The Prague Antiquities Operation

In the back room of an old tailor's shop in the Czech Republic City of Prague, Agent Destiny Robbins sat at a video monitor for 12 hours a day. It had been her first foreign assignment and was meant to be more of a training experience than anything else. She had become familiar with art and antiques because of her interest in history.  She was selected for this specific job because of her knowledge of antique furniture. It seemed a strange job, but she was working for the Domestic Protection Group and could not have asked for more at that point in her career. The video monitor was a live feed of a pawn shop called “Darček.” There was a high-end operation of thieves stealing furniture and reselling it to fund terrorism. While she was operating outside of the United States, the case was immediately related to domestic security because there was a large level of intelligence that suggested the funds were supporting terror cells within the U.S. 

They would remove the pieces from historic homes throughout Europe and were being sold at several of these types of shops. Agent Robbins had asked why they didn't sell the furniture at antique stores to get more money and it was explained to her that reputable antique dealers and auction houses were too responsible and knowledgeable to willingly trade such quality items because they were always stolen. Agent Robbins enjoyed the long shift staring at what most would find a boring reality show. She was getting to see all of the interesting people and items they brought in and with the help of her translator that was assigned to her from the Security Information Service, she was getting to learn how much the items were bought for and some interesting history.

The memory flashed like a picture book having the pages turned too quickly. On her sixth day, she recognized a piece of furniture in a photo brought in by a regular visitor to the pawn shop. It appeared to be a 14th Century wooden armoire. She'd only seen a medieval piece such as this one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She had reported to her superiors, but because the piece was only in a photo and not in person they required more work from her than originally expected.

She had to work the field in a foreign country with very little field experience at all. After visiting the store in person and casually mentioning medieval art to the dealer, who was not involved in the sting at all, she was able to travel to the storage facility with both the dealer and the suspect. Agent Robbins was informed that this escalation of her assignment called for another agent in the field. She was happy to have the backup but nervous about making a fool of herself in front of a senior agent. Her fears and nerves were quickly dispelled when she met her temporary partner, Mitchell Howard, who, at the time had only been in the DPG for six months longer than her. The additional entry of "US Army Intelligence Officer" on his resume gave him that added seniority.

The flip book in her mind jolted forward to that moment. The very reason she felt every bit of responsibility on her shoulders for finding Agent Howard. It was the day she was to make her first bust as an agent with the Domestic Protection Group and it all went to hell very quickly. As she later found out, the dealer with the photo was not actually involved in the theft ring but was unknowingly stealing from terrorists. The man with the photo met the dealer and Agent Robbins outside of an old garage. Agent Howard was assigned to shadow them and ensure nothing went wrong with the authentication of the piece. The Security Information Service of the Czech Republic was standing by to the make the raid and arrests as soon as the piece was verified.

As the dealer opened the garage door, Agent Howard noticed something very strange. Sitting on the floor, in plain view just inside the garage door was an old padlock that had obviously been cut to gain access to the garage. Agent Howard had to think fast. He did not want to be responsible for ruining a successful operation or getting anyone injured or killed. Agent Howard quickly exited his 2nd story crow's nest lookout point across the cobblestone street and made his way down to the street level.

Walking briskly towards the garage he still hadn't come up with a plan when suddenly a car accelerated towards the garage. The tires made the clopping sound of horse hooves on the large block street. Agent Howard did all he could do. He yelled to Robbins to get out of the garage, but before he could get to the garage, the old Cadillac’s side windows opened and two AK-47 barrels protruded from the car. Agent Howard used every bit of energy and parts of his soul to spring into action. He reached Robbins just in time to pull her to the ground out of harm's way as the gunmen opened fire immediately killing the dealer who had broken into this snake pit of a stash. The Pawn Dealer was hit in the legs and arm and fell to the ground screaming in Slovak that Destiny understood, despite not speaking the language. The SIS moved in and was successful in killing one of the gunmen and taking the other and the driver into custody, but the entire operation was blown. Agent Howard had saved Agent Robbins' inexperienced and fragile life.

       The sudden slam of the car door closing shook Destiny out of her trance. John Billman was sitting in the front seat next to her with his hand reaching out to shake hers. 

"I said, good to see you again," John repeated. 

Agent Robbins had still been watching the flip book of memories and emotions when she reached the bottom of the hill. Agent Billman had tossed his things in the back seat and said hello to a cold reception. He was nervous he had already started things off on the wrong foot by being late, but when he entered the vehicle he realized she was either spaced out or deep in concentration. Agent Robbins looked at him and recognized his eyes and nose the most. The last time she had seen him, Agent Billman was at a prep meeting for a deep cover operation in New York. His hair was in a short crew cut now, but the beard she remembered was starting to grow in. Agent Robbins put the car in drive and accelerated away from the last of any relaxation or break time she'd allow herself until Agent Mitchell Howard was safely recovered from the enemy that she still knew so little about.