Divide and Conquer (2000)

by Clancy, Tom - Op Center 07

  “The latest intelligence puts the Russian terrorist Sergei Cherkassov at the scene of the explosion,” Fenwick continued. “He had escaped from prison three days before the attack on the rig. His body was found at sea. There were burn marks consistent with flash explosives. There was also very little bloating. Cherkassov had not been in the water for very long.”

  “Do the Azerbaijanis have that information?” the president asked.

  “We suspect they do,” Fenwick replied. “The Iranian naval patrol that found Cherkassov radioed shore on an open channel. Those channels are routinely monitored by the Azerbaijanis.”

  “Maybe Teheran wanted the rest of the world to have the information,” the president suggested. “It might turn them against Russia.”

  “That’s possible,” Fenwick agreed. “It’s also possible that Cherkassov was working for Azerbaijan.”

  “He was being held in an Azerbaijani prison,” the vice president said. “They might have allowed him to escape so that he could be blamed for the attack.”

  “How likely is that?” the president asked.

  “We’re checking with sources at the prison now,” Fenwick said. “But it’s looking very likely.”

  “Which means that instead of the attack turning Iran against Russia, Azerbaijan may have succeeded in uniting both nations against them,” the vice president said.

  Fenwick leaned forward. “Mr. President, there’s one thing more. We suspect that creating a union between Russia and Iran may actually have been the ultimate goal of the Azerbaijani government.”

  “Why in hell would they do that?” the president asked.

  “Because they are practically at war with Iran in the Nagorno-Karabakh region,” Fenwick said. “And both Russia and Iran have been pressing claims on some of their oil fields in the Caspian.”

  “Azerbaijan wouldn’t stand a chance against either nation individually,” the president pointed out. “Why unite them?”

  Even as he said it, the president knew why.

  To win allies.

  “How much of our oil do we get from that region?” the president asked.

  “We’re up to seventeen percent this year with a projection of twenty percent next year,” Gable informed him. “We’re getting much better prices from Baku than we are from the Middle East. That was guaranteed by the trade agreement we signed with Baku in March 1993. And they’ve been very good about upholding their end of the agreement.”

  “Shit,” the president said. “What about the other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States?” he asked. “Where will they stand if two of their members go to war?”

  “I took the liberty of having my staff put in calls to all of our ambassadors before I came over here,” the vice president said. “We’re in the process of ascertaining exactly where everyone stands. But a preliminary guess is that it will pretty much be split. Five or six of the poorer, smaller republics will side with Azerbaijan in the hopes of forming a new union with a share of the oil money. The other half will go with Russia for pretty much the same reason.”

  “So we risk a wider war as well,” the president said.

  “But this is more than just the possibility of us losing oil and watching a war erupt,” Fenwick pointed out. “It’s Iran and the Russian black market getting their hands on petrodollars that scares me.”

  The president shook his head. “I’m going to have to bring the joint chiefs in on this.”

  The vice president nodded. “We’re going to have to move quickly. It’s midmorning in the region. Things are going to happen very quickly. If they get ahead of us—”

  “I know,” the president said. He was suddenly energized, ready to deal with the situation. He looked at his watch and then at Gable. “Red, would you notify the joint chiefs to be here at three? Also, get the press secretary out of bed. I want him here as well.” He looked at the vice president. “We’ll need to alert the thirty-ninth Wing at Incirlik and the naval resources in the region.”

  “That would be the Constellation in the North Arabian Sea and the Ronald Reagan in the Persian Gulf, sir,” Fenwick said.

  “I’ll put them on alert,” the vice president said. He excused himself and went to the president’s private study. It was a small room that adjoined the Oval Office on the western side. That was also where the president’s private lavatory and dining parlor were located.

  “We’ll also have to brief NATO command,” the president told Gable. “I don’t want them holding us up if we decide to act. And we’re going to need a complete chemical and biological workup of the Azerbaijani military. See how far they’ll go if we don’t join in.”

  “I already have that, sir,” Fenwick said. “They’ve got deep reserves of anthrax as well as methyl cyanide and acetonitrile on the chemical side. All have surface-to-surface missile delivery systems. Most of the reserves are stored in or near the NK. We’re watching to see if any of them are moved.”

  The president nodded as his intercom beeped. It was his deputy executive secretary Charlotte Parker.

  “Mr. President,” said Parker, “Paul Hood would like to see you. He says it’s very important.”

  Fenwick did not appear to react. He turned to Gable and began talking softly as he pointed to data on his notepad.

  Are they talking about the Caspian or about Hood? the president wondered. Lawrence thought for a moment. If Hood were the one who had lost his way—either intentionally or because of external pressures—this would be the time and the place to find out.

  “Tell him to come in,” said the president.

  FORTY-TWO

  Saint Petersburg, Russia Tuesday, 9:56 A.M.

  “We have the Harpooner’s location!” Korsov shouted.

  Orlov looked up as Korsov rushed into his office. The young intelligence officer was followed by Boris Grosky, who looked less glum than Orlov had ever seen him. He did not look happy, but he did not look miserable. Korsov was holding several papers in his hands.

  “Where is he?” Orlov asked.

