McHale catches Hemingway before she leaves and apologizes for his outburst.

"I'm a little nervous about this whole thing. Spying is one thing, but this is a military intelligence operation. Normally, my activities involve me and people like me running an operation in a city with resources and options if things go poorly. If things go bad in this, we'll be sitting ducks and the place where we're sitting can kill us. I just want to know everything I can about team members..."

Miss Hemingway regards the other with a condescending glare. "I see your concern, but presently do not have the time to stop and chat. Good day!" Shaking her head and zipping her briefcase, she finally makes it out of the building.

As the remaining agents file out of the conference room, a fit smartly dressed Brazilian man passes by the group and into the room you just left, closing the door behind him. Furrowing your brow, you think that the guy looked vaguely familiar. "Mr. Chen! I'm glad you could join us," says Zeb, finally removing his paperwork from Jack's view. "You and Jack will be working together on assignment." Turning off the lights, Zeb produces a different set of slides for display.

"Colonel Martin Strikewell had been a well respected US military officer for many years, before we learned of his most recent exploits. Namely, heading a covert operation to build a floating dry-dock in the northwest pacific. He is currently working for Ambrosia Importers (out of Australia), although this is probably just a front for the ultra-survivalist group, CON.

"We need you two to find out as much as you can about Ambrosia Importers, and why the good Colonel has gone bad. Here are copies of all the paperwork we have concerning CON and Strikewell. I will try to answer any questions you have, before your flight leaves tomorrow afternoon."

*****

After reveling in previous exploits and discussing particulars of the current mission, Anna Baragli asks Robert Hogan if he'd be interested in dinner and sightseeing tomorrow evening. With a wry smirk, he accepts.

Before leaving the safehouse, the remaining agents go over a few questions. Thinking back to what Zeb had said, there was no mention of what sort of armament Whiteout base was equipped with, although to hear Hogan speak of it, the place had a few guards (and not of the commando type). It seems the most important questions were pushed off for your upcoming briefing with Jamison.

Not comfortable with not having any sort of cover story before arriving in Antarctica, Kerr argues, "A team of UN inspectors would have no basis in a privately owned station. A second team of researchers would really be painfully stupid, as they would see through that fairly easily. And then kill us.

"So... The best idea is one that would make us seem harmless and likely to happen." He flippantly adds, "Maybe if we dress up as penguins..."

Bargali shakes her head at his remark. "I believe the scientist cover still has merit."

Ms. Martin agrees, and suggests that maybe two groups approaching the objective would be best. "One team could pose as scientists enroute to a different research facility, though this time with little or no apparent interest in finding out 'what is really going on.' The second team could approach stealthily, recon, and recover the first team."

Content, at least for now, you all go your separate ways. Brennan, Hogan and Kerr take off in their cars, as does McHale after removing a parking ticket from his windshield. Sue Martin knows her friend won't be back for her, so she figures on waiting for the bus with Baragli on a lark. Surprisingly, another New Zealand Transit bus shows up just as the Italian agent replaces her notebook in her purse.