by K. T. Tomb
“We’ll be watching you day and night, Burberry,” Alfred had whispered in his ear as he cut his bonds. “Watch carefully where you step, eh?”
Burberry nodded and scurried up the stairway and into his home.
Alfred smiled now as he relived the memory, certain that his point had been made. He was in the midst of enjoying that small victory when the Duke cleared his throat to begin discussing business.
“Nora,” he began. “I would have liked to keep you in training a bit longer, as would Alfred and Andrik. There are still many things for you to learn and many skills to master. But we have great need of your service in the field right away. You handled yourself superbly during your practice mission, you blended in well, you obtained the information you needed and you remained in control as you carried out the mission, in spite of the circumstances. None of us have any doubt that you will serve Her Majesty well in MI-6.”
“Thank you, sir,” Nora replied.
“You and Andrik will be departing for the principality of Wallachia tomorrow night. This is an area of particular interest for me, given that my ancestry is rooted in that area. We have an agent watching what is going on there, but activities have increased in that region and it has become more than Miko can handle alone.”
The Duke turned to face Alfred.
“Alfred, please brief them on the latest intelligence we received from Miko.”
Alfred nodded. “The latest stirrings in the Balkans are mostly centered around Moldavia to the north of Wallachia. We have received coded messages from Miko suggesting that Russia is planning a move to the south along the western coast of the Black Sea. What is their objective? For that, you need to understand the conflict that is taking place much further to the south in the Ottoman Empire and even into Palestine.
“Because of an increased presence of Islam in the area to the south of Constantinople, Christians in those areas are increasingly in need of protection. Who is going to protect them is causing a dispute between the Ottomans, who are allied with the Roman Church and the Russians, who are allied with the Eastern Orthodox Church. On the surface, this is the conflict between the two. Underneath, it is an excuse for the Russians to obtain access to a warm water port.
“You see, Russia controls ports to the north, which are, of course, in cold water. Their warm water ports are all in the Black Sea. The problem they face is that the Black Sea is landlocked, the only way for Russian ships to leave the Black Sea is through the Bosphorus Strait, which passes through Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire. As you can imagine, whoever controls the strait also controls access to the Sea of Marmara, the Aegean Sea, the Mediterranean and ultimately, the surrounding ocean. Any questions so far?”
“What interest does Her Majesty have in the dispute?” Nora asked. “That area is thousands of miles from here.”
“Good question. Her Majesty is acting in the interest of our allies in that area, mostly the Ottomans and Turks, but also with France. However, the Crown is trying to downplay our involvement, but we can ill afford for things to get out of hand in that region. English companies have a large number of business interests in the Balkans, which are, essentially, the countries that extend west from the Black Sea to the Adriatic Sea. Additionally, Her Majesty has plans for a telegraph line which extends to New Delhi in our Indian territories. That line, necessarily, has to pass through Constantinople.”
“Could Her Majesty not deal with the Russians to accomplish the same goal?” Nora asked. “After all, our relations with Russia, according to what we’ve been studying, aren’t really that bad.”
“Keep this phrase in mind, because it is, in essence, what your mission in Wallachia is going to be about: status quo. We don’t want to rattle the egg basket and crack any eggs. If Russia makes a move south into Moldavia and Wallachia, Russia will become an imminent threat to the Ottomans and Turks.
“Talks in Constantinople have broken down. Her Majesty’s Royal Navy, along with the French, is already on station in the Dardanelles to the south of Constantinople in support of the Turks. With solid intelligence, Her Majesty hopes to contain this conflict in the Crimea, in the Northern Black Sea. To do that, we must ensure that the Russian army is not able to make its move along the western coast of the Black Sea and get at Constantinople.”
He paused and smiled at Nora, and then at Andrik. “That’s where you two come in. In support of Miko, you’ll help Her Majesty’s interests to remain exactly as they are in the Balkans.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Their flight, both in owl form, from London to Bucharest had been exhausting.
Each leg of the journey had grown a little bit longer. The short flights from London to Reims and Zurich had only been warm-ups to the longer flights to Vienna and finally, Bucharest. Nora had reveled in the flights, seeing the countrysides of England, the Strait of Dover, France, Switzerland, Austria, Transylvania and finally Wallachia passing by below her. In some ways, she wished that she could remain in her owl form and just explore the wide world with the currents of air lifting her wings. The two agents made their flights from dusk until dawn, changed into bats, and found a secluded place to rest. In Bucharest, they restored themselves to their natural state and checked into a hotel, just as a typical tourist would do. Thus, they began to blend in.
“How are you feeling, Nora?” Andrik asked as he entered her room and awakened her after darkness fell. They had slept throughout the day after checking into the hotel and going to their separate rooms.
“I am tired, but I will manage. In truth, I could remain an owl and take in the entire world on my wings,” she said, yawning and stretching.
“If only it was possible,” he replied. “But we have work to do. We are to meet with Miko. It is essential that you understand a few things about him before we have our meeting.”
Nora saw the shadow of something bitter spread over Andrik’s eyes. They were far from fluorescing in that moment. He is not fond of this Miko. I wonder what’s behind that. She hoped she was about to find out.
