How can a main character learn about a secret event that will take place?
I am writing a story for a comic book and at this point I am stuck. I want my protagonist to learn that a delivery of a key item by the bad guys will occur. I already thought about the possibility of interrogating a bad guy, but I find this a little overused. Can you suggest a way he can find that out?
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Plodding discovery. The hero is investigating many persons or places connected to the bad guys, and at one place happens to learn some big deal is supposed to be delivered on Day X. He doesn't know it is the key item, he is just there with his binoculars to find out what the big deal is.
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The other answers outlined the basic methods and hopefully you've already used one of them in your story.
Another possibility is that the protagonist works in an industry that the bad guys require to carry out their plans.
- A piano moving company that is asked to move a strange box. The right size and weight for a piano, but the wrong shape.
- A police station clerk takes the routine notification call of the movements of the local armored delivery service. And recognizes the address.
- If the item requires lots of electricity, the workers at the local gas and electric company will figure something's up when the transformer blows and has to be replaced. Normally this happens when people start growing pot in large quantities indoors and legal issues keep them from just telling the G&E company they need the upgrade beforehand (seriously!) but the lineworkers sent out to fix things can tell it's not agriculturally related.
Many possibilities here. Just remember that nobody works alone. The bad guys either have an insanely large staff working for them (which means they can't control them) or they outsource some of the labor (cleaning, delivery, even cooking 100 pizzas).
If the protagonist is the in the right place at the right time, or someone close to her/him is, that's all it takes for the wheels to start turning. Add in a name (person's name or a shell company) s/he recognizes as involved, or a known address, or something else that turns a routine event into a suspicious one.
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A couple of other ideas that haven't been suggested yet:
- The protagonist gets lucky. He's off chasing an unrelated (or seemingly unrelated) lead or clue, and just happens to stumble across evidence of the impending delivery: financial records, an overheard mook conversation, or even the actual delivery preparations.
- Someone defects. One of the villain's mooks decides he wants nothing more to do with whatever's going on, and tells the hero about it.
- Sabotage by another villain. If this is a superhero comic with a rogues' gallery of different villains, Villain B might decide he doesn't like Villain A muscling in on his territory and rat him out to the hero.
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