Paul did not take out a map; instead, he brought out a tablet.
On the tablet, he pulled up the satellite map of the nearby area, then activated navigation on his phone. Paul placed both the tablet and the phone on the armrest box between him and Brian, and said in a deep voice, "Here’s the map, with both overhead and route views. This is Charles’s residence; he lives on the sixth floor of this apartment building."
Brian immediately pointed to the building opposite Charles’s residence, and said, "The best surveillance spots are on the sixth and seventh floors of that building, within the four rooms directly facing across."
Paul continued, "There are definitely people nearby keeping Charles under surveillance. The listening devices are already in place, and there’s enough manpower ready to act at any moment. As soon as you show up, they’ll be ready to strike."
After some thought, Brian shook his head, "I don’t think so. Assuming the CIA is leading this operation, they should understand our capabilities. Too few people would be ineffective, and too many would be too easily exposed. So there will be surveillance, but no action personnel."
Paul nodded, "That’s a reasonable assumption. If a large number of people were to infiltrate Charles’s surroundings, then even if Charles didn’t know you had escaped prison, he would definitely sense something odd and abandon the place, and the CIA isn’t likely to make that mistake."
Brian let out a breath, then pointed at the building on the tablet, "We can pretty much confirm that this building is the outermost surveillance point. So, our first step is to figure out what’s going on here."
Yang Yi had been craning his neck to look from the back seat and couldn’t help but nod in agreement upon hearing Brian’s words.
When Brian saw Yang Yi’s reaction, he asked with interest, "Do you understand our way of thinking?"
Yang Yi said gravely, "Here’s what I think: first, let’s assume the worst scenario where Charles is already under CIA surveillance, but since he doesn’t know you’ve escaped prison, he hasn’t noticed it yet."
Brian nodded, "Good, keep going."
Yang Yi was just speaking from his own understanding; encouraged by Brian’s words, he got a little excited and continued, "If we assume Charles is being monitored, the surveillance net would surely work from the outside in. Everyone’s focus would be entirely on Charles. Even if someone is always looking out from the inside at the surroundings of Charles’s residence, the circle would surely be quite small; otherwise, the manpower needed would be too much. So we start from the outermost layer of surveillance and work our way backward to find them first."
Before Brian could speak, Paul couldn’t help saying, "Keep talking."
Yang Yi spread his hands, "That’s all I’ve got. I don’t know how to actually do it because I don’t know how to identify the people carrying out this surveillance task in a crowd, nor do I know how the CIA conducts surveillance or what common techniques they use."
Paul looked very surprised; he turned to Brian with an incredulous expression, "This kid’s not bad."
Brian didn’t pick up on Paul’s comment; instead, he looked at Yang Yi and smiled, "You can’t identify the surveillance personnel with special tasks?"
After a moment of thought, Yang Yi said, "I can, but it would take a long time because my method is quite primitive. It involves remembering every single person who appears at key spots, such as observing people who pass through a must-travel junction, noticing whether their actions or attire are abnormal, whether they appear regularly at the same spot in a pattern, or whether their behavior and assumed identity don’t match up. These would be clear abnormalities, but I think CIA agents would not make such mistakes. So I would need to observe over a long period, looking for any little clues, and that might take days or even longer."
Brian laughed heartily, "The CIA isn’t as formidable as you imagine. It’s a huge department with thousands of personnel. If every one of them were as you described, spies from other countries would’ve been dead long ago."
Paul said quietly, "In fact, the CIA is riddled with idiots and corrupt individuals, and they often have moles..."
Brian took a breath and said, "In fact, what you said is correct because a competent agent generally possesses this skill. The real issue is how it’s implemented. Many things are simple in theory but hard in practice - do you understand?"
Yang Yi said gravely, "Understood. For instance, we could conduct counter-surveillance behind the enemy, but if done poorly, we could expose ourselves, turning the counter-surveillance into a suicide mission."
Paul drew a breath and, looking at Yang Yi, said, "I’m really starting to like you. Is he really only in his twenties?"
The question was directed at Brian, of course. Brian waved his hand, "It’s normal for someone who has undergone counter-espionage training to think . There’s no need to overemphasize his cleverness, nor his youth. Every one of us was stronger than him back in the day."
Paul, speaking up for Yang Yi, spread his hands, "But we were chosen as the best and trained by the best. What about him?"
Appearing somewhat in jest but also serious, Yang Yi said, "I’m self-taught, so maybe I’m even better than you, ha ha, just kidding."
With a dismissive wave of his hand, Brian then said in a serious tone, "We can now be certain that this building is only the outermost layer of surveillance because it would be meaningless to station personnel any further back. So we’ll start from here – do you have any ideas on how to proceed?"
Furrowing his brow, Paul said, "It’s tricky because the CIA is certainly familiar with my appearance, and you going in is even less feasible. We need to disguise ourselves first. Boss, we can only go in disguise for reconnaissance, but isn’t that somewhat risky? Our physical characteristics might be well documented in their database."
Unable to hold back, Yang Yi volunteered, "I’ll go, I can do it."
Brian glanced at Yang Yi and shook his head, "You may now have the ability to make the correct judgment, but you lack the skills of counter-surveillance. No matter how you put it, it’s a bit too early to have you match wits with real agents. Besides, don’t forget, you escaped prison along with me. Do you think the CIA doesn’t know about your existence?"
"No, that’s where you’re wrong."
When Yang Yi said Brian was wrong, not only Brian but also Paul looked on in surprise. Paul said, "You’re joking, right kid? I just complimented you; don’t be too quick to get a swelled head."
Gravely, Yang Yi said, "Gentlemen, I can guarantee that the CIA has no knowledge of me, because the prison warden would never report my status to the CIA. Let’s set aside whether the CIA would even ask him. Even if the CIA really did get all the information on Benjamin from the warden, don’t forget, I am me, I am not Benjamin!"
In a contemplative tone, Brian said, "Are you implying that the prison warden would conceal your real information?"