the cotton packing, examined the wick and the wheel, then put the thing back together. Finally he shoved the pile across the table for Ilin to pick up. He didn’t say anything, just sat there staring at Ilin as he pocketed his items and adjusted his tie. The marshal took a bit more time getting dressed. When he came out of his cubicle, the officer in there followed along and watched him pocket his personal items and put his watch back on his wrist. None of the security officers said a word. When the marshal was dressed, he picked up his attache case and looked at Ilin. “This way,” one of the guards said. They had a long hike — across several courtyards and up two flights of stairs, then down several long, long hallways filled with paintings of long-forgotten eighteenth- and nineteenth-century noblemen. Finally, they entered Kalugin’s reception area. Two plainclothesmen frisked them again while a male secretary watched. Only then were they shown into Kalugin’s office. One of the security men closed the door behind them and stood inside, his back against the door. Aleksandr Kalugin raised his gaze from the paperwork lying on his desk. “Ah, Marshal Stolypin. Janos Ilin. I have been waiting for you.”
The first Russian tanker rendezvous went off like clockwork, which shocked Chernov a little. One by one, the Migs queued up on the tanker and got a full load of fuel, then made room for the Sukhois. Even though the Mig pilots hadn’t flown two flights in the previous six months, they hung in proper position as if they practiced every day. There were three tankers: one for the Tokyo strike, one for the Tateyama strike ten minutes behind, and one spare. The Tateyama strike team showed up as the Tokyo strike team departed the rendezvous racetrack on course. The strike teams were passing a hundred miles north of the American base at Chita. From here to the next rendezvous, they were within range of the Zeros at Khabarovsk. Chernov turned up the sensitivity of his ECM. When they had walked out to their planes two hours before, one of the pilots asked another, “How is it going to feel to bomb Tokyo?”
Chernov overheard the question, but he didn’t hear the reply. The real question, Chernov mused now, was how each of them was going to live with the knowledge that he had helped slaughter millions of people. Ten million? Twenty? Thirty?
Thirty million human beings was certainly within the realm of possibility, he decided. Perhaps more. What in hell were those fools in Moscow thinking?
Was Siberia worth that much blood?
He shook his head wearily. He was a soldier. It was shameful to think these thought, treasonous thoughts. He adjusted his oxygen mask and checked his engine instruments and the fuel remaining and the position of his wingman, Malokov, or something like that. Chernov had never flown with him before. He was a new man, from a squadron near Moscow. The whisper was that the idiot had volunteered for this mission. Maybe he wanted a medal, a promotion, recognition, his picture in the newspapers as a hero of the Russian Republic. Or was he filled with hatred for the treacherous archenemy, Japan? One of the civilians from Moscow had addressed the pilots, and that is the way he’d referred to the Japanese. Chernov craned his head and searched the high sky until he had located all three of the Mig-25’s, lying out there like fish in an invisible sea. Sharks. His mother — what would she have said about all this?
Maybe Malokov felt like Chernov. Maybe he was just tired of living and wanted to die.
“Come in, gentlemen, come in.” Aleksandr Kalugin gestured toward the seats in front of the desk. He picked up a sheet of paper. “What is this, Marshal? A resignation?”
“Mr. President, I think it is time for someone else to serve as chief of staff.”
Kalugin sat back in his chair, hitched up his trousers. “Stolypin, you have served your country well. You are building us an army, one we need. There is a war on. You cannot be spared.” He said all of this as the guard watched from his post at the door. The man stood with his arms folded across his chest. “I disagree completely with your decision to escalate this conflict. The Japanese may have nuclear weapons and they might use them on Russia. That is a risk we cannot take.”
“Your objections have been noted. Yet I decide what risks we shall run. I am the man responsible.”
“This is no small matter, Mr. President. I feel that I must resign. You need soldiers who, even if they disagree, can support your government’s policies. I can’t.”
“Marshal Stolypin, the Japanese do not have nuclear weapons. I do not know who whispered this false information to you”—he held up his hand—“and it is no matter. Nuclear weapons are my concern.”
“Sir, I disagree most vehemently.”
“Your resignation letter says you have been in the army since you were seventeen years old. Fifty-four years.”
Stolypin nodded. “Everyone in uniform obeys the orders of their superiors, including the chief of staff. You know that. I don’t care about your support. You have expressed your opinion, I have decided the issue, and now you will obey and soldier on. You will serve on until I release you from your obligation.”
Kalugin seized a pen and wrote across the letter, “Denied. Kalugin.”
Then he passed it across to the marshal. “National policy is mine,” Kalugin said, his face devoid of expression. “We cannot wait six months to fight the Japanese on even terms. Nor can we give up a piece of our country. The Japanese must be violently expelled. They must shed their blood. Nowst “The Russian people are united as they haven’t been since World War Two. This is our opportunity to weld these desperate, hopeless people into a nation. If we fail to seize this opportunity, we may never get another. One powerful, united nation, with the dissenters silenced at last — we owe this duty to Mother Russia.”
Kalugin sneered. “On the telephone minutes ago, the American president threatened an economic and political boycott, “total political isolation,” he said, if Russia uses nuclear weapons on the Japanese aggressors.” Kalugin shook his head balefully. “The man doesn’t understand that the very life of Russia is at stake. This is our moment.”
Stolypin took a deep breath, then exhaled. He glanced at Ilin, who had been paying strict attention to Kalugin. Ilin half-turned to see what the door guard thought of all this. The man was still standing with his arms crossed. His eyes met Ilin’s. Stolypin muttered something inaudible. He drew a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped at his hands and face. “What did you say?” Kalugin asked. “I think you are wrong, Mr. President,” Stolypin said flatly. “However, I took an oath many years ago. I will obey.”
Kalugin decided to be satisfied with that. His gaze shifted to Ilin. “Why are you here?”
“Mr. President, I came with Marshal Stolypin,” Janos Ilin said, “to share some critical intelligence with you. As you know, the Americans are aware of your plans to use nuclear weapons. The Japanese also. A spy told them.”
Kalugin blinked several times, like an owl. Or a lizard.
Ilin drew his chair closer and leaned forward. “I believe this traitor is on your staff.”
“Who is it?”
“The Japanese call him Agent Ju, or Agent Ten. He has been giving the Japanese information for years. Now he is passing secrets to the Americans.”
Kalugin almost snarled. “Can you find this man?”
“We are looking, Mr. President. I came today to warn you.”
“I suspected it,” Kalugin shot back. “But we will root him out. You are to cooperate with my loyal ones. Give them everything they ask for.”
“Yes, sir.”
“We must reinstitute political background checks. Find out what people believe, what they are saying privately. We must know who is reliable and who isn’t. I see no other way. Your agency will be tasked with much of this new mission, just as it was in the old days. The modern reforms didn’t work.” Kalugin crossed his hands on the desk. “A lot of people did not believe in the new ways. This will be a popular move.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Have your director arrange an appointment with me for tomorrow. We will not waste time on this.”
Kalugin leaned back in his chair and levered himself erect. “Gentlemen, I wish to thank you for your devotion to your nation, and to me.” He came around the table and stood before them. “I embody our country now. I am Russia, its spirit and its soul. I shall guard her well. That is my sacred trust.”
Ilin was on the president’s right side, and as Kalugin stepped for the door, he kept pace. The moment came as the guard turned and reached for the knob. For just a few seconds, his back was turned.
Janos Ilin had the fountain pen in his hand. He thrust it a few inches from Kalugin’s mouth and pushed in hard on the refill lever. A cool, clear spray shot from a pinhole just under the nib of the pen.
Startled, Kalugin inhaled audibly. “What— was he demanded loudly.
