The Price of Doing Business

Five months later

"... as we continue our live coverage from Aomori City where reports are spreading about a major search-and-rescue operation underway in response to an emergency declaration aboard the cargo ship Kuzma Minin several hours ago. Authorities aren't saying much, only that the ship had apparently veered off course, possibly due to the inclement weather, and initial reports are that the ship appears to be listing and possibly losing power. Attempts to reach the ship by radio have so far been unsuccessful, and other ships have so far been slow to arrive, due to the increasingly dangerous conditions of the seas. The Murmansk shipping company has thus far refused to issue any statements; only that they are aware of the situation, and are doing everything they can to ensure the safety of their crew and their safe return."

Alexey Karetnikov sat in his office as the bad news continued to roll in via both conference calls, television, and the secretaries bringing in updated reports from the field. It was times like this he regretted his climb up the bureaucracy; he was now sitting only a few levels short of the top row of authority with the SVR*, located in the heart of the Yasenevo district in Moscow. Of course, the higher he went, the more visible he became to the high bosses of the country, including his director, who answered directly to the President of Russia.

* Служба внешней разведки / Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki / Foreign Intelligence Service

So... a magical Princess from another World... Karetnikov pondered. It seemed like childhood fantasy, which he would have dismissed as such, except for the glass vial of fluid sitting in front of him. The latest in toxic substances developed from the so-called "dragon materials" developed from Directorate X or Scientific and Technical Intelligence division. Supposably this substance would kill someone, but take upwards of three weeks and was virtually undetectable upon introduction into the body, and untraceable upon death to any autopsy unless the physician knew exactly what to look for, which made it a nearly ideal assassination weapon. The technical wizards of the directorate had suggested that this substance was only one of many possible breakthroughs that could be accomplished, if only they could get more raw materials, but so far, no more was available.

Unfortunately, "dragon material" was exceedingly rare and difficult to get. Apparently, this "magical Princess" was the only way to get more. That made maintaining access to her a matter of national importance; or at least that's what Karetnikov had told the director of the SVR. That's what shocked him the most when first heard about the unauthorized mission to Japan. His agents had been reassigned back to Europe, only later to hear they had gone rogue to Japan. He had initially considered terminating their mission when it was brought to his attention. However, when the head of the Directorate got wind of the mission, it suddenly took on a life of its own. Before he knew it, the director of SVR himself was asking for regular updates. If the mission had succeeded, none of the mission's questionable beginnings would have mattered. Russia would have control of perhaps one of the most pivotal assets in the past several decades. But what might have been and almost achieved didn't count; what mattered was the final result. And the latest word was that right when it seems like they were on the cusp of success, the handoff was interrupted by enemy action and the package had been intercepted by unknown forces.

No... he corrected himself... it had to be the Americans, likely with support from Japan. The Americans were the only ones who had the equipment and personnel to execute a nighttime hostage extraction in the middle of a stormy sea and Japan had the only bases near enough to support such an attempt. They probably used private contractors like they had quite a few times in the Middle East to give themselves plausible deniability in case anything went wrong, but their fingerprints were all over this one.

So... what to do about this? If his hypothesis was correct, then this magical Princess would have been extracted by these contractors to be... delivered back to the Americans? The Japanese? No... if they did, his sources would let him know. Their agency had agents inside every military base in the Far East, working as janitors, tourists, laborers and all manner of seemingly invisible sets of eyes. If the Princess had been brought there, their agency would be alerted very quickly, and it's likely they knew it. No... chances are, they would spirit her to a Black site or a PMC HQ where she would be able to rehabilitate away from prying eyes.

He considered his options carefully. From what his briefing about the Princess had informed him, based on the previous meetings, this creature could move between worlds virtually at will. If she were fully healthy, then capturing her was a near impossibility, barring any kind of blackmail. Clearly a more subtle, long-term strategy was called for; rash actions could lead to ruin. As head of his division, it would be his job to push for restraint.

He set about drafting a memo to be forwarded to Directorate S: Illegal Intelligence, the department responsible for preparing and planting "illegal agents" abroad, with instructions to begin gathering information about known Black sites and PMCs who operated in the region and who also had connections with the US military. He would need this information to support his case that any attempt to confront their opposition would be a counterproductive endeavor, as he feared his superiors would advocate. Whoever could have seized their package off their ship would have had to overcome two группа from the Spetsnaz 3rd Special Purpose Brigade, and that suggested a highly trained force, not to mention the firepower to defeat or at least drive off their submarine K-157, who still hadn't reported in.

