Tom Clancy's Op-Center_ Divide and Conquer Part 10

"You did the right thing," Orlov a.s.sured him. "It was good speaking with you. I will talk to you later in the day."

Orlov rose and went back to the bedroom. He hung up the phone, kissed his precious, sleeping Masha on the forehead, then quietly went to the closet and removed his uniform. He carried it into the living room. Then he went back for the rest of his clothes. He dressed quickly and quietly, then left his wife a note. After nearly thirty years, Masha was not unaccustomed to his comings and goings in the middle of the night. When he had been a fighter pilot, Orlov was often called for missions at odd hours. During his s.p.a.cefaring years, it was common for him to suit up while it was still dark. Before his first orbital flight he had left her a note that read, "My dearest-I am leaving the earth for several days. Can you pick me up at the s.p.a.ceport on Sunday morning? Your loving husband, Sergei. PS: I will try to catch you a shooting star."

Of course, Masha was there.

Orlov left the apartment and took the stairs to the bas.e.m.e.nt garage. The government had finally given him a car after three years, since the buses were unreliable. And with everything that was going on in and around Russia, from restless republics to rampant gangsterism in major cities, it was often imperative for Orlov to be able to get to his Op-Center's headquarters.

And it was imperative now. The Harpooner was back in Russia.

TWENTY-THREE.

Washington, D.C. Monday, 7:51 P.M.

Liz Gordon came to Hood's office after his conversation with Orlov. A husky woman with sparkling eyes and short, curly brown hair, Gordon was chewing nicotine gum and carrying her ever-present cup of coffee. Mike Rodgers remained for the talk.

Hood told Gordon how the president had seemed during their meeting. Hood also gave the woman a brief overview of the possible covert activities that might explain what appeared to be the president's delusions.

When Hood was finished, Gordon refilled her coffee cup from a pot in the corner of the office. Though Hood had been dubious of psychiatry when he had first come to Op-Center, Gordon's profiling work had impressed him. He had also been won over by her thoroughness. She brought a mathematician's prooflike manner to the process. That, coupled with her compa.s.sion, had made her an increasingly valuable and respected member of the team. Hood did not have any trouble entrusting his daughter to her.

"The president's behavior does not seem extreme," Gordon said, "so we can eliminate some very serious dementias, which would indicate a complete or near-complete loss of intellectual capacity. That leaves us with dangerous but more elusive delusions, of which there are basically six kinds. First there's organic, which is brought on by illness such as epilepsy or brain lesions. Second is substance-induced, meaning drugs. Third is somatic, which involves a kind of hyperawareness of the body-anorexia nervosa or hypochondria, for example. What you've described doesn't sound like any of those. Besides, they certainly would have been caught by the president's physician during one of his regular checkups. We can also rule out delusions of grandeur-megalo-mania-since that would show up in public. We haven't seen any of that.

"The only two possibilities are delusions of reference and delusions of persecution," she went on. "Delusions of reference is actually a mild form of delusions of persecution, in which innocent remarks are deemed to be critical. That doesn't seem to apply here. But I can't be as quick to rule out persecution delusions."

"Why not?" Hood asked.

"Because the sufferer will go to great pains to conceal them," she said. "He or she believes that others are trying to stop them or hurt them in some way. They often imagine a conspiracy of some kind. If the president fears that people are out to get him, he won't want to confide in anyone."

"But the stress might come out in little bursts," Rodgers said.

"Exactly," Gordon told him. "Crying, withdrawal, distraction, temper-all of the things Paul described."

"He seemed to want to trust me," Hood said.

"That's true and also characteristic of the illness," Gordon said. "Delusions of persecution is a form of paranoia. But as a sage once said, 'Sometimes even paranoids have enemies.' "

"Is there something we should do?" Hood asked. "The First Lady's feelings notwithstanding, we have to do something if the president can't continue to function under these circ.u.mstances."

"Whatever is going on sounds like it's in an advanced-early stage," Gordon said. "The effects are unlikely to be permanent."

Hood's phone beeped.

"If there is a conspiracy, and you can expose it quickly," Gordon went on, "there is every reason to believe the president can stay on the job after a short rest. Whatever has happened probably wouldn't have any effects, long-term or short."

Hood nodded as he answered the phone. "Yes?"

"Paul, it's Bob," said Herbert.

"What's up?"

