Exterritorial 2025

Sara Wulf, a former Special Forces soldier who served in Afghanistan until 2017, is depicted as a resilient and skilled individual navigating the aftermath of a traumatic event. She was the sole survivor of an ambush that resulted in the deaths of eight soldiers, an experience that has left visible scars and ongoing emotional struggles. In the story, Sara and her young son Joshua visit the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt to apply for a work visa, hoping to rebuild their lives. During their extended stay at the consulate, Sara momentarily leaves Joshua in a playroom. However, when she returns, she discovers that her son is missing, sparking a tense and desperate search.

Sara immediately seeks assistance from Eric Kynch, the Regional Security Officer, and Sergeant Donovan, but they present conflicting accounts. Donovan insists Sara entered the consulate alone and that no child was registered or recorded during her visit. Surveillance footage seems to support their claims, showing only Sara without any sign of her son. Struggling to get straightforward help, Sara contacts the German police, but they lack jurisdiction on American territory within the consulate, leaving her feeling helpless. Her mother, Anja, skeptical of Sara’s claims, suspects she might not be taking her prescribed PTSD medication, leading to her being labeled as having a psychiatric episode and advised to leave the premises.

Refusing to give up, Sara goes into hiding within the consulate building and begins searching for her son. During her covert investigation, she encounters Irina, a woman who has been held captive at the consulate for nearly two months. Irina, whose real name is Kira Volkova, reveals her tragic backstory. Her father was a Belarusian dissident, murdered by the Russian government, and she fled to the US embassy in Minsk before being brought to Frankfurt by the CIA. Kira wants to travel to Boston to reunite with her mother and plans to expose Russian crimes using incriminating data stored on a USB stick, aiming to help other dissidents.

Sara uncovers disturbing evidence: a bag of illegal drugs hidden in a consulate employee’s locker, leading her to believe that Joshua might have witnessed a kidnapping linked to this illicit activity. However, before she can delve deeper, security personnel, including Service Manager Check In and others, locate her. Kynch injects Sara with a sedative, rendering her unconscious. When she wakes, she finds herself at the bedside of Deborah Allen, the Consul General, who had been contacted by Sara’s worried mother about her mental health and possible PTSD-related episodes following her Afghanistan deployment.

It is later revealed that Kira—who was called Irina earlier—is seeking to escape and visit her mother in Boston. Her mission involves sharing crucial, potentially incriminating data on Russian authorities through a USB stick to bolster dissident movements worldwide. Sara, meanwhile, is offered a job by a security firm in the United States targeting women ex-soldiers, but she soon discovers that Eric Kynch is behind this supposed opportunity. His true intent is sinister: to lure her into the consulate and abduct her, as he was also an Afghanistan veteran with a shadowy past.

A major plot twist occurs when Sara receives a video from a journalist showing Kynch meeting with a Taliban militant. The journalist accuses Kynch of being corrupt and responsible for tipping off the Taliban, which contributed to the ambush that caused her unit’s demise. Realizing the danger, Sara devises a plan to create a diversion so Kira can escape via France with the data. Meanwhile, Kynch admits to kidnapping Joshua and tampering with surveillance footage to hide his involvement. His motive stems from feeling unsupported by the military, financially strained, and threatened by the journalist’s damaging evidence. His sinister plan was to manipulate Sara by igniting her fears about her son, provoking her into reckless behavior so he could shoot her in self-defense.

In a tense confrontation, Sara kidnaps Kynch’s daughter, Aileen, and takes her to a secure safe room. Her initial intent is to exchange Aileen for Joshua, but she ultimately chooses to release Aileen after recording Kynch’s confession on her device, exposing his betrayal. Kynch’s motivations reveal a complex background: he, too, was a soldier who struggled with trauma, felt abandoned by the military, and turned to criminal dealings by making a deal with the Taliban. This dark history explains his willingness to sell secrets for financial gain.

After being wounded in a confrontation with Kynch, Sara manages to rescue Joshua. With Kynch now in custody in the United States, she plans to reunite with Kira in Boston. Her journey concludes with a determined outlook, inspired by the hope of reconnecting and exposing the truth, while the story highlights the lasting scars of trauma, the complex web of betrayal, and the resilience of those who seek justice.

Sara’s experience underscores the peril faced by those caught amidst international espionage, political corruption, and personal trauma, weaving a compelling narrative of survival and the fight for truth.