The Russian Deception

by Alex Lukeman

  "Copy that."

  They moved down the hall. Ronnie looked down at the slumped figure of the guard, then moved to stand on the other side of him.

  "Ready?" Nick said.

  Selena nodded.

  They went into the room and shut the door behind them. The last thing Selena expected to see was her half-sister in the grip of a hulking man who had his arm wrapped around her throat.

  "Hans, look out!"

  Before the second man could draw his weapon Selena kicked him in his thigh. He stumbled. She moved in and drove her stiffened fingers into his larynx. He fell to the floor making hacking and choking noises.

  Hans threw Valentina to the side as easily as tossing a doll. She slammed into the wall and crumpled to the floor. He had a pistol in his right hand. Nick stepped in fast and close and brought his hands together in a quick, scissoring motion that knocked the wrist one way and the hand with the gun the other. The pistol flew across the room. Nick kicked Hans in the groin. A normal man would've fallen to the floor out of the fight but the kick had little effect. Hans grunted and wrapped his arms around Nick in a bear hug. He lifted him into the air and began squeezing.

  Nick's arms were pinned to his sides. He couldn't breathe. He knew better than to try and free his arms. He couldn't stomp down with his feet. Nick leaned back and slammed his forehead into Hans's face as hard as he could, breaking the nose. Blood cascaded down over the two of them. The bear grip loosened for an instant but not enough to get free.

  Selena kicked Hans in the side of his knee. That was like kicking a brick wall. She punched him in the side of his head and it felt as though she'd punched concrete. A metal tray on a nearby cart contained an array of instruments and gauze. She grabbed a pair of surgical scissors and drove the points deep into the back of the big man's neck.

  His arms flew open and Nick stumbled away. Hans fell like a tree and crashed onto the floor. He didn't move.

  Nick gasped for breath. "Thanks."

  "Are you all right?"

  "Yeah. Hurts a little to breathe. King Kong here had a hell of a grip."

  He leaned down and placed his fingers alongside the big man's neck. The scissors stuck out above his collar.

  "He's dead."

  The fight had been quiet. If the sound had gotten out into the hall, Ronnie would have come in.

  Selena turned toward her sister.

  "Put your hands up," Valentina said. She held the Makarov pointed at them.

  "You've got to be kidding," Nick said. "We just saved your ass."

  "For which I'm grateful. How do you say in America, reach for the sky?"

  "You've been watching too many old Westerns," Selena said.

  "I like your Westerns. Especially your Clint Eastwood. Get your hands up. I mean it, I will shoot."

  They raised their hands.

  "Why are you here?" Valentina asked.

  "We wanted to talk to Gutenberg," Selena said.

  "Gutenberg? His name is not Kepler?"

  "No. He's Johannes Gutenberg."

  "Gutenberg?"

  Nick and Selena looked at each other.

  "Yes," Nick said.

  Valentina seemed shocked. She looked more closely at the scarred figure on the bed.

  "I see it now," she said. "I didn't recognize him. This explains many things. I, too, wish to talk with him."

  "How about a truce?" Nick said. "It looks like we both want the same thing."

  "What is it you want from him?"

  "Gutenberg has been sending money to Russia. A lot of money," Nick said. "Your president is using it to start a war. Did you know the Federation invaded Latvia today?"

  "Der'mo!"

  Nick looked at Selena for a translation.

  "She just said 'shit'."

  "Yeah," Nick said. "And our friend over there on the bed made it possible."

  "If we agree not to make any trouble, can we put our hands down?" Selena asked.

  "What does your husband think?" Valentina gestured with the Makarov.

  "Truce," Nick said. "No trouble, I promise. We want Gutenberg, not you. This man is responsible for hurting two friends of mine and killing their unborn child. It's personal with us."

  "Ah, personal. I understand personal." She gestured with the pistol. "Both of you. Go to the other side of the bed, then you may put your hands down. But be careful."

  They went to the other side of the bed, across from Valentina. Gutenberg lay between them, asleep.

