The Defector (39 page)

“It’s old, this place. The rot hadn’t set into the system when they built it.”

“How old?”

“Thirties, I’d say.”

“Stalin’s time?”

“May he rest in peace.”

Gabriel lifted his chin from his chest. In Hebrew, he asked, “What in God’s name are the two of you talking about?”

“Architecture,” Mikhail said. “The architecture of dachas, to be precise.”

“Is there something you want to tell me, Mikhail?”

“Something’s not right about this place.” Mikhail moved his foot. “Why is there a drain in the middle of this floor, Gabriel? And what are those depressions out back?”

“You tell me, Mikhail.”

Mikhail was silent for a moment. Then he changed the subject.

“How’s your head?”

“I’m still hearing things.”

“Still the bells?”

Gabriel closed his eyes and sat very still.

“No, not bells.”

Helicopters.

68

VLADIMIRSKAYA OBLAST, RUSSIA

SOMEWHERE DURING his rise to wealth and power, Ivan Kharkov learned how to make an entrance. He knew how to enter a restaurant or the lobby of a luxury hotel. He knew how to enter a boardroom filled with rivals or the bed of a lover. And he certainly knew how to enter a dank cell filled with four people he intended to kill with his own hand. Intriguing was how little the performance varied from venue to venue. Indeed, to watch Ivan now was to imagine him standing at the doorway of Le Grand Joseph or Villa Romana, his old haunts in Saint-Tropez. Though he was a man with many enemies, Ivan never liked to rush things. He preferred to survey the room and allow the room to survey him in return. He liked to flaunt his clothing. And his sundial-sized wristwatch, which, for reasons known only to him, he was looking at now, as if annoyed at a maître d’ for making him wait five minutes for a promised table.

Ivan lowered his arm and inserted his hand into the pocket of his overcoat. It was unbuttoned, as if he were anticipating physical exertion. His gaze drifted slowly around the cell, settling first on Grigori, then Chiara, then Gabriel, and, finally, on Mikhail. Mikhail’s presence seemed to lift Ivan’s spirits. Mikhail was a bonus, a windfall profit. Mikhail and Ivan had a history. Mikhail had dined with Ivan. Mikhail had been invited to Ivan’s home. And Mikhail had had an affair with Ivan’s wife. At least, that’s what Ivan believed. Shortly before Ivan’s fall, two of his thugs had given Mikhail a good thrashing at a café along the Old Port in Saint-Tropez. It was but an aperitif. Judging from Ivan’s expression, a banquet of pain was being prepared. He and Mikhail were going to partake of it together.

His gaze swept slowly back and forth, a searchlight over an open field, and came to rest once more on Gabriel. Then he spoke for the first time. Gabriel had spent hours listening to recordings of Ivan’s voice, but never had he heard it in person. Ivan’s English, while perfect, was spoken with the accent of a Cold War propagandist on old Radio Moscow. His rich baritone caused the walls of the cell to vibrate.

“I’m so pleased I was able to reunite you with your wife, Allon. At least one of us kept up his end of the bargain.”

“And what bargain was that?”

“I release your wife, you return my children.”

“Anna and Nikolai were on the ground at Konakovo at nine o’clock this morning.”

“I didn’t realize you were on a first-name basis with my children.”

Gabriel looked at Chiara, then stared directly into Ivan’s iron gaze. “If my wife had been outside the embassy at nine o’clock, your children would be with you right now. But my wife wasn’t there. And so your children are heading back to America.”

“Do you take me for a fool, Allon? You never intended to let my children off that plane.”

“It was their decision, Ivan. I hear they even gave you a note.”

“It was an obvious forgery, just like that painting you sold my wife. Which reminds me: you owe me two and a half million dollars, not to mention the twenty million dollars your service stole from my bank accounts.”

“If you lend me your phone, Ivan, I’ll arrange a wire transfer.”

“My phones don’t seem to be working well today.” Ivan leaned his shoulder against the doorframe and ran a hand through his coarse gray hair. “It’s a pity, really.”

“What’s that, Ivan?”

“My men reckon you were only ten seconds from the entrance of the property at the time of the collision. If you’d managed to make it to the road, you might have been able to get back to Moscow. I suspect you probably would have made it if you hadn’t tried to bring the defector Bulganov with you. You would have been wise to leave him behind.”

