A Dark Fantasy Spy

---

On the day external activities resumed, a special gift was sent from the Al Bas Tribe.

“Who are those people?”

“They’re here for guidance and protection.”

In front of the accommodation, several pickup trucks were parked, with locals armed in bulletproof vests and automatic rifles. They were the armed escort dispatched by the Hassan Warlord.

The Warlord Duo introduced them like this.

“Al Bas Tribe’s elite guards. Very skilled.”

Leaving behind the confidently boasting Warlord Duo, I surveyed the elite guards of the tribe.

Their equipment, vehicles, health status, and discipline. The caliber of these guards was on a whole other level compared to the thugs or checkpoint soldiers. Camila, who was evaluating their level alongside me, started nodding her head with a satisfied expression.

“This seems quite reassuring!”

It certainly was.

I nodded in agreement.

“They’re as solid as your belly.”

“Wha-what are you saying…!”

It seemed that the thuggish attack had severely damaged Nayan’s pride. This became evident when he assigned his precious elite guards as security.

Although it felt a bit like closing the barn door after the horse had bolted, the mere fact that Nayan had sent his elite guards made me reconsider my view of him. He was cautious yet decisive, and he regarded me as quite an important person.

A good sign.

Thanks to the thugs, I get to enjoy this luxury. I put on my sunglasses and chuckled.

“Just kidding, so hurry up and get in.”

“What’s that supposed to be! You’re teasing me, right?!”

“What’s wrong with putting on a bit of weight? Better than being a pig, right?”

“Gaahhhhh!”

Under the stern watch of the armed escort from the Warlord, we moved toward the Al Bas Tribe’s territory.

—

Episode 16 – The Six Million Dollar Man

—

Among intelligence officers, informants are metaphorically referred to as assets.

Intelligence officers gather intelligence from domestic and international sources, process it into information, and carry out intelligence operations based on that information. For them, information is both a resource and a treasure that enables them to execute their missions more effectively.

Thus, it’s no exaggeration to say that informants are the most important assets for intelligence officers.

The reason we came out was precisely to recruit those informants.

To be more precise, we were out looking for potential informants.

“Recruiting informants is something every intelligence officer must do. But more important than recruiting is finding someone with the qualities to be an informant. We call this ‘scouting’.”

On the way to our destination, I took advantage of the spare time to conduct a brief lecture. It was a one-on-one special class for aspiring spies.

Camila began listening to the explanation with a serious expression.

“First, I’ll tell you about the informant acquisition cycle.”

The informant acquisition cycle refers to the series of processes typically used by intelligence agencies in the recruitment and hiring of informants.

I divided this process into five stages to explain.

“The steps for acquiring an informant generally consist of selecting a target, evaluating, recruiting, managing, and terminating. You know what this means, right, Camila?”

“Roughly, yes.”

“Great! Then that makes the explanation straightforward.”

The procedure for recruiting informants breaks down into five categories.

The first step checks to see if there’s anyone who can provide access to the information the intelligence officer needs; the second step evaluates whether the person can be hired as an informant.

During the evaluation stage, it’s essential to find out what desires the potential informant might have. We need to determine if it’s possible to coax them into becoming an informant.

Typically, the most common desires during the evaluation stage are money, power, and recognition. Digging deeper, frustration, inferiority complex, personal interests, backgrounds, and upbringing also serve as evaluation elements.

The next step is recruitment, often referred to as “hiring” by intelligence officers.

“Recruitment is the second most complicated step in acquiring an informant. The potential informant must remain unaware of the intelligence officer’s identity, must not know the identities of other informants, and before hiring, thorough research on the informant must be completed.”

“There are quite a few hurdles to jump through! If that’s the second most complicated task, then what’s the first?”

“Of course, that would be management.”

Management follows hiring. It’s the process where the intelligence officer manipulates and controls the informant.

It’s the longest process. It requires effort as well.

I added, steering the vehicle.

“Usually, if something goes wrong while operating an informant, it indicates a problem occurred in the management stage. Issues can also arise in the evaluation or hiring stages, but if a problem occurs in management, the intelligence officer is at risk. In other words, the risk is high.”

Management requires continuous monitoring, regular contact, and post-evaluation.

If an incident occurs during this time, or if the informant’s value begins to decline, the intelligence officer will need to decide how to handle the informant. That’s the termination.

It’s the grand finale that caps off the informant acquisition cycle.

