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ROGUE SWORD

Chapter 10 - The Enemy of My Enemy

Silver ended his day late in the evening by providing Tancred Williams with a status report on the various issues that were plaguing the Academy at the moment. It was one of the rougher evenings that Silver could recall since being promoted to Chief of Staff and it made him long for the days when he was just another senior agent

Rogue Sword was the lead item on the agenda. "As you know our first bit of bad luck was the death of the Pakistani nuclear physicist Barbar in Islamabad." Silver told the senior staff. "Algorath, who was there as a decoy to draw attention away from an allied agent had suspected that the snow leopard was more important to the nuclear program than the military personnel we were tracking, but there was not much he could do given the restrictions he was under." Silver stuck to the cover story they had created for the Islamabad portion of the mission. Only he and Williams knew that Ophelia Cassidy Sommer was still alive and operating for F.O.X. as the Perfect Stalker, and he alone knew that Algorath was secretly in contact with her, despite the threat of death should she ever see the arctic fox again. But Silver appreciated the audacity of their relationship so he pretended not to know about it. "He stayed after Barbar was killed to see if he could track down those responsible. I'll get back to that in a minute."

He flipped the page on his notes and continued. "Our people monitoring the Ukrainian airwaves heard a news report that Brodsky had been murdered by his chauffeur. Marcel has not checked in on schedule and we can't get reach our local agent Aleksy Lutsenko either. We tried Marcel's open line and got an out of service message. One of our linguists called the Brodsky mansion pretending to be a reporter from Lviv and the phone was answered by the police. The officer let slip that they were investigating a murder and a kidnapping. We have no idea what happened with Brodsky but the assumption is that Marcel was somehow set up for the murder. We suspect that after being blamed for the death Marcel returned and faked the abduction of Geno so the authorities will be more cautious approaching them. They are probably on the run as we speak. That is bad with the way things are rapidly evolving in the Ukraine. The president was supposed to sign an agreement with the European Union but Moscow is putting pressure on him to renege and join their economic union. The more he delays signing the more the bigger and more provocative the protests get. Everyone is suspicious of everyone else. We do know that the FSB is out in force trying to influence the political situation, and since the press release about Brodsky their radio traffic in Kiev has doubled."

"We still have no idea what is going on with the team inside the Yak Mountain complex, and our options are limited." His voice was even despite the fact that the mother of his child was one of the agents inside the North Korean's nuclear complex. "Hu's contact among the Palgan Yeou has disappeared. Hu doesn't dare go near the place in case he's been burned too. All of the other Palgan Yeou staff has been sent away, but Fett and Beausoleil were not among them. Now the compound has been locked down. It's one of the world's most closely guarded places and it would take a huge effort to raid it unless one had someone in contact on the inside, which neither we nor any of our allies do." A silence fell over the room.

"We'll talk more about the Koreans after Silver finishes." Williams announced flatly. "Continue."

Silver glanced at his notes while the Director and the other senior officers of the Academy waited patiently. "Our one bit of good luck is that Miss CC and Muzzle managed to save the Argentinean scientist." He reported. "They took her to a safe house the British Secret Service lent us for the mission and we got a doctor that doesn't ask too many questions to her. She'll be fine, but this El Pescador hired the local gang to get out of her is was after some specific information about their miniaturized fusion process and will likely try to get at her again, so they are staying put until we get to the bottom of tall this."

"In South Africa, Johnson's CIA contact verified the North Korean connection and we traced a small group of 'investors' from there that left the country early the same morning that Madika was killed. Ember and Johnson are on standby to fly out of South Africa as soon as we decide where to send them. There is nothing more for them to do there, but I haven't decided whether to bring them home or send them to Buenos Aires to assist the team there. There are no direct flights to either location so what I'd like to do is bring them back to London and put them up in the Airport Hilton for the time being." He looked at Williams for approval.

"Go ahead." The Director nodded for Silver to continue.

"Algorath has also confirmed a North Korean connection to the Islamabad slaying," Silver explained, "along with developing a theory as to what they are after. He thinks that they are developing some sort of ballistic artillery and nuclear warheads to go with it that can strike anywhere in the world." The screen behind Silver was suddenly filled with engineering diagrams of parts that looked like they could be a series of pipeline sections if they were not so thick. The images became animated and assembled themselves into something looking more like a large artillery piece. A miniature silhouette of a generic creature showed the true immensity of the weapon, the barrel would be almost a hundred metres long at that scale. A murmur went up around the table. "This gun is a direct descendant of the one Gerald Bull was working on when he was assassinated." Silver concluded.

William's eyebrows went up. "They come up with this all on their own?"

"No. It's all borrowed technology. Algorath believes that it is the brainchild of this creature." The weapon disappeared from the screen to be replaced by a file photo of the Canadian Scientist Jack Fisher, who had been presumed killed on a hiking expedition along with everyone else in his Institution. The screen split and another shot of the fisher appeared beside the first. The subtitle indicated that it was taken by an Islamabad security camera on the same night the Snow Leopard Barbar was killed. "Once he had found him Algorath was able to trace his movements using facial recognition software across the city to the airport where he boarded a flight for London with a connection to Buenos Aires under a false name. He was in that city overnight but did not stay at any of the hotels, not under the name he came in on anyway. The last Algorath was able to get on him was a shot from a security camera at a private airport near the capital. The next plane to leave that location flew to Santiago, Chile where it fuelled up before heading northeast without filing a flight plan. He could be anywhere in the world now, but we think that he is in North Korea."

"Explain."

Silver nodded to Hanlan who took up the narrative. "Algorath was able to get online with Archives Canada and download copies of the microfiche documents filed by Fisher's Institute. A copy of every paper they wanted copyrighted had to go there. So even though the originals were locked away after his presumed death we were still able to see the direction their research was going in. They were working on miniaturized nuclear applications and orbital ballistics back when Bull was still alive. As a collaborator of Bull he would have known more about the gun than any other creature and also know everyone doing similar research that could help him advance the designs. It's likely that he was introduced to the Koreans when they were both working for Saddam Hussein; the North Korean's were one of the few countries supplying the Iraqi regime at the time."