“Is that what you would have done, Ivan?”

“Without question. You must feel rather foolish just now.”

“Why is that?”

“You and your lovely wife are going to die because you were too decent to leave behind a wounded traitor and defector. But that’s always been your weakness, hasn’t it, Allon? Your decency.”

“I’ll trade my weaknesses for yours anytime, Ivan.”

“Something tells me you won’t feel that way a few minutes from now.” Ivan gave a contemptuous smile. “Out of curiosity, how were you able to discover where I was keeping your wife and the defector Bulganov?”

“You were betrayed.”

A word Ivan understood. He furrowed his heavy brow.

“By whom?”

“By people you thought you could trust.”

“As you might expect, Allon, I trust no one—especially people who are supposed to be close to me. But we’ll discuss that topic in greater detail in a moment.” He glanced around the cell, his face perplexed, as if he were struggling over a math theorem. “Tell me, Allon, where’s the rest of your team?”

“You’re looking at it.”

“Do you know how many people died here this morning?”

“If you give me a minute, I’m sure—”

“Fifteen, most of them former Alpha Group and OMON.” He looked at Mikhail. “Not bad for a computer specialist who worked for a nonprofit human rights group. Please, Mikhail, remind me of the group’s name?”

“The Dillard Center for Democracy.”

“Ah, yes, that’s right. I suppose the Dillard Center believes in using brute force when necessary.” His attention shifted back to Gabriel, and he repeated his original question. “Don’t play with me, Allon. I know you and your friend Mikhail are very good, but there’s no way you could have done this all on your own. Where are the rest of your men?”

Gabriel ignored the question and asked one of his own.

“What caused the depressions in the woods, Ivan?”

Ivan seemed taken aback. He recovered quickly, though, a boxer shaking off the effects of a punch.

“You’ll know soon enough. But we need to talk more first. Let’s do it upstairs, shall we? This place smells like shit.”

Ivan departed. Only his scent remained. Sandalwood and smoke. The smell of power. The smell of the devil.

69

GROSVENOR SQUARE, LONDON

THE MESSAGE from Uzi Navot’s secure PDA appeared in the London annex and King Saul Boulevard simultaneously at 10:17 Moscow time.

IVAN’S BIRDS ON THE GROUND AT DACHA . . . ADVISE . . .

Shamron snatched up the phone to Tel Aviv.

“What does he mean, advise?”

“Uzi’s asking if you want them to go back to the dacha.”

“I thought I made my wishes unambiguously clear.”

“Continue back to Moscow?”

“Correct.”

“But—”

“This is not a debate.”

“Right, boss.”

Shamron slammed down the phone. Adrian Carter did the same.

“The president’s national security adviser just spoke with his Russian counterpart inside the Kremlin.”

“And?”

“The FSB is close. Alpha Group troops, plus two senior men from Lubyanka.”

“Estimated time of arrival?”

“They expect to be on the ground at 10:45 Moscow time.”

Shamron looked at the clock: 10:19:49.

He slipped a cigarette between his lips. His lighter flared. Nothing to do now but wait. And pray that Gabriel could think of some way to stay alive for another twenty-five minutes.

AT THAT same moment, an aged Lada bearing Yaakov, Oded, and Navot was parked along the shoulder of a frozen two-lane highway. Behind them was a string of villages. Ahead was the M7 and Moscow. Oded was behind the wheel, Yaakov was huddled in the back, Navot was in the front passenger seat. The little wipers of the Lada were scraping at the snow now accumulating on the windshield. The defroster, a euphemism if there ever was one, was doing more harm than good. Navot was oblivious. He was staring at the screen of his secure PDA and watching the seconds tick away on its digital clock. Finally, at 10:20, a message. Reading it, he swore softly to himself and turned to Oded.

“The Old Man wants us to go back to Moscow.”

“What do we do?”

Navot folded his arms across his chest.

“Don’t move.”

. . .

THE HELICOPTER was a reconfigured M-8, maximum speed of one hundred sixty miles per hour, a bit slower when the wind was howling out of Siberia and visibility was a half mile at best. It carried a crew of three and a passenger complement of just two: Colonel Leonid Milchenko and Major Vadim Strelkin, both of the FSB’s Department of Coordination. Strelkin, a poor flier, was trying very hard not to be sick. Milchenko, headset over his ears, was listening to the cockpit chatter and peering out the window.

