George Martin - Aces Abroad

Even those in the Kremlin. Even those at the very highest levels.

"I knew someone like you, Molniya. I used to work for him, not far from here as a matter of fact."

For the first time Molniya dropped his guard. He was genuinely curious. "Is the legend true?"

"Which legend? That Comrade Stalin was a joker and died with a stake driven through his heart? Or that it was Lysenko who had been affected?" Polyakov could tell that Molniya knew them all. " I must say I'm shocked to think that such fabrications are circulated by officers of military intelligence!"

"I was thinking of the legend that there was nothing left of Stalin to bury… that the corpse displayed at the funeral was made up by the same geniuses who maintain Lenin's."

Very close, Polyakov thought. What did Molniya know? "You're a war hero, Molniya. Yet you ran from that building in Berlin like a raw recruit. Why?"

This was another one of the old tricks, the sudden segue back to more immediate business.

As Molniya replied that he didn't honestly remember running, Polyakov went around the table and, sliding a chair closer, sat down right next to him. They were so close that Polyakov could smell the soap and, under that, the sweat… and something that might have been ozone. "Can you tell when someone is an ace?"

Finally Molniya was getting nervous. "Not without some demonstration… no."

Polyakov lowered his voice and jabbed a finger at the Hero's medal on Molniya's chest. "What do you think now?" Molniya's face flushed and tears formed in his eyes. One gloved hand slapped Polyakov's away. It only lasted an instant. "I was burning up!"

"Within seconds, yes. Burnt meat."

"You're the one." There was as much fascination-after all, they had a lot in common-as fear in Molniya's face. "That was another one of the legends, that there was a second ace. But you were supposed to be in the Party hierarchy, one of Brezhnev's people."

Polyakov shrugged. "The second ace belongs to no one. He's very careful about that. His loyalty is to the Soviet Union. To Soviet ideals and potential, not the pitiful reality." He remained close to Molniya. "And now you know my secret. One ace to another… what do you have to tell me?"

It was good to leave the Aquarium. Years of institutional hatred had imbued the place with an almost physical barrier-like an electrical charge-that repelled all enemies, especially the KGB.

Polyakov should have been feeling elated: he had gotten some very important information out of Molniya. Even Molniya himself did not know how important. No one knew why the Hartmann kidnapping had fallen apart, but what had happened to Molniya could best be explained by the presence of a secret ace, one with the power to control men's actions. Molniya could not know, of course, that something much like this had happened in Syria. But Polyakov had seen that report. Polyakov was afraid he knew the answer.

The man who might very well be the next president of the United States was an ace.

"The chairman will see you now."

To Polyakov's surprise the receptionist was a young woman of striking beauty, a blonde straight out of an American movie. Gone was Seregin, Andropov's old gatekeeper, a man with the physical appearance of a hatchet-appropriately enough-and a personality to match. Seregin was perfectly capable of letting a Politburo member cool his heels for eternity in this outer office, or if necessary, physically ejecting anyone foolish enough to make an unexpected call on the chairman of the Committee for State Security, the chief of the KGB.

Polyakov imagined that this lissome woman was potentially just as lethal as Seregin; nevertheless, the whole idea struck him as ludricrous. An attempt to put a smile on the face of the tiger. Meet your new, caring. Kremlin. Today's friendly KGB!

Seregin was gone. But then, so was Andropov. And Polyakov himself was no longer welcome on the top floor… not without the chairman's invitation.

The chairman rose from his desk to kiss him, interrupting Polyakov's salute. "Georgy Vladimirovich, how nice to see you." He was directed to a couch-another new addition, some kind of conversational nook in the formerly Spartan office. "You're not often seen in these parts." By your choice, Polyakov wanted to say..

"My duties have kept me away."

"Of course. The rigors of field work." The chairman, who like most KGB chiefs since Stalin's day was essentially a Party political appointee, had served the KGB as a snitch-a stukachnot an operative or analyst. In this he was the perfect leader of an organization consisting of a million stukachi. "Tell me about your visit to the Aquarium."

Quickly to business. Another sign of the Gorbachev style. Polyakov was thorough to the point of tedium in his replay of the interrogation, with one significant omission. He counted on the chairman's famous impatience and wasn't disappointed.

"These operational details are all well and good, Georgy Vladimirovich, but wasted on poor bureaucrats, hmm?" A self-deprecating smile. "Did the GRU give you full and complete cooperation, as directed by the General Secretary"

"Yes… alas," Polyakov said, earning the chairman's equally famous laugh.

"Do you have enough information to salvage our European operations?"

"Yes."

"How will you proceed? I understand that the German networks are being rolled up. Every day Aeroflot brings our agents back to us.'

"Those not held for trial in the West, yes," Polyakov said. "Berlin is a wasteland for us now. Most of Germany is barren and will be for years."

"Carthage."

"But we have other assets. Deep-cover assets that have not been utilized in years. I propose to activate one known as the Dancer."

The chairman drew out pen and made a note to have the Dancer file brought up from the registry. He nodded. "How much time will this… recovery take, in your honest estimation?"

"At least two years."

The chairman's gaze drifted off. "Which brings me to a question of my own," Polyakov persisted. "My retirement."

"Yes, your retirement." The chairman sighed. "I think the only course is to bring Yurchenko in on this as soon as possible, since he'll be the one who has to finish the job."

"Unless I postpone my retirement." Polyakov had said the unspeakable. He watched the chairman make an unaccustomed search for an unprogrammed response. "Well. That would be a problem, wouldn't it? All the papers have been signed. Yurchenko's promotion is already approved. You will be promoted to general and will receive your third Hero's medal. We're prepared to announce it at the plenum next month." The chairman leaned forward. "Is it money, Georgy Vladimirovich? I shouldn't mention this, but there is often a pension bonus for extremely… valuable service."

It wasn't going to work. The chairman might be a political hack, but he was not without his skills. He had been ordered to clean house at the KGB and clean house he would. Right now he feared Gorbachev more than he feared an old spy.

Polyakov sighed. "I only want to finish my job. If that is not the

… desire of the Party, I will retire as agreed."

The chairman had been anticipating a fight and was relieved to have won so quickly. "I understand the difficulty of your situation, Georgy Vladimirovich. We all know your tenacity. We don't have enough like you. But Yurchenko is capable. After all… you trained him."

"I'll brief him."

"I tell you what," the chairman said. "Your retirement doesn't take effect until the end of August."

"My sixty-third birthday."

"I see no reason why we should deprive ourselves of your talents until that date." The chairman was writing notes to himself again. "This is highly unusual, as you well know, but why don't you go with Yurchenko? Hmm? Where is this Dancer?"