by Tom Clancy
Ryan winced. The whole point of his Special National Intelligence Estimate was to help set the stage for the next session of arms negotiations. The Arms Control and Disarmament Agency needed it also, of course, so that they’d know what to demand and how much they could safely concede. That was quite a bit of additional weight on his shoulders, but as Greer liked to tell him, Ryan did his best work under pressure. Jack wondered if maybe he should screw one up sometime, just to disprove that idea.
“When will I have to go over?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Can I have a couple of days’ warning?”
“We’ll see.”
Major Gregory was actually at home. This was fairly unusual; even more so, he was taking the day off. But that wasn’t his doing. His General had decided that all work and no play were beginning to take their toll on the young man. It hadn’t occurred to him that Gregory could work at home as well.
“Don’t you ever stop?” Candi asked.
“Well, what are we supposed to do in between?” He smiled up from the keyboard.
The housing development was called Mountain View. It wasn’t a rousing bit of originality. In that part of the country the only way not to see mountains was to close your eyes. Gregory had his own personal computer—a very powerful Hewlett-Packard provided by the Project—and occasionally wrote some of his “code” there. He had to be careful about the security classification of his work, of course, though he often joked that he himself wasn’t cleared for what he was doing. That was not an unknown situation inside government.
Dr. Candace Long was taller than her fiance at nearly five-ten, willowy, with short, dark hair. Her teeth were a little crooked because she’d never wanted to suffer through braces, and her glasses were even thicker than Alan’s.
She was thin because like many academics she was so enthralled with her work that she often forgot to eat. They’d first met at a seminar for doctoral candidates at Columbia University. She was an expert in optical physics, specifically in adaptive-optics mirrors, a field she’d selected to complement her life-long hobby, astronomy. Living in the New Mexico highlands, she was able to do her own observations on a $5,000 Meade telescope, and, on occasion, to use the instruments at the Project to probe the heavens—because, she pointed out, it was the only effective way to calibrate them. She had little real interest in Alan’s obsession with ballistic-missile defense, but she was certain that the instruments they were developing had all kinds of “real” applications in her field of interest.
Neither of them was wearing very much at the moment. Both young people cheerfully characterized themselves as nerds, and as is often the case, they had awakened feelings in one another—feelings that their more attractive college fellows would have not thought possible.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“It’s the misses we had. I think the problem’s in the mirror-control code.”
“Oh?” It was her mirror. “You’re sure it’s software?”
“Yeah.” Alan nodded. “I have the readouts from the Flying Cloud at the office. It was focusing just fine, but it was focusing on the wrong place.”
“How long to find it?”
“Couple of weeks.” He frowned at the screen, then shut it down. “The hell with it. If the General finds out that I’m doing this, he might never let me back in the door.”
“I keep telling you.” She wrapped her hands around the back of his neck. He leaned back, resting his head between her breasts. They were rather nice ones, he thought. For Alan Gregory it had been a remarkable discovery, how nice girls were. He’d dated occasionally in high school, but for the most part his life at West Point, then at Stony Brook, had been a monastic existence, devoted to studies and models and laboratories. When he’d met Candi, his initial interest had been in her ideas for configuring mirrors, but over coffee at the Student Union, he’d noticed in a rather clinical way that she was, well, attractive—in addition to being pretty swift with optical physics. The fact that the things they frequently discussed in bed could be understood by less than one percent of the country’s population was irrelevant. They found it as interesting as the things that they did in bed—or almost so. There was a lot of experimentation to do there, too, and like good scientists, they’d purchased textbooks—that’s how they thought of them—to explore all the possibilities. Like any new field of study, they found it exciting.
Gregory reached up to grasp Dr. Long’s head, and pulled her face down to his.
“I don’t feel like working anymore for a while.”
“Isn’t it nice to have a day off?”
“Maybe I can arrange one for next week...”
Boris Filipovich Morozov got off the bus an hour after sunset. He and fourteen other young engineers and technicians recently assigned to Bright Star—though he didn’t even know the project name yet—had been met at the Dushanbe airport by KGB personnel who’d scrupulously checked their identity papers and photographs, and on the bus ride a KGB captain had given them a security lecture serious enough to get anyone’s attention. They could not discuss their work with anyone outside their station; they could not write about what they did, and could not tell anyone where they were. Their mailing address was a post-office box in Novosibiirsk—over a thousand miles away. The Captain didn’t have to say that their mail would be read by the base security officers. Morozov made a mental note not to seal his envelopes. His family might be worried if they saw that his letters were being opened and resealed. Besides, he had nothing to hide. His security clearance for this posting had taken a mere four months. The KGB officers in Moscow who’d done the background check had found his background beyond reproach, and even the six interviews that he’d gone through had ended on a friendly note.
