Spanish and Portuguese Military History,
Wargaming, and other stuff
Kolar’s eyes swept the room, lingered on her, then moved on. Good. Underestimation was her sharpest knife.
The Velvet Dowry
Agent Vera (inspired by Alexis Crystal’s aesthetic — sharp, poised, underestimated) Searching for- femaleagent Alexis Crystal in-Al...
The gallery opening in Vienna smelled of expensive wine and older money. Vera wore a champagne silk dress that whispered when she walked, her hair pinned in a severe twist that could double as a weapon. On the surface, she was just another collector admiring a dubious Caravaggio. In reality, she was waiting for a dead man’s watch to tick.
Her target: Kolar, an arms dealer who used art as alibi. The intel said he’d pass a microfilm hidden inside a Fabergé-style brooch to his courier. Vera’s mission: intercept, replace, vanish. Kolar’s eyes swept the room, lingered on her,
“Dowry delivered,” she said into her cuff.
The mission clock: 11 minutes. The wine stain: already drying. The Velvet Dowry Agent Vera (inspired by Alexis
Kolar, watching from the mezzanine, smiled. He thought he saw a clumsy socialite. He saw wrong.
Vera slipped into the coat check, palmed the brooch to a waiting handler disguised as a cloakroom attendant, and exited through the service elevator. Outside, a nondescript sedan idled. She slid inside, unpinned her hair, and let out a slow breath.
At the champagne bar, the courier arrived — a nervous man in a navy suit. Vera accidentally bumped into him, spilling champagne down his lapel. “ Oh, Entschuldigung ,” she breathed, dabbing at the stain with a napkin. Her other hand, quick as a spider, slid the real brooch from his pocket and replaced it with a perfect duplicate. He didn’t feel a thing.