The Old Rivalry

[Anglia]

Backstory: In the past, Belmont and Anglia have had bad relations due to war and different idealogies. Their current status is similiar to that of real life Taiwan and China.

The Prime-Minister sat behind his mahogany desk looking over a stack of papers that detailed the Royal Intelligence Agencies recent support of a off-shore terrorist group in Belmont. The Minister was not aware of this happening, and was just briefed earlier in the week about the situation. Apparently, this wasn't the first time the RIA had financed groups against several different countries. He was of course not against infiltrating Belmont, but he was irritated with the lack of security the plan had. The RIA had almost immediately been tied to the group, and now he was under some major political pressure.

He called his secretary into the room and after a few seconds, a young woman who looked to be just barely out of her internship entered and stopped in front of the desk. “You called Minister?” There was a slight pause before the Minister spoke “Yes Molly, I'd like you to get the RIA head in my office as soon as possible.” The woman nodded her head and swiftly left the office, shutting the door. “I'm going to deny it and blame something else. We can't let infiltrations such as these get noticed and compromised,” he thought to himself.

After a few minutes, a stout man with a rather expensive suit entered flanked by two bulky men with briefcases. The Minister spoke first “Richard, thank you for coming on such short notice, but I am sure you know the reason for me calling.” he motioned for them to sit and poured a glass of whiskey, sliding it over towards the intelligence head. Richard Donnely spoke next “Minister, I am sure you've concluded we must deny these charges, but we must also consider increasing our funding of the group, and renew our efforts to infiltrate more parts of Belmontien society. I propose we send in RIA agents who are much more reliable, and of course with more security measures taken, take down our Belmontien adversaries from the inside. We can't reverse what we've started, so let's continue on Minister.”

The Prime-Minister sat and pondered it for a moment “The King will not be pleased with failure, but we must continue with our operations. I do warn you, the repercussions of getting caught red-handed may very well be the end of Anglia. Now, I want you to get me a more detailed outline of the plans here in a few days. God Save the King, God Save Anglia,” and with that the RIA agents left and the Minister sat at his desk, pondering what might be the consequences of what just transpired.

 

[Serenierre]

Mayor's Office, Orléans City Hall​

Mayor Bonneau put down the phone and sighed. The hastily arranged press conference by the Chief Constable of Orléans had just ended and the press, which had inundated the City Hall, had started to pack up and leave the two hundred year old building. The forty eight year old mayor picked up the file, which had come straight from Paris and bore the insignia of the ISE, had been an interesting read. In fact, every document shoved in his face since the discovery of the forgery and counterfeiting ring, had been an interesting read. Orléans was a big city, no doubt, but its distance from the business and political capitals meant it had very little action going on and this entire counterfeiting ring had entrenched the city, and its officials, in intrigue. Nobody, not even Bonneau, could have thought that Orléans could be home to spies and criminals.

Bonneau had, since the 23rd, had hardly slept, not that he wasn't feeling tired, mainly because he hadn't been allowed to sleep. Almost constant phone calls from Paris had made it impossible for him to sleep for more than two to four hours each day. Lucky for him the cost of coffee had dropped quite substantially since the month began. "Lily" said into the intercom "Get me another mug of coffee. Anything else from the higher ups?"

"I'm on it" a sweet voice answered back. "And no word from Paris" she added. Bonneau reclined into his chair and closed his, heavy and slightly red, eyes. He needed some rest. He hoped that Paris would finally take over the issue and he could return to his low stress, nine to five job as Mayor of Orléans.

Parking Lot, Orléans City Hall​

Chief Constable Colin Razelle entered his car, which was parked in the Town Hall's Parking. The press conference, which had just ended, had given the Chief Constable a huge adrenalin rush. He was smiling, he couldn't help it. The attention that he was getting was addictive, and knowing that it would end as soon as Paris would take over the issue, he was going to enjoy every minute of this.

His phone started to ring. He looked at the number - The Mayor - he picked it up. "Yes sir, bonjour."

"Oui, oui, bonjour Monsieur Razelle. What is the latest on Mark A?" the Mayor said, clearly sounding tired. Before he answered, Razelle heard the unmistakable sound of the mayor sipping some liquid. Most probably coffee. Weakling is buckling under this, Razelle thought.

"Sir, Mark A and all the others have been transferred to ISE... so I know only as much they tell me."

The mayor mumbled something and hung up. Razelle looked of the window and saw the members of the press packing their cameras into their vans and backing away from the City Hall.

Prime Minister's Office, Grosvenor House
Paris​

"For how long are we going to let the matter stay with Orleans Police?" asked Millerand irritably. The Prime Minister didn't need this right now. Elections were almost upon them and the chances of a hung parliament swung over his head like an axe. He loosened his tie and reclined into his chair and looked at the Chief of the ISE, François Barère who was sitting on the chair in front of him.

"Sir, ISE has taken over the custody men and we have transported them to S-32"

"Good. And any new information?"

"Sir, we were able to capture an Anglian agent... residing in Belmont with fake Belmontien identification papers which, I must say, were one of the best forgeries I have ever seen. Were we not looking at these papers, we would thought they were legit." Barère paused for a second, looked at the ground and started speaking again, this time slower.

"And?" Millerand anxiously. He had sat up now and was looking straight the ISE chief.

"And... uh, sir, he said that the RIA is not going to stop. It still has agents across the nation and is trying to 'destroy Belmont from within'"

"Bâtards." mumbled Millerand.


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