Post by redsycorax on Jan 30, 2022 22:24:10 GMT
Several years ago, Checkmate 'Bishop' and LAW chief Tiffany Sinn chose career over her relationship with Rex Swift, the man she rescued from East Berlin in the mid-sixties. But when reprisal happens, Tiffany embarks on her own vengeance mission against his killers...
+++
WASHINGTON DC:
"I see. Thank you, Emily," Tiffany Sinn hurriedly gulped down a glass of water and unsteadily stood. At an adjacent desk, Sargent Steel noticed his colleague's behaviour and recognised it for what it was- she'd had a bereavement. She needed someone to talk to.
"Tiff? What is it? Who is it?"
"Look, Sarge, we've worked together for years. We have no secrets, so I can tell you. It's Rex."
"What, the OSI op that rescued you from East Berlin in the forties?"
She nodded: "And we fell for each other in the sixties, but I chose career and service to my country over the more conservative option. Okay, so..."
"Someone killed him?"
"Yes." It was difficult to force the word out, but better when she had. Tiffany felt as if she was only just holding it together.
"Any idea who?"
"He was on duty in Iran. The CIA Section Head for South-West Asia thinks that it could have been a KGB remote op."
"Oh God, Tiff, I'm so sorry... Wait a minute. This doesn't make sense. Under the SALT protocols, we stick to the Iranian side of the border with SAVAK assistance and the Russians keep themselves securely in Afghanistan. Even if they've wiped out that Taliban Muslim insurgency over there, it's not as if it's a fully settled area."
"You're telling me, old friend. Which implies that it may be a renegade faction opposed to the current Soviet leadership. Can LAW and the Sentinels do without me for a few weeks?"
"Hey, no. I can guess what you're planning and I don't blame you, but...it could turn into an international incident."
"If it is a renegade Russian op, they'll want them nailed as badly as I do. Can you help me sell this to the State Department and Weinberger, Sarge?"
"You don't even have to ask, Tiff. Come on, let's go shopping in the Checkmate armoury for what you'll need."
CHECKMATE ARMORY:
"Tiffany!"
The older woman turned to see Eve Eden standing near her as she checked out a bazooka, camouflague clothing and several long distance sniper and infra-red vision implements:
"Hi, Eve. Sorry I couldn't tell you about this, but it's a solo op."
"Are you sure about this? You could need some meta help in the field."
Tiffany shook her head: "No. Thank you, old friend, but this is something that I have to do on my own."
"At the risk of your own life?"
"I'm a tough $!^@# to kill, Eve. We've served together often enough, remember?"
"Yes and I also remember you hauling my ass out of several fires along the way. We're friends. Friends do this for other friends."
"If this involved revenge for what happened to Magda, Eve, would you want anyone else along?"
Eve bit her lip: "At least let me give you some logistical help. Would a Nightshade Dimension phaser be any help?"
"Thank you, Eve. For understanding, being there when I need you and being the rock-solid friend you are."
"Tiffany... just come back safe, okay? Too many people on this end love and need you. Always remember that."
KREMLIN:
"What do you mean, Red Shield!? Who authorised this?! I did not!" Leonid Brezhnev was irate and inside him, the "Silver Lady' nanotechnology that had kept him alive past his natural span and had patched up his heavily stressed respiratory and cardiovascular organs strained to compensate for the Secretary's sudden onset of anger.
"Comrade Leonid Ilyich ... it was sanctioned by Andrei Andreyvich Gromyko. W-we thought it had your sanction."
"Get. Me. Comrade. Gromyko. Now!"
"Have you taken absolute leave of your senses, Andrei Andreyvich? What possessed you to utilise the Red Shield technology so prematurely?!"
"Comrade General Secretary, perhaps you do not realise the precariousness with which we hold the Afghan Soviet Socialist Republic. A show of strength was necessary, particularly to the Americans across the border in the decadent Shah Pahlavi's dictatorship. And what if the Americans do learn about the Red Shield technology and that it is able to counter their so-called Strategic Defence Initiative?"
