There, a team of explosives-disposal experts placed it under a fluoroscope. The X ray revealed the ghostly outlines of a rectangular box containing what appeared to be two coils. That was enough for them to bring in the dogs.
They sent in the German shepherds, specially trained to scent explosives. While the dogs sniffed the package, their trainers hunkered down behind a five-foot-thick concrete buttress.
When, after five minutes, the dogs did not howl, the experts emerged timorously, shedding their protective outfits.
"It appears to be harmless," muttered the head of the team.
"What if you are wrong?" asked the second member of the team.
"Then we will be wrong."
"You will sign the certificate of safety then, comrade."
"Then I alone will get the credit."
"I will sign the certificate also," said the third member of the team, who was in charge of the dogs. They all signed the certificate and the package was run up the dumbwaiter to the office of the General Secretary.
The secretary to the General Secretary brought the package in to her superior.
"I did not open it, Comrade General Secretary," she said.
The General Secretary regarded the package. His high forehead wrinkled in perplexity, sending the wine-colored birthmark that rode high on his skull into convulsions. There was no return address on the outside of the package.
"You did well. Now leave me."
The General Secretary slit the edge of the package, which was of reinforced cardboard, with a letter opener and undid the end flap.
Out popped a black video cassette wrapped in a copy of Izvestia. Within the page was a thick sheaf of pages, closely typed. There was also a note, handwritten.
The note read: General Secretary,
This tape contains information of global import. I beg you to watch it in solitude. Enclosed is a transcript of the person speaking on the tape, first in his native language, then in English, and again in Russian. The Russian transcript is mine. If you wish to speak to me on this serious matter, I am in the Military Ward of the Kremlin Clinic.
Yours faithfully, Viktor Ditko, Colonel, Committee of State Security
The General Secretary buzzed his personal secretary-"Do not disturb me for the next hour"-and went into the adjoining conference room where there was an American-made video cassette recorder. He watched the tape in deep silence, transcript in hand. When he was done, his face was two degrees paler. His cranial birthmark, by contrast, was livid. He grabbed for the intercom like an alcoholic.
"I wish to know the status of a KGB colonel currently being treated at the Kremlin Clinic."
The secretary came back with a verbal report: "Comrade General Secretary, Colonel Viktor Ditko is awaiting an eye operation, and is considered under arrest for possible dereliction of duty."
"The specific charge?"
"That he deliberately caused severe injury to his eye in order to avoid duty." The secretary wore a disapproving expression when she gave the report.
"His station?"
"Head of security, Soviet embassy, Pyongyang, People's Democratic Republic of Korea."
"I will see him in this office, within the hour."
"He has a history of shirking his responsibilities," the secretary added.
"He will not shirk this appointment, I assure you."
"As you wish, General Secretary."
* * *
Colonel Viktor Ditko smiled as he was ushered into the baroque office of the General Secretary. He looked pale. His uniform was not fully pressed. The General Secretary took his measure. Ditko appeared to be a dull, studious sort, not very personable in appearance, but there was a hint of cunning in his eyes. Or rather, in the one eye that was not covered by a black eyepatch. The rakish look that eyepatches normally give a man was undercut and made incongruous by the horn-rimmed glasses he wore.
The General Secretary waved him to a chair without a word.
"Thank you, Comrade General Secretary," said Colonel Ditko. He looked overimpressed by his surroundings. The General Secretary thought for a moment that he was going to do something stupid, like bowing from the waist.
"I have watched the tape," the General Secretary said after a long pause.
"It is important, da?"
The General Secretary nodded. "It may be. Who has seen this tape aside from you?"
"The person who recorded it. He also prepared the transcripts."
"No one else?"
"I swear. I understand its importance."
"You came by this how?"
And Colonel Viktor Ditko let the story spill out, the words tumbling from his prim mouth so swiftly they ran together and the General Secretary was forced to ask him to slow down.
When it was over, Colonel Ditko said, "I knew I had to get this to you. I dared not send it by diplomatic pouch. I had to inflict an injury upon myself to facilitate my return. My superiors believe I was derelict in my duty. But of course, you know differently."
The General Secretary dismissed the subject of Colonel Ditko's superiors with an impatient wave. "Your eye. What did the doctors say?"
"Repair is possible. We have excellent eye surgeons in Moscow."
"I will see that you get the best. What do you want from me?"
"Sir?"
"Your reward," asked the General Secretary.
"A better post. One in Moscow."
"You have something in mind?"