Typical Day

Typical Day

Callie Creeper is a member of the DO (Directorate of Operations), which means she's a spy. This would really impress a lot of people, especially her little brother Mike, but she's not allowed to tell anyone what she does. And you thought it was tough not blowing the surprise that you got your mother James Taylor tickets for Christmas.

Callie is working under cover, as she does nearly every day. Currently, she's on assignment in Iran, where she's posing as a Spanish diplomat. Callie looks like she could be from Spain—her Hispanic heritage and dark complexion made her an attractive acquisition by the agency, as she can fit in more easily abroad—and it's less likely that she'll be suspected of being a CIA operative if she doesn't look or sound American.

Thank goodness she took all those years of Spanish lessons, and then studied the language more intensively after signing up with the agency. Although she still uses it more when back home in Los Angeles than she does when stationed abroad.

Callie starts her day by keeping tabs on Hamid Javadi, the assistant to an Iranian government official whom the U.S. suspects to have some knowledge of terrorist activity. Having profiled Hamid extensively, the CIA has learned that Hamid badly wants for his kids to obtain U.S. citizenship—he doesn't want them to have the same life that he's had. He'd even be willing to risk his life in order to make things better for his progeny.

Given this intel, it's Callie's hope to befriend and earn Hamid's trust so that she can squeeze every last drop of information out of him that she can, in exchange for his children's safety and removal from Iran. She starts trying to earn his trust by stealthily tailing him from a restaurant to his home. Well, that's one way to make a friend.

Soon-to-be best buds.

Once inside, Hamid initiates his weekly routine of plopping down in front of the TV to watch a soccer game. This is the best part of his Saturday—the best part of his entire week, in fact. His kids are with their mother, he has the place to himself, and he can scream at the set all he wants.

Suddenly—the TV fizzles, gets staticky, and dies. Now he's really screaming. What a time for the power to go out.

Of course, this is no coincidence. Another officer working with Callie has caused the outage. When Hamid looks up the number for the nearest repair service and places the call, it gets rerouted slightly…to the very same officer. He promises to be there in ten minutes to take a look. (What great service!)

True to his word, the "repairman" shows up in ten minutes and Hamid lets him into the house. And, just like that, the CIA has infiltrated Hamid's home. And he didn't even put up a fight. Not that he would have won.

This second officer covertly plants a few bugs while he is "working." He also plants a discreetly-hidden video camera and taps the phone. Most of this, he waits to do until Hamid has left the room, of course. And really, who spends much time hanging out with their TV repairman?

Once the job is done, this officer signals a third officer to reconnect the disconnected wire, which will miraculously fix the "outage." Brilliant. Hamid can still catch the last twenty minutes of the game. He's very grateful and thanks the "repairman" effusively. Even though the officer is being all kinds of deceitful, it still feels nice to be thanked.

You're welcome.

Once she's finished observing the house from a half-block away to ensure that everything goes smoothly, Callie returns to the home the CIA is putting her up in to watch the live video and listen to the audio. Not much happens for the next six hours, but that's okay—most of Callie's work is done at night anyway.

At about 6:00PM, Callie is back outside Hamid's house, parked in her usual spot. She scopes out his place for a couple of hours, watching for any sign of activity. Finally, he emerges, and she follows him to a club that he frequents. Callie already knew that Hamid fits a visit to this club into his weekend routine, so she's well prepared—already in disguise. (At the last second, she opts to lose the Groucho glasses.) 

Inside, Callie works her magic. She "bumps into" Hamid, introduces herself, acts genuinely interested in him and in what he does (which she really is, so she doesn't have to fake it), and starts planting the seeds. Before the night is over, they have plans to get together for lunch. Apparently, this guy loves his kids more than he does his wife.

This relationship is only just blossoming, but at least the groundwork has been laid. Callie just hopes she won't have to go too far to pretend to be romantically interested in this one.