  Korsov slapped a computer printout on Orlov’s desk. There was a map and an arrow pointing to a building. Another arrow pointed to a street several blocks away.

  “The signal originated at a hotel in Baku,” Korsov said. “From there it went to Suleyman Ragimov Kuchasi. It’s an avenue that runs parallel to Bakihanov Kuchasi, the location of the hotel.”

  “Was he calling someone with a cell phone?” Orlov asked.

  “We don’t believe so,” Grosky said. “We’ve been monitoring police broadcasts from the area to find out more about the oil rig explosion. While we were listening, we heard about a van explosion on Suleyman Ragimov. The blast is being investigated now.”

  “It doesn’t sound like a coincidence,” Korsov added.

  “No, it doesn’t,” Orlov agreed.

  “Let’s assume the Harpooner was behind that,” Korsov said. “He might want to see it from his hotel room—”

  “That might not be necessary, as long as he could hear it,” Orlov said. “No. The Harpooner would be worried about security if he were staying in a hotel room. Do we have any way of fine-tuning the location of the signal?”

  “No,” Korsov said. “It was too brief, and our equipment is not sensitive enough to determine height in increments under two hundred feet.”

  “Can we get a diagram of the hotel?” Orlov asked.

  “I have that,” Korsov said. He pulled a page from the pile he was holding and laid it beside the map. It showed a ten-story hotel.

  “Natasha is trying to break into the reservations list,” Grosky said. He was referring to the Op-Center’s twenty-three-year-old computer genius Natasha Revsky. “If she can get in, she will give us the names of all single male occupants.”

  “Get single females as well,” Orlov said. “The Harpooner has been known to adopt a variety of disguises.”

  Grosky nodded.

  “You feel very confident about this?” Orlov asked.

  Korsov had
been leaning over the desk. Now he stood like a soldier, his chest puffed. “Completely,” he replied.

  “All right,” Orlov said. “Leave the hotel diagram with me. This was very good work. Thank you both.”

  As Grosky and Korsov left, Orlov picked up the phone. He wanted to talk to Odette about the hotel and then get her on site. Hopefully, the American would be strong enough to go with her.

  The Harpooner was not a man to tackle alone.

  FORTY-THREE

  Baku, Azerbaijan Tuesday, 10:07 A.M.

  Odette Kolker was cleaning up the breakfast plates when the phone beeped. It was the apartment phone, not her cell phone. That meant it was not General Orlov who was calling.

  She allowed her answering machine to pick up. It was Captain Kilar. The commander of her police unit had not been in when she phoned the duty sergeant to let him know that she would be out sick. Kilar was calling to tell her that she was a good and hardworking officer, and he wanted her to get well. He said that she should take whatever time she needed to recuperate.

  Odette felt bad about that. She was hardworking. And though the Baku Municipal Police Department paid relatively well—twenty thousand manats, the equivalent of eight thousand American dollars—they did not pay overtime. However, the work Odette did was not always for the BMP and the people of Baku. The time she spent at her computer or on the street was often for General Orlov. Baku was a staging area for many of the arms dealers and terrorists who worked in Russia and the former Soviet republics. Checking on visa applications, customs activity, and passenger lists for boats, planes, and trains enabled her to keep track of many of these people.

  After putting away the few dishes, Odette turned and looked back at her guest. The American had fallen asleep and was breathing evenly. She had placed a cool washcloth on his head and he was perspiring less than when she had brought him home. She had seen the bruises on his throat. They were consistent with choke marks. Obviously, the incident in the hospital was not the first time someone had tried to kill him. There was also a tiny red spot on his neck. A puncture wound, it looked like. She wondered if this illness were the result of his having been injected with a virus. The KGB and other Eastern European intelligence services used to do that quite a bit, typically with lethal viruses or poison. The toxin would be placed inside microscopic pellets. The pellets were sugar-coated metal spheres with numerous holes in their surface. These would be injected by an umbrella tip, pen point, or some other sharp object. It would take the body anywhere from several minutes to an hour or two to eat through the sugar coating. That would give the assassin time to get away. If this man had been injected, he probably was not supposed to die by the virus. He had been used to draw his colleagues out into the open. The hospital ambush had been well organized.

  Just like the ambush that killed her husband in Chechnya, she thought. Her husband, her lover, her mentor, her dearest friend. They all perished when Viktor died on a cold, dark, and lonely mountainside.

  Viktor had successfully infiltrated the Chechan mujihadin forces. For seven months, Viktor was able to obtain the ever-changing radio frequencies with which different rebel factions communicated. He would write this information down and leave it for a member of the KGB field force to collect and radio to Moscow. Then the idiot KGB officer got sloppy. He confused the frequency he was supposed to use with the one he was reporting about. Instead of communicating with his superiors, he broadcast directly to one of the rebel camps. The KGB officer was captured, tortured for information, and killed. He had not known Viktor’s name but he knew which unit her husband had infiltrated and when he had arrived. The rebel leaders had no trouble figuring out who the Russian agent was. Viktor would always leave his information under a rock which he would chip in a distinctive fashion. While he was out one night, supposedly standing watch, Viktor was brought down by ten men, then taken into the mountains. There, his Achilles tendons were severed and his wrists were slashed. Viktor bled to death before he could crawl to help. His last message to her was painted on a tree trunk with his own blood. It was a small heart with his wife’s initials inside.

