Green Box

A Green Box, G-Box, Goody Box or GashStash is a known part of Delta Green tradecraft.

An online Green Box generator can be found here

On 10 Jan 1999, Joseph Camp wrote to the DGML:

One and all,

I thought the following piece of tradecraft might be of use, especially to the current EMERALD HAMMER project. The text is excerpted from a fiction project by John Tynes titled RESOLUTE:

Cell T was setting up a Green Box. This was Delta Green's term for a private-storage area used for storing useful supplies. Ideally, each major city had a Green Box where departing agents could drop off valuable resources, which future teams would access as needed. It was sort of a junk stash, a place to leave leftover ammo, flashlights, batteries, or what have you. In practice, only a handful of cities had Green Boxes, and their contents were highly random. Some might have sniper rifles and thermal-neutral suits that defeated infrared cameras; others might have a stale sack of chips and a polymorphic corpse sealed in plastic. You never knew what you'd find—-assuming that the city you were in even had one. In the case of Cell T, Memphis had no Green Box. So they set one up. Alphonse would keep the keys and rental agreement, making regular payments and overnighting the keys to future agents' motels before they arrived so they could get equipped.

I hope you find this tidbit of use in your simulation exercises and fiction. Look for more info on the RESOLUTE project later this year, if all goes well. Some of you fine people may find yourselves remarkably prescient in certain areas, about which I will not comment further.

General DGML elaboration

Locations

Specific types of locations where DG agents can create Green Boxes:

