Nowhere to Hide They will find you anywhere... by Florian Matusek

Author:Florian Matusek
Format: epub

Brussels

Day 3

10:00 a.m.

Lina Juska was having a smoke, trying to relax. It was a beautiful February day, and she enjoyed looking at the busy Robert Schuman roundabout below. Every time she came to the Berlaymont building, the headquarters of the European Commission, she tried to get to the terrace to enjoy the view. From up above, the scene looked unreal, like a toy city with toy cars and toy people urgently trying to get places. Watching all the hustle and bustle below brought things into perspective; it reminded her of who they were working for. In all those committees and working groups, it was easy to forget that it was the people of Europe whose lives they were trying to improve.

Last night, she had received news from Gusta that Brussels police had found the suspect and chased her through the city. But after Samanta Di Vincenzo hid inside Sablon church, she never came out again. And when the police entered, she was nowhere to be found. Unless she hid in one of the tombs, she was just not there anymore. To Lina, this incompetence was unfathomable. Losing the same person twice on the same day required a special kind of ineptitude. Now, Samanta Di Vincenzo could be anywhere out there, even at the busy Robert Schuman roundabout below.

Lina had been summoned by the Vice-President of the European Commission to the HQ. The VP wanted an update on the situation of the European gas supply, and Lina had not a lot of good news to share with her. Yes, the pipes were open again, and Italy slowly got back to something resembling normality, but the question of the vulnerability of the European gas supply remained. Especially in the face of the remaining threat of further attacks on the infrastructure. They just had a little over 24 hours left before the manifesto deadline passed, and more attacks could be expected. The SGS special committee was working around the clock to come up with a range of initiatives, but Lina doubted that any of them would do any good in the next 24 hours.

That reminded Lina that she had gotten lost in her thoughts and had lost track of time. She looked at her watch. She was supposed to meet the Vice-President now. Lina put out her cigarette and went back inside. The Vice-President’s secretary was already waiting for her, ushering her in as soon as she arrived.

„Commissioner Juska, good to see you. I trust you are well?“ the VP said.

„Very good, Madam Vice-President. And you?“

„As well. So, tell me, where are we with the SGS?“

„We are working on three different pillars at the moment: prevention, mitigation, and resilience. Europol, in collaboration with local police forces, is doubling efforts to apprehend the suspect and find potential collaborators who might work with her. So far, no connection to other persons could be found, but we have to be sure that if we stop Samanta Di Vincenzo, the threat of further attacks will be averted.

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