  Odette’s cell phone beeped softly. She picked it up from the kitchen counter and turned her back toward her guest. The woman spoke softly so she would not wake him.

  “Yes?”

  “We believe we’ve found the Harpooner.”

  That got Odette’s attention. “Where?”

  “At a hotel not far from you,” Orlov said. “We’re trying to pinpoint his room now.”

  Odette moved quietly toward the bed. She was required to check her service revolver when she left police headquarters every night. But she kept a spare weapon in the nightstand. It was always loaded. A woman living alone had to be careful. A spy at home or abroad had to be even more careful.

  “What’s the mission?” Odette asked.

  “Termination,” Orlov said. “We can’t take a chance that he’ll get away.”

  “Understood,” Odette said calmly. The woman believed in the work she was doing, protecting the interests of her country. Killing did not bother her when doing it would save lives. The man she had terminated just a few hours before meant little more to her than someone she might have passed in the street.

  “Once we’ve narrowed down the guests who might be the Harpooner, you’re going to have to make the final call,” Orlov said. “The rest depends on what he does, how he acts. What you see in his eyes. He’s probably going to have showered but still look tired.”

  “He’s been a busy bastard,” Odette said. “I can read that in a man.”

  “The chances are he won’t open the door to the hotel staff,” Orlov went on. “And if you pretend to be a housekeeper or security officer, that will only put him on guard.”

  “I agree,” she said. “I’ll find a way to get in and take him by surprise.”

  “I spoke to our profiler,” Orlov said. “If you do get to him, he’ll probably be cool and even pleasant and will appear to cooperate. He might attempt to bribe you or get you to be overconfident. Try to get your guard down so he can attack. Don’t even listen. Make your assessment and do your job. I wouldn’t be surprised if he also has several traps at the ready. A gas canister in an air duct, an explosive device, or maybe just a magnesium flash to blind you. He might have rigged it to a light switch or a remote control in his heel, something he can activate when he ties his shoe. We just don’t know enough about him to say for certain how he secures room.”

  “It’s all right,” Odette assured him. “I’ll make the ID and neutralize him.”

  “I wish I could tell you to go in with a squad of police,” Orlov said apologetically. “But that isn’t advisable. A shout, rerouted traffic, anything out of the ordinary can alert him. Or the Harpooner may sense their presence. If he does, he may get away before you can even get to him. I’m sure he has carefully planned his escape routes. Or he may try to take hostages.”

  “I understand,” Odette said. “All right. Where is the Harpooner registered?”

  “Before I tell you that, how is your guest?” Orlov asked.

  “He’s sleeping,” Odette replied. She looked down at the man on the bed. He was lying on his back, his arms at his side. His breathing was slow and heavy. “Whatever he’s suffering from was probably artificially induced,” she said. “Possibly by injection.”

  “How is his fever?”

  “Down a bit, I think,” she said. “He’ll be okay.”

  “Good,” Orlov said. “Wake him.”

  “Sir?” The order took her completely by surprise.

  “I want you to wake him,” Orlov told her. “You’re bringing him with you.”

  “But that’s not possible!” Odette protested. “I don’t even know if the American can stand.”

  “He’ll stand,” Orlov said. “He has to.”

  “Sir, this is not going to help me—”

  “I’m not going to have you face the Harpooner without experienced backup,” Orlov said. “Now,
you know the drill. Do it.”

  Odetted shook her head. She knew the drill. Viktor had taught it to her. Lit matches were applied to the soles of the feet. It not only woke up the ill or people who had been tortured into unconsciousness, but the pain kept them awake and alert as they walked.

  Odette shook her head. By definition, field work was a solo pursuit. What had happened to Viktor underscored the danger of working with someone even briefly. Even if the American were well, she was not sure she wanted a partner. Ill, he would be more of a burden than an asset.

  “All right,” Odette said. She turned her back on the American and walked toward the kitchenette. “Where is he?”

  “We believe the Harpooner is in the Hyatt,” Orlov told her. “We’re trying to have a look at their computer records now. I’ll let you know if we learn anything from the files.”

  “I’ll be there in ten minutes,” Odette promised. “Is there anything else, General?”

  “Just this,” Orlov said. “I have grave reservations about sending you after this man. I want you both to be careful.”

  “We will,” Odette said. “And thank you.”

  She hung up and hooked the cell phone on her belt. She removed the gun and ankle holster from the night table and slipped them on. Her long police skirt would cover the weapon. She slipped a silencer in her right pocket. She had brought a switchblade to the hospital. That was still tucked in her left skirt pocket. If she did not need it for self-defense, she would need it as a throwaway. If she were stopped for any reason, perhaps by hotel security, Odette could say that she was visiting a friend—the checkout who, of course, would no longer be there. Odette would be able to say that she knocked on the wrong door and the Harpooner attacked her. With her help—using information provided by Orlov and the Americans—the police would connect the dead man with the terrorist attack.