The Russian Deception

CHAPTER 41

In Virginia, Elizabeth's phone signaled a call from Langley.

"Harker."

"Elizabeth, it's Clarence. Pull up the satellite over the Baltics."

"Hello to you too, Clarence. Just a minute."

Elizabeth entered the command on her keyboard and the Baltics appeared on her wall monitor.

"Got it," she said.

"Focus on the Latvian border with Russia."

Elizabeth made an adjustment.

"Damn."

"That's about the mildest comment I've heard so far," Hood said.

"When did this start?"

"About thirty minutes ago. If they don't meet any significant resistance the Russians will be in Riga tomorrow. There's not much the Latvians can do to stop them."

"NATO?"

"High command has called for another emergency meeting in Brussels."

"What is the president doing?" Elizabeth asked.

"He's raised the alert status to DEFCON 2. Where is your team now? "

"Leipzig. It turns out that Johannes Gutenberg is still alive."

"I thought he died in Switzerland."

"We all did. I've sent the team after him. He's right in the middle of this. He's been funding Orlov's military buildup."

"Ah."

"The question is why," Elizabeth said. "Gutenberg isn't Russian. I can't believe he has the Federation's best interests at heart and he has to know he'll never get back the money he's spent. If we know why he's been so generous it might give us something we can use as leverage to get Orlov to back off."

"I suppose it's possible."

"We've got nothing to lose by interrogating Gutenberg."

"Elizabeth…" Hood paused. "This one has me worried. Orlov is too easily influenced by the people around him and he's surrounded himself with the Kremlin hardliners. If they have convinced him NATO is not going to respond, he's making a serious mistake. We absolutely cannot allow Russia to annex the Baltics. This has every potential to go nuclear."

"Then we'd better hope we can find something to stop it," Elizabeth said.

"I have to go," Hood said. "We'll talk later."

He broke the connection. Elizabeth set down her phone. She looked at the monitor and watched the Russian tanks crossing into Latvia. Behind the tanks, troop transports and artillery poured over the border. She couldn't help but feel that she was watching the beginning of World War III. It scared the hell out of her.

The Russians were advancing toward Riga from St. Petersburg, Pskov and Moscow. Elizabeth zoomed out for a wider view. The Baltic Fleet had come out of Kaliningrad and was steaming for the Gulf of Riga, ahead of a large storm front moving in from the northwest.

Orlov's crash program to modernize the military hadn't caught up with the Navy. There was one small aircraft carrier in the rusting Baltic Fleet, the Kuznetsov. She was obsolete and could only field a dozen aircraft but that was still a dozen more than the three Baltic states possessed. There was no Air Force in any of the Baltic countries. If there had been, the Russian air force would have easily blown it out of the sky.

The Kuznetsov was accompanied by two heavy cruisers and several frigates. Elizabeth assumed there was at least one submarine with the fleet as well. Once they entered the Gulf, Latvia's capital would be at their mercy.

Stephanie came into Elizabeth's office. Burps lay on the couch. The cat eyed her and rolled over on his back, paws in the air. Stephanie reached down and scratched his enormous stomach. He began to purr, an erratic rumble that sounded like a diesel engine in the next room.

Stephanie looked at the monitor. "What are you looking at?"

"The Russians have invaded Latvia."

"Oh, no," Steph said. "I'd hoped they were bluffing. What happens now?"

"It depends on how NATO responds and what the President wants to do."

"Do you think the Europeans will honor the treaty?"

"Yes," Elizabeth said. "The president will make sure of that. What's up, Steph? You look like something's happened."

"I've been watching Gutenberg's house. An ambulance pulled up a little while ago. As soon as it arrived, someone was carried out of the house and loaded into the back. It went out of there in a big hurry with lights flashing."

"You think it was Gutenberg?"

"I don't know, but it's a good guess."

"It could have been one of his staff."

Stephanie shrugged. "Maybe."

"Where did the ambulance go?"

"The University Hospital. It's one of the best hospitals in Germany."

"If it's Gutenberg, we have a chance at him."

"Maybe the bastard will die and save us all a lot of trouble," Steph said. Her voice was tinged with bitterness.

"Nick will find out if it's him." Elizabeth paused. "I'll send him in. He knows what to do."

On the other side of the world in Moscow, Alexei Vysotsky had just received news that Operation Bright Sword had begun. He put down his phone and sat at his desk, thinking.

It's started. Now we are committed. If Orlov is wrong about NATO, this will be a disaster

Alexei considered the vodka in his desk drawer and decided against it. He opened another drawer that contained a small aluminum box. He took the box out of the drawer and set it on his desk. He toggled a switch on the side of the box and a green light came on. The box radiated frequencies that made it impossible for anyone to listen to conversations in the room.

Alexei had decided long ago that paranoia was the best survival strategy. In the days of the Soviet Union, when he'd begun his career in the KGB, a misspoken word or an overheard conversation could send the speaker to the gulags. The Soviet Union was no more but Alexei knew better than most that the old ways still prevailed. Freedom was a pleasant illusion. Now that he had reached his high position he was more paranoid than ever. Paranoia was a way of life in Russia, particularly in the corridors of power.

Alexei entered Valentina's code on his phone and sent an encrypted burst that meant he wanted to talk with her. Thirty seconds later his phone signaled her reply.

"General."

"What is your status?" Alexei asked.

"There's been a development," Valentina said. "Kepler has been taken to a hospital here in Leipzig."

"What's the matter with him?"

"I have no idea, but it gives me a chance to get to him."

"Make sure you find out why he has been backing Golovkin before you terminate him," Alexei said.

"There's no need for you to remind me." Valentina sounded annoyed. "What if he's unconscious?"

"Wake him up."

"And if I can't?"

"Kill him."