MCAS (Mercantil Costa Afuerda Securidad) Banco de Panama is a Panamanian bank located in Panama City, Panama.
History[]
1980s[]
The MCAS Banco de Panama has been operating since at least the 1980s, and during the regime of drug lord Manuel Noriega was entrusted with securing some of Noriega's profits from his ongoing drug racket. During Operation Just Cause in 1989, Sam Fisher was part of a CIA raiding team that were sent on a mission to infiltrate MCAS and retrieve the money. In that raid, MCAS had few real security measures and thus was easily robbed by Fisher and his team.
Since 1989, MCAS has upgraded its security system significantly, now sporting motion sensors, laser tripwires, cameras, and other security measure installations.
2007: East Asian Crisis[]
By 2007, Hugo Lacerda had established strong connections with MCAS, with its corrupt bankers funding Lacerda's newly-formed "People's Voice" movement and other guerrilla organizations across the Americas. Through them Lacerda and others like him had been able to obtain large amounts of high-tech weaponry through the black market.
During this year, Lacerda had been supplied by an unidentified third party through MCAS by means of a proxy, also contracting him with the kidnapping and murder of American computer engineer Bruce Morgenholt, who held intimate knowledge on the nature of the Masse Kernels. When MCAS was implicated as an accomplice during their investigation into the affair, Third Echelon sent Sam Fisher, now a Splinter Cell agent to infiltrate the bank to learn more about Lacerda's dealings.
Fisher deployed into Panama City via the USS Clarence E. Walsh; Third Echelon relied on the intelligence gathered by Fisher's team from 1989 as their means of penetrating the bank. To aid him in the break-in, Third Echelon contracted the professional robber Thomas Standish to help Fisher around the bank's electronic security systems.
Fisher climbed atop the bank's rooftop and inserted into the main hall from the skylights. Under Standish's instructions, Fisher disabled the three authorization locks to the vault in the security office and in the offices of both the Bank President and the Treasurer. To bypass the laser grids on the upper levels, Fisher trailed armed security guards equipped with suit beacons that allowed them to pass through without setting off an alarm. During the mission, Fisher planted several emails on the computer databanks to incriminate the bankers of MCAS as having conducted the robbery themselves to remove any evidence of foreign infiltration.
With the emails planted and all three locks disabled, Standish and William Redding provided Fisher with a telemetric lock pick for use to open the bank vault itself. After hacking the locks and disabling the pins of the vault door with an EMP blast, Fisher tapped into the bank mainframe and discovered that someone by the name of 'Dvorak' had employed the Masse Kernels to contact Lacerda through MCAS. Additional evidence also indicated that computer engineer Abrahim Zherkezhi was involved as he too had decrypted the complex workings of the Kernels alongside Morgenholt.
With this information, Fisher also stole fifty million dollars worth of French-owned bearer bonds to ensure the infiltration appeared to be nothing more than a robbery. With all intelligence gathered, Fisher fled the bank through the skylights and climbed over the gates to extract.
It is highly likely that in the aftermath of the break-in that the bankers of MCAS were eventually investigated and incriminated in the theft of the bearer bonds, and perhaps even their dealings with militants such as Lacerda.
Layout[]
Courtyard[]
The courtyard is a highly secure area surrounded by high gates and fences, lush with tall shrubbery and housing a large fountain at the bank entrance. It is guarded by security cameras and motion sensors, with numerous lights that illuminate the grounds. To the right of the courtyard is a stone path that leads around the bank's right perimeter, leading to a rooftop ladder and emergency exit reserved for authorized personnel.
Main Hall[]
At the front of the bank is the main lobby leading into the bank. Here the main teller station is found, enclosed in reinforced glass windows. It is guarded by a security laser grid at night. At the end of the hall are two sets of doors secured with retinal scanners reserved for only select personnel, leading to the east and west wings of the bank.
West Wing[]
The bank's west wing is overseen by a security station where several guards maintain watch through the cameras keeping watch over the first floor hallway. Up the stairs is a lobby that is protected by a laser grid, leading to several offices including the main security office; also guarded by a laser grid. The security office hosts the main security mainframe as well as access to the bank's camera feeds, and is enclosed in a cubical glass fixture secured with a keypad-locked door. It contains one of the three locks to the main vault.
Beyond the security office is the office of the bank president and that of his secretary. The president's office is a luxuriant private space complete with a fireplace adjoining his workplace. It overlooks the courtyard behind the main building. The second secure lock to the vault is located here.
East Wing[]
The bank's east wing contains a hallway that leads to the office of the treasurer and to the vault itself, with the doors leading to the rear courtyard found at the end of the hall. All three avenues are overseen by a security station. The treasurer's office is accessible via keypad and houses the final authorization lock to the vault. To the right of the vault entrance is the deposit box room.
Vault[]
The vault is located on the lower level of the bank and can only be accessed once its twin locks have been accessed. A walkway secured by security lasers and a secure gate leads to the vault interior where the bank's gold bullion is stored, along with highly secure bearer bonds and the bank's primary database regarding all records and transactions at MCAS.
Trivia[]
- There is a vent located in the first floor bathroom that connects to a cleaning closet, bypassing the retinal scanner.
- The computer terminals in the MCAS Banco de Panama building have the AMD64 logo on the monitor display.