“There are several reasons for terminating an informant. Sometimes, a mission is accomplished, and there’s no longer a reason to meet them. Or the informant might get fired from their job, making them unable to access information. If the intelligence officer deems the informant untrustworthy, or if higher-ups order the informant to be eliminated, that’s included too.”

During my explanation, Camila suddenly asked a question.

“What if the informant gets caught by counterintelligence?”

“You’d better not look back and tidy things up.”

If the counterintelligence agency catches the trail, the intelligence officer must cease all operations and retreat. Following procedure, all equipment and documents must be destroyed, and only critical information should be extracted before making an escape.

At this point, all informants managed by the intelligence officer are terminated. Even those informants who hadn’t been discovered by the counterintelligence agency are often treated the same way.

I skipped a detailed explanation of the final termination step. I thought it would be difficult for Camila to understand this process, and given her sensitivity, she wouldn’t easily accept it.

The brief lecture concluded there. Instead, I shifted the conversation topic.

To something more productive and constructive.

“Now, here’s a quiz! If you, Camila, were an intelligence officer, whom would you recruit today?”

Momentarily stunned by the sudden question, Camila lightly brushed her lips with her slender finger and then spoke the answer she had in mind.

“Um… There aren’t any informants in the area, so… maybe someone who could bring in as much information as possible?”

“Try to be a bit more specific.”

“Um….”

The intellectual from Britain fell into thought.

This question seemed not easy even for Camila. It reflected the plight of someone lacking experience.

However, her sharp mind kicked in, and she quickly came up with an answer close to what I was thinking.

“A civil servant…?”

I smiled warmly at Camila.

“That’s a rather vague answer, but still, you got it right. Congratulations, Camila.”

“Yay! So what’s my prize? Do I also get to recruit an informant? Or are you taking me on some secret operation?”

“……”

“Excuse me?”

Under the piercing gaze of Camila demanding an answer, I turned my head without speaking.

Then, I cleared my throat and opened my mouth.

“I’ll treat you to something delicious later.”

“Don’t try to entice me with food! What do you think I am, a beast?!”

—

As Camila said, the informants I had my eye on were the local civil servants.

In this country, there were no informants under my management. The Mauritania Continent wasn’t the stage I usually operated in.

So just like before, I couldn’t sit in the office observing everything happening.

Consequently, I couldn’t gather high-quality information dealt with in government agencies like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Defense. I couldn’t even get news about gossip like who recently got divorced, whose child is getting married, or which elder in the community is bedridden due to illness.

An intelligence officer unable to collect information is less useful than steamed buns without red bean paste, pizza without pineapple, or fish-shaped bread without the fish.

The absence of information invariably leads to danger, and an intelligence officer without information might as well be thrown naked into a No Man’s Land teeming with monsters.

Thus, I needed informants.

Someone capable of gathering everything from trivial community news to seemingly insignificant incidents, and all sorts of miscellaneous information.

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go in.”

Thus, I began scouting for informants with Camila.

The first stop was the government offices within the territory of the Al Bas Tribe. A den where corrupt public officials thrived.

There was no other reason for visiting local councils and city halls instead of significant government departments like the Ministry of National Defense or Foreign Affairs. I simply didn’t have the authority to access government departments.

“Hello. I just dropped by for a moment; is it alright if I come in?”

With a thick face and a grin, I greeted the public officials. The locals scribbling on their paperwork stared blankly at the sudden foreigner who showed up.

Compared to the grandiose buildings, the government office in the rebel-occupied territory looked pitiful, but I didn’t mind the size of the office or the apathetic officials just killing time.

Collecting intelligence here was the role of an intelligence officer, wasn’t it?

“Thank you for your hard work. I came to get a travel permit; can I get it here?”

“This is the citizen reception desk. Please go to the transportation department on the second floor.”

I gauged the structure of the government office through conversations with the officials. Was it because it was a primitive country? There weren’t even common building guides available.

Transportation, administration, safety, health, welfare, tourism, autonomy, etc. Even the offices within the warlord’s territory had a decent assortment. The problem was that it was merely a facade.

Unable to contain her rising curiosity, Camila asked a question just as we were climbing the stairs. She glanced at the crumbling, cracked stairs before turning to me.

“What kind of information are we trying to obtain here?”

This was essentially asking if there was any valuable information to gain from such a place.

I lightly chuckled in response.

