Another day passed by. Artem seemed to have mostly recovered from the stomach bug that had been ailing him, but Ravil still took trips to the grocery store to get him soup and Tylenol.
After dinner that night, Ravil retreated to his bedroom and sat down in front of his computer to check his e-mail (he rarely ever tended to his inbox, but tonight he had a hunch that he'd find something new- maybe even something important?).
As he opened his age-old Gmail inbox, he was alarmed by how many e-mails he had gotten and never checked. Mostly junk mail, honestly. But still, the clutter bothered him and yet he felt a bit too lazy to clean up the hundreds of messages. He blinked and began to read the e-mail titles, scrolling. One of them caught his attention, and he opened it, albeit a bit tentatively.
Evening, Ravil.
That was the opening line, and it terrified him. Who were these people, and how did they know his first name? Furthermore, why were they greeting him so casually? Heart pounding against his ribcage, Ravil dared to read the next line.
We are sending this message with love from Russia.
Ravil remembered now. He knew who these people were, and his mind registered them as allies.
We saw your work a few nights ago. Very clean, very...clever. We are proud of you, Ravil. We applaud you. But alas- your job is not finished yet.
Below was a link to a website. Ravil clicked it without question.
It lead him to a page filled with random symbols, which Ravil decoded in a matter of minutes, surprising even himself. He had never been any kind of genius, but now? Something felt different and he couldn't quite place a finger on it.
The remaining message, when decoded and put together correctly, said this:
Your job is to identify and take out anyone who is a threat to the country of Russia, and to infiltrate the U.S. Department of Defense systems. You are to lie dormant in their networks until June 12, 2016, which is when you will turn the lights off on them so Russia can take advantage. Ideally, you will collect information on their strategies and relay them back to us. We will ensure that you are not caught.
If you tell anyone, our snipers can and will drop you, in any place and at any time. No one will bat an eye. So keep in touch, Ravil. Goodbye, now.
Ravil took a deep breath and sat back in his chair.
"Well," he said, taking a swift glance down at his computer calendar- "Better get to work, da?"
YOU ARE READING
Otkroveniye Complex // Book 1 of the Takaryev Series
Misterio / SuspensoRavil Galkin doesn't have much of a past, but as far as he's concerned, he's a completely normal person. Sure, he's a college drop out and basically a shut-in, but that's alright with him. But there's a whole different depth to the situation. An oc...
