I figured that’s when activity inside the casino would be at its most muted. Since I had to wait for the right time to make my move, I set the alarm to wake me at four in the morning. It’s a good thing I’m not claustrophobic or I’d be a basket case by now. I’m lying horizontally in a space slightly smaller than a phone booth. The ventilation shaft of the Tropical Casino in Macau. I’m suddenly aware of how hot it is and I remember where I am. I particularly like the camera capabilities that allow me to snap digital pics of anything I want. Primarily a tool for communication, it has many other uses as well. It’s really called an Operational Satellite Uplink. The OPSAT is a handy little device that Third Echelon dreamed up for its agents.
I bring my left hand to my face and press the button to illuminate the OPSAT’s screen. The OPSAT finishes its duty and the little T-shaped rod retracts. There’s no more light in the shaft than there was when I first climbed into it. I stretch my feet, even though they’re enclosed snugly in my boots. I flex my hands to get the blood circulating once again. The air is stale and dry inside the ventilation shaft where I spent the last six hours. I remember laughing in the movie theater when I saw that. He had a wristwatch with the same kind of T-shaped rod that poked him until he woke up. This apparently put him in some kind of hibernation. When I first saw it demonstrated, it reminded me of a James Coburn spy movie from the sixties in which he played a secret agent who could stop his heart on command. The rod rocks back and forth, nudging my pulse, telling my body that it’s time to rouse. There’s a little T-shaped rod that protrudes from the flexible band when the silent “alarm” goes off. The OPSAT attached to my wrist continues to wake me. It gently pulls me out of this dimensionless world, and I slowly regain the use of my senses. I feel the pulsating pressure on my wrist. I don’t take it for granted because in my business I have to catch sleep in the strangest places and at the oddest times.
I’m sure a lot of people in the world would envy this talent. I simply tell myself, “It’s time to sleep now.” And I do it. It’s always been that way, ever since I was a kid. I can will myself to sleep anywhere, anytime. There’s no air, but I know I’m breathing. Darkness and light at the same time, and no sense of gravity. It’s like being in a state of nonexistence. Excerpt – Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell ePub And he has the right to spy, steal, destroy, and assassinate to protect American freedoms. He is sharp, nearly invisible, and deadly. government, Third Echelon deploys a lone field operative. The top-secret initiative is dubbed Third Echelon.
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