It was an image he found unsettling.
When he had first opened negotiations with the Russians, the German had warned him of the potential dangers, reminding him that, “When you try to ride the tiger, sometimes the tiger eats you.” At the time, Malkovic had dismissed Brandt’s concerns, judging them far too pessimistic. Now, sitting across the table from the grim head of the Thirteenth Directorate, the billionaire began to understand his subordinate’s warnings.
With an effort, Malkovic forced those unwelcome thoughts away. Perhaps his nerves were only playing tricks on him. This was a moment of imminent triumph, the payoff for years of risky, expensive research and intricate planning. This was not a time to fret. He turned his attention back to the large screen set up at the head of the table. Colonel Piotr Kirichenko, Dudarev’s military aide stood there, using a handheld controller to display the different map slides and charts that comprised this Most-Secret briefing.
“The tank, motor rifle, Spetsnaz, and combat aviation units earmarked for Operation ZHUKOV continue to deploy from their peacetime bases to their designated war concentration areas,” Kirichenko said, using the controller to highlight key points along Russia’s borders with Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan. “So far, there are no indications that the United States or its allies have detected the magnitude of these troop transfers. Or that they understand their real significance.”
“The West’s ignorance is thanks largely to HYDRA, the special weapon I have supplied,” Malkovic interjected. Whatever Ivanov’s purpose here today, it was always best to remind these Russians of just how much they owed him.
“By killing so many of their best intelligence analysts, my agents have made it almost impossible for the CIA, MI6, or any of their counterparts to pierce the more conventional veil of secrecy you have drawn over these movements.” He smiled pleasantly. “Naturally, the same holds true for the countries which are your intended victims. Once HYDRA has run its course, too few of their key military commanders and political leaders will remain alive to coordinate any effective opposition to your operations.”
“Yes, it is quite clear that this viral assassination weapon of yours has proved its worth … thus far,” Dudarev agreed coolly.
Ivanov simply shrugged. His broad face showed no real emotion.
The Russian president nodded to Kirichenko. “Continue, Piotr.”
“Sir.” The colonel obeyed. “Once ZHUKOV commences, our long-range aviation regiments will conduct simultaneous strikes against a wide range of targets?command and control facilities, air defense sites, airfields, and enemy troop concentrations.” He touched a button on the controller. Dozens of red stars appeared on the map, identifying targets scattered widely across the former Soviet republics slated for reconquest.
“At the same time, our tanks and motorized infantry units will advance, moving rapidly to secure their designated objectives,” Kirichenko went on enthusiastically. Arrows slashed across the map, driving hundreds of kilometers deep into hostile territory to secure important cities, bridges, road and rail junctions, and vital industrial areas. Whole swathes of the map turned red, indicating their planned occupation and forcible return to Russian control?all of Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, and the entire eastern half of Ukraine.
Malkovic nodded, paying less and less attention as Dudarev’s aide began a detailed appreciation of the precise units involved, their strengths and equipment, and their specific orders. To his way of thinking, these were mere tactical details, important only to the generals and other military men involved.
He was more interested in the bigger picture, in contemplating how this operation would shift the balance of power around the globe.
The ZHUKOV plan made excellent strategic, political, and economic sense. For Russia, it meant securing more defensible borders, reclaiming vast regions rich in natural resources and heavy industry, and bringing tens of millions of ethnic Russians back under the Kremlin’s authority and protection. In the long run, it would mark the beginning of a grand effort to reclaim Russia’s rightful place as one of the world’s great powers, as an imperial nation whose strength would someday again rival that of the United States. In the short term, crushing the most successful of the new democracies surrounding Russia was vital to Dudarev’s own political survival. For now, a majority of Russia’s citizens supported his authoritarian rule, but there were signs of rising discontent?discontent he blamed on the democratic examples set by its onetime subject peoples.
