Divide and Conquer

FORTY-SIX

There was a great deal of traffic, and it took Odette twice as long as she expected to reach the Hyatt Hotel. She parked on a side street less than a block from the employees’ entrance. She did not want to park out front. There was still a sniper out there somewhere, the person who had shot the American diplomat outside the hospital. The killer might be bird-dogging the hotel for the Harpooner. He might have seen her car at the hospital and could recognize it again.

It was a sunny morning, and Odette enjoyed the brief walk to the front of the hotel. The air tasted richer and seemed to fill her lungs more than usual. She wondered if Viktor had felt this way while he was in Chechnya. If simple moments had seemed more rewarding when there was a real risk of losing it all.

Odette had been to the rear entrance of the hotel twice before. Once was to help a cook who had burned himself in a skillet fire. Another time was to quiet a man who was complaining about charges on his dinner bill. She knew her way around the back. Unfortunately, she didn’t think she would find the Harpooner here. Odette assumed that when the Harpooner came and went, he used the front entrance. Sneaking out a delivery door or first-floor window might call attention to himself. Smart terrorists hid in plain sight.

And smart counterterrorists waited for them rather " than charging into their lair, she thought.

But Odette had no idea when the Harpooner would be leaving. It could be the middle of the night. It could be early afternoon. It could be three days from now. She could not be here the entire time. She also had no idea whether or not he would be disguised. And for all she knew, he might even hire a prostitute to pose as his daughter, wife, or even his mother. There were some old prostitutes in Baku. Some very young ones, too. Odette had arrested a number of them.

There were many possibilities, all of which made it imperative that Odette get to the Harpooner before he left. The question was how to find him. She had no idea what his name was or what name he might be using.

Except for the Harpooner, Odette thought. She laughed to herself. Maybe she should run down the halls shouting that name. Watch to see which doors did not open. Anyone who did not need to see what the uproar was about had to be the Harpooner.

Odette rounded the corner and walked toward the front of the hotel. There was a kiosk around the comer. A newspaper extra was already announcing the Iranian buildup in the Caspian Sea. There were aerial reconnaissance photos of Iranian ships setting sail. Baku had always been relatively insulated from military action. This was something new for the nation’s capital. That would help to explain the traffic. Most people lived in the suburbs. Many of them probably came to work, heard the news, and were getting out of town in the event of attack.

There was just one person standing beneath the gold and green awning. A doorman in a green blazer and matching cap. There were no tour buses, though that was not surprising. They usually left by nine A.M. Tourists who had entered the country as part of a group probably could not opt for early departure and had almost certainly gone ahead with their plans. In any case, checkout was not until noon. People who did want to leave were probably on the phones trying to book plane, train, or car reservations—

Of course, she thought. The phone.

Orlov had said that the Harpooner made a call using a secure phone. That would mean he probably had not made any calls using the hotel phone. She would look for a single male occupant with no phone charges on his bill.

Odette entered the hotel. She looked away from the front desk as she crossed the lobby. She did not want to risk being seen by the manager or any of the clerks who might recognize her. The first thing she did was turn to the right, toward the corridor that led to housekeeping. The long, simple office was located in the back of the hotel. There was a desk with a supervisor in the front of the office. Behind her was an array of cleaning carts. To her right was a Peg-Board with keys for all the rooms. A row of master keys was located on the bottom. These were given out to the cleaning staff each morning. Two keys remained.

Odette asked the elderly clerk if she could have more shampoo. Smiling pleasantly, the clerk rose and went to one of the carts. While the woman’s back was turned, Odette took one of the master keys from the wall. The clerk returned with three small bottles of shampoo. The woman asked if she needed anything else. Odette said that she did not. Thanking her, Odette returned to the lobby and walked to the bank of telephone booths that lined an alcove in the back.

As she was walking, her phone beeped. She tucked herself into one of the booths, shut the door, then answered it.

Orlov said his team had broken into the hotel compuer and they had five possibilities. Odette wrote down the names and room numbers.

“We might be able to narrow it down a little more,” Orlov told her. “If someone wanted to get out of the country quickly, he would assume a nationality the Azerbaijani would not want around.”

“Iranian,” Odette said.

“No,” Orlov countered. “Iranians might be detained. Russian is more likely. And there are two Russians at the hotel.”

