His entry point was a low-level cryptocurrency mixer in Bratislava. From there, he climbed. Each handshake was a test. Each whispered conversation in a soundproofed SUV was a potential firing squad. The rule was simple: trust no one. Not your handler. Not the woman who claims to love you. Especially not yourself.
His handler’s voice crackled through the subdermal comm: “Extract now. This is a blowback scenario. Repeat, extract now.” Secret Mission Undercover Agents Never Back Down-
But Koval was paranoid. He ran background checks on Julian Ashford that went back to elementary school. Vex had prepared for that. What he hadn’t prepared for was the dead drop. One morning, he found a photograph slipped under his safehouse door: a candid shot of his real sister, taken that week. She lived in Arizona. No one was supposed to know she existed. His entry point was a low-level cryptocurrency mixer
Because for an undercover agent, backing down isn’t failure. It’s death. And death, as they’ll tell you in Section Zero, is just another cover story. Each whispered conversation in a soundproofed SUV was
Koval, impressed by the audacity, promoted him to the inner circle.
Vex grabbed it. As he was hauled aboard, a final shot grazed his calf. He didn’t feel it. Adrenaline is a liar, but sometimes it tells the truth: you are still alive.
To stay under, Vex did something no training manual would ever authorize. He confessed. Not the truth, but a better lie. He told Koval’s security chief that he had been a “freelance double agent”—playing both Interpol and the cartel to drive up his own price. It was reckless. It was insane. And it worked.