Thomas "Bell" Jackson, CIA Operative

West Berlin, Germany

January 9 1981

Bell woke up the next morning and got himself ready for the day. Lazar had mentioned last night that he had something to show him. Maybe it was that pistol device he was working on. Whatever it was, Bell was intrigued to know more.

"Agent Azoulay," Bell greeted the Mossad agent as he approached his work station near the weapons' cache.

"Morning, Bell," Lazar greeted, "Let's just keep it 'Lazar,' alright?"

"Fine by me. You said you had something to show me?" Bell asked.

Lazar nodded, "Yep. Let me get it real quick."

Lazar dug around his work station and pulled out the pistol he had been tinkering with.

"Put on the finishing touches just a little bit ago," Lazar began, "Tranquilizer pistol. Gas-powered, bolt-operated, effective range up to thirty yards. One magazine contains eight darts, filled with a diluted dendrotoxin agent capable of rendering a target unconscious for four to six hours at a time depending on the dosage."

Lazar held up the tranquilizer gun out to Bell, and Bell took it in hand. He got his grip around the handle, then aimed it forward outside of anyone's direct path. Seemed to be a fairly balanced weapon, hopefully it could hold up in the field.

"Got a good feel to it," Bell remarked, "But I thought dendrotoxins were lethal."

"They are, but only in high enough doses," Lazar mentioned, "That's why the white coats at CIA diluted the substance enough so that shouldn't be a problem. We can take targets alive with this."

"Hmm, sounds pretty badass," Bell remarked, pulling the bolt on the back of the pistol, "Reminds me of the Welrod."

"That was the template for the design. Also, like the Welrod, it's practically silent; don't need a suppressor with this one," Lazar added. Bell was already starting to like this guy, he certainly knew his craft.

Bell lowered the pistol and turned back towards Lazar.

"Lazar, thank you for this," Bell said, "This is really gonna help us on future assignments."

"Hey, don't thank me," Lazar said, "I just helped put them together. Hudson requested we have these for our assignments after that... episode in Turkey."

Lazar visibly grimaced, and Bell couldn't blame him. He still thinks Adler was an idiot for just straight-up executing Kadivar after revealing Perseus was in play. Apparently, Hudson thought the same, but he could actually pull weight with Adler on this one. The message was clear enough through these new tranq pistols; any target connected to Perseus must be taken in alive for questioning.

Bell sat the gun back down on the table, then turned his attention back towards Lazar.

"How long have you known Adler?" Bell asked him, curious as to why he would recruit a Mossad agent to help the CIA track down Perseus. He had already had this talk with Park, so it was only fair he get to know Lazar better as well.

"Going on about eight years now," Lazar mentioned, "We did a few ops together after he got back from Vietnam in '73. Mostly stuff in the Middle East. Never mentioned you or Sims as being part of his old SOG unit. I don't think I have to explain to you what a secretive bastard he can be."

"Ain't that the truth," Bell remarked, leaning back against the table and crossing his arms. Lazar walked over to the weapons' rack and pulled off a 1911, using a rag to clean the gun.

"How did you meet Adler if you don't mind my asking?" Lazar asked.

Bell sighed, then said, "I enlisted with the Marines and was deployed to 'Nam in '67. Met Adler and Sims in early '68 during the Tet Offensive, they needed Marine support for a mission. Didn't think much of him at first, but... war changes things."

Bell decided to keep it more cryptic for now. Park was the one who needed the gory details for analysis, but Lazar didn't need any of that shit. He seemed friendly enough anyway, so it was probably better that he didn't think of Bell as a sob story.

"Soon after, I volunteered for SOG and got put into Adler's unit. We ran ops until we were pulled out in '73," Bell said with a bit of bitterness in his voice. After all they endured over there, they were just unceremoniously pulled out and expected to resume civilian life as if nothing happened. As if the bloodshed and sacrifice had achieved nothing.

"Now I work for the CIA full-time," Bell finished.

"Must've been rough, over there in 'Nam," Lazar remarked. Bell said nothing, but he still felt that was understating things.

"What about you? What's your story?" Bell asked, curious.

"Well, I was born in D.C., but my parents moved to Israel when I was a kid," Lazar explained, "Did a tour with the IDF out of university before joining with Mossad."

"No shit?" Bell asked.

