cobweb
Deep in the Black Forest of Germany, the dense coniferous forest forms a dark green barrier against the night, isolating the outside world from the noise. A small, unmarked gyroplane uses the terrain to evade radar and silently lands at a secluded clearing site in the forest.
The cabin door opened, and Keegan jumped out first. His sharp eyes scanned the surroundings quickly, like night vision goggles, and only after confirming it was absolutely safe did he give a simple hand signal into the cabin. Elaine, Hesh, and Logan quickly and orderly left the plane, their figures disappearing into the dense foliage.
In less than ten minutes, they arrived at a hunter's hut that appeared to be dilapidated. Keegan rhythmically pressed down on a moss-covered rock behind the hut, and with a barely audible hydraulic screech, a cover masquerading as hard soil slid off, revealing a downward-facing metal staircase. This was one of the ultimate safe houses outside the "Eagle's Nest" system, known only to Price and Ghost—"Wolf's Nest," located in a remote mountainous region of Germany. It was close to headquarters for easy support in extreme situations, yet completely independent, unmonitored by any internal systems.
The interior of the "Wolf's Den" is much more spacious than it appears from the outside, with complete facilities, including an independent energy and water purification system, ample reserves, and top-notch communication and information processing equipment. A faint scent of rust-preventive oil and coolant from electronic devices permeates the air.
Once settled, Keegan immediately deployed defenses, with Hesh and Logan in charge of perimeter sentry duty and equipment preparation. Elaine, without even taking a sip of water, went straight to the command and analysis room equipped with a top-of-the-line server array and connected the hard drive containing the "Coke Camp" data to the system. Time was of the essence; she had to race against the clock.
For the next several dozen hours, Elaine barely slept. She huddled in front of the enormous monitor, her eyes bloodshot from prolonged focus, sustained only by strong coffee and sheer willpower. She built complex algorithmic models to meticulously trace the anonymous Cayman Islands account brought back from Greenland.
This was a lonely and arduous journey through the labyrinth of global financial data. Each layer of offshore companies revealed a more complex equity structure and more concealed flow of funds. When she finally unraveled the ultimate source of that vast financial network, a chill ran down her spine and to the top of her head, instantly waking her up. She sat bolt upright, her breathing rapid.
“Sergeant!” she called into the intercom, her voice hoarse with exhaustion and shock. Keegan appeared in the doorway almost instantly, followed by Hesh and Logan who rushed over. “Look at this…” Elaine pointed to the dazzling yet ultimately clear money flow chart on the screen, her voice trembling with disbelief, “that anonymous account… its funding source is enormous! From over twenty top multinational corporations worldwide, spanning energy, aerospace, biomedicine, artificial intelligence, precision manufacturing… almost every cutting-edge and high-profit industry.”
She took a deep breath and revealed an even more startling discovery: "And these industry giants, regardless of their registered location, all ultimately point to a few deeply entrenched, massive Jewish conglomerates that influence the global economy!" She switched the screen, displaying another set of key data for cross-referencing: "More importantly, at least two of these conglomerates overlap with the offshore accounts that Konig previously tracked, which had secret financial dealings with the 'Tree of Life' company! The flow of funds highly coincides at specific points in time!" She looked at Keegan, her eyes filled with immense shock: "Makarov's 'Purgatory,' Greenland's nuclear facilities, 'Tree of Life's' biological weapons… behind these seemingly independent conspiracies lies the same dark web driven by super-capital, intent on reshaping the global order!"
The news brought a deathly silence to the command center. The scale and sophistication of the adversary far exceeded even the worst expectations, as if facing an invisible net that enveloped the entire world, leaving one feeling suffocated by a sense of powerlessness.
“The scope is too broad… How do we investigate this? Where do we even begin?” Logan frowned, his tone heavy.
“We don’t have the time or resources to sort out the entire conglomerate network; that would require national-level intelligence and take several years,” Hesh shook his head, looking troubled.
After a long silence, Elaine's furrowed brows gradually relaxed, and a glint of light flashed in her eyes. She looked up at Keegan, who had remained silent but whose eyes were sharp as an eagle, and spoke with unusual clarity and determination: "We may have fallen into a mindset. Trying to find indirect evidence favorable to General Price from this incredibly complex network of capital is like looking for a needle in a haystack—too inefficient and hopeless." She paused, emphasizing her point, her thoughts becoming increasingly clear: "But perhaps… we can change our approach and strike at the heart of the matter. General Thorne is our most direct and dangerous enemy. Even the most perfect conspiracy has its executors with self-interest. And the most direct and common manifestation of self-interest is money."
Her gaze swept over the crowd, her speech quickening with a sudden, sharp understanding: "If we can prove that General Thorne has personal, illicit financial dealings with Makarov or the Jewish financial network behind him, that would be the most direct and irrefutable evidence of treason! Enough to bring him down from within!" She looked at Keegan, her eyes burning: "Instead of passively analyzing massive amounts of data to search for indirect clues that may not even exist, we should take the initiative, concentrate all resources, and directly investigate General Thorne himself and the hidden assets and unusual financial flows of his inner circle!"
