It was ten P.M. Will, Roger, and Laith were in Korina’s tiny terraced house. The residence was barely three hundred yards away from where they had confronted her on the street. They were in her lounge, and the place was crammed with full bookshelves, had a small wooden dining table, one chair, a television that looked at least twenty years old, and little else. Korina had removed her coat to reveal jeans and a turtleneck sweater. She grabbed the wooden chair, spun it around, and sat on it the wrong way, with her arms resting on its back. After lighting a cigarette, she silently observed the three Western intelligence officers, who were perched on whatever they could find.
Will studied Korina for a moment, then nodded toward Laith and Roger while still keeping his attention on the GRU officer. “My colleagues are CIA paramilitary operatives.”
Korina looked at them and blew out a thin stream of smoke between her lips. “You look like killers.”
Will rubbed his cold hands together, then abruptly stopped doing so. “We’re hunting a man called Taras Khmelnytsky. Have you heard of him?”
Korina said nothing.
“You know who he is.” He nodded. “Khmelnytsky’s a colonel and the head of Spetsnaz Alpha. His profile will be well known to someone in your line of work.”
Korina continued to stare at Will, before asking, “He murdered my father?”
Will nodded. “Since then, he’s killed six other Russian MI6 agents. He’s got another three agents to murder. When that’s done, the world’s going to hell.”
He told her about Razin’s plan before asking, “You never knew that your father was an MI6 agent who worked for the same man as you?”
Korina shook her head; a tear ran down her face. “And my father never knew about my secret.” She wiped her face and composed herself. “Are you trying to trick me?”
“To what end? If we’re FSB, we’d have just arrested you.”
“Maybe you are who you say you are. But perhaps you’re not telling me the truth about the real reason you want Khmelnytsky.”
“You decide! But time is running out.”
Korina seemed deep in thought. Finally, she sighed and said, “For obvious reasons, I can’t take this to my superiors.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
She frowned. “Then what are you asking?”
Will leaned forward. “For Khmelnytsky’s plan to work, the explosion must look like an American strike. Are you aware of anything that the Americans are about to do that, if combined with a nuclear explosion, could spark war?”
“I-”
“Any briefings you’ve received? Information coming out of agents? Signals intelligence? Anything?”
Korina extinguished her cigarette, pulled out another, and froze. “Oh, no.”
“What?”
Silence.
“What, Korina?!”
More silence.
Then she spoke. “An intelligence report. Naval matter. Given I’m GRU navy, I was cleared to read it.”
Will spoke with deliberation. “What was in the report?”
Korina lit her cigarette with a shaking hand. “Three U.S. Ohio — class cruise missile submarines are going to be sailing in the Barents Sea.”
A sea that was above northwest Russia.
“Not unusual.”
“No, but this deployment’s different. They’re going to covertly enter Russian waters. Not too far, but just enough. We believe it’s the first time the Americans have tried this.”
“A training exercise?”
“The report came to no conclusion, though it did make one stark observation.”
Will waited.
“The cruise missiles have a maximum range of fifteen hundred miles.”
Will’s stomach knotted. “They’re entering Russian waters to bring them within range of Moscow.”
Korina nodded.
“This has to be the trigger.” Will’s mind raced. “But it doesn’t prove that Moscow is Razin’s target. The Ohio ’s deployment is a test sortie, I’m certain. It’s unlikely that a first strike against Moscow would be made by a cruise missile submarine-more likely a ballistic submarine from somewhere out in the Atlantic.”
Roger interrupted. “I agree.” The former sailor also seemed to be thinking fast. “But if war had already started, the Americans might use Ohio subs in the second or third strikes if they felt confident that Russia’s missile interception capability had been diminished. I think it’s a training exercise, just to see if they can get close enough if there ever is a need to hit Moscow.”
Will felt frustration. “Moscow’s not Razin’s target, because a detonation there will not convince Russian high command that it was an Ohio missile strike. While Russian air defenses are at peak performance, it just wouldn’t ring true to them. That means Razin’s target could be anywhere much closer to the subs. But that still leaves a vast range of possible targets.” He punched a fist on his leg. “Damn it!”
Laith said, “Maybe this isn’t the trigger.” He looked at Korina. “Could be something else that you’ve not been cleared to read.”
Korina shook her head. “No. This is the trigger. Without a doubt.”
Will looked sharply at her. “How can you be certain?”
Korina blew out smoke. “Because the intelligence report was written by Taras Khmelnytsky.”
Will went cold. “Who was his source?”
Korina seemed hesitant.
“I have to know!”
She looked incredulous. “You can’t expect me to reveal the identity of an agent.”
“Under the circumstances, yes, I bloody well can.”
She puffed on her cigarette. “He’s a low-level American sailor, but he works for an admiral and therefore has a higher security status than others of his rank. Razin’s his case officer. Beyond that, I’d have to check my database to get extra details.”
“Can you get his identity and naval facility?”
“I can, but not until morning. If I log on now, it might look suspicious to GRU HQ.”
“Okay.” Will clapped his hands together. “There’s still a chance. The Americans can put the squeeze on the sailor-get him to send a message to Khmelnytsky saying that the subs are deploying on a different date, that they have to meet in person so he can give him the details. That’ll grab Khmelnytsky’s attention. Then”-he smiled-“we grab the bastard.”
Roger frowned. “Why don’t we just get the submarines to turn around so that the incident is avoided?”
“No. If we do that, Razin will strike another target and we’d have no idea when or where that would be.”
“He might, but unless he’s lucky it would be unlikely to spark war.”
“I can’t take that chance.”
Roger looked incredulous. “And yet you’re willing to take a gamble on something that certainly will lead to war if we fail.”
Will thought about this. “If we’ve not got him by the time the subs are drawing close to Russia, I’ll call it in.”
Korina said, “You’ll have to move quickly because the submarines will be entering Russian waters in four days’ time.”
Will’s smile vanished.
Four days.
One explosion.
War.