Authors note: - This is a follow on to the previous episode of Becca XXX. Spring Tide. Please read it before reading this or you will not understand the plot or characters
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Becca XXX. Spring Tide. Ch 02.
Despite Lexa telling us to go to Penzance and track down Valentin, we had decided to take a different course of action. Walking into the local whore house and asking for a job didn't seem the right way to go. The owner's suspicions would have been raised immediately.
We needed to wait for more information and I had more faith in Arrow than I did in The Facility's team. I knew she'd come up with something. I'd seen her work first hand in Bronzefield and she knew her way around the dark web better than anyone. Maybe it was her autism or her inquisitive mind, but once she was set a task involving computers, she shone like the star she was.
After she was released from prison with Naomi, with a little help from my new friend Sullivan of the CIA, I had considered getting her a job at The Facility. In the end, I'd decided against it, mainly due to how vulnerable she seemed. It was better to keep her away from the realities of what we did and the bad people we had to deal with. Arrow definitely had other issues and she appeared to be disgusted by sex which made me wonder what had happened to her to make her that way.
Naomi didn't know either and neither of us liked to push her for answers. We thought it may be down to her autism, but it wasn't a regular symptom of that type of disorder. It was far more likely that something had happened to her when she was younger. Maybe someone had taken advantage of her vulnerable state and sexually abused her. That would have been enough to turn most people away from sex. It was definitely the right decision to keep her away from all that. On the plus side, it meant I had a completely impartial analyst to carry out the background work while I did the dirty, violent stuff.
As for me and Nat, the opposite was true. We'd been trained to endure the experience of rape and sexual abuse and make the most of it until such time that we could strike back. With what we'd been told about our potential adversaries so far, it was almost inevitable that we'd end up on the wrong end of a rapey fuck.
That was all part of the job for us and it was the biggest weapon in our arsenal. I hadn't met a criminal yet who wasn't distracted by a beautiful young girl who was willing to perform any filthy sex act they desired. The art of seduction came easily to us, but the difficulty with this mission was finding our marks in the first place so we could draw them in.
Until we had more credible intel, it wasn't worth blowing our cover early by going to Penzance. Instead, we'd decided to drive up to Bude and check out the alleged target - GCHQ. I still failed to find the connection with the initials Arran had found on the dark web - GH - and the target being GCHQ. Even the Russians knew that's what it was called. The only thing I could think of was that they cut it short to throw us off the scent or to make their communications easier.
The journey from Sennen Cove had taken just over two hours and it was nearly lunch time by the time we arrived. Natalie had driven with me riding shotgun - quite literally. Our Volkswagen transporter may have looked like a beaten-up old surf wagon, but it was a wolf in sheep's clothing.
The engine, suspension and brakes had all been upgraded. It drove and handled almost like a car, but the modifications didn't stop there. The two front doors were internally steel plated as were the backs of the seats. They would stop all but a heavy calibre bullet if the need arose.
Under the passenger side dashboard was a sawn-off shotgun clipped in place out of sight, but within easy reach. We both had a UCP pistol fixed under the seat by Velcro, along with an MP7 sub machine gun hidden in the roof lining of the living space. We even had a sniper rifle squirrelled away under the rear cargo floor.
We knew we were going up against trained Russian operatives and we weren't taking any chances. Although we were hunting them, it didn't mean that they didn't know about us. Spy craft was always a two-way street and Victor may well have had his people on the inside of MI5, Interpol or even The Facility. If they knew we were looking for them and what vehicle we were driving, we were as much a target to them as they were to us. For that reason, we remained vigilant, carrying out counter surveillance drills until we got to Bude.
"We'd better head for the beach and check out the surf first," said Natalie. "If anyone's following us, that's what they'd expect."
"Agreed," I nodded. "The forecast is much smaller for this afternoon. The swell peaked this morning, then there's a lull for maybe a week before the next swell arrives. We might get a session in later, on the incoming tide."
"Oh... I was actually thinking more about the work side of things," she tittered. "But, yeah, fuck it. I've not surfed here before."
"Crooklets is the main break in the town with Widemouth Bay to the south and Sandymouth Bay to the north," I explained. "We should be ok for a longboard session just before high tide at one of the beaches."
We both had two surfboards strapped to the roof of the van. Our shortboards were designed for bigger surf. They were faster and more manoeuvrable than a traditional long board, but required a steeper faced wave to keep them planing. Without forward momentum they would sink.
Longboards on the other hand were a lot more buoyant and would float whether they were moving or not. They were a mellow ride and although they could still be used in heavy surf, they performed better in smaller, fatter waves.
"There's a car park right on the beach at Crooklets," I pointed out. "Pull up and we'll see if we're being followed."
"I haven't seen any one suspicious, but ok."
We turned into the main car park and drove as close to the seafront as we could get. It was as quiet as Sennen Cove. The holiday season hadn't started yet, despite the glorious weather we were getting. Nat turned off the engine and we sat still for a moment watching the entrance to the car park for anything suspicious. We'd both made mental notes of any vehicles that had been behind us during the journey. Most had turned off, but not all.
That didn't mean that anyone following us was a Russian hit squad. Surfers often toured around Cornwall to get to the best breaks depending on the conditions and could easily have taken the same journey as us.
We waited for five minutes but saw nothing suspicious. We exited the van and walked across the sand dunes until we could see the surf conditions in the distance.
"Looks small, but the wind conditions are favourable," said Nat.
"Yeah, it's going to be blowing a light offshore breeze for the rest of the day," I replied. "This'll work once the tide pushes in. Let's go and check out the proposed target."
We got back in the van, but this time I got in the driver's seat. GCHQ was perched on a cliff top about five-miles away to the north.
"This is a wasted journey," said Nat, pulling out her iPad. "There's no way the Russians could attack this place. It's heavily protected for obvious reasons."
"Maybe they've seen a weakness they could exploit," I pointed out. "We need to look at it from their point of view."
"What do you mean?"
"If it was the other way around and we wanted to attack this place or shut it down, how would we do it?"