Spy-x-War Showdown
Chapter 562 - 570 The Ignored Place

Chapter 562: Chapter 570 The Ignored Place

The evacuation could hardly be called a plan; as soon as Yang Yi raised the idea of withdrawal to Elvin, Elvin immediately agreed to help.

In the time waiting for the flight out, Yang Yi was pondering how to fill the current gap within the Organization of Water.

Specialized intelligence analysts were what the Organization of Water needed most at the moment. Although its ability to gather intelligence was not weak—with Brian and Anton on board, they could basically collect any intelligence they wanted—the difficulty lay in sifting through the vast and complex data to extract the necessary information, which was a trouble for the Organization.

Ever since Mike’s death, the Organization had been missing such a person, and filling this role was no easy task.

Brian had no recommendations, and neither did Paul, because they were all part of the operations division, and they had left the CIA many years ago.

Therefore, Yang Yi could only pin his hopes on Anton.

Having called Anton over, Yang Yi asked expectantly, "Anton, do you know any specialized analysts who could join us? Are there any?"

Anton laughed, "Of course, there are such positions in the Ukraine intelligence agency."

Yang Yi immediately responded, "Then could you get one to join us? I can offer a high salary, but my requirement is a true elite, because we can’t afford to support a whole analysis team. Therefore, it would be best if one person could do the work of many."

The corners of Anton’s mouth curled up, and then he smiled, "Are you looking for someone particularly good, particularly excellent?"

"Yes."

"No, I don’t know anyone like that."

Yang Yi, disappointed, said to Anton, "There isn’t a single analyst you think highly of in such a large country?"

Anton spread his hands, "Firstly, I don’t know all the analysts. Secondly, the best analysts wouldn’t be let go even with drastic changes. Even if they wanted to leave, they couldn’t; the ones who are cleared out would be picked up by others first, just like you mentioned Justin. If you were to pledge allegiance to a new power, would you choose the Cicero Family or an obscure small organization?"

Yang Yi sighed, "Forget the especially talented elites; is there not even one analyst we can use?"

After a moment of contemplation, Anton shook his head, "I don’t know anyone particularly good, or the kind you say can be of use."

Yang Yi was very disappointed, but Brian said, "Forget it, stop thinking about it. By now, anyone with sufficient skills has been scooped up already, or it’s simply impossible for them to be let go. New governments aren’t foolish; how could intelligence personnel be easily released?"

Yang Yi gave a bitter smile, "It’s really tough..."

Brian indifferently added, "This was always an unlikely scenario. The most valuable people in an intelligence department have never been the operatives, but those who seem like bookworms, the analysts. It’s easy to find someone who can fight, but finding someone who can think is difficult. No intelligence department would let such talent go. Stop considering poaching from a functioning intelligence agency."

Yang Yi, of course, knew this reasoning. It’s unlikely that professional talent, painstakingly cultivated by a nation’s intelligence agency and often privy to secrets, would be just let go.

Brian continued, "Actually, you would make a pretty good intelligence analyst yourself. You have great talent, so you should be using your brain rather than getting your hands dirty."

Yang Yi helplessly replied, "But it requires learning specialized methods and accumulating experience, and I just can’t shoulder that responsibility right now."

After some thought, Brian said, "No normal intelligence department will give you the opportunity to poach, so the most realistic chance is with the KGB. The chaos created by the Soviet Union’s collapse forced some people out, like Anton."

Anton shrugged his shoulders. This time Brian wasn’t attacking him, just stating facts, so he didn’t have a retort.

Brian waved his hand, saying, "But the Soviet Union has been gone too long. Even if some were forced out and ended up outside the KGB, by now they would have found new lives."

Yang Yi remained silent, simply sighing, "Yes, which is why I hadn’t considered the KGB."

"There’s another possibility, those who have been pushed out for making some mistake, like Mike, but such cases are rare. It’s hard to come across another intelligence elite like Mike in the entire world."

Yang Yi spread his hands, "So we just have to train our own analysts, right?"

Brian nodded, "It’s the slowest but also the most realistic method. You could train yourself to be an analyst, but you have too many other big things to handle, so you can’t focus solely on being an analyst. Hence, the most realistic approach is to find someone smart enough and start training them from scratch. That’s it."

That was the reality. Analysts trained by intelligence organizations wouldn’t leave or defect, and although there might be a few who left due to various reasons, such cases were incredibly rare. Maybe one might stumble upon such people, but actively searching for them and finding them was highly improbable.

One potential scenario, similar to the Soviet Union’s collapse, might be when an entire country fell apart, possibly causing intelligence personnel to spillover. But the disintegration of the Soviet Union had happened too long ago, and the recent internal chaos in Ukraine, although somewhat similar, was different in two significant ways: first, Ukraine had not collapsed completely, and second, the Organization of Water’s competitive edge was too weak. Even if there were available personnel, the Organization couldn’t compete with behemoths like the Cicero Family, who were on par with the Ukraine intelligence agency.

Yang Yi was bordering on despair; finding an analyst seemed nearly impossible, and he figured he might truly need to start training someone new from scratch.

Just then, Anton suddenly said, "Actually, you’ve overlooked a place—or rather, a country."

Yang Yi looked at Anton, "What?"

Anton calmly stated, "East Germany."

"East Germany? Stasi?"

Anton nodded, "Yes, the Stasi. Back in the day, the KGB had a lot of intelligence personnel in East Germany, but East Germany had its own intelligence agency, the Stasi. In fact, the Stasi did quite well, notably in surveillance, they were outstanding. With the unification of Germany, the Stasi was also disbanded, and a lot of their intelligence personnel didn’t make it into the intelligence organizations of the Federal Republic of Germany, neither the Federal Intelligence Service nor the Military Intelligence Service."

Brian nodded, "Yes, most intelligence personnel from East Germany were disbanded on the spot, but it has been over twenty years since the Stasi was dissolved. What’s the point of bringing them up now?"

Anton maintained his calm demeanor, "There are definitely still some around; it’s just a matter of searching for them. Even though more than twenty years have passed, trained analysts would surely be faster to pick up than starting anew. Furthermore, perhaps they have never abandoned their skills over all these years."