Page 84 of Dead Fall

“We needed to get a database of Russian pilots and tried several different hacks. Eventually, we managed to access a server that had a list of pilots, right down to who was the flight commander and who was the navigator. This gave us names, but we had to keep digging to get contact info.

“Pilot number one, Igor Tveritin, is the oldest and most experienced on our list. He’s trained on the Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber, which is a supersonic aircraft that can be outfitted with nuclear missiles. He was actually born in Ukraine, in Melitopol, back when it was part of the Soviet Union. He has a wife, three kids, and they all live on the air base together and his kids go to school there. He’s very worried about the logistics of getting everyone out. He took a five percent down payment in crypto.

“Pilot number two, Andrei Maslov, is an Su-24 tactical bomber pilot. He’s married, has no kids, and wants his mistress, a fitness instructor, smuggled out. He insisted on cash, and we have delivered two down payments to him of four thousand dollars each. But we think he may have been compromised.”

Yulia looked up from her dinner. “Compromised how?”

“We asked him to send us a copy of the mistress’s Russian identitydocuments so that we could begin putting a passport together for her. It just came through two days ago. The minute we saw her photo, we were fairly certain that Maslov had been burned. She iswaytoo hot for him. We’re still working on it, but it’s not looking good. All her friends are hookers, and she has been placing a lot of calls to a man we think is an FSB asset. We may have to cut our losses with Maslov.

“Pilot number three, Roman Nosenko, flies the Su-34 Fullback and the Su-24 Fencer bombers. Like the others, we asked him for proof and he sent back pictures of his aircraft with a piece of paper in the foreground with a three-digit number we asked him to write on it. Nosenko has been the most standoffish, the toughest pilot to recruit.

“His wife is also going to be tough to extract because she’s a military psychologist. He doesn’t know if he can convince her to defect and he doesn’t want to go without her. He’s also worried that we’re just trying to lure him into our airspace so we can shoot him down. He’s heard that Ukrainian antiaircraft teams get paid big bonuses for shoot-downs.

“Our plan, if we can, is to get all the family members to safe houses in Belarus. Once there, they can be given their new passports and cash. At which point, they can use a prearranged code, over an encrypted app, to let the pilots know they made it out safely. Then all that’s left is for the pilots to fly their planes into Ukrainian airspace, where they’ll be met by Ukrainian interceptors and guided to their respective landing strips.”

“Pretty amazing plan,” said Yulia. “It sounds like you’ve invested some money in this. Did you get anything beyond just pictures of their aircraft?”

Nicholas nodded. “We also got photos from inside their aircraft, photos of technical manuals, information about their units, their air bases, how they have been flying their routes, targeting intelligence, and what kinds of munitions they have been using. Even if the entire op had to be shut down tomorrow, it has already been quite valuable.”

“Once you were able to surmount their initial skepticism, once they were confident that it wasn’t a scam, you’ve found them to be cooperative?”

“For the most part, yes.”

“Why do you think that is?” she asked.

“It’s simple. They don’t believe in the war. They think Peshkov is a petty tyrant. They may have believed in Russia at one point, but they don’t believe in him. Not anymore.”

“I can understand that. So, what else do you have for me? Tell me about the other ops.”

Nicholas looked down as his phone chimed. It was a SITREP from Harvath. He needed to handle this in private. “I’m happy to chat some more,” he said. “But first I need to deal with something. How about if I come find you when I’m done? Would that be okay?”

“Of course,” said Yulia as she stood and picked up her bowl. “If I’m not in my office, check the conference room.”

“Will do.”

“May I say good-bye to the dogs?”

Nicholas nodded and she walked over to give each of them a pat. She then smiled and exited his office, politely closing the door behind her.

Pulling up Harvath’s situation report, he read through the whole thing as he ate his borscht. It was unbelievable what that man had been through.

He then arrived at Harvath’s request. It was relatively straightforward. He only hoped he’d be able to get his friend the answers he needed.

Picking up the landline phone on his desk, he dialed Kozar’s extension. When the Ukrainian Intelligence officer answered, Nicholas said, “I have to ask you for a favor, but I need you to keep it between us.”

“Of course,” the man replied. “What is it?”

“I’d rather not ask over the phone—even via an internal line. Can you come down to my office?”

“No problem. Give me five minutes.”

“Thank you,” Nicholas replied as he hung up the phone.

Now all he had to do was figure out how to phrase his request in such a way that Kozar would give him what he wanted, rather than putting him on the first train back to Poland.

CHAPTER 24

MOSCOW

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