Ch.194Episode 10 – Turn Your Course to the North-Northwest

“…So.”

Ilya Nikolayevich, Director of the 1st Department of the Imperial Guard, spoke.

“You’re saying the aide has funneled a massive amount of assets overseas through derivatives, and you think this is a signal for defection.”

“Yes, Director.”

Yekaterina nodded.

Director Ilya Nikolayevich read through the information memo (IM, a short-form report distributing urgent intelligence) submitted by the Economic Counterintelligence Division under the 1st Department.

As the Director’s gaze moved slowly across the document, Yekaterina continued.

“We’ve also confirmed that he’s withdrawn large amounts of undeclared cash from his accounts and is keeping it in his office. Like Vasily Vladimirovich, the aide, we’ve detected significant sums being moved from his wife’s accounts as well.”

“Have you confirmed where that money went?”

“Not yet.”

Hmm. The Director let out a short grunt and set down the information memo.

He interlaced his fingers—an unconscious habit when he was taking a more relaxed posture. He leaned back in his chair and looked at Yekaterina with a more relaxed demeanor.

“This isn’t enough.”

Episode 10 – Turn Your Course North-Northwest

The Director said.

“From the intelligence agency’s perspective, this case shows signs of defection, but to the police or tax authorities, it’s merely tax evasion. We need concrete evidence.”

Given the sensitive timing, he was saying they couldn’t proceed without solid evidence.

Already, democratic nations like Abas and Fatalia had issued statements and resolutions over human rights issues, with the Abas Senate even adopting a resolution demanding an end to the persecution of dissidents.

Normally, they would have simply ignored such things, but…

Right now, precious foreign guests were staying in the Empire. And the foreign journalists who accompanied them were digging into human rights issues that the imperial government and royal family considered sensitive.

If the Imperial Guard were to handle the aide’s family defection in their usual manner, no one could predict what might happen.

So, they had to proceed with utmost caution.

“Similarly, the claim that Abas intelligence is planning to help Vasily Vladimirovich defect remains at the level of speculation. We lack evidence for this as well.”

“……”

“That day, the surveillance target military attaché contacted over a hundred people, and the aide conversed with dozens of diplomats at the banquet. Isn’t it common to exchange business cards at a first meeting and plan to meet at the next diplomatic event?”

It was a valid point. Yekaterina acknowledged this.

But she had no intention of backing down now. Yekaterina said:

“Today, Vasily Vladimirovich visited the Abas Embassy. He accompanied members of the Defense Committee on their protest visit in his capacity as an aide.”

“I heard about that.”

“Please issue a travel ban for the aide and his family.”

She was asking him to prevent them from fleeing abroad.

Director Ilya Nikolayevich rejected Yekaterina’s request.

“No.”

“Director. But—”

The Director raised his hand, cutting off Yekaterina’s words.

“If they’re really planning to defect, issuing a travel ban would only confirm to them that we’re watching.”

“……”

“If the Abas intelligence agency is behind this defection plan, they’ll immediately clean up all traces and deny any connection. In the worst case, they might even kill the aide.”

“…But if the defection fails, wouldn’t that prevent the leakage of classified information?”

“Of course, no more secrets would leak out. And the intelligence officers who stole those secrets would also escape our investigation.”

He was telling her that if she was going to strike, she should do it properly and finish it decisively.

The Director signed the approval section of the document and concluded:

“I’ll handle the travel issue quietly. You just keep monitoring them. If they try to leave the country, identify their destination and observe how they react when their departure is denied.”

Though she had much more to say, Yekaterina decided to withdraw for now.

The next morning at dawn.

The aide and his family were turned away from the immigration office.

*

The Imperial Guard sent a cooperation document to the immigration office through the Ministry of Justice.

The document instructed that if the three citizens named in the document attempted to leave the country, the officer should immediately report to the person in charge and prevent their departure by any means necessary.

Upon receiving this document, the security bureau chief at the immigration office stayed at work overnight without going home.

His wife called, demanding to know why he wasn’t coming home, but getting on the wrong side of state security meant losing his livelihood, so he persevered at his desk, poring over various regulations.

And that dawn.

When the aide and his family arrived at the immigration office as mentioned in the document, the immigration officer and security bureau chief threw themselves into blocking their departure. They presented education laws and Imperial Academy regulations that they had found after staying up all night.

The effect was immediate.

“What? What do you mean we can’t leave the country?!”

“It’s the regulations! The regulations! Go complain to the Academy administration office!”

Though he didn’t know what was happening, the security chief figured that if state security wanted to prevent their departure, these people must be important.

While the immigration officer blocked and stalled them, the security bureau chief reported to the person in charge that the aide and his family had indeed arrived.

That person in charge was Yekaterina.

Since she had been tailing the aide and his family from the moment they left their home, it didn’t take her long to arrive after receiving the call.

“I’m from the Imperial Guard.”

“Ah, yes! This way, please.”

Yekaterina checked the immigration office’s computer system to confirm which country and region the aide and his family had attempted to travel to.

She reported to her superiors, and the Imperial Guard sent an urgent message to the embassy in that country, ordering them to immediately dispatch intelligence officers to the local immigration office.

-‘Team Leader, we’ve received a report from the embassy.’

“What happened?”

-‘Yes, they confirmed a man holding a sign with the aide’s name in front of the warp gate at the local immigration office. When they checked his identity, he turned out to be a diplomat from the Abas Embassy. Seems like an official cover. What should we do?’

