“So Mohammed really is going to the mountain?” Sam asked from the darkened cabin behind him.
“Just as fast as their afterburners can take them, Ms. Kerr,” Nadia said matter-of-factly. She throttled up. Overhead, the PZL SW-4’s rotors spun ever faster. She pulled up on the collective, changing the pitch of the rotors, and pressed down on her left pedal — counteracting the torque produced by the three big blades.
The helicopter lifted off.
“So now we get you back to Poland,” Nadia continued. “And then we see if what you discovered at Bataysk was really worth all this trouble.”
Eleven
Squinting against the sudden brightness, Yuri Annenkov stepped out of the portable trailer he and his crews were using as a flight operations control center. Heat waves shimmered across the concrete apron. Several ground support vehicles with the Regan Air logo surrounded their Boeing 737-200F aircraft. One was a tanker truck, busy refueling the twin-engine cargo jet after its most recent round-trip flight to Mexico. The rest were “K” loaders assigned to unload the freight containers Annenkov and his copilot had just ferried in.
For a moment, the former Russian Air Force colonel stood watching his small ground crew at their work. By military standards, this clandestine RKU operation was shorthanded, with each man at the Moab base being expected to handle several different tasks as needed. While that made turning their aircraft around between flights a slower process, it was also less likely to arouse unwelcome suspicion. Even the Americans, he supposed, might notice the sudden arrival of a large number of foreign aircraft mechanics, cargo handlers, and refueling specialists. As it was, he knew the locals were puzzled that so few of Regan Air’s new employees ever ventured outside the fenced-in airport perimeter.
So far, his security detail, the only really fluent English speakers working for him, had handled this potential problem by explaining that Moab was a high-stakes, start-up operation for the company. “Until we start cranking out profits, the bigwigs back at corporate expect our guys here to put in ridiculously long hours. We’re on call practically twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week,” he’d heard one of his guards tell a caterer delivering prepackaged meals. “By the time we’re off shift, basically all we want to do is watch a little TV and then crash.”
“Sounds like working on one of those offshore oil rigs,” the caterer had replied with a knowing grin. “Good way to save up a lot of money. Of course, then a lot of guys blow their savings on a spree when they finally get off the rig.”
Smiling back, the guard, a veteran GRU agent, had agreed this was pretty much the same kind of arrangement.
For now, at least, Annenkov was satisfied that their cover story would hold up. The bigger question was whether or not this base would be ready to conduct active operations when Moscow finally gave the word. He turned on his heel and strode toward the big prefabricated steel building they were using as a warehouse and “special materials” assembly plant.
The air-conditioned warehouse was brightly lit. Crates and cargo pallets stacked halfway to the high ceiling filled the front half. A couple of workers in grease-stained coveralls were comparing the contents of one crate with a manifest. They stiffened to attention when they saw him. With a tight-lipped frown, Annenkov waved them back to work. Some of his people still had trouble remembering they were no longer “officially” members of Russia’s armed forces.
He threaded his way through the stacks, heading toward the rear of the big steel building. Sound-canceling partitions screened off the area. The armed sentry posted at the only entrance stepped aside at his terse nod, allowing him to pass.
Workbenches littered with tools and other pieces of equipment lined the back wall. More crates, most of them opened, were scattered across the concrete floor. Several technicians were busy at various tasks.
“Come to inspect our progress, Colonel?” their leader, a short man with thinning hair, asked.
Before joining RKU, Major Andrej Filippov had been an air-force ordnance specialist. His narrow face was always serious. He rarely made jokes. Unlike those lured by Major General Kurakin’s promises of higher pay and spectacular bonuses, Filippov had personal reasons for joining this covert operation. Three years ago, his older brother, a fighter pilot flying Su-35s, had been shot down and killed by the Poles and their mercenary American allies. This was his chance to exact a measure of revenge.
“If you can spare the time, Andrej,” Annenkov said dryly, “I’d just like to make sure that all the flights I’ve made to Mexico, Canada, and other godforsaken spots across the U.S. have served some real purpose.”
“Of that you can be certain,” Filippov replied. He led the way to the nearest bench. Several desktop computers and printers in various states of disassembly covered the work surface. They were all manufactured by different companies. “For example, these came in today.”
Annenkov raised an eyebrow. “Are you planning on opening an office supply store, Major?”
Filippov forced himself to smile. “Not exactly, sir.” He pulled off the case on one of the computers, revealing a mare’s nest of electronic components and wiring. “You see?”
“Just for a minute, Andrej, pretend that I am nothing more than a simpleminded old aircraft pilot,” Annenkov said with deliberate patience. “And not a rocket scientist.”
“Oh,” the other man said blankly, obviously recalibrating his thoughts. Then, with a quick shrug, he reached inside the open computer case and carefully detached a gray metal box. “You see this?”
Annenkov frowned. “So? What is it? Some sort of hard drive or power supply unit?”
“That is precisely what a customs agent would assume, if he x-rayed the computer or opened the case,” Filippov said with quiet satisfaction. “In reality, it is the inertial control system for one of our Kh-35UE cruise missiles.”
“Ah, I begin to understand.”
First designed as anti-ship weapons comparable to America’s Harpoon missiles, Russia’s Kh-35 subsonic, short-range cruise missiles could be launched by ships, helicopters, coastal defense batteries, and aircraft. In attack mode, they were sea-skimmers, able to fly at extremely low altitude to evade enemy detection and countermeasures.
Filippov opened another computer. With pride, he plucked out several more components to show the colonel. Pieces that masqueraded as everything from DVD drives to video cards and memory card readers turned out to be things like radar altimeters, servo units, and missile fuel system controllers.
Annenkov offered praise where praise was due. “Ochen’ umno, Andrej. Very clever.” He looked at the other benches. “But what about the rest of the components we need? You can’t smuggle everything inside computers and other electronic gear.”
“Quite true,” the other man agreed. With the colonel in tow, he moved over to a large container in one corner of the warehouse. The words wind energy systems, inc. were stenciled across its exterior. Smaller boxes and crates that had been packed inside were being opened and inspected by one of Filippov’s technicians.
Annenkov peered into one. There, surrounded by foam packing material, he saw a sky-gray aluminum-alloy cone nearly a meter long and around forty centimeters in diameter. “A Kh-35 missile nose cone?”
“To us, yes,” Filippov agreed. He shrugged. “But according to the official paperwork filed with U.S. Customs, this is the nose cone for a wind turbine rotor hub.”