KVSPARROW: A Shadow Wars Novel Read online

Chapter Eight

  Qamil Bala is basically a street and parking lot that runs in front of several large blocks of flats just off one of the main streets in Sunny Hill. This particular street, Enver Maloku, runs along the military crest of the hill with the flats and access roads, including the connector to Qamil Bala, dropping down the hill in a terrace fashion. There are a few shops set on Enver Maloku near the entrance to Qamil Bala as well as a couple in the ground floor level of several of the apartment blocks. These let residents do their shopping close to home, which is pretty common through Europe. I took advantage of this practice for additional cover, ducking into one of the ground level shops after careful observation and boxing of the area. I’d seen nothing untoward, no one sitting in a parked car, no loiterers in or near the entrances to the flats, just the normal movement of pedestrians and traffic up and down Enver Maloku. Ordinarily I’d have had Naim do a sweep for surveillance before entering the area myself but I wanted no one to have an opportunity to learn the identity of KVSPARROW. What he didn’t know he couldn’t later reveal. I trusted Naim within certain limits but compartmentalization of knowledge is standard operating procedure for a reason. Knowing the meet location would also mean possibly being able to put other data points together in the future and providing lay off security for this meet would mean being in closer and able to directly observe who came and went. That would result in Naim having a good look at Aferdita even without knowing she was the source. This would again mean an additional data point which could later become knowledge we wanted contained. During the meet last night he’d been positioned too far away to see the parking lot or observe the meet directly. That wouldn’t be the case here in a daylight urban environment. So I made the approach to the meet site alone and with care. This was turning into a job where a team would be better than a singleton but time had been a factor and I’d just have to improvise, adapt and overcome.

  Entering one of the ground floor shops that sold groceries, I browsed for a bit, using the window to confirm a lack of reaction to my movement. I bought bread, milk, candy bars and a few small items which when placed in the clear plastic bags used for groceries would make me look like just another guy picking up stuff for the wife before he got home. A man walking around an apartment complex by himself draws the eye. The same guy, properly dressed, carrying groceries and not paying obvious attention to his surroundings, tends to blend in and not be noticed. Status for cover, status for action. The more easily explainable I was, the more likely I would be overlooked.

  I left the shop, turned right and quickly reached the entrance to the block where Aferdita’s friend had her flat. I was fairly sure this was legitimate and not an ambush but the possibility that I was being played remained. I needed to clear the area and establish an observation post before the meet was to occur. While no ambush had occurred last night, it was not beyond the realm of possibility for the opposition to have made contact in order to assess who had been running an op against them. Having gotten a fairly good idea from the conversation last night, they could now have decided to go with a direct action against me which would have a better chance of success if I was relaxed and thinking only of external threats. I was in as much danger at this meet as at the last one, maybe more since I had no backup and less room to maneuver. Still, the chance had to be taken and was what we were being paid for. I scanned the area without moving my head, trying to see any signs of anyone out of place.

  The apartment block, one of seven or so strung along Qamil Bala, was fairly typical of its kind. There was a central stairwell twisting back and forth to the top floor with a grimy window at each level giving a view of the parking lot and much of the surrounding area. There was a small landing at each floor where the stairs turned back inward. These landings gave access to the flats on each floor. I stayed well back from the windows, checking at each level to see if anyone was hurrying toward the entrance or taking up a position nearby. The flat was on the fourth floor so I walked up to the sixth and waited on the stairs a few minutes to see if anyone came into the stairwell below me. There were no signs of anyone paying me any attention at all which was reassuring. That left the apartment itself. It was the biggest danger area since I was time and place predictable there. A direct action team could wait inside knowing that I’d show up sooner or later and this would permit a clever opponent to eschew external surveillance which might be spotted and give the game away. Putting a team inside might also help lure in an unwary operator who was inclined to trust Aferdita and who, failing to detect an exterior threat, would feel more confident and thus walk into the flat in a more relaxed and vulnerable state of mind. I tended to believe her, mostly because not doing so meant we had nowhere to go, but this didn’t mean I’d switched off. Survival in this line of work requires a constant assessment of potential threats and possible betrayals. Controlled paranoia is a standard part of the skill set.

