[center][b]Chapter 2 Brass Angel[/b][/center] [b]MI6 Operations Center Vauxhall Cross London 2032 Local Time[/b] The Ops Center bustled with activity as the busy intelligence officers dealt with reports coming in from all across the globe from countless intelligence agencies, field agents, and informants. Dubbed the Pit by some communications officer in the 80's, it acted as the nerve center of MI6's Overseas Development Group. The ODG's rather boring and bland cover name helped with its official designation as an agency that dealt with logistics and security for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, that they were housed at Vauxhall Cross simply because they were bean counters that made sure all of Her Majesty's Government foreign interest were all properly filed in triplicate. In truth, the ODG was a descendant of the famous Special Operations Executive from the Second World War, the same organization Churchill had dubbed the "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare". And like their predecessors, the ODG protected Queen & Country in a most ungentlemanly fashion. "When are we going to hear word from Crocker and M?" Tara asked from her desk in the Pit, holding a phone in her hand while she waited on the Chief of Station in Tunis to come back to the phone on his end. The Ops Center's every TV was tuned to coverage on the Yemeni president's death, some were BBC and American channels, while others were foreign language and Al-Jazeera. The large plasma displays on the wall save for one all showed a map of Yemen, a large pulsating dot marking where the drone had killed the president. The lone plasma screen not focusing on Yemen instead showed an outline of the Korean peninsula, North Korea colored in an angry bright red compared to the navy blue of South Korea. A small black dot just south of the 38th Parallel showed the location of Nick Poole, officially designated 006 and the youngest of the four 00 operatives. Below the map showed the running clock on Operation: Grosvenor was just over seventy-two hours. Tara stared at the screen momentarily and wondered if Poole would be recalled back to London to deal with the crisis, but her thoughts were brought back to the Pit when 004 spoke. "Crocker went in to meet M twenty minutes ago for a briefing," John Steed said from the front of the room. "Hopefully it won't take too much longer." As the senior most 00 agent, Steed acted as the de facto head of the ODG agents, a first among equals role that made him their leader. Steed was a military man like Tara, but he had navigated to the Royal Navy instead of the army, and taken up his trade in intelligence instead of special forces. Steed always acted like he wasn't phased no matter the situation. Take for example his current attire. All the 00's had been out of the office when the recall command came. Tara was wearing a pair of ratty jeans and an old top; even the usually fashionable 005, Steed's partner Emma Peel, was wearing plain clothes and sensible flat shoes. Steed though wore a prim and proper three-piece that was perfectly in place. If he was perturbed by the events in Yemen and the situation in the Middle East as a whole, there was no way Tara could tell. "005, 007," Steed said evenly, his voice carrying over the din in the Pit. "When M and Crocker do call us into the big room, I want a full report on the ODG's infrastructure in the Middle East and what our operational capabilities within a forty-eight hour time frame look like." The two women scurried off to carry out their tasks while Steed put his hands on his hips and impassively watched the news coverage on the screens. ***** They finally got the call upstairs two hours later. Tara, Steed, and Peel all came up to the top floor of Vauxhall Cross to the soundproof conference room adjacent to M's office. Wait for the three agents were the head of the Secret Intelligence Service, Sir Gareth Mallory under the codename M, along with his Director of Operations, Paul Crocker. Joining them were Tom Wallace, the ODG's chief intelligence analysis codenamed Minder One, and an Asian woman Chace was not familiar with. Steed gave her a subtle nod as the three 00 agents sat down facing the four waiting members of the briefing. "00's," M said softly. "Sorry to keep you on ice for so long, but we were conferring with the Cousins at Langley. For those of you not in the loop, Ms. Cheng here is CIA's chief of London station." It made sense, Tara thought to herself, that Steed would know her. He pretty much knew every bloody spy in the game. "Minder One," Crocker said with a nod to Wallace. Wallace, roughly ten years Tara's senior with salt and pepper hair and a relaxed smile, gave her one of those smiles as he stood and walked towards the monitor on the far side of the room. "Here's what we know," he said as preamble. "Needless to say, all of this is top secret at the moment, and was provided by our American friends in Langley. At almost 1900 hours Yemeni time, a CIA drone strike codenamed Operation: Dagger Steady, attempted to take out Abu Al-Hammani, the operations chief of terrorist group The SIxth Pillar. The intel on Hammami and his whereabouts were provided by Six through a trap and trace bug on his satellite phone. This drone locked on to what it thought was Hamammi's phone signal and followed it to the source. Instead of meeting a battered van Hamammi and his bodyguards drive around, they instead found the entourage of Abd Abdullah Hadi, Yemen's president." Wallace hit a button on the monitor and it blinked to life, showing high-definition satellite photos of a crash site covered in flames. "The CIA officers in charge of the operation attempted to pull the drone out of the area, but it encountered a problem. It continued on its path towards the cars, not responding to the pilot's controls, and fired two Hellfire missiles before crashing into the site. After the signal died this message was frozen on the screen." THE PRICE FOR FASCISM IS ETERNAL ENSLAVEMENT I KNOW ABOUT SMOKESCREEN AND SOON, SO WILL THE WORLD "Cyberattack," Steed said mostly to himself. "But nothing like we've ever seen," said Cheng. "CIA and NSA are both accustomed to cyber warfare attacks.The PRC, Russia, even Iran all try to break our firewalls at least a few times a year. Those attacks are like shotgun blasts, broad and not very powerful. They just hit the walls to find any potential weak spots. This was like a goddamn laser guided missile. It cut through all the bullshit and targeted this one particular drone signal, hijacked it for its own purpose." "What's Smokescreen?" Peel asked with raised eyebrows. "Certainly seems important enough to broadcast knowledge of it." "No idea," Cheng said without blinking and fast enough that Tara knew she was holding back, if not flat out lying all together. "Naturally because of this," Crocker spoke up. "Both SIx and the CIA are in a lot of hot water with the Middle East. They already hate the use of drones, especially in a country like Yemen where all the US has is a handshake deal to use them. For them to bollocks up something this big in this way will have repercussions that we'll be feeling for years." "Not to mention Six's part in this," Cheng said without any warmth in her voice. "Faulty intelligence led to this 'bollocks up'. Your ass is just as on the line here as ours are." "Oh yes," Crocker said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "The US would never make a massive foreign policy decision in the Middle East without concrete, can't miss intelligence that they were right." "The briefing," M said sternly like a disapproving parent. "Continue, Minder One." "Because of this," Wallace said as he let the awkward pause in the room pass. "The ODG are launching two simultaneous joint operations with the Americans. Operation: Brass Angel and Operation: Copper Angel. Details are simple, 004 and 005 will work with the US SEALs DEVGRU on Copper to find Hammani in Yemen. Despite being on CIA's kill list, he is to be brought in alive for interrogation on what he knows. 007 takes Brass solo. The NSA and our OCSIA have managed to track a signal that hijacked the drone and run it back through two dozen proxies to Yangon in Myanmar. We have a location on the site, you and Six's QRU will watch and wait to see what intelligence can be gleaned from the site." "Any questions?" M asked. "Good," he said after a moment of silence. "Further detailed briefings to follow once you're wheels up and bound for your respective countries. Good luck, 00's. Find these bastards and find them quick. Dismissed."