"It all fits." Silver continued. "The work he was involved in, the contacts, even the name that Muzzle heard, El Pescador, means fisher. We're putting the picture together slowly but it appears that he has been going around, visiting old friends and colleagues since faking his death, trying to get the bits and pieces he needs to turn Saddam's dream into a reality. Once he has the info he kills the creatures that developed it so no one else can reproduce it. Our Atomic Energy colleagues went over the data Algorath found and they think that his plan is feasible. They feel that Fisher must be very close to having everything, what with all that he has already taken either by torture or by betraying the trust of his former friends. The only piece of the puzzle they are missing resides in the head of the Argentinean, Fernandez, thus the need to keep her under guard. But even without her knowledge it is only a matter of time before they solve the initiation problem."

"Once you know something is possible it is possible to reproduce it." Williams commented.

"Exactly."

Williams stood up and addressed the group at the table. "The other heads of the allied secret services and I have been discussing the situation, as have the politicians. That the North Koreans should develop such a capacity is unacceptable. It has to be stopped before they can get or recreate the process the Argentinean has. With extreme force if necessary."

"Are you taking a nuclear first strike?" Hanlan asked the big golden fox, glancing at Silver as he spoke.

Williams locked eyes with Silver and his brows furrowed with sadness as he answered the Chief Planner. "If that is what it takes, yes. But we are exploring every other possibility."

"A small raiding party might have a chance." Rusty, the Combat Instructor offered. "They could rescue our folk and set off a chain reaction, make it look like an accident."

Silver shook his head. "Only if we had a way of getting them inside and a guide, otherwise the odds are too long to justify it."

"There must be some way." Rusty was adamant. "I ... I'll go myself."

Silver smiled at the Rusty's gesture. He knew that the big doberman had no more heart for killing. "I hope that it won't come to that, for the Koreans' sake." He said, trying to make light of the situation. "Don't worry, Hanlan's team is examining every option and Algorath is pinging the North Korean cyber defences as we speak, looking for anything that can help us."

The meeting broke up, with Hanlan and his planning staff moving back to the operations room while the other senior staff headed back to their offices, each and every one prepared to work twenty-four and seven until the missing agents were back safe ... or the mission was otherwise concluded. Williams stayed behind until there was just he and his old friend left in the room. He walked over to Silver and put a reassuring paw him his shoulder.

"Don't worry, we're going to get her back."

"I'm not worried." Silver lied. "With so many people working on the Korean angle I should go see who we have left to put on the Ukraine situation."

"I almost forgot. You recruited and trained both Marcel and Geno." There was always an emotional connection to one's progenies in this business. "Do you think they can handle themselves?"

Silver shrugged and smiled. "Even if the FSB is on to them we can rely on Marcel's and Geno's training to get them out safe. After all, it's just the two of them."

* * * * * * * *

Geno struggled to keep a grip on the kit as she and Marcel pushed themselves through the crowds surrounding Independence Square, an area known as the Maidan. It was autumn, and protesters had been gathering there for days trying to influence the government to finalize a trade pact that would bring the country into the European Union, but the pro-Russian president had been delaying. All around them creatures draped in blue and yellow flags talked of setting up a permanent occupation if he did not sign the agreement soon. Marcel snatched a flag and tied it on Geno's head like a scarf to stave off the suspicious stares some of the EU supporters were sending in their direction.

They had made it through the police lines set up to keep the crowd on the square from swelling easily enough, but their journey had not been without incident. They had encountered an FSB agent that had infiltrated the crowd just inside the police line. The wolf recognized the two Canadian agents and managed to make a short call on his radio before Marcel could silence him with a knife to the heart. There was very little blood and Marcel was able to allay suspicion by calling out that the prone figure had suffered a heart attack before melting back into the crowd. But whatever codeword the FSB agent had transmitted had brought a score of others on the run. Marcel and Geno had been dodging them ever since, using the crowd as cover and grabbing any items of cast off clothing they could find to keep changing their appearance.

Marcel had less trouble navigating than the Russians did. His accent was better than theirs and his vocabulary less tainted. The Ukrainians of Russian descent were generally against signing the agreement, and several groups of them had also come to the square to mount a counter protest. Marcel avoided the borders where the two opposing groups met because of the high possibility of violence and the likelihood of FSB presence among the Russian speakers. But it was getting harder to move deeper into the crowd as the protest leaders had surrounded themselves with folk loyal and familiar to them and they were blocking strangers from approaching. But it was the protest leaders that Marcel wished to speak with. Travelling with a baby was difficult and he needed help getting them out of the city. With Lutsenko gone he had to find someone who he could trust and who would trust them. But right now the only credentials they had was the fact that the FSB was after them.

Marcel found his progress blocked by a group of stoats. From behind them a large bison-like creature appeared. It was a wisent, Marcel realized. There were a few villages of them in the northwest. This one had the typical curly brown hair, sharply hooked horns and broad chest of the species. It frowned down on the three intruders for a minute before it spoke.

"Would you mind telling me why you are leading the FSB into the centre of our rally?" It asked in Ukrainian.

"We are foreigners, working here until someone killed our employer." Marcel answered in the same language. "I do not know who did it, but the FSB has been after us ever since."

"I count a half dozen of them trying to work their way through the crowd to you." The wisent observed. "The FSB rarely put out so much effort to get a couple of ordinary workers."

"We're not ordinary." Marcel admitted, seeing little choice but to tell the truth. "We are government agents from Canada sent to protect one of your scientists."

One of the stoats carrying a transistor radio muttered "Brodsky". Marcel nodded. "We failed and he is dead. Now we're on the run from the Russians."

"You're parents were Ukrainian?" The wisent asked.

"Yes. But my father is dead and I have not seen my mother for a long time." Marcel replied.

"And this one." The wisent pointed to Geno. "Where is she from?"

Marcel suspected that the bison already knew. Cheetahs with Geno's markings were only found in one district of Warsaw. "Poland, originally." He admitted.

"You got a problem with that?" Geno injected, using one of the few Ukrainian phases she had mastered.

The wisent looked to the sky. "Poland." He said slowly. "Most of my species lived on the border between Belarus and Poland. But in the racial strife that followed the first Great War we were almost wiped out." He lowered his head and glared at her as he finished speaking.