"Yep. My superiors have always insisted on putting me in joint-ops with the CIA. Dual citizenship has its privileges," Lazar said, "That's how I met Adler. My guess is for this assignment he wanted as many eyes and ears from the intelligence community as he could get to stop Perseus."

"Sounds like him," Bell said, "Do you have any experience with Perseus?"

"No, actually. Never heard of him before a few days ago," Lazar said, "You probably know more than me at this point. But I trust Adler's judgment, and so by association I trust you."

"Thanks, Lazar," Bell said, "You don't seem too bad yourself."

"Take care, Bell," Lazar said, and Bell walked away to see what else he could do.

Park was currently combing through the CIA's files trying to find that dossier that he and Sims found in Vietnam. Sims was working with McKnight in tuning up the gray van that was inside the safehouse. Even though McKnight had not been in SOG, he had an extensive service record in Vietnam before becoming a Company man. Bell was pleased to see that he and Sims were getting along famously; Sims had a habit of befriending pretty much every vet he came across.

Adler was not in the safehouse at present. He'd said something about needing to establish contact with one of his sources in East Berlin who might give them another lead on Perseus' dealings in the GDR. In the meanwhile, their job was to comb through the evidence and see what turned up.

"Aha!" Park called out, grabbing the attention of everyone in the compound.

"What is it?" Sims asked, getting out from under the van.

"I found it!" Park called out, holding up a blue dossier in her hand.

"Holy fuck," Bell said. This was the one.

"You found the Russian comms log?" Sims asked.

"The one you and Bell picked up in Da Nang, yes," Park explained, "Now that we have it, we can start decoding it. See what it reveals about Perseus."

"About damn time," McKnight said.

"Bell, Sims, come over here. Let's run through this together," Park instructed them, "Lazar, get Adler on the horn. Tell him we've got it."

It was well into the evening by the time they had finished decoding the comms log. Not only was it entirely in Russian, but it was encrypted as well. Fortunately, the SOG mission reports from Fracture Jaw, the testimonials of Adler, Sims and Bell, and Park's own cryptography skills had broken through the code and allowed them access into what transmissions the Soviets were making in 1968.

Adler arrived not too long after Park had uncovered the file and helped with the decoding process. He also said that he reestablished his contacts in East Berlin that he would instruct as necessary to assist them. Park's task was to connect the dots and see what connection would form between East Berlin and Perseus.

Two days after that, after cross-referencing with both the CIA and MI6, Adler had instructed everyone into the center of the safehouse. Park was standing next to the evidence board, looking over the dossier in her possession with her glasses on, and then noticed that everyone had arrived and was alert.

"We finished analyzing the names contained within the file," Park began, "One in particular stands out: Anton Volkov."

Volkov. Bell had heard that name before, but not in connection with Perseus. Park had put a picture of Volkov's face on the evidence board.

"Volkov is a Russian arms dealer working out of East Berlin, setting up shop after the Wall went up in 1961," Park continued, "His connections go as far back as the Second World War, where he made his start producing rifles for the Red Army. After the war, he turned to the black market, selling weapons to insurgencies and cartels across the globe."

"The CIA confirmed that Pablo Escobar and Jose Menendez have had dealings with his racket," McKnight added, "but beyond that, Volkov's practically been a ghost."

"I almost had the motherfucker two years ago in Italy," Sims said, "Missed my chance and had to bug out before my team was compromised."

"According to the Soviet communications log, Volkov was responsible for the shipping of Soviet-produced AK-47 rifles to the North Vietnamese Army, with the exact date of this delivery being December 1st, 1967," Park continued further.

"That must've been in preparation for the Tet Offensive," Bell said, trying to hide his bitterness, "The NVA would have needed time to train with those rifles before putting them to use. Volkov supplied the siege on Firebase Ripcord."

"And that's where we find a link between Volkov and Perseus' presence in Vietnam," Park said, before adding, "Admittedly, this connection to Perseus comes as a surprise."

Adler stepped forward once Park finished speaking, and then addressed the room, saying, "If we can't get to Perseus, we'll get to his men. Close off his resources and we'll force him out of hiding. Company has kill/capture orders on Volkov. Neutralizing him will not only hurt Perseus, but the global syndicate as well."

"So, how are we going to get him?" Lazar questioned.

"We bait him, and we have the perfect bait to do it with," Park replied, putting up another picture, "Franz Kraus, ex-Stasi."