  Nick took out a small digital recorder and held it up. "I want a record of this."

  "Wake him up," Valentina said.

  "With pleasure," Nick said. He bent over Gutenberg and shook him. He wasn't gentle.

  "Wake up, you bastard."

  Gutenberg mumbled something. His eyes stayed closed.

  Valentina drew her blade and stabbed Gutenberg in the back of his hand. He yelled and opened his eyes.

  "Now he is awake," she said.

  "That wasn't necessary," Selena said.

  Valentina shrugged. "But effective, no?"

  Gutenberg looked at the hard faces surrounding him. He zeroed in on Nick. "I remember you." His eyes moved to Selena. "And you." Then he looked at Valentina.

  "Valentina. I never expected to see you again. Your hair is different."

  "After today you never will see me again," she said.

  "Why are you here?"

  "We have a few questions for you," Nick said.

  "Why should I answer them?"

  "Because if you don't I am going to start peeling the skin away from your body," Valentina said. "Or perhaps I will just start taking little pieces." She held up the bloody dagger.

  Gutenberg laughed, a weak chortle that ended in a coughing fit.

  "You could, perhaps, but the Americans have no stomach for these things. It's an empty threat."

  "I don't think I'd count on that if I were you," Nick said. "If Valentina wants to hurt you I can't stop her. She's the one with the gun."

  "I'm dying. Let me die in peace."

  "You don't deserve peace," Nick said.

  "You should listen to him." Valentina pricked Gutenberg with the sharp point of the blade. He winced.

  "All right. Ask your questions. What do you want to know?" His voice was weak, tired.

  "Why did you send that money to Golovkin?"

  "You know about that?"

  Nick looked at Valentina. "This is taking too much time."

  Valentina leaned over Gutenberg. Her voice was quiet, filled with menace. "Why did you send the money?"

  He looked at her and smiled, an open wound in the ruined landscape of his face. "Because Golovkin thinks Russia can defeat the West and because he can influence Orlov. Orlov used the money to speed up production of his new weapons."

  "So he gets his toys a little quicker. So what?" Nick said.

  "You Americans understand nothing," Gutenberg said. "The weapons were necessary for Orlov to feel safe in beginning a new war. I convinced Golovkin that the events in the Balkans would keep NATO busy and that they would not get involved in the Baltics. I convinced him Russia could start reclaiming the territory she controlled before."

  "How did you do that?"

  Gutenberg coughed. Spittle drooled from the side of his mouth. "I allowed him to discover classified minutes of secret meetings of the NATO high command. The documents proved they would not intervene."

  "How did you come by such documents?" Valentina asked.

  Gutenberg laughed. "It was easy. I made them up."

  Selena said, "What do you hope to gain? You'll never get all that money back."

  Gutenberg laughed again. It ended in another coughing fit. "You still don't understand. The invasion of Latvia has begun. NATO will respond. There will be a confrontation between America and Russia, casualties on both sides. It's certain to escalate and go nuclear. When it does, your two countries will destroy each other. You will both be annihilated."

  "All this was to start a war between Ru
ssia and America?" Valentina said. "But why?"

  Gutenberg's voice was weak but the anger came through. "You and these Americans destroyed centuries of work, a vision for a world led by those who had earned the right to rule. You destroyed my home and left me like this."

  He raised his hand and let it drop on the bed. He laughed again, a brittle, cackling sound.

  "None of you will survive a nuclear war. I will have my revenge when you are all dead. As soon you shall be."

  "Not as soon as you," Valentina said. She bent down and whispered in his ear. "You were lousy in bed."

  She plunged her dagger into his abdomen, above his groin. She twisted the blade.

  "Aahhhh!"

  He writhed on the bed and tried to sit up, grasping at the knife. His hand swept out to the side and knocked over the stand with the IV, ripping the needle out of his arm. Valentina pulled out the dagger and drove it up under Gutenberg's ribs. Blood spewed from his mouth. He fell back onto the pillow. A frothy, rasping gargle came out of his throat.

  An alarm began beeping on the monitor by his bed.

