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“…So.”

Ilya Nikolaevich, the Director of the Imperial Guard HQ, spoke up.

“They say that the Advisor has embezzled a vast sum of wealth abroad through derivatives, and you believe this is a signal for asylum.”

“Yes, Director.”

Ekaterina nodded.

Director Ilya Nikolaevich read the information memo (IM, a short report distributing urgent information) submitted by the Economic Counterintelligence Department under his control.

As his gaze slowly moved, Ekaterina began to speak again.

“We’ve also confirmed a large sum of unreported cash withdrawn from accounts and kept in the office. Similar to Advisor Vasiliy Vladimirovich, there have been indications that a significant amount has moved from his wife’s account.”

“Have you been able to track where that money went?”

“Not yet.”

Hmm. The Director let out a short hum and put down the information memo.

A habitual hand clasp. It was an unconscious action that occurred when the Director relaxed, leaning back in his chair to look at Ekaterina.

“This is insufficient.”

Episode 10 – Turn North-Northwest

The Director said, “From the standpoint of the Information Agency, this incident appears to be signs of asylum, but from the perspective of the police or the National Tax Agency, it’s merely tax evasion. What we need is solid evidence.”

Given how sensitive the time was, lacking clear evidence would be problematic.

Due to human rights issues, democratic nations including Abas and Patalia had issued statements and resolutions, particularly the Abas Senate had adopted a resolution demanding a halt to the crackdown on opposition figures.

Normally, such matters would have been ignored without a second thought, but now, esteemed guests from foreign lands were staying within the Empire. The foreign correspondents who came with them were probing into human rights issues, which the imperial government and royal family were particularly sensitive about.

If the Imperial Guard HQ were to handle the Advisor’s family asylum issue as usual, no one could predict what kind of chaos might ensue.

So, caution was the only option left.

“Likewise, the Abas Information Agency’s assumption that they will facilitate Vasiliy Vladimirovich’s asylum remains at a speculative stage. There’s simply a lack of evidence.”

“……”

“On that day, more than a hundred people engaged with the military officer under surveillance, and the Advisor conversed with dozens of other diplomats at the banquet. Isn’t it common to exchange business cards upon first meeting and meet again at the next diplomatic event?”

That was a fair point, and thus, Ekaterina conceded.

But she had no intention of backing down now. Ekaterina said, “Today, Vasiliy Vladimirovich visited the Embassy of Abas. He accompanied the committee members of the Defense Commission during their protest visit as an advisor.”

“I also heard.”

“Please impose a travel ban on the advisor and his family.”

She was asking him to prevent them from fleeing abroad.

Director Ilya Nikolaevich rejected Ekaterina’s request.

“No.”

“Director, but—”

He raised his hand to cut off Ekaterina’s words.

“If they truly intend to asylum, issuing a travel ban would merely confirm that we’re monitoring them.”

“……”

“If the Abas Information Agency orchestrated the asylum, they would swiftly eliminate any trace and deny any connection. In the worst-case scenario, we can’t rule out the possibility of the advisor being killed.”

“…Even so, if the asylum fails, wouldn’t that prevent leaks of information?”

“Of course, the information would certainly no longer leak. And those Information Officers who took the data will slip out of our investigation too.”

If they were going to tackle this, they should do it properly and ensure an outright resolution.

The Director concluded his remarks by signing the approval section of the document.

“We’ll handle the travel issue quietly, so you focus on monitoring. If they attempt to leave, we need to ascertain their destination and observe how they react if their departure is denied.”

Ekaterina had much to say, but she decided to withdraw for the moment.

The next dawn.

The advisor and his family were expelled from the immigration office.

*

The Imperial Guard HQ sent a cooperation letter to the immigration office through the Ministry of Justice.

The document instructed that should the three nationals mentioned attempt to leave the country, the responsible personnel should be notified immediately, and everything must be done to prevent their departure.

Having received the cooperation letter, the Security Chief of the immigration office stayed at work all night without going home.

His wife’s call asking why he was still out not returning home came in, but if he attracted attention from the security forces, he’d be out of a job, so he persevered at his desk, poring over every regulation book.

And that early dawn.

As the advisor and his family arrived at the immigration office as stated in the document, the Immigration Officer and Security Chief threw themselves into blocking their exit, pushing forth the Educational Law and Imperial Academy regulations after staying up all night to find them.

The effect was undeniable.

“No! How can you say we can’t leave the country?”

“That’s the regulation! The regulation! Go sort it out at the Academy office!”

Not knowing exactly what was happening, it seemed they weren’t ordinary people, given that the security forces insisted on blocking the exit.

As the Immigration Officer held firm, the Security Chief reported to the responsible personnel that the advisor and his family had actually come.

That responsible personnel was none other than Ekaterina.

Having tracked the advisor and his family from the moment they left their house, it didn’t take long for her to respond once she got the call.

“We are from the Imperial Guard HQ.”

“Oh, yes! Please come this way.”

Ekaterina checked in the immigration office’s database which country and region the advisor and his family were attempting to leave for.

She reported to her superiors, and the Imperial Guard HQ issued urgent instructions to the local embassy to dispatch an information officer to the respective regional immigration office immediately.

-‘Team Leader, we have a report from the embassy.’

“What’s the situation?”

-‘Yes, there was a man holding a placard with the advisor’s name in front of the local immigration office’s Warp Gate. However, upon identifying him, he turned out to be a diplomat from the Abas embassy. It seems it’s official cover? What should we do?’

