Langley, CIA Headquarters.
The heavy oak door shut out the noise from the corridor.
The air conditioning in Director Vincent's office was set to a high level, filling the air with a unique scent of high-end leather, cigar tobacco, and power.
He had just ended a phone conference with a senior official from the Ministry of Defense regarding the final deployment point for the Marlin Fish cargo, his mood relatively calm.
The assistant silently pushed the door open and placed a thin folder marked "Top Sensitivity/Source Reliable" on his wide mahogany desk, then exited as quietly as he entered.
Vincent frowned, picked up the folder, and opened it. Inside was only a single sheet of paper, its content brutally concise.
The title was extraordinarily striking: [Persian Gulf Emergency Intelligence - One Billion Dollar Bounty]
Target, location, reward, requirements... each word felt like a red-hot iron, causing Vincent's pupils to contract sharply.
"One billion..."