  • A Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. (Michael Layne)
  • Rental stores as in Alphonse's example. There are ample opportunities for running firefights in cold metal rooms with lots of doors. (Phil Ward)
  • Basements of apartment buildings. (Phil Ward)
  • Storage areas of federal government offices. (Phil Ward)
  • That old IRA favourite, buried a few metres down under a beach where it can only be reached at low tide. (Phil Ward)
  • Caravan park or beach hut. Owned by Eliza Green who is always punctual with her payments. (Jacob Busby Bsc.)
  • Broom cupboard. Nobody uses this place now, but it used to be where the previous janitor, Mr. Green, kept his tool-box. (Jacob Busby Bsc.)
  • Car rental. The E-Reg Volkswagen, practically part of the landscape. GreenCo keeps a car in this neck of the woods because they occasionally have business out this way. (Jacob Busby Bsc.)
  • WWIII bunker. Still replete with "Duck and Cover" posters, the kids sometimes used this as a hideout, until those spoilsport architects, Green & Son, told them not to play there any more as the plasterwork is in danger of falling down. (Jacob Busby Bsc.)
  • Shipwreck. Who knows who used to own "Gypsy Green"? The boat's been stuck out in the swamps forever - and the local council never seem to be in a hurry to get rid of it. (Jacob Busby Bsc.)
    • A boat of some description is fine, especially one that still "goes". Houseboats, old canal boats, 25' sailers all have plenty of storeage space, and often there are others living about them (in marinas) who respect the privacy of the regular inhabitants while watching strangers like hawks. Of course, those with close ties to the sea are not always friendly. (Rob Shankly)
  • Undertaker. People getting in empty handed and going out carrying a big box at a strange hour do not look too suspicious. (Davide Mana)
  • Laundromat. "I believe my wife forgot her laundry on her way to pick up the kids at school. A large bag with a green sweater in it…" (Davide Mana)
  • Video or porn shop. Guy looking very cautious getting out carrying a large box or bag would awaken some suspicions, yes, but not the right ones. (Davide Mana)
  • Museum gift shop. Anyone can get in, and going through the collection can be a nice way to shake a tail.
  • Car being "repaired". This is the trunk of a car that is left at the neighborhood service station. It is better if the owner of the station is a friendly, and usually, there is a token payment for storage. Luckily, cash works wonderfully, especially if it's under the table. The location is often locked (to prevent burglaries), and the car can be nondescript enough to blend in with the others. A bumper-sticker or something like that can be used to identify the car for other agents. For that matter, if the service station is open 24-hours, and is owned by a friendly, packages can be kept inside the station. The package may be examined by a bored midnight-shift clerk. (Jimmie Bise, Jr.)
    • Used car lot. Again, you'll need the cooperation of a friendly, but the drop point is nearly invisible, and would-be buyers can be dissuaded from buying the car by using a "sold" sign. Every once in a while, you can rotate the car out and bring in a different one. Again, use a bumper or window sticker to identify it for other agents. (Jimmie Bise, Jr.)
  • Bowling alley locker. Most bowling alleys have lockers that you can rent to keep stuff for just about any length of time. The lockers aren't large (usually enough for a pair of shoes, a couple of bowling balls, and other small miscellany), but the alleys are generally full often enough so that you won't draw undue attention, especially if you package what you leave there to fit in the the bowling motif (like, bowling ball bags, etc.). (Jimmie Bise, Jr.)
  • Out-house. DG purchases an old house and surreptitiously builds an out-house. They're not in vogue in most areas, but there are plenty of places in the US, and most other countries, where they're not out of place at all. Dig the pit, stick in the goodies, build the little out-house, and you're good for a very long time. Just don't actually use the out-house. (Jimmie Bise, Jr.)
  • Tree stand. In rural and semi-rural areas, it's not at all unusual for hunters to build permanent places from which to hunt, called "stands" or "blinds". Most of them, as long as they aren't on private or active government property, will go unnoticed for a very long time. They don't get checked or used by other hunters, and it's not unusual to see one unused for several years. Keep the supplies in a locked box in the stand (again, a reasonable thing for a hunter to do, to protect things he'd use to hunt, but wouldn't want to drag to the stand and back home every time he went hunting). (Jimmie Bise, Jr.)
  • Lockers in 24-hour gyms. 24-hour health clubs are not a universal institution yet, but major US cities have them. (Mark McFadden)
    • The low-rent variation would be YMCA/YWCA/YMHA lockers. Of course, then you have to deal with the Village People. (Mark McFadden)
    • Gay bathhouses, mainly for meeting other agents or informants, not necessarily as Green Boxes. Everyone in the meeting is obviously unarmed, barring hollow teeth and soap on a rope. One of the first rules of subterfuge is to never, ever try to appear 100% innocent. If you are being investigated, always give them something to find. Pretending to be bisexual and worried about your security clearance is better than the truth when some organizations are sniffing around. (Mark McFadden)
  • A theatre or opera house. There's a ready-made excuse for moving large trunks in and out. "Props, dear boy. Which way to storage?" Also the potential for "Green Room" hilarity. (Christopher Williams)
  • Sewer systems. (Christopher Williams)
  • Swimming pool lockers. Tiny and short-term (more than a week and they'll notice) but low-rent, easy to get and untraceable. (Christopher Williams)
  • An abandoned subway train. Just make sure the equipment is secure, otherwise it'll be gone before you know it, and there'll be some local streetgangs knocking off shops with your M-16s. (Christopher Williams)
  • A broken lift in a condemned building. Just put on hardhats and say you're building inspectors. (Christopher Williams)
  • A restaurant, pub or club with nice out-of-the-way back doors and loading bays. "Those cases? Sound equipment and lighting gaffes for the band." (Christopher Williams)
  • A permanent room in a cheap motel (then you have a sort of safe-house too). (Phil Ward)
    • A sleeping bag and a cooler full of beer turns many of the places mentioned into a makeshift safe-house. (The Man in Black)

More generally, a Green Box location should have the following characteristics:

