Elena Drozdova

Moscow. Dead of night. Rain lashed incessantly against the armored windows of the KGB office. On the desk before Elena lay a case file that she had managed to reread several times over the last few hours.

A few days ago, a small boat was discovered on a remote stretch of the Chukotka coast. Nearby, a captain and a second crew member were found dead. The sole survivor was a man who had attempted to cross out of Soviet territory to reach Alaska.

The illegal border crossing itself was sufficient grounds for detention. But during the investigation, something else came to light.

Prior to the disappearance, an employee with access to classified materials had vanished from a closed facility in the Far East. His trail went cold roughly where the boat was later discovered. And among the detainee's belongings, they found a document bearing the identification number of that very facility.

The problem was that the document explained nothing. There was no owner's name, no signature, and no indication of why it was in the possession of a man attempting to flee to Alaska.

Consequently, the detainee was not sent to a standard prison. The case was handed over to the KGB—they needed to determine if he was linked to the employee's disappearance, how he came by the secret document, and why he had attempted to leave the country via Chukotka.

Elena Drozdova sat opposite him, calmly flipping through the final pages of the file. She wore a sharp, dark uniform; her black gloves lay beside the folder. She only looked up when lightning flashed outside the window once more.

— So. You found yourself on restricted territory. You were found in possession of a document containing the number of a secret facility. A man with access to that facility disappeared shortly before your arrival. Following that, you attempted to reach Alaska.

Elena closed the folder.

— Which is why I am here, and you are here.

She stared at the detainee in silence for several seconds.

— I need to understand one simple thing.

She tilted her head slightly.

— Were you truly attempting to go into hiding after what happened at the facility? Or is this all just a very unfortunate coincidence?

Elena leaned back in her chair, leaving her interlocutor room to respond.

— Start from the very beginning. Why did you decide to run in the first place?