"According to our sources in East Berlin, Kraus is one of Volkov's information couriers. He has a drop with Volkov scheduled for tomorrow night," Adler began, "We'll infiltrate East Berlin via the U-Bahn. A ghost station on the other side of the Berlin Wall has the access point we'll need. From there we'll watch Kraus as he enters the city. Once Volkov shows his face, it's kill or capture."

Bell thought it was a pretty solid plan. He had done infiltrations like this before, no problem.

"Don't the Stasi patrol the U-Bahn?" McKnight asked.

"That's correct," Adler said, "Which is why we can't be carrying NATO-specific weapons with us into East Berlin. Too many Stasi and East German police are in that area that they would tell right away if CIA had a presence there. If our cover is compromised, it'll spook Perseus and force him to remain underground."

"We'll need Walthers instead of Colts," Lazar remarked, "Let me see what I can dig up."

"Do that," Adler told him, "Sims, you manage things from here and help coordinate. The rest of you, get your gear together and rest up. We leave at 1900 hours tomorrow night."

Afterwards, everyone dispersed from the central table. Bell started to walk away to take care of his own affairs. He got down at his work station, lit up a cigarette, and started to get his stuff together. Out of the corner of his eye, he looked up and saw that Park was approaching Adler, who himself was standing by the center table and had just taken out a cigarette.

"MI6 has been tracking Volkov for several years. It is my strong preference that we attempt to capture rather than kill him," Park seemed insistent, "He holds answers to a great many questions."

Adler was silent as he lit up his cigarette, and after blowing out smoke, said, "Your preference has been noted, Agent Park."

With that, Adler walked away from the table back towards his office, meanwhile Park was still staring in his direction, a stern look on her face. She placed the dossier she was holding on the table before her, then walked off back towards her workstation.

Bell knew that something was off. At first he thought it best to stay out of it, but his curiosity got the better of him. Besides, he wanted to thank her himself for being able to decode the Soviet comms log. So he set his lit cigarette in his ashtray and got up out of his seat.

Park had sat down at her workstation and was starting to listen to a tape recording she had found in CIA files of one of Volkov's over-the-phone transactions. Bell approached her and was about to say something when she took notice first.

"Ah, Bell," Park said almost cheerfully, "I wanted to thank you again for your help. That intel you and Sims found in Da Nang was a treasure trove."

"It's nothing," Bell said almost offhandedly, causing Park to raise an eyebrow. Part of him felt his response was almost too casual, so he decided to shift gears, "I mean, that intel would be nothing had you not decrypted it. I had actually come over to thank you myself before you said anything."

"Oh," Park said, "Well, I appreciate that."

There was a bit of silence in between there, which neither Bell nor Park could explain why.

"So, Volkov," Bell began, "What else do we know about him?"

"Oh, you know," Park began, "Born on the coast of Leningrad, never travels when the sun's out, fanatically devoted to Marxist-Leninism, practically the most predictable type of Russian operative one could find. Only trouble is, he's cleverer than most we've encountered, so we'll have to be careful in our approach to Kraus."

"I see," Bell said, "Anything else worth noting?"

"Well, he has impeccable taste in Scotch," Park added, before almost enthusiastically saying, "and medieval torture devices."

"Jesus," Bell said.

"I think he'd love the U.K.," Park said, "I plan on giving him a 'personal tour.'"

"I have no doubt about it," Bell said, "I'll do what I can to make sure that happens."

"Thank you, Bell," Park said, and Bell thought he saw the hint of a smile on her face.

"Anyway, I have these files to review. I suppose you want to start getting ready for tomorrow night," Park advised.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Bell said in response, "Good talking to you, Park."

"My pleasure," Park responded before turning her attention back to the tape recording.

As soon as Bell turned away from Park's field of vision, Bell's relatively composed expression looked just the slightest bit tense, like he was worrying about something. Why the fuck would he be worried? And what would've caused it? All he did was talk to Park, nothing more.

Perseus. Perseus. Perseus.

Bell repeated the name in his head again and again. He couldn't lose sight on the mission. Perseus was out there doing God knows what, and if they didn't stop him soon then it would just be another Fracture Jaw.

As Bell was on his way back to his workstation, Sims appeared and stopped him so they could talk for a moment.

"Hey, man. I know it ain't till tomorrow night, but I just wanted to say good luck getting Volkov," Sims said.

"I'll do my best," Bell said, before something came to mind, "You still operate in the field, right?"

