Michael Westen, Burn Notice
The longer you run from the police, the more certain you are to get caught. There's a small window of time after a chase begins before backup arrives and before helicopters are deployed. If you want any chance of getting away, you'd best use this time to find someplace secluded and bail out.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
For anyone who works in covert ops, names have a special power. Knowing someone's real name, who they work for, you've got something on them. Out a spy in the field and you could get him killed; out a bureaucrat in a restaurant, and you'll just piss him off.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
Anyone with a security clearance is going to know not to leave anything in a hotel room. They'll keep the important stuff with them. Usually, it'll be in a secure laptop with a few layers of encryption, means you can't break into it. But if you're just looking to make somebody angry, you don't need to break into it; put a big enough magnet where the laptop is going to be, and you can turn it into an expensive paperweight.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
The optical bug is a high-tech toy that shoots a light beam at a window, picks up vibrations from the glass, and translates it into speech. Can't see the beam with the naked eye, but take the infrared filter off a digital camera and it shows up nicely. As high-tech as a laser mic is, they're not hard to defeat; they pick up vibrations on the glass, so you supply your own vibrations.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
When you're going into a meeting cold with people you know nothing about, you have to be extra careful. Pay attention to every detail, map out an escape route or two just in case, and never ever show up as yourself. Another thing you should look for is people who look overly upset that things have changed, details that shouldn't matter so much. Some tip-offs aren't so subtle, like a detonator to incinerate a city-block.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
You'd be surprised how often covert operatives pose as international men of mystery. Fantasies about glamorous covert ops can be extremely useful to exploit, though some secret agent fantasies are more useful than others.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
You ever meet someone and it just seems to click instantly? You like the same things, share the same opinions, it seems like you've known them all your life. It could be fate, or it could be you have a listening device planted under the dashboard of your car.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
When you want to turn someone into an asset, get him to betray the people he loves, you have to get to know him. You need to know his frustrations. You need to know how he spends his time and money. You need to understand his hopes and dreams.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
The drive home is often a grueling experience for someone you just rescued. Especially if they were unaware of their situation. They ask you a lot of questions, you give them a lot of answers. And then it dawns on them: the truth. It can be a little overwhelming.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
Some situations just come down to probabilities. The chance that an assassin with a handgun can hit you at fifty yards, the number of shots he can get off. You might have a one-in-five chance of taking a bullet, maybe a one-in-ten chance of dying. Or a hundred percent chance of getting blown away by a shotgun wired to a door.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
Outfitting a safe house is about two things. You need to know if someone's coming, and you need to know how the folks you're protecting are going to get out of there if they do. If you can't be on babysitting duty all the time, you need to make sure that you know the minute something's wrong. A thirty-five-dollar outdoor floodlight has a decent motion detector on it. Wire that to a cellphone, and you've got a remote alarm system that will call you if there's trouble.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
In gathering intel, little things can tell you a lot; a top flight alarm system, well-placed cameras without blindspots, paying attention to strangers in the area. More aggressive intelligence gathering is more delicate, but someone who knows what to look for can find out a lot. If you know what to look for, a bunch of little things can tell you all you need to know.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
When you go after a spy, you send another spy. The same goes for con artists. To catch one, you've got to beat him at his own game, be a better liar than he is. No matter how good your cover identity is, you've gotta sell it, and that's not always easy. Sometimes you have to decide just how committed you are to pretending you are who you say you are. I don't like running from cops, but it has its advantages. It builds your credibility with a criminal when you flee a crime scene.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
I never run around in the bushes in a ski mask when I'm breaking in some place. Somebody catches you, what are you gonna say? You wanna look like a legitimate visitor until the very last minute. If you can't look legit, confused works almost as well. Maybe you get a soda from the fridge or a yogurt. If you're caught, you just act confused and apologize like crazy for taking the yogurt, nothing could be more innocent.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
A rescue attempt is hard enough when it's someone who actually wants to be rescued. It doesn't matter if it's a brother with a compulsive gambling problem, or a girl who thinks she's about to launch a modeling career. So you eliminate escape options, keep a low profile, but no matter what you do, you'll still have someone screaming bloody murder in the back of your car.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
The key to a good knife defense is to control the knife hand and strike with everything you've got. Fighting is often about tactical retreats, like running away from two knives. It's also about knowing how to make the body count unacceptable.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
Covert ops has its perks; you travel, make your own hours, and expense most of your meals. The downside? Lots of people want you dead. If it looks like you're about to get into a fight that could get you killed, try starting another one.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
A drug cartel is a business. If killing a witness to protect a valued employee from jail time is the best way to keep making money, they'll do that. If it looks like that employee is testifying to the FBI, though, they're just as happy to leave the witness alone and take care of the problem another way.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
I love commuters. Anybody who drives the same route to work every day, it's like they're doing all the work for you, and a punctual commuter, a guy who's in the same place every morning at 8:36 AM, it's almost too easy.
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
My father's approach to machinery was similar to his approach to his family. If you don't like how something works, keep banging on it 'til it does what you want. If something doesn't fit, force it. And above all, make sure it looks good on the outside.
