Hard Passage. Don Pendleton

nobody could even tell me why they’d initiated a surveillance order to begin with. There’s no originating paperwork on it, and no follow-up orders from the offices by any of their agents in charge.”

      “What about any agents assigned to the case?” Brognola asked.

      “There were two and they’re both dead,” Kurtzman replied grimly. “One was killed during an operation a few years ago. The other died mysteriously just three weeks ago by what a medical examiner ruled as, and I quote, ‘a coronary event of indeterminate origin,’ end quote.”

      “Heart attack?” Brognola said. “A thirty-six-year-old FBI agent? Why do I not buy that?”

      “We don’t, either,” Price said. “But it would be very difficult to get an order to exhume his body for a second opinion without very strong, incontrovertible evidence, especially when we don’t think such activities will tell us much more than we know now.”

      “Damn,” Brognola grumbled. “I wish Striker were here right now. I’d bet he’d have some insight.”

      “He hasn’t checked in lately?”

      Brognola shook his head. “No, and frankly I’m growing concerned. Oh, I’m not worried about him personally, mind you.” Brognola dismissed the thought with a wave. “Striker’s proved he can take care of himself without any help from us. What bothers me is that I think something’s about to break wide open, and it doesn’t appear we’re any closer to this thing than we were forty-eight hours ago.”

      Price frowned. “Well, if you have any suggestions on how we might proceed, I’d be glad to hear them.”

      Brognola shook his head. “I’m sure you’ve hit every avenue you know. Tell me more about the plausibility of this theory the SMJ might be working with the JI.”

      “We did encounter some rumblings from British intelligence done by MI-6 agents currently inside Russia that there might be a connection, although none of our own intelligence assets inside Moscow can confirm it one way or the other,” Price stated.

      “Didn’t Kisa Naryshkin originally make contact with us through a British agent?”

      Price nodded and leaned forward in her seat to flip through the folders until she came upon the one she wanted and slid it neatly from the stack. She opened it and thumbed through a couple of pages before finding the details she sought. “Yes, it’s here. The agent’s name is Carson Barbour, former Russian translator for three years with MI-5 before he was transferred to counterespionage in MI-6. And by order of the Crown, no less. Seems he had a few friends in the highest circles of Parliament.”

      “Sounds like,” Brognola agreed.

      “We learned of Kisa Naryshkin’s offer when Barbour first debriefed her about two months ago. He passed the information to our own case officers, who then took it to their superiors at the Company for evaluation,” Kurtzman added helpfully.

      “And then they told their two friends who told their two friends…” Brognola sighed deeply. “I get it. Still, Striker’s last report indicated a leak in the information chain somewhere. I want you two to work up everybody involved with this operation, from the director of the CIA on down. And let’s start with Barbour. Put a tail on him, if you have to, but I want that guy watched. He’s closer to Striker than anyone, and if we can’t be there to help him we can at least cover his backside. What frustrates me most is this thing might have cracked open anywhere.”

      “And isn’t it funny how right after we make the transfer arrangements, the only man who could give us some idea of Kovlun’s activities winds up on an ME’s table in Washington, D.C.?”

      “He’s got a point there, Hal,” Price said, “and it’s too much to be mere coincidence, which is why we started looking at Kovlun.”

      Brognola had begun to skim the reports. “I noticed here that Kovlun went incommunicado about the same time as Satyev, by the way.”

      Price nodded. “There’s no question these men are up to something. We think they’re both in the U.S. right now, and we believe if they’re working together they just might have had a hand in masterminding this deal between the SMJ and the JI.”

      “Okay, let’s assume we’re right about this,” Brognola said. “The only thing I see the JI could offer the SMJ is support for their cause in Russia. Arms and intelligence, primarily, and maybe even some manpower. They might also create a sanctuary network for them in Islamic nations near Russia. But how the SMJ could make a return on the JI’s investment is the biggest mystery, and yet Rostov and Cherenko swore this alliance is based on some terrorist plot against America. None of it makes sense.”

      “Maybe we’re trying too hard,” Kurtzman said.

      Price looked askance. “What do you mean?”

      “Sometimes in a situation like this we just don’t have enough intelligence to form a cogent theory. Maybe what we’re going to have to do is wait it out and see what happens.”

      “I think Bear has a good point,” Brognola agreed. “In his last report, Striker said he felt like he was real close to scooping up Rostov and Cherenko. Since they’re the only ones who can really tell us anything useful, we’re probably wasting good time discussing this. I think we ought to proceed on what we have. Let’s get something in the National Crime Information Center for both Satyev and Kovlun. Make it a minor infraction, failure to appear on a traffic citation, something like that. That should be enough to filter it to all the local agencies but not send up major flags.”