  • Easily accessible (ideally 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). (Davide Mana)
  • Relatively trafficked (not crowded but also not a solitary spot). Access to the Box should not attract undue attention. (Davide Mana)
  • Strong controls (a fancy way to say "strangers stick out in this place" - good to put a tail in evidence). (Davide Mana)
  • It's not enough for the actual owners of the property not to know what's in the box, they shouldn't even know they've got anything out of the ordinary. The opera house director should be surprised to be contacted by the Green Theatre company, but sure enough, those are their boxes in his loft space, so he's glad to be rid of them. (Christopher Williams)
  • On the advantages of gyms, applicable to similar types of locations:
    • There's nothing odd about someone entering or leaving a gym with a big equipment bag or in different clothing. (Mark McFadden)
    • Choose the right time of night and you could dye your hair in one of the back shower stalls without anyone seeing. The smell of hair dye will mix well with the omnipresent chlorine and disinfectant. (Mark McFadden)

Inadvisable locations:

  • While placing lots of gear in the grave of "Lt.Col. Reginald Green - beloved uncle and patriot" might sound attractive, a bunch of guys digging up in the graveyard could attract some suspicious glances. (Davide Mana)
  • You are invited to avoid the trite airport, train and bus station “secure” boxes and lockers. If you really have to use them, remember to ask for a backup gun, taped to the top or the right side, where you can get it while you take out the stuff. (Davide Mana)
    • Railway station and airport automatic lockers may work, but at least in most of Western Europe you have to put your bag through an X-ray machine before locking it up, so nothing illegal will pass. Terrorism, you know, like people keeping explosives, guns, and fake IDs there. (Janusz A. Urbanowicz)

Contents

On what to put inside, aside from Alphonse's examples and the complete examples further down:

  • A Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. (Michael Layne)
  • Medical gear. (Phil Ward)
  • Spare papers. (Phil Ward)
  • Easily disposable money or jewellery. (Phil Ward)
  • Very old equipment (including explosives), and old horrors, from the P Division days could still be around in Green Boxes. (Phil Ward)
  • H&K pocket flare launcher. (Michael Layne)
  • Illegal drugs. The common ones are reasonably easy to convert into cash if required, can be used to provide a reason to hold someone in custody ("Look what we found in the toilet-tank Sheriff!"), and can always be used to provide an easy explanation for a death (the coroner found large traces of heroin in the dead man's body). PCP can be used as an excuse for all sorts of behaviour. (Rob Shankly)
  • In 3rd world countries, rare ammunition types or weapons (status symbols for warlords). (Phil Ward)
  • Fuel, especially in countries with poor infrastructure. (Phil Ward)

Notes on storage conditions for certain items:

  • Storing fully loaded magazines for firearms is not a good idea, as it will cause undue wear on the springs. This is a matter of some contention, as some suggest that modern machined springs can handle the long-term storage. Exact figures and studies are non-existent. (The Man in Black)
  • Firearms should be stored disassembled. This may not always be tactically sound. Combination gun-safes or gun locks are another consideration when storing firearms. Several "layers" of protection (plastic box + plastic-bag + oilcloth) to prevent corrosion is prudent. (The Man in Black)

Plot integration

A Green Box can be a plot. A team is dispatched to investigate a mystery that "erased' the previous team. They get sent in good faith and are provided with all the data the previous team sent back. The mystery they are assigned to investigate is a ruse, or relatively insignificant. Some piece of equipment in the Green Box, or the place itself, has some abnormal effect on the team. The effect could be inspired by Lovecraft's From Beyond or the film Jacob's Ladder. The operatives may erroneously assume that whatever else they are investigating at the time is doing it. (Richard Pace)

Sources for inspiration

There were interesting artefacts in a Pyramid magazine (prior to its online days) entitled "Warehouse 23". S. John Ross' inspiration for it was the Government warehouse where the Ark of the Covenant ended up at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The first chapter ("Legacy of the War") of the GURPS Sourcebook on Warehouse 23 mentions "Rumors about the origin of Warehouse 23, the occult nature of World War II, and other fables of the modern condition…" Other chapters include "Gallery of the Strange", "The Cryptozoo", and "Odds Unbeatable and Grisly Ends". There was even a Warehouse 23 page linked to the GURPS site which allowed you to randomly open some of the crates. (Michael Layne)