"By the Poles?" She asked nervously.

"No," he shrugged, "by the Bolsheviks. Poles are okay in my books. Come," he said as he spun on his heel, "I'll take you to our leader." The ranks of supporters parted before them and they followed him deeper into the crowd. Behind them the grunts and cries of several FSB agents being discouraged from following could be heard above the chants.

The big bison led them to the monument to the city founders, where the pro-Europe leaders had set up camp for the day. Several layers of loyalists had to be traversed to get there. When they arrived at the innermost circle he left them with a few guards and went to speak to a marbled polecat with obvious deference. Marcel remembered the half-skunk, half-polecat that had seduced him back when he first joined F.O.X. and the trouble he had gotten into because of it, but he swallowed his prejudice. Anyone who was against the FSB was his new best friend today.

The polecat looked at the three of them as the wisent spoke and then came over, waving the guards out of earshot. Marcel stepped forward and held out a paw. The polecat ignored it.

"We can skip the introductions. You do not belong in my country. I do not want to be your friend." The weasel-like creature snarled. "My chief of security has told me who you are and why you are here. Foreign interference by the West is just as bad as what the Russians are doing ... well, almost as bad." He signed. "These days we don't have the luxury of being mad at everyone. What do you want from us?"

"We could use some help getting out of the country."

"What about that?" The polecat pointed to the baby fox in Geno's arms.

Geno bit her lip and glanced at Marcel before she answered. He grit his teeth and nodded for her to go ahead. "Brodsky asked me to stay and raise him." She clutched the kit between her large breasts. "He offered to marry me if that was what was required to stay in the country. He did not love me," she added hastily, looking back to Marcel, "but he loved seeing Aldwin and I together. And I .... I love Aldwin."

Marcel had to ask. "What were you going to do if they won't let you leave with him?"

"I don't know." Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. "I love you too ... but ...it's just ...."

Marcel raised a paw to her cheek. "Shush. You don't have to choose anymore."

The polecat's eyes darted back and forth between the two. "He's right, you know. You can't stay here now, even if the FSB wasn't after you. The authorities will never let you stay or adopt the kit."

Geno hugged the baby hard enough to make it complain. Then she held the child out to the polecat. Her cheeks were wet.

The polecat reached out, and pushed the baby back against her chest. "Keep it." He said. "The police are arming, the government is split between equally corrupt factions. This country is going to be no place to raise a child until we can sweep them all aside and have a truly democratic government. That ..." He gestured at the square full of bodies where police grappled with pro- and anti-government forces and groups supporting different political factions fought with each other, "That may take a while. Take the baby somewhere safe. Teach him about his heritage." He directed the last at Marcel. Then he waved the wisent over. "Now we have to figure out how to get you out of here."

He conferred with his lieutenant. "We can't send them south down the Dnieper River." The wisent commented. "It runs right past the Crimea where most of the Russian supporters live. The FSB has free rein down there. The same goes for sending them upriver into Belarus." The Belarus government was pro-Moscow and no friend of the pro-European faction in the Ukraine.

I have contacts in Lubin." Geno injected. "If you can get us into Poland."

"They must know that you're Polish. They'll be watching the highway that runs along the Belarus border. If they find you it's easy enough to launch a raid and drag you across the frontier. We could send you by the back roads but they'll be watching the border crossings, and the border guard force is notoriously easy to bribe. They will turn you over on the slightest suspicion."

"Maybe if you get us close we can make out own way across." Marcel suggested.

The wisent shook his head. "You would not stand a chance. With all the smuggling going on they have locked the border down tight. You'd have to have a Gypsy's luck to get through."

"Hey!" The polecat said. "You just gave me an idea. You still going out with that feline who works at the National Theatre?"

"The one who works in the makeup department? Sort of. She is here in the crowd somewhere. Why?"

"Go find her. I'll explain when you get back." The wisent hurried off as the polecat turned to Marcel and explained what he had in mind. When he was done Marcel took him aside, away from Geno and the baby. "Is there something else you need my help with?" He asked.

"Yes. There is someone I would like you to find and keep tabs on for me." Marcel told who he was interested in.

The polecat's eyebrows shot up. "It would be a pleasure."

* * * * * * * *

Silver and Williams left the staff room and headed for the executive office suite, deserted now that Miss CC was in the field. Williams motioned Silver to accompany him into the Director's office. Once the green leather covered door was closed behind them he turned to his Chief of Staff.

"I sensed some reluctance on your part when I asked about the website earlier." Williams said. "And I noticed that you left it out of the update brief. Is there something I should know?"

Silver sighed and pulled a red trimmed folder from the sealable pouch he used to carry classified documents around the Academy in. "Yes, you should know, but you are not going to want to once you do." He offered the file to Williams.

The big golden fox took the file and sat on the edge of his desk as he opened it. Silver remained standing. Having only been told that there was a compromising web site with F.O.X. information on it his eyebrows shot up when he saw the screen shots Silver had captured off the site. Hurriedly flipping through the pages he came to the one where Silver had detailed the electronic trail he had followed to track down the perpetrator. The very last page had photo of the malfeasant taken from the F.O.X. personnel files. It was a creature familiar to them both, one that they both had some degree of personal attachment to.

Williams face fell momentarily, to be replaced with a grim expression. Silver had been right, now that he knew he wished that he didn't. But it had to be dealt with, and he would not interfere with Silver as he executed his duties. He closed the file and passed it back.

"Do whatever you have to."

Silver nodded and took the file. He carried it through where Miss CC normally sat guarding the suite and back to his office next door. As he sat down behind his desk he noticed that there several emails in his various accounts. He skimmed the F.O.X. account but saw nothing that needed his immediate attention. He checked his Government account but it was just spam from the Public Service and offers to help transfer millions of dollars from bank accounts in Nigeria. Normally he would not have checked his personal email but he was expecting to hear back from someone so he opened that file also. The email he had expected was there, right on top, and he read it with a slight smile on his lips. He would have to move fast to get the material his contact needed to him, but he had already pulled it from his files in anticipation, so all he had to do was get the documents out of the safe and drive it over.