With that task completed, Karetnikov leaned back and considered his next move. His plan was to push for a negotiated settlement; meet with the Princess with an envoy. Present a case that the agents had gone rogue and were going against orders; ironically it was actually true. Their country was not at fault, and all they sought was a peaceful resolution; of course we would be willing to make restitution for any pain and suffering that incurred for this unfortunate misunderstanding. If it meant disavowing a handful of fools and tossing them overboard, that was a small price to pay. The challenge was to find her, and present the case in a controlled manner before things got out of hand. His concern however was that his bosses... old men that they were, wouldn't see it that way. He had strong doubts they would be willing to humble themselves and their nation to someone they likely saw as one lone child. He feared that they would present him with orders to do something rash, like seek her out and retrieve her by force, as would be the case like any other rogue asset. He shuddered at the possibility; if he was pressed and presented with no choice, then he feared his country could be placed on a path of ruin that he would be helpless to stop.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Mitsuha winced as Dr. Nishimura held a bright light directly into her right eye, before asking her to try and move her eyes in basic directions to test her neurological function before repeating the test with the left.

"O-OK... I recognize this place," Mitsuha managed with a weak voice, "we're back in Wolf Fang's infirmary..." In addition to Nishimura, she saw Ishii helping him, the Wolf Fang Captain and a few of his men watching. "So... what happened... why can't I move?"

Nishimura sighed... this wasn't going to be an easy conversation. "What was the last thing you remember?"

Mitsuha struggled as her mind seemed to go off into a variety of tangents, struggling to separate her real memory from the recent fantasy of an alternate life, all the while dealing with a dull aching pain throughout her entire abdominal core. "I... I was back in the Zegleus Capital city... I had just finished meeting the King and the Noble council about expanding their navy... and then..." she trailed off.

Nishimura nodded and pursed his lips. "Take your time... memory lapses are going to be expected under these conditions."

Mitsuha's eyes looked up with alarm. "Conditions...? Like what kind of conditions...?!"

Nishimura took a breath and kept silent for a moment, but his eyes betrayed the seriousness of the situation and even the Captain behind him fidgeted with apparent nervous energy, as if anticipating an emotional reaction. "Lady Yamano... it seems you've been in a coma for approximately five months. Your paralysis, mental confusion and memory loss are to be expected for someone in your situation. Honestly, if it were anyone else, I doubt they'd be anywhere near as cognizant as you are right now, under the circumstances."

Mitsuha's face went pale as the gravity of Nishimura's words hit her like a brick wall... five months...!? How... what happened to me...? She looked back at both Dr. Nishimura and the Wolf Fang Captain, "Wait... if I was in a coma, why were you there? Where were we...? What was going on that we needed to be taken out away from?"

There was another pause as the two men looked at one another, much to Mitsuha's frustration, before Nishimura continued. "Lady Yamano, I don't know the full details..."

"Stop with the 'Lady' bit and cut to the chase!" Mitsuha finally retorted in frustration.

Nishimura nodded, "Very well... again, I don't know the details leading up to the incident, but you were found in Fujikawa approximately five months ago, mortally wounded with an unusual weapon and dosed with a highly virulent toxin, which we hypothesized must have come from the other world."

"T-toxin...?" Mitsuha muttered hesitantly.

Nishimura shrugged. "I can't give you a scientific genus name for it, since you haven't exactly brought over a team of botanists to develop a binomial nomenclature of every plant, animal and mineral of that world, but suffice to say I was able to isolate the compound from your blood. From what I could tell, it's some form of biological cytotoxin with neurological properties. If I had to guess, the original extract was probably from some kind of plant, which was then highly refined and concentrated. Since we didn't have a name, the residents around Fujikawa started nicknaming it 'Red Dragon', because of the color of the fluid. I worked with Dr. Sato, a toxicologist from Otsuki and Dr. Minatsuki from Fujikawa Hospital, the ER doctor who saved your life that night. If she and the nurses from Fujikawa hadn't managed to stabilize you, chances are, neither I nor Dr. Sato would have ever made to you at all."

"I... I guess I owe you all..." Mitsuha conceded, as Nishimura shook it off before she turned to the Wolf Fang Captain. "So how is Wolf Fang involved in all this then?"