  • Also see Pyramid #8 (July-August 1994), “Terra Incognita - U-Store-It” by Derek Pearcy, for tips and tricks concerning the rental storage industry and it's relevance to horror conspiracy role-playing. Its inspiration was the private-storage mini-warehouse where Clarice Starling found the preserved severed head, in Silence of the Lambs. (The Man in Black)

Punisher Armory comix. (Michael Layne)

Something in The Godfather (the novel) is germane to this topic. The Corleone family, in preparation for war between themselves and another family, did something called "going to the mattresses". Basically, they needed to have both a safehouse and a central location from which to operate. Each regime had its own safehouse and was "commanded" by a caporegime. The caporegimes, and certain top guys in each regime, very quickly scouted out locations, rented apartments, stocked them with mattresses, a small refrigerator, and other basics. From there, they conducted their operations against the other family. The term used in the book came from the fact that all the soldiers in the Family slept on mattresses laid out on the floor. By not stocking the place with a lot of stuff, they made it portable, disposable, and very anonymous. (Jimmie Bise, Jr.)

"Dirty Dick" Marcinko, Shark Man of the Mekong Delta, writes in his books about legit SpecOps caches throughout Europe. In both NATO and Warsaw Pact countries. An ex-marine was once stationed to some NATO ear-to-the-ground station on the border (or over the border) of a here unspecified nation. He was just a PFC and one of his tasks was to go out and bury shit in the woods for Snake-eaters to find. Once, some Pact troops held a big exercise in the area while he was playing Capt. Kidd, and he had to spend the winter night in a big-ass tree while BMPs and shit drove through the woods. (The Man in Black)

An episode of The X-Files involving artificial intelligence. The idea involves setting up a secure living environment containing bed, computer, phone line, whatever the cell wants, in a large container used for sea or rail transport. Useful as a refuge in an emergency and for storing those pieces of "evidence" which could cause problems. Basically this container would allow someone to lie low for several days or even weeks. A useful tool given the situations cells find themselves in. Perhaps there could even be a "black" front company which just moves DG containers around to the sites of investigations. To anyone looking into it, they would appear to be a normal shipment, moved in for a length of time then out again. (Robert Thomas)

  • Security of these containers might be troublesome. They would have to be moved around a lot, and one with wires or sat-links sprouting from it would attract attention and get in the way of the necessary forklifts and cranes. A container on a junkyard might not have these problems, but a normal modular container gets a lot of mileage and activity. Anonymous living quarters shouldn't be too outlandish or irregular. Roach-infested motels, tenement apartments and trailer-homes have plumbing, are surrounded by (dubious) witnesses, and have the benefit of not being way out in the middle of nowhere. (The Man in Black)

The concept exists in a Len Deighton novel, probably The IPCRESS File, where the thing was called "Life Insurance". Slightly different, actually, as Life Insurance is an unmarked bag featuring, among other stuff:

  • A clean .38 revolver and a box of ammo.
  • Easily customizable ID (various different countries).
  • A reasonably fat roll of used banknotes.
  • Shaving kit (incl. straight razor).

Each agent is supposed to have one dumped somewhere, and it's meant just to grant a swift get-away should things get hot. The basic concept is not to overdo the thing - keep it very small and essential; just like a life jacket, it has to keep you afloat, not to carry you across the Atlantic. (Davide Mana)

  • An excerpt from the novel is shown further down.
  • A similar idea is resident in some of David Morrell's novels, although the covert group his protagonists work with in the Fraternity of the Stone store the gear in bank safety deposit boxes seeded all over Europe, America and Canada. (Eric Brennan)

Complete orignal examples

The Good

(Frank M. Adams)

Location: Downtown Chicago's Union Station Switching Yard.