"A major situation," he said. "I just got a call from the CIA suit who relayed Tom Moore's request to me from Baku. Moore and the CIA guy from Moscow, Pat Thomas, were just wasted. They were taking David Battat to the hospital-the guy the Harpooner attacked during the stakeout. Moore was tagged by a sniper outside the hospital, and Thomas had his throat cut in the lobby."

"By who?" Hood asked.

"We don't know."

"No one saw him?" Hood asked.

"Apparently not," Herbert replied. "Or if they did, they didn't see him again."

"Where is Battat?"

"He's still at the hospital, which is why the suit called me," Herbert said. "The emba.s.sy called for police protection, but we don't know whether they've been compromised or not. The CIA is out of people, and they're afraid Battat will be next, and soon. We don't have anyone in Baku, but I thought-"

"Orlov," Hood said urgently. "I'll call him now."

TWENTY-FOUR.

Khachmas, Azerbaijan Tuesday, 4:44 A.M.

Maurice Charles did not like to repeat himself.

If he arrived someplace by car, he liked to leave by bus or rail. If he went west by air, he liked to go east by car or bus. If he wore a hat in the morning, he took it off in the afternoon. Or else he wore a different one or dyed his hair. If he destroyed a car with a pipe bomb, he attacked the next target with C-4. If he had done surveillance along a coastline, he retreated inland for a short time. Repet.i.tion was the means by which entrepreneurs in any field were undone. Patterns enabled lesser thinkers to antic.i.p.ate you. The only exceptions were densely populated cities where he might be seen. If he found a relatively obscure route through a place like that, he would use it more than once. The risk of being spotted and identified was greater than the risk of reusing an out-of-the-way road or tunnel.

Because Charles had surveyed the Caspian oil drilling site by plane, he decided to return to it by boat. The American and possibly Russian satellites would be looking for an aircraft by now. He and his team would take the motor yacht, which would have a different name on its side than it had the day before. One of the team members had made those arrangements in Baku. It would be waiting for them in Khachmas, a coastal town some fifty miles north of Baku. A freelance crew had been hired in Baku and sailed up with one of Charles's Iranian sailors. Not only was Khachmas closer to their target, it was unlikely that anyone would recognize them or the vessel.

After a short sleep, which was all he needed, Charles and his comrades had climbed into a van that was parked behind the shack. Their gear was already on board, and they drove from Gobustan back toward Baku. They traveled along roads that were utterly deserted at this time of night. Though Charles did not drive, he did not sleep. He sat in the backseat with a .45 in his lap. If anyone approached the van for any reason, he wanted to be awake.

The van arrived in sleepy Khachmas shortly before 4:30. They had driven the seventy miles nonstop. No one had approached them.

The Rachel Rachel-now the Saint Elmo Saint Elmo-was waiting in a slip at a ramshackle marina. The berth was close to sh.o.r.e. The hired crew had been dismissed. They had departed in their own boat, a fishing vessel, which had accompanied the motor yacht north.

Wearing night-vision goggles, Charles stood watch while the equipment was transferred from the van to the Saint Elmo. Saint Elmo. When all the gear was on board, one of the team members drove off in the van. The vehicle would be painted locally and driven to another city. Finally, the motor yacht set off. When all the gear was on board, one of the team members drove off in the van. The vehicle would be painted locally and driven to another city. Finally, the motor yacht set off.

The trip to the target would take fifty minutes. The sun would just be coming up when they arrived. That was important. Working at sea, Charles did not like to use artificial lights. They were too easy to spot in the dark and reflected on the water. He also didn't like to work during bright daylight when the wet suits glistened. Early dawn was best. There would be just enough time to get the job done and depart without being seen.

Then he would leave Azerbaijan and do nothing but enjoy life for a month or two. Savor the international ramifications of what he had accomplished. Cherish the fact, as he always did, that no world leader, no army, no business, had a greater impact on international events than he did.

TWENTY-FIVE.

Saint Petersburg, Russia Tuesday, 4:47 A.M.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, many officials in Moscow were afraid of the Ministerstvo Bezopasnosti Ruskii, or MBR, the Security Ministry of Russia. They were even more afraid than when the intelligence agency had been known as the KGB and was routinely tapping their phone lines and opening their mail. The officials feared that leaders of the former Soviet intelligence group would either support ousted Communists in an effort to recapture power or attempt to seize power themselves. Because of this, the Kremlin's new regime had created an autonomous intelligence agency outside of Moscow, away from the immediate reach of the MBR. They based it in Saint Petersburg. And, following the adage of hiding in plain sight, they located the Op-Center in one of the most visited places in Russia: the Hermitage.