“Miko was a vampire before he was recruited into service with MI-6 by Alfred. I’m not sure how much Alfred told you about his first attempts at recruiting, but they were, for all practical purposes, abject failures.”
“He told me that he had to terminate the first two,” Nora replied. “He never explained further. He only explained that, as a result, the agency had changed his recruiting tactics, beginning with you, who he raved as being highly successful.”
A half smile cracked Andrik’s lips and, for a moment, his eyes started to fluoresce before dimming again. “There is a strong presence of MIs in this region. Moldavia and Transylvania have the greatest concentration, but Wallachia runs a close third. A mixture of what can be deemed as ‘good vampires’ and ‘bad vampires’ is rampant throughout the area. The higher concentration of bad vampires is in Transylvania and Moldavia, while Wallachia tends to be more suitable for good vampires.”
“What is the difference?” Nora asked.
“Perspective, mostly,” he replied. “There is a greater distinction between evil vampires, who inflict as much cruelty as possible, and more civil vampires, of course, but that’s not really what is meant by good and bad in this respect. Good vampires, for our purposes, are those who support what Alfred and the Duke call the status quo. Those vampires tend to have come out of the Danube. They’re content with what is here and they don’t wish for it to change. The bad vampires—”
“Wait,” Nora interrupted. “Why did you call it the Danube? I thought that was a river that flows south of here and then empties into the Black Sea to the northeast.”
“That is the Danube River, but I was referring the Danube drainage basin. Even Vienna is on the Danube, so technically, it extends into Austria, Hungary, Germany and Poland as well. For our purposes, we’re talking about those countries and principalities in the Balkan area.”
“Then why didn’t you just call it the Balkans?”
“Allow me to
finish. The bad vampires come from an older lineage. Ironically, the same lineage as the Duke. They tend to align themselves with an older order. In that older order, Ukrainian Russia tends to have more influence. Their homage is toward Czar Nicholas. The good vampires align themselves with the new order of the Ottomans and Turks, which aligns with Her Majesty’s interests.”
“So, the first two recruits were aligned with the wrong side.”
“They didn’t appear to be so in the beginning, but as things turned out, they were playing both sides, ultimately advancing the Czar’s interests.”
“And Miko?” she asked.
“He is a confirmed new order vampire from the Ottoman region of Bulgaria to the south of the Danube.”
“But his name has Russian origins, doesn’t it?”
“Very astute, Nora. That is one of my concerns too. The Bulgarian variant of the name Michael is Mihail, which would make him Miho. When he ascended, however, he called himself Miko, which tends to follow the Russian variant of Mikhail.”
“Maybe he just likes the sound of Miko more than Miho,” Nora shrugged.
“You’re probably right, but names have meaning behind them, especially when they are given after their ascension. It makes me wonder about his loyalties as well.”
“Putting all of that aside, when, and to what purpose, are we meeting with Miko?” Nora asked.
“We are to be briefed on the most current events and given assignments,” he replied. “As to when... he should be arriving at any moment.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Miko, in the form of a rat, had paused inside the wall to listen to the conversation which was taking place between Andrik and the new recruit. He knew the true source of Andrik’s bitterness toward him. It had to do with agent Olena, a Transylvanian MI. Andrik had been responsible for exposing her true nature to Alfred and the Duke. From that point forward, Andrik had always been suspicions of Miko.
Distrust me, does he? I think this would be the perfect moment to make my entrance.
Miko slipped through a hole in the baseboard and scurried across the floor to the center of the room, noticing that the agent with long, copper-colored hair scrambled away from him and up onto a chair. He transformed to his natural form and spun around toward her, extending his hand.
“Do not be alarmed, my dear,” he said in his thick Slavic accent. “Miko at your service.”
“You entered true to form, I see,” Andrik snapped.
“Of course. I play the role of the rescuer quite well, too,” Miko responded, narrowing his eyes in Andrik’s direction before turning them back toward the lovely creature still standing on the chair.
Miko focused on the lovely features of Nora’s pale face, framed in coppery curls, which tumbled past a generous swell in her chest and terminated at her narrow waist. In spite of her start, her green eyes began to fluoresce as she recovered her composure. He drew her down from the chair with a bow and kissed her delicate fingers. “Yes. I heard every word of it. It was in order to rescue this exquisite creature from your lies that I have made myself known.”
“I spoke the truth,” Andrik retorted.
“Not on all counts,” Miko replied. He looked again at Nora, studying every inch of her from the top of her glistening, copper tresses to the tips of her delicate feet. “I assure you, Miss Nora, that I am to be trusted. Please, disregard what this snake has tried to plant inside your head.”
“I will judge you both equally,” she replied. She had gathered her composure fully and showed that she was not going to be an easy conquest, in spite of her initial reaction to his charm. “I will be assured only by what I see in each of you, and not by words that are spoken.”
“You are as wise as you are beautiful, Nora.”
“Enough,” said Andrik. “Miko, you are to brief us and we are to discuss strategy.”