Silver skimmed the subject lines of the remaining email, they were mostly spam and notices that his credit card statements were ready and was about to delete them all when he noticed one that was addressed to his codename, which he never used on this account. He opened it, wondering if one of the few Academy staff that were privy to his real name had mistakenly sent some F.O.X. business email there. When he read the first words his eyebrows shoot up into his head fur and his jaw dropped to his chest.

"With apologies for Colonel Sun," it read, "but we must meet on an urgent matter of mutual interest."

The signature below the proposal to meet in public place of Silver's choosing was rendered in Chinese characters as well as the English equivalent and Silver recognized the name. He typed a reply and sent it. Then he deleted the original email and the copy of his reply. Someone like Algorath would still be able to retrieve the text from the server, but by the time anyone did the meeting would be long past. He went to his safe and opened it. Placing the file on the illicit website inside he retrieved the bundle of documents that he had gathered earlier. Placing them in a briefcase with three locks and a security seal he picked up his phone and dialed the operations room.

"Hanlan?" He said into the mouthpiece. "I have to go off site for a while. You're in charge until I get back."

* * * * * * * *

Silver could have arranged to meet the mysterious Chinese correspondent in a public park where he could deploy a cover force to prevent surveillance, or snipers. Or he could have arranged a meeting in a dark corner of some parking garage where no one would see them meeting. But instead he chose the back room of a bar not far from the Central Experimental Farm because the owner owed him a favour. It was an old-style Italian restaurant frequented by those with union or mob connections, or both, and the Asians from the neighbouring China Town knew that they were not welcome inside. He sat in his car a block away watching the entrance for thirty minutes before the meeting time and for another five past it, but only saw one oriental species enter the establishment. When the owner texted that his guest was in the private room Silver got out of his car and walked to the rear entrance. The owner had left it unlocked so Silver could get into the private room without being seen from the front.

A large panda was seated at the round table in the middle of the private dining room. He had not touched the Italian appetizers or the carafe of wine that the owner had thoughtfully supplied. Probably waiting for me to eat and drink first in case it's poisoned, Silver thought, even though with a slow poison I could take an antidote afterwards. Silver sat on the opposite side and poured a glass of wine and sipped it before selecting a biscotti and taking a big bite from it. His guest followed suit, drinking from the same carafe and selecting a snack from the same tray as Silver.

The panda spoke. His English was heavily accented. "Who are you?" He seemed to say.

"As the one requesting the meeting you should introduce yourself first." Silver chided.

The panda looked momentarily confused. "Sorry, but that is my name. My family name is Hu, my given names are Eryu. It is pronounced 'who are you'. I suppose it can cause some confusion to English speakers."

Silver switched to mandarin. "I know. I was just teasing you." He said.

The panda grinned. Silver recognized that it was not a friendly grin. Hu replied in the same language. "Ah! We were not aware that you now spoke a civilized tongue, Squashed Penis."

The panda used Chinese worlds that approximated the sentiment expressed by the unfortunate combination of Silver's Armenian fist name and his French last name. Silver had spent most of his youth fighting those that picked on him because of that name and most of his adult life answering to codenames. Of all the F.O.X. personnel only three knew his real name; Williams because he had hired him, Miss CC because she kept the personnel records, and Vikki because Silver had reluctantly told her when they decided to raise Leslie together. Silver supposed that as the Chief of Staff of F.O.X. The rival intelligence agencies would have taken enough interest in him to research his background, as he had researched the head of the Chinese foreign intelligence service's North American division. He wondered if the panda had come up with the fact that the last person to call the big silver fox anything close to "Squashed Penis" had subsequently been thrown through the front of a high school trophy case, thus curtailing any further teasing and ending Silver's stint in high school simultaneously.

"Sun Tzu said to know your enemies." Silver commented. "But the Sun that I met was not nearly so wise." The Colonel Sun referred to in the panda's email had been a member of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, and had the one that had given Silver his horrendous scars and inflicted other indignities on him after a mole in F.O.X. had tipped the Chinese off to his presence in Beijing. Since then Silver had paid particular attention to the Chinese secret service and had gone as far as to study their language and culture in his spare time.

The panda sighed. "It is true that your encounters with my department have done nothing to foster friendship. I once worked in the same department as Colonel Sun, and I can assure you that he was a uniquely cruel and unstable person. That is why he was dismissed from our service."

"You should have dealt with him more permanently," Silver said with dangerous edge to his voice, "instead of leaving a loose end for us to clean up."

Hu bowed in acknowledgement of the criticism, but straightened up quickly. "You have not been very kind to the agents of the Middle Kingdom when your paths have crossed either, Mister Silver."

"You aren't seriously comparing what Sun did to me with our treatment of your people, are you Mister Hu?" Silver rubbed the scars through his shirt as he spoke.

"As I said, a unique case. But you were spying on us when you were taken, there is no doubt about that. On the other paw, one of your colleagues recently kidnapped one of our exchange students and we believe that you have him at your academy. Can you explain that?" The panda passed a photo of the missing civet cat across the table.

Silver barely glanced at the photo. "We've known for some time that the civet is one of your watchers. But if you can tell me the name of the agent that supposedly took him I'll ask him where he may have taken him."

Hu ground his teeth in frustration. No one at either the central office or the Ottawa bureau had ever seen the young arctic fox before he showed up in Harbin and met the one armed vixen. The gap in their data was gnawing at him.

Seeing no answer coming Silver continued. "Well, I'll ask around. But this is all beside the point. You said that you wanted to discuss something of mutual interest."

Hu puts his anger aside and sipped his wine before answering. "Your agents in North Korea are in trouble." He watched his opponent carefully for a reaction.

Silver did not flinch, blink or show any other outward signs, but inside he was reeling. They must have an agent inside the Korean's nuclear complex, he realized. How better to keep an eye on their progress with a view to sabotaging it if they showed signs of becoming a nuclear rival.

"Then you are aware of what is going on inside Yak Mountain, and the progress that the Hermit Kingdom has made with the help of the fisher."