“Anyone can collect information. City office workers can gather intelligence, company analysts, and even supermarket employees and job seekers can collect information. But why do governments spend taxpayers’ money to train intelligence officers?”

“Because someone is needed to analyze the intel into information?”

“Exactly.”

“And how does that relate to my question?”

“I mentioned, didn’t I? That intelligence analysis requires specialized personnel.”

Collecting intelligence is something anyone could do. However, filtering out essential intelligence and processing it into actionable information is the domain of intelligence officers.

From that perspective, government offices were quite suitable spots for gathering intelligence.

“Census officers, traffic managers, tax collectors, welfare officials… these people know their regions better than anyone else. That’s their job.”

Now, let’s assume I planned to recruit a public official.

As that public servant solely handled information related to their duties, they wouldn’t hold much value as an informant from the intelligence officer’s perspective. What national secrets could you glean from a social welfare officer?

However, if an important person associated with national secrets had a friend or relative benefiting from welfare aids, the situation changes. The welfare official could provide a wealth of information about people close to those targets, allowing the intelligence officer to find a new path to approach their objectives.

“And that’s why we’re here. You never know when we might need the aid of civil servants.”

I got straight to action.

The first thing I did was to make acquaintances. I used the travel permit as an excuse to become familiar with the staff at the government office.

Handing over a bribe equivalent to two months’ salary of the official in charge just to get a travel permit was something everyone could clearly see was foolish, but the purpose of the bribe wasn’t merely to skip complicated administrative processes.

I sought introductions to other officials through the transportation department official. I started exchanging light banter with officials in transportation, administration, budget, welfare, health, etc. It was all part of the process to cultivate rapport.

This process is what psychologists refer to as rapport-building. Alternatively, it can also be known as forming a common ground.

As Camila observed this procedure, she posed a new question. She wanted to understand the reasoning behind such actions.

“If you need information, wouldn’t it be simpler just to approach a higher-up and give them a bribe? They’re all corrupt officials anyway.”

“Every endeavor follows a procedure.”

I explained the workings of the corrupt public sector for the aspiring intelligence officer.

“Even corrupt officials tend not to accept bribes without any valid reason. It creates burdens and risks for them. Thus, initially, we need to offer small bribes for lesser matters.”

To cut down a five-week document issuance process to just three hours, to get out of traffic fines—every recruitment starts small.

A single cigarette can turn into dollars, and dollars can translate into bags. By that time, the public officials might start sensing something awry and want to back off, but the intelligence officer would impose their will with threats, ‘You’d better stay quiet, or you won’t want to know what happens if you get fired for accepting a bribe.’

“It’s just like putting a frog in a pot of water. If you pour in hot water suddenly, it’ll jump out in shock; but if you increase the temperature gradually, the frog sits still. People are the same way.”

“Just now, that sounded like you were pushing the limits of how unethical a public official can be. But I do get your point.”

“Today, it was a mere cigarette, but tomorrow, it will be cash. Not a lot, perhaps about $50? By next week, it’ll cross over $300.”

Thus, the bribed officials would boast that they made their salary in one day by taking advantage of a foreign fool.

The fish, smelling the money, would flock towards the bait. They’d find out later whether it was bait or a lure thrown by a fisherman.

“Anyway, our business in the government office is done. Let’s move on.”

“Where to next?”

“I’m thinking of getting past the police first.”

Exiting the government office, I walked into the police station. It was a lair filled with Al Bas Tribe members acting as warlord collaborators.

On the surface, it looked like an ordinary police station, but to me, it was no different from a den. They would rush over as soon as they spotted a foreigner.

As per habit, the officers demanded bribes, mistaking my presence for wrongdoing.

“Did you do something bad? Don’t worry. We’re kind people.”

Initially, they demanded money for perceived crimes, but once they realized I wasn’t a criminal, their disappointment was almost palpable.

The cigarette-smoking officers started making absurd charges of illegal vehicle modifications, threatening that I could end up in jail.

The funny part was that illegal vehicle modifications weren’t illegal here. Of course, while a law existed, the police didn’t enforce it properly in a place where traffic patrols were nonexistent. Lenient punishment was a typical face of a corrupt society.

It was only when a superior showed up that the corrupt cops stood down. The information officer arrived, claiming he wished to assist the foreigner in distress.

It was, of course, nonsense.

“Oh dear, I’m terribly sorry for any inconvenience caused.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Do you smoke? Since this is fate, let’s share a cigarette.”

