“Some livestock will have to be destroyed. Entire towns and villages evacuated, and it is feared many more will die. Did you know the resources of hospitals are already strained?”
“Yes, sir. I visited Hospital Number Six this morning.”
“What prompted your visit?”
“After my interview with Mrs. Horvath near Hospital Number Six, I felt I should see some of the injured firsthand in order to acquaint myself with the extent of the emergency. I saw firemen who had been brought in. They had no hair and…”
Komarov saw Dumenko raise his eyebrows and touch the top of his shiny head.
“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to imply any connection with your
…”
“Never mind, Major. Mine was not burned off by radiation.
What else about these firemen?”
“Some had peeling skin and were inside plastic tents. The doctors said radiation destroys bone marrow. As a result, white blood cells cannot be produced and the firemen’s lives can be threatened by any infection.”
Dumenko stood from his desk and paced back and forth beneath the portrait of Lenin hung above the other portraits. “Tell me, Major, what should be done about all this?”
“We must find the cause of the disaster. If we find the cause, everyone will rest easier and life can go on.”
“I was looking for something more specific, Major. Most experts assume it was an accident. The general secretary wants the KGB to forward all information about Chernobyl to his office. Having told you this, what shall we do about your investigation of these Hungarians?”
“My men are gathering and forwarding all Chernobyl information as ordered, sir. However, on the chance it was not an accident, I believe I should pursue the possibility of sabotage. Mihaly Horvath’s lover has already contacted Detective Horvath, and I have my best men watching them. She worked at Chernobyl’s Department of Industrial Safety and had access to significant information. Some time ago, if you recall, a colleague named Aleksandra Yasinsky was detained. I have a feeling Detective Horvath and Juli Popovics continue to be in contact with Western intelligence.”
“Who is their contact?”
“The Horvath family cousin from America named Andrew Zukor. He visited the Horvath brothers last summer, if you recall my report.”
“I recall,” said Dumenko, turning to look up at Lenin’s portrait.
“I believe our agency has given him the code name Gypsy Moth.”
Dumenko turned back to Komarov. “Am I correct?”
“Your memory is impressive, sir. I’ve been concerned for some time about the Horvaths and this Gypsy Moth. At first, I thought the name Gypsy applied to Horvath because our research has shown his father was of Gypsy origin. A fact the family kept quiet during the war years for obvious reasons. But the name actually came later.
Detective Horvath has a history in the army of having served near the Soviet frontier and was involved in the death of a fellow soldier.
The fellow soldier killed by Horvath was nicknamed Gypsy, and Horvath’s comrades, in typical gallows humor, gave him the name.
But back to the cousin, Andrew Zukor, the American Gypsy Moth.
He provides the connection to Western intelligence. And with this established connection to the United States, there exists the possibility of sabotage, leading to destabilization, leading to…”
“Go on, Major.”
“A coup d’etat.”
“You’re saying a detective in the Kiev militia and a Chernobyl worker planned this so-called accident as a first step in a coup d’etat?”
“Not alone, Comrade Deputy Chairman. I’m simply indicating a portion of the puzzle available to me. There are many pieces of evidence. Not only Juli Popovics and her lover at Chernobyl, but also the fact Detective Horvath has leaned to the West and is friends with anti-Soviets, literary review editors, and the like.”
Dumenko rubbed his bald head. “Since you speak of puzzles, Major, what do you think Detective Horvath and Juli Popovics will do next? If they try to escape capture, we can’t be expected to guard the entire frontier at a time like this.”
“I’ve arranged to have Mihaly Horvath’s wife and children sent to Kisbor, near the Czech border, where the rest of the Horvath family lives. I will assign men to the area on the chance Detective Horvath goes there.”
“Is Juli Popovics from the area?”
“No. Her mother lives in Moscow, but I don’t think she’ll come here. Her mother doesn’t know she’s pregnant.”
“I suppose you would like to assign more men to the case.”
“Yes, Comrade Deputy Chairman.”
Dumenko smiled. “Because you’ve had a fine record in the KGB, especially during your time in East Berlin, I must take these matters seriously. Perhaps we in Moscow have been too busy with Afghanistan to watch under our own noses. Perhaps we’ve been overburdened with the possibility of change at high levels… talk of the union’s future and individuals looking out for themselves.
Officials at the highest level will suffer because of Chernobyl. A chairman I cannot name suggested the event might be a test to determine how nuclear war would affect government. Events like this bring out the rats below the Kremlin.”
Dumenko sat back at his desk, opened a drawer, took out an envelope, and handed it to Komarov. “Very well, Major. I authorize you to use the resources necessary to investigate this situation to its swift conclusion. In order to help, I’m assigning another man to your office. Captain Brovko’s orders are in the envelope. He was previously assigned to East Berlin. My reason for his assignment is because he’s had training in nuclear engineering. If this case continues, his technical expertise will be useful. I’m told he’s also good at interrogation.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Major, you realize, of course, if there has been a conspiracy to commit sabotage, the national and international implications will be extensive.”
“I know,” said Komarov.
“By the way, Major. Did you and your wife and son receive iodine, should the radiation reach Kiev?”
“We have.”
Dumenko shook his head sadly. “It’s a terrible situation. I’m told Black Sea campgrounds, hotels, and sanitoriums are filling up. An old comrade of mine, Colonel Zamyatin from the Ukrainian border force, has come out of retirement to take charge of the evacuation.”
“Zamyatin is a hero, sir.”
Dumenko smiled and rubbed his hands together. “Enough tragedy, Major. Will you stay for tomorrow’s May Day celebration?”
“It would be an honor, Comrade Deputy Chairman.”
“You can join me in the reviewing stand. Gorbachev will be above and to our left. Tomorrow night you’ll join my wife and myself for dinner. Was there anything else you wanted to attend to in Moscow besides the obligatory visit to Lenin’s Tomb?”
“I’d like to go to an opera. When I was a boy living outside Moscow, my father used to take me to the opera.”
Dumenko came around the desk and clapped Komarov on the shoulder. “Stay for a visit to the Bolshoi. And when you go back to Kiev, Captain Brovko will be waiting for you.”
Komarov thanked Dumenko and left the building.
Rather than taking a taxi, he decided to walk from Lubyanka Square to Lenin’s Tomb. It wasn’t far, and if it rained, he’d seek shelter at the Bolshoi or the Central Lenin Museum.
While he walked, Komarov thought back to his visit to the Lubyanka years earlier. The streets in Moscow formed a bull’s-eye, and he had been in the center of it once before. If only things had gone differently back then. If only he had been assigned to operations in the United States in his younger days. How different was it now? Was the fellow who took the job he could have gotten from Kryuchkov involved in escalating the Iran-Contra problems of