"Why did you not consult me? Have you any idea of what is happening and the identity of the CIA operative killed?"
"Rex Swift. He was captured by our East Berlin division in the sixties but a female CIA operative broke him out and took him back across the Wall wasteland."
"Yes, exactly. The operative's name was Tiffany Sinn. Does that name arouse any memories, Foreign Minister?"
"Yes, of course, Comrade General Secretary. She was the CIA Section Head in Iran when the Americans assisted the Shah's regime to crush the Shia Islamic fundamentalist uprising in '79 and arranged for the assassination of the Ayatollah Khomeini, the fanatics leader. What is it?"
"She was also the one who broke Swift out of KGB/Stasi custody in East Berlin. The same woman. Rex Argent was her one-time fiancee and intermittent lover."
"Comrade General Secretary, I-I didn't know."
"Yes, well, Comrade Gromyko, you will have ample time to reflect on your foolishness in Siberia, for several years."
As the protesting figure was dragged out of the General Secretary's Office, Leonid Brezhnev clutched his chest in a grimace of pain, that much closer to his ultimately postponed death. But the spasm passed as he picked up the Hotline between Washington and Moscow to assure Ronald Reagan that the deployment of Red Shield in the A.S.S.R did not have his sanction or approval. And that KGB station personnel in Afghanistan would refrain from active encounters with the Sinn woman. Not to do so would be an implicit act of war and there was no telling how that senile old idiot in the White House might interpret it. Better to be safe than sorry...
OVER SOUTHWESTERN ASIA:
These experimental stealth jets were excellent devices, Tiffany reflected as she soared above the Himalayas en route for her confrontation. And when her screen flickered and a familiar image centred itself, she wasn't particularly surprised: "Hello, Chris. I was wondering when I'd hear from you."
The recently retired Peacemaker's image flickered: "Tiffany, I know why you want to do this. But consider what you're doing."
"Chris. I've received authorisation from both Washington and Moscow- apparently an anti-Brezhnev faction is behind what happened to Rex. And while it's good to see you back in the saddle again after your retirement recently, you won't stop me from doing this."
"I wouldn't dream of it, Tiffany. I know how much you loved him, even if it never worked out. And I'm so sorry. And I know you're a damned fine agent. But what Rex discovered was something big."
"Cut the crap, Chris. I know the rumours about Red Shield and what it is, and given your networks, I think you probably do too. Which is probably why Weinberger and Bill Casey [US Director of Central Intelligence (1981-1987)- Author ] authorised this. Even George Bush was onboard -and you know how cautious he usually is."
"Yeah, I know. It's obvious Red Shield has something to do with our Strategic Defence Initiative, probably a preventative measure to shut down the workable technologies associated with it, although no-one on our end is quite sure how. But apparently, it has to counteract our existing laser, kinetic kill vehicle and railgun technology."
"I assume you're not talking about the Kaskad orbital laser platform they launched from Kazakhstan last year?"
"No. I'm not. It's something more than that."
"Sorry, Chris. I'm coming up on the Iranian/Afghan border now. Wish me luck. Over and out."
In distant Kazakhstan, a fireball of energies briefly erupted into a blinding pinpoint of light and then deliquesced into a fainter sphere, but unaccustomed power crackled around it.
AFGHANISTAN:
As her stealth jet glided over Afghanistan, Tiffany reviewed the available information about the Afghan Soviet Socialist Republic and the probable location of the renegade faction's headquarters in Shindana. Somehow, that was logical- it was on the extreme periphery of the zone under direct Soviet control and could therefore be held against intruders. For the first time in several hours, Tiffany allowed herself to grieve for the man she had loved and lost. She loaded a clip into her pistol and reviewed the status of the weapons she carried. Finally landing, she slid out of the vehicle, monitoring the desert landscape for hostile intervention. There was none available, which mystified her.
