Mind the Gap: a Spy School Collection

Nowhere Left to Run

CIA Safehouse

[Location redacted]

Eastern Europe

Late December 2022

[Author's Note: this short story lines up with the Operation Holiday Cheer continuity (as well as real world-events), but assumes that Killed in Action has not occurred]

Hank POV

The intel recovered from Operation Fox Hunt was a goldmine, but there were still loose ends to tie up—even eight years later. All major players were either dead or imprisoned, with Joshua Hallal and Mr. E being among the former and the captured persons from the aforementioned op making up the latter.

Murray Hill and Ashley Sparks were dead as well. Hill was among the dead from a secret drone strike in Asia, while Sparks died from a particularly bad case of pneumonia in prison.

Whatever the case, the war with the criminal organization was coming to a close. Now, after careful coordination with the Secret Intelligence Service and United Kingdom Special Forces, we'd successfully bagged and tagged most of SPYDER's assets, including personnel, structures, and equipment. After some checking and double-checking, we confirmed that the final splinter group we were chasing was the last remaining cluster of SPYDER personnel. Signals, imagery, and human intelligence all agreed on that fact. We'd even managed to get an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance asset on station in the form of a UAV. One final strike would mean the end of the terror group. But as Tina would inform me, there was one small problem...

"Ukraine?"

"Yes."

"... yer shittin' me."

"Honey, I promise you I'm not," Tina confirmed, marking the map on the table in our conference room. "The final SPYDER hideout is here. SIGINT says it, IMINT says it, freakin' HUMINT says it. Did you know we had intel assets there on the ground?"

"If we didn't, I'd be worried," Alexander said, scowling at the map. "Doesn't matter if we ain't involved, we still better know what's goin' on. We can take the lessons and apply it to our forces."

"That aside, if it isn't bad enough that it's in Ukraine—a freaking war zone right now—we've pinpointed it to be in Kherson Oblast," Tina added. "Zoe and Erica are still working on the specific location."

"What's so bad about Kherson Oblast?" Mike asked.

"That area's controlled by the damn Russkies," Cyrus growled. "Doesn't matter how good the intel is, we don't stand a chance in hell in gettin' any men for this op. JSOC won't touch it, nor will SAC."

"Seriously?" Chip scoffed. "C'mon, you've got a target relatively close to the water. Mini-sub or dive for infil and exfil. Textbook SEAL stuff. Raiders could get it done too. So could a dive-qualified SF team"

"Chip, you're missing the point," Jawa interjected. "Tactically, we're more than capable. The problem is that if American boots are on the ground, there's a chance that Putin will use it as an excuse to escalate. I don't think he's that crazy... but at the same time, he's ex-KGB, so you never know."

And ultimately, both were right. Black ops were the bread and butter of the Joint Special Operations Command, even more so for the Special Activities Center. But with Russian troops on the deck and a crapload of nukes just barely out of play, I had a feeling neither organization would be willing to do anything—something about it being a violation of the rules of engagement.