  Or as the Bard put it, readiness is all.

  Walking back down the stairs, I reached the apartment door and set the bag of groceries on the floor. I listened for a second but couldn’t wait too long. Hearing nothing from inside, I pushed the key in the lock and stepped to one side as I opened the door. My right hand was on the M57 under my jacket, thumb ready to cock back the hammer. I needed to make an assessment immediately as the door opened. If there was anyone waiting inside I’d be in the fatal funnel of the doorway and easy prey if I hesitated. I also couldn’t go all Commando Bob here on the landing in case any of the neighbors were looking out a peep hole in their door. So far I’d acted normally enough, putting down the groceries and fishing out the key. Even the hand under my jacket wouldn’t look out of place if I didn’t linger. It all depended upon a split second evaluation where I would need to decide to enter or abort and attempt to evade. I felt the adrenaline dump contract my stomach as I pushed the door open, tensed for the sights and sounds of a close range contact.

  The door opened smoothly onto a short hallway that ran for about six feet before widening into a living room. There was a closed door on the left side of the hall, that wall continuing to become the wall of the living room. I could see an open door on the wall leading from the living room into what might be a bedroom. There were no sounds, no smells aside from a slight musty odor which tracked with the place being shut up and unused at present. I turned slightly, pulled the groceries into the hallway and shut the door. I wasn’t trying to be quiet; anyone here would know I was here already. I just needed to keep any stray onlookers from seeing inside. Pulling the M57 and thumbing back the hammer to full cock, I pied the living room, looking with the third eye of the M57 for anyone waiting for me. Finding no one, I quickly checked the remainder of the flat which consisted of a large master bedroom and attached bath, a walk in/eat in kitchen, a smaller guest room full of miscellaneous junk and a tiny powder room off the hallway. The place was empty, looked exactly like the apartment of a young, fashionable single woman and had the unaired feel you’d expect in a place where no one was currently living. The rush of adrenaline died off and I took several deep breaths to reset my equilibrium.

  Walking into a potential close range ambush in limited mobility terrain such as an apartment is an emotionally disturbing thing. The body and mind are both screaming about the danger, trying simultaneously to warn and redirect. Forcing this into its proper place in the back of your mind while you perform the complicated choreography that is a building search takes some mental discipline. Even dry holes like this are taxing and I was happy to have a few minutes to come down off the hair trigger setting I’d been on. I did a quick search to confirm the contents of closets and storage spaces were consistent with the story Aferdita had provided. The plants she mentioned were evident throughout and pretty much overflowed the floor immediately in front of the glass doors to the small balcony. I hung back from the window and scanned the outside, once more seeing nothing out of the ordinary. It was beginning to look like Aferdita was the real deal.

  Of course, this didn’t mea
n I was going to relax, sit down and have a beer while I waited in a place someone unvetted knew I’d be occupying. I put the bag of groceries on the counter in the kitchen, carefully lowered the hammer of the M57 to half cock and repositioned it in my waistband. I left the flat, locked the door behind me and scanned from inside the entrance way before exiting. There was still no sign of anything suspicious and I fought the sense of futility one gets when a protracted effort such as this continues to yield negative results. Negative results are still results and while the adrenaline rush and ebb take their toil emotionally it is important to retain focus and continue to operate at peak efficiency. I needed to be somewhere other than here when Aferdita arrived in case she came with company. If I was observing from outside I’d have a better chance of spotting anyone accompanying her, with or without her knowledge. The possibility that she was under surveillance and that this was how I’d been tagged loomed large in my mind. I circled the block of flats before crossing Enver Maloku and entering a tiny café with a good view of the parking lot, street and flats below. The plethora of cafes, taxis and confusing, narrow streets certainly made Pristina an easier place in which to operate. I took a seat on a tall stool looking out the window at the meet site, ordered coffee and a pastry and waited to see what would develop. There were still forty five minutes until the meet. Plenty of time for an overwatch.