She journeyed onward for several hours, witnessing silent signs of the Soviet occupation and annexation as she travelled toward the anti-Brezhnev factional headquarters in the nearby city. She had no idea she was being watched- and watched by a very familiar figure. His name was Aldo Bateman and he'd been involved with Tiffany Sinn previously- in fact, her third Miami mission had resulted in his exposure and apprehension as a Soviet agent and disrupted a Soviet laser technology theft corridor. Bateman had faked his death in Guantanamo Bay and had been picked up by a Soviet submarine based in Cuba and then ferried back to the USSR where he could carry on his research without disruption. Having shot down Rex Swift as he fled from his failed mission into Shindana, he was all too aware that his former paramour would shortly be there to avenge his death and would have no hesitation in killing him if their paths crossed.
Damned bureaucrats back in Moscow had bungled matters badly. Brezhnev had reportedly shipped Kosygin off to Siberia after he had been deposed as Foreign Minister and the KGB was busy interrogating Andropov and Ustinov. He didn't hold much hope for their ultimate survival- especially Andropov, given his kidney problems. Why had those damned "Silver Ladies" up in Moscow never fixed his chronic health problems as they had Brezhnev? Or, for that matter, Dimitri Ustinov's aortic valve problem, which had required an operation to remove an incipient aneurysm and his kidneys and liver were steadily deteriorating. Factional insiders suspected that there would be a major cardiac arrest any day now. They would probably die in KGB custody. Even if they came for him, though, at least he'd have the satisfaction of neutralising that blasted witch Sinn!
SHINDANA:
She was closer than Bateman thought, using her reconnaissance and terrain skills to hitch a ride into the city. For a moment, she wondered why there were no guards around the suspiciously elaborate ersatz 'police headquarters.' That indicated to her that it probably housed something else- which led her to suspect that it was probably the factional centre of operations and contained "Red Shield"- whatever that might be. She waited until nightfall and adopted camouflague as she crept toward the installation. She had worked out that there was a convenient ventilation duct and that suggested something within it required coolant input.
Fifteen minutes later, Tiffany was in the outer perimeter of what had indeed turned out to be an elaborate laboratory. What was that installation in the middle of it? It couldn't be a nuclear reactor, the configuration was wrong for that. Unless the Soviets had made some breakthrough in fusion research?! No, that would require a more developed coolant system than the one that she was inching through now. And then her heart froze. He was eighteen years older, but she recognised that arrogant demeanour and muscular body beneath his laboratory coat at once. Aldo. Aldo Bateman. Conflicting responses engulfed her. No. No, it couldn't be him, he'd drowned trying to escape from Guantanamo Bay. Although he'd probably faked his death and gotten away to Moscow and... she removed the grid from the nearest ventilation outlet and quietly slipped down to the floor.
And there, she saw Rex Swift's body. Suddenly, it all coalesced in her mind. Bateman was behind whatever this was. He'd killed Rex, one of the few men she'd ever had time to love. And he was involved with a hardline communist faction that was going to use whatever this was against the Strategic Defence Initiative:
"Oh, don't stand on ceremony, Tiffany. It's not as if we don't know each other." Across the room, Aldo Bateman stood with a pistol, pointed directly at her.
"Damn you, Aldo. At least give Rex a decent burial."
"You ruined my science career in the United States, Sinn. An eye for an eye."
"I'm not going to even bother pleading to your better instincts, because that is an oxymoron. And what is that?"
"One node of the Red Shield. Just one, though. And no, I'm not going to disclose its secret."
"It can't be a laser weapon, the Soviets already have their orbital Kaskad platform and there have been deuterium fluoride ejecta detected near that. It's the wrong shape for a railgun and obviously it requires considerable coolant. But that looks like some form of nuclear reactor."
"Not that you'd know, but do the words 'exotic matter' mean anything to you?"
Actually, it did. She'd discussed it with Nate Adam, it was related to his Captain Atom abilities. But how? Captain Atom only created it as a byproduct of his own contained nuclear processes. But how could a Soviet physicist, even an admittedly brilliant one like Aldo Bateman, have created this? And then she remembered the rumours about the "Silver Lady" nanotechnology that had resurrected Brezhnev from near-death several months. Whatever it was, could this "Silver Lady" business have anything to do with this? However, there was no time to think about that now. She had to break this stalemate- so she quickly fired at the control panel.
