“We’re on schedule”
“Of course” Grechko said. “We’ll round Cape Andreas after dark.
Everything is going as you wished, Comrade Colonel” Kurshin heard a hesitancy in the man’s voice. “Yes, what is it”
“It’s your submarine drivers. Makayev and the others have been huddled together since before noon. I don’t like the smell of it”
“I’ll take care of it” Kurshin said. He had been expecting trouble from Makayev.
“I’m coming down, we’ll talk about it Grechko started to say, but Kurshin cut him off. “No. I’ll be topside in a minute. I want to check the missile. When I’m finished we’ll have our little chat”
“As you wish”
“Yes” Kurshin replied, and he hung up. He stood beside the desk for a moment or two deciding on his options, and on the timing of his moves.
Grechko was an ambitious man; he would go along with whatever happened.
Makayev, however, was the weak link. Without his cooperation his missile man, Lieutenant Chobotov, would refuse to do what was necessary to ready the missile for launch.
Now was the time to resolve that issue and get ready for his ultimate solution. He strapped on his shoulder holster and checked to make certain that his Graz Buyra was ready to fire, then went across the cabin to where he had stuffed his emersion suit in a locker. Pulling it out, he unzippered one of the leg pockets and withdrew the slender cylinder of Labun nerve gas, with its timing device attached to the release valve. Two had been used aboard the Zenzero, and four aboard the Indianapolis. Neither Russian crew had bothered to count. It was their mistake. Handling the deadly cylinder with extreme care, Kurshin removed the safety seal from the valve, checked his watch again and set the timer for eight hours. Pulling the four life jackets from a locker over the door, he gingerly put the cylinder inside and replaced the life jackets. Before he left the cabin he looked around. At a few minutes after eleven this evening, this place would become a killing chamber. He nodded in silent satisfaction, and a smile crossed his features as he stepped out into the corridor and went topside. On the foredeck, Kurshin ducked beneath the false crates into the space where the Tomahawk lay cradled in its launch ramp. Electric motors tied now to the ship’s power system would raise the ramp to an elevation of twenty degrees, plenty to assure a good launch. Everything was in readiness except for the setting of the timing and firing circuitry, which only Lieutenant Chobotov was capable of doing. Back out on deck, he looked toward the south where the mountains of the big island of Cyprus rose up in the hazefilled distance. So close now, he thought. And when it was finished he would not only have Baranov’s gratitude, he would have the man’s patronage …
with that, anything was possible. Absolutely anything. Grechko was alone on the bridge when Kurshin went up. The ship was being steered by an autohelm unit, her course and position determined by satellite navigation equipment. “Are they still below” Kurshin asked, closing the door.
Grechko nodded. “Rimyans is watching them” Rimyans was one of the divers. “Are your people armed” Again Grechko nodded. “Are you expecting trouble over this thing”
“Very probably”
“I thought so. What do we do”
“Get your people up on deck. As soon as they’re in place I’m going to call Makayev and his crew up to get the missile ready for firing”
“Do you think they’ll cooperate” Kurshin gave him a hard stare.
“They’re navy, we’re KGB. They’ll cooperate” Grechko’s eyes narrowed.
“But I think we’ll need that lieutenant to launch the missile”
“Only to set up the firing circuitry” Kurshin replied. “Afterward he will be expendable. They all will be. Do I make myself clear, Ivan Akhminovich”
“Perfectly” Grechko said softly, and he picked up the phone to call his crew. Kurshin stepped to the forward windows and looked down at the crates strapped to the foredeck. The Stephos was an innocent ship on a mission of mercy. No one could tell otherwise without coming aboard. He raised his eyes to the sky. In the distance to the east he could see the contrail of a jet aircraft flying very high. Possibly an airliner, he thought. Possibly the Israeli Air Force. Possibly almost any kind of a jet. But not a spy plane. Those you never saw. He had given a lot of thought to McGarvey over the past days. But now, for some reason, he was getting an uncomfortable feeling that somehow the man was watching him.
Impossible, and yet the notion was there, at the back of his head. It was because of Ramstein, he supposed, that he was becoming jumpy. But McGarvey had managed the impossible then. How about now? He was a devil.
“Give them two minutes” Grechko said. Kurshin turned back to him. “Do they understand what is required of them”
“yes, Comrade Colonel. As a matter of fact I had already discussed this very possibility with them. They know what to do”
“Good.
Grechko crossed the room, opened the door, and stepped out onto the bridge deck. A minute later he waved. “They are in place now”
Kurshin picked up the telephone and hit the button for Makayev’s cabin.
It was answered on the first ring by the captain.
“Yes”
“Send Lieutenant Chobotov topside. I want him to ready the missile”
“So soon”
“Yes, now. The line was silent for a moment, but then Makayev was back.
“Yes, Comrade Colonel, we’ll be right up” Kurshin hung up the phone.
There was no mistaking Makayev’s tone, nor his use of the word-we’ll. It was to be a showdown, and now. Again Kurshin grinned in anticipation.
“They’re on the way up” he said out on the bridge deck. “All of them”
Grechko asked. “It would appear so. You cover us from here. But no matter what happens, Lieutenant Chobotov isn’t to be harmed”
“I understand” Kurshin reached the main deck just as Makayev and his crew showed up from below. They all carried sidearms. Grechko’s men had hidden themselves, which was just as well because Makayev’s people drew their weapons and spread out. “We’re taking over this ship” Makayev said. “And then what, Niki” Kurshin asked calmly. “We’re going to dump the missile, and then sail into Limassol on the south side of Cyprus where we’ll turn ourselves over to the authorities. “Why”
“What we have done is an act of war, Colonel. We have decided that we will not compound this insanity by firing a nuclear weapon on any target … military or civilian”
“Have you lost your nerve then” Kurshin asked, still grinning. Makayev ignored the question. He looked up at Grechko standing on the bridge deck. “Where is your crew” Grechko smiled. “Shall I call them”
“Yes. I I “Very well” Grechko said, and at that moment the other four KGB officers, all of them armed with AK74 assault rifles, appeared on deck Makayev’s men stepped back in surprise and shock. “Put your weapons down now” Kurshin ordered. Makayev was shaken, but he was a good man and he held his ground, his weapon pointed at Kurshin’s chest.
“I will kill you”
“And then you will die” Kurshin said. “And I think, Niki, that perhaps you love your life more than I do mine”
Still Makayev hesitated. “If you cooperate now, you have my word that nothing will be said about this incident. Everything will be as before”
After several long seconds, Makayev finally uncocked the hammer of his automatic and stuffed the weapon in his holster. “Do as he says” he told his crew. One by one they holstered their weapons. “A wise decision, Niki” Kurshin said. Makayev looked at the KGB crew who still held their weapons at the ready. “Tell them to put down their guns”
“First I would like Lieutenant Chobotov to ready the missile. I need your fullest cooperation”
” All right” Makayev said heavily. “Do it, Aleksei Sergeevich”
Chobotov hesitated for a beat, but then broke away from the others and went with Kurshin around to the
