The 14th Colony (Cotton Malone 11)

Belchenko had tempted him for years with Fool’s Mate. Telling him about the zero amendment. That information had been gleaned from Andropov’s private papers, which remain sealed to this day. Eventually, he’d learned enough to know what Andropov had planned for Reagan. Each time a new American president had been elected he’d pressed for more, and each time Belchenko resisted. But not this time. Finally, his old friend had come through and sent him along the right trail.

Which Moscow also seemed to be following.

“Are you hungry?” Kelly asked.

“We have to keep going.”

“We also have to eat. We can buy something and eat on the road. There are several places just ahead.”

Some food would be good and it would cost them only a few minutes. He checked his watch.

1:16 P.M.

22 hours left.

* * *

Malone gazed out the jet’s side window to the terrain below. They were somewhere over New York or New Jersey, headed south aboard a Gulfstream C-37A owned by the air force. At five hundred miles per hour they would be back in DC before 2:00 P.M.

Cassiopeia sat across from him. He’d caught up with her at the Bangor airport and they’d immediately boarded, leaving the two state troopers behind with their questions still unanswered. He’d filled her in on everything he knew and on Danny Daniels’ apprehension about the pending inauguration.

“Zorin’s down there,” he said. “Heading south.” He turned from the window. “Thankfully, we have him on a tight leash, both physically and electronically.”

“So we let him lead us to whatever there is, then take him down.”

“That’s the idea. But we have the added complication of the Russians with their panties in a wad.”

She smiled. “More of that southern colloquialism?”

“Just a statement of fact.” He thought about things for a moment. “My guess, Zorin is headed for somewhere in or around DC. So we’ll wait there for him to come to us. If not, we’ll head to him. Sorry about all these flights.”

He knew flying was not her favorite thing.

“This is not so bad,” she said. “Plenty of room to move around. Those fighter jets are a different story. I just don’t see the appeal.”

He did, though. In fact, if not for a few twists of fate he would have been a navy fighter jock, now retired after a twenty-year career. Interesting how that seemed so mundane. So few ever got the chance to pilot a multimillion-dollar warplane, but that paled in comparison with his experiences first with the Magellan Billet, then on his own after retiring. He’d been involved with some amazing adventures, the current one no exception.

“I need to call Stephanie,” he said.

The plane came with its own communications system, which he activated by lifting a phone from a nearby console. He dialed Stephanie’s cell phone number, the one she’d provided to him two days ago.

The phone rang in his ear.

Twice.

Three times.

After the fourth ring, voice mail kicked in and a robotic message said that the caller was unavailable and for him to please leave a message.

He decided not to and ended the call.

“She told me she wanted to know the minute we had things under control,” he said as he hung up the phone. “So where is she?”

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

Stephanie occupied the backseat of the Escalade by herself. Two men with no personality sat up front. The SUV wove its way through traffic, and even though it was the weekend the streets were clogged with inaugural visitors. The next two days would be jammed with celebrations, too many to count. A million-plus people from all over the country would be in town, security extra tight. Already, the White House, the National Mall, and the west end of the Capitol should be sealed to visitors. The scaffolding for the swearing-in would be patrolled around the clock. All the museums that stretched on both sides of the Mall, from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, would likewise be occupied by security teams, their doors locked hours before the ceremony. Back in 1989 she remembered climbing the north tower in the Smithsonian Castle and watching George Bush take the oath of office from there. That would never be allowed today. Too high a spot, with too clear a shot. Instead, either a military sentry or the Secret Service would enjoy that lofty perch.

She wasn’t quite sure what was happening here and had not liked the look on Osin’s face back in the hotel lobby. But she’d had no choice. What would Danny say? Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in fruit salad. She was in pursuit of wisdom. Interesting how even unemployed she managed to stay in trouble. For the first time she sympathized with Cotton, as this was exactly the situation he’d repeatedly faced from her.

She grabbed her bearings and saw that they were headed north on 7th Street toward Columbia Heights. The car turned onto a side route. She hadn’t been able to catch the street name. A small neighborhood park appeared on the right. The vehicle stopped. The man in the passenger seat climbed out and opened her door.

A gentleman?

She stepped out into the cold.