“Report to the Director.”

At that same moment, an Information Officer from the Military Intelligence Agency trying to make contact with the advisor’s family in a third country sensed something amiss.

The Information Officer immediately returned to the embassy…

The report was made to the company, and the Military Intelligence Agency concluded that the defection had failed.

Ekaterina assessed that the Abas Information Agency would have caught wind of the situation by now. She deployed her team near the apartment and reported to the Director, formally requesting an arrest warrant.

However, the Director refused.

-“I’m not convinced that the Abas Information Agency has detected our company’s surveillance yet. If the Imperial Guard HQ issues the arrest warrant directly and detains the advisor, we won’t be able to secure any further evidence.”

Instead, the Director suggested a countermeasure.

-“However, we can investigate the advisor for tax evasion through the National Tax Service.”

The advisor had moved assets overseas to defect. From the perspective of the information agency, this was a sign of an attempted defection, but from the standpoint of the Tax Service, it was clearly a tax evasion attempt.

In other words, given the lack of solid evidence, it would be more advantageous for the Imperial Guard HQ to have the imperial police, alerted by the Tax Service, arrest the advisor for tax evasion, creating a prettier picture.

They could preemptively act before the Abas Information Agency made a judgment, and most importantly, it would put them in a difficult situation if the fact that they had allowed a tax evader to defect became public knowledge.

-“If the security agency summons him for tax evasion, he won’t be able to move so easily.”

“When can we start the investigation?”

-“Tomorrow.”

The Director ordered.

-“If we can just hold out until tomorrow, we can prevent him from leaving the empire. If he refuses to appear, we can issue a travel ban, and if he goes into hiding, it can lead to a nationwide manhunt.”

“…….”

-“Can you do it?”

Ekaterina asserted.

“It is possible.”

The advisor would never be leaving the empire.

*

A congressional aide with access to military and state secrets attempted to defect. Suddenly clearing all schedules to leave the country, coincidentally, an Abas diplomat was waiting for them locally.

There was no direct evidence, but it was a situation that could only be interpreted as an attempted defection.

The Director of Department 1 of the Imperial Guard HQ, Ilya Nikolaevich, ordered his division to support Ekaterina’s team with immediate effect.

“Communication team, external support is going out. Grab the gear and head to the parking lot!”

An employee struggling to move the heavy, state-of-the-art equipment muttered.

“Wow, this is ridiculously heavy. But where are we taking this?”

“I overheard the team leader on a call earlier; it sounded like they were going to intercept some embassy calls.”

“Embassy? How the heck do you eavesdrop on that? Didn’t all previous attempts end in failure?”

“Hey, man. Just shut up and move the luggage.”

The technicians from the Imperial Guard HQ loaded the eavesdropping equipment into the vehicle.

Following them, a swarm of investigators poured out of the stairs and into the parking lot.

Since they had seen them briefly go by, the technicians casually asked the investigators as they passed, somewhat curiously.

“Is there an incident? Everyone seems to be going out suddenly.”

“Not really; we’re just responding to a support request.”

“Oh? Are you guys going out to support too?”

An employee sitting in the driver’s seat interrupted the conversation between the investigator and technician. He was a domestic information officer prowling around college campuses for thought criminals.

As he turned the car key, he muttered as if passing by.

“We also got a support request. I was writing a report at the office when suddenly an order came down from above. What a stroke of bad luck…”

“Is that support request for Ekaterina Andreyevna’s team?”

“Huh? How did you know that?”

“We got that contact too, you know.”

While the information officer, investigator, and technician pondered in confusion, the information officer, who had climbed into the vehicle and was swapping shoes, shouted into his phone.

“Hey, idiot! What trouble did you cause this time?!”

-‘What.’

“Right now, all the company staff are going crazy, heading out to support your team! The company parking lot is turning into a marketplace….”

-‘Is this my fault? If you’re angry, talk to the Director. I don’t want to go out either.’

“That sounds… not right. It’s an order; you have to comply. Yep, no question about it.”

Ekaterina on the other end of the line responded with a tired voice, nearly at her wits’ end after traveling since early morning.

The information officer closed the car door and spoke.

I had just run into Ekaterina’s colleague in the elevator, who had provided some advice after reviewing the derivatives trading records.

“So then, what’s going on this time?”

-‘It’s just work. Company work.’

“So, what kind of guy are we investigating that requires so many teams to be summoned? I heard you already dispatched more than eight vehicles on the way down.”

-‘No idea.’

Ekaterina in the driver’s seat trailed off.

At that moment, a teammate sitting in the front passenger seat, monitoring something, called her attention.

Upon receiving the teammate’s report, Ekaterina straightened up from her slouched position and hastily ended the call.

“Hey, I have to hang up. The situation room will be able to relay over the radio, so make sure to grab the radio equipment, okay? We’ll meet on-site later.”

-‘Hello? Hey, Ekaterina. Hey. Hey, damn it—!’

-DISCONNECT!

Ekaterina, who ended the call, shoved her mobile phone into her pocket and turned to the teammate holding the binoculars.

“Where are we?!”

“Over there, Team Leader. Take a look through this.”

Ekaterina received the binoculars and scanned the direction the teammate pointed out.

At the entrance of the apartment at 3-25 Ulitsa Street, Petrogard, the advisor was getting into the vehicle with his family.

As the teammate began documenting the scene with a magical recording device, Ekaterina, having lowered the binoculars, started the engine.

“Let’s go after them.”

 

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