In the heart of London – Surveillance at a glance…

The captured servers from The Curator’s lair were a treasure trove of intelligence, but also a digital minefield. As Jake sifted through the terabytes of stolen data, Emma debriefed the tactical teams. The air in the MI5 digital lab was thick with the scent of ozone and triumph, but the focus remained sharp.

The SVR’s Deep Game: “The Mole”

Jake focused on The Curator’s archived communications with her most consistent supplier: the SVR. He bypassed a final, heavily encrypted file disguised as a system log. What it revealed wasn’t a future plot, but a historical one, directly linked to the origins of the entire network.

“Emma, come look at this,” Jake called, his voice tight.

The file was a full SVR operational assessment dating back fifteen years, detailing the inception of the long-term infiltration strategy that culminated in the Soft Strike operation. The SVR hadn’t just bought intelligence; they had planted a source deep within the British system decades ago, someone who had enabled the entire structure, from Keegan’s initial arms deals to The Alchemist’s technological supremacy.

The file detailed the handler’s identity, known only by the SVR code-name: “The Rook.”

“The Rook was active in the MI5 European Liaison division in the early 2000s,” Jake explained, scrolling through black-and-white personnel files. “They provided the SVR with MI5’s counter-terrorism protocols, training standards, and, most damningly, a list of agents who were politically or financially vulnerable—the original target list for Soft Strike.”

Emma stared at the screen, her heart sinking. This was a direct attack on the agency’s integrity. But the true shock came when Jake managed to cross-reference the internal MI5 personnel records with the SVR file. The image on the screen was clear: Alistair.

“It can’t be,” Emma breathed, recognising their calm, stoic handler, Alistair, the man who had briefed them on every single mission, from Operation Shamrock to the capture of The Curator. “Alistair retired from the Liaison division right when this operation went cold.”

The file confirmed the devastating truth: Alistair was The Rook. He hadn’t just been an MI5 assistant; he had been the MI5 Mole, planted decades ago, who had built the entire framework of vulnerability that The Alchemist and The Curator later exploited. His recent promotion to Handler was simply the SVR installing their greatest asset at the operational hub.

Confrontation: The MI5 Mole

The implications were catastrophic. Alistair knew every move they had made, every source they had protected, every plan they had thwarted. He had been feeding the SVR intelligence about their own counter-operations in real-time. He hadn’t failed to catch the threats; he had been managing the chaos.

They couldn’t alert anyone. Alistair was the head of their division; he would immediately know they had breached the SVR file.

“He’ll be expecting us to come to him with the success of the Curator raid,” Jake whispered, his hand resting on his sidearm. “He’ll want to review the data, which means he’ll want to delete the file we found.”

“We need to go now,” Emma decided, her expression grim. “We need to get to Alistair’s office, secure him, and secure his personal systems before he can destroy evidence or raise an alarm.”

They moved through the sterile MI5 corridors, their movements casual, masking the adrenaline pumping through their veins. They passed familiar desks, exchanged nods with sleepy night-shift analysts—all operating in blissful ignorance of the poison at the top.

They reached Alistair’s closed office door.

“You take the primary visual, I secure the door and his comms,” Jake instructed.

Emma nodded, throwing open the door.

Alistair was sitting at his desk, exactly as expected, reviewing files in the faint glow of his desk lamp. He looked up, his expression placid, but his eyes were instantly sharp.

“Emma, Jake. Success, I hear. The Curator is secured. Good work. Bring the drives—we need to cross-reference the SVR data immediately,” Alistair said, his voice calm, professional, utterly trustworthy.

Emma walked forward, her weapon discreetly aimed beneath the level of the desk. “We already cross-referenced the SVR data, Alistair. And we found something interesting. A codename: The Rook.”

Alistair’s placid expression didn’t crack, but the light in his eyes changed. The calm handler was gone, replaced by a cold, calculating enemy.

“Ah,” Alistair said, leaning back in his chair. “I wondered if The Curator would be sloppy enough to keep that file.”

The Final Trap

Alistair reached for his keyboard, but Jake was quicker, slamming a specialised jamming device onto the desk, cutting off all external communications and disabling Alistair’s system.

“It’s over, Alistair,” Jake said, standing by the doorway.

Alistair smiled, a chilling, regretful expression. “It was never over, Jake. You two were simply convenient. You were predictable. You were my best assets because you were always driven to find the next threat I pointed you toward.”

He then revealed the final, devastating act of betrayal. “The SVR didn’t just give me the Soft Strike list. They gave me the power to ensure my exit. You see the file I was reviewing, Emma?”

He gestured with his chin to the paper file on his desk. It wasn’t MI5 paperwork; it was a schematic of the building’s infrastructure.

“That wasn’t a debriefing file. It was a dead man’s switch,” Alistair said, his voice now entirely devoid of emotion. “The moment I failed to check in with my Moscow contact—which happened the second you blocked my comms—I activated the device. I’ve placed a series of explosive charges in the building’s central server cooling vents. You stop me, the entire MI5 central intelligence grid goes up. You secure the building, the evidence is destroyed, and the agency is crippled.”

Alistair stood up, casually taking a concealed weapon from a holster beneath his jacket. “You have two choices: let me walk out of the front door with my passport and retirement fund, or destroy everything you’ve spent the last six months saving.”

Emma and Jake had defeated every enemy the Alchemist and the SVR could throw at them. But their greatest enemy wasn’t a shadow; it was the trusted figure who stood before them, holding the fate of the entire agency in his hands.