Queen & Country: Declassified (2002) 3

Queen & Country: Declassified (2002) 3

Jan 2003

Operation: Landslide (Part 3)

by Greg Rucka, Brian Hurtt, John Dranski

The surprise guest turns out to be the KGB. Wallace and Karpin are about to get arrested when Don Weldon shows up, mows down a couple of KGB agents with his car, and escapes with Wallace and Crocker. Weldon has to drop them off somewhere else in Prague, along the river, and return the car which is in Barclay’s name.

The KGB questions Barclay and Weldon, the latter of whom buys Wallace and Karpin some time by lying. Wallace and Karpin make it to the Austrian border. Wallace makes it home safely but Karpin is shot and killed while trying to crawl through the fence.

Queen & Country: Declassified (2002) 2

Queen & Country: Declassified (2002) 2

Dec 2002

Operation: Landslide (Part 2)

by Greg Rucka, Brian Hurtt, John Dranski

Crocker meets with Don Weldon (at that time the number two man in Prague) who explains the plan to him for extracting Karpin. Crocker moves ahead with the extraction plan but things go south quickly. Karpin was under surveillance and then he and Crocker almost get captured at the meeting place. Crocker gets shot escaping from the trap.

Crocker and Karpin hole up in a safe house. Francis Barclay, the number one man in Prague, has no interest in sticking out his neck to help Crocker. Barclay starts to draft a message to the home office blaming Crocker for going ahead with the extraction despite a (nonexistent) warning from Barclay. 

Queen & Country: Declassified (2002) 1

Queen & Country: Declassified (2002) 1

Nov 2002

Operation: Landslide (Part 1)

by Greg Rucka, Brian Hurtt, John Dranski

Minder Three Paul Crocker returned empty handed (but alive) from East to West Berlin, in 1986. He was stopped at the border by the KGB but then allowed to pass through. Minder One Lindsay Mills didn’t make it back from a mission in Ukraine. Crocker was home for less than a day when he was sent back out on a mission to Czechoslovakia to pick up a KGB agent who wanted to defect.

James Wason, Crocker’s boss, advised him to be extremely cautious, given the state of affairs, including the death of Mills. A Russian KGB agent who stopped Crocker at the border had the would-be defector, Valery Karpin, in Prague, under surveillance.