1948: Intensifying point of the Cold War

Nikolai Antonov was a wealthy, Russian crime lord. He was dangerous and calculating, his expression always cold and scowling.

He was scarily intelligent, knowing over 5 languages and held the knowledge of both sign language and braille.

At the age of only 29, he was widely respected—yet feared—by most of Russia. No one dared to cross his path. And if they did, they were death within less than 24 hours.

Nikolai was to fly into the United States to infiltrate an army base. His stay would last a couple of months. It would be grueling and time consuming, but there was no other way around it.

He hated the U.S.

American men were slobs and the women were trashy and impolite. Half of their country was deathly poor, yet the wealthy continued to have their belly’s overfilled every single night.

The poor grew poorer and the rich grew greedier.

Nikolai landed in Texas, his plan to infiltrate Fort Bliss.

After a long meeting with the higher ups, Nikolai was walking along the poorly paved roads of town. He passes by many beaten down shops, some with broken glass windows and doorknobs with bullet holes.

As Nikolai continued to walk, his attention caught on an outside produce stand, run by a teenage boy. Although the stand looked as though it was about to crumble beneath the wait of the food, the produce itself didn’t look half bad.

The older man made his way over, staring down the teenage boy behind the wooden counter.

The boy was small—way too small for his age—and almost as skinny as a skeleton. He had dirty, tousled, and curly light brown hair; big, light green eyes; smooth, freckled skin; long, fluttering eyelashes; dimples; and slight crooked teeth.

He wore a pair of used, dirtied overalls; a stained, white T-shirt, and a straw hat with multiple holes.

Nikolai looked the young boy up and down before his eyes fell onto the fruits and vegetables before him.

“An apple.” Nikolai grumbled, his voice deep and rough as his eyes narrowed in a glare.