‘Thanks for coming, Jack.’
‘Just following orders. After the folks at Langley gave the Secretary of Defense the situation report, he agreed it would be best if we dealt with these Spetsnaz mercenaries.’
Dawson and Kilkenny first met back when the admiral was still a captain, then in charge of the SEALs training facility in Coronado, California, and Kilkenny was a BUD/S trainee. A few months after Kilkenny was assigned to SEAL Team Four in Little Creek, Virginia, Dawson assumed command of the team. The respect and loyalty the two men had for each other led them to become close friends.
‘The stars look good on you,’ Kilkenny said, commenting on Dawson’s recent promotion to flag rank and his new assignment as commander of Navy Special Warfare Group Two.
‘The upgrade has some benefits, but it’s added another layer of bureaucracy between me and my men. At least I’m in a position to do some good for ’em.’
‘The maps and intel are waiting for you back at my place, along with a CIA guy named Cal Mosley. He’s coordinating things on this end. My dad will lead you back there,’ Nolan said, pointing to his father’s truck.
The nine men who followed Dawson off the jet formed a human chain that ran from the plane’s cargo hold into Sean Kilkenny’s Explorer and a pair of rented Ford Expeditions that were parked beside the hangar. They quickly off-loaded the duffels containing their gear and stowed them in the SUVs for the next leg of their journey. Master Chief Max Gates, a balding, barrel-chested NCO with forearms that would make Popeye proud, led the obscene cadence that accompanied their labor. Gates had been Kilkenny’s right hand during his tour with the SEALs.
Kilkenny recognized most of the men. In his past life, he and Gates had led Gilgallon, Hepburn, Darvas, Rodriguez, and Detmer on missions around the world, and each was like a brother to him. Edwards, the young lieutenant who’d replaced him, Kilkenny knew only by reputation. The two remaining men, Ahsan and Gorski, had worked with Kilkenny’s squad on several occasions – they were the sniper team.
After the squad stowed their gear, the lieutenant led them over to Dawson and Kilkenny.
‘Squad One is ready to move out, sir,’ the young man said with a crisp salute.
‘Well done, Lieutenant,’ Dawson replied as he returned the salute. ‘At ease, men.’
The SEALs relaxed, broke ranks, and encircled Kilkenny and Dawson.
‘Lieutenant Jeremy Edwards,’ Dawson said, ‘I’d like to introduce your predecessor, Nolan Kilkenny.’
‘A pleasure to meet you, sir. Chief Gates and the men speak highly of you.’
‘They’re a good crew,’ Kilkenny replied as he shook Edwards’s hand. ‘You’re a ring-knocker, I see. I’m an Annapolis grad, too. Good luck, Lieutenant.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Men,’ Dawson boomed out so all could hear, ‘a little background on this op. One of the hostages we’re going after is a very close personal friend of Kilkenny’s. Now he may no longer be in uniform, but he’s still one of us. That makes this personal.’
‘Hoo-yah!’ the squad shouted back.
‘Nolan,’ Gates said in a thick Oklahoma drawl, ‘you have my word, we’ll get Kelsey back for you.’
Kilkenny grasped Gates’s hand firmly. ‘I know you will, Max. I know you will.’
‘All right, everybody!’ Dawson shouted, excited at the opportunity to operate at the squad level. ‘Let’s move out.’
Dawson rode with Sean Kilkenny in the Explorer. Behind them, Edwards and Gates piloted the Expeditions. Kilkenny watched as the small convoy rolled onto State Street.
As they disappeared from view, Cooper walked over from his rented Taurus.
‘Bet you wish you were going with them.’
‘You’d win that bet,’ Kilkenny admitted. ‘But this is the way it has to be. Hell, I’ve been off the team for almost two years. That’s an eternity in terms of training. If I went along, I’d just be baggage. The lead belongs to Edwards now, and my old NCO tells me he’s good at it. They’ll get the job done, and that’s exactly what Kelsey and Elli need right now, not me riding in with guns blazing, playing the hero.’
‘Well, we’ve got our own job ahead of us,’ Cooper said, ‘and it’s time for us to catch our flight to Moscow.’
54
Northwest Flight 0030
Shortly after the flight lifted off from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Kilkenny fell into a deep and much-needed sleep. Seated beside him in business class, Cooper made a series of phone calls, then nursed a Bloody Mary.
The clatter of the beverage cart awoke Kilkenny. He yawned, checked his watch, and looked out the oval window. The sky was clear and dark; the Atlantic spread out calmly beneath them, shimmering under the light of a gibbous moon.
‘How are you feeling?’ Cooper asked as he traded his empty glass for a full one.
‘Like I could use another day in the sack. How about you?’
‘I’ll sleep on the flight back.’
‘Would you like something to drink?’ the flight attendant asked.
‘An orange juice,’ Kilkenny replied, his mouth thick, as if it were packed with wet cotton.
After Kilkenny received his drink and a couple of packages of peanuts, the flight attendant moved on.
‘Bart, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.’
‘Go ahead.’
‘You mentioned that after Wolff’s body was found, you ran a background check on him. Why?’
‘Professional curiosity, mainly. Wolff worked for the Germans during the Second World War. After the war he wanted to emigrate to the States. I was with the OSS back then – I’m the guy who checked Wolff out and certified he wasn’t a Nazi. When the story about his body being found hit the papers, the computers at Langley picked it up and matched it with the report I wrote back in ’forty-six and sent me a notice. Wolff’s murder looked enough like an execution for me to wonder if I’d missed something when I vetted him, so I took another look.’
‘Did you find anything?’
Cooper stared down at the ice in his glass.
‘Yeah, I found out he was an okay guy.’
‘When Cal found out you were both looking into Wolff’s background, why didn’t you just turn over what you’d found? He had an active investigation, and no offense intended, you’re a few years past field-duty age.’
‘That’s a polite way of putting it, and you’re right, I have a quasi-retired status with the Agency. I hung on because I thought I could give Cal a hand. I know a few well-connected people in Russia, and that’s where his investigation seemed to be pointing. I thought I might be of some use.’
Kilkenny nodded, taking in what Cooper had said.
‘Bart, I don’t mean to sound like I’m suspicious of your motives, because my gut and Cal Mosley both say I can trust you. So, given that you’re on my side, all the reasons you cited still don’t add up to why you personally are doing this. You’re over seventy years old; you’ve done your bit for flag and country. It just seems to me that you have a deepseated passion for this case, something that’s stronger than I would expect, given that you first heard about any of this just two days ago.’
Cooper remained still for a moment, not responding to Kilkenny, just staring blankly ahead at the projection screen.
‘At my age, there’s this inner need to know that you’ve done some good with your life. If you have, then you’re content. If you haven’t, you try and make up for it somehow. After the war there was a lot of intel work to do. There were war criminals to track down, evidence to collect. In the OSS, we were concerned with scientific information. We wanted to find everything the Reich had been working on – rockets, jet propulsion, atomic energy – before the Soviets did. We probably got a sixty-forty split with regard to people, records, and equipment. Some of the scientists we recovered were, without a doubt, Nazis. A few should have been tried as war criminals for the
