Y
uri left the bubble, walked down the hall, and reentered the office Vlad had been using. The four men were wrapping up their work, the room looking more like a display in a furniture store now, with all evidence of Vlad’s presence gone.
Yuri said, “Did you find a laptop?”
“Not a laptop per se, but a cheap netbook. Is that what you were looking for?”
“Yes. Where is it?”
“In the inventory satchel. We have our orders. You want it, you’ll have to go through headquarters.”
Feeling the power of his phone call, Yuri said, “I just did. Give it to me.”
The men looked at each other, unsure what to do. Yuri played on the fear he had just experienced. Played on the paranoia that permeated his service, understanding how Vlad operated for the first time.
He said, “Give me the fucking netbook. My crypt is Jarilo. Put that on a receipt and turn it in. You will get no pushback. On the other hand, if I put that name in a situation report and tell them how you obstructed my mission, you will regret ever having come to Istanbul.”
With no further argument, they’d given him the netbook.
He’d taken it back to his hotel room and passed it to his communications man, telling him to clone the drive and bypass any security. While the team member worked on hacking the hard drive, he’d purchased plane tickets for both of them to Berlin.
By the time he’d checked out of the hotel, the clone was done, transferred to another cheap netbook. He hadn’t had a chance to explore the new computer, and patiently waited for the seat belt light in his aircraft to go dark. Finally, it did.
He retrieved the netbook from the overhead bin and booted it up. In addition to bypassing the security of the original netbook, his communications operator had collated all potentially interesting files on the desktop. Dismayed, Yuri saw more than two hundred.
He spent close to an hour wading through irrelevant documents that would do him no good. Finally, he found something interesting: protocols for covert communication using the deep web and TOR.
Vlad was from the old generation of chalk markings and physical dead drops. While he could leverage technology, it had always remained somewhat foreign. Clearly, someone had provided Vlad the cheat sheet as a reference for the application.
Yuri realized that he was looking at the communication for the American asset. He put all of the instructions together and saw how serious the asset treated his own safety. Not content to use anything provided by the FSB, the man clearly understood how corrupted the Russian systems had been by the American NSA.
Before
Snowden’s arrival.
Yuri considered his next steps. According to the instructions he’d found, even Vlad was restricted from initiating contact with the asset. He was allowed to receive the intelligence the asset sent, but could never attempt to task the man for anything. Clearly, the FSB was afraid the asset would vanish if pushed. The thought gave Yuri some hesitation, but he made a decision. One that would reverberate far deeper than he intended.
He connected to the in-flight wireless and began the laborious process of establishing his own NYM e-mail account. Once that was done, he accessed the TOR network, then the Blofeld SMS service, typing out a simple message. An introduction.
He took the SMS URL and placed that into an encrypted e-mail on the NYM remailer network, working through a labyrinth of layers. Finally complete, he stared at the screen, seeing nothing but a URL in an e-mail message. Innocuous to anyone looking, but as volatile as the weapon he was about to retrieve in Berlin. Well, potentially to him, anyway.
He knew if he let the message fly he might be causing his own death. He was playing in an arena at the highest level of his government. A place beyond anything he’d participated within before, and a government that had no compunction about killing. Yuri, more so than most, knew that because he himself was one of their tools of destruction.
Yuri’s finger hovered over the “enter” key, knowing if he hit it the asset could very well disappear forever, or worse, contact the FSB about his disloyalty. It was a risk, but Yuri couldn’t accomplish his second mission without the asset’s help: exterminating the team that had killed his men. Specifically, the female.
He thought about Dmitri falling from the scaffolding, screaming all the way down. Replayed in his mind the pathetic attempt to catch the body, the force driving him into the ground as Dmitri’s head exploded on contact with the stone. Remembering the promise he’d made as the female assassin ran out of the museum. The promise to skin her alive.
And he hit “send.”
K
urt Hale wondered how Bruce Tupper would present himself in his first formal Oversight Council meeting. He was one of the first to arrive and had sat silently, not even acknowledging the other men who entered. Acting like he was still a little steamed about having been kept in the dark.
In truth, when Kurt had told them that Pike was attempting to track the team who’d killed his men—even after he’d been ordered to stand down—everyone in the Oval Office had become a little steamed, to put it mildly. He’d cushioned the report, stating that Pike was still working the Chiclet thread, trying to decipher a terrorist threat and that the men who’d killed Decoy were a part of that. On the surface, the report was true, but Kurt knew that Chiclet had taken a backseat and Pike was hunting the killers on his own.
Now, with the head of the FSB dead a mere twelve hours after Pike had accused the Russians of the murders, Kurt knew it looked like Pike was running his own assassination ring. He’d been more than a little relieved at the digital recording of Vlad’s meeting, as it showed a distinct threat. Something that would help with the Oversight Council.
President Warren was the last to arrive, and, as usual, he wasted little time on pleasantries. Every Oversight Council meeting he attended had to be explained. Someone had to account for the time interval in official journals, making it appear as if he were somewhere else. As the president of the United States, his attendance alone was asking for compromise. All it would take was a single question of where he was at X time, and the crack might turn into a flood. Because of that, he tended to keep the meetings short.
