The Candy House(64)
13
The room assigned to a powerful man will be more lavish than the one you slept in while awaiting his arrival.
Never look for hidden cameras: The fact that you’re looking will give you away.
Determine whether your Designated Mate seeks physical intimacy; if not, feign the wish for a nap.
Your pretense of sleep will allow him to feel that he is alone.
Curling up under bedclothes, even those belonging to an enemy subject, may be soothing.
You’re more likely to hear his phone vibrate if your eyes are closed.
14
A door sliding open signals his wish to take the call on the balcony.
Your Designated Mate’s important conversations will always take place outdoors.
If you are within earshot of his conversation, record it.
Since beauties carry neither pocketbooks nor timepieces, you cannot credibly transport a recording device.
A microphone has been implanted just beyond the first turn of your right ear canal.
Activate the mic by pressing the triangle of cartilage across your ear opening.
You will hear a faint whine as recording begins.
In extreme quiet, or to a person whose head is adjacent to yours, this whine may be audible.
Should the whine be detected, swat your ear as if to deflect a mosquito, hitting the on/off cartilage to deactivate the mic.
You need not identify or comprehend the language your subject is using.
Your job is proximity; if you are near your Designated Mate, recording his private speech, you are succeeding.
15
Profanity sounds the same in every language.
An angry subject will guard his words less carefully.
If your subject is angry, leave your camouflage position and move close to him to improve recording quality.
You may feel afraid as you do this.
Your pounding heartbeat will not be recorded.
If your Designated Mate is standing on a balcony, hover in the doorway just behind him.
If he pivots and discovers you there, pretend that you were on the verge of approaching him.
Anger usually trumps suspicion.
If your subject shoves past you and storms out of the room, slamming the door, presume that you have eluded detection.
16
If your Designated Mate leaves your company a second time, don’t follow him.
Deactivate your ear mic and resume your “nap.”
A moment of repose is a good time to reassure your loved ones.
Nuanced communication is too easily monitored by the enemy.
Your Subcutaneous Pulse System issues pings so generic that detection would reveal neither source nor intent.
A button is embedded behind the inside ligament of your right knee (if right-handed).
Depress twice to indicate to loved ones that you are well and thinking of them.
You may send this signal only once each day.
A continuous depression of the button indicates an emergency.
You will debate, each day, the best time to send your signal.
You will reflect on the fact that your husband, coming from a culture of tribal allegiance, understands and applauds your patriotism.
You will reflect on the enclosed and joyful life the two of you have shared since graduate school.
You will reflect on the fact that America is your husband’s chosen country and that he loves it.
You will reflect on your shared conviction that your service had to be undertaken before you had children.
You will reflect on the fact that you are thirty-three and have spent your professional life fomenting musical trends.
You will reflect on the fact that you have always believed you would do work of more significance.
You will reflect on the fact that too much reflection is pointless.
You will reflect on the fact that these Field Instructions are becoming less and less instructive.
Your Field Instructions, stored in a weevil inside your skull, will serve as both a record of your actions and a guide for your successors.
Pressing your left thumb (if right-handed) against your left middle fingertip begins recording.
For clearest results, mentally speak the thought aloud to yourself.
Always filter your observations through the lens of their instructional value.
Your training is ongoing; you must learn from each step you take.
When your mission is complete and the weevil removed, you may review its contents before adding your Field Instructions to your mission file.
Where stray or personal thoughts have intruded, you may delete them.
Due to the classified nature of this work, you are strictly forbidden to upload or share any portion of your consciousness for the duration of your life.
17
Pretend sleep can lead to actual sleep.
Sounds of showering suggest the return of your Designated Mate.
Beauties are expected to visit their rooms often to change clothes; a fresh appearance at mealtimes is essential.
The goal is to be a lovely, innocuous, evolving surprise.
A crisp white sundress against tanned skin is widely perceived as attractive.
Avoid overbright colors; they are attention-seeking and hinder camouflage.
White is not, technically speaking, a bright color.
White is, nevertheless, bright.
Delicate gold sandals may compromise your ability to run or jump, but they look good on tanned feet.