  I had finished my coffee and pastry and started a second coffee before Aferdita arrived in a bright red Cabriolet. She parked near the entrance to the block containing the apartment, locked up and headed inside at a brisk pace and without looking around. I saw no other vehicles pull in and park, no one slowed their pace and changed direction to reach a vantage point near the entrance way. In short, nothing pinged my radar. Dropping enough Euros on the table to cover my bill, I walked outside and uphill, keeping the apartment block and parking lot in view on my right. I pulled out my phone and called Aferdita’s number. She answered on the first ring, her voice a little higher in pitch than before.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, it’s me. I see you made it.”

  “Yes but there is a big problem. Someone has been here. There are things in the kitchen and I did not bring them. I do not see anyone but I am afraid.”

  I shook my head and mentally cussed myself for not thinking of that. I couldn’t have brought the bag out with me, it would have looked strange but I should have anticipated her seeing it and becoming worried.

  “Look, it’s not a problem. I left it there. I was there early making sure everything was safe. Don’t worry, I am watching now and everything is fine. I want to be sure we are safe though so please come down and meet me. I will be there in a minute.”

  I had no intention of meeting her yet but had to take precautions against the last reasonable possibility for hostile action. Since no one was waiting at the site and no one was obviously accompanying or following her, that left only the possibility of a team waiting one terrain feature back. They would most likely wait until I was in place and then close and trap me in the apartment. This would require a signal from her or it could be set to a timer. Or both. If signaled they’d close immediately, if no signal they would come at a set time which allowed for my arrival and the meet to begin. These risks are inherent in any meet where the other party has an opportunity to communicate the location and time to anyone hostile. Since I had not yet vetted Aferdita it increased the risks exponentially. I was fairly certain that HANNA had been killed because someone had given critical information to the mafia. There was nothing to indicate that person wasn’t Aferdita except her word. I’d need a bit more than that before I could operate with the basic premise of her being on side. This meant that we wouldn’t be meeting in the apartment just yet although she didn’t know that.

  I waited until I saw Aferdita come to the entrance way and look around. She had her phone in her hand and brought it to her ear while stepping back into the shadows of the entrance.

  “Dita, there has been a change of plans. Please trust me but this is the safest way for us to meet. Please get in your car and drive up Enver Maloku. Stay on the phone and I’ll be waiting on the street. You can pick me up and we’ll go to a safe place to talk.”

  Aferdita agreed although she sounded puzzled and a bit put out. Still, she walked to her car, unlocked it, climbed in and started up. I had asked her to stay on the line because I didn’t want her to have the chance to call or text anyone and advise of the change of venue. I was beginning to think this wasn’t an issue but if it’s worth doing its worth doing right. At least that’s what Dad always said. I suspect he had other endeavors in mind but still, the principle applied here so I stayed on the line and kept it tied up as Aferdita drove out of the lot, up an access road and onto Enver Maloku. She could always have a second phone but that was why I was having her drive past me. I’d get to see if she was using a second device to text or signal in any way.

  I was now walking uphill, back to her approach. I turned into a side street and stopped, watching as she drove up the hill, head straight ahead but eyes swiveling. She wasn’t texting or doing anything but holding the phone to her ear and looking a bit put out. That was fine. I told her to turn at the next street and was standing by the curb when she pulled in. A moment later I was seated in the front beside her and we were driving down the side street. I apologized for the run around but explained that I needed to see if anyone was following her. I didn’t mention that I’d picked up followers of my own after meeting her as I wanted to reveal that information at a more propitious time. Aferdita appeared to accept my explanation although she shook her head sadly when I told her to head back to the apartment but take a route which would consume about thirty minutes. I didn’t bother to remind her that her brother had been killed recently and that perhaps more caution would have saved him. It was obvious that she was thinking this herself which allayed her normal human reaction of irritation at what would otherwise seem unnecessary precautions. Her being able to see this for herself and rise above her emotions put her step or two higher in my estimation. Most folks can’t do that although it is obvious and usually in their best interests.

