Nick's Mission, Phase 1 (Insertion)

Nick doesn't give Tommy any details, just packs his gear and spends a last few hours with her before heading off to the airport and a series of international flights which last almost twenty hours. A quick layover in Paris, and a longer one in Istanbul, give him the time to fully digest all the information that Azrael sends him. His old friend Valentina Morosov was sent into Donets in the Ukraine three months ago to make contact with a group of people suspected of managing a network of cyber-terrorists responsible for attacks on various corporate and national interests. She was ordered to infiltrate, observe, and then exfiltrate; she's now three days overdue, and her last contact with her handler was a demand for someone to come and get her, and a cryptic note that someone in the Company couldn't be trusted. The handler passed it up, and now they've sent him in to get her. Aden's got the name of a local tourist bar which is supposed to be the location for Valentina's emergency drop, and the name of another local Company asset, Marko Stefaniak, a carpenter and member of one of the Ukrainian separatist factions. Other than that, the file's still pretty thin, and Nick's not sure why Valentina would be concerned about someone in the Company blowing her cover, or why she's demanding a personal escort out of the area.

He looks out the plane window as they make the final approach to the city of Donets. Once, it was a beautiful Eastern European jewel of the Soviet empire. It's still a major manufacturing and coal production site. But, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the land of Ukraine has been the center-point of pro-Russian and pro-independence factions, and the war in the Ukraine, which most of the rest of the world ignores, is now in its' seventh year with no sign of a permanent fix. The city below shows the signs; the northwestern side of the city is scarred and pitted with broken buildings and bomb-blasted rubble. Even now, as the sun is setting, he can make out flashes from that part of town, the blasts of tank-gun fire and man-portable rockets, the small crackling lightning bugs of automatic weapons fire. Even the airport is showing the signs; Nick remembers the last time he was here, five years ago, the airport was a central focus of fighting, and the terminals and auxiliary buildings still show it.

Customs and passport control are almost pro-forma; he slips the customs agent 2000 hryvnia, a little over fifty bucks American, and passes straight through without any delays. A bored-looking man in a rumpled suit and tie watches disinterestedly as they walk through the luggage check; Aden makes him as Ukraininan SBU, the local secret police. They're aggressive sometimes, and they've been known to disappear people from time to time, but he's not too concerned; the guy doesn't look like he's really engaged. Aden slips out into the streets, and takes a taxi over to downtown, then walks to a local mid-range hostel, making sure to stay quiet and tip an average amount. He knows the scars on his face will make him stand out no matter what he does; his undercover days are long gone. But there's no reason to call any more attention to himself than needed; he checks in under the cover identity he's brought along: Jason Wilson, Canadian journalist. Same as before, false papers and details in case he has to answer questions. He's even brought along a nice mid-range Nikon digital camera and note pad with a brief outline of a puff piece about the people of the Ukraine and their daily lives in wartime.

It's just after dinner, and Aden thinks things through, decides to get moving now, since he doesn't know how much time he has before Val runs out of time altogether. The tourist bar is about a half-hour's walk from the hostel, so he dresses warm and strolls around downtown for a bit, looking like a sight-seeing tourist. In the distance, he can hear the crackle and boom of fighting, far enough from here that the few citizens walking the streets move along without too much concern. There must be fewer snipers than there used to be; people aren't running from place to place like the last time he visited. Aden snaps a few photos, just in case he's being watched, then finds the bar, a nice enough establishment, definitely open for tourist business, most of the menus scrawled on the chalkboard over the counter written in both Ukrainian and English. The rough-faced old man behind the counter barely looks at him when he orders a beer and seats himself at a corner table. There are a few other people here and there, most sipping at pints of the local brew; nobody really pays him any attention. The file tells him the drop is behind the bar, in the alley, a loose brick in the local wall. Aden drinks a few beers, not enough to be drunk, but he acts slightly tipsy. He gets into an impromptu game of darts with two locals who speak broken English. He loses, pays a small bet, then meanders into the back toward the toilets. Yawning and stretching as if tired, he checks quickly and sees no one has followed him; the rear door which leads out to the alley is unlocked and has no alarm.

The alley is dark, the only street light twenty feet or so away at the alley mouth. The place smells like old urine and spilled beer, with an undertone of diesel fuel and spoiled food; the place is filthy and dark, a perfect place to set a dead drop, since anyone who follows an operator into the alleyway will be clearly visible. Aden moves down, scanning for any marks left behind by Val; in under a minute, he sees a small chalkmark scrawled under a brick, a pair of looped squares, her drop sign. One more check both directions, and then he pries the brick out in one pull, pockets the tiny plastic film container inside, and pisses on the wall like a good drunken tourist to seal the image. He wanders back to the bar and has two more pints, relaxed and casual, before finally rising and walking back to his hotel room by a circuitous route. Aden doesn't allow himself to look at the contents of the container until he's made it back to the hostel room, closed and locked the doors, and turned out the lights. Only then does he break it open and remove the small slip of paper inside to decode it.