Rainbow Six: November Sun

27: "CLEAR INDICATION"

Harry scooped up the glass of water at his podium. He took a lengthy drink, set the glass down, and turned back to the wall monitor. "We'll start with Timur Kharkov, the Ambassador of the Russian Embassy."

He clicked to a new slide. Ambassador Kharkov's face came to the forefront of the screen, as well as accompanying info and bio.

"Kharkov has a brother - Oleg. Oleg is a member of the Russian OMON." Harry clicked the remote. A photo appeared of men in green combat fatigues and tactical gear standing near a tank, whose main gun was trained on a building in the distance. "Before he began his career with OMON, Oleg served the FSB as a member of the Vympel Spetsnaz unit. This is him with some comrades outside of the school in Beslan, on Day Two of the siege."

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Kapkan whispered something to Tachanka, who jotted some notes down on his tablet.

Harry advanced the slide show. "Dima Molchalin, CEO of Belgian United Financial. Thanks to your efforts, he and Ambassador Kharkov are still breathing. By now, you've all seen the terrorist's video with Dima in custody multiple times." He hit play on the video, and the scene from just days before began playing out once more.

The two terrorists stood with Mr. Molchalin held hostage between them.

""We are November Sun," the woman stated. "To all agencies and police forces in the area; to the counterterrorism unit coming down the halls for us now; hear us."

Harry let the video continue, but spoke over it. "At this point, it's pretty clear that these men and women did not expect to get out alive."

"—Molchalin," the woman was continuing on the video. "You are a very special person today, Dima Molchalin. Do you know why?"

Director Six paused the video. He folded his arms and looked up at the monitor. "At this time, Guardian ran facial recognition on these two. Combined with what the Belgians have learned, here's what we know: the woman on the left is Petra Annikova. Her comrade is Dusan Turgenev. Both attended School Number One in Beslan. They were classmates of Petr Tverdovsky. Can you see where this is going?"

A collective murmur of acknowledgment sounded across the room.

Harry looked out at his operators. "Anyone want to guess what college Petra and Dusan attended?"

"National Research Nuclear University in Moscow?" came Rook.

"Precisely." Harry took another sip of water. "And now for the bank owner. Annikova states that today is a 'very special day' for Molchalin. As it happens, Dima Molchalin used to serve in the Russian armed forces."

Blitz was drumming his fingers on his desk. "Let me guess: he was at the Beslan siege?"

"Indeed he was." Harry went to the next image, showing a younger Molchalin in OMON gear with a Kalashnikov rifle in-hand.

"This is all but a clear indication of it all being a vengeance thing," Ash remarked.

"Certainly seems that way."

Mira sat up straighter in her seat, having been slouched for most of the briefing. "So November Sun are survivors of the Beslan School Siege? They all grew up with a vendetta and are finally acting on it?"

"Possibly." Harry leaned on his podium. "We don't yet know if everyone in the organization was at the school, but a substantial amount of them are confirmed to be, so far."

"And they're taking down people who were there," Smoke mused aloud. "There were a lot of kids accidentally killed by the Russians who were supposed to be rescuing them."

"Accidentally?" came Kaid, "or carelessly?" The suggestion drew a subtle glare from Fuze.

"Or they're taking out people related to those who were with the Russians during the siege." Montagne gestures to the screen. "Like Ambassador Kharkov. He wasn't actually at the school siege, but his brother was. Why go after him?"

Pulse shrugged. "Maybe they can't find Oleg, and going after the Ambassador was the next best thing?"

"Eye for an eye?" came Gridlock. She looked up at the screen, brow furrowed in thought. "To hurt Oleg, they go after his brother?"

Castle folded his arms and leaned back in his seat. "I don't imagine the Russians have many any official statements? Have they touched base with the Belgians?"

Harry shook his head. "As of now, they have not officially commented or reached out to Belgium."

"This could be any number of things," Castle continued. "If they're going after the families of men who were at the siege, we'd have to... what, warn all the families? How do you put that much security in place?"

"Good questions," replied Harry. "As of now, multiple agencies are trying to contact President Vikhrov and get something rolling. I know the CIA and MI5 have been coordinating some intelligence briefings with Belgian State Security Service. As of now, there's too much up in the air for a direct course of action, but we're on high alert in the days to come. Is that understood?"

A chorus of affirmatives rang out across the Briefing Room.

Director Six shut down the video feed. "Teams 1 and 2, you're in reserve now. Teams 3 and 4, you're on deck. Be ready for deployment at the drop of a hat. Team 5, Team 6, I want you prepped as well. With such a broad scope of possible targets, we have to be prepared to be deployed in multiple locations simultaneously. Valkyrie, Twitch, I want you to assist the agencies I mentioned in gathering intel, since your units are on reserve. Does everyone understand?"

Everyone acknowledged.

"Any questions?"

"Yes." Mozzie grinned. "What kind of name is 'November Sun' anyway? Who the hell names a terrorist organization that? Honestly?"

Jäger chuckled. "Better than December Clouds."

"Or April Fools," chimed Jackal.

Mozzie snorted in laughter. "That was actually hilarious."

"Mozzie does bring up a good point, for once," Harry added with a subtle smile. "We are looking into the name. Since the Beslan School Siege was in September of '04, we're still not entirely sure what the significance of 'November Sun' is. Time will tell. You all are dismissed."

The men and women all dispersed. Their chatter droned into one single torrent that echoed through the room, until it trickled into silence as the door closed behind them all.