body by several feet and stopped in the doorway. Dragunov glanced in his direction, expecting the agent to make an unnecessary excuse for Hubner’s early demise. A few moments passed, but the agent remained quiet. He was impressed with Osin. Directorate S Spetsnaz were an impressive group, but this agent was different. He carried himself extremely well, exuded an unspoken leadership influence on his team, and had natural interrogation skills…aside from the rookie mistake that prematurely killed Hubner. He might recommend Osin for consideration within the Zaslon ranks.
“What happened to Hubner is extremely rare. I’ve seen suspects attempt to choke themselves on their own restraints or try to enrage their interrogators to the point of murder. I’ve never seen or heard of one cutting their throat like that. Lesson learned. No need to include this in the report. The suspect expired on his own…which is true,” Dragunov said.
“That was a first for me. Fuck. This guy was something different altogether,” Osin said, stepping into the rays of light peeking through the eastern tree line.
“Very different. At least we got a few new names out of him. Headquarters should be very interested in this Sanderson guy. We also confirmed that they were given Reznikov’s address at the last second.”
“Either the FSB has a mole, or we do. That alone made this trip well worth the effort.”
“He was holding out on us about Marko Resja. Something was off. I could smell it,” Osin said.
Dragunov considered his comment for a few moments, staring off into the forest. He agreed with Osin’s assessment about Hubner’s partner in Stockholm. Whoever they had captured on camera in the passenger seat was a mystery that Hubner didn’t care to expose.
“He wasn’t familiar with the name, which leads me to believe Marko Resja might have been an alias he’d never heard of. I’m starting to wonder if the entire team in Stockholm had been assembled from multiple sources. It doesn’t matter at this point. We pass the information on to Directorate S, and let them sort it out,” Dragunov said.
“I’m getting a bad feeling about this one. This isn’t a typical setup for the Americans. This is something very different,” Osin said.
“We don’t even know if the Americans are behind this. That’s the real problem here. The U.S. embassy was involved, but even those details are sketchy. Hubner never confirmed that the address was passed by the CIA station chief,” Dragunov said.
“I led the assistant station chief’s interrogation. He confirmed that this was a CIA operation. They were never given the address. That came directly from another source,” Osin said.
“That’s what the station chief told him?” Dragunov said.
Osin nodded. “Correct.”
“The link to the Americans keeps thinning,” Dragunov said, shaking his head. “The station chief could have been working for anyone. Reznikov represents an unchecked financial opportunity for some extremely dangerous, well-funded groups. If this was a mercenary crew working for one of these groups, Russia could end up in the deepest shit pile imaginable. Our job is to shed some light on who was behind the abduction. At this point, I hope to hell it was the Americans, but I’m no longer optimistic.”
Both of them turned their heads toward the sound of crackling underbrush and swearing at the edge of the clearing. The burial team had begun their long trek through the forest.
Chapter 12
3:30 PM
The White House
Washington, D.C.
The president sat back with a bleak face. He glanced at his National Security Advisor and raised both eyebrows, but Karl Berg could tell that James Quinn didn’t plan to make the first comment on their proposal. Jacob Remy, the president’s chief of staff looked eager to take the first shot in what Berg expected to be a concentrated salvo of opposition against the plan. The president didn’t wait.
“I don’t like the timing. The
“What happened to Hubner is extremely rare. I’ve seen suspects attempt to choke themselves on their own restraints or try to enrage their interrogators to the point of murder. I’ve never seen or heard of one cutting their throat like that. Lesson learned. No need to include this in the report. The suspect expired on his own…which is true,” Dragunov said.
“That was a first for me. Fuck. This guy was something different altogether,” Osin said, stepping into the rays of light peeking through the eastern tree line.
“Very different. At least we got a few new names out of him. Headquarters should be very interested in this Sanderson guy. We also confirmed that they were given Reznikov’s address at the last second.”
“Either the FSB has a mole, or we do. That alone made this trip well worth the effort.”
“He was holding out on us about Marko Resja. Something was off. I could smell it,” Osin said.
Dragunov considered his comment for a few moments, staring off into the forest. He agreed with Osin’s assessment about Hubner’s partner in Stockholm. Whoever they had captured on camera in the passenger seat was a mystery that Hubner didn’t care to expose.
“He wasn’t familiar with the name, which leads me to believe Marko Resja might have been an alias he’d never heard of. I’m starting to wonder if the entire team in Stockholm had been assembled from multiple sources. It doesn’t matter at this point. We pass the information on to Directorate S, and let them sort it out,” Dragunov said.
“I’m getting a bad feeling about this one. This isn’t a typical setup for the Americans. This is something very different,” Osin said.
“We don’t even know if the Americans are behind this. That’s the real problem here. The U.S. embassy was involved, but even those details are sketchy. Hubner never confirmed that the address was passed by the CIA station chief,” Dragunov said.
“I led the assistant station chief’s interrogation. He confirmed that this was a CIA operation. They were never given the address. That came directly from another source,” Osin said.
“That’s what the station chief told him?” Dragunov said.
Osin nodded. “Correct.”
“The link to the Americans keeps thinning,” Dragunov said, shaking his head. “The station chief could have been working for anyone. Reznikov represents an unchecked financial opportunity for some extremely dangerous, well-funded groups. If this was a mercenary crew working for one of these groups, Russia could end up in the deepest shit pile imaginable. Our job is to shed some light on who was behind the abduction. At this point, I hope to hell it was the Americans, but I’m no longer optimistic.”
Both of them turned their heads toward the sound of crackling underbrush and swearing at the edge of the clearing. The burial team had begun their long trek through the forest.
Chapter 12
3:30 PM
The White House
Washington, D.C.
The president sat back with a bleak face. He glanced at his National Security Advisor and raised both eyebrows, but Karl Berg could tell that James Quinn didn’t plan to make the first comment on their proposal. Jacob Remy, the president’s chief of staff looked eager to take the first shot in what Berg expected to be a concentrated salvo of opposition against the plan. The president didn’t wait.
“I don’t like the timing. The
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