  "Did you have to do that?" Selena said.

  "You disapprove, sister?"

  "He might have told us more."

  "What else do we need to know? Give me the recording," Valentina said. She pointed the Makarov at Nick.

  "Wait a minute."

  "Gutenberg lied to Golovkin and it has led us into a war we cannot win. This recording proves it. I will give it to General Vysotsky. He doesn't like or trust Golovkin. He'll make sure Orlov learns that he has been deceived. Give me the recording."

  Selena put her hand on Nick's arm. "Nick, give it to her. She can get it to Orlov. It may be the only chance to stop this."

  Nick put the recorder on the bed. Valentina picked it up and put it in the pocket of her nurse's uniform.

  "We have to get out of here," Nick said.

  "After you," Valentina said.

  In the corridor two male nurses in blue scrubs and a supervisor in a white uniform hurried toward Gutenberg's room.

  "Ronnie, come on," Nick said.

  Nick, Ronnie and Selena walked with quick steps toward the hall that led to the stairs. Lamont waited for them. His eyes opened wide at the sight of Valentina coming out of the room behind them.

  She called out to the oncoming nurses. "Quick! He's in cardiac arrest."

  "Who are you?" the supervisor said.

  Valentina turned and ran after the others. They pounded down the stairs, Nick in the lead and Valentina bringing up the rear. At the ground floor they ran to the service entrance, ignoring the startled looks of a cleaning crew in the hall. Outside, a freezing rain fell. The night was black, impenetrable, shrouded in thick fog.

  "Do not try to follow me," Valentina said. The Makarov was back in her hand.

  "Wait. We need to talk. How can I contact you?" Selena asked.

  "Don't worry about it, sister. If I want to talk to you, I'll call."

  She turned and melted into the fog.

  "Hell of a family you've got," Lamont said.

  CHAPTER 45

  Elizabeth stood by the French doors of her office, looking out over the patio and grounds beyond. The flower gardens had retreated to brown winter mode. Except for a few withered tufts, the grass was invisible under a thin coating of snow. The weather was grim, gray and depressing. It suited her mood. She couldn't quite wrap her mind around the fact that the Russian invasion might lead to the end of the world. Anything could happen over there. None of it was good.

  Once the U.S. and NATO got involved, a military confrontation with the Federation was inevitable. People would begin dying on both sides. The war drums would beat louder. What made it worse was that it wasn't just the Kremlin that had its share of hawks. There were plenty of people in the Pentagon and Washington who wanted to end Russia's potential to challenge American power once and for all. They didn't understand that a war with Russia couldn't be won. They talked in terms of sixty million civilian losses as acceptable.

  As far as Elizabeth was concerned, all of the generals and politicians who thought a nuclear war could be won should be put on an island somewhere far away from civilized people and allowed to throw rocks at each other.

  Her phone signaled a call from Nick.

  "Yes, Nick."

  "We got to Gutenberg. Selena's sister was there before us."

  "You can't be serious. Why does she keep turning up?"

  "It may turn out to be the best thing that could've happened."

  "You'd better start at the beginning."

  "We got into the hospital without any problem. When we got to Gutenberg's room we found the body of a guard outside the door, propped up in his chair. We went in the room and found Selena's sister being strangled by a guy that looked like a gorilla. He threw her aside and grabbed me. He had a buddy with a gun. Selena took him out and then she went for gorilla man and killed him."

  "What about Gutenberg?"

  "He slept through the whole thing. He was a real mess. That fire at his château left him looking like something out of a horror movie."

  "You said he was a mess. Is he dead?"

  "Yes. Selena's sister killed him."

  "Please tell me you had a chance to talk to him."

  "We did. Valentina was there for the same reason we were. She seemed to have a particular dislike for Gutenberg."

  "She was his mistress," Elizabeth said. "She was assigned by Vysotsky to seduce him when AEON was still in business."

  "That could explain it."

  "What about the money Gutenberg sent to Golovkin?"