"Yeah, I do every now and again," Sims said, "This assignment I'm mostly gonna run things from the shop. An engineering degree has its benefits. So whatever you guys need, I'll make sure you have it."

"Alright then," Bell said, "I'd just feel a hell of a lot safer with you watching my back."

"Hey man, you can take care of yourself pretty well. Don't sell yourself short," Sims said, then left with a pat on his friend's shoulder, "When you get Volkov, tell him Lawrence Sims says hello."

"Will do," Bell said, and he turned to walk away. Before he could, Sims' hand placed itself on his shoulder.

"Oh, and Bell," Sims spoke, his voice lower than before, indicating his desire to be discreet, "What's, uh... what's the deal with you and the Redcoat?"

"I'm sorry, I don't follow," Bell stated with a mildly puzzled expression.

"Come on, man, you know," Sims nudged his head to the side, and Bell looked over to see he was referring to Park, who was still preoccupied with her work. Bell was confused as he looked back towards Sims.

"The hell are you talking about, Sims?" Bell asked, somewhat taken aback.

"Bell, you're a smart guy. Figure it out," Sims said, smirking.

Bell considered what he was saying for a moment, and his eyes widened when he realized what he was suggesting.

"What? No, it's nothing like that!" Bell said in as hushed a tone as possible so that nobody could hear their conversation, especially Park.

"Alright then, tell me what it is then," Sims said. He was clearly having fun with this.

"It's- it's nothing," Bell said, "She's a good agent and she's gotten us a lead on Volkov. This is business, pure and simple."

"Yeah, whatever you say," Sims dismissed it, "But I'm only telling you what I've seen, nothing more."

"Yeah? Well, maybe you need to get your fucking vision checked," Bell rolled his eyes.

"Whoa, no need to get testy, Bell," Sims said, "I'm just fuckin' with you."

Bell exhaled sharply through his nose.

"But for real though, I think she's into you," Sims said.

"And you would know this... how?" Bell asked.

"Did you not hear her say 'my pleasure' to you when you left?" Sims said, "She hasn't said that once to me or Adler or Lazar or McKnight or me."

"You said 'me' twice," Bell said bluntly.

"Did I?" Sims said, "Well, I have experience in these matters."

"Do two divorces count as experience?" Bell questioned in a cheeky manner.

"All I'm saying is just keep your head about you," Sims said, "You know what Adler would say, 'keep it professional' and all that bullshit. Besides, our line of work? It don't even work in the end. Take it from a guy who fell into that trap twice, you'll end up disappointed. In your case, the both of you are spies, from differing agencies no less, so that would just be a clusterfuck."

"You know what? I don't care," Bell said, "I'm not even interested anyway, so you got nothing to worry about."

"Whatever you say, Bell," Sims said.

"Goodnight, Larry," Bell said, walking away back to his workstation.

He picked up his cigarette from the ashtray and took a long drag from it. Sims was full of shit. Most likely just teasing him for old times' sake. As if anything could take his mind off of Perseus at this time.

Besides, he'd only just met Park. He respected her more than he trusted her, and at this point she'd given him no reason to distrust her. She'd helped decrypt the intel recovered from Da Nang, and now they were a step closer to bringing down Perseus and his entire network. They'd get this Volkov bastard and then he'd talk. He might not give up Perseus, but it was better than nothing.

Bell looked at his desk, and saw the Soviet bayonet in the sheathe he had kept from Vietnam. Now he knew the man who had armed those NVA bastards, the ones that killed his fellow Marines and nearly killed him. Perhaps if it didn't risk the mission, Bell would "reacquaint" Volkov with his old merchandise.

No. It was too risky. Park said that he had answers to questions that went beyond Perseus. Volkov wouldn't die by his hand unless he needed to.

Bell continually eyed the blade, wondering what would come of the future. Perhaps he'd save this blade for Perseus himself.

"Anton Volkov, huh?" said a voice from the other end of the telephone line.

"Yes, sir. Adler's team decrypted the Russian dossier recovered from Vietnam. They'll be moving in on him tomorrow night," Hudson spoke into the phone.

"We don't have much time," the voice said, "Does the team know about our... mishap in Berlin yet?"

"No, but if it's connected to Volkov or any other intel from the dossier, they'll find out soon enough," Hudson explained.

"You won't let that happen, Hudson. Don't say anything more than necessary," the voice instructed him.

"That's never been a problem for me," Hudson finished, hanging up the phone.