Ten minutes later, she got a hit. The first reference led to another and then another, and soon she was looking at the STASI file on Selena's father. The first entry was dated from 1985. Connor had been posing as a businessman interested in taking advantage of cheap East German labor. In the beginning there was only routine surveillance, automatically kept on any Western foreigner. About six months after the first entry, everything changed.
Someone in the West had betrayed him. Connor was identified as a high-level CIA agent.
The East Germans decided to compromise him. If they succeeded, Connor would be given the option of cooperation or a bullet. They decided on a classic plan used by every intelligence agency in history. A female operative was assigned to seduce him.
Stephanie's tiredness was forgotten. The file read like a novel written by Frederick Forsyth. But it wasn't a novel. It was the story of a man being drawn into a trap baited with his own weakness.
Stephanie came across the first mention of the KGB. The East Germans knew who their masters were. Because Connor was a potential high level asset, the Russians took over the operation.
Stephanie nodded to herself. She was on the right track, she could feel it.
The KGB chose an experienced agent named Sofia Antipov for the seduction. Antipov was inserted into West Berlin and introduced to Connor by a deep cover East German who was a member of the West German Parliament. Within a month, Selena's father and Antipov were sleeping together. Two months after that, the KGB dropped the hammer.
Joseph Connor was well and truly hooked. He began feeding information back to the Germans and their Russian bosses. It was described in the file as being of significant value. From time to time, deposits of American dollars were transferred into an offshore account in Connor's name. Regular reports were forwarded directly to the chairman of the KGB, Viktor Chebrikov.
That's unusual, Stephanie thought. Shows how important they thought Connor was. It's beginning to look like he really was a traitor.
Abruptly, Sofia Antipov was taken out of the picture. Shortly after that, Connor went back to the United States.
I wonder what happened? Stephanie asked herself.
She found out in the next section of the file. Sofia Antipov had gone back to Moscow under a cloud, pregnant with Connor's child. Six months later she'd given birth to a child named Valentina.
Holy shit. Stephanie sat up straight in her chair. Selena has a half-sister.
CHAPTER 38
"Are you sure?"
Elizabeth stared at Stephanie.
"I'm sure," Stephanie said. "There are more files to look at but I thought it was best to let you know what I'd already found out."
"How are we going to tell her?" Elizabeth asked. "Should we?"
"I don't know, but she doesn't have any other family. It will be really important to her."
"But her sister is the product of a classic honey trap," Elizabeth said.
"Half sister. I don't think that's the point. What's important is that she's family, even if she is the product of an affair set up by the KGB."
"I wonder why their agent didn't just abort the child?"
"Something else I don't know. There's nothing in the file about that, at least not so far. Maybe she had moral considerations."
"A KGB agent with moral considerations, who behaved like an alley cat in heat?"
Burps the cat was lying nearby. When he heard Elizabeth say cat, his ears perked up. He looked at her, yawned, and went back to sleep.
"Burps is listening," Stephanie said. "You should watch your language."
"Very funny, Steph. But this is dynamite. How is Selena going to feel about learning that her father was unfaithful with a Russian spy?"
"You have to tell her what's in this file," Stephanie said.
"I know."
"Selena isn't going to be happy about it."
"Is the sister still alive?"
"I checked. She's alive, all right. There's more. You won't like it."
"More?"
"Not only is she alive, she followed in her mother's footsteps. She works for SVR. Take a look at this."
Stephanie touched a key and a picture of Valentina Antipov appeared on the monitor. It was an official photo from SVR files.
"Good Lord," Elizabeth said. "She looks like a younger version of Selena."
"Take a guess at who her boss and mentor is. I'll give you a hint. His initials are A.V."
"You're kidding," Elizabeth said. "Vysotsky?"
Stephanie nodded. "He's been keeping an eye on her since she was five years old."
Elizabeth reached into her drawer, took out a bottle of aspirin and shook three into her palm. She reached for her coffee cup and washed them down.
"Selena is stubborn," she said. "If she knows the Russians killed her family, she's not going to let it go."
"What if we have to work with the Russians again?" Stephanie asked.
"That could be a problem. Try and find anything that explains why Vysotsky's been so interested in Selena's sister all these years. Look for connections to Selena's father."
Stephanie nodded again. "I'll see what I can do."
Elizabeth looked at her empty coffee cup. "I was about to buzz you when you came in. It didn't go well in Brazil."
"What happened?"
"Schmidt booby-trapped the clinic building and it blew up just as they were approaching. Nick said there was nothing left. They were exposed to infected blood. Right now they're in quarantine on board the carrier. We won't know if they're okay until the ship's medical officer runs tests."
"Elizabeth, that's awful."
"Nick said they saw a lot of people with the plague. They were covered with black blotches and open sores."
"What are you going to do next?"
"I'm going to brief DCI Hood and President Rice and tell them what Nick found," Elizabeth said. "Someone has to tell the Brazilian authorities. That entire part of the country has to be quarantined. It's best if Rice handles it."
"I guess Gutenberg got what he wanted."
"What do you mean, Steph?"
"He proved the plague is effective. Schmidt must have been protected or he wouldn't have been around to set that bomb. They must have a vaccine, which means Gutenberg can move on to the next phase of his plan. I wish we knew what that was."
"I think we're probably going to find out soon enough, " Elizabeth said.
CHAPTER 39
Ilya Yezhov and his sergeant stood a few feet away and looked at the man who liked to think of himself as the most powerful man in Russia. He was naked and sweating. Konstantine Kamarov was clamped immobile into a hard wooden armchair, in a dark room lit only with a single, bright lamp. His huge body bulged out the sides of the uncomfortable chair. The odor of his fear filled the air with a sour, unpleasant scent.
Next to Kamarov's chair was a small metal table on wheels, placed where he could see it. A white towel covered the top of the table. Two rows of polished steel dental and surgical tools gleamed in the light, laid out on the towel in meticulous order. The array of tools was rounded off by a battery-operated electric drill. There was a second chair next to the table. At the moment, it was empty.
They were in an isolated dacha on the outskirts of Moscow. It was a place used sometimes when it was important that no one see the prisoner except his interrogators. Curtains covered the windows. The rugs had been removed, revealing a wooden floor scarred with years of use. Dark stains on the wood testified to past interrogations. The dacha had been a favorite of Lavrenti Beria's for questioning special prisoners, when Beria had been head of Stalin's secret police.