Page 78 of Spymaster

Harvath laughed. “In addition to nice weather, those states also have no income tax, are good places to raise a family, and don’t mind if you own guns.”

“Fair points,” Ingesson conceded, as he poured coffee and pushed a plate of pastries forward. “So, what are we all doing in my kitchen?”

Nyström had made the introduction. That was as far as he was prepared to go. “I’m going to take my coffee into the living room.”

Harvath waited until he was gone and then began speaking to his host. “I wanted to talk with you about one of your employees.”

“Which one?”

“Dominik Gashi.”

“He’s one of my best employees. What about him?”

“How well do you know him?” Harvath asked.

“He’s smart. He works hard. And he’s always on time. What else should I know about him?” asked Ingesson.

“What about his background?”

The big man thought for a moment. “From what I understand, he’s from a small village in Kosovo. His family, most of whom are dead, were in the butchery business. That’s about all I know.”

“Have you ever met any of them?”

“No, I have not.”

“Have you ever heard him speak Albanian or Serbian?” asked Harvath.

“No.”

“Have you ever seen him reading any books, magazines, or anything else in Albanian or Serbian?”

Ingesson shook his head.

“Have you ever heard him speaking Russian?” Harvath asked.

“Is that what this is all about? You think Gashi is Russian? Not Kosovar?”

“Yes. In fact, we think he’s GRU.”

Ingesson’s eyes almost popped out of his head. “Russian military intelligence? Gashi? That’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“It just doesn’t fit.”

“Really?” replied Harvath. “You were K4. You were trained to conduct reconnaissance and sabotage behind enemy lines. If you were Russia, and you were going to place a deep-cover operative on Gotland, exactly what type of person would you choose?”

“Probably a man just like Dominik Gashi,” he finally admitted after several moments of thought. “I’d take advantage of Sweden’s soft spot for immigrants, especially from conflict-torn countries. And I’d place him in an industry few people want to know anything about, much less be part of, like animal processing.”

“There you go,” said Harvath.

“Of all people, I should have seen it.”

“If there was nothing suspicious about him, there’s no reason you should have suspected anything.”

“So you think he’s here as part of some GRU operation. To do what?”

“We think he’s running a cell responsible for gathering intelligence and conducting sabotage, in advance of a Russian invasion.”

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