The First Interbellum (1918-1939)

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

Jurgensen had various errands on his agenda when he arrived in Petrograd in
March of 1922. Most of those involved his collective master, but some were
based upon his own personal interests and his hidden agenda.

For the Unity, Jurgensen was there to place ‘sleeper’ operatives in key places
in the emerging power structure of the Soviet Union, and also to ‘turn’ some
people already in place. The techniques for this were classic tradecraft, some
people found themselves swayed by appeals to ideology or idealism, usually
through a false flag. Others were swayed by appeals to ego, pride, or simply
boredom. Of course, there was always the tried and true option of money, as
well, money or the equivalent properly applied could bring enormous results.

Jurgensen also sought a place to continue his own personal researches. This
was not something he would do in Russia by preference, but he would settle
for Russia if no better location could be found.

Russia was a dangerous place in 1922, with ongoing internal violence from a
variety of civil wars. The hold of the Bolsheviks was still shaky, and they
were far from unified, the Communist movement was riven by internal power
struggles and factional disputes. This represented an opportunity, however,
from the point of view of Jurgensen and the Unity. Jurgensen was able to
shape events and alter policy for the USSR by the simple expedient of setting
up the ‘accidental’ deaths of certain individuals, most of whom were unheard
of in the West, and who played apparently minor roles in the machinery, thus
altering the path of the whole over time.

The ongoing civil wars were beginning to wind down by 1922, the Bolshevik
hold was shaky but continuing, and their rivals and the secessionist regions
and national territories were approaching exhaustion. The terrible famines of
the previous year had left millions dead of exhaustion and disease, and forced
the Communist government to change their economic policies, ideology giving
way, at least slightly, to necessity.

Amid all this, foreigners were involved, there were nationals present from just
about every major nation in the world involved in one way or another, some
of them on behalf of their home governments, some on behalf of corporate or
private interests, some acting on their own.

This was what led, indirectly, to what happened in August. Though it would
take too long to explain in detail, suffice it to say that among the foreigners in
Russia at that time was a particular American who was being held, in secret,
by the newly reorganized NKVD. This particular American was a scientist
and inventor, among other things, and he was not, officially, supposed to have
been in Russia at all, which made it somewhat difficult for the authorities in
the United States to protest his unofficial detention by the Cheka/NKVD. If
that was not delicate enough, there were internal disputes in play as well, the
faction that held the scientist was not necessarily obeying all the orders
of the people who supposedly were in control of the organization.

Jurgensen also took an interest in this prisoner, when he happened to learn of
his presence. It would have rather suited him to capture this man for himself,
in the service of his own personal agenda. Jurgensen discovered that he
was being held in early July, and began to maneuver to gain control of him at
that time, in the middle of August he was ready to make his attempt.

Jurgensen had a straightforward plan, relatively speaking. He knew that the
prisoner was being held in a ‘safehouse’ in Petrograd, hidden as much from
other factions of the Soviet security services as from anyone else. The goal
of holding him to persuade him to work for certain groups within the NKVD,
which was why he was being treated fairly humanely.

Still, he was under heavy guard, watched around the clock, and his captors
were perfectly prepared to kill him rather than let him be extracted, and this
forced Jurgensen to proceed carefully. His plan involved using NKVD
personnel under his sway to infiltrate the personnel guarding the scientist,
over the course of several weeks, and eventually to extract him quietly by
such subtle infiltration. The plan was well on its way to working in middle
August of 1922. In fact, the plan did work, as far as it went.

(Jurgensen could have used his holds on various Soviet officials to get
control of the prisoner more directly, but this would have been visible to the
Unity, and Jurgensen was carrying out a rogue operation.)

The scientist actually passed into the control of the infiltrators, and was in
the process of being moved to one of the facilities under his control, when
another group of operatives intervened, in a lighting-fast improvised
operation to kill his men and extract the American scientist, even as he was
being moved across Petrograd. Jurgensen lost a dozen of his men, six of
whom were personally loyal men who had been working for him for many
years, and several more of which were useful ‘turned assets’.

Jurgensen himself moved to recapture the prisoner, leading several of his
own best men in the effort, as soon as word reached him of the extraction.
All this played out over the course of less than twelve hours, and before it
was over Jurgensen found himself in combat with the new group, and when
he did he recognized one of them immediately: it was the American Army
officer that he had come seen in Germany in 1918, the man his powerful
precognitive sense had been warning him about for so many decades!

The battle went against Jurgensen, though not before he managed to kill
two of the American force and wound several others, including his personal
demon. The man had been ready for the Luger Jurgensen had been using,
but had not expected a psychokinetic attack. The American had not been
expecting red-hot ashes from a nearby fireplace to suddenly come flying
through the air at him, and in the confusion Jurgensen had almost been able
to put a bullet into his personal nemesis. Almost.

When it was done, the scientist was gone, Jurgensen had lost several of his
best men, and enough damage had been done to the work Jurgensen had
been supposed to be doing, for the Unity, to force him to spend some
time coming up with plausible explanations. Jurgensen was able to come
up with explanations sufficient to satisfy his master, but not easily, and
not without considerable cost to his own private agenda.

Jurgensen was not happy.

MORE LATER.