The Hermitage was built by Catherine the Great as a retreat. The towering, white, neocla.s.sical building was formally known as the Winter Palace. It was a place where Catherine could enjoy the gems and great old masters paintings, drawings, and sculptures she had collected. She literally acquired them at a rate of one every other day from 1762 to 1772. When Catherine first opened her home to the patrician public, her only comments were that visitors should be joyful. However, she added, they "shall not try to damage, break, or gnaw at anything." The Hermitage remained a repository of the imperial collection until 1917. After the Russian Revolution, the Hermitage was opened to all the people. Its collection was expanded to include art from other schools as well as modern art. It currently houses over 8,000 paintings, 40,000 etchings, and 500,000 ill.u.s.trations. Today, it is second only to the Louvre in Paris in terms of the size of its collection.

The Russian Op-Center was constructed underneath a fully operational television studio. Though the broadcast facility had been built as a cover for the construction of the intelligence center, satellite dishes beamed famed Hermitage programs around the world. Most of the time, however, the highly advanced uplinks allowed the Op-Center to interface with satellites for both domestic and international electronic communications. The comings and goings of museum staff and tourists helped to disguise the presence of Op-Center personnel. Also, the Kremlin had decided that in the event of war or revo lution, no one would bomb the Hermitage. Even if an enemy had no use for art as an aesthetic possession, paintings and sculptures were always as negotiable as currency.

It was still dark when the fifty-three-year-old Orlov arrived at the museum. Because the Hermitage was still closed, he entered through an inconspicuous studio door on the northeastern side of the museum. As he did, he gazed north across the dark Neva River. Directly across the water were the stately Academy of Sciences and Museum of Anthropology. Nearby was the Frunze Naval College. In addition to training cadets, the college housed the dozen soldiers of the center's special operations force, Molot, which meant Hammer. Hammer.

There was a guard seated behind a desk inside the TV studio. Orlov acknowledged him as he pa.s.sed. The elderly guard stood and saluted. The general reached a door and used the keypad to enter. Once inside, he made his way through the dark reception area and down a short flight of stairs. At the far end, he punched the new day's four-digit code on a keypad, and the door popped open. The next day's number was always given to Orlov by the center's security chief at the end of each workday. When Orlov shut the door behind him, the overhead lighting snapped on automatically. There was another, longer set of stairs. He walked down where a second keypad gained him access to the Op-Center.

The facility consisted of a very long corridor with offices to the left and right. Orlov's office was at the end, literally at the sh.o.r.es of the Neva. There were times when he could hear barges pa.s.sing overhead.

Ordinarily, Orlov did not arrive until nine o'clock. There was a skeletal night staff, and they were surprised to see the general. He greeted them without stopping. When he entered his small, wood-paneled office, he shut the door and walked over to his desk. The desk faced the door. On the walls were framed photographs Orlov had taken from s.p.a.ce. There were no photographs of the general himself. Though he was proud of his accomplishments, he didn't enjoy looking at the past. All he saw was how short he fell of his goals. How he had hoped to walk on the moon and command a manned mission to Mars. How he had dreamed of seeing the cosmonaut corps grow and prosper. Perhaps if he had used his celebrity more constructively, more aggressively, he could have helped make that happen. Perhaps if he had spoken out against the war in Afghanistan. That struggle drained the nation's resources and pride and hastened the union's downfall.

There were no photographs of himself because General Orlov preferred to look ahead. The future held no regrets, only promise.

There was a voice mail from Paul Hood. The message did not say very much. Only that the matter was urgent. Orlov sat down and booted his computer. As he opened his secure phone list and auto-dialed Hood, he thought back to how the American Op-Center had helped him prevent a cabal of right-wing Russian officials from overthrowing the government. The counterattack had cost Hood one of his top field operatives, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Squires. Since then, the two Op-Centers had occasionally exchanged information. But they had never become fully integrated partners, which was something both Hood and Orlov had wanted. Unfortunately, like many of the progressive dreams Orlov had, the bureaucrats had not been ready for this. Distrust between the nations was still too deep.

The phone beeped once. Hood answered.

"h.e.l.lo?" Hood said.

"Paul, it's Sergei," Orlov said.

