“And if you don’t leave, the Russians are going to notice,” Morris said.
“And get suspicious,” Marcus agreed. “And that’s the last thing we need.”
“So you need to be on that Learjet when it takes off,” Nick said.
Marcus nodded. “Right. But then I’m going to have to get back into the country without the Russians knowing I’ve come back.”
“And how exactly do you propose we do that?” Nick asked.
Marcus smiled for the first time. “Actually, I have an idea.”
63
Marcus laid out his plan.
It wasn’t just critical that he be able to slip across the Russian border and get back to Moscow without getting caught. There was another element he believed was vital to the success of the mission he was hatching: they had to get Senator Dayton back to Washington as quickly as possible.
“There’s no time for him to go to Vilnius,” he told them.
“Why not?”
“My source was explicit—he was giving the information to me, I’m supposed to give it to Dayton, and the senator is supposed to give it to the president.”
“But why Dayton? What does it matter who gives it to Clarke?”
“This guy believes it will make a bigger impression on Clarke coming from a critic of his,” Marcus explained. “Plus the president is more likely to order additional U.S. and NATO forces into the Baltics right away if he has bipartisan support in Congress. That makes Dayton’s support essential.”
“Okay,” Nick said. “So what exactly are you asking me to do?”
“Find a way to convince Dayton to go back to D.C. and not Vilnius.”
“And I suppose you have a plan to make that happen as well?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
By nine Senator Dayton and Annie Stewart were back at the embassy.
They had been summoned by Ambassador Tyler Reed and now met in his seventh-floor office. Pete had not been invited. Nor had Dayton’s chief of staff or press secretary. Those three were back at the hotel packing and grumbling about being left out of what everyone knew was an important meeting, given its last-minute and rushed nature.
“Thank you both for coming on such short notice,” Reed said as he huddled with Dayton and Annie, along with Nick Vinetti, Jennifer Morris, and Marcus. “Senator, I realize you’re planning to fly to Vilnius in a few hours. But something’s come up. It’s potentially very serious, and I wanted to brief you on it and ask you to consider changing your plans.”
The ambassador turned the briefing over to Morris, who proceeded to give a summary of the war plan and other documents they had received and how seriously the Agency was taking a potentially imminent Russian invasion of the Baltics. The senator asked a flurry of questions. Morris gave as many details as she could but said there were certain items she was simply not at liberty to discuss. Chief among them was the identity of the source of the documents or how they had come to the Agency’s attention.
“What do you need from me?” Dayton asked.
“Well, sir, as you know, Washington is seven hours behind Moscow,” Morris noted. “So at the White House it’s only 2:37 in the morning. The president is asleep. But I can guarantee you no one at Langley, the NSA, or the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon is. Everyone is poring over these documents from every conceivable angle to determine whether they are authentic and, if they are, whether they truly represent the credible threat of an imminent Russian invasion of three NATO countries. Once that determination is made, the national security advisor will brief the president.”
“But we need to warn the Baltic leaders,” Dayton said. “I can do that myself, starting tonight with the Lithuanian prime minister.”
“Actually that’s why I asked you to come back to the embassy,” said the ambassador. “I need to ask you to leave that to the president and the secretary of state.”
“But the prime minister is expecting me in Vilnius this evening,” Dayton countered. “I’ve already had to reschedule once.”
“I realize that, Senator, but please understand the sensitivity of the situation,” Ambassador Reed replied. “We need to be careful not to rush to any final judgments. Our analysis is barely under way. But this has the potential of triggering war in Europe, and we need to keep the information tight until we’re sure.”
“It’s not just the potential of war,” Dayton noted. “We’re talking nuclear war.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t get that far, but yes, we can’t rule it out at the moment,” Reed said. “And that’s all the more reason to be careful of what we say and to whom we say it.”
“You want me to hold back information about a potential nuclear conflict from our allies in the Baltics, less than two weeks out from a potential catastrophic invasion?”
“Correct. Until we know more, sharing this could inflame a situation that’s already volatile enough. If and when we can confirm the documents and the threat are real, then rest assured that every NATO leader will be informed, the Baltic leaders first among them. But for now, I need you to call the Lithuanian prime minister from my office. Brief him on your meeting with Luganov. Tell him what he told you, and tell him you don’t buy a word of it. Then head back to Washington immediately to give a personal briefing to President Clarke on your meeting with Luganov.”
“Why?” Dayton asked. “Isn’t the president going to be briefed by his national security advisor?”
The ambassador turned to Nick Vinetti.
“Sir, I’ve been on a secure call for the better part of the last hour with Bill McDermott, the deputy NSA, giving him the same briefing the ambassador just gave you. Bill assures me the White House wants a bipartisan response to this crisis, whichever way it unfolds. Having you there will be critical to gathering congressional support.”
Marcus observed Senator Dayton as he processed the request. He wondered if he might pull Annie or himself aside to confer. But he did not. Instead, Dayton reluctantly but professionally accepted the ambassador’s request and suggested they set up the call to Vilnius immediately. Marcus glanced at Nick and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank you, Senator,” said Ambassador Reed.
“America first, eh?” Dayton said.
The ambassador smiled. “Not a phrase I would normally expect to hear from the lips of a progressive Democrat,” he noted.
Dayton smiled back. “No comment.”
Reed continued. “Normally, as you know, a U.S. senator wouldn’t be in the loop regarding such a high-level mole at all, certainly not one in the Kremlin on the eve of a possible war. But given your leadership position and long years of service on the Intelligence Committee, you and Miss Stewart here are both cleared for all this. The rest of your staff is not. I trust you’ll not share any of this with them.”
“I’m fully aware of my oath, Mr. Ambassador, thank you. But what about Mr. Ryker? Technically, he’s not on my staff, nor is he a federal employee anymore. Yet he’s been with us the entire time.”
The ambassador, looking suddenly uncomfortable, glanced at Morris and then at Nick Vinetti.
“You’re absolutely right, Senator,” Nick said. “But in this particular case, there’s a simple explanation.”
“And that is…?”
“The mole came to him.”
PART SEVEN
64
