The Russian Deception

CHAPTER 47

Nick stood by the window in his hotel room looking out at the rain. His mood was blacker than the clouds outside. His left arm was in a soft cast and hung in a sling. He had no feeling in the fingers of his left hand. The bullet had nicked the bone and damaged the nerves. The prognosis was inconclusive. Feeling might come back or it might not. The arm was the least of his concerns.

It's my fault. I was careless. I thought with Gutenberg dead it was over. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Thoughts of guilt and blame made hammered drumbeats in his mind.

With Langley's help, Harker had kept them out of jail. DCI Hood had called in a favor with the Bundesnachrichtendienst, the German Intelligence Service. The BND had stepped in and taken over from the local police.

Lamont and Ronnie were in intensive care in the University Hospital. Ronnie had taken two 9 mm rounds through his guts. One of them had punctured his liver. The last time he'd been wounded he'd lost his spleen. This time was worse. It was touch and go whether he would survive.

Lamont wasn't much better off. One round had missed his heart by a centimeter and exited from his back, causing massive bleeding. The other bullet had gone through his left lung, the second time he'd been shot through a lung. If he survived, he would have matching wound scars on his chest.

A round had grazed Selena's side and glanced off a rib. They'd bandaged her up along with Nick and sent them back to the hotel. A man in a dark suit and tie from the BND stood outside their door. They weren't prisoners, exactly, but they were told not to leave their room. They were under a form of polite house arrest while the Germans figured out what to do with them. Their guns had been confiscated.

Selena came over and stood by Nick. She put her hand on his shoulder and looked out the window with him. The cityscape was a gray vista of steel and glass and wet concrete.

"What a fucking mess," he said.

"The police said they were local hoods. They think somebody hired them to come after us."

"It has to be the Russians. Probably Golovkin."

"Why him?"

"He's covering his ass. He doesn't know what Gutenberg may have told us. He was trying to make sure that anything we learned didn't go any further."

"Do you think he knows about Valentina?"

"I don't know. I guess we have to wait and watch what happens."

"If she gets that recording to Vysotsky, it could make a difference," Selena said.

"It could. Orlov isn't known for his forgiving nature. By convincing him NATO would stay out of the Baltics Golovkin put him in a situation where he can't win. Once he knows Golovkin screwed up, Orlov will make sure he disappears. It depends on whether or not Valentina got the recording to Vysotsky and if he follows through."

"She will," Selena said. "She's a very determined woman."

"I hope you're right."

Selena's voice was full of sadness. "What if they die?"

His voice was flat, hard. "Don't say that. They're both still alive. I'll worry about it if they do."

Nick's satellite phone signaled. He looked at the display.

"Harker," he said to Selena. He turned on the speaker and connected the call. "Yes, Director."

"How are you, Nick?"

"How do you think? I've been better."

Elizabeth let it go. "The German authorities have agreed to let you go. You and Selena are leaving as soon as the weather clears."

"What about Ronnie and Lamont?"

"As soon as they're stable and can be moved they'll be flown here. They're ready for them at Walter Reed."

"Any news from Moscow? Any sign Valentina got through?"

"Not yet."

"What's happening with the war?"

"Which one? The Balkan war is in winter stalemate with everyone bogged down. The weather has been bad. No one can do anything. NATO is trying to negotiate a truce between the Albanians and Macedonia but so far no one is listening. Unless Mitreski wants to take on more than he can handle he's going to have to pull back to his border. He doesn't have the resources or the heart to make a serious effort at conquering Albania and he can't win against NATO. He'll quit. That war is ending with a whimper instead of a bang."

"What about Latvia?"

"That's a different story," Elizabeth said. "The weather has made satellite surveillance difficult. We should be able to get a radar fix through the cloud cover but the Russians have come up with new stealth technology for their tanks. It makes them almost invisible to radar. Hard to track or get a missile lock."

"Where are they now?"

"One of their columns is east of Riga, right on the outskirts."

"And NATO? What are they doing?"

"Rice raised hell and got them off their asses. They're sending troops to Estonia and Lithuania. It's too late to save the Latvian capital. The plan is to go after the Russians on two fronts from the bordering countries. Air strikes will begin as soon as the weather clears if they don't back down. The logistics to support a serious ground operation haven't gotten there yet. NATO wasn't ready for this."

"That figures."

"So far there haven't been any skirmishes between the Russians and NATO but it's only a question of time. Once the air strikes begin things will heat up fast."

"Has Rice talked to Orlov yet?"

"Orlov is refusing all calls. He's stonewalling everyone. Rice is taking it personally. I've never seen him this angry. He's pissed."

"I'll bet he is," Nick said. "Maybe Orlov will change his mind when our missiles start taking out his tanks."

"We'd better hope it doesn't come to that. Our best bet now is Vysotsky." Elizabeth paused.

"Come home, Nick."