OPERATION HEIR TRANSPLANT

Alex groaned as he looked at the name and wondered for the tenth time whether they didn't actually spend more time coming up with clever names than in trying to solve the cases.

Blunt began his briefing.

"Our operative -- 'The Dick,' as you call him -- was investigating Prince J'fazel, one of the royal heirs of the kingdom of Bulario."

The screen changed pictures and showed the image of a man in his mid-thirties, Middle Eastern, by appearance, looking proud, wealthy, and cruel.

"We have believed for some time that a primary source of his wealth comes from human trafficking. We suspect that he has agents around the globe who kidnap people according to the tastes or wishes of J'fazel's clients and then sell them outright or bring them back to Bulario for conditioning and training before selling them at a substantially greater profit. The Dick was close to getting evidence that would clearly link J'fazel to these crimes, but he was discovered and executed."

Alex thought of the picture he had seen earlier. "How was he executed? He still had a hardon, even though he looked like a zombie with a really bad skin condition."

Jones said, "He was impaled with an electrified spike and burned to a cinder. It looked like he had an erection only because the spike happened to come through his front side at the point of his groin."

Alex cringed an involuntarily crossed his legs. What a horrible way to go!

"So what does this have to do with me?"

The screen changed once again, and Alex found himself looking at a young man of his age and build. In fact, Alex realized with a start, aside from the somewhat darker skin and the shorter, black hair, he looked remarkably like Alex!

"This is J'fazel's eldest son, Prince K'han."

"Khan? Isn't that the bad guy in one of the Star Trek movies?"

Blunt ignored Alex's question. "As you can see, he looks remarkably like you. We believe that with a little assistance from us, you will be able to pass yourself off as K'han long enough for us to abduct him and interrogate him about the goings on at his Father's business ventures."

"Wait a minute! How am I going to fool anyone who knows him? I don't speak Bularian -- or whatever he speaks -- and I don't know anything about him."

"In the first place, he speaks English. His whole family was educated at private schools here in London. In the second place, he's a prince, and he doesn't let anyone get close enough to really know him. You just have to act snobbish, and give lots of orders, and generally act like you are an 18-year old young man with unlimited money, who gets whatever he wants. That shouldn't be too hard for you, should it? Finally, it's only for a very short time -- just long enough to extract the information from the real K'han. You undoubtedly won't even encounter Prince J'fazel at all or even get much of a chance to enjoy your short time as a boy billionaire.

Somehow, the way Blunt described it made the mission seem kind of fun, and Alex was surprised to find himself looking forward to it.

Blunt continued with the briefing. He showed a picture of a man slightly older than Alex. "This is B'lail. His family has served the royal family for generations. He was assigned to K'han at five years of age, and he is K'han's personal assistant and the closest thing he has to a friend. Remember that he is a servant, so if he starts asking you things that could cause you to reveal your identity, you just have to order him to do something to change the subject. At the same time, he knows K'han better than anyone, so don't start abruptly changing your routine or doing anything that will arouse suspicion."

"In terms of resources, I'm afraid we won't be able to do much more than provide you with a dental communication device. You will be under such close observation by B'lail that it would be too risky to give you anything that is not attached to your body. With the communications device, however, you will be able to talk to someone back here at MI6 and hear what they say to you, without fear of anyone else listening in. We will make sure you are set up with it before you leave."

"K'han will be in London in two weeks to attend a concert. While he is here, we will find an opportunity to get him away from his handlers long enough for you to make the switch. That gives you two weeks to study up on everything we know about him and to learn the culture."

Alex considered all of this. While he maintained a nagging feeling that there would be more to this than what Blunt was telling him, he agreed to accept the mission.

The next two weeks went by rapidly as he studied up on K'han. Surprisingly, they didn't know a lot about him because his family took great lengths to protect their privacy. Alex did learn that while in school in London, K'han developed a reputation for being quite the ladies' man. "Who could blame him," Alex thought. "If I had billions of dollars and the kind of power that comes with royalty, I'd be sowing some wild oats, myself."

Surprisingly, the thought never occurred to him that K'han's oat-sowing days were not yet behind him.

When the day arrived for the big switch, Alex looked once again in the mirror. Thanks to some specially-designed skin dye, his skin was the same tone as K'han's and would stay that way for a month, if necessary. His hair had been cut and dyed to match his doppleganger's perfectly. The only thing missing was to match the clothing that K'han was wearing that day.

Blunt walked in the room and looked at Alex. "I believe we are ready. The only question is when to make the switch. We can try it at the concert, if you want. We have an operative in place there who can help us. Another opportunity would be after the concert when he boards his plane to return home. We can pull him into a Customs Office for a few minutes and make the switch then. Do you have a preference, Alex?"