Empire of the Ring

"Lee, what makes you so busy these days that you don't even call me anymore?"

"I can call you every day if that's what you want, chief. I just fear that you'd get me more assignments if I do."

"Don't be ridiculous, Lee. You've made a fuss and gone to Central and South America. Besides, the European chapter should make some achievements too."

Michael did not sound happy. Youngho knew that he had to be compliant when Michael was salty like this.

"I've been working hard not to let down the chapter's status and not to get behind other agents."

"Other agents are only trying to get away from my radar. Lee, I want you to do go Geneva, Switzerland. It looks like Armenians are involved in some troubles."

"As far as I know, isn't there an agent in charge of Switzerland?"

"You know there's going to be a disarmament conference there. All sorts of spies would be gathered there for that. You won't be bored."

"Well, since you're sending us to Switzerland for a free tour, I shouldn't say no to it.

"Don't think about coming back without any results. I won't pay for your trip if you don't get me anything."

"It sounds like you want me to make a problem."

"Come to the chapter and I'll give you a briefing before you go. Oh, and Eriksson wanted to ask you a favor too. He'll contact you soon."

Youngho wondered about what Eriksson would be asking. If he had spoken to Michael already, it must be a huge case.

A few days after, Eriksson came to see Youngho at the office in Baku downtown.

It had been a long since he saw him in person although they occasionally spoke on the phone meanwhile.

"Mr. Lee, our agency had made a great profit out of the Colombian rebel's arms deal. It's quite late to say this but I'd like to say thank you for your role in it on behalf of my company. The arms company had given the agency a separate commission but I couldn't take something for you."

"Well, don't mind it. I'm not interested in extra money other than my own share. Also, I don't want to step on your toes."

"Truly you're a gentleman. Our agency thinks of you as a good business partner."

Eriksson was not saying the purpose of his visit but was only flattering Youngho.

"Michael already talked about you, so why don't we cut to the chase? You can consider me as a freelance for now."

"Alright Mr. Lee. I know that you're going to Geneva for your assignment. It'd be great if you could work on our job as well when you're there."

"I'd like to hear what it's all about before I agree."

Listening to the agency's secret business meant that one had to take the job already but Youngho still wanted to listen to the business details. Only then, Eriksson took away his smile and began to talk about the point.

***

"You don't think Michael won't be mad about this, right?"

"Like I told you, this is what he asked for."

Since Youngho could not tell Jongil about the Information Agency, he told him that he was doing a favor for Michael and he would be making money for this.

"I understand that it's going to be profitable but I don't want to get involved in dirty works."

"Did we ever do any clean job then? The CIA's job is always meddling in other countries' matters and finding about their classified information."

Youngho said this because finding out secrecy was no different from stealing. It was only presumed to be honorable since they belonged to a nation's agency but their job was not so honorable at all.

Youngho and Jongil were crossing the border of Switzerland on ICE Train from Frankfurt.

Geneva had a major office of the United Nations, UNOG, and the headquarters of Conference on Disarmament.

What Eriksson requested was to have a background investigation on an influential French politician who was attending this year's Conference on Disarmament. Since Youngho was going to Geneva, the agency had asked Youngho to do their job. The agency was expecting that the French politician would be involved in a secret deal in Geneva and Youngho's job was to find out about the details of the deal.

Eriksson said that the commission would be based on the value of the information that Youngho will report. Youngho and Jongil were rather welcomed to receive another job since they were assigned to find out about Armenians' movement anyway. Another job was not a big deal for them.

"It seems like all the secret agents of the world will be in Switzerland. I hope something fun happens."

Jongil was seeking for something exciting. He had been getting tired of taking care of the new immigrants. Moreover, he was being grilled by Szechenyi and Zeynep who wanted to learn how to fly from him. He almost leaped in joy when he heard that he was going on a business trip.

"Jongil, don't try to get into anything. It might become an international matter if you get into trouble with other agents."

"They won't be able to tell since we're Asians."

Although being Asians could be used as good covers since people did not see them as agents from America, but their appearance could also be an easy target since they stood out.

Their lodging was reserved at a cheap hotel near the Cornavin train station, where many backpackers liked to stay. It was reserved by agent Philip. All of the high-quality hotels' rooms were already taken by the visitors attending the international conference.

"Why did Philip reserve this cheap room when he came here in advance. Man, why do we, global-scale spies, have to stay in this kind of hotel?"

"What are you talking about? We're only based in Azerbaijan."

Jongil did not care about Youngho's words since he was looking at girls in the lobby.

"Man, there must be spies among those beauties."

"Oh yeah? Why don't you announce that you're a global-scale spy and treat them for dinner? Stop talking about nonsense and let's find out how much this hotel is. This hotel must make a lot of money for all those visitors."

"You only care about hotels these days. The five-star hotels here cost double the amount of luxury hotels in Baku. You can't afford any of them, especially if they're in the market now."

Youngho checked the price of a high quality hotel room nearby online and it was much more than 350 dollars a night. It was a global city but it was too expensive.

Since it was close to France, Youngho could hear French on the streets as most of the visitors were French. The prices were very high, so most of the backpackers could not even afford those luxury hotels.

