Divide and Conquer

FORTY-FIVE

When he was a cosmonaut, General Orlov had learned to read voices. Often, that was the only way he learned whether there was a problem with a flight. Ground control had once told him that all was well with his Salyut space station mission. In fact, pitting from micrometeoroid dust and a chemical cloud dumped by the spacecraft’s own thrusters had corroded the solar array. The panels had been so seriously compromised that the station was going to lose power before a Kosmos ship from Earth was due to ferry them home.

The first hint of trouble came from the voice of the liaison in ground control. His cadence was a little different from usual. Orlov already had an ear for voices from the years he spent as a test pilot. Orlov insisted on being told what the problem was with the Salyut. The entire world heard the conversation, embarrassing the Kremlin. But Orlov was able to shut down noncritical systems and conserve power rather than wait for scientists to figure out how to realign the remaining panels while also shielding them from further corrosion.

Orlov trusted Natalia Basov. Completely. But he did not always believe her, which was not the same thing. There was something in her tone of voice that worried him. It was as if she had been concealing something. Just like the liaison at ground control.

Several minutes after they spoke on her cell phone, Orlov called the phone registered to Odette Kolker at her apartment. It rang a dozen times and no one answered. Orlov hoped that meant she had taken the American with her. Twenty minutes later, he called back again.

This time a man with a slurred voice answered. In English.

Orlov looked at the readout on the telephone to make sure he had the correct number. He did. The woman had left without the American.

“This is General Sergei Orlov,” he said to the man. “Is this Mr. Battat?”

“Yes,” Battat replied groggily.

“Mr. Battat, the woman who rescued you is my subordinate,” Orlov went on. “She has gone out to try and apprehend the man who attacked you on the beach. You know who I am talking about?”

“Yes,” Battat replied. “I do.”

“She has no backup, and I’m worried about her and about the mission,” Orlov said. “Are you well enough to get around the city?”

There was a short delay. Orlov heard grunts and moans.

“I’m on my feet, and I see my clothes hanging behind the door,” Battat replied. “I’ll take one step at a time. Where did she go?”

Orlov told the American he had no idea what Odette’s plan was, or if she even had one. Orlov added that his team was still trying to get into the hotel computer to find out which rooms were occupied by single males.

Battat asked Orlov to call him a taxi, since he did not really speak the language.

Orlov said he would do that and thanked him. He gave Battat his telephone number at the Op-Center and then hung up.

Orlov sat still. Save for the faint buzz of the fluorescent light on his desk, his underground office was dead silent. Even space was not this quiet. There were always creaks as metal warmed and cooled or bumps as loose objects struck equipment. There were sounds of coolant moving through pipes and air rushing through vents. And every now and then there was someone talking in his headphone, either from Earth or somewhere else in the ship.

Not here. This was a lonelier-feeling place by far.

By now, Odette had probably reached the hotel and gone inside. He could phone her and order her back, but he did not think she would listen. And if she was intent on going through with this, he did not want to rattle her. She needed to know she had his support.

Orlov was angry at Odette for having disobeyed orders and lying to him. His anger was tempered by an understanding of what had driven the woman. Her husband had been a loner as well. A loner who had died because of someone else’s carelessness.

Still, she would not stand in the way of Orlov’s job. And that job was not just to capture or kill the Harpooner.

It was to make certain that Odette did not end up like Viktor.