  "He knew Orlov would use it to speed up his weapons program. He figured that once Orlov had the weapons he needed there wouldn't be much to hold him back. He wanted to start a war between America and Russia."

  "Why?"

  "We asked him that. He said we had destroyed the 'work of centuries.' He meant AEON. He was dying and he wanted revenge for what had happened to him."

  "All this was to get revenge?"

  "It gets worse."

  Elizabeth sighed. "Go on."

  "He planted fake documents where Golovkin's spies could find them. They were supposed to be notes of secret meetings of the NATO high command, proving NATO wouldn't get involved if the Federation invaded the Baltics. The documents were what Orlov needed to make him think he could get away with it."

  "That means his entire strategy is based on a lie," Elizabeth said.

  "That's what it looks like."

  "Did you record what Gutenberg said?"

  "I did, but I gave the recording to Valentina."

  "What?" Elizabeth was angry.

  "Director, she had a pistol pointed at me when I gave it to her. I didn't have much choice but it was the right move."

  "What makes you think that?"

  "She'll take it to Moscow. Her boss will find a way for Orlov to hear it. It may be the only thing that can help. Once Orlov hears that he's been set up and that NATO will honor the treaty, he might call off the invasion. Otherwise I don't see how anybody is going to stop him."

  "I could have used that tape when I talk to the president," Elizabeth said.

  "What difference does it make? You know what's on it. The president trusts you, he'll believe you even if he doesn't hear the tape."

  "For all our sakes I hope you're right. Did anybody see you in the hospital? Is this going to come back and bite me?"

  "I don't see how it can, Director."

  Elizabeth thought for a moment. "All right. Come home."

  She broke the connection.

  *****

  On the other side of the world in Moscow, Kiril Golovkin looked at the message from Germany and swore. He crumpled the paper in a ball and threw it against the wall.

  The Americans. Always the Americans. They're too late this time. Gutenberg may be dead but I got what I needed from him. We'll be in Riga by tomorrow.

  His stomach felt on fire. He forced himself to calm down and take a breath.
He walked over to his desk and took out a bottle of antacid tablets, put two in his mouth and began chewing them. Then he sat down and thought about what he should do.

  His agent in Leipzig had identified the Project team and reported that they were staying in a hotel in the city. Golovkin couldn't be sure what Gutenberg might have told them. He decided to take precautions. Knowing where they were staying presented an opportunity but they wouldn't be there for long. Now that Gutenberg was dead, they'd move on. If he wanted to act he didn't have much time.

  The collapse of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Germany had ended Russian control of East Germany but it hadn't ended the presence of the GRU on German soil. Golovkin ran what he knew about the personnel of the German stations through his mind.

  There was a consulate in Leipzig and an embassy in Berlin, two hours away. There were two men in Leipzig, three in Berlin. All were Spetsnaz, highly trained, used to violence, perfect for this kind of assignment. But if something went wrong and they were identified as Russian diplomatic personnel, it would create unnecessary complications.

  There was another option. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the East German Secret Police had disbanded. Many of the Stasi had taken new names to avoid prosecution and disappeared into the general population. A core group joined together to form a powerful criminal gang in the part of Germany that had once been the East German Democratic Republic.

  Golovkin had maintained contact with them. They'd proved useful over the years for projects that required violence. He decided to use them. If anything went wrong there would be no trail to follow back to him.

  He picked up his phone and made the arrangements.

  CHAPTER 46

  All flights out of Leipzig were canceled because of the weather. As far as that went, most flights anywhere in Europe were canceled. A huge front had moved in from the North Atlantic and blanketed the continent with clouds, rain and snow. Nick and the others weren't getting out of Germany that evening or anytime soon. They decided to stay in the hotel and have dinner in the hotel's version of a café.

  The front of the café featured a wall of paned windows looking out on the street. A bar with a gleaming espresso machine took up one end wall. Across from the bar a passage led to the main part of the hotel. Opposite the windows was a back wall with entrances at each end leading to the toilets. Round marble tables on black iron legs were placed around the room. A small stage took up a corner next to the bar.