A flicker of admiration crossed Keegan's eyes. He made his decision almost without hesitation. "Correct judgment. Straight to the heart," he said in a deep voice, his tone leaving no room for doubt. He immediately walked to the encrypted satellite communication station and, after a complex frequency hopping and encryption process, established a brief and highly disruptive connection with Ghost, who was under Thorne's close surveillance and treading on thin ice within the "Eagle's Nest."
“Ghost, to make a long story short, a new direction.” Keegan spoke rapidly, his voice low. “Elaine has confirmed that the adversary is backed by a vast, multinational Jewish financial network, and direct investigations are ineffective. Immediately change strategy: abandon the financial network and concentrate all resources on investigating all of General Thorne and his inner circle's hidden overseas accounts and unusual asset transactions, especially records related to large, unexplained inflows of funds. You and Logan need to utilize every possible insider connection to uncover his financial vulnerabilities. We will conduct data cross-referencing here. This is currently the fastest and most effective breakthrough. Over.”
On the other end of the communication, Ghost's voice came through intermittently amidst electrical interference, yet remained unusually clear: "...Understood... Correct direction... Extremely high risk... We will... Try to... Maintain silence... Wait..." The signal then cut off.
Keegan put down the communicator and looked at Elaine: "Now, we need patience and to be fully prepared. Once Ghost gets the leads, your battlefield will be here." He pointed to the row of servers flashing with an eerie light in front of her.
For the next few hours, a tense silence fell over "Wolfs." The squad took turns on guard duty, maintaining their equipment, and resting in preparation for future actions. Elaine used this break to further optimize her data analysis model and began attempting to construct a network graph of relationships between General Thorne and his known confidants and frontmen, making final preparations for the upcoming data collision.
Keegan spent most of his time silently in the command room or inspecting every defensive point of the safe house, his eyes sharp, like a wolf lurking in the shadows waiting for its prey. During a brief break, Elaine took the hot water Keegan offered and whispered, "Thank you for your trust."
Keegan gave her a deep look, but simply said, "Your judgment is correct."
His affirmation, brief yet powerful, dispelled the slight unease Elaine felt about making such a bold suggestion, transforming it into a stronger sense of responsibility and confidence born from recognition.
The agonizing wait lasted for dozens of hours. Finally, the encrypted terminal received an extremely short, multi-layered encrypted data packet. It was from Ghost Adventure! The packet contained limited but crucial information: fragments of Swiss bank account numbers under the names of several close relatives of General Thorne, whose identities were meticulously disguised, and an incomplete record of financial transactions from a now-defunct charitable foundation linked to Thorne's early military service.
Records show that the timing of several remittances closely coincided with the signing of "security contracts" by "Purgatory" company in certain conflict zones!
Elaine's eyes lit up, and her hands flew across the keyboard, cross-referencing and correlating the fragmented information sent by Ghost with the vast global financial transaction records in her database. Several long hours passed in the cacophony of keystrokes.
Suddenly, a complex financial connection path spanning several shell companies was highlighted in red by the algorithm on the screen!
“Found it!” Elaine’s voice rose slightly: “A secret account closely linked to Makarov has been making irregular transfers through a complex network of offshore companies for the past three years, ultimately ending up in Thorne’s son’s secret account in Liechtenstein! The amounts ranged from 500,000 to 2 million euros each time!”
She frowned slightly and pointed out the most crucial timeline: "And this clandestine flow of funds suddenly and completely stopped more than five months ago! The date of the last remittance coincides perfectly with the time when Elsa was arrested in Austria and the intelligence network began to collapse!"
This clear financial chain, which directly links Thorne's personal interests with Makarov and whose existence is closely related to the Elsa incident, is like a lightning bolt cleaving through the dark fog, instantly illuminating the truth!
“This is more than just bribery! The timing is crucial! This could very well mean that Elsa’s actions touched on Makarov’s core secrets, causing him to sever his connection with Thorne, and possibly even silence Elsa!” Logan immediately realized the connection.
“That’s enough to put him in a military court!” Hesh clenched his fist.
“This is still circumstantial evidence,” Keegan calmly cautioned, but the sharp glint in his eyes showed he understood its weight. “It proves Thorne accepted bribes and had a long-standing collusion with Makarov, but it doesn’t directly prove he knew about or participated in a core treasonous plan like the Night’s Watch. However, it is absolutely the most crucial breakthrough point to breach the defenses. Dig deeper, along this line and timeline, and you will surely find more lethal and direct evidence.”
In this silent "wolf's den" deep within Germany's Black Forest, a decisive step has been taken in the hunt for the internal tyrant. A glimmer of hope has pierced through the thick fog. And the truth behind the Elsa incident seems to be emerging, albeit in small parts, through these subtle financial clues.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
