We've gotten through many of their secure lines.'
'We've gotten through most of them,' Grosky pointed out.
'They try to keep you out by altering the signal from second to second,' Korsov said.
'The shifts are all within just a few megahertz in the superhigh frequency. We've learned how to ride most of the shifts.'
'The difficult part is decoding the messages, which are scrambled electronically,' Grosky added.
'The American agencies use very complex codes. Our computers aren't always up to the task of decrypting the calls.'
'Do the same callers usually use the same signals, the same patterns?' Orlov asked Korsov.
'Usually,' Korsov told him.
'Otherwise, there would be audio crossover. Callers would keep bumping into one another.'
'Do we keep records of the calls?' Orlov asked.
'The conversations?' Grosky asked.
'Yes. We keep working on them, trying to decode--'
'I mean the signals,' Orlov interrupted.
'Absolutely,' said Grosky.
'We send them up to the Laika so it can keep a lookout for those signals.' The Laika was the Russian Op- Center's sentry satellite. Named for the pioneering Soviet space dog, the Laika was in a high geostationary orbit over Washington, D.C. It could intercept signals from the United States, all of Europe, and parts of Asia.
'So, if the Harpooner spoke with an intelligence unit in Washington, we might have picked up the signal if not the content,' Orlov said.
'That's right,' said Kosov.
'Very good,' said Orlov.
'Go to the computer records for the past two weeks. Look up communiques between Azerbaijan and the National Security Agency in Washington Get me all the information you have.'
'Even if we haven't decrypted them,' said Kosov.
'Yes,' Orlov replied.
'I want to know exactly where the Harpooner or his people might have been calling from.'
'When you know that, what will you do?' Grosky asked.
'I'll call the American Op-Center and ask them to go through any satellite imaging they have for the region,' Orlov said.
'The Harpooner had to move explosives and personnel into position. If we can pinpoint his location, there may be a photographic record of it--'
'And clues to where he might be,' Grosky said. Orlov nodded.
'We'll have that information for you as soon as possible,' Kosov said eagerly.
'It would be a coup if we could catch that monster.'
'It would be,' Orlov agreed. The men left. Orlov put in a call to Paul Hood to bring him up to date. Catching the Harpooner would be a highlight of his career. But more than that, he wondered if this close cooperation between Op-Centers could become increasingly routine. If the trust and sharing could lead to less suspicion and greater international security. That would be the real coup.
Washington, D.C. Tuesday, 12:30 a.m.
'Paul, I'm glad I found you,' Megan Lawrence said.
'I think you should come here. There's something going on.' The First Lady's voice was steady when she got on the line, but Hood knew her well enough to know that it was Megan's 'I have to be strong' voice. He had heard that voice during the campaign when there were hard questions from the press about an abortion she had had before she met the president. As she had years before, Megan was pulling this strength from deep inside. She would crash only when it was safe to do so.
'Talk to me,' Hood said. He was drawing on his own emotional and psychological reserves to deal with the First Lady's problem. The call from Sharon had shaken him.
'We were just getting into bed when Michael received a call from Jack Fenwick,' Megan said.
'Whatever Fenwick said rattled my husband very much. His voice was calm while they talked and then afterward, but I watched this look come over him.'
'What kind of look?' Hood asked.
'It's difficult to describe,' she said.
'Was it guarded, startled, doubtful?' Hood asked.
'All of that,' Megan replied. Hood understood. That was what he saw in the Oval Office.
'Where is the president now?' he asked.
'He went down to meet with Fenwick, the vice president, and Red Gable,' Megan said.
