Chapter 1: Dimitri Ivanov

   Dimitri Ivanov was a powerful man. Not only was he a global celebrity, but he owned businesses the world over, had many shares in real estate and oil mines, invested in the stock market, was a former KGB officer, and, to top it all, he was a singer and a musician. He was fairly handsome, tall, blue eyes, blonde, muscular. The kind of rich man girls always seem to fall for in stories and sometimes in real life.

      He was kind, caring, and generous. Ivanov donated thousands of dollars to build shelters and orphanages across the globe, he campaigned ceaselessly to stop animal testing, and he set up many national parks everywhere to preserve the beauty of the Earth. Of course with all of these gallant acts Mr. Ivanov was sure to win the heart of everyone.

     The world had turned him into an unofficial saint. Unlike most saints, however, this one had a dark side. He was in deep with the mafia, the yakuza, and the triads. His work had brought him into contact with all of the big gangs, and he knew everyone at the top. So Ivanov went to them and borrowed about eighty billion dollars to buy shares in companies and start his businesses. In time, of course, he was able to pay them all back with interest, but once you make a deal with the devil, he'll never let you go.

     Ivanov didn't mind. He rather enjoyed the danger that came with the risk. So he then became the banker for half of the criminal organizations in the world. The yakuza was selling weapons to terrorist groups; the triads were running drugs in Burma and Afghanistan; and the mafia was moving into prositution throughout the West. There were thousands of dirty deals done every day, and Ivanov's money was behind all of them. 

     No one has ever questioned the sources behind Ivanov's funding, simply because those who did either disappeared or died a very painful death. These are all simple things, however, compared to what Ivanov was  now planning. As many know, his land of origin was Russia. And even though he grew up in America, his unwavering loyalty to Russia was astounding.

     A big bulk of his donations and gifts went to Russia. He lavished them with houses, money, etc., etc. But for him this wasn't enough. He wanted to have his country honored above all. Ivanov pondered on what was the biggest honor a country could have. To him, it was to be the world power.

Currently the world power was the United States of America. So it was all a question of conquering America in Russia's name and declaring it the world power. The President of Russia had no idea what he was up to, and Ivanov preferred to keep it that way until he had destroyed America.

If worst came to worst and the President of Russia refused to accept his gift, Ivanov had already decided that he would just kill the President and rule Russia himself. At any rate, Dimitri had long ago realized that America had the latest of military vehicles and weaponry, so it would take something extremely powerful to subdue the country. After careful consideration he decided to find the  biological anomaly in the form of a flower known as Project Calista.

In World War II, German scientists had operated on a base on a small cay in the Bahamas, using highly developed classified chemicals to create a lethal war weapon. They had originally created it to use as a trump card, but after a field trial, the results had proved that Project Calista was unstable and dangerous enough to wipe out the entire world.

So they destroyed all of the flowers and the recipe, so that none of Germany's enemies could ever try to use it against them. That was a long time ago, and everyone who was involved had already died. But by some miraculous chance of Fate, Dimitri Ivanov had heard about Project Calista and decided to use it.

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