Southwest Service Track 28 runs right along the Chicago river and is pretty accessible from a variety of directions. Located about 600 yards from the station proper is a rather beat-up and rusted switch box with an even older-looking lock on it. It's fairly well concealed and protected from view. Though it appears on old blueprints, it is left alone. It doesn't stand out from other boxes of it's type except for a carved "DG + MJ", encircled by a heart, on it's rusted front cover. This old box is deceptively tough and would require substantial effort (and noise) to break open.

This Green Box contains:

  • A fifth of Johnny Walker Black Label
  • A Ruger Super Redhawk .44 Magnum with a 7 1/2" barrel
  • A box of 50 "Kevlar Kutters" - armor piercing .44 rounds
  • A box of standard .44 rounds and three speed loaders
  • A compact Smith & Wesson 9mm Lady Smith(TM)
  • A box of mixed rounds - half hollow-points and half standard with three 8-round magazines
  • A large Rambo-style all-purpose knife
  • A water-proof highbeam Mag-Torch Flashlight
  • 6 Magnesium Flares in a small waterproof case
  • A small bottle of low-dose amphetamines
  • 2 packs of matches
  • A variety flavor pack of High-Energy Powerbars
  • A six-pack of Yoo-Hoos
  • A bag of BBQ Doritos
  • A bottle of aspirin
  • A bottle of Pepto-Bismal
  • A voucher for $10,000 in the Union Station Office Safe that must be signed for
  • A beat-up leather wallet containing $500 in small, worn bills (for those times when you don't want to sign for 10-large)

All this is in a large leather travel bag protected by a durable black Hefty garbage bag.

The Union Station G-Box is an emergency-only resource for desperate agents in the downtown Chicago area. Specifically for those times when you've been relieved of cash and/or weapons and are in dire need of same. It has only been used twice in recent memory - once by R Cell's Agent Raymond who had been beaten and robbed by a street gang in Greektown - no Mythos relevance, just bad luck and poor timing on Agent Raymond's part. The second was actually Mythos-related and concerned the tragic last mission of V Cell's Agents Vey and Velma - Operation WINDYCITY. Details are available from Agent Valentine for agents operating in and around the Greater Chicagoland area.

The Bad

(Frank M. Adams)

Location: Roughly 2 miles west on US Hwy 160 from the "4 Corners" landmark where Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico meet.

This cheesy-looking stand is set-up roadside with a large sign, emblazoned with “Joe's Jewelry & Junk: Buy genunine artifacts of the famous cliff-dwelling and mysterious Anasazi!" These "artifacts" consist of one very old-looking broken pot and an old bone handle labled "part of a comb". They carry a sticker price of $3000.00 for each and are probably more dusty now from lack of interest than when they were first forg- uh, created.

One of the many tacky Native American Indian jewelry and blanket stands that dot the Southwest, Joe's Jewelry & Junk is nothing special. Unless you're a DG Agent in need, that is.

It appears to be run by a grizzled old Indian (who looks more like an eskimo) named Iye (pronounced EE-yeh). He receives a blank envelope every month with $1500.00 in cash to maintain the G-Box located nearby. Friendly-looking and with an easy smile his only answer to most questions is a gravelly, "Joe's not here."

The only questions that elicit any other response are those related to "supplies", "help", "weapons", etc. They must always be associated with the phrase, "Andrea says it's time to earn your green!"

Upon hearing this, Iye will give a crooked grin and pull out a dingy neckchain with a key on it. He will walk down the rocky slope behind him, motioning for the inquirers to follow. He will seem unconcerned if there are other customers at the stand or not.

After about 300 yards along a winding trail they will descend deep into an arroyo filled with tumble weeds. Iye will stop at this point and hold out the key. When it's taken from him, he'll point at an indentation in the wall about 30 yards farther along. Having done so, Iye will turn around and leave, but not before motioning that the key be given back to him when no longer needed.

The indent is more like a large crack in the high arroyo wall. A few feet inside is a tunnel about 3' high that runs for 20 feet or so and slopes gently upward. It finally narrows to a very sturdy modern steel door. The key opens the door and inside is a little slice of heaven.