The Wolf Fang Captain rubbed his chin, "Well, it seems your presence in Fujikawa didn't go unnoticed. I assume you remember the three gentlemen from the SVR during last year's big confab here with the world's intelligence communities... the one where you kinda made them look like... well... idiots to put it mildly*? Well, it seems they weren't gonna take that lying down. We don't know how they found out... maybe that cop we rescued would know more, but those three yahoos decided with you being unconscious, that it'd be the best opportunity to try and get you back to Mother Russia to... you know... " he shrugged and trailed off, but the meaning was clear enough.

* see Manga Chp50 / LN Chp20

"So... they tried to kidnap me while I was unconscious?" Mitsuha recoiled incredulously. She tried looking around, but could barely move her head. "H-how...?"

"Sergeant Kobayashi might know more," Ishii volunteered. "He was the investigating officer when they found you in Fujikawa... um... they kinda had an issue with your pistol. Anyway, he was with me when they made their move at the Fujikawa Toll Plaza."

Mitsuha looked downcast, "I... can't believe this is happening to me..."

"Hey, you're not the only one who got it tough on this one," the Captain firmly reminded Mitsuha. "We had to hook up with the Paladin Group to execute this operation; no way we would have been able to pull this rescue off without them. Six of ours are in the infirmary and they lost four guys getting you back."

Mitsuha went pale at the news. "I... " She paused again, "do we know their names?"

"There'll be time for that later," the Captain confirmed. "For now, we need to get in touch with Sergeant Scott and the rest of the team who got left in Japan for the after-action review. They should be reaching out to us from Misawa AFB..." he checked his watch and calculated for the time difference, "sometime in the next hour or two..."

____________________________________________________________________________________

Dmitry Ivanov stepped off the plane as it landed at Sheremetyevo Alexander S. Pushkin International Airport. As an Embassy Station Chief, it was highly unusual to receive a summons to return the capital, aside from major diplomatic functions or a change in political leadership. In this case however, recent events gave him a sense of foreboding when he got the message to return to Moscow. As an Embassy Chief, he ostensively fell under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where foreign policy would be dictated. In fact, it was a poorly-kept secret that his real portfolio fell under the SVR, where under the shield of diplomatic immunity, he helped coordinate that agency officers' operations within their host countries. His social calendar was usually just meeting with local business leaders to feel out those who he felt could be amendable to a little financial "assistance" which would inevitably lead to establishing connections that would allow the formation of cutouts, financial laundering infrastructure, blackmail and HUMINT* opportunities. It was all part of the game, of course; every country did it to one another, and they all knew it. The tricky part was to not get caught, or if they did, to keep it quiet enough where no one got embarrassed. This last adventure however with this so-called "magical Princess from another World" had gotten so out of hand, someone's head had to go on the chopping block. Ivanov was determined it wasn't going to be his.

* Human Intelligence - intel gathered by means of interpersonal contact

Entering the tall central headquarters, Ivanov took the elevator up to the executive floor where the directors held their most secure meetings. He gave the secretary a polite nod and a charming smile... no need to be rude to the underlings; he had learned long ago that good manners cost nothing and often paid dividends down the line.

Inside the main meeting room, a group of men were waiting for him, only a few he recognized. Once a few introductions were given, the SVR Deputy Director opened the meeting. "So... why don't you start by explaining just what went wrong with Operation княжна*?

* Knyazhna / Princess

Ivanov started his presentation from the beginning, recalling his first meeting with Boris and his team at the Embassy, then going step-by-step over the next few weeks from the activation of local ground assets to the initial kidnapping attempt. Pausing at that moment, he pulled up captured video that had been taken from multiple sources at the Fujikawa Toll Station. "As you can see, everything up to this point was going as flawlessly as an operation can go. However, it was at this moment, one of our officers saw something he wasn't expecting, and rather than follow through with his training, he panicked and fired his weapon, at the worst possible time. Once this happened, options were extremely limited and by the time they managed to reach Yokohama, I was forced to rush the schedule to exfiltrate them ahead of schedule, or else risk their arrest and seizure of the package from the local authorities, had they chosen to board the ship and conduct a thorough search."

"Who was responsible for the choice of officers for this mission?!" one of the other deputy ministers demanded, causing heads to turn. Karetnikov gritted his teeth, as he would need to couch his next words with care. If he told the full truth, he would be admitting his own agents went rogue and his own department was completely out of control. But if he claimed responsibility for choosing Boris and his team, that was tantamount to taking responsibility for the debacle of the failure. Getting out of this jam would require the ballet skill worthy of a ballerina performing before the Bolshoi Theater.

