Fallout

21

“You’ve lost me, Sam,” Grimsdottir said. “Hold on, let me patch in the colonel…”

Lambert came on the line: “What’ve you got, Sam?”

Fisher repeated what he’d said to Grimsdottir, then added, “If I’m not mistaken, Omurbai’s mother used to call him ‘little Soso’—after Stalin’s childhood nickname.”

“Checking,” Grimsdottir said. “Yeah, that’s right. What about the letter?”

“March 1967, University College London. He would have been…”

“Eighteen or nineteen,” Grimsdottir answered. Fisher could hear keys tapping in the background; after half a minute, she came back. “Omurbai studied there — economics — for a year before he dropped out.”

“Speculate,” Lambert ordered.

“Omurbai was there years and years ago,” Grimsdottir replied. “Long before he took over the country.”

“Or the letter is new, and whoever the Kyrgyz government killed was one of Omurbai’s body doubles.” He told them about the blue-ink doodle on the back of the envelope. “Plus, this room is untouched — almost a shrine. I doubt it would’ve been kept like this if Omurbai had visited before his rise to power. He would have been just another fellow Kyrgyz to Bakiyev. And the laminated map — the copyright reads 2007.”

“Let’s play this out,” Lambert said. “Omurbai escapes Kyrgyzstan, leaving a body double in his place and telling his commanders to fight on until he returns. From there, with the help of Tolkun Bakiyev he makes his way to Little Bishkek, where he hides out, licks his wounds, and regroups—”

“And makes friends with the North Koreans,” Fisher added.

“Right. And uses their advisers, their weapons, and their money — and Bakiyev’s network — to plan his return to power.”

“That sounds about right,” Fisher replied. “A lot of unanswered questions yet, but it’s plausible. The biggest question is: What’re the North Koreans getting out of the deal? What does Omurbai have to offer them?”

“Speaking of Omurbai’s big comeback,” Grimsdottir said, “that’s the other news. The latest reports show the Kyrgyz government on the edge of collapse. There’s fighting inside Bishkek now; the rebels are pushing in.”

“They always had the numbers but not the direction,” Fisher said. “Without Omurbai they were aimless — a gaggle of warlords that couldn’t agree on what kind of tea to serve at meetings, let alone wage a war.”

“And now,” Lambert said, “maybe they have their rudder back.”