Kurt got out a single “Sir,” and President Warren rolled his hand, telling him to get on with it. Kurt nodded and brought up his first slide, a summary of where they stood with Decoy and an assessment of the status of the Taskforce cover.
He said, “Knuckles has control of the remains now, and a reservation on a flight tomorrow—Istanbul time—to bring him home. Brett took Retro in the Gulfstream to Ramstein, and he’s been successfully entered into Landstuhl hospital as a member of the Fifth Special Forces Group from Afghanistan. Brett’s got a few issues with tail numbers on the bird, but we don’t see—”
Secretary of State Billings said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Am I the only one who watched the news this morning? Your top story isn’t the death of Vladimir Malikov, the head of the Russian state security apparatus?”
Here we go.
Kurt’s face remained neutral. He said, “Sir, I’m aware of the killing, but it has nothing to do with the current problem set. It isn’t a Taskforce issue.”
Billings gave a theatrical look of incredulity, making Kurt want to punch him. He said, “You told us yesterday that Pike believed the Russian government was protecting Akinbo, and in so doing, they had killed Taskforce members. You went so far as to say you thought Pike was attempting to track them. Now, a day later, the head of the Russian intelligence agency is dead. You’re saying that’s just a coincidence?”
Kurt said, “Secretary Billings, I have spoken to Pike and I can assure you that the Taskforce had nothing to do with the killing of Vladimir. Pike was working the Akinbo connection, period. He—”
Billings scoffed and said, “Convenient, don’t you think?”
Kurt let out a breath and said, “Sir, I’m not the person to ask about the assassination of the FSB chief. From what I’ve seen, it was a retaliation hit by Chechens, but you’d have to ask Mr. Bostwick or Mr. Tupper. This is their field.”
Kerry Bostwick, the director of the CIA, said, “John, that’s what it’s looking like. The FSB has a history of killing Chechens. This is nothing more than a retaliatory hit.”
Billings said, “Bruce? What’s your take?”
Kurt thought Tupper looked a little green, but given the amount of information he’d been read on to in the last few days, he understood the emotion.
Tupper said, “I believe their missions just caught up to them. Like the killing of our chief of base at Camp Chapman in Afghanistan. Sooner or later, the hunter becomes the hunted.”
His words hung in the air, the slow wisp of the overhead air-conditioning vent the only noise. Kurt watched Billings. Waited on his response.
He said, “So Pike Logan gets a pass yet again.” He looked at President Warren. “Sir, we’re not going to continue this charade, are we? Does the fact that this asshole runs amok without any oversight scare the shit out of anyone besides me?”
The statement was the segue Kurt wanted. He said, “Secretary Billings, Pike continued working the associations with Akinbo even after Decoy’s death, and he’s found a distinct threat. I understand your reticence, but if he hadn’t taken the initiative, we’d be in the dark.”
“Bullshit! Jesus, that’s what you bastards always say. Every time someone dies, it’s for the greater good.”
He was working himself into a full-on spastic frenzy when President Warren raised a hand, shutting him down. Warren asked, “What do you mean? What threat?”
Kurt said, “Sir, Pike penetrated a meeting with Vladimir Malikov hours before he was assassinated. He recorded the conversation, and it’s worth following up.”
He clicked to the next slide and said. “Vladimir Malikov and Yuri Gorshenko met last night at a restaurant in Istanbul. Pike managed to clone one of their cell phones and turn it into a remote microphone. According to what we could ascertain, they are planning an attack against American or Israeli interests.”
Kerry, the CIA director, read the summary and said, “This transcript is the best you could do?”
Kurt maintained his stone face and said, “The phone was on the table in a crowded restaurant. For context, imagine if you called someone on your cell phone in a venue full of people. Instead of talking with the phone to your ear, you set the cell phone on the table, then continued the conversation. That’s what we were dealing with.”
The secretary of defense read the summary slide and said, “So you think this Thor’s Hammer is an RDD? We’ve talked about that before, but it’s never panned out.”
RDD stood for radiological dispersion device, an acronym Kurt hated. In his opinion, it was putting lipstick on a pig, like calling a common streetwalker a “sex-care provider.”
Kurt said, “Yes, sir, we do. While a lot of the recording is unintelligible, we can clearly hear Vladimir say ‘dirty bomb,’ and Yuri states he fears that Russia will be blamed, presumably because of how hard it is to get radiological material, which is why this scenario has never panned out before. It takes a state system to cooperate. In this case, Russia.”
President Warren said, “And you feel this is tied in to Akinbo? He’s the one that will release it?”
“Yes, sir. He’s not mentioned by name, but they do discuss procuring documents and providing funding, and he was the linkage that led to the meeting in the first place.”
The president’s national security advisor, Alexander Palmer, asked, “What’s the target?”