  The return to the apartment for the meet made sense now that I had eliminated as much as was possible the most likely direct action vectors. A team working to a timer would likely hit within a half hour of the meet time and we wouldn’t be there until after that. Finding no one they would most likely leave as there was nothing to gain by hanging around. If Aferdita was working for the opposition then either there was nothing planned for this meet or she would direct them onto me once we parted. The last was looking more and more farfetched. After a certain point you have to separate the probable from the merely possible. Treating every remote possibility as equivalent to the more probable is truly paranoia. I’d done enough testing and prevention at this point that I could move on to the vetting and establishment of control with a new source.

  It still would not be good for us to be seen together so I had her stop while still in the winding neighborhood streets. Hopping out I walked along behind her as she drove slowly to the apartment. I scanned the area again, still finding nothing of concern and entered the block of flats while she was parking. I again entered the apartment quickly and ready for a team with bad timing but found it the same as when I left. Shortly thereafter we were sitting in the living room and my real work for the day could begin.

  Under normal circumstances, the development and recruitment of a HUMINT (Human Intelligence) source is a methodical process. First up is targeting, which involves determining who among a group of potential candidates has the best placement and access to the information you need. Access is the key. Absent that it doesn’t matter how recruitable or willing a person might be…if they can’t get the info you need they aren’t worth your time. Access agents, however, are a bit different as they do not have direct access to intelligence information but can get you next to those who do. They can also provide contextual information that makes targeting m
ore efficient and occasionally one can get you somewhere you need to be without leaving traces. They give access rather than intelligence, hence the name. They are still targeted in the same manner though. A janitor who can get you into a secure facility still needs to be evaluated in the same way as the secretary who can copy files or the IT guy who monitors mainframe usage.

  Once a potential recruitment target is identified, the next step is development. That usually involves a lot of vetting to see if the source has any connections which may make handling impossible or problematic as well as giving a good idea of what pitches have the best chance of success. It may also involve building a relationship with the target, getting to know them and become a familiar and trusted part of their environment. This step is skipped if they are a walk in or handed off by another entity, however due diligence then requires one to go back and do the homework of background vetting and personality checking. Agent handling requires an in depth understanding of the source’s motivations, expressed, implied and unwitting. These need to be as fully comprehended as possible in order to manipulate the source into the most effective performance.

  Last of all comes the pitch, the moment when you outright ask someone to become a source. This requires care in its delivery and is usually informed by the information and insight gleaned in development. If it’s a cold pitch, which are often backed by some coercion, then the development and targeting info becomes critical. Only after all this does one sometimes find oneself with a new asset. And this is only the start, as the new source must now be trained on communications, how to obtain intelligence without arousing suspicion, the use of technical equipment and various arrangements made for meetings and other handling requirements. This part obviously varies a great deal depending upon the source’s background and the environment in which they will operate. But at a minimum training on the methods of communications to enable tasking and response are required before the source can become operational.

