CHAPTER 74
IGOR Woke up looking like he'd been hit by a train. He noticed that there was a breakfast table next to his bed.
What a hell of a headache...
Things were still very confused in his mind, everything Yuliya had told screamed against him and what he believed in, whether it was his church that he had always defended tooth and nail or MI6, which he felt really useful in front of society.
Then a voice echoed in the room saying:
"Glad you woke up, Agent Zumerick"
Igor would recognize that voice anywhere in the world, the husky voice of MI6 Director Sir Andrew Summers was known the world over, a strong supporter of the James Bond films and the heroic way in which English spies were portrayed, which was once a thorn in the side of the Agency, today they were allies, thanks to the strategies of the Director, who always used everything in his power to favor the image of MI6, many said that he was the Christ of MI6, transforming the Agency into before and after by Sir Andrew Summers.
— Thank you, Director.
"As soon as you finish your breakfast, please go to my room"
— Yes sir.
Igor was hungry, he only remembered being rescued and after that he passed out he was so tired.
A FEW MINUTES LATER, Igor was in the Director's office, it was the first time he had entered there, very rarely was someone called to enter there and be able to speak with him exclusively.
— Zumerick, our wonder boy, so glad you're all right.
— Thank you, Sir Summers.
— Come on, Zumerick, formalities aside, we're both Oxford— bred, we're Alma Matter brothers.
Igor nodded.
'Would you like some tea?'
Igor shook his head.
— It's good, everything that is delicious in a way makes us sick.
— Excuse me, sir, why was I called here?
Andrew Summers didn't answer right away, he was sipping his tea and after a few seconds he answered in a nonchalant way.
— How did you end up on that boat?
— I was kidnapped.
— By the teacher?
Igor nodded.
— An elite agent being kidnapped by an ordinary citizen isn't something you see every day, is it, Zumerick? Imagine the ruin of your image as an agent if such a thing breaks out in the media.
— You should remember that before being an elite agent, I'm a priest, the fact that I'm working for you is a mere intellectual formality.
— Of course I remember, I invited you myself.
Under what pretext?
— If you're done, sir, I need to get back to…
— Return? Where?
Igor had already heard of the Headmaster's coldness, but seeing it in person was soul— shattering.
— For investigations into the case.
— Zumerick, you are under arrest, along with American agent Gregory Evans and teacher Yuliya Barah. I don't think I'll be able to do anything outside that door unless I let it.
— You can't change teams in the middle of the case.
— Why not? As far as I can see, they didn't stop four attacks in four days in a row, especially you who had broken their code for the first attack on Westminster. This has already become a war and in war you kill or die, Zumerick. I suppose it's time we started killing, don't you think?
— I don't think so, sir, we know who the people behind the attacks are and…
— Do you really think Paul Leaks is behind all this? — Don't make me laugh, a lowly pawn will never act like a king, Zumerick, you and Leaks are in the same position, you should know that better than anyone.
I am not a mere pawn...
Igor's face remained immobile, everything he said only reinforced Cicada's thesis, and in his head, he could even imagine one of his next victims.
— If you've finished your cheap sermon, you can take me back to the cell, I think I'd do you better without doing anything there.
— Calm down, boy, I brought you here to see if you'll help us.
— Stuck?
— Greg is doing this.
— Only if you answer me something with the most unqualified truth.
— Can ask.
— Where is Yuliya's son?
— He is our guest.
— Guest? You kidnapped an innocent boy.
Andrew Summers crossed his fingers and rested his head in his hands.
— I would like to think the world is as beautiful as your church preaches, Zumerick, but the world is a battleground and we have to...
— No, Director, we have to protect people and not kidnap them, we are the last barrier of protection they have, if they don't trust us, who will?
— Zumerick, I believe you've heard about self-defense, haven't you?
— Obvious.
— What's the difference between killing a person or protecting someone in self-defense?
Igor didn't respond.
— Do you know what the difference is? — None... you will take her life anyway, what differs both deaths is the reason, as one is justifiable and the other is not.
— Kidnapping an innocent person is very justifiable.
— For the common good, it's... as a cleric, I should know better than anyone the atrocities that religions have done to humanity to protect people from themselves, have caused no, still do, or will you say that a Muslim who blows himself up in Is your Allah 's name wrong?
— You are using an end to justify all means.
