Ivan Volkov began the squeeze the next morning, over a breakfast of black bread and harsh coffee. His target was Kaelen Vance’s network, her lifeblood in Europe. He moved through the bureaucratic channels with quiet precision, a master of the system she despised.
He used diplomatic leverage and quiet threats. The Finnish police were persuaded to "discover" discrepancies in the shipping manifests for the cargo plane that had flown the professor out. In London, pressure was applied to a mid-level bureaucrat in the Foreign Office who owed the KGB a favor.
He was cutting her wires, one by one.
He focused first on London, where he knew she was heading. Kaelen Vance liked private contractors and discreet handlers. Ivan initiated a subtle disinformation campaign suggesting her primary London contact, a former SIS officer named Alistair Finch, was compromised by a rogue South African intelligence service. The message was planted deep in the gossip networks of the intelligence world. It was a lie, but a plausible one.
He knew Kaelen Vance operated on instinct and speed. She wouldn’t stop to verify every rumor. She would cut and run. He intended to isolate her, to force her out of the shadows of her luxurious lifestyle and into the open, where she would be vulnerable.
He finished his coffee and dressed for the cold Helsinki afternoon. He had another meeting scheduled with a source inside the U.S. embassy’s support staff, a man he had cultivated for years. The man provided cleaning supplies and secrets in equal measure.
Ivan walked the quiet, snow-dusted streets of Helsinki, blending in perfectly with the gray-coated men who frequented the city's cafes. He was an observer, a predator who understood that patience was the ultimate weapon. He watched the world move around him, analyzing weaknesses, charting probable outcomes.
He was not just hunting an agent; he was prosecuting a philosophy. Every quiet action he took was a testament to order and control. Kaelen Vance thought the world was hers to manipulate; Ivan intended to show her that the world was bound by rules she refused to acknowledge. He would be the hand of consequence.
No comments:
Post a Comment