The Chinese had not been able to place an agent very high in the Yak Mountain organization, and Hu's counterpart in the North Asian division had just put the picture together himself before sharing it with Hu. They still did not have all the details, but what they did have painted a dangerous picture. China could go from being the North Korean's master to its unwilling partner or even its servant if the Koreans were successful. That was, of course, unacceptable.

"We both need to put an end to this." Hu said. "While Fisher is in the compound, preferably."

"There is only one way to guarantees that they don't just pick up and start again somewhere else." Silver pointed out.

"Yes. But I doubt that either my government or the Americans would concede to drop a nuclear bomb on the complex, not while they have an unknown number of warheads hidden away for a revenge attack. Besides, you would probably prefer to recue your mate and the other F.O.X. Agent."

Silver chose another biscotti and munched on it nonchalantly. Obviously the Chinese spy chief had something in mind, but it was taking all of Silver's effort not to jump up and scream in the panda's face demanding answers. He let the silence drag on

"We can get a team with a small thermonuclear device in, something that can simulate a nuclear meltdown, but it cannot be a Chinese team." Hu continued after a few moments. "A small team of professionals may be able to get in, get out with the prisoners and set off the device. But no matter what happens they have to set off the device and destroy the complex and all the scientists and technicians in it. We are certain that there is no back up repository of the data that Fisher has brought them. The Korean government is too compartmentalized and possessing such information would make one very powerful. No one would want to share it. After the device goes off they will of course know that their project has been sabotaged, but with no connection to us the Chinese government can strongly suggest that they save face by claiming it was an earthquake that collapsed the complex, they happen all the time there. They should never have put a reactor there in the first place. We can also produce 'evidence' that the fisher was bringing them false data that would result in just such an explosion as part of a nefarious American plot carried out through their puppet state of Canada to destroy their nuclear program. They are just paranoid enough to believe it, or at least to pretend to. Attacking the Americans would be suicide but this would give them an excuse not to. One cannot take revenge on an earthquake, or Canada for that matter, the optics are just not good. It would be like kicking a cute kitten."

Silver chuckled. "The image of a nation of polite peacemakers can be an advantage at times." He thought about which agents were available. "I'm a little short of bodies at the moment." He admitted.

"Take that fellow you have in Beijing, Hu Liaoming." The panda suggested. "Despite his honourable surname it is time he went home."

Silver took that as a compliment as well as a subtle warning. The Mongolian corsac must have had too many successes and become an embarrassment to the Ministry of State Security. He decided that would release the civet cat in return for the favour, in a few days. "Do you have the plans for the complex?" He asked.

"Of course, we helped build it." The panda sat back. "So, do we have a deal?"

Silver poured another half glass of wine as he considered his options. The big question was whether he could trust the panda or not. If this was a set up it would effectively destroy F.O.X. as an agency. But the Chinese had no more desire to see North Korea become the world's leader in nuclear energy and weaponry than anyone else did.

Silver saluted the panda with his wine glass. "Tong Chou Di Kai". He said, using a traditional Chinese four character idiom that read "Together hostile enemy resist". It meant that rivals should set aside their differences to defeat the greater enemy. The English equivalent was "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".

The panda was surprised for the second time that day. It was one thing to learn to speak Mandarin, as difficult as that was, but to be able to produce the appropriate four character idiom form the tens of thousands to choose from was truly impressive. He made a mental note to make sure this one's file was updated immediately, and upgraded from "unfriendly foreigner" to "dangerous adversary".

"Then we have a deal?" Hu asked.

"We have a deal."

* * * * * * * *

After arranging for a channel of communication between Hu's planners and the Academy Silver one again set out of the city. The errand would take a couple of hours, a lot of time to be away during a crisis like this, but it was not time wasted because he needed the time to think and he always thought best while driving. He turned off the radio without thinking about it and absently began whistling selections of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker suite. Before he exchanged the documents from his safe for others he knew who he would send on the team. He sent Bill Hanlan a quick text to that effect. Hanlan and his staff would come up with a plan or several plans for Silver's approval, but it was Silver's job to worry about what could go wrong and how to handle it if anything did. By the time he got back to the Academy he had developed a contingency plan that he thought would guarantee success.

"Did you get the plans for Yak Mountain?" He asked Hanlan as he entered the operations room.

"Yes. We've been running scenarios through the simulator." The chief planner answered, wondering where the Chief of Staff had gotten them from and also where the silver fox had been for the last two hours, but not daring to ask about either.

"How does it look so far?"

Hanlan shook his head as he passed over the outlines of the plan. "Not good. We can stage off an American aircraft carrier that is in the areas on joint exercises with South Korea and get in and out with the help of their Special Forces contingent, but there will be little time for rest or rehearsal before they go in. Four agents would be enough to get a device in and escape before it goes off, or to get the prisoners out, but not both. All of our simulations end with fifty to sixty percent casualties if we attempt both, and that is with trained agents. Your forth team member is an unknown factor that will probably decrease our odds of success."

"We have no choice." Silver commented. "Three would be too few and there is no one else we can get on short notice."

"Then we are going to need a lot of luck."

"Luck I can give you." Silver replied, as he skimmed over the plan so far.

Hanlan wondered if he was serious, but considering that the life of his mate was at stake he supposed that the big silver fox must be. "Ember and Johnson are already on route to Japan where they will be airlifted to the carrier. The Chinese just declared our fox in Beijing persona non grata and he will join up with them in Japan. How do you want to handle the fourth guy?"

"I'll go break the news to him myself."

Silver passed the file back to Hanlan and left the Ops Centre. He crossed from the headquarters to a building that was marked as being the swine research centre and used his ID card to unlock the door. Inside he nodded to the guards who had drawn their weapons despite seeing Silver approach on the monitor. They remained drawn and trained on the silver fox until he completed the retinal scan and his identity was confirmed. One he was cleared they unlocked the inner door for him. On the other side there was a short hallway with several doors on each side. Silver went to the third on the left and checked the monitor mounted on it. The young arctic fox that had dragged the Chinese agent in was standing in the middle of the room doing isometric exercises. A good sign, Silver thought. Those kinds of exercises kept one alert and in shape with a minimal amount of effort, leaving one ready to act when an opportunity arose. He knocked at the door and smiled when the lad rushed to the bed and composed himself before calling "Come in".

