Chapter Text
Today – in the far north of Scandinavia
The pale figure moves like a ghost over the icebound sea in his white and pale gray clothing, his breath adding thin white streamers to the faint late evening mist that surrounds him. The only sounds are his own breathing and the rhythmic scrape of the long steel blades of his skates on the thick sea ice.
Raising the inside of his left arm before his face he checks the compass, strapped next to his watch on top of his pale gray anorak, again - it would be all too easy to get lost amid the clusters of skerries and small islands dotting the ice in all directions.
The compass and the glance at the faint pulsing lights from the lighthouse two nautical miles or so to the west confirms that he is still on the right track. He can only hope that he will be on time and that Theron will still be alive. The weight of his long sniper rifle in its watertight case, strapped on top of his backpack is comforting. The backpack, in turn, contains a change of clothes wrapped in waterproof plastic bags to provide buoyancy should he fall through the ice. It's a risk where the ice can be thin close to the skerries - and a certainty if he happens to end up on an icebreaker's refrozen trail in the dark.
Late August – West Berlin
This is the nicest office he has ever had, bright with light from the high windows, cheery and modern in an elegantly understated way and situated within a swanky law firm were the SIS has rented a discreet office space - and in spite of all that Theron has had the most frustrating months of his life here.
Neither Darok in the West Berlin CIA office nor Arkous in the Russian ministry of science, their only leads on the Raven conspiracy, has done anything suspicious since the end of the scientist rescue he and Miska pulled off. And no other leads or suspects have cropped up no matter how hard they have been digging. And since the CIA are unaware of Darok's connection to the Raven group and this is an SIS op, pulling him in for questioning on their scant evidence would cut off their only easily monitored connection to the Ravens for no real gain.
There must be something they can find, the question is where.
“We must be missing something.”
“Hm?”
Miska, sitting quietly at the other desk, looks up from his transcriptions of messages intercepted from East Berlin as Theron gets up from his chair and starts wandering around his side of the office in little circles. He feels the urge to pull his hair in pure frustration as he stops walking but it's probably messy enough without him making it worse.
“Something... something, they must be hiding their communications as something else. I just can't put my finger on it.”
“We've been looking for ciphers.”
That always sounds funny coming from Miska-codenamed-Cipher, Theron has self control though – he won't giggle. This time.
“Yes, it must be something else.”
Miska starts flipping through his papers until he finds what he is after.
“I made a list of what we have already looked for, take a look and see if I missed something.”
The list is neatly ordered with types of ciphers, types of delivery methods and everything else they have tried to look for as well as the names and specialities of the scientists they didn't find, all written down in separate columns. Distressingly enough those scientists are all nuclear experts or rocket engineers. As if they weren't stressed enough about their stalled investigations.
Miska's lightly swooping handwriting is much easier to read than Theron's sprawling doodles.
“Hm.”
Theron is stuck staring at the paper. Something about their handwriting... alike but different... maybe it isn't some extra code buried in the messages but something alike but different sent at the same time. Yes! But what?
“Wavelengths?”
“You found something?”
The way Miska looks expectantly at him is gratifying. Theron wishes he actually was as impressive as that look makes him feel.
“I think there might be something more sent along with their usual messages, like ultrasound or something on a different wavelength maybe. Some sort of two for one situation.”
“Oh, that would be clever. We need the recordings.”
“Yes, and we need more than just a tape recorder.”
“We need to talk to Lana.”
Theron nods and starts to pack his files up for transportation. Miss Beniko is the one who has custody of all their files when they aren't using them. Miska picks up the phone and asks for her extension.
“Hello Lana... Yes, we have something we need your input on... Thank you. We're on our way.”
Theron doesn't wonder what kind of situation has led to Miska being allowed to use their handlers given name. No, not at all.
Just because they fell in bed once after their last op doesn't mean he has any special rights to Miska and that's the way it should be. It would be stupid to risk his caréer by having an affair with a man and doubly stupid to risk it with a dubious defector. Not that the last part is Miska's fault, but still.
They are coworkers, nothing else.
Miska slips his suit jacket on and runs a quick hand through his longish black hair to make sure it's still neatly slicked back. Theron looks down into his briefcase, suppressing the visceral memory of running his hands through the heavy strands of that hair and feeling the thin finger-length surgical scars that stretch from the base of his skull to the upper parts of his neck that the hair hides.
And he can't even try to talk to Miska about that, nevermind anything else – Miska is always under surveillance as far as they know since he hasn't been able to prove that he really is a defector yet.
Theron hasn't had the clout to do much at all for him, it was hard enough to convince Director Trant to keep Theron himself on as an asset for the Raven case. But at least they are both still working together even if their office is certainly bugged and Miska is never left alone anywhere.
“Coming?”
“Yeah.”
Theron shrugs his own jacket on and snaps his briefcase shut. Their suits are reasonably swanky to match their office and give the impression of up and coming junior lawyers, even though Theron always manages to look slightly unkempt no matter the quality of his clothing. Miska with his nice gray suit and his black leather messenger bag over the shoulder looks perfectly neat in contrast of course. Theron can’t help watching him as Miska moves around quickly checking his workplace to make sure nothing is forgotten before they lock up and leave.
Miss Beniko has the big office at the end of the short hall housing their rented office spaces. Her room is as bright, cheerful and modern as theirs only with added file drawers and a safe hidden behind a wall-panel. Her door is open and she is already standing at the panel when they enter. Theron closes the door behind him and locks it as Miska gives her his bag.
Theron explains their idea as she opens the safe and places their paperwork inside before locking it again.
“You might be on to something. You do have a degree in electronics, right Mr Shan?”
“Yes ma'am.”
“Good, that simplifies things. You two might as well go to lunch while I make a few calls and set things up for you.”
“Thank you ma'am.”
Theron really is thankful. The only reason Miska hasn't been sent back to the East to prove himself as a double agent is Miss Beniko and her insistence that he will be of use here, as far as Theron knows. She did send him in to interview Miska a couple of times while she sat to the side and observed but he doesn't think he was able to get Miska to say anything particularly helpful. It had been distressing to watch Miska struggle against his brainwashing and lose again and again no matter how Theron wrangled the questions. Miska looked so tired and drawn during those days that Theron just wanted to hide him and keep him safe. Not at all like the confident, smartly dressed man who shares his office now.
So here they are, together again, and with a little luck they might be able to get a grip on the slippery Ravens and unravel their plans.
Notes
- The modern discipline of electronics engineering was born out of telephone-, radio-, and television-equipment development and the large amount of electronic-systems development during World War II of radar, sonar, communication systems, and advanced munitions and weapon systems.Prior to the Second World War, the subject was commonly known as radio engineering and was basically restricted to aspects of communications and radar, commercial radio, and early television. Later, in the post-war years, as consumer devices began to be developed, the field grew to include wireless telegraphy, radio, television, radar, computers*, and microprocessors. In the mid-to-late 1950s, the term radio engineering gradually gave way to the name electronic engineering.
* The first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century (1940–1945). These were the size of a large room and consumed as much power as several hundred modern personal computers (PCs).