The KGB Captain finished his lecture on a lighter note as well, describing the social and sport activities at the base, and the time and place for the biweekly Party meetings, which Morozov had every intention of attending as regularly as his work allowed. Housing, the Captain went on, was still a problem. Morozov and the other new arrivals would be placed in the dormitory—the original barracks put up by the construction gangs who’d blasted the installation into the living rock. They would not be crowded, he said, and the barracks had a game room, library, and even a telescope on the roof for astronomical observation; a small astronomy club had just formed. There was hourly bus service to the main residential facility, where there was a cinema, coffee shop, and a beer bar. There were exactly thirty-one unmarried females on the base, the Captain concluded, but one of them was engaged to him, “and any one of you who trifles with her will be shot!” That drew laughter. It wasn’t very often that you met a KGB officer with a sense of humor.
It was dark when the bus pulled through the gate into the facility, and everyone aboard was tired. Morozov was not terribly disappointed at the housing. All the beds were two-level bunks. He was assigned the top berth in a comer. Signs on the wall demanded silence in the sleeping area, since the workers here worked three shifts around the clock. The young engineer was perfectly content to change his clothes and go to sleep. He was assigned to the Directional Applications Section for a month of project orientation, after which he’d receive a permanent job assignment. He was wondering what “directional applications” meant when he drifted off to sleep.
The nice thing about vans was that lots of people owned them, and the casual observer couldn’t see who was inside, Jack thought as the white one pulled into his carport. The driver was CIA, of course, as was the security man in the right seat. He dismounted and surveyed the area for a moment before pulling the side door open. It revealed a familiar face.
“Hello, Marko,” Ryan said.
“So, this is house of spy!” Captain First Rank Marko Alek-sandrovich Ramius, Soviet Navy (retired), said boisterously. His English was better, but like many Russian émigrés he often forgot to use articles in his speech. “No, house of helmsman!”
Jack smiled an
d shook his head. “Marko, we can’t talk about that.”
“Your family does not know?”
“Nobody knows. But you can relax. My family’s away.”
“Understand.” Marko Ramius followed Jack into the house. On his passport, Social Security card, and Virginia driver’s license he was now known as Mark Ramsey. Yet another piece of CIA originality, though it made perfect sense; you wanted people to remember their names. He was, Jack saw, a little thinner now that he was eating a less starchy diet. And tan. When they’d first met, at the forward escape trunk of the missile submarine Red October, Marko—Mark!—had worn the pasty-white skin of a submarine officer. Now he looked like an ad for Club Med.
“You seem tired,” “Mark Ramsey” observed.
“They fly me around a lot. How do you like the Bahamas?”
“You see my tan, yes? White sand, sun, warm every day. Like Cuba when I went there, but nicer people.”
“AUTEC, right?” Jack asked.
“Yes, but I cannot discuss this,” Marko replied. Both men shared a look. AUTEC—Atlantic Underwater Test and Evaluation Center—was the Navy’s submarine test range, where men and ships engaged in exercises called miniwars. What happened there was classified, of course. The Navy was very protective of its submarine operations. So Marko was at work developing tactics for the Navy, doubtless playing the role of a Soviet commander in the war games, lecturing, teaching. Ramius had been known as “the Schoolmaster” in the Soviet Navy. The important things never change.
“How do you like it?”
“Tell this to nobody, but they let me be captain of American submarine for a week—the real Captain he let me do everything, yes? I kill carrier! Yes! I kill Forrestal. They would be proud of me at Red Banner Northern Fleet, yes?”
Jack laughed. “How’d the Navy like that?”
“Captain of submarine and me get very drunk. Forrestal Captain angry, but—good sport, yes? He join us next week and we discuss exercise. He learn something, so good for all of us.” Ramius paused. “Where is family?”
“Cathy’s visiting her father. Joe and I don’t get along very well.”
“Because you are spy?” Mark/Marko asked.
“Personal reasons. Can I get you a drink?”
“Beer is good,” he replied. Ramius looked around while Jack went into the kitchen. The house’s cathedral ceiling towered fifteen feet—five meters, he thought—above the lush carpeting. Everything about the house testified to the money spent to make it so. He was frowning when Ryan returned.
“Ryan, I am not fool,” he said sternly. “CIA does not pay so good as this.”
“Do you know about the stock market?” Ryan asked with a chuckie.
“Yes, some of my money is invested there.” All of the officers from Red October had enough money salted away that they’d never need to work again.
“Well, I made a lot of money there, and then I decided to quit and do something else.”
That was a new thought for Captain Ramius. “You are not—what is word? Greed. You have no more greed?”
“How much money does one man need?” Ryan asked rhetorically. The Captain nodded thoughtfully. “So, I have some questions for you.”
“Ah, business.” Marko laughed. “This you have not forgotten!”
“In your debriefing, you mentioned that you ran an exercise in which you fired a missile, and then a missile was fired at you.”
“Yes, years ago—was 1981 ... April, yes, it was twenty April. I command Delta-class missile submarine, and we fire two rockets from White Sea, one into Okhotsk Sea, other at Sary Shagan. We test submarine rockets, of course, but also the missile defense radar and counterbattery system—they simulated firing a missile at my submarine.”
“You said it failed.”
Marko nodded. “Submarine rockets fly perfectly. The Sary Shagan radar work, but too slow to intercept—was computer problem, they say. They say get new computer, last thing I hear. Third part of test almost work.”
