Rainbow Six: November Sun

26: "A POSSIBILITY"

RAINBOW HEADQUARTERS
BRIEFING ROOM
HEREFORD, ENGLAND

Rainbow spent the remainder of the day carrying out its routine drills and training regimens. Director Six announced a briefing scheduled for 18:00 hours, and it was on everyone's mind as they went about their daily tasks.

The sun dropped over Hereford, and darkness soon began to reach overhead when the meeting was finally underway.

Harry stood at the front of the Briefing Room. All operators had filed in and found their places at the classroom-style seating reminiscent of a collegiate lecture hall.

All but two.

Finka, of course, was not present because she was packing for her mandatory vacation.

The hall was alive with chatter. Harry was reviewing notes on his laptop, keeping a watchful eye on the door for the one missing operator.

"—saying if you don't like it, don't drink it," Mute was saying.

"It's the only coffee there is," Buck answered. "It's that or nothing."

"Too strong for you?" came Frost with a grin.

Buck frowned. "A good pot of coffee requires finesse. It is a skill."

Mozzie was sitting behind Buck, and he leaned forward to tap the man's shoulder. "You know what else is a skill? Engineering. Drones and shit."

"Okay?"

"And what do you do, mate? Switch to your Master Key shotgun or whatever, point and shoot?"

Buck grinned. "It's 'Skeleton Key', mate."

"Ya point and shoot, regardless." Mozzie winked at Frost. "I can do that, too. But I also do cool shit like engineering."

"I'll give you that." Buck turned in his seat and faced Mozzie with theatrical anger. "But can you make a decent pot of coffee?"

"No."

"Then shut the fuck up."

The operators in earshot all laughed. Mozzie held up his hands as if he'd just been shot, and leaned back in his seat while flailing his arms in slow motion as if he were flying through the air.

He accidentally slapped Ying's knee, who sat behind him, and she in turn swatted him upside the head, coercing more laughter.

The door to the briefing room opened, and Bandit hurriedly stepped inside and made a show of sneaking to his seat. His peers snickered.

Harry allowed a grin. "Nice of you to join us, Brunsmeier."

"Sorry I'm late, Harry." Bandit sank into his seat between Jäger and Echo. "I had to piss."

"Dom?" called Alibi from across the room. "Were you pissing on one of your live batteries or something? You look like shit."

Bandit cocked his head towards the woman, eyes wide. "Of course not. You know that was a one-time incident."

"Your hair looks all staticky."

"Fine. I was sleeping. I slept through my alarm. I have bed head." Bandit held up a finger. "Before anyone says anything - yes, late afternoon naps are a thing. Fuck you."

Laughter sounded again, but the chortles trailed off when Director Six finally stood.

"Right," Harry began. "It's been three days since Brussels. Operation Grey Falcon of course introduced a new threat, and I've been in touch with Belgian authorities on their prisoner."

"You mean Nøkk's prisoner?" sounded Twitch, bumping Nøkk's shoulder encouragingly.

Harry smiled. "The very same. Now, tonight's briefing is to discuss what Belgium has learned." He turned and clicked a remote control, and the massive flatscreen monitor behind him came to life. The mugshot of a handsome man came into view. His temple was heavily bruised, where Nøkk had struck him unconscious."

"This is Petr Tverdovsky. Russian. Grew up in Novosibirsk before his family moved to Beslan."

In the rear of the room, Caveira quietly stood and moved to the light switch on the wall near the door. She flipped it to dim the lights.

"Thank you, Pereira." Harry clicked to the next slide. "Eight years ago, Tverdovsky began attending Moscow State University. He excelled in his studies and showed an interest in science. He originally pursued simple general studies. After two years he declared a major, and his interests shifted to engineering-physics."

IQ was shaking her head. "What a waste of intelligence," she whispered to Blitz.

"Tverdovsky transferred to National Research Nuclear University MEPhI," Harry continued. "No scholarship, but his tuition was paid in full, as well as his living expenses."

"By who?" called Kapkan.

Harry peered poignantly at the man over the top of his glasses. "An 'anonymous' patron - and the Belgians, as well as I, suspect this unnamed source to be wrapped up in November Sun itself. Here's why: we now have similar circumstances for seven of the other men that were present at the embassy in Belgium. Their education was paid for. They shifted their studies to nuclear science, engineering, and physics. Their studies all began in 2011."

Director Six clicked to the next slide, and the mugshots of the other seven men appeared next to Petr Tverdovsky. "Not only did they have that in common, but every one of these men were students attending SNO - School Number One - in Beslan, North Ossetia during the school siege in September of 2004."

Glances were exchanged around the room as Harry continued.

"As we know, the Beslan School Siege resulted in the deaths of many innocents, including students - and Russian military attempting to combat the terrorists that seized the school were responsible for many of the casualties."

"Is this revenge?" Maestro mused aloud. "Is November Sun a retaliatory cause?"

"It certainly seems a possibility," replied Harry. "The Belgians pursued that possibility, and the plot thickens. Let's talk about Dima Molchalin: the man you rescued at the bank, and Ambassador Kharkov, who runs the embassy you liberated. This all goes a bit deeper."