by Matthew Dunn
Stefan smiled. Thanks to Schreiber, his family was five million dollars richer. But that wasn’t why he was smiling. Tonight he’d be back home, sitting around the kitchen table with his twin sons and his wife. He cherished every moment he had with his beloved family. And tonight would be special, because he’d be able to tell them the rest of the story.
Hidden from view outside the property, Mikhail Salkov watched Sarah and James unpacking boxes within their new Scottish home. They were moving back and forth between the rooms, completely oblivious to the danger that had been surrounding them.
He looked at the countryside around him. The house was isolated, though Edinburgh was only five miles away. His family home was similar. Located a few miles outside of Moscow, it gave his wife and daughters the chance to get their fixes of both city and country living. He hoped Sarah and James gained happiness living here.
He looked at the dead man by his feet, then lifted and threw him on top of the three other bodies in the trunk of his SUV. Thank goodness he hadn’t needed to be here two weeks ago. Then, he’d still needed a walking stick to aid his injured leg. Fully fit, he was able to observe Schreiber’s surveillance team for hours before receiving the call from Cochrane.
The MI6 officer had anticipated Schreiber’s ploy to use Sarah as leverage if Will succeeded in infiltrating his Bavarian residence and came face-to-face with the man. For weeks, he’d had other men watching Sarah and Schreiber’s team. The British Special Forces men were under orders to act if Sarah was threatened, but Will knew that they’d never agree to a cold-blooded hit on U.K. soil. He needed a ruthless, deniable expert for that. So today he’d ordered his men to leave and had asked Mikhail to take care of matters if required to do so. The call would be the trigger, the wording precise and intended to mislead Schreiber.
If I touch him, Schreiber will kill my sister. We’ve lost. Get right away from here. Don’t touch Schreiber.
It meant, kill the men watching my sister.
He’d been surprised that Cochrane had given him the task, though he had quickly concluded that it was Cochrane’s way of saying that he trusted the SVR spycatcher because he’d broken rules by not taking Lenka Yevtushenko back to Russia. If he ever met Cochrane again, he hoped it would be in circumstances that allowed them to remain allies. One never knew in this line of work.
He slammed the trunk shut and got into the vehicle. He had a long drive ahead of him to reach the deserted woodland where the bodies would be buried. After that, he could finally go home.
Sixty-Four
The taxi stopped on the long residential street in Minsk. Will told the driver to wait and turned to the man sitting next to him in the rear of the vehicle. “I promised her that I’d bring you home. In return, I want you to give me your word that you’ll have nothing more to do with intelligence work, will get a job in one of the local universities or schools, will never return to Russia, will stay with Alina and Maria for the rest of your life.”
Lenka Yevtushenko nodded slowly. “I give you my word, but it’s not a difficult thing to do because I want all of those things more than anything else.”
Will handed Lenka a grocery bag. Inside were the ingredients to make kotleta pokrestyansky, the meal that Alina had promised to one day make for Will. “You’ve been apart for quite some time. There’s nothing like cooking a meal together to break the ice.” He smiled. “You caused a lot of trouble by stealing that piece of paper.”
Lenka opened the door. “You mean pieces of paper.”
“What?”
“Pieces of paper. Schreiber instructed me to steal twenty of them. Only one had a partial grid reference on it. The other nineteen were full codes. When I was held at the farmstead, the guards spoke openly about it. I guess they believed I was a dead man so didn’t care what I heard. Schreiber needed backup options in case Kronos had died during the last twenty years, or was no longer fit to conduct the assassination.”
“He had the ability to activate nineteen other sleeper assassins?”
Lenka nodded. “Kronos was his preferred choice for the assassination of Dmitriev, because he was the very best. In any case, Schreiber was of the view that the other assassins would still be of value to him because he could use them to kill anyone who tried to go after him at some point in the future.” He bowed his head. “If only I’d known the true value of what I’d stolen.”
He exited the vehicle, shut the door, and walked to the front entrance of Alina’s apartment building. Within one minute, Alina and baby Maria were there. Alina threw one arm around Lenka and pulled him close to her. She was shaking with sobs. They stayed in their embrace for minutes before speaking inaudible words. Alina looked at Will. She gave the slightest smile, kept her eyes on him, then turned and took her partner and her child into their home.
Will sat motionless.
Staring at other people’s happy lives, with no idea how to become like them.
No hope of becoming like them.
He told the driver that he’d decided to walk back to the city center, thrust cash at him, and got out of the car. Tomorrow he’d be in London. He’d report to Alistair that Schreiber’s anonymous female successor had nineteen other sleeper assassins who could be activated if Will or others tried to destroy Schreiber’s empire.
That wouldn’t stop Will Cochrane.
He’d never stop.
Until he was killed.
Snow began to fall.
Spartan buttoned up his overcoat and walked along the empty street.
Alone.
Glossary
ABW—Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnetrznego. Poland’s domestic security agency. It is responsible for preventing threats to Poland from terrorism, organized crime, and foreign espionage.
