Rainbow Six: November Sun

35: "LIAISONS"

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019
801 MT. VERNON PL, NW
WASHINGTON, D.C., 20001, U.S.
WALTER E. WASHINGTON CONVENTION CENTER

12:48

Pedestrian traffic was heavy between 7th and 9th Streets in downtown D.C., and as Harry sipped his coffee, he took another look down at his tablet. On it was a zoomed out diagram of the convention center and surrounding area, as well as beacons signifying his active operators' locations.

He took one more sip before swiveling his headset's mic into position. "All elements, be advised: twelve minutes before they open the doors to the media."

"Let them come," Tachanka joked. Even in Harry's earpiece, Alexsandr's voice was obnoxiously loud. "They say there's no such thing as bad press, Director."

"Call me Harry. Last time that I tell you, Senaviev."

"Damn!" chimed Bandit over the radio. "Sweet burn, Harry."

"Nobody says 'sweet burn', Dom," came Jäger. "Nobody except you, apparently."

Harry couldn't help but smile. "Enough. Keep the chatter to a minimum. Where are we at with the walk-and-assess?"

"Team 4 is heading back," Warden informed. "Team 3 is lagging a bit."

"Fuck off," interjected Kapkan. "You're like ten meters ahead of us."

Harry drummed a finger on the lid of his cup. "Tachanka, Kapkan - break off and assist Stone. You both are now designated 'Ural'. Shadow Stone's chief of security and act as you see fit. See that you keep us in the loop. Over."

"Roger that," Tachanka replied. "Moving to Stone. Confirming new designation: Tachanka, Ural One. Over."

"Kapkan, Ural Two. Over."

"Ying, Lesion," continued Harry, "you are now designated Jade. Break off and shadow Dragon. Keep us posted. How copy?"

"Affirmative," answered Lesion. "Moving to assist Dragon. Confirming new call sign: Lesion, Jade One. Over."

"Ying confirming - Jade Two. Over."

Harry scratched at his beard. "Good. Teams 3 and 4 - acknowledge reassignment of Ural and Jade elements."

"Team 3 confirms, over," came Jäger.

"Team 4 copies, over," Warden replied.

Director Six nodded, and adjusted his earpiece. "Guardian, HQ - you get all that?"

"Yes sir," responded Kate Harvell.

"Excellent." Harry began backtracking through one of the first floor exhibit halls. "I'm going to fall back to the surveillance station across the street. I leave the rest to you all. Team 3, Team 4, Ural, Jade - permission to act at your own discretion. Harry, out."

He moved toward the large glass doors leading out to 7th street, and Harry took a deep breath. Washington Convention Center was well over two million square feet of real estate. Luckily, Rainbow wasn't tasked with such an impossible patrol, but it was difficult for Harry to lay the responsibility down at another agency's feet.

If he could have it his way, Harry would have had Rainbow in charge of the entire security operation, and every one of his 48 operators on-site.

President Jackson of the U.S., President Vikhrov of Russia, and Chinese President Yi were meeting in one place for what would definitely mark a historic occasion, and meaningful change for the world. Never before had the United States, Russia, and China been so willing to cooperate and move forward to a global peace - one that brought the UN and the East shoulder-to-shoulder in a bid for a new era.

This was precisely what worried Harry. Another attack by November Sun was possible, but for all he knew, other threats were setting their sights on the summit that day.

Working in tandem with the secret services and security of all three nations made for a lot of moving parts.

Far too many for comfort.

Harry walked outside and navigated the growing crowd, trudging east across 7th Street towards a Subway sandwich shop on the street corner. Behind it were three unmarked vans full of surveillance staff and additional SWAT operators.

He took another drink of his coffee, and Harry flipped open his phone to make a long-distance call.

*               *               *

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL
KRASNOPRESNENSKAY NABEREZHNAYA, 12
MOSCOW, RUSSIA

Across the world, Finka was still in bed when her cell rang on the hotel nightstand.

She groaned loudly and hoped it was a sales call that would leave some robo-message demanding her social security number and threatening jail time if she did not comply immediately. The woman was surprised to see that it was Director Six calling from his personal cell.

Her eyes widened. Finka swung her legs over the edge of her bed and sat upright as she scooped up her phone in haste. "Harry?" she managed, cringing at how dry and raspy her voice sounded.

"Hope I didn't wake you, Lera."

"Hm?" Finka stood without thinking. "No, sir. I was just..." she trailed off and glanced over at the clock. "About to get something to eat."

The man chuckled on the other side of the line. "Please, don't feel like you can't take it easy. If you need sleep, then sleep. That's what a paid vacation is for, yes?"

The woman grunted her agreement.

"Just checking in on you, making sure you're all situated on your end." Harry paused. "Thought I'd check on that other thing, too, because temptation is a bitch. I know firsthand."

Finka bit her lip softly and looked over at the mini bar. "So far, so good."

"Good. Call me if you need anything, Lera."

"Thank you, Harry." As she hung up, Finka looked at the bottle of vodka on her nightstand. She hadn't opened it yet.

She wished Harry's intuition wasn't so spot-on.