"In there." He shoved her into the room. The door shut behind her.
A narrow metal shelf extended from one wall. There were no blankets or sheets. There was a toilet without a seat. It smelled of urine and shit and vomit. There was no window. The walls were concrete. There was nothing else in the room.
For the first time since she was a child, Besida felt real fear.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
The team filled Elizabeth's office. Harker told them about the Pentagon scenario. She briefed them on the approach by Yakov. She still hadn't heard from Vysotsky.
"Now you're all up to speed. Ideas?"
"What about the President," Nick said. "Have you let him know?"
"I don't have anything to give him, no proof. He's waiting to see if I come up with something."
"He doesn't know about the Russian approach?"
"He doesn't need to know."
Lamont rubbed his arm. "Lodge was bad enough. Now it's the Pentagon?"
"We can't be certain of that. But it's likely. Maybe not official."
"Someone setting up a convenient option that just happens to be handy?"
"That's what I think. A war game scenario is only a scenario, a possibility. The Joint Chiefs wouldn't do this. They don't like Russia, but they wouldn't kill millions of people and march in with an undeclared war under the guise of humanitarian relief."
"Millions?" Ronnie said.
"If the crops fail in Russia it will cause famine." Nick tugged on his damaged ear. "They're not equipped to handle something like that. Hell, we aren't equipped for something like that. The Federation would fragment. It would be chaos. Civil war."
"Time for assumptions?" Selena looked around the room. "We've done this before. It worked out pretty well."
She seemed fine. Nick focused on the task.
"Okay. Assumption number one is that Lodge and Dansinger want to unleash a lethal crop virus against Russia soon. The spring crops are just coming up."
"How would they do it?" Lamont asked. "Get it started?"
"Probably airborne. It's the best way. Anything else would take too long."
Elizabeth made a note. Something she could give Vysotsky. If he contacted her.
"What's assumption number two?"
"Number two is someone in the Pentagon is in on this," Nick said. "We have to find out who it is."
"That won't be easy. I had a heck of a time hacking in."
"We could look for personal connections, Steph. Maybe Dansinger is buddies with someone over there. Lodge is, for sure."
Elizabeth made another note. This one wasn't for Vysotsky. She beat a short tattoo with her pen on the desktop. "The big question is how are we going to stop them? Yakov talked about removing Lodge. He meant kill him. We can't do that. We can't let the Russians do it either. If they get worried enough, they'll try."
"How come we always end up in the middle of something like this?" Lamont said.
"Because we're super heroes, Shadow." Nick smiled.
"Yeah? Where's my cape and shield?"
"Not my fault you can't find them. You had them with you, you wouldn't have gotten shot in Khartoum."
Elizabeth waved her pen in the air. "Children. Stay on task, here."
"Maybe we could get them to make a mistake." Selena smoothed a non-existent crease in her skirt.
"Go on."
"They don't know we've figured it out. That we know as much as we do."
"We don't know that, but you're probably right."
"We could let them know."
"Make them come after us?"
"Yes."
"They already did."
"That was because we were after the urn. Maybe we should keep looking for it."
"Forget the urn," Harker said. "It doesn't matter anymore. We'll assume Dansinger has it."
Ronnie said, "We can't go after Lodge, but we can go after Dansinger. Get his attention."
"I'm listening."
"He's got buildings in Texas, right?"
"Lots of them. It's where he develops his products."
"Why don't we see exactly what he's doing down there?"
"Recon," Nick said.
"Yup. Maybe a little sabotage at the same time."
"And leave a trail."
Ronnie nodded. "Something obvious. We want him to know it was us. He'd have to react. He's not going to call the cops."
"He'll probably call Lodge."
"Works for me."
"We do this, we'll stir up a hornet's nest." Harker smiled. She looked like a mischievous elf. "I like it."
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Alexei Vysotsky considered his options. The results of Besida Gelashvili's interrogation lay on his desk. She'd been persuaded to give him enough to smash Gelashvili's gang. Russia would be a better place because of it. He had his satisfaction. Now it was up to FSB. He'd already forwarded what he wanted them to see. From here on in it was their problem.
What he hadn't wanted them to see was the connection to the Americans. Besida told him it had been an American who'd sent Gelashvili after the woman in Greece. Maybe it was Lodge. Alexei didn't know who it was and Besida was no longer available for interrogation.
He thought about Harker. Could she be trusted to go after Lodge? It was in her country's interest, as she'd pointed out to Yakov. In Russia, an agreement like that would be considered treason. Alexei knew Harker was no traitor. He admired her, what she had accomplished with her small organization. His file on the Project ran for many pages.
Her interests coincided with his own. The irony of two secretive and opposed intelligence organizations cooperating in common cause did not escape him. She had been an enemy before. She would be again. What was she now?
He thought about her conditions. He'd meet them, for now. With one addition. He wanted Korov involved. He wanted an unfiltered source on the scene. If Harker agreed, they could make a deal. It would show sincerity on her part. She wouldn't like it. If she didn't agree there were other options.
Demeter had to be uncovered and stopped. Demeter was also a golden opportunity to get inside a key American unit, to find out how they thought, to measure their capabilities, probe for weakness. If there was a god of espionage, he must be smiling. If their positions were reversed, if he were in Harker's place, he would have little choice. Exposure of the plot to the Kremlin raised the specter of nuclear war. She would have to agree.
He took out the number Harker had provided and picked up his phone.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
"A Russian?" Nick was angry. "Come on, Director."
"Calm down, Nick. It's part of the deal. Gives us a chance to learn something. This man isn't just any Russian." She passed Korov's file over. "He's Zaslon. We've never gotten close to them before."
Lamont and Ronnie studied Korov's picture.
"He reminds me of my DI." Ronnie passed it to Selena.
"He's a professional. Just like the rest of you. Special Forces, lots of combat experience. He speaks English. He won't be a drag on the team."
"He's not part of the team. He's an outsider. I don't give a shit if he's Superman, it's my team. We're a family. This guy's the enemy. We don't even have a mission, yet." Carter felt his blood pressure rising. "Why do we need him tagging along? We don't have time to work this guy in. He doesn't know how we do things."
Harker's eyes tightened. "Make time, Nick. This isn't an option. As far as that goes, Major Korov is highly skilled. You might learn something."
"God damn it…"
"That's enough, Nick."
He threw up his hands in surrender. "I don't like it."
"You don't have to like it. I expect your full attention and cooperation."
"He takes orders from me."
"That's a given. For what it's worth, Korov is the one who showed up in Bulgaria. In the church."