Page 16 of Spymaster

“The ones that are in Europe, where are they located?”

“Artur, you know I can’t discuss that either.”

Kopec laughed once more. “If you want my help, you have to work with me, Lydia. How about this? How many trucks were there?”

She took a sip of her wine, using the time to weigh what she should tell him. “Three,” she replied.

“Now we’re getting somewhere. What was their destination? Where exactly were they headed?”

Reluctantly, she divulged the information. “The Baltics.”

“Can you be more precise?”

“Deliveries were scheduled for Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.”

The Pole let out a slow, slightly boozy whistle. “If the Russians find out, they’re going to lose their minds.”

“We obviously don’t want that to happen. The missiles are simply an insurance policy.”

“Insurance against what?”

“Russian incursion.”

“Incursion where?”

“Anywhere under NATO protection. If push comes to shove, we won’t hesitate to use Gryphons.”

“Is there something going on that I don’t know about?” Kopec asked, concerned. “Is the United States or NATO anticipating some sort of hostile action by Russia?”

“Concern is running very high—the highest it has been since the Cold War. And Russia hasn’t exactly been doing anything to lower that concern.”

“What do you mean?”

Ryan rolled her eyes and took another sip of wine. “So many provocative acts. How much time do you have?”

“As much time as you need,” the Pole replied. He wasn’t kidding. In fact, his tone was dead serious.

In no particular order, Ryan went down the list. “The annexation of Crimea, continued military operations in eastern Ukraine, repeated violations of U.S. and NATO airspace, the use of a nerve agent to assassinate a former Russian intelligence operative on U.K. soil, and the buildup of Russian troops and equipment in its western district, as well as in Russia’s client state of Belarus—both of which are right on NATO’s doorstep.”

“We’ve been monitoring it, too,” said Kopec. “Russia, though, claims they’re simply prepositioning in advance of a new war-gaming exercise.”

“A previouslyunscheduledwar-gaming exercise.”

The Pole shrugged. “They’re a sovereign nation. They can schedule snap military exercises. They have done it before. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re preparing for an invasion.”

“Is that what Poland believes?”

“Poland’s position is Ronald Reagan’s famous position—trust, but verify.”

“Well, any trust Russia may have enjoyed with the United States has been swept away by their own actions. The current position of American intelligence, unfortunately, is to distrust first and work tirelessly to verify.”

“That’s not only unfortunate, but it’s extremely dangerous,” said Kopec. “In such an unstable climate, there’s less margin for error. War becomes much more possible.”

“I agree,” she replied. “I wish it weren’t so, but that is where we are.”

“So, back to the business at hand,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “If you cannot discuss how many missiles there are, let’s talk about the number of road-mobile launchers.”

Ryan shook her head. “I cannot comment on that either.”

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