Alexander Vandervoss needed to borrow some programming talent from his friend, Alexei Breven. What Alexander wants Alexei provides, Alexei chuckled as he pulled a red cell phone out of his desk drawer and dialed Viktor.

“Boss, how can I help you?”

“Pretzelverse needs additional programming talent. I need freelancers. I don’t care about backgrounds or criminal pasts. I just need raw talent to help with a few projects.”

“Consider it done. Please send the details the usual way.”

“Thanks, Viktor.”

Viktor orchestrated an operation known as Project Walled Garden. The project got its name because Viktor distributed the code via USB sticks within walls scattered around the globe.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Viktor picked up his red phone and dialed.

“Hello, Comrade,” the voice on the other end greeted.

Viktor heard noises in the background. It sounded like a cocktail party.

“Gregor, are you sober?”

“Well, of course not. Why would I be?” Gregor laughed as he said this.

“Stupid drunk bastard! I will give you ten minutes to sober up and call me from a secure location.”

Twenty minutes later, Viktor received a call from his red phone. No caller information was displayed, but he knew it was Gregor.

“Ready to work?” Viktor answered.

“Da.”

Gregor sounded a lot better, and no distracting background noise could be heard.

“I have a crucial task for you. I will need you and your team.”

“I see the details that you sent. It will be done, but I will need some time for execution.”

“You have a week,” Viktor replied.

After some considerable thought—a difficult task in Gregor’s current state—he thought of how exchanges got done in the past.

Dead drops are popular with spies. Why not hackers? Gregor asked himself.