Using his access card Silver unlocked the door. He stepped inside just far enough to close it behind him. There was no knob or proximity pad on this side, just button to alert the guard that you wanted to exit. Of course they would only do so f you were not under duress and if the cell's occupant was in no position to rush the door when it opened. Normally they accompanied any visitors, but The Chief of Staff had indicated that he wanted to see the prisoner alone. That was okay by the guards, the arctic fox was not considered hostile and Silver could take care of himself.

"Good afternoon, if that is what it is." Kyroo said. "I take it that you are the head honcho around here?"

"Not quite, but close enough for now." Silver replied as he leaned back against the door. "How do you like the accommodations?"

"I prefer rooms with doors that open from both sides."

"Don't we all. But you will have to forgive us for keeping you here while we checked you out. It isn't very often that we get folks applying to the agency in person, especially ones bearing gifts in an attempt to sway the acceptance committee."

Kyroo tried to keep his cool, but on one paw he was agitated at being detained while on the other he was excited at the prospect that they might actually let him in. "And was the selection committee impressed?"

"Yes, I was." Silver smiled. "But you are not in yet. Normally we have a rigorous vetting process followed by a demanding training and testing session. We have to be strict to make sure that we only get the right people, and of those only the best are accepted. We could overlook your lack of Canadian citizenship for now, but I'm afraid that we won't be conducting an induction process for some time.

"So what do I do until then? Stay in here and mop floors, go home and wait? I don't think that I can go back to my job in China."

That made Silver chuckle. "No, I think not. But I did say not that you would have to wait, just that you won't get in following our normal routine. There is one other way to prove yourself."

"What's that?"

"Something we call 'trial by fire'."

Kyroo thought for a moment. "You have a mission and you need an extra paw, don't you?"

Silver nodded.

"And you are desperate enough to send in a rookie ... less than a rookie, an amateur."

Silver nodded again.

"And the odds of me making it back alive are close to zero."

Silver didn't bother nodding, just drilled into Kyroo with his cold blue-grey eyes.

"I'm in." Kyroo said standing. "When do we leave?"

"You leave immediately." Silver said, turning to press the call button. "Our guest will need an escort to the armoury." He informed the guard. "The Combat Instructor can take care of him from there." The door buzzed and swung open. Silver stood aside and gestured for Kyroo to proceed. "We'll discuss your status when you get back."

"If I get back." Kyroo replied, wondering what he had gotten himself into.

"Think positive, Mister Echos." Silver called after him as the guard led him out. "Luck is on your side."

If the younger fox replied Silver did not hear it. He hurried back to his office and closed the door behind him, even though only a few trusted senior staff had access to the executive suite. Once behind his desk he turned on his computer and began posting information about the rescue plan to an internal web page that was used as a repository of all the information related to the operation. It was a little unorganized at the moment but soon Algorath would be moving from his hotel into the Canadian Embassy in Islamabad where he would have access to the government network and satellite communications system. One on line he would take over the site and arrange it properly, as well as using the information that the panda had supplied to penetrate the North Korean complex with the extra bandwidth working from the Embassy could provide.

After updating the official file Silver switched to a different computer, one that bypassed the F.O.X. firewall and accessed the internet directly. He signed on to a service that Algorath had established, one that sent communications through twenty-five separate proxy servers before reaching out to the desired web site, in this case a place on the World Wide Web that was not linked to any other part. It was one of those dark corners of the where criminals, terrorists, perverts and assassins conducted their business. Once he gained access he began uploading the mission files to it. But he did not leave any instructions. He was certain that, with a little luck, the site's only other visitor would get the hint.

After closing the link Silver ran a program that would wipe all traces of his visit from the files of not only his off-line computer, but those on the Internet Service Provider's server and the first couple of proxy servers in the chain as well. After which he returned to his work computer and began sending out instructions to Kain Algorath, Delores Johnson, Zac Ember and Hu Liaoming. He also sent a note to Miss CC telling her and Grey Muzzle to stay on the Argentine vixen until further notice.

That should be simple enough for them to accomplish, he thought as he signed off and headed to the Ops Centre to see how the plans were coming.

* * * * * * * *

Grey and Miss CC had not gone back to their hotel in Buenos Aires as it was sure to be compromised. They had been briefed before leaving on how to find and access an MI-6 safe house that they maintained in the Argentine capital, a place for their agents to hole up should the sabre rattling over the Falkland Islands ever erupt into a shooting war again. It was a comfortable walk up accessible from two streets in the San Telmo district, an older section of Buenos Aires with dark narrow streets. It was known as the Tango District, but except for a few famous places like the Bar Sur most of the tourist tango had moved to the newer upper-class neighbourhoods like Soho. But it was easy to move around and relatively safe, especially for those with the defensive skills of Miss CC. There were also a number of small grocers and shops so they could stock up in different stores and keep out of sight as much as possible.

The apartment building itself was typical of the district. It was on the third and top floor of a decrepit old building decorated in the Italian style on a corner of two of the smaller streets. Its windows and doors were secured by iron bars, and the front was protected by steel shutters that rolled down to cover the entire front of the business on the ground floor. What walls left exposed were covered with crude graffiti. Much of this district and the neighbouring Bocca had been settled by Italian immigrants and many of the homes they built in the style of the old country still existed as apartments and shops. Antique stores and fashion houses thrived along the nearby Avenue Defensa, which was closed to vehicle traffic every Sunday for a huge craft market, but here, just a few streets away, the only sign of Italian culture was the architecture and the occasional pizzeria.

The inside of the safe house was much more modern and comfortable than it looked from the outside. The Brits had restored the baroque interior and rewired the place to meet current standards. They had stocked it with every convenience and appliance so that it was not necessary to go out to eat or do the laundry. They had also furnished it with items bought at the nearby antique market. There were huge canopy beds in both of the bedrooms, comfortable easy chairs in the sitting room and a large, soft lounger in the front room, where one could recline and take the sun for a few hours in the afternoon. That was where Miss CC was when the message from F.O.X. came in.

