“Get out of that Campbell” Darren said in an annoyed tone of voice
Campbell looked down at himself with a cocky smile and said “C’mon I just thought he would be fun”
Darren sighed, “we need to fit in, not stand out like a sore thumb. Go in there and change into someone more appropriate for this mission” he said pointing to the bathroom door
Campbell lowered his head in defeat said “fine, I will change” as he walked to the bathroom door.
Campbell closed the door behind him and looked at himself in the mirror. “I’m going to miss you” said himself in the mirror and see reached out to the finger as if to caress the cheek of the guy he was impersonating. Campbell released a deep breath as he cleared his mind and thought of his next face. He closed his eyes as the warmth inside of him spread throughout his body and tingled as he changed. Once the tingling had stopped, Campbell sighed and opened his eyes.
He smiled as he looked at his new reflection, he brought on his new hands up to his cheek to caress his clean-shaven face. “If you aren’t right for this mission, then it seems I don’t know what I’m doing” He said to himself in the mirror. He pulled his phone, fiddled with his hair and flexed. Campbell smiled and snapped a pic of himself before turning around and leaving the bathroom.
He came out with his arms spread out, “So how do I look?” he said in a playfully mocking tone
Darren looked over at him and said “better”
“Okay… why aren’t you changed?” Campbell replied confused
“I’m going to replace one of the guests at the party so I won’t be going with you two. I will go in as staff and then you and Blake will bring one of the execs to me so that I can take his place. Are we clear?” he said in a direct stern tone.
“understood” Campbell replied
Darren continued, “and then I will locate the informant and get the data drive”
“Where is the rendezvous point” Campbell asked
“Sevilla, Spain. You will receive the coordinates on your comms link” Darren replied
“Perfect” Campbell asked
“Go find Blake and make your way over to party” Darren instructed
Campbell nodded and headed down to the street to meet agent Blake. Campbell walked through the hotel foyer and onto the street where he saw agent Blake standing next to a wall watching all the people around him. Campbell walked up behind him and stood next to Blake as he looked out over the people.
Blake turned his head slightly to look over at Campbell
“Nice face, is he for tonight?” Blake said in a low voice as he looked at the business men and women walking past.
“Yeah, where is yours?” Campbell said as he looked in the other direction
“I’m finding it, I found some guys but they weren’t right for tonight” Blake said
“So basically you don’t have a face, which is really funny because….” and before Campbell could finish what he was about to say, Blake nudged in on the arm and said “Found my guy”
Blake walked across the road into a space between two buildings which gave him enough cover from the passing pedestrians to change into somebody else. Campbell walked over after him and as he walked up to the corner, a young guy with nicely groomed stubble and a suit walked out. He held out his hands as he looked at Campbell.
As Blake inspected his new figure with his hands, he says “what was so funny before?”
“Oh… um… well I was going to say that it's funny that you guys criticise me for not wearing the right face on a mission when you didn’t even have one” Campbell said a bit embarrassed
“That is funny because firstly we don’t criticise, we give you advice because the faces you use make you predictable which can be dangerous in our line of work. And secondly I did have a face, I just hadn’t seen it yet” Blake said smiling at Campbell.
Blake straightened his jacket and then said to Campbell “let's get ready”
As they walked in Campbell turned to Blake and asked him, “What you said about me being predictable and how it can be dangerous in our line of work, what did you mean exactly?”
Blake let out a breath as he said “Well… you like to wear young guys which is fine, but you shouldn’t wear them all the time on missions as it can become a way of figuring you out. Trust me it is best that you change it up, so you don’t get caught”
- Later at the party -
It wasn’t hard for Campbell and Blake to get a guest for Darren since nearly half of the guests at the party were suitable covers. But they had to wait, they had to identify and isolate the target and gain his trust which wasn’t too hard since most of the execs were getting hammered on the open bar. Blake stood on the other side of the bar, opposite Campbell and signaled the target by taking a sip of his drink and lifting two fingers up against his glass as he did so towards the exec that they had chosen.
Campbell walked up to the exec and ordered him a drink. They spoke for only a few minutes but within that time Campbell became worried, this guy was the complete opposite of Darren. He was nice, kind, funny and above all communicative.
Over the guys shoulder Campbell saw Blake signal to me to get the target to the meeting point with Darren. Campbell got the guy to come with him to ‘meet his colleague’ away from all of the noise of the party. When they got into the room with Blake and Darren the exec started to freak out, he was confused as to why there were two guys in this room and why one of them was stripping down to his undershirt and boxers. Just as he was about of yell, Blake got his arms over the guys shoulders and held a cloth with chloroform over his mouth and nose. The guy went out within seconds of having the cloth over his face, he stopped struggling and fell into Blake's arms.
Darren began to shift Into the executive. Campbell observed as Darren's body defined and toned. As Darren stopped shifting he started to put on the guys suit which Blake had removed from the original.
“So what’s this guy’s name?” Darren asked in his new voice
“Zachary Ival” Campbell said
“Did I ask for a pretty boy?” Darren asked in frustration
“why do say that?” Campbell asked confused
“Because look at him, Look at this face” Darren said pointing at his new face which was an exact duplicate of the original
“He was the best option for this mission as he has access” Campbell said in frustration
“Alright, I get it. Let’s get back to the party and finishes missions get out of this guys face” Darren said in a stern tone
Blake walked out of the room to check that there was no one around. Campbell turned around And watched Darren adjust his clothing in the mirror.
“Before we go out there, I think we should talk” Campbell said
“Then spit it out” he said as he adjusted his collar in the mirror
“You can’t be you, you have to be a bit more fun. This guy is friendlier than your usual self” Campbell said
“I have done this more times than you so I know how to replace someone and act like them. I only act like that with you because you annoy me” Darren replied in his new voice as he adjusted his jacket and tie.
“Come on people will be able to tell” Campbell said
Darren turned to Campbell and picked up the glass from the table. He came up to Campbell and put his arm around Campbell’s shoulders. And then in the exact same tone as Zach had spoken to him at the bar, Darren said “C’mon man let’s go back out there and have some fun and I will even buy you a drink to say thank you for looking after me”
Darren pulled his arm away from Campbell and walked towards the door and then turned and said “do you see how easy that was for me?” in the same friendly manner as Zach would have. Darren held his glass out to Campbell and raised his eyebrows with a charismatic smile. Campbell took the glass and watched as the smile grew bigger on Darren’s face. The two men walked out into the hallway and back to the party.