speakerphone.
'I'm sure the foliage is still covering it up,' Viens said. 'What I've got is a plane whose heat signature we've been following for DEA. It went from Colombia to Mexico City to Honolulu, then on to Japan and Vladivostok.'
'The drug cartels are dealing in Russia,' Herbert said. 'That isn't news.'
'No,' said Viens, 'but when it landed in Vladivostok, we had a satellite in position to eyeball it. This is the first time I've ever seen a plane being unloaded by spetsnaz troops.'
Herbert sat up straight. 'How many?'
'Less than a dozen, all in camouflage whites,' Viens said. 'What's more, the crates were quickly loaded onto trucks from the Pacific Fleet. We may be looking at multi-service drug dealing.'
Herbert thought back to the meeting between Shovich, General Kosigan, and Minister Dogin. 'It could be more than just the military consortin' with gangsters,' he said. 'Are the trucks still there?'
'Yes,' said Viens. 'They're off-loading crates by the dozens. One truck is almost completely full.'
'Do the crates look like they're evenly balanced?'
'Perfectly,' said Viens. 'They're oblong. But both ends seem equally heavy.'
'Give a listen with the AIM,' Herbert said. 'Let me know if there's anything rattling around in there.'
'Will do,' Viens said.
'And Steve, let me know where the trucks go,' Herbert said, signing off and buzzing Mike Rodgers.
Rodgers was out of his office and stopped by when he got the page.
When Herbert was finished briefing him, Rodgers said, 'So the Russians are openly consorting with the drug lords. Well, they have to get hard currency from somewhere. I'm just wondering—'
'Excuse me,' Herbert said as his phone beeped. He punched the speaker button set in his wheelchair armrest. 'Yes?'
'Bob, it's Darrell. The FBI lost their guy in Tokyo.'
'What happened?'
'Gunned down by the crew of the Gulfstream,' McCaskey said grimly. 'The Japanese lost their Self-Defense Force guy in the cross fire.'
'Darrell, it's Mike,' said Rodgers. 'Anyone hurt on the plane?'
'Not that we can tell, though the ground crew didn't say much. They're scared.'
'Or bribed,' Herbert said. 'Sorry about this, Dar. Did he have any family?'
'A father,' McCaskey said. 'I'll see if there's anything we can do for him.'
'Right,' said Herbert.
'I guess that cements the link between the plane and the Russian drug dealers,' said McCaskey. 'Even the Colombians aren't insane enough to have a firefight at an international airport.'
'No,' Herbert said. 'They shoot the guys who are supposed to try the cases. They all stink deeply, and I'd love to turn Striker loose on the lot of them.'
Herbert hung up and took a second to collect himself. These things always made the Intelligence Officer queasy, the more so when there was any kind of family involved.
He looked at Rodgers. 'What was it that you were wondering a minute ago, General?'
Rodgers was more somber than before. 'If this connects with what Matt found out. Our boy genius just conferenced with Paul and me,' Rodgers said. 'He hacked the Kremlin payroll through the bank in Riyadh that holds about ten billion dollars in IOUs. He found out they've been employing some very expensive executives at the new TV studio in the Hermitage and in the Ministry of the Interior— people with no prior records anywhere.'
'Meaning that someone may have created names and identities for payroll purposes,' Herbert said, 'to pay people who are working secretly in St. Petersburg.'
'Correct,' Rodgers said, 'as well as to buy a lot of hi-tech stuff from Japan, Germany, and the U.S. — components which were sent to the Ministry of the Interior. It's beginning to smell a lot like Dogin put together a very sophisticated intelligence operation up there. Maybe Orlov is there to help with any orbital hardware they're using.'
Herbert tapped his forehead. 'So assuming Dogin is the bossman, and is tight with the Russian mafia, there's a good chance he's planning a coup. He doesn't need arms. Kosigan has those.'
'No,' said Rodgers. 'It's what I was telling Paul earlier. What he needs is money to buy politicians, journalists, and support from abroad. And that money might very well come from Shovich in exchange for future considerations.'
'Could be,' Herbert agreed. 'Or Dogin may be planning to raise money by selling drugs provided by Shovich. He wouldn't be the first world leader to do that. Just the biggest. He could have the crap carried around the world in diplomatic pouches by officials sympathetic to his cause.'
'Makes sense,' Rodgers said. 'The diplomats take out drugs, come back with hard currency.'
'So those crates up in Vladivostok are probably a part of all this,' Herbert said. 'Either drugs, money, or both.'
'You know what's a real kick in the head?' Rodgers said. 'Even if Zhanin found out about all this, he couldn't do a damn thing. If he acted, one of two things would happen.
'One,' Rodgers said, 'he defeats Dogin, but his subsequent purge is so far-reaching and debilitating that it scares off the foreign investors he needs to rebuild the country. Result: Russia ends up in worse shape than it is.
'Two,' Rodgers continued, 'Zhanin forces his enemies to attack before they're ready, causing a long and bloody revolt with nuclear weapons in God knows whose hands. Our main concern has got to be what it was in Panama under Noriega or Iran under the Shah. Stability, not legality.'
'Good point,' Herbert said. 'So what do you think the President will do?'
'Just what he did last night,' Rodgers said. 'Nothing. He can't inform Zhanin for fear of leaks. And he can't offer any military help. We bargained that option away. In any case, there's a danger in any kind of preemptive strike. You don't want to force Dogin and his cronies underground, where they would still be a tremendous threat.'
'And how will the President explain to NATO that he's doing nothing?' Herbert said. 'They're a bunch of chickenhearts, but they'll want to rattle their sabers.'
'He may rattle along with them,' Rodgers said, 'or, if I know Lawrence, he may cloak himself in neo- isolationism and tell NATO to take a swim. That'll play well with the mood of the American public. Especially in the wake of the tunnel bombing.'
As Herbert sat there, tapping his leather armrest, the desk phone beeped. He glanced at the ID number on the base. It was the NRO. He put it on speaker so Rodgers could hear.
'Bob,' said Stephen Viens, 'we haven't got your AIM reading yet, but we watched the first truck as it left the airport. It went straight to the railroad station in Vladivostok.
'What's the weather like at the site?' Herbert asked.
'Awful,' said Viens, 'which is probably why they did it. Real heavy snows. It's storming all over the region, in fact, and it's supposed to stay that way for at least forty-eight hours.'
'So Dogin or Kosigan decided to transfer the goods from a grounded airplane to the railroad,' Herbert said. 'Can you see anything at the station?'
'No,' Viens said. 'The train is inside the terminal. But we have the scheduled departures and we'll watch any one that leaves when it isn't supposed to.'
'Thanks,' Herbert said. 'Keep me up-to-date.'
When Viens clicked off, the Intelligence Officer contemplated the cargo being placed in an ITS target— identifiable, trackable, strikable.
'And important,' he said under his breath.
'What was that?' Rodgers asked.
'I said, obviously the cargo is important,' Herbert said. 'Otherwise, they'd have sat out the storm.'
'I agree,' Rodgers said. 'And not only is it vitally important, it's also out there in the open.'
It took a moment before Herbert really heard what Rodgers had said. He frowned. 'No, Mike, it's not out in the open. It's heading deep into Russia, thousands of miles from any friendly border. This is not a short hop and you're back in Finland.'
'You're right,' said Rodgers. 'But it's also the quickest way to hamstring Dogin. No bucks, no buckshot.'