Allegedly, many of the representatives of different nations were also staying in only three-star hotels because there were no more rooms in those luxury hotels. It seemed that having a hotel here would be a good moneymaker.

***

The reason that Youngho and Jongil were assigned to Geneva was to catch the moment of Armenian military officials' arms deal. They were told to meet Philip who had been staying there ahead of them to work with him but he was still busy as if he was chasing some at the moment. They only got a call from him and he did not contact them yet.

The Conference on Disarmament was meeting to discuss decreasing the number of conventional weapons spread all around the world. The conference had made visible results in the past such as the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Chemical Weapons Convention. Because it was a conference to reduce military budgets for arms of each nation, many military officials and arms providers paid close attention to the international event.

Because all of them had gathered in the same place, naturally there would be secret deals between interested parties. In fact, there had been many deals to sell and buy manufacturing techniques of cutting-edge weapons in the back alleys of Geneva. Ironically, Geneva had become a black market of arms, which was a completely opposite idea of the one behind the establishment of Disarmament Conference.

Before coming to Geneva, Youngho and Jongil were told to find out about Armenians military officials' movement at the conference at the European chapter. The CIA had obtained the information that Armenian military was trying to buy missiles from a European country. Italy and France were highly possible seller nations. Even if Eriksson had not asked, Youngho had to watch over the representatives of those nations anyway.

As Youngho wondered about how to go about his assignment, Jongil asked,

"You don't think that grandma is related to this, do you?"

The 'grandma' meant the Armenian-American extreme nationalist, Tracy of the Lincy Foundation.

"Well, I'm not sure. However, as far as I know, she can't be at work in the front even if she might be paying for all this. She can't possibly let down her image by showing her face here."

"Phew, it's getting old. Those nationalists, when will they finally get it?"

The conventional cannons or tanks were not a big threat to local war but missiles were a weapon of mass destruction that could reach other regions away from the battlefield. If the Armenian force were planning to buy missiles and attack Azerbaijan, it would be disastrous because Azerbaijan, as well, would demolish Armenia with their cutting-edge weapons and air force power.

It would not be a big deal if the two countries have a local battle but if it became expanded to the point where civilians would also get harmed, the international society would not stay still. All other nations with their own interests would be involved and the escalation would be unavoidable. Then Youngho's businesses and Serbian people would also fall into danger.

In order to stop Armenia making an unfortunate choice, the arms deal must be stopped. If they could catch the evidence of an arms deal, the rest would be taken care of by the heads of each related country politically.

***

It had been very quiet in Geneva but an incident had occurred last night.

An Italian arms provider and a diplomat were assaulted during the night. The diplomat had died on the spot and the arms provider was in a coma.

The attacker boldly shot the two sitting at a cafe and hid from the public's eye. It was a shocking accident that a high official of a strong nation Italy was killed in a crowded cafe.

On the TV news, many speculations were made.

Youngho was also getting an earful from Michael for this incident.

"What are you two doing over there? Have you been just touring around the city?"

"It looks like the attacker tried to stop an arms deal but it's difficult to figure out who it is since his method was very amateur."

"You don't think the Azerbaijani government is responsible for this?"

"The Azerbaijani government is not that quick-footed. How would they've been so close to the truth when our agency is only at the point of guessing?"

"Anyway, be careful and focus on French officials."

"Okay. I'll bring you good news next time."

Youngho gave a desirable answer to Michael to hang up quickly.

Because the inspection was now tighter, Youngho and Jongil hid their pistols inside the leather shoes, which was very uncomfortable.

On the streets, random questioning and inspections were made. Jongil rubbed his ankle and complained.

"I'm going to have bruises on my ankles. Can't we just carry flip knives? I don't see many skillful men who could be of a match to us."

"Dude, you need to carry them all just in case. I think Philip is up to something since he hadn't been calling us."

At that moment, Philip contacted Youngho.

"Lee, where are you now?"

"I'm taking a walk around the Lake Geneva. "

"That's great. Could you come to where I am? I'm at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel de la Paix near Place Bourg du Four. The Armenians that I've been following had just entered the hotel where the French representatives are staying."

Philip had been staking out at the hotel where the French officials were staying. Apart from the truth of their arms deal, now the US would be able to pressure France with the fact that the Armenian military officials had entered where French officials were staying.

They had found the evidence of the two national representatives had met but they had no idea what their contents of negotiation were.

The arms providing nations had agreed on not providing mass destruction weapons to Armenia. If France was to break that rule, Armenia must have suggested a shocking price for the arms.

Youngho could not sit and wait for Armenia to obtain dangerous arms even if the CIA had not commanded him, because it would definitely affect the little kingdom that he had built. He wanted to imprint the idea to the officials and arms providers of all nations that if anyone contacted Armenian military officials, they would suffer great damage. Reading Youngho's face, Jongil also nodded.

The two had attained special power that others did not have and Youngho had a sense of duty that he should stop potential danger with the power.

He did not think deep but he was ready to break the arms deal on the spot. It was to prevent countless people's sacrifice and suffering. It was achievable with a few people's sacrifices today.

Youngho thanked the attacker who shot the Italian official and arms provider in his mind since whatever that would happen at the Hotel de la Paix, the attacker would be considered to be accountable for that. The countless CC-TVs on the streets were already tracking him.