“No. Bonehead’s death is not on your shoulders. Period.”
“Thank you. So what are you going to do about Barbara?”
“As soon as we’re assigned quarters here, she moves into them. And I will, without much hope of success, continue to reason with her. I just thought you should know the situation.”
“Yeah.”
“Jesus, look at that. A full-bird Russian. What is this place, anyway?”
“With a little bit of luck, we can get him to pick up our tab.” He raised his voice. “Polkovnik Serov! Over here.”
Serov, trailed by Major Alekseevich, walked, smiling cordially, up to the table.
Winters quickly stood up. Cronley resisted the Pavlovian urge to stand.
“May we join you?” Serov asked.
“If you’re buying, Ivan, we would be honored,” Cronley said.
“And this gentleman is?”
“Lieutenant Thomas H. Winters the Third, may I introduce Colonel Ivan Serov and Major Sergei Alekseevich?”
The men shook hands.
Winters said, “A pleasure to meet you, sir.”
“The pleasure is entirely mine,” Serov said, as he waved for the waiter. “It is always a pleasure to meet a member of a distinguished military family such as yours.”
“Excuse me?” Winters said.
“Your father does command the 1st Cavalry Division in Japan, does he not?”
“Yes, sir, he does.”
That didn’t come out of left field.
That’s off Serov’s Order of Battle for the DCI.
And he wants me to know he has one, and that it’s pretty thorough.
And does that make Tom a candidate for kidnapping?
A U.S. general’s son for a defected Russian colonel?
Or a U.S. general’s grandson?
And didn’t I hear that Barbara is an Army brat?
Isn’t she the daughter of a general officer?
A general’s daughter and a baby who has two general officer grandfathers for a Russian colonel and his family?
Barbara Winters and baby are safe in the Compound.
But they wouldn’t be nearly as safe in ordinary dependents’ quarters here.
What the hell am I going to do about that?