“Report to the Director.”

At the same time, the military intelligence officer who was supposed to meet the aide’s family in a third country noticed something was amiss.

The officer immediately returned to the embassy and reported to headquarters, and Military Intelligence concluded that the defection had failed.

Yekaterina judged that by this point, the Abas intelligence agency must have realized what was happening. She positioned her team members near the apartment and reported to the Director, requesting an official arrest warrant.

But the Director refused.

-‘We still can’t be certain that Abas intelligence has detected our surveillance. If the Imperial Guard issues an arrest warrant and detains the aide directly, we won’t be able to gather any more evidence.’

Instead, the Director made a counter-proposal.

-‘However, we can investigate the aide’s tax evasion charges through the tax authorities.’

The aide had moved assets overseas for defection. From an intelligence agency’s perspective, this was a sign of attempted defection, but from the tax authority’s viewpoint, it was clearly tax evasion.

In other words, rather than having the Imperial Guard directly arrest the aide with insufficient evidence, it would look better if the imperial police arrested him on tax evasion charges based on a report from the tax authority.

They could preempt the Abas intelligence agency before they made their decision, and moreover, if it leaked to the press that they were trying to help a tax evader defect rather than an intelligence source, it would put them in an awkward position.

-‘If law enforcement demands his appearance for questioning on tax evasion charges, they won’t be able to act rashly either.’

“When can the investigation begin?”

-‘Tomorrow.’

The Director ordered.

-‘If we can hold out until tomorrow, we can prevent him from leaving the Empire. If he fails to appear for questioning, we can issue a travel ban, and if he goes into hiding, we can put out a nationwide wanted notice.’

“……”

-‘Can you do it?’

Yekaterina declared firmly.

“Yes, I can.”

The aide would absolutely not be leaving the Empire.

*

A congressional aide with access to military and state secrets had attempted to defect. He had suddenly cleared all his schedules and tried to leave for a foreign country, and coincidentally, an Abas diplomat was waiting to receive him there.

Though there was no direct physical evidence, the circumstances pointed clearly to defection.

Ilya Nikolayevich, Director of the 1st Department of the Imperial Guard, issued orders to his department. Everyone available was to support Yekaterina’s team.

“Signals team, heading out for external support. Grab your equipment and head down to the parking lot!”

An employee struggling with heavy cutting-edge equipment muttered:

“Damn, this is really heavy. Where are we taking this anyway?”

“I overheard the Team Leader on the phone earlier, sounds like we’re going to bug some embassy.”

“An embassy? How do we bug that? Haven’t all previous attempts failed?”

“Hey, buddy. Shut your mouth and just move the equipment.”

The Imperial Guard technicians loaded the surveillance equipment into vehicles.

Following them, investigators poured out from the stairwell direction toward the parking lot.

The technicians, who had only seen these people in passing, casually asked the investigators:

“Did something happen? Everyone’s suddenly heading out.”

“Not really, we just got a support request.”

“Oh? Are you also going to provide support?”

An employee sitting in the driver’s seat and starting the engine joined the conversation between the investigator and technician. He was a domestic intelligence officer who patrolled university areas looking for political dissidents.

As he turned the key, he muttered casually:

“We got a support request too. I was writing reports in the office when orders suddenly came down from above. What a bolt from the blue…”

“Is the team requesting support Yekaterina Andreyevna’s?”

“Huh? How did you know?”

“We got a call from them too.”

While the intelligence officer, investigator, and technician were all puzzled, another intelligence officer who had climbed into a vehicle and was changing from dress shoes to sneakers shouted into his phone:

“Hey, you little brat! What trouble have you caused now?!”

-‘What.’

“The entire company staff is in an uproar about supporting your team! The company parking lot is like a marketplace!”

-‘How is this my fault? If you have a problem, tell the Director. Tell him you don’t want to go out in the field.’

“That’s…! Probably not a good idea. It’s an order, so I have to go. Yes, of course.”

Yekaterina on the other end of the phone responded in a tired voice. She was nearly dead from exhaustion after being in a car since dawn.

The intelligence officer closed the vehicle door and said:

He was Yekaterina’s colleague who had met her in the elevator and given advice about the derivatives transaction records.

“So. What’s going on this time?”

-‘Work. Company business.’

“I mean, who are you investigating that requires calling in so many teams? Coming down, I noticed at least eight vehicles have been dispatched.”

-‘Who knows.’

Yekaterina, sitting in the driver’s seat, let her words trail off.

Just then, a team member sitting in the passenger seat and monitoring something called for her attention.

Upon hearing the team member’s report, Yekaterina straightened her reclined seat and hurriedly ended the call.

“Hey. I need to hang up. The situation room will broadcast updates through the network, so make sure you have your radio. Got it? See you at the scene.”

-‘Hello? Hey, Yekaterina. Hey. Hey, you son of a—!’

-Click!

After ending the call and stuffing her phone into her pocket, Yekaterina asked her team member who was holding binoculars:

“Where?”

“Over there, Team Leader. Look through these.”

Yekaterina took the binoculars and looked in the direction her team member was pointing.

Petrograd Ulitsa Street 3-25, apartment entrance.

The aide and his family were getting into a vehicle after leaving their home.

While her team member picked up a magical recording device to document the scene, Yekaterina put down the binoculars and started the engine.

“Let’s follow them.”