| "Pieces in Play" | ||
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Tokyo, Japan June 14, 2008, 1400 hours Stepan Levevich Volkv made his way carefully to his secondary bolthole. The first had been covered in officers from the Intelligence Division of the Jouhou Honbu, Japan's domestic intelligence agency, and Volkv had barely been able to get away from the area before their search widened. Escaping through the streets had been no mean feat considering the number of officers potentially mixed in with the crowds. Volkv had cursed the fact that he stood out so much, cursed the fact that things had gone so wrong. He knew that he was finished as far as Japan was concerned, and probably the whole of Asia. That would effectively mean the end of his career. What had been a long and highly productive career would now be ended because he had shown too much compassion for his agent. Beijing, China Jun Shan sat in his office, his mind ticking over as the plans ran through his head, playing out the forthcoming events as if they had already happened. Things were going according to plan so far, the pieces moving into position carefully. One piece was awaiting orders. A simple call would set the wheels in motion, the start of the final phase of his masterpiece. Starye Atagi, Chechnya The young girl's screams pierced the quite day air, or they would have had her mouth not been covered by the strong hand of one of the rapists. She tried to fight off the man but couldn't, screaming again into his hand as she felt the pain of his entry. He was too strong for her; she was a few days shy of her fifteenth birthday. Ivan Vadimovich Kyznetsov stood back as he watched his `comrade' rape the girl. His position guaranteed him a less than adequate view of the proceedings, but that was the last thing on his mind. He saw the large man-shape dressed in military fatigues thrust towards where the girl was, the screams seeping out of the hand and floating towards him. Kyznetsov shook it off. He was fulfilling his mission. He did not take any pleasure from this, none at all. He despised it. His `comrade' finished and withdrew, then nodded for Kyznetsov to have his turn. This he did, though unlike his comrade he was not thinking of the young girl and the pleasure he was taking from her. Instead his mind was telling him that he had succeeded in the first part of his mission: he had the soldier's trust. With this he would help change the shape of the world. Moscow, Russia The distance was great. The drop was greater. The blonde head looked up and down; deep blue eyes calculated distances, angles, and approach routes. He wet a finger and held it in the air to gauge the speed and direction of the wind. He would have to be careful. Dmitriy Filippovich Ilin walked back to the far end of the roof, composing himself as he did so, controlling his breathing and his thoughts. He had to be fully composed in order to make this, but he had done it before and he would do it again. He had no fear. Within mere seconds he was running at top speed towards the edge of the building, his eyes spending equal time looking at the exact area where he would push off from and the place where he wanted to land, far over on the other building. He reached the correct place and leapt. Time slowed down, allowing him a good view of the street beneath him had he taken the chance to look down, but he didn't alter his focus from the precise piece of stone that he was going to land on. That piece grew nearer as his body sailed through the air, moving to him to give him a landing strip, somewhere to take his body out of the air and place it back on solid ground. He hit hard but performed a forward roll as he'd been taught to do. This took most of the energy out of the landing and allowed him to quickly find his feet for the next jump, this one a simple leap over a small gap and the rail surrounding the next building. This he executed perfectly, landing where he wanted. He could have continued with the run but decided that he needed a little time to compose his mind, and the rails had given him an idea. Slowly Ilin made his way over to the rails, choosing a corner section. He placed his hands on either side of the corner and slowly lifted his body off of the ground until it was vertical, his legs straight above his head. He held the position while his mind began working. His boss was planning something big, but he didn't know what it was. The whole team had been told to pick up their training to make sure they were at the edge. That was dangerous according to his unit commander, but he didn't argue. All he knew was that he would perform without question or hesitation because he owed everything to his boss. Siberia, Russia The camp wasn't typical of a terrorist camp. Instead of being a simple collection of tents or run-down buildings the facilities available to Iron Bear were state-of-the-art, specifically designed for sub-zero temperatures and arctic conditions. They were camouflaged against the snow, and each building had its own defence systems. There was a command centre that controlled the radar and other main defensive systems, and also housed the leader of the group. He was sat there now, going over the various reports from his people. He was still awaiting the command from his sponsor, the command that would allow him to instigate attacks that would be the most audacious in Russian history. Until he got that command all his group could do was prepare and wait. Moscow, Russia Valentin Pavelevich Elistratov was checking through the various pieces of paper that occupied his desk. As Commander of the SVR's Directorate K he had more paperwork than any sane man should be able to handle. Much of it he managed to dispense on the desks of his subordinates but there was a certain amount that were for his eyes only, the classified missions and information gathered from them. There was a large amount of such missions, and that made for a large pile of folders which he had to go through. Seeing as they were for his eyes only, and Directorate K compartmented mission details and information to ensure everything stayed secure, noone would have realized that there were two too many folders on the desk. Narita, Japan Ken'ichi Matsushita watched the men leave. They all understood what was afoot, and each had given the plan their support. Their country would grow immensely strong if it succeeded, and there was no reason to think that things wouldn't go according to plan. So far things had gone well, and there had even been a few positive events that had not been planned, especially in Russia. There had yet to be a setback, and this caused for Matsushita to be entirely confident in the plan's success. Words of caution found that they could not penetrate this supreme confidence. Return |
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