“That sounds good.”

I led the information officer to the smoking area (which was really just the back alley of the police station) and handed him a cigarette.

After a bit of casual chit-chat, I brought up the main topic.

“Actually, I’m a journalist.”

“A journalist? Foreign journalists are rare sightings here. Come to cover the warlords, I see.”

“Just trying to make a living. It’s a matter of scraping by.”

Upon hearing the title of journalist, the information officer’s eyes sparkled. He sensed the scent of money.

While smoking, I began to probe into his underlying feelings.

“It seems there haven’t been any exciting stories around. Maybe it’s because I’m a foreigner, but people seem to be on guard.”

“Kindness is scarce toward foreigners. Oh, but I’m not one of them. Hahaha.”

“That’s what I’m getting at. I hope you could lend me a bit of assistance.”

I carefully opened my pocket to reveal a folded hand full of cash.

“I’ve only just arrived here, so I would greatly appreciate your help just this once. It’s all for survival, really.”

“Hmmm,” the information officer looked down at the money with a feigned frown. He glanced around anxiously and then nervously opened his own pocket.

I slipped the cash into the officer’s uniform pocket. After drawling in his cigarette, he fell silent for a while and eventually tossed the butt on the ground, murmuring quietly.

“Just a few days ago, Sanya and Hassan made quite a fuss over at the western border… something about a dispute over mining shares…?”

That was new information.

The officer had casually provided the scoop to the war correspondent, trying to play it cool. I reciprocated with my gratitude and mentioned that I’d drop by again soon.

Thus, I succeeded in recruiting informants from both the government office and police station.

While I had only candidates from the government office, I had gained a collaborator from the police station. If all went well, I could keep him around as an informant for months.

This was good news. When I shared the cheerful update, Camila enthusiastically congratulated me.

“That’s great! While he’s just a collaborator for now, if we maintain a good relationship, we could yield some solid outcomes!”

“This is my job; why are you celebrating like it’s yours?”

“Why argue about it? If it goes well, that’s what counts! So what’s next? Have you scheduled your next appointment?”

I smiled at Camila’s inquisitive demeanor as she eagerly inquired about how I’d manage the informants. It seemed she was starting to act like an intelligence officer herself.

“That’s something we’ll need to consider carefully. Rushing things with informants isn’t beneficial. That’s just human psychology.”

“Take it easy with the informants. Understood. But what if they refuse to be recruited?”

I chose not to respond to that question. As Camila gazed at me, I sensed her gradually shifting toward a more relaxed voice as she threw another question my way.

“Where to next?”

I shifted the gear as I replied.

“To the military.”

It was time to recruit some soldiers.

—

The process of planting informants within the military is significantly more challenging than breaking into a government office or police station.

Given the current discussion about martial law, soldiers wouldn’t be welcoming a foreign journalist with open arms.

Military units are fundamentally sensitive about security, and they don’t allow foreigners to wander around military facilities so carelessly. Even local civilians cannot enter without permission, let alone foreigners.

Thus, the recruitment of soldiers was carried out strictly from outside the bases. I arranged meetings with several regional defense unit officials through an elderly doctor the Warlord Duo had bribed.

“Nice to meet you; I’m Asud.”

Military unit officials can make rather decent informants. They hold significant value for recruitment. If all goes well, they might share information about unit movements and military secrets from local government forces.

I invited the distinguished officials I had shortlisted as potential informants to a restaurant in the city. Today, I had paid bribes to the owner to ensure it was just the two of us inside.

The officials I narrowed down to recruit included a wide array of ranks, from enlisted privates and sergeants to administrative officers, company commanders, and staff from battalion headquarters at the captain and major level.

The one that caught my eye was a seasoned captain.

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Asud.”

“Ah, it’s my honor. Please sit comfortably.”

In his early thirties, this local was a staff officer working in the region. I had solid reasons for spotting him as a promising candidate.

He was up for a promotion but lacked impressive credentials and connections. Competing against West Point graduates was tough, and he didn’t possess the skills or the network necessary.

Moreover, his family background wasn’t particularly privileged either.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. You recently had your third child, if I’m not mistaken?”

“Ah, yes… that’s right.”

His spouse gave birth this year. Yet, supporting three children is no trivial task.

With the military’s pay, he couldn’t afford to raise three kids, compelling his wife to enter the workforce. They couldn’t reach out for help from their elders either.

