"My way's fun, too. We can play it like St. Petersburg, '94."
"Oh, you mean, lawyers instead of diplomats?"
"And this time I'll let you be the boss."
"Oh, you'll let me? Ohh!"
- Michael and Larry, Out of the Fire
Michael Westen and Larry Sizemore rehash their St. Petersburg '94 mission to extract information from a federal courthouse in Out of the Fire. This is the backstory. Warning: Lots of historical background.
A/N: I'm honestly... stuck. I started this in January 2011, never finished it because I wasn't happy with the direction the story is going in. On its current route, it's entirely plotless. Read the story and drop me some suggestions for where to go from there or plot ideas in general so I can do a rewrite?
****** Background ******
St. Petersburg is informally known as Piter, for those too lazy to pronounce its full name. The term is most often used by the locals.
In 1991 when the Soviet Union collapses, Russia becomes an independent nation. While ethnic Russians make up more than 80% of its population, significant ethnic and religious differences threaten political disintegration. Relations of various entities and demands for autonomy erupt into a major political issue in the early 1990s.
In 1992, President Boris Yeltsin passes law conceding regional autonomy and tax privileges and acquiesces 86 of the 88 different regions. Chechnya becomes the last federal subject not to acquiesce agreements when President Yeltsin signs a special political accord granting specific autonomy requests with the president of Tatarstan in the spring of 1994.
Neither Yeltsin nor the Chechen government attempt any serious negotiations and the situation eventually deteriorates into a full-scale conflict in the December of 1994.
Osama bin Laden and Chechen rebel leader Ibn Khattab are intricately tied together: they share fundraising, recruiting networks, and Bin Laden sends hundreds of fighters to help the cause in the First Chechen War.
St. Petersburg is the host city for the summer 1994 Goodwill Games, a multi-sport and international event designed to improve Soviet Union-United States relations during the Cold War. Numerous diplomats from all over gather in meetings during the opening ceremony.
Everything else including names and actions is my own invention.
For once, Michael Westen is glad for an easy, happy, mission. Don't get him wrong, he loves his job, but the times in the Balkans are crazy and it's too easy to get caught in the crossfire. Too easy to lose lives. He's seen that first hand. The United States government doesn't want a nuclear war, especially after the Soviet Union's perpetuated the concept of "nuclear winter" and if one of his missions sets either country past the brink, then he can be sure that he's out of a job – and his life.
What separates this job from the rest is its pure simplicity; it's more about precision than gunfire this time. The goal is to spread disinformation; subtlety matters. In the end, the job goes as effortlessly as possible and he compares it to a vacation.
It is the 19th of July, five days before the 1994 Goodwill Games. After being named the host city in 1990, cheers ring through every apartment with a television. Boris Yeltsin officially declares the opening day to be July 23, 1994, and government showers St. Petersburg with generous funding. Venues are renovated, landmarks refurbished, modern transportation systems installed and thousands of residents volunteer to help host the games.
The result is St. Petersburg's now spectacular backdrop: the Winter Palace is across the river from the Vasileostrovsky District while museums, canals and waterways, and historic landmarks share center stage with compelling athletic competition.
Michael Westen looks out the glass walls of the Pulkovo International Airport to the city with its bustling and jovial atmosphere. Even at 23, he is already a highly-competent operative, in large part thanks to mentor (and sort of, friend) Larry Sizemore. Larry admires his resourcefulness and Michael appreciates Larry's efficiency. Together, they leave a massive swathe of bodies in their wake along with fearsome reputations in the spy world.
"Look alive, kid!" Larry calls out to him as he comes up behind Michael and claps him on the back. "Hasn't anybody been this happy in Leningrad in a long time."
Michael tosses him a grin as they walk out of the busy terminal, luggage rolling behind. "It's St. Petersburg now. Where have you been for the last three years? They changed the name in '91."
Larry scoffs. "In case you haven't noticed, I've been too busy running around the Balkans drying behind your ears." Michael takes this ribbing good-naturally – it's true. Larry's taught him numerous tricks in the trade and then some.
Disarmament: Smile, it confuses the enemy, Larry whispered to him with a gun to his head point blank. They were on their knees, arms raised and hands behind their head.
Subterfuge: Nine times out of ten, when you tell them that their safety's off, they'll always look. The guard looked down for a millisecond, granting Larry opportunity to flip the gun towards his head instead.
Ruthlessness: And finally… show no mercy. The ensuing shot rang through the warehouse and blood splattered onto Michael's face. The last lesson is one that Michael's followed studiously, but never quite fully ingrained into his heart.
Michael loves the room; four-star hotels and gourmet food are the high points of being a spy. He can see the Neva River to the north and various cathedrals and monuments dotting the skyline. Larry's already set up communications with their case officer, Pavel Lebedev, and motions him over.
"I'm glad you guys felt that we deserved a break," Michael says to Lebedev, spreading a map on the hotel table. "This is two steps up from those hellhole huts you had us in Serbia."
"Look, they've got cortaditos! In Piter of all places!" Larry interjects, pushing an object towards the camera.
Lebedev sees the steaming cup of espresso pushed to the video screen before him and rolls his eyes. He talks to the coffee cup, which has now obscured both Michael and Larry's faces. "Briefing: Chechen still hasn't signed the treaty yet with Yeltsin. Your job is to keep it that way. The more problems Russia's got, the less they'll be focusing on us."
"File here says that Khattab's looking for reasons to get into a brawl with Russia." Michael comments, already trying to wheedle information. "Best buddies with Bin Laden. That the in for where you guys'll be looking for him?"
"Classfied, Westen." Lebedev replies crisply, eyes betraying nothing.
"Russia is too preoccupied to deal with all the spies that Ames flipped," Larry calls out to Michael, picking up the cortadito and taking a sip, unblocking Lebedev's view of them again. "He's talking about disinformation."
Lebedev nods. "There's a diplomatic conference just prior to the opening ceremony of the Games. Ever since Ames, the Russians are batshit over screening everyone's credentials and history, so we haven't been able to secure covers. You'll have to figure something out yourselves."
Michael and Larry look at each other at the same time and then back at the screen. "Never let you down, have we?" Michael flashes his famous grin.
Lebedev's face is still bland with no reaction, and Larry calls him out on his unenthusiastic demeanor. ("Isn't there no goodwill on your side?" he jabs.) The screen shuts.
A/N: So, there it is. I wanted to cut to the opening ceremony with the diplomats all around. There's spies protecting leaders abroad and they'd be consistently making contact with CIA, KGB, MI6, and so on so it would be an opportune time for Michael and Larry to gather intel and place bugs. So, they'd end up doing just that - placing bugs on some leaders and steal files. People would panic and further investigation would result in each side thinking the other is conning them.
So, there it is. St. Petersburg '94, where the gist of the mission is not so much extracting information, but going about their mission in a nonviolent manner by relying on acting ability and using human psychology to manipulate people. In this case, manipulating leaders into turning against each other.
However, such a plot has no excitement and is just fluff and I'm unhappy with what the final product would potentially look like. So BN fans, toss me ideas!