Ch.47Episode 3 – Fantastic Vacation

People often tend to perceive intelligence agencies as institutions that reign above the law.

And after working in an intelligence agency for about 20 years, I believe this is completely mistaken.

First of all, intelligence agencies don’t have separate laws governing them. To be precise, there are no statutes defining the scope of their operations.

From the beginning, the core functions of intelligence agencies—collecting foreign intelligence and conducting covert operations abroad—were illegal. How could a nation transform illegal activities into legal ones? Especially when they’re the official duties of a state institution.

Therefore, all intelligence activities inherently involve various degrees of illegality, and both the state and the agencies are clearly aware of this. They simply proceed despite knowing it.

After all, we were always people who lived in the shadows, not in the light.

So rather than existing above the law, intelligence agencies operate more in lawless territories beyond legal boundaries. They don’t function within established legal frameworks to begin with.

If anything, it’s counterintelligence agencies that truly reign above the law.

Undercover employment, sting operations, emergency arrests, informant infiltration, background investigations, surveillance, extensive wiretapping of mail and communications.

Thorough monitoring and punishment by any means necessary.

And the legal, institutional, and political mechanisms that protect the agents carrying out these duties.

These are the elements that allow counterintelligence agencies to stand above the law.

Which means…

Counterintelligence agencies don’t necessarily operate exclusively within legal boundaries either.

Episode 3 – A Fantastic Vacation

The operation began as soon as I submitted my report to the higher-ups.

The objective: identify the spy network’s structure and prosecute key operatives. The target: Giada Bianchi, senior researcher at the Advanced Military Magic Research Institute’s Biological Analysis Laboratory, suspected of being a spy.

It seemed simple at first glance, but the reality was anything but.

“I’ll maintain my existing cover as an officer in the institute’s security battalion. However, there are some details that…”

The cover identity itself wasn’t perfect.

All agents involved in operations and investigations use cover identities, and overseas operations especially require considerable effort to acquire appropriate covers.

Compared to intelligence and operations officers who forge identities while working abroad, intelligence and investigation officers working domestically operate in a different scope. The state directly issues their identities.

Therefore, the identities used by counterintelligence agents were legally clean identities with no issues whatsoever.

The problem was in the details.

“Is this our first time meeting?”

“Yes, that’s correct. I know you served as the Counterintelligence Director’s aide, Major, but beyond that, I have almost no information about you.”

Captain Aaron Gordon and Sergeant Samuel treated me with considerable respect.

The reason they were so courteous despite our belonging to completely different departments—Counterintelligence and Foreign Operations—was partly due to my higher rank, but mainly because I had served as Clavins’ aide for a long time.

Military personnel move between departments due to the civil service’s rotation system.

Usually, rotations involve someone serving at a military base in one region being reassigned to a different regional base or headquarters.

Of course, cases like mine where someone completely changes departments are rare. Completely transferring departments requires either exceptional ability or connections, and most transfers occur between units within one’s own department (Counterintelligence, Security, Domestic Intelligence, Foreign Intelligence, Foreign Operations, etc.).

There were several reasons I became the Counterintelligence Director’s aide, but ultimately it wouldn’t have been possible without Clavins’ determination.

Anyway.

I spent most of my military career in overseas departments, while Captain Aaron Gordon and Sergeant Samuel spent most of their time in domestic departments.

Considering the compartmentalization principle within intelligence agencies, it was only natural that we knew nothing about each other.

That was precisely the problem.

“So, um, where did you say you were born?”

“Tulang. It’s a small city about an hour away from where the Nostrim viscounty is located.”

“Ah, I know where that is.”

We needed to pose as “close regional seniors and juniors.”

Yet we had just met today for the first time.

“Apart from visiting a few times as a child, I don’t know the area well…”

This was truly a headache-inducing situation.

Well, it wasn’t an entirely unsolvable problem.

“Let’s go with the details I’ve written here.”

I placed a folder on the desk. It was essentially a statement summarizing almost my entire childhood and adolescence.

I’d embellished it a bit and written it hastily, but it provided a general trajectory of my life.

“I’ve matched it somewhat with your family relationships and personal histories, so let’s just revise and supplement the problematic parts. Have you arranged access badges?”

“The security battalion can move around most areas of the research institute, except for a few restricted zones. However, we can’t visit for personal purposes.”

“Then we’re good on access badges…”

After overcoming the major issue (cover identity), we faced a series of minor problems.

Signals between operatives, secure communication networks and emergency contact systems, protocols, contingency plans, and so on.