Luckily she still wore her heavy coat with gloves and scarf. The park stretched about a block and was deserted except for a man sitting on a lone bench.

She walked over.

“I apologize for the intrigue,” he said to her as she drew close. “But it was important we speak.”

He was short and plump, little more than a dark overcoat, a trilby hat, and stylish Louis Vuitton scarf. A lighted cigarette dangled from the gloved fingers of his right hand, which he puffed in the cold.

“You have a name?” she asked.

“Call me Ishmael.”

She smiled at his use of the opening line to Moby-Dick.

“Names are unimportant,” he said. “But what we need to discuss is vital. Please, have a seat.”

To find that wisdom she’d have to oblige him, so she sat on the bench, the cold from the wooden slats seeping up through her clothes.

“You don’t sound Russian,” she said.

“I’m just an emissary, hired by a group of interested foreign nationals. Disturbing things are happening inside Russia that concern them.”

She made the connection with what Osin had said back in the hotel lobby. “Are you here for the oligarchs or the mob? Oh, I forgot, they’re one and the same.”

“It’s interesting how we forget that we went through a similar period of maturing. The Russia of today is not all that dissimilar from us in the late 19th century, and even up to the 1930s. Corruption was a way of life. And what did we expect when we overthrew 800 years of authoritative rule? That democracy would just bloom in Russia? All would be right? Talk about naïve.”

He had a point. All of that had been discussed in detail by Reagan and his advisers back when Forward Pass was active. Everyone wondered what would happen after communism. Little thought, though, had been given to alternatives. Ending the Cold War had been all that mattered. Now, twenty-five years later, Russia seemed more authoritarian and corrupt than ever, its economy weak, political institutions nearly gone, reforms dead.

“The men I represent have authorized me to speak frankly with you. They want you to know that there are factions within the Russian government who want dangerous things. Perhaps even a war. They hate the United States, more so than the communists once did. But most of all they hate what Russia has become.”

“Which is?”

He savored a long drag on his cigarette, exhaling a blue funnel of smoke. “We both know it is no longer a global threat. Yes, it waged war in Georgia, continues to intimidate the Baltics, and invaded part of Ukraine. So what? Minor nothings. It’s too poor and too weak to do anything more than posture. Washington knows that. Moscow knows that. You know that.”

That she did.

Every intelligence report said the same thing. The Russian army was totally demoralized, most soldiers undertrained and unpaid. On average, twelve a month committed suicide. And while the new Russia had managed to produce some formidable warplanes, super-silent subs, and ultrafast torpedoes, it couldn’t manufacture them in mass quantities. Only its nuclear arsenal commanded respect, but two-thirds of that was obsolete. No first-strike capability existed. Its global reach was gone, and even its regional capabilities were limited.

All it could really do was threaten.

“It seems that certain events over the past few days have triggered a renewed sense of pride in certain quarters of the Russian government,” he said. “Contrary to what you and the CIA and the NSA think, not everyone in Russia is corrupt and for sale. Ideologues still exist. Fanatics have not disappeared. And they are the most dangerous of all.”

She grasped the problem. “War is bad for business.”

“You could say that. People leave Russia each year by the hundreds of thousands. And those aren’t the poor and unskilled. They’re smart entrepreneurs, trained professionals, engineers, scientists. It takes a toll.”

She knew that to be true, too. Corruption, red tape, and the lack of the rule of law were driving people to safer environments. But she also knew, “More are coming in than are going out. You’re not in any danger.”

“Thankfully, people flock to the many available jobs. Which is even more of a reason why Russia can’t afford all this fanatical nonsense. It should be building on what it has, diversifying from oil and gas, expanding the economy, not preparing for a war that cannot be won. I was hoping that you and I could see these truths together.”

“I no longer work for the U.S. government. I was fired.”

“But you still have the ear of the president of the United States. Osin told us that. He says you’re the one person who can speak with Daniels.”

“And say what?”

“We’re here to help.”

She chuckled. “You’re kidding, right? Russian oligarchs. Mobsters. Here to help? What do you plan to do?”

“What you can’t. Eliminate the fanatics within the government. This reverting to Soviet-like behavior must end. There’s talk of suspending arms control agreements, testing NATO airspace with bombers, rearmament, even the retargeting of missiles to again include Europe and the United States. Is that what you want?”