“The counterfire part. That’s the first we heard of it,” Ryan noted. “How did they actually run the test?”
“They not fire land rocket, of course,” Marko said. He held up a finger. “They do this, and you understand nature of test, yes? Soviets are not so stupid as you think. Of course you know that entire Soviet border covered with radar fence. These see rocket launch and compute where submarine is—very easy thing to do. Next they call Strategic Rocket Force Headquarters. Strategic Rocket Force have regiment of old rockets on alert for this. They were ready to shoot back three minutes after detecting my missile on radar.” He stopped for a moment. “You not have this in America?”
“No, not that I know of. But our new missiles fire from much farther away.”
“Is true, but still good thing for Soviets, you see.”
“How reliable is the system?”
That drew a shrug. “Not very. Problem is how alert the people are. In time of—how you say?—time of crisis, yes? In time of crisis, everyone is alert, and system may work some of time. But every time system works, many, many bombs do not explode in Soviet Union. Even one could save hundred thousand citizens. This is important to Soviet leadership. Hundred thousand more slaves to have after war end,” he added to show his distaste for the government of his former homeland. “You have nothing like this in America?”
“Not that I have ever heard about,” Ryan said truthfully.
Ramius shook his head. “They tell us you do. When we fire our rockets, then we dive deep and race at flank speed, straight line in any direction.”
“Right now I’m trying to figure out how interested the Soviet government is in copying our SDI research.”
“Interested?” Ramius snorted. “Twenty million Russians died in Great Patriotic War. You think they want to have this happen again? I tell you, Soviets are more intelligent about this than Americans—we have harder lesson, and we learn better. Someday I tell you about my home city after war, destruction of everything. Yes, we have very good lesson in protect Rodina.”
That’s the other thing to remember about the Russians, Jack reminded himself. It wasn’t so much that they had abnormally long memories; they had things in their history that no one would forget. To expect the Soviets to forget their losses in the Second World War was as futile as asking Jews to forget the Holocaust, and just as unreasonable.
So, a little over three years ago, the Russians staged a major ABM exercise against submarine-launched ballistic missiles. The acquisition and tracking radar worked, but the system failed due to a computer problem. That was important. But—
“The reason the computer didn’t work well enough—”
“That is all I know. All I can say is was honest test.”
“What do you mean?” Jack asked.
“Our first ... yes, our original orders were to fire from known location. But the orders were changed just as submarine left dock. Eyes-only to Captain, new orders signed by aide to Defense Minister. Was Red Army colonel, I think. Do not remember name. Orders from Minister, but Colonel sign them, yes? He wanted the test to be—how you say?”
“Spontaneous?”
“Yes! Not spontaneous. Real test should be surprise. So my orders sent me to different place and said to shoot at different time. We have general aboard from Voyska PVO, and when see new orders he is banana. Very, very angry, but what kind of test is it without no surprise? American missile submarines do not call on telephone and tell Russians day that they shoot. You either are ready or not ready,” Ramius noted.
“We did not know that you were coming,” General Pokryshkin noted dryly.
Colonel Bondarenko was careful to keep his face impassive. Despite having written orders from the Defense Minister, and despite belonging to a completely different uniformed service, he was dealing with a general officer with patrons of his own in the Central Committee. But the General, too, had to be wary. Bondarenko was wearing his newest and best-tailored uniform, complete with several rows of
ribbons, including two awards for bravery in Afghanistan and the special badge worn by Defense Ministry staff officers.
“Comrade General, I regret whatever inconvenience I have caused you, but I do have my orders.”
“Of course,” Pokryshkin noted with a broadening smile. He gestured to a silver tray. “Tea?”
“Thank you.”
The General poured two cups himself instead of summoning his orderly. “Is that a Red Banner I see? Afghanistan?”
“Yes, Comrade General, I spent some time there.”
“And how did you earn it?”
“I was attached to a Spetznaz unit as a special observer. We were tracking a small band of bandits. Unfortunately, they were smarter than the unit commander believed, and he allowed us to follow them into an ambush. Half the team was killed or wounded, including the unit commander.” Who earned his death, Bondarenko thought. “I assumed command and called in help. The bandits withdrew before we could bring major forces to bear, but they did leave eight bodies behind.”
“How did a communications expert—”
“I volunteered. We were having difficulties with tactical communications, and I decided to take the situation in hand myself. I am not a real combat soldier, Comrade General, but there are some things you have to see for yourself. That is another concern I have with this post. We are perilously close to the Afghan border, and your security seems ... not lax, but perhaps overly comfortable.”
Pokryshkin nodded agreement. “The security force is KGB, as you have doubtless noted. They report to me, but are not strictly under my orders. For early warning of possible threats, I have an arrangement with Frontal Aviation. Their aerial-reconnaissance school uses the valleys around here as a training area. A classmate of mine at Frunze has arranged coverage of this entire area. If anyone approaches this installation from Afghanistan, it’s a long walk, and we’ll know about it long before they get here.”
Bondarenko noted this with approval. Procurer for wizards or not, Pokryshkin hadn’t forgotten everything, as too many general officers tended to do.