“Straight to business then, huh, Andrik.”
“For the sake of Her Majesty’s grandmother,” Nora interrupted. “Can you two back away from your prepubescent behavior and focus on the mission before us?”
It stung him a bit, but Miko was also intrigued by the strength she asserted. He turned away from Andrik. There would, after all, be plenty of other opportunities to even the score with him.
“I believe you have information for us to consider, Miko?” said Nora.
“Very well. As you have already been briefed by Alfred, no doubt, our concern is that the Russians are going to attempt to move down the coast toward Constantinople. In order to do that, there has to be an element of surprise involved; therefore, my theory is that they will move their armaments to a more southern location first. Ammunition, percussion muskets, dragoon muskets and percussion rifles, as well as light, mobile artillery, which is not as easily concealed, would be necessary to carry out such a campaign.”
He glared in Andrik’s direction and then continued. “Olena had already discovered signs of this particular plan beginning to unfold—”
“Correction. She assisted in setting it up—”
“You don’t know that.”
“Stop!” Nora interjected. “We must put this aside. What’s done is done. Please, stick to the facts and focus on the mission… both of you.”
Miko smiled, even more impressed by her focus and force of character. “There was a plan afoot to send the arms to a point from which an invasion could be launched. In my opinion, that point would have to be as far south as Russia could manage to advance, without tipping off what they were about to do. Once the necessary munitions were in place, the Russians would have to send men and horses, something they can easily do by sea from Sebastopol or Odessa. From there, they can cut off the Dobrudzha and isolate it. By doing that, the Russians can keep the Ottoman stronghold at Silistra busy in order to make a bold sprint toward Varna. Once in control of Varna, they would be in a perfect position to take Constantinople. But first, the Russians would have to store their munitions somewhere along the western shore of the Danube, somewhere after the river turns south, but still in Wallachia and not too far from the coast.”
“That would be Balta Ialomitei,” Andrik commented.
“Why would they have to cache their weapons in that area?” Nora asked.
“They’ve got to be able to move in two directions at once. They have to move against Silistra to the west to protect their flank and toward Varna to the south. The cache has to be in a remote enough location to not be easily discovered. The narrowest stretch of the Dobrudzha between the coast and Balta Ialomitei is between Navodari and Cernavoda.”
“They’ll have to hit whatever port they use with a pretty heavy force to get across to Balta,” Andrik added.
“With the element of surprise, a sizeable army could move across that space in a couple of days,” Miko pointed out. “That’s not a lot of time to organize your defenses.”
“Why can’t we just tell the Ottomans to strengthen their presence in the Dobrudzha?” Nora asked.
“We don’t know that the Russians are really planning such a move,” Andrik replied. “There has to be solid evidence first. That’s where we come in.”
“And finding the cache of munitions would be sufficient evidence?” asked Nora.
“Yes,” Miko answered. “And I’ve been having a devil of a time trying to locate the cache. Ultimately, I’ve decided to focus on trying to find the supply end. I’ve had a little more success on that end and think that I’ve got it narrowed down to the area east of the Prout River and as near as possible to Galati.”
“If we can connect the two ends, then we’ll know the exact route being used and be able to find a way to disrupt that flow,” Andrik added.
“At this point,” Miko returned, “we just need to verify that there is a cache in the south or the whole theory falls apart. If we locate the cache, we can better prepare the ports on the western coast for an invasion.”
“And buy the Ottomans some time to strengthen their positions before they’re surprised,” Miko p
ut in. In spite of their differences, Miko knew that Andrik was serious about his job. He knew Andrik and would remain focused, and perform his duties at a high level.
“Precisely,” said Andrik. “Now, where do we begin?”
Chapter Twenty-four
The discussion between the two agents had Nora’s head swimming most of the time.
The theory and strategy made some sense after Miko had left and Andrik was able to sketch out a rough map of the area and all the locations that had been brought up. Nora was still trying to form a complete picture of what was going on and of what the theory consisted. She finally pushed it aside; in reality, she didn’t need to understand it completely. She had been assigned the task of communication between the two agents and, because she had mastered the telegraph and codes, to send information back to MI-6. There was, however, another conflict that she was a bit more interested in. She asked Andrik about it.
“So, are you going to tell me what happened with Olena?” she asked.
Andrik sighed. “Very well. I am sure you are more than curious.” He paused, gathered his thoughts. They were lying side by side on the bed, above the covers, and both stretched out with hands folded over their midsections. The postures gave Nora a giggle. Back in the day, she would have been very much under the covers... and being paid handsomely for it. “Miko swears she was not a part of it, but I discovered that she was working with a Russian MI to create a supply dump in Moldavia. Miko swears that she was simply playing both sides because she had discovered Ivan, the first recruit, was working for the other side and double-crossing MI-6.”
“And Alfred eliminated her?” Nora asked.
“He did,” Andrik responded. “Both Olena and Ivan.”
“Why didn’t he eliminate Miko too?”
“Because he could find no evidence that Miko was involved beyond an intimate relationship with Olena. That nearly cost him to be thrown out of MI-6.”