The initial text came to the regular phone account. It looked like a generic advertisement, the kind you get if you have ever given out your cell phone number or email address on a survey. This one advised the recipients that Happy Harry's Discount House had received a shipment of Persian rugs and that they were currently 50% off. But you would have to be a long time resident of Ottawa to know that Happy Harry's had closed its doors some twenty years ago, long before texting became common. It was merely a notice that she had a message on the secure side of her phone.

Miss CC opened up the phone and flipped the SIM card over to access the scrambled F.O.X. network. She read the message from Silver and acknowledged receiving it. She did not ask for clarification or additional instructions. After deleting it from the phone she flipped the SIM card back over, returning the phone to normal operation. She leaned back against the arm of the lounger and put the phone back on the side table where it had been before the text arrival ping had sounded.

"What was that about?" Grey asked from the other end of the lounger.

"Silver wants us to stay on Fernandez for the time being." The busty party poodle replied.

"Is that okay with you, Agustina?" Grey asked solicitously.

From where she was wedged between them on the lounger, the Argentinean scientist mumbled an affirmative answer. Then she went back to licking the canine's moist twat, as she had been doing for the last five minutes.

Miss CC sighed and adjusted her legs to a more comfortable position. After their experience on the Tango floor the other night Agustina had not been shy about thanking her rescuers. As soon as she had woken up from the sedative-induced sleep she had appeared in the front room where Miss CC and Grey were relaxing and sunbathing in the nude. The Argentine vixen had appeared in a silk robe that she had found in the closet of her bedroom. She let it slip to the floor and then placed herself on the lounger between them and kissed first Grey then Miss CC. The kiss she planted on the poodle's lips lingered and was followed by a probing tongue. Miss CC had responded in kind, and soon felt a paw on one of her large, firm breasts. She had leaned back as the Argentine scientist lowered her head to suck in that same breast for a moment before continuing downward to the shaved junction of her thighs. At the same time Agustina had shifted around to offer her raised rump to the older fox on the other end of the couch, laying her tail along her spine to expose the holes beneath it. Grey had only to lean down a little to bring his muzzle into contact with the furry slit between the small, firm cheeks of his former tango partner.

The message from F.O.X. had interrupted the action, but only for a moment. Agustina had hardly paused at all and Grey was back probing her holes with his tongue and digits before a minute had passed. Her hips rolled slowly in response, as if to some unheard music. Less than a metre away she used her digits to spread the moist lips of Miss CC's vagina to expose the pink insides. At the apex CC's hard clit stuck out from under the fold of flesh that normally covered it and Agustina flicked at it with the tip of her tongue. The poodle put her paws on each side of the vixen's head and urged her to put more force into it.

Agustina complied, covering CC's twat with her mouth and alternated between grinding the smooth face of her incisors against the hard button of sensitive flesh and lapping at it with the full force of her tongue. She shifted her paws to CC's buttocks and massaged them as she lifted CC into a better position. CC slid down a bit to help. Now she could rock her hips to rub her clit even harder against the hot mouth of the grateful vixen. She raised her long shapely legs, crossing and spreading them alternately as the waves of pleasure washed over her.

At his end of the lounger Grey lifted his head to watch the two females. Miss CC was lying against the arm of the couch, her torso hanging in space and her head lowered almost to the floor. The position made her large breasts spread out across her chest and they jiggled like great white mounds of Jello with each assault on her twat. Her legs, when spread, gave him an exciting, erotic view of the vixen lapping and licking at her exposed sex. Grey's erection, which had been growing ever since Agustina had presented herself to him, began to ache as it reached maximum inflation.

He drew his tongue up along her slit one last time and teased her tail hole before straightening up. Two of his digits were buried knuckle deep in her twat and he withdrew the sodden appendages as he shuffled into position behind her. Easing her legs apart he got on his knees and rubbed her clit with his stiff rod. She pressed back against him, seeking the tip so she could ingest it. He spread some of the moisture leaking from her around on the taut shiny skin of his cock before raising the tip to the waiting hole. She pushed back slowly but steadily, wiggling her hips just enough to spread the lubricating cunt juice as she screwed herself onto him. When his pelvis was firmly against her ass she stopped, and Grey rolled his hips to pull back out. Before his cock could escape completely he flexed his ass to drive it in again.

He continued in that fashion, enjoying the sensation of hot cunt on swollen prick. With no other part of their bodies touching the sensation was all the more intense. That plus the visual stimulation of watching her eat out his favourite party poodle was quickly driving him over the edge, but he held on as best he could. He could see that CC was close to cumming by the way she pulled at her breasts and the twitching in her legs, but she was not quite there yet. And Agustina, while obviously excited by what she was doing and having done to her, was nowhere near ready. So Grey pulled his prick out of her and replaced it with a paw, thus allowing him to cool down while keeping up the rhythm on her twat.

She was very wet now, and Grey pulled his digits out every few stokes to spread the wealth around. After a few trips her tail hole glistening and he pressed one blunt digit against it to see how she would react. She pressed back, making the orifice spread around the pad until it was all but inside her. Grey dipped it into her twat again to moisten it some more and this time she took it in up to the first knuckle. He rotated the digit, she responded with a groan and an inviting roll of her hips. Grey pulled it out, swished it inside his mouth until it was dripping with saliva, and pushed it back in again as far as it would go.

Agustina cried out as her tailhole stretched to accommodate the thickest part of his digit, but she went right back to munching on Miss CC's twat before he could pull it out. Assured that she was okay with it, he worked that digit in and out of her while his other paw sought out her clit and rubbed it franticly. Her ass was moving fast now, rocking and rolling in time with his digits, seeking to get them just on the right spots and keep them there. Between his legs his cock cried out for attention.

Miss CC was rolling around and swearing alternately in French and English as the lips and tongue on her clit drove her towards the finish line. Grey could resist no longer and he pulled his digit out of her ass as he drove his needy prick into her twat again. But even as he pistoned in and out of her he could see the inviting hole that his digit had lately abandoned, still open and welcoming. With hardly a pause he pulled his cock out of one moist channel and sunk it in the other. The gasped words in Spanish that elicited told him that it was what she wanted too.