  As will be apparent by now, this was anything but a normal situation. KVSWALLOW claimed to have been the source all along, working through Luli as a cut out. This was possible, indeed it fit the known facts, but other darker explanations also existed. In any case, the basics needed to be revisited, in this case with Aferdita instead of Luli. I needed to go through such things as biography, schooling, friends and work contacts, all the minutiae of life which would permit someone back at DIA to build up a profile of Aferdita as well as to do fact checking. We would also need to go over Espionage 101 which included how to elicit without raising suspicions, how to observe and mentally record details, what details were important and thus worthy of recording, how to communicate and a backup plan if the main communications plan was compromised. Personal security would also get a brief review. Mostly we’d concentrate on surveillance, countermeasures and when to use them or other emergency options. When I completed this mission and turned KVSWALLOW over to a DIA handler they would revisit all of this and add specific details such as safe locations where she could take refuge in extremis and new emergency contact numbers. While covering all this information I’d also be assessing Aferdita’s level of candor, the consistency of her information, the method of delivery (i.e. was it practiced and rehearsed or spontaneous etc.) and attempting to determine her motivations for working with us. Finally, I’d be determining what we needed to do to get her to continue if that was the course of action chosen and if not, what intelligence she could immediately access and bring out with her.

  Simple, right? A couple hours max…

  With breaks for both bathroom and stress relief, we concluded at about 2100 hours, nine o’clock to Aferdita. I hated being in a potentially compromised location for that long but if anything was going to occur it should have already done so. As it had not and I’d done everything possible to mitigate risk with the options available, I elected to use the time while we had it. Aferdita needed to know these things and we needed to know about her. I made no notes but kept good mental track of the information she provided. My first action upon getting to a secure location would be to transcribe all of this for encryption and transmission.

  Overall, I was impressed with Aferdita. She was remarkably open, did not hesitate to acknowledge or even volunteer information which put her in a less than favorable light and her memory was detailed and consistent. Our only sticking point was her insistence that she get tangible revenge for the death of her brother and her own de facto enslavement. On this she was adamant and I finally agreed to present this as the desired course of action. I couldn’t promise anything but it was obvious that even with her strong will and sense of self she was under tremendous strain. Being a source is always mentally and emotionally stressful and most agents burn out over time. Part of the handler’s job is to monitor the source for signs of stress and help them work through them or determine when they have reached their useful life and prepare to withdraw them from the field. That is also one of the reasons for the personality assessment as it gave a baseline of stressors and demotivators which the handler would need to bear in mind. In Aferdita’s case I thought she could hang in there a while more without serious risk but then again I wasn’t having to sleep with people I hated, all the time dreaming of the day they were jailed or killed. Personal feelings should be kept out of operational evaluations but I knew her situation would color my views and effect the way I presented her preference.

  In truth, I sympathized with her. She didn’t need to provide intelligence to us. It risked her life and she had no reason to believe we’d take better care of her than we had her brother. I figured she had the right to set terms such as get me the hell out as soon as possible but as I mentioned before, it wouldn’t be my call. She’d get paid well in any case and most likely would have a Green Card waiting when she was extracted. But I was certain that was several steps down her list of priorities, well below revenge. Maybe it was unprofessional but I decided I’d do what I could to push for a result that included her survival with as much of herself intact as possible. This wasn’t after all a case of saving the world, just one thirty year old woman who’d be victimized and wanted to fight back.

  That made her a typical Albanian in a way and definitely my kinda people.

  I wrapped up the meet with a warning to her to be even more cautious than before. The people behind the surveillance were not yet identified but appeared to be the Serbian Mafia. This meant that however they’d gotten onto me they would also be looking internally. Aferdita needed to keep a low profile and avoid anything that might draw attention to herself. As I checked the landing through the peephole in the exterior door, Aferdita stood beside me. I offered her my hand which she took and then, impulsively, she hugged me and murmured “falimenderit shome”. I returned her hug, hoping there would really be something for which she could thank me and then slipped out and down the stairs. The early evening dark gave me extra cover as I worked my way around the apartment blocks and across Enver Maloku. I still had to meet Naim at the city park and I was late. I used my cell to call and warn him I was running behind schedule. The distance wasn’t great and even with a few checks for surveillance I’d be there within a half hour if I walked quickly. Picking my pace up to something closer to my normal speed, I set off across Bregu i Diellit to meet Naim.