— This is what humanity has done since they began to live in society, Zumerick, leaders protect their followers, how it happens doesn't matter, but if in the end we manage to achieve our goals, then that's what we will be remembered for, simple as that.
— Free Yuliya and her son and I can help you arrest the bastards who are doing this.
Tower Bridge on fire, the rule is simple, we can sentence only Yuliya or both together, you choose.
— The same terrorism they did when they killed my parents and tried to kill me?
— You're over the line, Zumerick, my kindness has limits.
Igor got up and said:
— You're going to regret this, Headmaster.
Andrew Summers watched the priest leave the room and wondered how someone who presented no danger to anyone could threaten the most powerful man in the nation.
***
YULIYA WAS HUGGING her son and was fully convinced that from that moment on everything would be fine, if only they were together.
— Did they hurt you, honey?
He shook his head.
— I'm fine, Mom.
— I promise I'll get you out of here. OK?
— And Dad?
— He's fine, you'll be able to see him soon.
After the day her son was born, meeting him again was the best day of her life, Yuliya didn't even want to remember that damn day.
"And now, Mrs. Barah, will you help us?"
She looked at her son and saw that she had no other option.
— As long as you promise me you'll let us out of here once it's all over.
"You have my promise"
She knelt before her son and said:
— I promise I'll come get you, all right, honey? — I love you more than anything in this life.
Yuliya watched her son lie down on the bed and turn on his video game, a Nintendo Switch.
"He is in good hands, Mrs Barah"
But Yuliya wasn't so sure, no hand would be better than hers for her son.
IT WAS ALMOST LUNCH TIME and Greg was with Yuliya and Igor in a room with everything they had discovered about the crimes, however, nothing took them beyond doubt.
— What we have so far is this.
— But we don't know what the next attack will be, or where it will be.
The two shook their heads.
— They just said they'd get us out of here.
— Do you think that...
Greg looked somber at that.
— It's a possibility, because if they want to destabilize the government, nothing better than breaking security, without security you break the whole principle of what we know as a state.
— Apparently someone has been reading Rousseau.
Greg smiled.
— Actually, you wouldn't even need a philosopher to tell us that to come to that conclusion.
— The problem is that this fortress is one of the safest in the world in all aspects, there is state-of-the-art technology everywhere.
— What's the best way to implode a building, Igor?
— Implosion already implies that it is from the inside.
— Exactly...
But then something completely unusual happened.
ALL MI6'S COMPUTERS and televisions were broadcasting the same message.
A man with his face wrapped in a latex mask, his face white with blond hair, Yuliya whispered:
"Albion..."
Greg asked them to be silent:
"Hello, as you know, my name is Albion and today is a special day, the day that many of you will discover the truth, and for that we have to find the truth within us..."
The image came out of the person wearing Albion's mask and showed a bomb with the countdown at twelve hours and then Albion came back to the screen.
"Tonight at midnight Vauxhall Cross will explode, no matter what you do, no one can find the bomb and even if they find it inside your headquarters, it cannot be disarmed...
Good luck
3301"
The monitors and televisions returned to the bomb's image.
I've heard that voice...
— WHAT WAS THIS?
— A cyberattack, they put up some sort of virtual barrier.
Cliff entered the room and said:
— Zumerick, do you think you can get the computers back to normal?—
— I do not think so.
Cliff punched the table.
— What the fuck... are we completely vulnerable to these bastards?
— That's the price of not having the best cyber minds in the world — Yuliya said.
Cliff nodded.
— Greg, what are we going to do?
— Assuming there really is a bomb here, we'll have to evacuate the entire building to a safe distance.
— We won't — Andrew Summers said as he entered the room, — we'll find the device before that happens and disarm it.
— But it would be important to have a contingency plan.
— The plan is to find the bomb and defuse it, we have already made too many concessions for one day, this is a war and we will be the winners, in MI6 there is no plan B, if we are the best in the world, we have to prove that we are.
Andrew looked at the bomb on the monitor.
— If we can't use the computers, then turn them all off, we don't need this reminder of our incompetence.
Cliff took out his cell phone and called everyone in charge of each sector and gave the order to turn off all computers.
— Zumerick, I hope there's still time to reconsider my offer, you know this crisis is a key piece, I'd hate to lose you, I mean that in every way, if you know what I mean.
— It's not up to me, sir.
— It's up to you, Zumerick.