"You fool! Don't you realise what you've just done?!"
"Yes, Aldo. I've disabled a potential threat to the national security of the United States, the country you chose to betray."
"I'll kill you for this- the way I should have done all those years ago in Miami." Brandishing his pistol, and bringing it up to aim at her, he ran toward her. However, this was not Miami in Summer 1968, and sixteen years had changed Tiffany Sinn's combat proficiency considerably. She ducked and caught him in a karate hold, using his momentum to cause him to crash into the control unit. He screamed as the energies surged through him and he died in agony. Turning to Rex' prone body, Tiffany hefted its body bag over her shoulder and ran from the complex, having avenged her former lover's death.
EPILOGUE:
Several weeks later, after KGB safe transit to the Soviet/Iranian border and a connecting flight from Tehran to Washington, Tiffany attended Rex Swift's funeral. Flanked by her Sentinel of Justice allies, she felt their presence there as family, but it didn't assuage the emptiness she felt inside and mourning for the life they might have had if she hadn't chosen country over domesticity. Even if she had received standing applause for the success of her mission at the debriefing session before Reagan, Bush, Weinberger, Schultz and the rest of the Presidential Cabinet, it rang hollow if Rex Swift wasn't there to share it with her. As the rain fell, she stayed at his graveside until Chris Smith and Eve Eden gently took her hands and they walked away from what Tiffany Sinn's life could have been if she hadn't made different choices sixteen years ago. But Tiffany Sinn was a strong woman. She had good friends and was a respected professional agent. Despite her self-reproach and grief, she would recover from the personal tragedy that had engulfed her, even if that seemed indefinitely far in the future as she mourned her loss.
Despite Tiffany Sinn's vengeance against Aldo Bateman in Shindana, however, there were other nodes to the Red Shield project, so that aspect of her Afghan mission was only a partial success even though she had neutralised one of the principal Soviet scientists behind the project. However, although Red Shield became fully operational two years later and thus negated the Western strategic advantage contingent on the development of "Star Wars", her interim measure gave the United States and its allies enough time to develop new technological advances in its conflict against communism.
THE END
THE END
+++
WASHINGTON DC:
"I see. Thank you, Emily," Tiffany Sinn hurriedly gulped down a glass of water and unsteadily stood. At an adjacent desk, Sargent Steel noticed his colleague's behaviour and recognised it for what it was- she'd had a bereavement. She needed someone to talk to.
"Tiff? What is it? Who is it?"
"Look, Sarge, we've worked together for years. We have no secrets, so I can tell you. It's Rex."
"What, the OSI op that rescued you from East Berlin in the forties?"
She nodded: "And we fell for each other in the sixties, but I chose career and service to my country over the more conservative option. Okay, so..."
"Someone killed him?"
"Yes." It was difficult to force the word out, but better when she had. Tiffany felt as if she was only just holding it together.
"Any idea who?"
"He was on duty in Iran. The CIA Section Head for South-West Asia thinks that it could have been a KGB remote op."
"Oh God, Tiff, I'm so sorry... Wait a minute. This doesn't make sense. Under the SALT protocols, we stick to the Iranian side of the border with SAVAK assistance and the Russians keep themselves securely in Afghanistan. Even if they've wiped out that Taliban Muslim insurgency over there, it's not as if it's a fully settled area."
"You're telling me, old friend. Which implies that it may be a renegade faction opposed to the current Soviet leadership. Can LAW and the Sentinels do without me for a few weeks?"
"Hey, no. I can guess what you're planning and I don't blame you, but...it could turn into an international incident."
"If it is a renegade Russian op, they'll want them nailed as badly as I do. Can you help me sell this to the State Department and Weinberger, Sarge?"
"You don't even have to ask, Tiff. Come on, let's go shopping in the Checkmate armoury for what you'll need."
CHECKMATE ARMORY:
"Tiffany!"
