Chapter 1
August 23 1945
Alvar Hanso finished reading the report on his desk and closed the blue folder that contained the report. It was the fourth time he had read the report, though he had needed no more than one read-through in order to memorize the information contained within it. No, the reason he had read the report three more times was because his appointment was late. Alvar Hanso hated to be kept waiting, but in this case it was even more frustrating. He began to wonder if the man he was supposed to be meeting had figured out that Hanso hadn't exactly been entirely honest with him. It wasn't impossible, considering this man's known resources and how carefully any perspective clients were screened, especially considering his latest project. Hanso had only found out about it due to contacts he had made during the war, selling munitions to resistance groups in Europe. His activities during the war, however, was something that was not widely known, and was one of the things he had not told the man who was supposed to have been in his office 30….no, 45 minutes ago. If the man had known this, he would have never agreed to meet with Hanso in the first place. What the man did know about Alvar Hanso was that he was a humanitarian, a man who was seeking "a better tomorrow," one that would better life for all humans through the use of science and new technologies. These things were all true, despite his actions during the war, which he had seen as a necessity, both in terms of seeking that "better tomorrow" by not letting Fascism and Totalitarianism dominate the world, and in terms of increasing his financial assets, and those of his newly founded company.
What was false was that his company, The Hanso Group, had its primary focus in humanitarianism, specifically in conducting research into science and new technologies. Another falsification was that the assets of his company were quite a bit larger than his actual assets were, and that he was willing to devote a considerable amount of these assets to this man and his project. The man also believed that Hanso had certain other things that would be invaluable to the project this man was proposing. This last part was partially true, but Hanso would not know just how invaluable these would be until he met with the man in question. In truth, The Hanso Group was not much more than a startup company with a focus in the development of high-technology armaments and whose founding only dated back to the sale of munitions to the resistance groups in Europe during the war a few short years ago. The "scientific achievements" were small and peripheral, something that Hanso had had running in the background due to his love of the sciences and technologies during his secondary school and college years. Hanso's scientists, originally a small team which had been drastically increased during the past weeks in order to facilitate his lie, had advanced some of their projects, which, in most cases were simply hypothesis and "wish lists," into something that could be passed off as the results of a company that had been working in the field for 10-15 years.
The real goal of this meeting was to satisfy Hanso's personal curiosity in this project and to see if he could get a stake in it. This project was highly complex, possibly revolutionary, and certainly daring beyond anything he has ever laid eyes on. Hanso knew very little about how the man hoped to realize this project and still believed it to be impossible. Though he knew he could glean no further information from the vague report, nor could he gain any more insight into just what exactly this man planned to do with his completed project, he was considering a fifth read-through just to pass the time when a knock sounded at his door.
He acknowledged the knock and one of his aides poked his head in.
"Sir, your afternoon appointment has arrived." Hanso beckoned to him to allow his appointment to enter. A man, possibly a few years older than Alvar and dressed in a brown business suit, walked into the office holding a worn black leather briefcase. As the man crossed the room, Alvar stood and came around to the other side of his desk.
"I'm truly sorry that I am late" the other man said, "But my plane was late and has to make an unexpected detour."
"This soon after the war, it is to be expected, even here in Denmark," Hanso replied, hiding his annoyance but knowing that there was nothing the man could have done about it. Instead he stuck out his hand as the man placed his briefcase on the floor next to the chair.
"Alvar Hanso." Hanso said as the other man took his hand and shook it professionally.
"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Hanso," he replied. "And my name is Andrew Ryan."