Op-Center's translator was on standby. It only took her a moment to get on the line.

"General, I need your trust, and I need it fast," Hood said. His urgent tone left no room for discussion.

"Of course," Orlov said.

"Our team searching for the Harpooner suffered a catastrophic hit at a hospital in Baku," Hood informed him. "It happened a little over an hour ago. Two of our men were killed. The first was taken down by a sniper outside the hospital. The second had his throat cut inside the lobby. The last man is a patient. His name is David Battat, and he is ill with a fever of some kind."

Orlov took a moment to write the name down.

"The police are at the hospital, but we don't know who the killer is," Hood said. "He or she may still be in the hospital."

"The killer could be a police officer," Orlov pointed out.

"Exactly," Hood said. "General, do you have anyone in Baku?"

"Yes, we do," Orlov said without hesitation. "In what room is Mr. Battat located?"

"He's in one fifty-seven," Hood said.

"I will send someone at once," Orlov said. "Tell no one."

Hood gave him his word.

Orlov hung up.

The three most powerful Russian intelligence groups had their own personnel. These groups were the MBR; the military's Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravlenie, or GRU, the Main Intelligence Directorate; and the Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del, or MVD, the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Russian Op-Center did not have the financial resources to maintain its own network of intelligence and counterintelligence personnel, so it was necessary to share people with other relatively small Russian agencies. These were administered by the Sisteme Objedinennovo Utschotya Dannych o Protivniki, or SOUD, the Interlinked System for Recognizing Enemies. SOUD also provided personnel for the Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki, or SVR, the Foreign Intelligence Service; the Federal'naya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti, or FSB, the Federal Security Service; the Federal'naya Sluzhba Kontr-razvedky, or FSK, the Federal Counterintelligence Service; and the Federal'naya Sluzhba Okhrani, or FSO, the Federal Protective Service.

Orlov quickly accessed the SOUD files. He input the highest-priority code, Red Thirteen. This meant that the request was not only coming from a senior official-level thirteen-but involved a case of immediate national emergency: the apprehension of the Harpooner. The Red Thirteen code gave Orlov the names, locations, and telephone numbers of field personnel around the world. Even if the operatives were involved in other situations, he would be authorized to commandeer them.

Orlov went to the file for Baku, Azerbaijan.

He found what he was looking for.

He hesitated.

General Orlov was about to ask a deep-cover operative to try to help an American spy. If the Americans were planning an operation in Baku, this would be the quickest way to expose and neutralize Russian intelligence resources. But to believe that, Orlov would have to believe that Paul Hood would betray him.

Orlov made the call.

TWENTY-SIX.

Washington, D.C. Monday, 9:00 P.M.

Paul Hood was angry when he hung up with Orlov.

Hood was angry at the system, at the intelligence community, and at himself. The dead men were not his people. The man at risk was not his operative. But they had failed, and the Harpooner had succeeded, partly because of the way spies did business. The Harpooner commanded a team. Most American agents worked as part of a team. Theoretically, that should give the operatives a support system. In practice, it forced them to operate within a bureaucracy. A bureaucracy with rules of conduct and accountability to directors who were nowhere near the battlegrounds. No one could fight a man like the Harpooner with baggage like that. And Hood was guilty of supporting that system. He was as guilty as his counterparts at CIA, NSA, or anywhere else.

The irony was that Jack Fenwick had apparently done something off the books. It was Hood's job to find out what that was.

The bureaucrats are checking up on the bureaucrats, Hood thought bitterly. Of course, he probably should not be thinking at all right now. He was tired and frustrated about the situation with Battat. And he had not even called home to see how Harleigh was doing. Hood thought bitterly. Of course, he probably should not be thinking at all right now. He was tired and frustrated about the situation with Battat. And he had not even called home to see how Harleigh was doing.

Rodgers had stayed with Hood between the time he first phoned Orlov and Orlov returned the call. While they waited for Bob Herbert to come back, Rodgers left to grab a soda. Hood decided to call home. It did not improve his mood.

He was doing just the thing that Sharon had always hated. Working late. Calling home as an afterthought. He could hear the anger in her throat, in the tightness of her mouth, in the brevity of her answers.

"I'm doing laundry," Sharon said. "Harleigh is in the den playing solitaire on the computer. Alexander is in his room doing homework and studying for a history test."

"How does Harleigh seem today?" Hood asked.