The older woman turned to see Eve Eden standing near her as she checked out a bazooka, camouflague clothing and several long distance sniper and infra-red vision implements:
"Hi, Eve. Sorry I couldn't tell you about this, but it's a solo op."
"Are you sure about this? You could need some meta help in the field."
Tiffany shook her head: "No. Thank you, old friend, but this is something that I have to do on my own."
"At the risk of your own life?"
"I'm a tough $!^@# to kill, Eve. We've served together often enough, remember?"
"Yes and I also remember you hauling my ass out of several fires along the way. We're friends. Friends do this for other friends."
"If this involved revenge for what happened to Magda, Eve, would you want anyone else along?"
Eve bit her lip: "At least let me give you some logistical help. Would a Nightshade Dimension phaser be any help?"
"Thank you, Eve. For understanding, being there when I need you and being the rock-solid friend you are."
"Tiffany... just come back safe, okay? Too many people on this end love and need you. Always remember that."
KREMLIN:
"What do you mean, Red Shield!? Who authorised this?! I did not!" Leonid Brezhnev was irate and inside him, the "Silver Lady' nanotechnology that had kept him alive past his natural span and had patched up his heavily stressed respiratory and cardiovascular organs strained to compensate for the Secretary's sudden onset of anger.
"Comrade Leonid Ilyich ... it was sanctioned by Andrei Andreyvich Gromyko. W-we thought it had your sanction."
"Get. Me. Comrade. Gromyko. Now!"
"Have you taken absolute leave of your senses, Andrei Andreyvich? What possessed you to utilise the Red Shield technology so prematurely?!"
"Comrade General Secretary, perhaps you do not realise the precariousness with which we hold the Afghan Soviet Socialist Republic. A show of strength was necessary, particularly to the Americans across the border in the decadent Shah Pahlavi's dictatorship. And what if the Americans do learn about the Red Shield technology and that it is able to counter their so-called Strategic Defence Initiative?"
"Why did you not consult me? Have you any idea of what is happening and the identity of the CIA operative killed?"
"Rex Swift. He was captured by our East Berlin division in the sixties but a female CIA operative broke him out and took him back across the Wall wasteland."
"Yes, exactly. The operative's name was Tiffany Sinn. Does that name arouse any memories, Foreign Minister?"
"Yes, of course, Comrade General Secretary. She was the CIA Section Head in Iran when the Americans assisted the Shah's regime to crush the Shia Islamic fundamentalist uprising in '79 and arranged for the assassination of the Ayatollah Khomeini, the fanatics leader. What is it?"
"She was also the one who broke Swift out of KGB/Stasi custody in East Berlin. The same woman. Rex Argent was her one-time fiancee and intermittent lover."
"Comrade General Secretary, I-I didn't know."
"Yes, well, Comrade Gromyko, you will have ample time to reflect on your foolishness in Siberia, for several years."
As the protesting figure was dragged out of the General Secretary's Office, Leonid Brezhnev clutched his chest in a grimace of pain, that much closer to his ultimately postponed death. But the spasm passed as he picked up the Hotline between Washington and Moscow to assure Ronald Reagan that the deployment of Red Shield in the A.S.S.R did not have his sanction or approval. And that KGB station personnel in Afghanistan would refrain from active encounters with the Sinn woman. Not to do so would be an implicit act of war and there was no telling how that senile old idiot in the White House might interpret it. Better to be safe than sorry...
OVER SOUTHWESTERN ASIA:
These experimental stealth jets were excellent devices, Tiffany reflected as she soared above the Himalayas en route for her confrontation. And when her screen flickered and a familiar image centred itself, she wasn't particularly surprised: "Hello, Chris. I was wondering when I'd hear from you."
The recently retired Peacemaker's image flickered: "Tiffany, I know why you want to do this. But consider what you're doing."
"Chris. I've received authorisation from both Washington and Moscow- apparently an anti-Brezhnev faction is behind what happened to Rex. And while it's good to see you back in the saddle again after your retirement recently, you won't stop me from doing this."
"I wouldn't dream of it, Tiffany. I know how much you loved him, even if it never worked out. And I'm so sorry. And I know you're a damned fine agent. But what Rex discovered was something big."
