most tourist spots well trotted by the crew, Riordan and Eyevan were getting restless.
Gustav had met up with a contact he had from his mysterious past after Europol, that had ties to the criminal underworld. His contact hadn’t heard of al-graim al-moharra but promised to look into it. Leaving his contact behind, Gustav decided a moped might be good to have, in case they needed to follow a car or motorcycle through the crowded downtown streets. Heading to a dealer nearby, he picked out a nice new model and negotiated a good price with the salesman. But Gustav noticed him looking oddly at him a few times, shaking it off to his accent or some such, he paid and called the group to let them know he was on his way back. Eyevan answered and seemed hesitant asking if he needed any help. Gustav said no and hopped on the bike to start it up, only to find he couldn’t control the throttle. He had no right arm. Silent for a moment he called Eyevan back and he came buy and drove them both back.
Eyevan and Riordan decided to go out to some clubs in the tourist district that night, and had a fun evening out. Returning from the party, Eyevan decided 3am would be the best time to tap Mohammad’s wife’s phone and wifi (since he’d need to get close to her house to do it, and a tall Russian man was a bit conspicuous in this neighborhood). Her phone and wifi hacked, they started the waiting game.
The next day Riordan tailed her again, as she went to drop her son off at preschool. On the way he happened to notice an older man walking in front of her and keeping pace with her. Watching closely it became obvious he was trying to talk with her covertly, as he kept forgetting this and turning his head slightly while talking.
Eyevan turned on her phone’s mic and Gustav listened in on the conversation (in arabic), gleaning that someone wanted to meet with her, and she did not want to meet at their house. They would, against her protest, meet sometime later today at her house, but all Gustav got was it was about her husband, he couldn’t get any other details.
The old man left after reiterating they’d be coming to her house later that day. Riordan peeled off a half block behind him and started following him, being more cautious, as this man’s actions were those of a trained operative (perhaps not well trained though). He followed him through a bizarre and was almost made when he double backed once, clearly being cautious of a tale, before cutting into a narrow alley in the bizarre and disappearing into a building side entrance through an unassuming door. Riordan noted the location but didn’t linger, making his way back to the hideout.
Back at base, Glenn was back on his feet drinking peptobismal liberally and the crew started discussing the next part of this op. When they would follow the money home…