For Malkovic himself, ZHUKOV represented the opportunity to become one of the richest and most powerful men in all of human history. That was a dream he had nurtured from his childhood as a despised, poverty-stricken refugee drifting around Europe. As he grew older and began to realize the extent of his skills?especially his uncanny ability to predict the future movements of financial and commodities markets?the dream had turned into a burning desire, a driving passion above all others.
Now fantastically wealthy, he exercised a substantial measure of influence over several governments in Europe, Africa, and Asia?both through his overall economic clout and through direct bribes to susceptible politicians and bureaucrats. His enormous holdings also allowed him to subtly manipulate the operations of banks, brokerage houses, investment firms, pharmaceutical labs, oil companies, arms manufacturers, and other industries around the world. Through the Brandt Group, he commanded a force of hired killers and spies, enabling him to act clandestinely and violently if necessary against his personal enemies and business rivals. But, of late, he had discovered there were still limits to his power. To his dismay, there were politicians he could not bribe or threaten, corporations he could not buy, and laws and regulations he could not yet overturn or safely ignore.
And so Malkovic had begun scheming to find a way to increase his personal wealth and power at least ten- fold. Long ago, in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, he had secured the services of various Soviet-bloc weapons scientists?Wulf Renke among them. At the time he had only imagined developing a discreet side venture for one of his shell companies, the business of supplying unconventional armaments to the world’s richest rogue states in return for huge sums of thoroughly illegal cash.
But when Renke came to him with the HYDRA breakthrough ?the ultimate precision-guided assassin’s weapon ?the Serbian-born billionaire had seen its potential in a single shattering instant. Control over this undetectable, unstoppable, and incurable weapon would give him the power he had long desired. With it, he could break nations whose leaders opposed him, and reward those who allied themselves with his purposes.
Under Viktor Dudarev, Russia had chosen the path of wisdom.
As payment for use of the HYDRA weapon to soften up their enemies in the West and the former Soviet republics, Dudarev and his allies in the Kremlin had signed solemn and secret agreements with Malkovic, sealing a bargain that benefited both sides. By crippling the West’s intelligence services, HYDRA was making it possible for Russia to plan, organize, and conduct its military campaign without interference from America and its allies. Once the shooting started, the Europeans and Americans were sure to protest fiercely, but if they were caught by surprise it was extremely unlikely that they would risk a wider war by intervening. Presented with the hard fact of Russian troops on the ground and firmly in control, the Americans would blink, reluctantly accepting reality.
In turn, when Russia’s conquests were complete, the billionaire would own the lion’s share of the captured oil, natural gas, mining, armaments, and other industries. Within a short time, the profits from these new holdings would make him the richest man in the world, far eclipsing any possible rival.
Malkovic gloried in that approaching prospect. Fools argued that wealth was the root of all evil. Wise men knew better: Money was only a lever, a tool that could be used to remake the world as one saw fit.
“When will you attack?” he heard Brandt ask.
Kirichenko looked at Dudarev, received a brief nod, and answered the question. “ZHUKOV will commence in less than five days,” he replied. “The first Spetsnaz raids and air strikes will begin a few minutes after midnight on February 24. Our tanks and other troops will cross the frontier shortly after that.”
“Without prior provocation?” Brandt said cynically. “Forgive me, Colonel, but that seems somewhat… unsubtle.”
Ivanov leaned forward in his seat with a thin, humorless smile. “There will be ample provocation, Herr Brandt.” His eyes were cold. “For example, in Ukraine, special intelligence strongly suggests there may soon be a regrettable terrorist incident, one that will kill a great many innocent ethnic Russians.”
Brandt nodded coolly. “I see. That is certainly convenient. And naturallv this terrorist attack would demand an immediate military response by your forces.”
“Naturally,” Ivanov agreed laconically. “If the Kiev government cannot protect our people from its own Ukrainian ultra-nationalists, then we must do it for them.”
Listening, Malkovic snorted. He turned to Dudarev. “And what excuse will you find to intervene in Georgia and the other countries?”