"Cut the crap, Chris. I know the rumours about Red Shield and what it is, and given your networks, I think you probably do too. Which is probably why Weinberger and Bill Casey [US Director of Central Intelligence (1981-1987)- Author ] authorised this. Even George Bush was onboard -and you know how cautious he usually is."
"Yeah, I know. It's obvious Red Shield has something to do with our Strategic Defence Initiative, probably a preventative measure to shut down the workable technologies associated with it, although no-one on our end is quite sure how. But apparently, it has to counteract our existing laser, kinetic kill vehicle and railgun technology."
"I assume you're not talking about the Kaskad orbital laser platform they launched from Kazakhstan last year?"
"No. I'm not. It's something more than that."
"Sorry, Chris. I'm coming up on the Iranian/Afghan border now. Wish me luck. Over and out."
In distant Kazakhstan, a fireball of energies briefly erupted into a blinding pinpoint of light and then deliquesced into a fainter sphere, but unaccustomed power crackled around it.
AFGHANISTAN:
As her stealth jet glided over Afghanistan, Tiffany reviewed the available information about the Afghan Soviet Socialist Republic and the probable location of the renegade faction's headquarters in Shindana. Somehow, that was logical- it was on the extreme periphery of the zone under direct Soviet control and could therefore be held against intruders. For the first time in several hours, Tiffany allowed herself to grieve for the man she had loved and lost. She loaded a clip into her pistol and reviewed the status of the weapons she carried. Finally landing, she slid out of the vehicle, monitoring the desert landscape for hostile intervention. There was none available, which mystified her.
She journeyed onward for several hours, witnessing silent signs of the Soviet occupation and annexation as she travelled toward the anti-Brezhnev factional headquarters in the nearby city. She had no idea she was being watched- and watched by a very familiar figure. His name was Aldo Bateman and he'd been involved with Tiffany Sinn previously- in fact, her third Miami mission had resulted in his exposure and apprehension as a Soviet agent and disrupted a Soviet laser technology theft corridor. Bateman had faked his death in Guantanamo Bay and had been picked up by a Soviet submarine based in Cuba and then ferried back to the USSR where he could carry on his research without disruption. Having shot down Rex Swift as he fled from his failed mission into Shindana, he was all too aware that his former paramour would shortly be there to avenge his death and would have no hesitation in killing him if their paths crossed.
Damned bureaucrats back in Moscow had bungled matters badly. Brezhnev had reportedly shipped Kosygin off to Siberia after he had been deposed as Foreign Minister and the KGB was busy interrogating Andropov and Ustinov. He didn't hold much hope for their ultimate survival- especially Andropov, given his kidney problems. Why had those damned "Silver Ladies" up in Moscow never fixed his chronic health problems as they had Brezhnev? Or, for that matter, Dimitri Ustinov's aortic valve problem, which had required an operation to remove an incipient aneurysm and his kidneys and liver were steadily deteriorating. Factional insiders suspected that there would be a major cardiac arrest any day now. They would probably die in KGB custody. Even if they came for him, though, at least he'd have the satisfaction of neutralising that blasted witch Sinn!
SHINDANA:
She was closer than Bateman thought, using her reconnaissance and terrain skills to hitch a ride into the city. For a moment, she wondered why there were no guards around the suspiciously elaborate ersatz 'police headquarters.' That indicated to her that it probably housed something else- which led her to suspect that it was probably the factional centre of operations and contained "Red Shield"- whatever that might be. She waited until nightfall and adopted camouflague as she crept toward the installation. She had worked out that there was a convenient ventilation duct and that suggested something within it required coolant input.
Fifteen minutes later, Tiffany was in the outer perimeter of what had indeed turned out to be an elaborate laboratory. What was that installation in the middle of it? It couldn't be a nuclear reactor, the configuration was wrong for that. Unless the Soviets had made some breakthrough in fusion research?! No, that would require a more developed coolant system than the one that she was inching through now. And then her heart froze. He was eighteen years older, but she recognised that arrogant demeanour and muscular body beneath his laboratory coat at once. Aldo. Aldo Bateman. Conflicting responses engulfed her. No. No, it couldn't be him, he'd drowned trying to escape from Guantanamo Bay. Although he'd probably faked his death and gotten away to Moscow and... she removed the grid from the nearest ventilation outlet and quietly slipped down to the floor.