Through brief conversations, we addressed several issues. Despite the time constraints, there weren’t any major problems thanks to the investigators’ thorough preparation.

“Oh, and speak casually outside since formal speech would raise suspicion. Just treat it like we’re in private.”

“Understood.”

“If anyone gets suspicious, say we’re hometown friends so I let you speak informally.”

Since I was merely a facilitator hiding the operatives and helping them approach the target, while they were the ones actually conducting the operation, our conversation didn’t last long.

Except for one thing.

“By the way, how are you planning to collect evidence?”

“First, we’ll gather information on the organization’s members and activists. We plan to infiltrate the suspect’s room in the temporary residence hall to secure evidence like notes, notebooks, or diaries containing organizational structure and personal information.”

“…Has the search warrant been issued already?”

“No, not yet. And the search scope is limited to the residential areas located above ground.”

“…Then how do you plan to collect evidence?”

“We’ll infiltrate and seize it.”

They were saying they would steal the evidence.

*

Like all intelligence and counterintelligence agencies, the Military Intelligence Bureau also walks a precarious tightrope between legality and illegality.

I’m a prime example.

Everything I’ve done at the academy over the past two months constitutes illegal recording, theft, murder, and bribery.

Even setting aside espionage charges, this criminal record would earn me VIP treatment from police and prosecution investigators.

This is precisely why the state doesn’t legally define intelligence agencies’ operations. Most activities are illegal, regardless of their purpose.

In contrast, counterintelligence agencies have laws defining their operations, so all their activities are supposedly based on legal statutes.

But when are things ever that simple in reality?

Spies, drug dealers, murderers, economic criminals, human traffickers, terrorists, and security offenders are slippery eels skilled at evading legal nets.

To deal with these eel-like vermin, investigators must also step outside the bounds of law.

That’s why the investigators boldly declared they would steal evidence.

Evidence of espionage isn’t something you find lying on the street—how could you collect it while staying within legal boundaries?

Due to this nature, counterintelligence agencies inevitably step from the realm of legality into illegality.

Wiretapping, search and seizure, surveillance, undercover employment, and so on…

This wasn’t a matter of right or wrong. It was absolutely necessary.

That’s why politicians and security-focused judges and prosecutors tend to be somewhat “lenient” about illegal information and evidence collection by counterintelligence agencies. All while accepting tips and bribes from company-dispatched public relations officers.

Of course, state tolerance of illegality doesn’t mean there are no problems.

Torture during interrogations, illegal detention, false statements obtained through coercion and threats, investigation reports containing confessions without evidence, illegally obtained evidence, and so on.

Many counterintelligence agencies in this world carried at least one or two dishonorable titles, and it wasn’t uncommon for high-ranking officials to be summoned to hearings and severely criticized because of them.

Our competitors—the Royal Intelligence Service, Cabinet Security Office, and Special Investigation Bureau—were all suspected of fabricating spies and terrorists. The same was true for our Military Intelligence Bureau.

The Heresy Inquisition and Imperial Guard were even worse. Both were notorious for their poor reputation domestically.

That’s why I couldn’t help but react this way.

“This is absolutely insane…”

I anxiously looked at my watch and communication device.

There was no time to contact Clavins now, and soon we would need to begin surveillance on the suspect as she left the building.

What should I do? I was lost in thought.

“…”

Should I try contacting Clavins now? Or should I reach out to the legal officers for confirmation? The investigators had already gone to their positions, and I needed to become the trojan horse concealing their identities.

Setting aside legal justification and political issues, the fact that the suspect, Giada Bianchi, was a mage troubled me.

Mages engaging in espionage was something from the old days, only seen in manuals. Considering how intense the operations to capture spy mages described in the Military Intelligence Bureau’s operational manual were, I worried that casualties might occur if things went wrong in this operation.

While pondering this, I suddenly thought of my grandfather.

My grandfather was a counterespionage investigator for the Central Intelligence Agency and the Agency for National Security Planning. And he was a true victor who succeeded in retiring at the mandatory age.

I always wondered how he managed to fulfill his pension period and successfully retire. How meticulously must one handle cases to achieve normal retirement from an intelligence agency where such endings are rare?

Looking back, that achievement alone deserved applause, if nothing else.

What would my grandfather have done?

As I was contemplating this,

-Beep! Beep! Beeeep!

The alarm started ringing loudly.

As soon as I pressed the button to turn off the alarm, the daily announcement signaling the start of the day echoed throughout the research institute.

I stopped my deliberation and picked up the pistol on the desk.

“Tsk…”

Time was up.

Now I had to go deal with a spy.