I understood exactly how difficult it was for them to support their children. I gleaned that information from the public officers I visited in the morning.

“Excuse me, I’ll have a quick smoke.”

I lit a cigarette, taking in my twentieth of the day. During this process, I didn’t seek his permission.

It signaled I held the upper hand.

As expected, the officer, glancing around anxiously, began to fidget nervously.

“Uh… I was told by the uncle that you have business with me…”

“To be precise, I’m in need of some assistance.”

“Assistance you say?”

“Yes, assistance.”

I offered him a cigarette. He held it bewilderedly between his fingers.

“When you say assistance, what exactly do you mean?”

“Nothing that would burden you, just that I have some business here at the base.”

I lit the cigarette and continued directly.

“I need information.”

A more detailed explanation followed.

“The documents your unit has produced, news from surrounding units, trends in your jurisdiction, and correspondence from higher command—those kinds of information.”

“May I ask what you need such information for…?”

I answered candidly.

“Because that’s how I make my living.”

The sudden request left the officer flabbergasted. He squirmed like someone seated on a thorny cushion and ultimately made up an excuse to visit the restroom.

“I’ll just step out to the restroom for a moment.”

“Ah, please do. You need to see to your business.”

He hastily got up from his chair. Just as he was about to head for the exit, I casually muttered behind him.

“By the way, I wonder if I can find baby formula at the market today.”

Thud. The officer hesitated, turning the doorknob. Ignoring that, I carried on talking.

“It’s not easy to carry a baby through the market, you know? It’d be a mess if the mother wandered off leaving the kids at home.”

It was no casual remark.

By now, his wife would be out shopping in the market with the third child wrapped up, while the first and second were likely stuck at home finishing their homework.

“……”

Silently, I gestured toward the opposite chair with my cigarette. Torn between his options, the officer returned cautiously to his seat.

With the increasingly evasive eye contact between us, I finally spat out.

Then, after a moment, a desire to engage in conversation seemed to awaken within him when he asked:

“…You mentioned you needed some information.”

I quietly took out my lighter. As the flame ignited, the officer moved to light the cigarette resting on the table.

Ping!

Slamming shut the lighter, I smiled brightly.

“You made a good choice.”

—

I ended the day with the following bounty.

Seven civil servants from the government office, one police chief, and one military unit officer.

“That makes eight local collaborators and one informant. I’ll decide on the hiring status for the remaining candidates after contacting them again soon.”

I organized the lists and reported to Leoni.

After receiving the encrypted message from the Military Intelligence Agency Headquarters, Leoni reviewed the documents and provided feedback on the spot.

-‘The rank level of the informants is overall low. Is there no way to recruit someone from a higher tier?’

“Recruiting high-ranking officials carries a significant risk. For now, I determined that it was prudent to focus on recruiting lower-level informants to build the information network.”

-‘What are your plans regarding informant management?’

“For now, I plan on regularly providing bribes to the military member and the police officer with a high chance of developing a relationship as informants. As for the civil servants, as you mentioned, I’ll scout for higher-ups worth recruiting.”

In the intelligence agency, someone who gets paid per task is classified as a collaborator, while those who receive regular funding are classified as informants.

Hence, I chose to retain the officer and information officer as informants while keeping the other public servants as collaborators.

It didn’t take much effort for Leoni to understand my intention. After all, he was my superior, who once served as a resident overseeing foreign branches.

Perhaps if Leoni gathered enough informants he had handled in the field, he could easily make up an entire battalion.

-‘The scenario looks good. Continue as planned.’

Leoni granted me the green light.

-‘The management of informants is something you should handle, but be especially vigilant regarding that military guy. No matter what, prevent him from betraying you, even if it means holding his family hostage. If you can keep that in mind, you’ll return safely, as long as you don’t get caught by the counterintelligence agency.’

“I’d like to request a report on counterintelligence movements, since we’re on that topic.”

-‘I’ve sent over the documents, check them out.’

I ended the communication and reviewed the materials sent from the military intelligence agency. There was a situational report about the local counterintelligence agency’s personnel dispatched to Abas, obtained by flipping an operative to become a double agent.

The document was drafted by the Counter-Intelligence Bureau, precisely that of Colonel Clevenz.

It was just as I suspected, the skills of an investigator never really fade. I admired silently while reading through the documents.

At that moment, Camila appeared.

“Om-nom-nom.”

