“You actually saw her”
“No. But the house is being guarded by at least three FBI agents.
They’re even wearing their blue windbreakers with FBI stenciled on the back”
“But you didn’t see her face”
“No, Comrade. But she is there all right. I don’t think they are playin games. Kurshin thought about it for a moment or two, and then nodded.
They were almost certainly correct. “Were you spotted”
” Yes. Kurshin waited for the explanation. “It won’t matter. Such flights are very common over the area. We were merely a pair of businessmen looking for investment property. Even if the FBI checks.
“They will”
“Yes, Comrade, when they check they will find that we work for Xavier Enterprises here in Washington. It is a blind company, of course. They will learn nothin “Excellent work, Yuri Ivanovich” Kurshin said. He glanced at his watch. It was just 7:30 in the evening. “Do you foresee any problem getting in there and killing her”
tonight”
The two field officers again exchanged glances. “No, Comrade”
“Will you require more people”
“No” Kurshin allowed a slight smile to play across his lips. He admired competence. If McGarvey wasn’t out there, and he didn’t think McGarvey was, they would succeed. “Do it” he said. The rezident was clearly agitated. Kurshin turned to him. “Do you have a problem with this, Boris Nikolaievich”
“I have many problems, Comrade Colonel, which is part of my job. As far as killing an American citizen here on American soil, there will be repercussions, of course. There is no way of predicting how severe their countermeasures will be, but they will happen”
“If it is traced back to us.”
“It will be” Antipov said, not willing to back down. He too was very good at his job, and although he had an abiding respect and even fear of Kurshin, he had his own brief. Secretly he was one of the men within the KGB who thought Baranov was a madman and would someday bring them all down. Of course he never voiced his opinion … or at least not that one. Kurshin was beginning to lose his patience. “You have read the directive” Antipov nodded. “An extraordinary document”
“Yeskurshin said coolly. Baranov had sent the directive ahead of him, giving Kurshin extremely broad powers and authority. In short he was not to be refused anything, anything at all.
Not by the ambassador, and certainly not by the rezident. “There is a possibility that Xavier may already have been penetrates. “But we are not certain”
“No.
“Then no matter what happens, it would take the FBI time to connect our attack with the helicopter overflight and therefore Xavier and back to us”
“In all probability, yes”
“By then this mission will be once again off American soil” Kurshin said, giving his first hint that what was happening here in the Washington area was only a small part of a much larger and more important whole. Important enough to require the killing of Dr. Abbott.
I “But I will not be” Antipov said softly. Kurshin’s eyes narrowed, causing the rezident to flinch, but still the man did not back down. “As you know, Comrade Colonel, Hammerhead is our most important source here in Washington at the moment” Antipov said. Second most important source, Kurshin thought, with out giving voice to the extraordinary secret Baranov had shared with him. He didn’t know the agent’s real name, only his code name and the fact he was of utmost importance. He merely nodded. “I will arrange, as you asked, for you to meet with him.
But under the circumstances I do not believe this would be wise. “Why”
“In all likelihood it would compromise not only us but him. “Imis meeting is extremely important, Comrade Antipov. Extremely important. I trust you passed my message to him”
“Yes, but under the circumstances..”
“What circumstances”
Kurshin shot back dangerously. He had been out on the streets all day trying to get the flavor of the city. He had even walked past the White House, where he’d stood by the fence gazing at the seat of power. It had given him a chill, which he had found somehow annoying. Antipov opened one of the file folders in front of him and passed it down the table. “I take it that you have not seen a television or radio news broadcast this afternoon”
“What is this” Kurshin asked, without looking down at the open file.
“Transcripts of several news broadcasts. We monitor them on a daily basis, of course. These are from the six o’clock news programs. I think you should read them” Kurshin did not want to be trifled with. His failure in Germany still rankled. Nothing could go wrong this time.
Nothing. He wouldn’t allow it. With a great effort of will he tore his eyes away from the rezident and began reading the transcripts, the top one from Peter Jennings’s ABC television report. After a few seconds he looked up. “The one they are talking about must be Hammerhead, Comrade Colonel” Antipov said. “They know” That wasn’t what had struck Kurshin.
Another name leapt off the page at him. A name impossible to believe. He was back in the transporter. Nothing can stop it? Schey shook his head.
Nein. Thank you. The pistol was coming up, Kurshin could feel it in his hands, the metal warm, smooth to the touch, the weapon comfortably heavy. Sure. He had shot the East German in the face. He could not have survived. “It is a lie” he mumbled. “Then it is a Lie extraordinarily damaging to their position, Comrade Colonel. With it they have given away their only advantage … that they suspect there is a penetration agent within the Pentagon. Kurshin went back to his reading, quickly scanning the text-English on the left, Russian on the right-through the rest of the ABC report as well as the half a dozen others that had been monitored. He was looking for one name other than Schey’s, but it wasn’t there. Nevertheless, he thought, looking up at last, this was McGarvey’s doing. Baranov had told him all about the man, about his early days with the CIA, about is Swiss girlfriend, about his parents and the ranch they had left him. Even Kurshin had thought it was incredibly callous of McGarvey to have sold off the property. The man was now living off the interest the money provided him. But land was far more important than money. “Have you an emergency contact procedure with Hammerhead” he asked. Relief showed on Antipov’s face. “Yes. I’ll make contact immediately. And I’m going to recommend that we pull him out of there before it is too late”
“No” Kurshin said softly, a plan already forming in his mind. “But.
“There are things here that you do not understand, Boris Nikolaievich.
Important things. More important even than Hammerhead” Antipov threw up his hands in despair. “He has been a loyal source. We must pull him out”
“Contact him immediately. Tell him that it is essential that we meet this evening, but that we will meet in another place”
“I won’t do this the rezident started to say, realizing almost immediately that he had stepped over the line. “You will” Kurshin said gently, and he could read the surprise on Antipov’s face. “Yes, I’ll do as you say, Comrade Colonel” Antipov agreed. “But it is my duty to warn you that you may be walking into a trap. If this Dieter Schey has named our man, or at least given them the information they need to track him down, they will be waiting for you. Kurshin flipped the file folder closed and straightened up. He glanced at the two field officers. “You have your assignment”
Both men got to their feet. “If there is any trouble, get out immediately. You have a usual route out of here”