AIVD—The General Intelligence and Security Service. Holland’s secret service, with responsibility for combating nonmilitary domestic threats.
AW—Agencja Wywiadu. Poland’s intelligence agency, tasked with gathering secret intelligence from abroad.
Barrett M82 point fifty caliber antimateriel sniper rifle—A semiautomatic antimateriel rifle, developed by the American Barrett Firearms Manufacturing Company. The rifle has an effective range of up to two thousand yards.
BfV—Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz. Germany’s domestic intelligence and security agency, equivalent to Britain’s MI5 and the United States’ FBI.
Browning Hi-Power 9 mm handgun—One of the most widely used military pistols of all time, having been used by the armed forces of over fifty countries. The magazine holds thirteen rounds and is an excellent close-quarter weapon. However, it is heavy and has a strong recoil, making it less effective compared to the lighter and more accurate models made by Glock, Sig Sauer, and Heckler & Koch, for example.
CIA—Central Intelligence Agency. The United States’ overseas intelligence agency, tasked primarily with gathering intelligence from foreign human sources as well as conducting special operations.
Coldstream Guards—Part of the Guards Division, it is one of the elite Foot Guards regiment of the British Army.
DA—Defense attaché. Typically, a high-ranking serving military officer who is attached to one of his or her country’s overseas embassies. DAs are tasked with interacting with the embassy’s host country on a range of military matters, including military procurement.
Delta Force—Alongside DEVGRU, the United States’ primary antiterrorist special operations unit, though, like DEVGRU, it is deployable in all covert and overt theaters of war and operating environments.
DEVGRU—U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group, popularly known by its previous name, SEAL Team 6. It is one of the United States’ premier multifunctional special operations units and draws its recruits from other SEAL units.
DGSE—Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure. France’s overseas intelligence agency, tasked primarily with gathering intell
igence from foreign human sources as well as conducting special operations.
DIA—Defense Intelligence Agency. A member of the U.S. Intelligence Community, DIA is the primary agency tasked with producing military intelligence for the United States Department of Defense.
DLB—Dead-letter box. A method of espionage tradecraft that allows one spy to pass an item, using a secret location, to another spy without their having to meet.
DSI—Dienst Speciale Interventies, or Special Intervention Service, is an elite law enforcement unit formed in 2006 to protect Dutch society from the threats of terrorism. Experts in dealing with complex situations, such as hostage taking and aircraft hijacking, the unit comprises superbly trained police snipers and Special Forces personnel from the UIM.
DSR-50 sniper rifle—A bolt-action antimateriel rifle, developed and marketed by DSR-precision GmbH of Germany. The weapon fires .50 rounds.
FN P90 submachine gun—A selective fire personal defense weapon (PDW) designed and manufactured by FN Herstal in Belgium. It was designed as a compact yet powerful weapon for law enforcement and military personnel operating in confined environments, such as vehicles and ships, as well as special forces and counterterrorism units.
FSB—Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. The main domestic security agency of Russia, comparable to the FBI and MI5.
GCHQ—Government Communications Headquarters. The British intelligence agency responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) to the U.K. government and armed forces. Comparable to the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA).
GCP—Groupement des Commandos Parachutistes. A highly trained reconnaissance unit of the French Foreign Legion’s Parachute Regiment (2ème Régiment Étranger de Parachutistes).
Glock 17 pistol—A semiautomatic handgun, designed and produced in Austria.
GRU—Glavnoye Razvedyvatel’noye Upravleniye. The foreign military intelligence directorate of the general staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Head of Station—The most senior member of an intelligence organization’s overseas station. Typically, but not exclusively, operating out of the country’s embassies, stations can contain as few as one intelligence officer or as many as twenty or thirty personnel.
Heckler & Koch MK23 handgun—One of the favored handguns of special operations units in the United States’ Special Operations Command. It is a semiautomatic pistol and fires .45 ACP rounds.
Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun—A 9 mm German automatic weapon, and one of the most widely used submachine guns in the world. Very popular with military, law enforcement, intelligence, and security organizations.
HMG—Her Majesty’s Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
ICC—International Criminal Court. A permanent tribunal established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression. The court’s official seat is in The Hague, Netherlands, though it can conduct legal proceedings elsewhere.
ISA—Intelligence Support Activity. One of the United States’ four tier-1 Special Missions Units, alongside Delta Force, DEVGRU, and the air force’s 24th Special Tactics Squadron. Its primary role is to obtain actionable intelligence in advance of missions conducted by Delta or DEVGRU, for example.
14th Intelligence Company—Also known as “The Det,” the highly classified British military unit was expert at surveillance in hostile locations. Used extensively from the 1970s onward, it targeted Irish Republican and Loyalist paramilitary groups. The unit has since been disbanded and its duties have been taken over by the newly established and globally deployable Special Reconnaissance Regiment.
IO—Intelligence Officer.