Camila was holding a plate full of tropical fruits, making a strange sound. Considering the difficulty of obtaining foodstuffs in the local context, this mix seemed odd.

“Where did you get the fruit?”

“The warlords gave it as a gift. Wow, this is really delicious. You should try some.”

I took a bite of the tropical fruit she had peeled for me. As my teeth sunk into the flesh, the juice burst, indicating it was of excellent quality.

“It’s delicious.”

“Um. Did you communicate well with the agency?”

“Yes.”

Camila wandered over to read the intelligence report I had prepared. She had accompanied me throughout the day, assisting me. Thus, I found it acceptable she’d glance at something that didn’t bear much weight.

Of course, the agency wouldn’t think the same.

Having read through the report, Camila commented while peeling an orange.

“Seems like you managed to recruit two informants and seven collaborators in just one day. Is that good?”

“That’s fairly decent progress.”

“Have the discussions with the informants gone well?”

“Of course.”

I promised generous treatment to the information officer and staff member.

To the police information officer, I offered a regular stipend that was twice his monthly salary as compensation. Since they were money-driven, it was only fair to pay them with cash.

I also presented regular funds and performance bonuses to the staff officer, but alongside cash, I proposed other forms of compensation.

Considering his concern for his family, to establish more solid relationships, it was essential to offer benefits related to family needs.

Baby supplies essential for raising the third child, school supplies beneficial for their education, and medical service support. I even promised to send their children abroad for schooling once things got better. Of course, for that to happen, approval from the Military Intelligence Agency would be required.

Both the captain and the information officer seemed satisfied with the proposals. That was a relief.

However, Camila’s perspective appeared slightly different.

“But is it alright?”

With an orange peeled and being munched, she expressed her concern.

“Didn’t you nearly coerce the last person into agreeing?”

Camila was asking whether it was ethically sound to manage the captain as an informant. She was evidently aware of the fact that I had threatened him using his family’s safety as leverage.

That was only natural. Camila had confirmed the captain’s family’s location while enabling me.

Initially, she opposed the idea of leveraging the captain’s family for coercion, but after having me promise not to actually take them hostage, she managed to pinpoint their whereabouts.

I rolled a pen absently between my fingers.

I wanted to avoid raising any unnecessary worries in her mind, but Camila persisted in demanding an answer. So eventually, I had no choice but to admit the reality.

“Honestly, it makes me a bit uneasy. It’s true that relationships formed through coercion don’t last long.”

An informant recruited through threats barely acted differently than a bomb that could go off at any moment. They had started with a threat from the intelligence officer, after all.

Therefore, the trust between informant and intelligence officer was absent, and it was challenging for them to maintain a stable relationship.

But I had plans.

“That’s why I proposed a compensation plan that could help their family. The informant desperately desires a stable home.”

“That means you exploited the desperation of a person.”

I shrugged.

“This is how intelligence agencies operate.”

“This is quite tame compared to what the CIA does. If you looked into what they do, you’d be shocked, Camila.”

“Come on, really?”

“I’m serious.”

Camila insisted I stop joking and set the orange she peeled right in front of me.

As I munched on the orange, I organized the data. I collected papers and household trash, burned them, then sought out the armed escort from the Al Bas Tribe to inform them about tomorrow’s schedule.

The elite guards Nayan assigned were, just as Camila said, a reassuring presence. During ordinary times, they displayed power to deter any thugs from sticking close, but during critical moments of meeting informants, they knew to vacate discreetly.

“Tomorrow, I’m planning to visit checkpoints near the border. You’re all aware of this, right?”

“Understood, Mr. Asud.”

Since the soldiers stationed at the border checkpoints had already accepted bribes from me, they would be the best option to find new informants.

Monitoring the highways and main roads, they served as human early-warning systems, reporting any suspicious persons or movements of military units immediately.

Thus I returned to my accommodation to spend time with Camila.

Though we couldn’t have a proper conversation due to metadata complexities and late-night data organization, she stuck by me, chattering endlessly and ensuring that I wouldn’t doze off.

It was during this interval that…

In the middle of the deep night, someone knocked on the door to my accommodation.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Asud. It’s me.”

It was the Warlord Duo.

“What brings you here at this hour?”

“Hassan has contacted us. It’s extremely urgent.”

“What was the message about?”

I asked sleepily. The Warlord Duo responded with a grave tone.

“The Sheikh wants to see you.”

The news was that the leader of the Hassan Warlord was looking for me.