John Wells/Funny
Who says spy novel can't be funny?
- After the climactic fight in Midnight House, Wells checks himself in the bathroom, finding his testicles swollen. Shafer walks in right when he pokes his testicles.
Shafer: Now's really not the time, John. |
- Read this:
The OPFOR, opposing force, was probably not AQAP—Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. No, the OPFOR was UNK, unknown. But it appeared HT/HC, highly trained and capable. The SIM, Saudi Interior Ministry, had not asked for TECH/LOG, technical or logistical help. The CIA and NSA judged that the SIM was not close to catching the OPFOR. |
- Midnight House. CIA ops had just retrieved a secret laptop of Pakistani terrorist. This conversation ensues as they boot it up.
Op leader: What do you think? |
- Also, in Midnight House. Wells and Shafer get caught in some agency turf-war snafu.
The job was becoming stranger by the day, Wells thought. Arrested, or not quite arrested, by the director of national intelligence for a mission they were carrying out on behalf of the director of central intelligence. |
- Midnight House again. This one, when Shafer and John have their investigation pinned and stuck at an Obstructive Bureaucrat.
Shafer: Brant Murphy. Brant F. Murphy. Know what the F stands for? |
- Secret Soldier. While investigating a jihadi safehouse, Wells finds a Victoria Secret catalogue, "the saddest piece of not-quite-pornography he had ever seen."