Tossing his rifle into the Land Cruiser, Harvath got in, turned over the engine, and, putting it into gear, left the man from the attic—the third member of the Kharkiv ambush party—to burn to death, alone on the ground, screaming.
CHAPTER 13
KYIV
Nicholas stood watching as his dogs enjoyed a few moments of fresh air. Though the breeze was cold, he was enjoying it as well. The sun, when it poked out from behind the clouds, felt good on his skin.
The GUR had made it clear that because of the clandestine nature of his work and the constant threat of Russian attack, the amount of time he could stand out in the open needed to be limited.
Closing his eyes, he turned his face up to the sky. He had read enough history of war, especially about the Brits during the Blitz, to know to be grateful for moments like this.
As he enjoyed his few minutes outside, he and the dogs were surrounded by hard, well-trained men with guns. Even though they were relatively safe, his mind was troubled by the most recent text he had received from Harvath.
Targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, though against international law, was nothing new for the Russians. As such, Ukraine had experienced multiple train attacks. What bothered him, however, was what had followed—the imposter who had been waiting at the station in Kharkiv. The Russians had known Harvath was coming.
Actually, that wasn’t true. The Russians had knownsomeonewas coming. If they had been aware that it was Harvath, there would have been a kill team the size of a battalion waiting for him.
But even if they didn’t have a name, how did they know that anyoneof note was arriving in the first place? Which begged another question—why attack the trainandpost a fake GUR agent at the station? Based on the initial reports Nicholas had read, it was amazing that any of the passengers had survived.
Perhaps the Russians didn’t know what train Harvath was coming in on and only had a general time frame in which the fake agent needed to be at the station. As thoroughly as Nicholas understood the Russian mindset, there were times when trying to think like them made his head hurt. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
Outside of a small group in Ukraine, the only other people who knew of Harvath’s assignment was an even smaller group back in Washington. In one of those circles, the Russians had managed to place a mole.
Compounding the situation, if the Russians knew about Harvath, they very likely knew about him, too. Both he and Scot had plenty of enemies in Moscow and now that they had stepped into a war zone, they were even more enticing targets. If the mole was inside the GUR, it was hard to say who was now the most vulnerable.
Once Harvath had linked up with his team from the legion, he would be in the wind and free of any interface with Ukrainian Intelligence.
Nicholas, on the other hand, was literally eating the GUR’s food and sleeping under their roof. If the molewasin their agency, he wouldn’t be truly safe until his work for them was done and he was back across the border in Poland.
That realization made part of him want to pack up and get the hell out of there right now. Ukrainian Intelligence had gotten plenty far without him. The country wasn’t going to lose the war just because he decided to pull the plug. In all fairness, he could still assist them with a lot of operational issues from afar.
But there was another part of him—the part that had stood up and saidyesto the assignment in the first place. He believed in what this fight represented and why the Ukrainians needed to win it. His contribution would be to help teach the GUR how to better hack the Russians and how to best exploit the fruits of those labors.
Much of it couldn’t be taught. It was an art form of sorts—driven by instinct and a feeling for how certain pieces of intelligence fittogether. To really take them to the next level, he needed to be in the same room, shoulder to shoulder, carrying out operations with them in real time.
There was no one more qualified for this assignment. He had grown up speaking Russian and was a savant when it came to identifying, sifting, and leveraging intelligence.
He also had a deeply personal reason for being here. He wanted to be in the best possible position to assist Harvath.
Wars could be chaotic, bureaucratic, and very, very messy. Harvath and his team would be in the field alone, without a reliable cavalry and with almost zero air support. Accessing prime, grade-A intelligence was going to be critical if Harvath was to be successful. And, as his best friend, Nicholas wanted that more than he wanted anything else—even more than the Ukrainians winning the war.
Harvath was getting married soon. Nicholas had a new baby about to be christened. Harvath was going to be her godfather. The two friends had many important moments yet to be shared and many good years ahead. He was determined that they stick around long enough to enjoy each and every one of them.
From where he stood, he could see the bronze statue of St. Michael the Archangel, brandishing a sword and shield as he towered over the Lach Gates in Independence Square. St. Michael was the patron saint of Kyiv and the divine protector of all of Ukraine.
Though not a particularly religious person, Nicholas offered up a prayer for Harvath’s safety. He also entreated the saint for help in finding the mole.
As he was finishing his silent appeal, he noticed a bird as it landed upon the tip of one of the Archangel’s golden wings. It appeared to be a raven. Was it a sign? An omen of some sort?
Nicholas had no idea. All he knew was that upon seeing it, the breeze turned even colder and his chest tightened. It felt as if someone were walking across his grave.
Argos and Draco had noticed it, too. Both dogs raised their heads, cocked their ears, and stood frozen in place.
But as soon as the ill wind began to blow, it was gone. And with it, so too did the bird disappear.
The dogs lowered their heads and went back to what they were doing. The muscles of Nicholas’s chest relaxed.
Up above, in a window obscured by draperies, a figure stepped back from the glass. Their next move had been confirmed.