"Comrades, we have to consider that, despite what happened, the mission in fact very nearly succeeded and it was only through enemy action, not incompetence as to why we haven't received our prize," Karetnikov defended. "However, we now have to move forward with the circumstances as they are. It is my belief that our best option is to distance ourselves and our country from this debacle. Disavow this action and the men who conducted the operation, and insistent on our innocence. We still have a chance to salvage our impartiality with regards to negotiations with the otherworldly materials, until a more strategic opportunity presents itself."

Karetnikov paused, to allow his words to sink in, as the members of the senior leadership considered his words. Then one of the elder ministers took the floor. "So... you're suggesting that, we simply kowtow to this... girl? We should humiliate our country because you can't find her in light of your organization's failure?" The words stung almost like a slap on the face, along with the harsh expression on the man's face.

Karetnikov took the dressing down with impassivity. In truth, he had expected this, so he prepared his rebuttal. "On the contrary; we have narrowed her likely whereabouts to a few key locations and are scouting them out with our assets as we speak. Once we find her location, we'll be ready to present our proposal from a position of strength and..."

"Then what's the problem?!" a second minister demanded. "Send in our teams to seize her and bring her back by force! If we give the Princess time to recover to full health, then we'll lose our opportunity!"

Karetnikov shook his head; of course... fall back to the old ways of the brute... that's all these old men ever knew... and see what that's ever gotten us for nearly a hundred years. "If you do that, you'll exasperate the crisis and we won't be able to salvage the situation even as it stands now! You'll push us to an even worse position, perhaps even devastating consequences!"

One of the other deputies seemed to recoil at Karetnikov's last sentence. "Wh-what do you mean by that?! What other consequences are you alluding to?!"

"You all know the saying...'If you come at the King, you best not miss?'" Karetnikov quoted. "Once she's fully recovered, the Princess will likely take great offense at our attempt to capture her in her time of weakness and at minimum may cut access to our country to any future sales of otherworldly materials. At worst, she may very well choose to take hostile action against our country..." He intentionally left the threat hanging in the air, as to let their imaginations run wild with all sorts of possibilities, some of which might even be true.

"S-she would not dare...!" one minister objected.

"S-she's only one person...! The report claimed that she was no longer the ruler of the other lands but only a regional governor; what possible threat could she pose all by herself?" another minister followed.

Fools! Karetnikov wanted to shout, but didn't dare. "Comrades, there are two factors you're not considering; first, even while in a coma, people in positions of power in the West felt it was worth bringing in a trained military strike team to recover her, likely at substantial cost. That alone should tell you the kind of influence she could bring to bear. Second and more importantly, we're talking about a magical Princess... what part of the word 'magical' do I need to spell out for you? We have no idea what kind of powers we're dealing with! She's already demonstrated the ability to move between worlds, and even bring other people and objects like the sailing ship she acquired from the last worldwide negotiation*."

* see Manga Chp50 / LN Chp20

"The report that was filed from that meeting says that the use of that power was limited by the costs to her lifeforce," the first minister countered, after perusing notes Boris and his team filed from the initial meeting that took place last year.

"Yes... and we fully and truthfully disclose all our defensive secrets to the West," Karetnikov sarcastically rebutted. He watched as the other ministers visibly looked down at their notes with embarrassment, satisfied that his point was made, before continuing. "Need I reminder you all... assumptions at this level are dangerous... we have no idea what her true capabilities are. She could very well have the power to cripple our country at a strategic level. Even if her abilities are as limited as she claims, the last thing we want is to push her current position of neutrality into any kind of alliance position with the West, which I'm certain was their motive for rescuing her. If we antagonize her with some rash attempt to seize her that ultimately fails, that will finalize that partnership once and for all!"

____________________________________________________________________________________

Kobayashi frowned as he listened to the assembled group of men in one of the meeting rooms in the Wolf Fang base as Nishimura and the Captain finished their explanation. "...get this straight, she's not Akiko Ishitobi, and all those rumors about those gold coins being connected to a magical Princess are real?"

Nishimura sighed; a part of him was struggling to separate fact from fiction, between what he swore to keep in confidence to Lady Yamano, verses what he told the Sergeant during their previous investigation, so as to not contradict himself. "Correct. The name I told you before was to protect the Princess' anonymity because of the threats against her life, as I took an oath to do. Unfortunately, despite my efforts, her presence was evidently discovered. Like you, I wasn't expecting corruption within the Police."

Kobayashi nodded grimly as he sighed from the memory of the betrayal; that he could agree with. "I see; then you're saying those Russians are still a threat?"

