Michael Davidson - In the Shadow of Mordor

Karpov’s physical resources in Washington were limited and left him with little choice but to entrust the new arrival with a task of considerable importance. The main players had been in place for several weeks already, but everything depended on timing.

Olga remained silent under Karpov’s measuring gaze. She sensed that her FSB handler was about to impart something important to her. The Russian word for handler is “ kurator,” which literally means “caretaker,” and she found the term distasteful. She required no “handling;” all she needed was an assignment, and she would surely succeed.

Karpov’s eyes never left her. It was a technique developed over many years interrogating enemies of the state while serving in the KGB’s Second Chief Directorate. But he detected nothing in the girl that might betray a doubt.

“There is a so-called ‘dissident’ in Washington. His name is Mark Lvovich Shtayn. He’s winning a reputation and has the ear of influential people. Apart from the normal liberal whining about ‘political prisoners’, he recently published a report that damages our work: the names of euro-deputies loyal to us, pro-Russian political groups throughout Europe, the influence of Russian business on certain foreign politicians. And that’s not all. Shtayn is beginning to frighten people with the notion that Russia is determined to destroy American relations with Europe and destroy NATO. And they believe him because in the 90’s he was an influential banker with direct access to the Kremlin leadership. He knows state secrets.”

“And this man is a Russian?” asked Olga.

“A corrupt, venal Jew, like I said, a banker, a money man.” muttered Karpov. “And worst of all, he somehow has access to our military secrets in the Donbas, including the identification of various units and their weaponry. You can only imagine where this shit gets his information.”

“What do we know about this Shtayn?” asked Olga ignoring the vulgarity.

“He fled Russia right after Putin was elected president and received political asylum in Ukraine where he made outlandish accusations against the president. When Yanukovich came to power, he moved to the States. He’s been here four years on a green card, so he’s still officially a Russian citizen. We didn’t pay too much attention to him until now, but he’s become loud and dangerous.”

“That’s a shame,” said Olga. Why was Karpov telling her this?

“Olga Vladimirovna,” Karpov smiled thinly, “I have an assignment for you, a real assignment. Not that cover work you do for Zaretskiy.”

Olga was thrilled.

“First, Olga Vladimirovna, we must gather as much information as possible on the traitor. This will be up to you. Your task is to discover all you can about his activities in the States, about his work, his friends, his habits, his contacts, but most importantly — his weaknesses, anything that may be used to compromise him.”

“You think he’ll talk to me?” Olga was dubious.

“No, Olga, under no circumstances should you have personal contact with him. This man is your target, the subject of your investigation. Remember the lessons you learned in Yekaterinburg. Your immediate task is to gather basic information, but you must be discreet.”

“I’m already developing contacts in the Russian community. It’s part of my work for Zaretskiy.”

“That’s an excellent place to start.” The girl was smart. He gave her that. “You will report to me, and only to me, what you turn up. The next phase will be to surveil the man, map out his patterns. This will be important. It may well reveal his sources.”

Stash provided a contact, an eager and reliable informant named Andrey Petrov. He was a naturalized American citizen who lived comfortably in a two-story house in the Washington suburbs. But this was a matter of convenience only, and he believed the US was teetering on the brink of destruction. For this reason he made it his business to preserve relations with his former country. He was an established realtor and made quite a good living from the Russian community.

It was easy to arrange a meeting with Petrov, who received her at his Fairfax office. He was a man of average height with thinning black hair and a bad comb-over. His eyes roamed over her body, but his manner bordered on the obsequious.

She decided to adopt an indirect approach and told him she was gathering opinions in the Russian diaspora about events in Russia, even if they were negative.

“We want to be as objective as possible in order to show our American colleagues the entire spectrum of opinion,” she said.

He gave her a dubious look, as though the idea of objectivity might never have occurred to him. “Olga Vladimirovna, you’re an expert and know more than I, but… we have some real assholes in the community who hate their own country even more than the American ‘hawks.’ Some of them spread blatant lies. When they are confronted by someone who speaks the truth it’s even worse. They love to expose Russia’s secrets. They make money by inciting hatred of the Homeland. It’s not worth your time to write about such opinions.” He was warning her that such opinions were dangerous, maybe even to her.

“You mean these people are actually taken seriously?” She injected feigned surprise into her voice. Her talent for dissembling was growing like the first shoots of a young tree as it puts down roots and blossoms.

Совершенно Секретно

Eyes Only Colonel Kozlov

Subject: Black Widow

From: FSB Rezident, Washington

The initial operational phase of Black Widow is complete. Phase 2 is underway.

Subject’s activities already are well-known, but additional information was successfully elicited by our new operative.

Subject continues to publish liberal slanders against the Motherland concerning so-called “political prisoners” and “Mafia connections,” but even worse are his revelations about our external work. He names Euro-deputies loyal to us, delineates the pro-Russian sentiments in various European countries, and the influence of Russian business over certain foreign politicians. He also has collated what our European friends have said against the United States, with emphasis on anti-NATO sentiments. The similarity of these statements leads to the conclusion that all are based on guidance from Moscow and are aimed at disrupting the North Atlantic Alliance.

It is also clear that Subject possesses sources of highly sensitive information concerning the Russian military and its strategic planning, especially in the Donbas.

Subject is winning influence among American policymakers and elements of the right wing press. It is fair to speculate that if he is allowed to continue his subversive activities, his trajectory in Washington will continue only to rise. It is clear that he still has sources inside the Motherland, as well as in Ukraine where he resided for a number of years. Some of these sources may be official, and it is even possible that he is a witting agent of the CIA or FBI.

The Rezidentura has launched Phase 2 of this operation, the surveillance of subject. This task is simplified by the work of our asset in locating Subject’s home and office. We should be in a position within a matter of weeks to accurately predict Subject’s movements. The Center will be advised as soon as sufficient data has been gathered.

The full report of our operative is attached.

Olga used the Russian-American Study Group’s resources to review open-source information about Shtayn. There was a website, and she was surprised that his office address was openly available to the public and actually quite close to her apartment.