“We don’t know. They specifically mention that the target is
not
in the continental United States, and also mention striking ‘Jewish lapdogs.’ Initially, this would indicate Israel as the target, but the reason given for ignoring the US is our security. Getting radiological material into Israel would be exponentially worse, so we don’t believe it’s either country. At this time, all we can do is exclude the two. We can’t get any more refinement without further exploration.”
“Why? What does Russia gain by facilitating Boko Haram?”
“Most of that answer is tied up in the target. We can’t analyze
why
they would do it without knowing
what
they want to hit, but rest assured Russia would hurt the US any chance it can get.”
Kerry nodded and said, “I agree. Russia has never become a real democracy, and it’s now ruled by a bunch of KGB thugs. If they see a benefit, they’ll kill innocents without issue.”
Palmer said, “What about interdicting the material? Short-circuiting the whole plan?”
“Same problem as the target question. All we know is the stuff is somewhere in Berlin. They mention a museum, but that’s it. Actually, we don’t even know if it’s in Berlin. It might simply be close enough to use the city as a base.”
President Warren said, “What are you recommending?”
“Well, I would say give me Omega for an operation in Berlin, but there are significant elements to consider. One, the only thread we have is the leader of the so-called Berlin Group. We have Yuri Gorshenko’s cell number and can track it, but he is a member of the Russian FSB. A state entity, and thus outside the charter of the Taskforce.”
Kurt saw Bruce Tupper shaking his head, but he continued. “Two, the only team that can react in time is Pike’s, and that means it’s going to be just him and Jennifer. I can’t pull Knuckles from the recovery mission without causing significant risk to the Taskforce cover, and Brett’s tied up with Retro in the hospital.”
President Warren said, “It seems issue two makes issue one a moot point. You don’t have enough men to execute even if it were a sanctioned Taskforce target. Are you saying you want to wait until Brett and Knuckles are free?”
“No, sir. I can get Brett in motion in another day, two at the most, and he’s already in Germany, but that’s still not enough manpower. Knuckles can be free in maybe three days, but the problem won’t wait that long. We need to start moving immediately. Pike thinks he could do the mission as a joint operation, using the men who helped him with the eavesdropping mission. Which means working the target with the Mossad.”
Billings said, “Absolutely not! I can’t believe we’re even considering this. Two days ago Pike Logan flouted every bit of authority we had. I wouldn’t let him be in charge of the janitorial pool at this point, much less let him freelance with another intelligence agency. This is crazy.”
The secretary of defense rolled his eyes and said, “It wasn’t that big of a deal. If he hadn’t, we wouldn’t even know about the threat. Which, by the way, is a radiological dispersion device. A fucking dirty bomb. I’d be willing to work with the devil to prevent that thing from being released.”
Billings said, “You do this and you’ll get your wish. Pike
is
the devil.”
President Warren raised his hand and said, “Enough. Put it to a vote.”
As the chief of staff for the Oversight Council, Alexander Palmer nodded and said, “All in favor of authorizing Pike to work with the Israelis, say so now.”
Kurt saw everyone’s hand except two.
Palmer said, “Those opposed.”
Secretary of State Jonathan Billings and director of national intelligence Bruce Tupper raised their hands.
Billings said, “This is a mistake.”
President Warren said, “So noted. Bruce, what is your concern?”
“You’re doing exactly what I said you’d do. Exactly what happens to every secret organization, no matter how well intentioned. You’re breaking your own rules.”
Palmer said, “There’s no rule about working with other intelligence agencies.”
“But you’re about to authorize the Taskforce to go after a state target. Aren’t you? Otherwise why vote?”
Palmer said nothing. President Warren said, “I understand your concern, but in this case the threat
is
worth the expansion of the charter. The only reason that rule was made was to prevent a duplication of effort with the established intelligence architecture. It wasn’t for some prevention of nefarious action.”
Tupper turned to Kurt and said, “What about equipment? Are we expecting the Israelis to provide that as well?”
“No. When we started the Taskforce we placed equipment caches in just about every major European city. Berlin is one of them.”
Tupper said, “How will he service it? What happens if he’s found trying to recover the cache? There’s more to this mission than simply waltzing in and interdicting the Russians.”
“It’s not like it’s buried or built into the wall of a building. We didn’t go all Cold War like you guys did. He’ll be able to access it fairly easily.”
“So he already knows where it is?”
Wondering why the DNI was beating through the weeds, Kurt said, “No. He knows the cities, but he’ll have to linkup with an in-country asset.”
“How will he do that?”
Palmer said, “Christ, Bruce, who gives a shit? He answered the question.”
Tupper said, “Sorry, but it’s the mundane things that get your cover blown. Just my old case officer coming out.”
Kurt said, “Sir, he’ll get an e-mail on his Grolier Recovery Services VPN. It’ll come from the Taskforce headquarters but look like it’s coming from his server. It’ll give him the bona fides and the location for the linkup. Trust me, we put some thought into this.”
Tupper nodded, saying nothing more.
President Warren went from face to face, then said, “Okay, are we granting Omega to Pike?”