And there, she saw Rex Swift's body. Suddenly, it all coalesced in her mind. Bateman was behind whatever this was. He'd killed Rex, one of the few men she'd ever had time to love. And he was involved with a hardline communist faction that was going to use whatever this was against the Strategic Defence Initiative:
"Oh, don't stand on ceremony, Tiffany. It's not as if we don't know each other." Across the room, Aldo Bateman stood with a pistol, pointed directly at her.
"Damn you, Aldo. At least give Rex a decent burial."
"You ruined my science career in the United States, Sinn. An eye for an eye."
"I'm not going to even bother pleading to your better instincts, because that is an oxymoron. And what is that?"
"One node of the Red Shield. Just one, though. And no, I'm not going to disclose its secret."
"It can't be a laser weapon, the Soviets already have their orbital Kaskad platform and there have been deuterium fluoride ejecta detected near that. It's the wrong shape for a railgun and obviously it requires considerable coolant. But that looks like some form of nuclear reactor."
"Not that you'd know, but do the words 'exotic matter' mean anything to you?"
Actually, it did. She'd discussed it with Nate Adam, it was related to his Captain Atom abilities. But how? Captain Atom only created it as a byproduct of his own contained nuclear processes. But how could a Soviet physicist, even an admittedly brilliant one like Aldo Bateman, have created this? And then she remembered the rumours about the "Silver Lady" nanotechnology that had resurrected Brezhnev from near-death several months. Whatever it was, could this "Silver Lady" business have anything to do with this? However, there was no time to think about that now. She had to break this stalemate- so she quickly fired at the control panel.
"You fool! Don't you realise what you've just done?!"
"Yes, Aldo. I've disabled a potential threat to the national security of the United States, the country you chose to betray."
"I'll kill you for this- the way I should have done all those years ago in Miami." Brandishing his pistol, and bringing it up to aim at her, he ran toward her. However, this was not Miami in Summer 1968, and sixteen years had changed Tiffany Sinn's combat proficiency considerably. She ducked and caught him in a karate hold, using his momentum to cause him to crash into the control unit. He screamed as the energies surged through him and he died in agony. Turning to Rex' prone body, Tiffany hefted its body bag over her shoulder and ran from the complex, having avenged her former lover's death.
EPILOGUE:
Several weeks later, after KGB safe transit to the Soviet/Iranian border and a connecting flight from Tehran to Washington, Tiffany attended Rex Swift's funeral. Flanked by her Sentinel of Justice allies, she felt their presence there as family, but it didn't assuage the emptiness she felt inside and mourning for the life they might have had if she hadn't chosen country over domesticity. Even if she had received standing applause for the success of her mission at the debriefing session before Reagan, Bush, Weinberger, Schultz and the rest of the Presidential Cabinet, it rang hollow if Rex Swift wasn't there to share it with her. As the rain fell, she stayed at his graveside until Chris Smith and Eve Eden gently took her hands and they walked away from what Tiffany Sinn's life could have been if she hadn't made different choices sixteen years ago. But Tiffany Sinn was a strong woman. She had good friends and was a respected professional agent. Despite her self-reproach and grief, she would recover from the personal tragedy that had engulfed her, even if that seemed indefinitely far in the future as she mourned her loss.
Despite Tiffany Sinn's vengeance against Aldo Bateman in Shindana, however, there were other nodes to the Red Shield project, so that aspect of her Afghan mission was only a partial success even though she had neutralised one of the principal Soviet scientists behind the project. However, although Red Shield became fully operational two years later and thus negated the Western strategic advantage contingent on the development of "Star Wars", her interim measure gave the United States and its allies enough time to develop new technological advances in its conflict against communism.
THE END
THE END
