John Daniel

Yeah, by all accounts, things could get quite raw on the adult entertainment circuit in early 1980s Manila.

But the GRU operative isn't interested in even getting to first base.

He certainly enjoys a drink, but he says he's a family man, and the authorities would know if he was to get into anything too spicy.

And Kip Bennett finds himself belly to belly with his opposition.

Literally.

Literally.

But so he doesn't, at no point does he realise that you're CIA?

So what's really happening here is Kit Bennett is trying to get close enough to Vladimir to understand him, to see the points where pressure might be applied.

Remember, the aim of this whole operation is to get Vladimir ready for an approach from a CIA officer specialised in recruitment, who knows the buttons to push and who has the authority to push them.

Yeah, although, as Kit Bennett was saying earlier, something like coercion or blackmail might be quite a blunt instrument.

You don't know how that will play out over time, right?

That's right.

Appealing to a target's loyalty will always be a smart way of making them think they're doing the right thing, so they can carry on in good conscience, rather than feeling guilty all the time.

These sites, probably somewhere like a public park where anybody can legitimately walk and then stop or sit down for a moment, these would be used for dead drops as opposed to a live drop where objects would be handed off face to face.

So as Kip Bennett, under the direction of his CIA handler, is trying to get closer to Vladimir, he decides to draw on some of his own real-life story.

Okay, this is the moment everything changes.

Because just as Kit Bennett had been trying to get Vladimir to misbehave, to see if he was a risk taker or a rule breaker, now Vladimir wants Kit Bennett to do something a little bit out of the ordinary for him.

And this shopping list has some interesting items.

Things Vladimir wants his new friend to get for him in New Zealand.

Or maybe it's just to see whether Kit will do this for Vladimir.