How to Obtain "Hot Property" Part II

I will share with you some additional background for Part II of the op. The second op involved Michael working with a former spy who was also burned, but, unfortunately by Michael. This spy, Jesse, had recently found out it was Michael who accidentally burned him while trying to bring down an international conspiracy that was threatening his life and as a consequence Jesse had lost his job and reputation. As far as Jesse was concerned Michael had ruined his life. Jesse had reluctantly started working with Michael again to bring down this conspiracy.

Jesse had saved Michael’s life by shooting him at long range in the clavicle area which exited Michael’s back killing the person restraining him. A man named Vaughn had betrayed Michael during an exchange of a Bible containing a cypher key identifying the people involved in this international conspiracy.

John Barrett, of Drake technologies, had forced Michael, who was seriously wounded and quickly loosing blood, into his car along with the Bible and corresponding NOC list in a metal case. While they were driving away Michael decided he had to stop Barrett. So with his last strength Michael grabbed the steering wheel of the car causing the car to flip over and roll subsequently killing Barrett. As Michael crawled out of the car he saw someone pick up the metal case containing the Bible and walk away. Michael did not see his face. Later they discovered it was Justin Walsh. Now they had to get the NOC list back.


Evaluating the information from the Fusion Center

Michael broke into the Fusion Center at the police station without telling Jesse which caused additional stress on their newly, slightly mended friendship.

“It’s hard to forgive someone after a betrayal, even if it was for a good cause. There’s nothing more difficult to repair in the field than trust.”

Michael printed all of the email correspondence that he found on the flash drive and shared it with Jesse. Michael, being a spy, noticed that Jesse wasn’t sharing information with him because he had read the same page three times. It’s important to stay observant, even with your associates.

Jesse discovered Walsh had sent alpha/numeric messages to email addresses in Taiwan, Peru, and Bulgaria, disguised as a discussion about stamp collecting where they were talking about minimum bids, delivery conditions… Michael concluded Walsh was going to auction the list. They needed to find where it was going to happen and intercept it. To track down guys like that it was going to take some help from someone with some pull in the government.

Michael suggests that Jesse contact Marv Peterson, his former handler, but Jesse knew Marv was “by the book” and would write a report about Jesse contacting him for help.

Michael told him, “You work with the man for 8 years you have no idea how to motivate him to do it quietly?” Jesse said, “You want me to blackmail him?”


Getting the asset to Miami

Michael confided in me, “Blackmail may be effective at times, but it’s never fun. The problem is that it works best on people who are basically good. If someone’s made a mistake he regrets, it’s easy to make him regret it even more.”

Jesse devised a way of luring Marv down to Miami, by having Michael’s buddy Sam call Marv about an indiscretion Marv had years early. Sam posed as a private investigator working out of Dade County phoning Marv about “sensitive information” regarding an incident in July 2003 involving Marv, a young woman named Sally Baker and a $60.00 a night road side motel recommending Marv come down to Miami on the first flight out the next day to handle it.


Making the human handoff in Miami

“Recruiting a source is a painful process. Threatening to ruin someone’s life can put a lot of strain on a relationship and make it tough to work together. But sometimes a bad relationship is the best you can do.”

Marv arrived at the meeting place in Miami where Sam told him good news, he wasn't in Miami to discuss his martial indiscretion with Sally Baker. Sam turned the meeting over to Jesse, who was just injured in a car accident in Part III of the op.

To help persuade Marv, Jesse informed him that the last time Jesse tricked him, the information he received directly lead to the take down of Drake Technologies. Marv unknowingly helped stop some really bad people.

Jesse informed Marv that someone was getting ready to auction off something "really nasty". Jesse had the email addresses of some of the people attending the auction and all he needed from Marv is the who, the when and the where. Marv promised to look into it.

Jesse felt bad since Marv was a good friend and he had to play him it like that. But Sam knew how he felt “You know what always cheers me up? Stealing a chemical weapon from some crazy South Americans.” And off they went to assist the others in Part III of the op.


Meeting with Marv to find out the who, the when and the where

“Intelligence work is all about relationships. Like a romance, working with a source is more about the heart than the head. Of course romantic relationships usually end if there’s a betrayal whereas spy relationships often begin with one.”

On their second meeting, Jesse realized that Marv was trying to get him to talk about blackmail and concluded Marv was wired with a listening device. Jesse found a digital recorder strapped to his leg and turned it off.

Jesse found out from Marv that the email addresses belonged to brokers, arms dealers, and an ex-spook that was into crypto-intelligence. The auction was in two week in Santa Domingo, but it would take $5 million dollars in an escrow account just to get a seat at the table. 

Jesse then asked Marv if he still had friends at the Federal Reserve. Jesse knew Marv had pull to get old bills marked for destruction because he had done it before for official ops.


Getting the money for the seat at the auction

Marv returned with two duffle bags of old bills and requested that it not be spent stateside and that this was the last time he was coming to Miami. Little did he know that he would come back for his final visit; soon.



From Burn Notice Season 4 Episode 14 "Hot Property"