The Captain scoffed. "We got the three agents that got brought back with us locked up in our cells until we figure out what to do with them, but that won't stop their bosses from trying again. If not the Russians, it'll be the Chinese, the North Koreans, or any one of any number of the third world nations... every one of those guys had representatives here last year and everyone had their hands out wanting a piece of the pie. There's been a recent wave of discoveries made from dragon materials that show the potential is only scratching the surface of what can be developed with them using Earth science." It took an effort of will not to grin at the thought that a percentage of royalties being kicked back to Wolf Fang from the rights of any such discoveries.

"So, what do you need from me?" Kobayashi asked.

"For starters, any additional information you may have about the weapon used against the Princess would be helpful," Nishimura asked. "Her latest X-rays still show a large number of metal fragments scattered throughout her body, and I'm at a loss how they got there. We thought we got most of them during the initial wound clean up, but evidently we missed several, so knowing the weapon's profile might shed some knowledge about this."

Kobayashi nodded and described the blade, sketching it on a pad of paper. Both men watching looked slightly surprised by the unusual design before thanking the man.

____________________________________________________________________________________

As the meeting concluded, Ivanov and Karetnikov met privately in his office. The senior man looked at Ivanov with mixed feelings. The truth was, he had summoned him with full anticipation of asking for his resignation, but the directors meeting hadn't gone the way he had thought it would. The fact was, this mission had opened up serious holes in his organization that needed addressing. Now that Pandora's box had been opened, his concerns about this "Princess" were legitimate and needed to be addressed.

"So... is the operation to be terminated?" Ivanov opened the conversation. His concern remained as the fate of the Japanese policeman hasn't been reported at this point; the only information they had gotten was that the ship had been struck by a torpedo, so anything was possible. If he survived, then every undercover officer and source they had developed in Japan he had seen was potentially at risk and needed to be exfiltrated before the inevitable sweep rounded them up. That would cost the SVR years of progress in penetrating secure financial and law enforcement networks. However, if he had died, then they could keep operations in place.

"No Dimitri, you've convinced me..." Karetnikov glanced back towards the large conference room in the next hallway. "Those old fools... they have no idea the potential danger we're facing. We have to present our proposal to this Princess peacefully for the sake of our country's future... violence should be considered an absolute last resort. If we don't find some way to control the narrative from these foolish old men, we may find ourselves at the brink of ruin."

Ivanov blinked and tiled his head, not sure if he understood Karetnikov correctly. "A-are you suggesting that she may very well... "

Karetnikov lowered his voice. It wasn't strictly necessary; everything here had the best electronic screening from eavesdropping science could provide, but some things needed to be said discreetly nonetheless. "Our superiors simply cannot accept what it means to be faced with something they do not understand. I fear that we may be facing a situation like the days of the Cold War... if we don't find a way to back those old fools down... we may be facing a threat our country will simply be unprepared to face."

____________________________________________________________________________________

Mitsuha focused hard at the sketch and frowned as Ishii held it in front of her while Nishimura and the Captain looked on. After a few minutes, she sighed. "I think I've heard of these before, though I never thought I'd actually see one. It's an Aldar Needler, supposedly very difficult and expensive to forge, not to mention illegal in Zegleus and many other neighboring Kingdoms. It's worthless as a combat weapon because it's too fragile to withstand battle damage, and no use as a tool because it has no usable edges. It's got only one use, as an assassination weapon; supposably anyone it strikes is doomed."

Nishimura crossed his arms, "Well, it very nearly lived up to its reputation, just by the virtue of the weapon alone. Anyone who didn't have your healing power would probably have bled out from internal hemorrhage long before ever reaching help, but whoever stabbed you decided to hedge their bets and double down by lacing the weapon with one of the nastiest poisons we've ever seen. I don't know if the other world has an antidote but unless there's been a big leap forward in medical research since the last time I was there, I kind of doubt it. All of which leads to the obvious question... who really badly wanted you dead? Last time I was there, it seemed like you were popular with everyone. Have things changed so drastically there are people wanting to kill you?"

Mitsuha sighed. "In Zegleus, I don't think so, but in Aldar..." she trailed off, as the memories of the siege* from over a year ago drifted through her thoughts. "I hate to admit it, but... yeah... there are probably quite a few Aldar nobles, ex-nobles and warriors who would have loved a chance at revenge, if they got the chance. And if I'm being honest, maybe even some local noble families who were... less than loyal to the King during the invasion might not be unhappy to see me go."

