Storm Warnings

The Gothic Quarter - Barcelona, Spain

On the fourth day of the Agapov Organization Conference in Barcelona, Belyakov received a message that killed his Barcelona good time.  

Moscow's Department of Information Technologies ran photos of Troy Manolo through the Russian Facial Recognition System, the largest in the world, and nothing was returned as a hit. This would be normal for anyone who had not traveled to Russia, its military bases, or embassies worldwide.

The next step resulted from a new era of cooperation between the People's Republic of China and Russia that started when Russia ventured into Ukraine.

Having the Chinese Government search their facial recognition system with Troy Manolo's photo was now as easy as checking a box online.

The details of more than one hit were now in Belyakov's hand. He stared at the pictures and the name attached. The FSB ran all the documents through an Artificial Intelligence Program that Translated everything from Chinese to Russian. 

His name was not Troy Manolo. 

It was Thomas Allston, and what landed him on Chinese Facial Recognition was a foray into a military base ​China was constructing inside the American State of New Hampshire, wherever that was Belyakov thought.

The total report was fascinating. The Chinese sent a surveillance team to gather data at the man's home because they were looking for something.  

An assault team of contractors went to Allston's home, where two out of the three of them died during the operation. 

The surveillance of Allston's home provided the first hit in the facial recognition system.

The second hit came when Thomas Allston and another armed intruder went to the Chinese base in New Hampshire.

Troy Manolo was an American Spy.

What an extreme fuck up this was to Belyakov's new company, The Agapov Organization. The president would not be happy if Belyakov told him. If he told him.

Belyakov started calculating his next move and what he would have to do to avoid ending up in Lefortovo or worse. 

The Golden Dish And Spoon Food Court - Manhattan, New York

Major Chen Yueng Bao was ordered to compile a detailed report about Thomas Allston and hand it to a courier who would arrive at the food court in four hours. 

Yeung's boss gave complete instructions on what to leave from the report.

Yueng Bao had to work quickly, so he summoned two agents to be assistants. They arrived in the dark food court within half an hour.

Bao found cooperating with the Russians disconcerting because nobody trusted them yet. The Party was in a "Giving mood" with this sensitive data.

Why would they be so forthcoming about something that was considered to be a failure of the State? This was unusual.

The report's subject was Thomas Allston, who almost cost Yueng Bao his life.

Were the Russians going to deal with him?   This would be welcome news if that were the case.

Bao wondered how this man, once a problem to China, was now a problem to The Bear.

Major Bao would help in any way to push Thomas Allston out of his territory.

The three worked together, using all the tools in the computer to compile and present a report.

There were no Thick Black Line Redactions. It looked like total cooperation, which was what Beijing wanted to accomplish. 

They were forthcoming about one part of the plan (New Hampshire), not the rest.

Either way, Thomas Allston is a threat that needs to be eliminated.

The two assistants left, and forty minutes later, the elevator door dinged, and Bao handed over the report.

Goodbye, Allston, thought Chen Yueng.

A Starbucks Coffee Shop - Manhattan, New York, New York

Ah Lam Cheng crossed an avenue in Manhattan and entered a Starbucks for a cold coffee drink and a piece of lemon pound cake. She sat in a corner and started reading the news on her tablet. She had a forty-minute lunch break and then had to return to her administrative assistant job at an American Fortune 500 company. 

She shook a little as she dug deep into her purse and pulled out a phone she had never used. No calls or text messages were in the register, and only a few apps were installed. 

She went to the app for a furniture company and found an item describing a rocking chair. She ordered seventeen of them in the website's cart and closed the program. She picked up her coffee drink and piece of cake and walked into Central Park across the street.

Ah Lam sat on a bench, placed the phone she had just used into the bag the cake came in, and then dropped it on the ground. 

The glass cracked as she dug her heel into the bag. 

With the phone still in the bag, she placed it on the bench's arm and applied enough force to bend it.

She dropped the bag and phone into a trash can and returned to work.

Today was like having three jobs: her big company job, her flash assignment at the food court, and now a message to the Americans.

She thought of her cousins in China, both sentenced to hard labor for being dissidents. Someday, the state will learn that people need freedom.