Built like a very modern bombshelter, this series of rooms couldn't be more carefully thought out. A small red light flashes and a voice says to "Please step inside and close the door." After the door is closed a comfortable overhead light blinks on and the door seals itself with an authoritative 'clunk'.

At this point the details are left to the Keeper as to how well-stocked/fortified this G-Box is. My thoughts are to have a hidden generator, satellite hook-up, stocked fridge, medical supplies, small work area, a couple of cots, TV, computer with Internet connection, a safe with $10,000 cash (coded instructions are next to it), and a weapons cache. Grenades, Claymores, M-16s, a sniper rifle, M-203, .45s, 9mms, a Mac-10, an Uzi, and plenty of C4. Not to mention the possibility of a few LAWs, a mini-flamethrower, samurai swords, tasers, etc.

All perishables are maintained by Iye (especially the beer - he loves Corona and thinks everyone else does too) who replaces them regularly. Other items are delivered in unmarked crates at Joe's Jewelry stand and Iye schleps them down and stores them himself.

Needless to say, this G-Box is a prized resource and is NEVER to be compromised or used lightly.

The Ugly

(Frank M. Adams, declared incomplete by the author)

Location: A battered blue Coleman KwikServ 40.

There's a small, very rough statue of something that can only be described as bizarre. Looking almost like a porous, tentacled ashtray, it's made of a very rough coral-like material and is safe to handle unless you rub your hand over it roughly the wrong way. If the skin is broken, the wound heals leaving a funny little scar. Even this is O.K., unless the scarred person spends more than 3 or 4 months in a hot humid environment such as deep jungle or some rainforest areas.

Regardless of the time that has passed, the scar will bloom into an irridescent colored growth of mold or fungus-like material. It will be very pleasant-smelling and tingle just a little. If unchecked it will not grow much outside but will cause the area to swell as it "digs in", eventually becoming the size of a baseball. The growth will last for about a month in hot humid environments, but will quickly brown and die elsewhere. Either way it will shrink and leave just a tiny scar and light discolorated patch the same size as the previously swollen area.

While affected, the host is very unconcerned and will even go so far as to conceal it from prying hostile eyes until it has run its course. Should treatment be forced (the only way a person will accept it), the growth responds to most topical ointments and such. It doesn't seem to have any effect on the afflicted person, other than the obvious visual effects and these two distinct blood-related conditions:

  1. The person will never suffer from abnormal blood pressure, cholesterol or similiar maladies ever, and if they did before, they're gone now.
  2. The person is now allergic to alcohol and can't ever touch a drop again without becoming violently ill.

Both of these conditions are unexplainable to current medical science. The statue's origin and composition are unknown.

Complete third-party examples

Inventory from the Punisher's Armory, Issue #2

(Transcribed and annotated by the Man in Black)

A well-maintained Chevy Malibu (or other battlewagon sedan), the trunk of which contains:

  • Gallons of water and gasoline in vapor-proof cans.
  • Several cases of MREs (US Army rations, avoid Ham and Egg at all costs).
  • Compressed foodstuffs made by Compact A.S. - a Norwegian outfit.
  • A well-filled tool-bag.
  • Spare boots.
  • A new 12-cell car battery (wired into the trunk and switched from the dashboard).
  • Tacpak duffle with 5-prong grappling hook and 50 meters of 11mm Kemantle rope.
  • WWII metal canteen (can't cook with plastic ones).
  • Rolled up map case with area layout, good ambush and other tactical sites marked.
  • Brunton Mil-Spec compass.
  • Katadyn water purifier (expensive, but top of the line).
  • Several Angle head GI flashlights.
  • Multifuel Peak-1 cookstove, with lighters, waterproof matches.
  • NitroPak Medic First-Aid Kit.
  • Nam-era, Survival Tool, Individual (looks like a hacksaw mated with a machete).
  • US Army Field Surgical Kit, breadbox sized leather case with surgical equipment.
  • Emergency War Surgery Manual.