KGB—Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, or Committee for State Security. It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991 and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.
Life Guards Regiment—The senior regiment of the British Army and part of the Household Cavalry.
M4A1 assault rifle—A fully automatic variant of the standard M4 carbine, the M4A1 is favored by most U.S. special operations units. Due to its compactness and firepower, the rifle is an excellent close-quarter counterterrorist weapon.
MACV-SOG—Military Assistance Command, Vietnam/Studies and Observations Group. A highly classified U.S. special operations unit that conducted covert unconventional warfare prior to and during the Vietnam War.
MI5—The British domestic intelligence agency, equivalent to the United States’ FBI, though MI5 officers have no powers of arrest.
MI6—Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Britain’s overseas intelligence agency, tasked primarily with gathering intelligence from foreign human sources as well as conducting special operations.
Mossad—Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations. Israel’s overseas intelligence agency, tasked primarily with gathering intelligence from foreign human sources as well as conducting special operations.
MP-443 handgun—A Russian military- and police-issue pistol. It is a semiautomatic gun with a magazine containing seventeen 9 mm rounds.
National Clandestine Service (NCS)—The clandestine arm of the CIA, it has responsibility for the collection of intelligence from primarily foreign human assets based overseas and special operations.
NOC—Non-Official Cover. The cover used by intelligence officers who cannot be seen to have any official links to their government. Unlike officers who pose as diplomats and therefore can receive diplomatic immunity if they are caught spying in a country, NOCs have no such safety net and, if caught, face imprisonment or execution. Because of this threat, NOCs are handpicked for recruitment and given extensive further training. [Note author’s biography.]
NSA—National Security Agency. The United States’ agency responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) to the U.S. government and armed forces.
PB 6P9 handgun—A Russian silenced pistol, developed for Spetsnaz and intelligence agencies.
PE4—A plastic explosive used by the British military. Like C4, it is a cream-colored solid, can be molded into any shape, is very stable, and can only be detonated by a combination of extreme heat and a shockwave, such as a detonator. PE4 has a greater velocity of detonation compared to C4.
Q Departments—Various paramilitary, surveillance, technical, and logistical departments within MI6 that support the activities of intelligence officers.
Remington 870 shotgun—A U.S. manufactured pump-action shotgun, widely used by law enforcement and military organizations throughout the world.
Rome Statute—The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was the treaty that established the court. Adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome in 1998, the statute established the court’s functions, jurisdiction, and structure. The court entered into force in 2002. At time of print, 121 countries are State Parties to the Rome Statute.
Royal Marines—The primary commando force of the United Kingdom. Formed in 1755, the force was initially solely an amphibious infantry unit. Though it is still under the command of the Royal Navy, it is now recognized as one of the world’s leading combat units in all other combat spheres including air, desert, arctic, and jungle.
Safe House—Residential or commercial properties owned or rented by intelligence agencies and used for covert meetings, surveillance, interrogations, and other matters.
SAM—Surface to Air Missile.
SAR—Search & Rescue vessels belonging to Poland’s coastal fleets.
SAS—Special Air Service. The world’s oldest, most experienced, and arguably most effective special operations unit, the British SAS is regarded as the benchmark for all tier-1 units and special forces around the world.
SBS—Special Boat Service. A U.K. special forces unit, directly comparable to the United States’ DEVGRU
(SEAL Team 6), though the SBS is older and more experienced. Recruitment and selection into the SBS are considered even tougher than entry into the renowned SAS.
SEALs—Sea, Air, Land teams. U.S. special operations personnel who can operate in any combat environment. Highly trained and very effective.
Sig Sauer P226 handgun—In service with numerous military and law enforcement units worldwide, the Swiss-designed and German-manufactured weapon has many variants. Due to its superb resistance to extreme conditions and excellent accuracy, it has become the preferred handgun for SEALs personnel.
SOG—Special Operations Group. The paramilitary wing of the CIA’s Special Activities Division. Many members are drawn from Delta Force and DEVGRU.
Spartan Program—The twelve-month-long selection program for premier MI6 officers in which they attempt to attain the code name “Spartan.” Only one officer at a time is allowed to endure the program, and only one successful trainee is allowed to carry the code name until his death or retirement.
Spartan Section—The highly secretive joint MI6/CIA unit that supports the Spartan MI6 officer.
Spetsnaz—The generic term for Russian special forces. The Russian army, navy, GRU, and SVR all have Spetsnaz units attached to them and under their command. They are wholly separate units. For example, Spetsnaz Alpha (SVR) is a completely different unit from Spetsnaz Vympel (GRU), and recruitment, selection, and training follow different paths.
SSCI—Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. An organization created in 1976 after Congress had investigated CIA operations on U.S. soil and established that some had been illegal. The SSCI comprises fifteen senators who are drawn from the major political parties and whose remit includes oversight of U.S. intelligence activities and ensuring transparency between the intelligence community and Congress.
