[OPS] The Istanbul Exfiltration

*OPS is a series of intel about possibly true or reversely false experiences of covert operatives, operators, assets and agents. Edited, altered, fictional and or true accounts of operations and events.

[This covert operation may or may not describe actual events. Places, names, timelines and other details may have been modified, omitted or added in part or as a whole if inspired by events and actions that may or may not have actually occurred and people that may or may not have existed. Verifiably unverifiable but with the core narrative intact.]

       05:37         The sun had not yet risen over the Istanbul skyline when the message came through. A single encrypted ping to the operative’s burner phone. The subject had moved. An extraction was now set for tonight. Target: a high-ranking defector carrying vital intelligence on a foreign nuclear program. He had one day to secure the package.

       06:16         Operative “Alaska” checked out of his hotel, leaving no trace of his real identity behind. The front desk clerk knew him as a businessman from Belgium. False documents and digital footprints had ensured the cover held firm.

       07:03         At a crowded café, Alaska slipped a SIM card into a disposable phone. He dialed an unknown number, waited for two rings, and then hung up. It was a signal to the surveillance team positioned across the Bosphorus. The first piece of the puzzle was in motion.

       07:42         A bus ride through the chaotic morning traffic of Istanbul took Alaska to the old district. At a spice market, he purchased a simple keychain, handing the vendor three folded lira notes, the middle one concealing a microSD card. The vendor didn’t flinch, handing back the package without a word. Grey disappeared into the bustling crowd.

       08:21         Alaska entered a mosque, stepping into the courtyard and moving with the flow of worshippers. Beneath his jacket, he wore a tailored vest lined with anti-surveillance gear: an RF jammer and signal-disrupting fabric. He took a seat near a column, ensuring the CCTV cameras would capture only fleeting glances.

       08:45         Surveillance showed no signs of a tail. A digital sweep from his jammer indicated no active trackers on him. So far, clean.

       09:32         He rendezvoused at a tea house with his local contact, “Tariq.” Tariq handed over a nondescript leather briefcase. Inside: a suppressor, a compact Glock 19, and forged credentials for the defector’s extraction.

       10:15         The package had to be delivered to a seedy black-market contact for verification. Alaska arrived at a pawnshop, slipping inside through a narrow alleyway. The shop owner, a former intelligence asset turned fence, scanned the forged IDs, then nodded. “Good enough,” he muttered, handing Alaska a fresh phone and a map of an abandoned dockyard.

       11:46         Alaska received a signal via the encrypted phone — the exfil location had changed. They now had a 12-hour window before hostile agents closed in.

       12:02         Alaska arrived at the airport, blending into the crowd of international travelers. He entered a bathroom stall and began assembling his equipment — placing the Glock, now fitted with the suppressor, into a hidden compartment in his briefcase. He ran a second scan for trackers, ensuring no one had tagged him during transit.

       13:12         The operative made a stop at a local black-market firearms dealer in the outskirts of Istanbul. This time, the exchange was for something more specialized — a compact sniper rifle with subsonic rounds. It wasn’t for him. It was for a shadow team providing overwatch during the extraction.

       14:38         Alaska conducted a recon of the new exfil point. It was perfect: a deserted industrial zone with narrow canals and multiple escape routes. His escape plan was falling into place, but the challenge remained — the package wasn’t yet secured.

       15:14         A message came through: the defector had reached the safe house. Hostile agents were trailing. Timing would be critical.

       16:09         Alaska reached the safe house on the outskirts of the city. Surveillance cameras indicated multiple vehicles circling nearby. The operation had been compromised, but there was no turning back. Grey decided to split up with the defector. He sent a decoy team in one direction, using burner phones to create false signals that would mislead enemy surveillance.

       16:46         Alaska, with the defector in tow, used underground tunnels to exit the safe house. These tunnels, originally part of the old city’s drainage system, had long since been forgotten by locals. It was the perfect route to avoid satellite surveillance or on-the-ground pursuit.

       18:11         The pair emerged at a forgotten dock, where the shadow team Alaska had hired was already in place. One of the snipers provided silent cover as they moved toward an awaiting boat. Their escape route would lead through the Black Sea.

       19:30         Hostile agents arrived at the wrong extraction point, following the decoy team’s trail. By the time they realized their mistake, Alaska and the defector were miles out, headed towards international waters. A Turkish freighter, secretly flagged under a European country, awaited their arrival.

       21:07         The freighter’s captain, a smuggler with old ties to Alaska, signaled the all-clear. They had successfully made it out, evading both local authorities and hostile agents.

       23:59         With the defector safely secured in the ship’s hold, Alaska made a final encrypted call. “Package secure. Mission complete.” He tossed the burner phone into the sea, watching it sink beneath the waves as they crossed the horizon into freedom.