Marina Ivanovna Nikolaeva. Italian-Russian. The dead wife of General Nikolaev and the mother of Natasha.
On August 8, 2008, the Russian-Georgian war broke out. It was also the same day that Marina, who was engaged in intelligence gathering in Georgia, was found died by the Tbilisi police in the hotel she stayed at. Through the individual items in her suitcase, she was finally confirmed to be a Russian intelligence personnel.
Since the war ended in less than a week, the news was not disclosed. After the signing of the ceasefire agreement, the Georgian government returned the body of Marina to Russia with the remains of other Russian soldiers.
Eventually, Marina was buried with other Russian soldiers killed in Georgia in the Preobrazhensky Cemetery on the outskirts of Moscow. Nikolaev attended her funeral with Natasha, who was only 15 years old at the time. Since then, the relationship between them deteriorated.
The death of Marina was said to be due to a shot in the head, but there was no further evidence that could provide more information.
An entire day passed since Natasha’s departure. When Ayesha reported the information to Jiang Chen, Jiang Chen frowned.
“Hated her father because of her mother’s death? I had always felt that there was something wrong with this explanation.”
“Maybe it’s due to the reason behind the death of Marina, ” Ayesha analyzed.
“You mean…Marina was killed by her husband Nikolaev? One is the commander of the 58th Army, and the other is the agent of the Russian Security Service. The work of the two are not in the same field. Did Nikolaev have a reason to do this?” Jiang Chen leaned back in his chair while rubbing his sore brows and said while easing a headache, “I’m the most curious about what the big bearded general thought when he found out he had a spy as a wife, especially a field agent.”
Ayesha walked behind Jiang Chen and placed her hands on his shoulders to gently massage them for him, trying to ease his fatigue.
“Maybe, it is not his intention to marry Marina.”
Jiang Chen’s eyes lit up, but immediately turned dark and shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. Nikolaev did not remarry. With his position, he shouldn’t have lacked pursuers. Unless he liked men, it makes no sense….”
With so little evidence, he was only sure that Natasha must have been tracking down her mother’s cause of death for several years, and this sudden disappearance was most likely related to it. As for whether Marina’s death was related to his husband Nikolayev, or what role Nikolayev played in her death, that all remained a mystery.
Enjoying the massage of the two small hands on his shoulders, Jiang Chen closed his eyes. His fingers began gently tapping on the arm of the sofa.
“Will the clues be in Georgia?” Ayesha suddenly said. “If we send people to the hotel where the incident happened…”
“It’s useless, it’s been eleven years,” Jiang Chen shook his head. “It’s better to go to the local police station than go to the hotel, but I suspect that all the evidence and Marina’s personal belongings would have been transferred with her body after the signing of the ceasefire agreement. It is better to go to Moscow than to go to Georgia.”
“Then…”
“I know what you want to say, but I forbid you to do this. Our relationship with Russia is now in the honeymoon stage, and any miss step may cause misunderstanding and could be quite unwise.”
Jiang Chen hesitated, but in the end, he didn’t break out the news of Natasha’s disappearance. Disregard if the Russian Security Service would go deep into a foreign country to find a special agent who left her duty without provision, no one would be sure if the Freemasonry planted insiders inside Russia. Breaking out the news would increase her danger at the border.
As for how long he could keep it a secret, he’ll take it one day at a time.
Originally, he planned to return to Xin after the military base was complete. But now, with Natasha’s sudden disappearance, it directly disrupted his plan. Before confirming her safety, he couldn’t just leave.
“How many people do we have in this region? I am referring to the Ghosts Agents.” Jiang Chen suddenly looked at Ayesha and asked.
“Only two people. The intelligence in the Ukraine region is mainly the responsibilities of Gnavier. Now our focus on European intelligence work is concentrated in Western Europe… Do you need me to contact her to send more people?” Ayesha asked.
“No, she needs people on her side.” Jiang Chen stood up from the sofa. “We will transfer people directly from the headquarters.”
“Transfer directly from the headquarters? But is this feasible?” Ayesha wondered.
“Normal entry is definitely too late, but we can go through the orbit.”
The village in the northwest of the city of Donetsk, where in shambles and ruins. There was not a single sign of life. As early as the beginning of the war, the residents here moved to the town in the north to take refuge. The government forces and civilian militants were both stationed here and from the cracked wall, this place endured heavy artillery.
Dressed in a brown windbreaker, Natasha’s long blond hair was tied into a ponytail. Natasha, dressed as an independent journalist, carried a travel bag and walked through the rubbles. She was being cautious of the shadows lurking in the darkness.
She made a few turns in the ruins, and soon arrived at the designated location.
It was still Skanov, the Ukrainian military officer that actually served Moscow.
When he saw Natasha, Skanov grinned and greeted her.
“Where is the stuff?”
As soon as he said this, a package of documents was tossed at him.
After catching the documents that Natasha had thrown, Skanov opened the package and took out the documents from inside. He took a few glances at the text, and he seemed surprised, but very quickly his expression returned to normal.
“Is this the last piece of document?” After Skanov roughly scanned the document, he put the document in front of his chest and looked at Natasha.
“Yes, the organization suggests that you withdraw to the rear. It is better you have a wound or something, better than dying on the battlefield.”
“Even if the organization doesn’t recommend it, I will still do it.” Skanov smiled. “Have you heard about what happened the night before? In five hours, two airborne brigades were deployed here, and the entire Ukrainian radar system had no response. It was ESA that first discovered the little guys and reported them as meteor showers. Hey, speaking of which, pulling Celestial Trade into this mess was my idea, I don’t know if they will give me a St. George’s medal after I return home… Right, where is my cigar?”
When Natatha came, she would get a box of cigars fom her father and give it to this old friend.
“I left in a hurry and didn’t go see him.” After a pause, Natasha said, “Do you have any lead on the thing I asked you to investigate?”
“If you didn’t mention it, I would have forgotten,” Skanov slapped his forehead and then looked at Natasha with a smile. “I have two pieces of bad news. Which one do you want to listen to first?”
