‘And the photo?’
‘The retired officer recognised the other man in the photo – we only have his word; we can’t run it through Lubyanka for now, for obvious reasons. He was an American CIA officer, a Tom Banner, arrested by us in the early eighties on spying charges, sentenced to life imprisonment but died in jail before he could be put up for one of our regular prisoner exchanges with the Americans – heart attack… if you want to believe that.’
‘So you think it was Karzhov who was feeding the Americans?’
‘It’s certainly a possibility, working both sides for his own ends. Banner either never revealed his Soviet source or the CIA has chosen not to.’
‘You mean he could be a sleeper.’
‘Perhaps… or simply that they do not want to undermine other assets they might have in the Soviet Union… and they’ll have them… best let him off the hook. Who’s going to sell them information if there’s a treason charge at the end of it?’
‘And you think Karzhov engineered Banner’s death to protect himself.’
Terentev nodded.
‘Again a probability… he was frightened that Banner might give away his identity in return for freedom… maybe Banner was becoming impatient.’
‘Okay… How about Peredelkino?’ said Yuri. They only had hours before the Emergency Committee went on the air waves.
‘Half an hour by the M1.’
‘What about the back road – Michurinskiy Prospect – and you approach from the south? If you are stopped on the motorway there’s nowhere else to go; I’m guessing you don’t want a return trip to Lubyanka? Might take fifteen minutes longer… Does Viktoriya still insist on going?’
‘No stopping her,’ replied Terentev. ‘They’re her men too.’
‘Okay, but I have to talk with her first. She needs to make a call.’
Chapter 68
The truck was more comfortable than she had imagined. Closeted behind boxes stacked to the roof, Viktoriya sat with ten soldiers in the back of an LF freighter. She stood up and looked through the clear oval plastic pane into the driver’s cab where two other soldiers, in dark grey overalls, posed as LF crew. Outside, endless rows of anonymous red-brick tower blocks with white bay windows and covered balconies raced by in the fading light.
A car drove past them and tucked in between the two vehicles before pulling out again and overtaking. Military jeeps parked to the side of intersections on wide grass verges watched them go by. She counted three in as many blocks, ready to shut down one of the city’s main arteries at a second’s notice.
She sat back down again on the cold corrugated aluminium floor, took off her jacket and folded it under her. Nobody spoke. This wasn’t what her security force had signed up for at RUI, but from the occasional smiles on their broad faces she guessed that this meant more than the solid pay cheques and bonuses they had been receiving. Besides, weren’t all their interests in the new Russia perfectly aligned. If the Emergency Committee succeeded in turning back the clock, most of them would likely find themselves back where they started – in the real army on no pay and no future, stuck in some backwater or attempting to put down restive East Europeans.
Gaidar cast a glance in her direction and at Terentev sat next to her. Until now, Viktoriya had not had much to do with him. Ivan handled security. But she could see why Yuri had placed so much confidence in him. Around her age, she guessed, maybe a little older, he had not let his rapidly growing private army atrophy. From what Ivan told her, it was better trained and armed than most regular units.
She looked at her watch. Fifteen minutes past five, sunset just after five thirty. Was it only this morning she had arrived in Moscow and this afternoon Terentev had managed to march Yuri out of Lubyanka? With a little luck and Kostya’s reluctant support, the authorities might still think her barricaded in Malaya Morskaya.
Without any warning, the truck braked sharply, pulled left into a side street and abruptly stopped. Viktoriya stood up again and warily peaked out of the trailer window. A military jeep blocked their way. She immediately sat back down again and raised a finger to her lips, pointing to the outside. One of the soldiers flipped the safety catch on his Kalashnikov. Gaidar shook his head. Starting a firefight in the back of a truck would be as good as suicide, she thought. Viktoriya held her breath as the rear door creaked open and light flooded into the wagon. Someone shifted boxes, sliding them this way and that. No one moved. Terentev looked at her, unblinking, and squeezed her arm. It would all be over before it started, she thought, if they were discovered now.
The soldier shifting the boxes stopped and shouted the all-clear to another. The rear doors banged closed and the truck pulled out and turned once again onto the main road.
Viktoriya looked at her watch in the dim interior light. In fifteen to twenty minutes, roadblocks willing, they would be there.
Chapter 69
No one stopped him when Yuri entered by the main doors of GSHQ. Whether it was an inbuilt deference to uniform or tacit support he wasn’t clear, but one thing he did know was confidence was everything… well almost… carpe diem, you either did or you didn’t.
Suppressing the urge to break into a run, Yuri increased his stride, his metal-edged heels ringing out loudly along the flagstone passage as he hurried towards the communication room. His arrival was greeted with a frantic pushing back of chairs as soldiers and officers jumped to attention.
‘At ease, men,’ said Yuri, returning their salutes and turning to the duty officer.
‘Lieutenant, put me through to the duty officer at Central District command.’
The lieutenant stared at him, frozen.
‘General Marov, we thought you were under arrest.’
‘I was… Lieutenant… didn’t you serve under me at Smolensk – communications?’
‘Yes, General, you recommended me for promotion to Moscow.’
It was coming back to him now.
‘Yekaterinburg… you are from Yekaterinburg, my home city?’
The officer nodded. ‘Yes, sir, well remembered.’
‘Well, Lieutenant, I need your services now, and I haven’t got time to explain.’
Yuri could see the officer hesitate before making up his mind.
‘Yes, General.’
The lieutenant saluted him again before retaking his seat. The duty sergeant cast a wary glance in Yuri’s direction and rotated the radio dial to the appropriate frequency.
‘This is General Yuri Marov from the general staff,’ said Yuri when the duty officer, a Lieutenant Orlov, responded. ‘I wish to speak with General Alyabyev. Please put him on the line.’
‘General Alyabyev is in a meeting, General. I have orders he is not to be disturbed.’
‘Lieutenant, this is an emergency.’
Yuri could almost hear the soldier’s mind whirring, calculating how much trouble he would be in for disobeying him or Alyabyev.
‘Lieutenant Orlov,’ said Yuri, exasperated, ‘do you know who I am?’
‘Yes, sir, of course’
‘Well I intend to be around for a very long time, Lieutenant.’ There was a pause. Everything depended on Lieutenant Orlov, Yuri thought – maybe the whole weight of the Soviet Union.
‘I am putting you through now, General.’