They had cleared the outer ring five minutes after leaving Lubyanka and were now streaking eastward, using the M7 as a rough guide. Milchenko knew the towns well—Bezmenkovo, Chudinka, Obukhovo—and his mood darkened with each mile they moved beyond Moscow. Russia as viewed from the air was not much better than Russia on the ground. Look at it, Milchenko thought. It didn’t happen overnight. It took centuries of tsars, general secretaries, and presidents to produce a wreck like this, and now it was Milchenko’s job to hide its dirty secrets.

He keyed open his microphone and asked for an estimated arrival time. Fifteen minutes, came the reply. Twenty at most.

Twenty at most . . . But what would he find when he got there? And what would he take away? The president had made his wishes clear.

“It is imperative the Israelis leave there alive. But if Ivan needs to shed a little blood, give him your friend, Bulganov. He’s a dog. Let him die a dog’s death.”

But what if Ivan didn’t wish to surrender his Jews? What then, Mr. President? What then, indeed.

Milchenko stared morosely out the window. The towns were getting farther and farther apart now. More fields of snow. More birch trees. More places to die . . . Milchenko was about to find himself in an unenviable position, caught between Ivan Kharkov and the Russian president. It was a fool’s errand, this. And if he wasn’t careful, he might die a dog’s death, too.

70

VLADIMIRSKAYA OBLAST, RUSSIA

THE DEAD were stacked like cordwood at the edge of the trees, several with neat bullet holes in their foreheads, the rest bloody messes. Ivan paid them no heed as he stepped through the ruined entrance and made his way to the side of the dacha. Gabriel, Chiara, Grigori, and Mikhail followed, hands still trussed at their backs, a bodyguard holding each arm. They were made to stand against the exterior wall, Gabriel at one end, Mikhail at the other. The snow was knee-deep and more was falling. Ivan paced slowly in it, a large Makarov pistol in his hand. The fact his costly trousers and shoes were being ruined seemed to be the only dark spot on what was an otherwise festive occasion.

Ivan’s hero, Stalin, liked to toy with his victims. The doomed were showered with special privileges, comforted with promotions and with promises of new opportunities to serve their master and the Motherland. Ivan made no such pretense of compassion, no efforts to deceive the soon-to-be dead. Ivan was Fifth Directorate. A breaker of bones, a smasher of heads. After making one final pass before his prisoners, he selected his first victim.

“Did you enjoy the time you spent with my wife?” he asked Mikhail in Russian.

“Former wife,” replied Mikhail in the same language. “And, yes, I enjoyed my time with her very much. She’s a remarkable woman. You should have treated her better.”

“Is that why you took her from me?”

“I didn’t have to take her. She staggered into our arms.”

Mikhail never saw the blow coming. A backhand, low at the start, high at the finish. Somehow he managed to stay on his feet. Ivan’s guards, who were standing in a semicircle in the snow, found it amusing. Chiara closed her eyes and began to shake with fear. Gabriel pressed his shoulder lightly against hers. In Hebrew, he murmured, “Try to stay calm. Mikhail’s doing the right thing.”

“He’s just making him angrier.”

“Exactly, my love. Exactly.”

Ivan was now rubbing the back of his hand, as if to show he had feelings, too. “I trusted you, Mikhail. I allowed you into my home. You betrayed me.”

“It was just business, Ivan.”

“Really? Just business? Elena told me about that shitty little villa in the hills above Saint-Tropez. She told me about the lunch you had waiting. And the wine. Bandol rosé. Elena’s favorite.”

“Very cold. Just the way she likes it.”

Another backhand, hard enough to send Mikhail crashing into the side of the dacha. With his hands still bound, he was unable to stand on his own. Ivan seized the front of his parka and lifted him effortlessly to his feet.

“She told me about the shitty little room where you made love. She even told me about the Monet prints hanging on the wall. Funny, don’t you think? Elena had two real Monets of her own. And yet you took her to a room with Monet posters on the wall. Do you remember them, Mikhail?”

“Not really.”

“Why not?”

“I was too busy looking at your wife.”

This time, it was a sledgehammer fist. It opened another gash on Mikhail’s face, an inch beneath the left eye. As the guards hauled him to his feet, Chiara pleaded with Ivan to stop. Ivan ignored her. Ivan was just getting started.