* see Manga Chp32-33 /LN Chp14 / Anime Epi11-12

"Well, if I were you, it's something you'd better think about before you take any further actions," the Captain suggested. "We can keep you safe here on the base for the time being, because right now, you look pretty worse for wear," as he glanced towards Nishimura, who nodded in confirmation.

"The last batch of X-ray confirms those shards are still lodged throughout your system," Nishimura explained. "The description about the weapon confirms what I feared; both the design and composition of the metal of the weapon was specifically designed to leave shards in the victim. Those spines in the serrated edges were clearly designed to break loose upon entry, leaving them inside the victim's body. Furthermore, the metal has anti-coagulant properties; trying to remove them haphazardly will lead to internal hemorrhaging. Even after we take care of that, you're looking at months of physical therapy to regain motor function."

"M-months...?!" Mitsuha looked shocked. "B-but, my people... the Kingdom...!"

"The Kingdom's going to have to do without you until you're better," Nishimura pushed back. "Besides, it's not like the Kingdom's city is CRPD*-compliant. You're not going to be doing anyone any good from a wheelchair. You might have the power to move between worlds, but that's not going to help if you can't even cross the street."

* Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, equivalent to the ADA in Japan

Mitsuha shot Nishimura a dirty look, but he refused to back down, though he did soften his expression. "I once asked you about the possibility of living in the Kingdom on a permanent basis, to which you pointed out the logical flaws in my thinking*. Now I'm asking you to consider the same when I point out the same in yours. You won't be able to save anyone if you don't save yourself first. As they say in an emergency, put your own oxygen mask on before you assist the ones around you, or you won't be any good to anyone else."

* see Manga Chp43 / LN Chp17

"The doc's right," the Captain agreed. "You won't be any good to anyone in your current condition. Get better first, then go save your Kingdom. Let the docs fix you up medically. We've got the training facilities here on base to get you back to full strength physically and if the Russkies or anyone else from the intelligence community try and make another run at you before you've recovered, well... they can try. We've got over a hundred guys with guns here that'll say that ain't happening. Speaking of which... there's some new friends I'd like to introduce you to once you've had a chance to make yourself presentable."

____________________________________________________________________________________

Aozuka arrived at his precinct in the morning as usual as the front patrolman greeted him with the usual polite nod of acknowledgement. It took all his willpower not to show the anxiety he had been feeling for the past few days; ever since the harrowing shooting incident at the Fujikawa Toll Plaza, he had been terrified with the notion that it was all over and his days as an honorable policeman were finally at an end. During the shoot-out, he played his role in a way that he thought as best he could, quickly and efficiently herding innocent civilians out of harms way. To any outside observer, and most importantly, to the recording surveillance cameras, he was every bit the model policeman, doing his duty.

When he filed his police report after the shooting had finally stopped, of course he expressed his shock and surprise that the criminal suspects had gotten away with his prisoner and taken hostages. He put on a brave face for the cameras as the interviewer asked him how he felt that a fellow officer, Sergeant Kobayashi had been taken, along with the young man Yuta Ishii. He nodded with the appropriate sense of dignity and asked everyone for a moment of silence in this time of great need as they all prayed for their safe return, all the while he secretly hoped they were never seen again. It was such a terrible feeling, and he hated the gnawing feeling of guilt, but deep down, he knew his secrets would be safer if those two would simply disappear along with the girl the Russians wanted. That didn't make the bile any easier to swallow.

Once he reached his desk, he logged onto his computer to pull up the daily reports showing the statistics for the previous night's incidents, per his usual routine. To one side, he noticed a significant email among the usual stack of junk and routine notifications, alerting him that another deposit had been made to his bank accounts, which sent another chill down his spine. Attached to the deposit email was a short note marked "security services reservation". He buried his face in his hands and shook his head. When would this nightmare end...? The amount of the payment was slightly higher than normal, but the coded words on the note meant that more instructions would be forthcoming. So his invisible puppet masters would soon be calling in more favors... as if that debacle at the Toll Plaza wasn't bad enough?!

In the end however, he was trapped, and he knew it. He glanced at the cells that were in the back of the precinct, meant to hold the drunks and unruly. And yet... who was the one truly in the cage here? How ironic that he envied the men in those cells as they were waiting to be bailed out... at least most of them could eventually go home with a clear conscience. What a nice feeling that would be, he mused as he got on with the rest of his day, knowing all too soon, his true marching orders would come.