Odette said she might be able to narrow it down even further by checking the room telephone records.

“Good thinking,” Orlov said. “Hold on while we’re checking. Also, Odette, there’s one thing more.”

Odette felt her lower belly tighten. There was something about the general’s voice.

“I spoke with Mr. Battat a few minutes ago,” Orlov said.

Odette felt as if she’d run into a thick, low-lying tree branch. Her momentum died and her head began to throb. She did not think she had done wrong, leaving a sick man at home. But she had disobeyed an order and could think of nothing to say in her defense.

“The American is on his way to the hotel,” General Orlov continued evenly. “I told him to look for you in the lobby. You’re to wait until he arrives before you try to take down your man. Do you understand, Odette?”

“Yes, sir,” she replied.

“Good,” Orlov said.

The woman held on as Orlov’s staff checked the records. Her palms were damp. That was less from nervousness than from having been caught. She was an honest woman by nature, and Orlov’s trust was important to her. She hoped he understood why she had lied. It was not just to protect Battat. It was to allow herself to concentrate on the mission instead of on a sick man.

According to the hotel’s records, two of the five men staying there had not made any calls from the room. One of them, Ivan Ganiev, was Russian. Orlov told her they were also checking the computer’s housekeeping records. According to the last report, filed the day before, Ganiev’s room, number 310, had not been cleaned in the three days he had been there.

Meanwhile, Orlov went to his computer and asked for a background check on the name. It came up quickly.

“Ganiev is a telecommunications consultant who lives in Moscow. We’re checking the address now to make sure it’s valid. He doesn’t appear to work for any one company,” Orlov said.

“So there’s no personnel file we can check for his education or background,” she said.

“Exactly,” Orlov said. “He’s registered with the Central Technology Licensing Bureau, but all it takes to get a license is a bribe. Ganiev does not have family in Moscow, does not appear to belong to any organizations, and receives his mail at a post office box.”

That made sense, Odette thought. No mail collecting in the postbox, no newspapers piling up on the stoop. None of the neighbors would be certain whether he was there or not.

“Hold on, we have his address,” Orlov added. He was silent for a moment. Then he said, “It’s him. It has to be.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Ganiev’s residence is a block from the Kievskaya metro stop,” Orlov told her.

“Which means—?”

“That’s where we’ve lost the Harpooner on at least two other occasions,” Orlov said.

Battat walked into the lobby just then. He looked like Viktor did after ten rounds of boxing in the military amateurs. Wobbly. Battat saw Odette and walked toward her.

“So it looks as though he’s our man,” Odette said. “Do we proceed as planned?”

This was the most difficult part of intelligence work. Making a determination about life and death based on an educated guess. If General Orlov were wrong, then an innocent man would die. Not the first and certainly not the last. National security was never error-free. But if he were correct, hundreds of lives might be spared. Then there was the option of attempting to capture the Harpooner and turn him over to Azerbaijani authorities. Even if it could be done, there were two problems with that. First, the Azerbaijanis would find out who Odette really was. Worse, they might not want to try to extradite the Harpooner. It was an Iranian rig he had attacked. And Russian buildings. And American embassies. The Azerbaijanis might want to make some kind of arrangement with him. Release him in exchange for his cooperation, for help in covert actions of their own. That was something Moscow could not risk.

“You’re going to wait for the American to arrive?” Orlov asked.

“He’s here now,” Odette said. “Do you want to speak with him?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Orlov said. “The Harpooner will probably be traveling with high-tech equipment to go with his cover story. I want you to take some of it and any money he’s carrying. Pull out drawers and empty the luggage. Make it look like a robbery. And work out an escape route before you go in.”

“All right,” she said.

There was nothing patronizing about Orlov’s tone. He was giving instructions and also reviewing a checklist out loud. He was making sure that both he and Odette understood what must be done before she closed in.

Orlov was quiet again. Odette imagined him reviewing the data on his computer. He would be looking for additional confirmation that this was their quarry. Or a reason to suspect it was not.

“I’m arranging for airline tickets out of the country in case you need them when you’re finished,” Orlov said. He waited another moment and then decided as Odette knew he must. “Go and get him.”

Odette acknowledged the order and hung up.