Excerpt from The IPCRESS File by Len Deighton

(Davide Mana)

The things I was looking for are in chapter 28, and are better than I remembered them. Here's the passage I mentioned earlier, slightly redacted to save bandwidth.

Near Leicester Square there are some grubby little newsagents who specilize in the fleshier style of art magazines. […] For a small fee they act as accomodation addresses for people who receive mail that they would rather didn't arrive at home.

From the inner confines came the smell of boiled socks and an old bewhiskered crone with a fat manilla envelope addressed to the person I was purporting to be.[…]

Inside I knew there was a new Chubb key, a United Kingdom passport, an American passport (clipped to which was a Social Security card in the same name) and a UN secretariat passport.

Tucked inside each was an International driving licence, a few bills and used envelopes in the same name as that particular passport. There were also cheque books from the Royal Bank of Canada, Chase Manhattan, Westminster and the Dai-ichi Bank in Tokyo, a small brown pawn ticket, twenty used ten shilling notes, a folded new manilla envelope and a poor-quality forged MetropolitanPolice warrant card.

I put the key, pawn ticket, warrant card and money into my pocket and the other things into the new manilla envelope. I walked down the road and posted the envelope back to the same address. A taxi took me to a bank in the city and the chief clerk conducted me to the vaults. I fitted the key into the safe deposit box. I removed some five-pound notes from inside it.

By this time the clerk had discreetly left me alone. From under the bank-notes I slid a heavy cardboard box, and broke the wax seals on it with my thumb nail. It was the work of a moment to slip the Colt .32 automatic into one pocket and two spare clips in the other. […]

The pawn shop was near Gardner's corne. I paid £11 13s 9d and exchanged the pawn ticket for a canvas travelling bag. Inside was a dark green flannel suit, cotton trousers, two dark shirts and six white ones, a bright Madras jacket, ties, socks, underwear, black shoes and canvas ones. The side panels contained razor, shaving cream, blades, comb, compressed dates, plastic raincoat, folding knife, prismatic compass and a pocket of Kleenex. Into the lining of the suit was sewn a 100F note, a £5 note and a DM100 note, and into the small amount of padding was sewn another key to another safe deposit box.

The book was first published in 1962: money, prices, some documents and clothing style need of course to be updated. For the rest, this passage offers a few interesting hints.

Note that this version of the Green Box is modular, so that some "sections" (like the bank box) can possibly be accessed from different entry points, and the Box setup can be updated without "reinstalling" the whole lot. Also note that some of the things listed are subtler than they seem: the razor is a formidable weapon in close quarters, and is perfectly legal (AFAIK); the dark green suit is hard to spot by night, with the added advantage that it does not look suspicious in some environments (the same goes for any other dark colour - but I like the idea of the Green suit).

The whole setup is as low tech as possible - less moving parts, less possibilities for a mishap. We do not know what the "other key" gives access to.

Comments:
In this case the razor is very legal because it's a safety razor; that's why blades are listed after shaving cream. But don't despair, it's still a formidable weapon at close quarters. (Mark McFadden)

  • First: remove blade from safety razor. Grasp head of safety razor in fist with handle protruding between middle and ring finger. Punch the bejesus out of opponents as if using a punch dagger or kubotan. A solid blow to the eye or temple will probably be fatal. Open hand techniques can be used without letting go of the weapon. James Bond used this trick in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (the novel), he wore his heavy gold Rolex Oyster Perpetual diving watch on his other hand as a knuckle-duster. (Mark McFadden)
  • Second: the razor blades can be useful all over the place. Laid flat in the large end of your tie for later retrieval. Embedded in the sole of the shoe with an edge or corner exposed, an old Irish-American street gang trick. Held between fore- and middle finger for a surprise slash attack. Embedded in a piece of wood like the LA "zoot stick", a solid blow is blunt trauma, a glancing blow bleeds like a mofo. (Mark McFadden)

Sources

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