London, by the Thames River, deep within MI6 headquarters.
The command center, codenamed "Eagle's Nest," was brightly lit. On the giant electronic screen, high-definition images from the "Heavenly Eye" spy satellite occupied the central position.
In the image was the valley that had just experienced a massacre. Corpses were everywhere, smoke lingering, like a precisely marked, just extinguished miniature volcanic crater.
On a side screen, a flashing dot was moving steadily northward along a preset retreat route, its target directly heading towards the small oasis marked as "Kurtan" on the map.
Ms. M stood at the front of the command platform, her silver hair meticulously tied at the back of her head.
Her face remained as stoically hard as always, like a carefully polished marble statue. Only her sharp eyes, like those of an eagle, behind her glasses showed a barely noticeable contraction of the pupils when the satellite images switched to the tragic scenes of the valley.
