Black Harvest

CHAPTER FIVE

The headquarters building of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, the Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki, was in a part of the city very different from the neighborhood where Zviad Gelashvili contemplated the usefulness of his wife. There was no park across from SVR headquarters. People were not encouraged to loiter and feed the birds near the SVR building.

SVR was Russia's equivalent of the CIA, but operated with none of the restrictions that hampered Langley's operations. It carried on the old KGB tradition of espionage and assassination abroad. Not much ever changed about state security in Russia except names and technology. It had been that way in the days of the Czars. It would be that way tomorrow.

There were eight departments in the SVR. Deputy Director Alexei Ivanovich Vysotsky ran Department S, which included an Operations Department. The Operations Department in turn included an elite Special Operations Group known as Zaslon. Zaslon did not officially exist.

All Zaslon personnel were Spetsnaz, the best fighting men in Russia. Every member of Zaslon was trained for specialized foreign assignment and spoke at least three languages. Every member had demonstrated superior performance in a variety of secret military units. All had proved their courage under fire. They were fiercely loyal to the Rodina, the Motherland.

Zaslon was the sword of the Motherland. No enemies of Russia survived when Zaslon went looking for them.

Internal security within the Federation was handled by the FSB, the Federal'naya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti, headquartered at the old KGB headquarters in the Lubyanka east of Red Square. One area of friction between SVR and FSB concerned the growing power of the criminal gangs. The gang bosses controlled too much of Russia's wealth. Their wealth was manipulated from within the country, which made it FSB's problem. But gang operations extended far out into the world. As far as Eastern and Western Europe. As far as America. That made it Alexei's concern.

Sometimes carefully planned operations against the gangs went wrong, especially when operations concerned Zviad Gelashvili. General Vysotsky suspected a leak in the Lubyanka. Gelashvili was getting too powerful. He had become a danger to the Motherland. Alexei was determined to take him down.

Vysotsky was a genuine patriot. With the new administration things were changing. Alexei had high hopes. Hopes for a Russia reborn, without corrupt criminals shaping the future. A Russia respected and feared by the world.

Alexei was a handsome man in an elegant and menacing way, but he hadn't gotten where he was on good looks. Nor was it his ruthlessness. That went with his job. What had carried him to his position of power was instinct, a real sense for feeling out danger to the Motherland.

In his hands he held a report from an agent embedded deep in the American NSA. The report concerned the deaths of three scientists in America. As he read, the top of his skull tingled.

On the surface it didn't appear to be a security threat. Yet it was odd that all three were top researchers in the study of viruses. The report provided a translation of the cuneiform tablets and noted the possible connection to Alexander's treasure. It speculated that the killings might have been motivated by greed.

Not obviously a threat. Yet he had that tingle, that buzz of warning on the top of his head. Alexei always paid attention to that tingle. He decided to follow up on the report.