There was no need to add lubrication now; Agustina's tail tunnel was providing its own as his cock slid in and out. His balls bounced off her wet twat with each stoke and he kept one paw on her clit as best he could. She was going wild from Grey's stimulus, as much as CC was from the vixen's. The tightness of her tailhole and the way it squeezed his cock was bringing him quickly to a conclusion too. As he neared the end his eyes flicked from one end of her to the other, now watching his swollen cock glide effortlessly in and out, now watching the party poodle writhe under the talented vixen's tongue.

Grey came first, flooding her anal passage with a hot wad of spooge. Some of it leaked out as he continued to pound her ass and he gasped at the intensity of the sensation each time her ring milked him for more. He did not falter with his paw though, and Agustina joined him a moment later, spaying hot liquid across his palm and onto his thighs. She buried her face in the poodle's crotch to stifle her screams of ecstasy, and that was enough to push Miss CC over the edge too. Wrapping her powerful legs around the Vixen's head she squeezed and pressed it against her until Grey was afraid that she would suffocate the scientist they were sworn to protect. But Miss CC relaxed before doing any damage, and Agustina weakly lapped at the juices that were soaking the two of them.

Recently recovered from the torture the gang had inflicted on her, Agustina was too weak to do more than collapse on the lounger. Exhausted from the intensity of their sex, Grey followed suite and fell down on top of her. Only Miss CC, whose shapeliness had a lot to do with her intense daily workouts, had the strength to get up, and she did so by rolling off the end of the lounger in a move that would have made an Olympic gymnast envious. Leaning back and placing her paws on the floor as she raised her legs high above her, standing momentarily upside down before gracefully folding her body and bringing her feet back to the ground. She stood up, fur matted from sweat and her own juices, but with muscles bulging under taut skin, looking like she could run a triathlon before lunch.

"I'm going to take a shower." She announced. "Anyone care to join me?"

Agustina shock her head and Grey waved a paw weakly. His breathing was still coming to fast and ragged to answer verbally. Miss CC shrugged and strode out of the room. Grey shifted on the couch until they were both on their sides and he was lying behind and against Agustina. He wrapped his arms around her and caressed her slowly as his breathing returned to normal.

After a few minutes, in which he almost fell asleep, Grey noted that the vixen was trembling, and he wondered if she was getting cold. After all, it was still early spring in Buenos Aires and the air outside was cool. But he felt warm enough in the enclosed sun room, so what could it be? After a moment he realized that she was not shivering, she was crying, silently, but crying just the same.

He brushed her damp cheek with one paw. "Agustina, what's wrong?" He asked.

"I should not be doing this." She said between sobs. "My friends ... my colleagues ... all dead. I should be in mourning ... I should be comforting their families ... but how can I face them, knowing that this is all my fault?"

"Shush." Grey hushed her and hugged her, trying to comfort her. "If you were to go out in public they would grab you and take you somewhere where we can't help you, get what they want out of you and kill you like they killed the other scientists. This is not your fault, it is the work of a very disturbed associate of yours, and if you had not resisted their attempts to get what you knew you would be dead now too, and we would all soon be hostage to his partners' scheme of world dominance."

"An associate of mine?" She asked, anger replacing the anguish in her voice.

Bill Hanlan had posted an update on the mission while the vixen had been sleeping. Grey told her about the Canadian Fisher and his plot to provide the North Koreans with the ultimate weapon. He told her about the deaths of Brodsky, Barbar and Madika, as well as others that they suspected the fisher had killed.

"I never trusted him." Agustina said. "And when he came back after supposedly being killed asking about my program I would have nothing to do with him. I can see now that I should have reported him to the authorities, but he was so persuasive. He even had me half convinced that the accident had been an assassination attempt by the same folk that had done Bull in, and that I could be in danger too. He sowed enough doubt to keep my mouth shut, mores the pity. Now my team is dead because of it."

Grey thought about the situation they were in; tucked away in a cozy apartment, still damp and smelling of sex while four of his fellow agents were missing. Marcel and Geno, who were always lively and animated when they came to the Academy lounge for drinks before slipping off to their isolated residence for noisy, active sex, if they made it that far. They were still unaccounted for in the Ukraine and the FSB had pulled out all the stops looking for them. The odds were not good. And Vikki and Dongo, trapped in the enemy's lair. Vikki who was so sweet with radiant affection for her kit and her loyal love Silver, although the stalwart Chief of Staff hardly seemed to notice it. And Dongo, who reminded Grey of Gary Cooper in those old movies, quietly going about doing what had to be done to keep the world in order. He wondered if he would ever see any of them again, and a tear of his own appeared in the corner of his eye.

"You can't blame yourself." He said, speaking to himself as much as her. "You just have to hang on and do what you can to make things better. And right now that means staying hidden away, denying them the information they need. That is the only way that we can buy enough time to get in there and stop them."

"Alright." She said, placing a paw over his and pressing it against her breast. "I will stay here with you and Miss CC until everyone is safe. But I am still sad for all of those who have been lost, and I wish that there was more that I could do."

"Me too." He admitted. "Me too. You rest now."

"You will stay with me?" She muttered sleepily.

"Yes."

He held her until her breathing became regular and then he pulled his paw out from under hers and slid off the lounger. He draped her with a blanket that had been thrown over a nearby chair and then he sat in the chair and watched her while she slept. The sun went down, and the air in the room cooled off quickly and he curled up to stay warm, but he did not move from his station. At some point Miss CC looked in on them and then brought in another blanket for him. She squeezed his paw before she left the room again.

"Don't worry, my cher." She assured him. "Silver will think of some way to get them back."

Grey sat through the night bedside Agustina, wishing that he could believe her.

The FOX Academy series:

Book I - The New Breed

Book II - The Werewolf of Odessa

Book II.5 - The Love who Spied Me

Book III - The Curse of the Yellow Monkey

Book IV - Wait for No One

Book V - Dawn of Vengeance

Book VI - Unnatural Selection

Kain Algorath © Marcus X Light

Ophelia Cassidy Sommer © Devil Kitty

Joel Grigori © Joel the Lemur

Geno © Coyotek

Dongo Fett © Dongo Fett

Zachary Ember © EmberWolf

Grey Muzzle © Grey Muzzle

Kyroo Echos © Kyroo Echos