novelSusiti Chapter 320 The Panic in Downing Street
Chapter 320 The Panic in Downing Street
Chapter 320 The Panic in Downing Street
The document "lost" under the club's carpet was sent swiftly, as a top-secret document, to a heavily guarded building on the banks of the Thames in an inconspicuous black carriage.
The Hive, an intelligence analysis center under the British Foreign Office.
Bright lights.
The piercing ring of the telephone shattered the silence of the night, urgently summoning Britain's top cryptography experts, Russian affairs analysts, and document authentication specialists from their warm beds.
A group of men, dressed in pajamas and trench coats, rushed into the building, their eyes still heavy with sleep, their faces filled with confusion and dissatisfaction. But when they saw the small fragment of parchment placed under a sterile glass dome, their expressions turned serious.
They knew something terrible had happened.
The entire "hive" was on high alert.
The preliminary physical analysis results were first sent to the chief analyst's desk. The report was short, but every word made the temperature in the room drop several degrees.
"The paper fibers perfectly match the parchment specially supplied by the Tsar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the Caucasus Mountains after 1885."
"The watermark is indeed a subtle pattern of the Russian royal iris."
"The ink composition analysis shows that it is basically consistent with the ink used in high-level confidential documents that leaked from St. Petersburg. The degree of oxidation is consistent with normal storage traces of about three years."
"The remaining wax seal, based on preliminary assessment, belongs to the personal seal of a senior military attaché at the Russian Embassy in the Ottoman Empire —"
There is only one conclusion.
This thing is real!
A collective gasp filled the office. Everyone realized that they might be holding a deadly intelligence report capable of reshaping the geopolitical landscape of Europe.
In the latter half of the night, the code-breaking work began in an absolutely soundproof room.
The Hive's top cryptographers racked their brains over the seemingly random ciphertext composed of Cyrillic letters and numbers. The atmosphere was so tense you could hear a pin drop.
As the clock struck four in the morning, the chief cryptographer took off his glasses and announced the successful decryption in a hoarse voice.
When the incomplete cipher was translated into cold English words and projected onto the wall, the entire room fell into a deathly silence.
The office was deathly silent.
Several keywords, like red-hot branding irons, were fiercely imprinted on the retinas of every intelligence analyst.
"————Dardanelles Strait————"
"————Secret Memorandum of Understanding————"
"—Black Sea Fleet——Right of Passage—"
"—The Promise of the Kingdom of Greece—"
"————Joint Naval————Goodwill Visit————"
Every word was like a sharp knife, precisely piercing the most sensitive and vulnerable nerve of the British Empire!
The decryption report, along with the original document, was placed in a triple-locked lead box before dawn and delivered to 10 Downing Street by Royal Guard cavalry at top speed.
Meanwhile, the Marquess of Salisbury was enjoying a rare moment of peace in his bedroom. The deployment of the Mediterranean fleet had given him back the upper hand, and he believed that the arrogant Greek crown prince would soon yield.
His dream was interrupted by a series of urgent knocks on the door.
"Your Excellency Prime Minister! Urgent intelligence! Top priority!" Outside the door stood his most trusted chief secretary, his voice filled with unprecedented panic.
The Marquess of Salisbury sat up in bed with displeasure. He put on his dressing gown, donned his reading glasses, and opened the door.
When he saw the contents of the report in his secretary's hand, all his sleepiness vanished instantly.
A bone-chilling coldness shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.
What followed was a torrent of anger.
"Bang!"
He jumped up from the bed, the movement so violent that he knocked over the water glass on the bedside table. The glass shattered on the carpet with a dull thud.
He snatched the report and slammed the papers to the ground!
"Russians! Greeks!"
The elderly prime minister's roar echoed in the quiet official residence in the early morning, like the fury of a wounded lion.
"How dare they! How dare they conduct such a filthy deal right under my nose!"
"What do they take the British Empire for?! A fool they can deceive at will?!"
The Marquess of Salisbury's chest heaved violently, his face flushed red with rage.
This forged document, like a master key, perfectly solved all the mysteries that had puzzled him before!
The Greeks suddenly had an abundance of money! It wasn't some Wall Street investment; it was Russian gold!
Constantine's attitude at the negotiating table suddenly became incredibly tough! It turns out that behind him stood Tsar Nicholas II!
The Germans' ambiguous shift! They must have sensed the Russians' moves and wanted to take a share of the Balkans!
At this moment, all the clues connected. They all pointed to a conclusion that sent chills down the Marquess of Salisbury's spine:
A sinister alliance, orchestrated by Tsarist Russia and with the Kingdom of Greece as its accomplice, aimed at completely overthrowing British hegemony in the Eastern Mediterranean, had quietly formed without his knowledge!
The Marquess of Salisbury rushed to his desk and grabbed the phone.
"Get me to the Navy Headquarters! Immediately! Right now!"
He roared into the microphone.