The Judas Project. Don Pendleton

only wish this opportunity had come sooner. You should not have spent so long in that place.”

      “I’m not going to argue that point,” Kirov said. “Karl, I know that if there had been any other way, you would have worked something out. I heard how you fought to have me transferred to a better prison. You have been more than a friend, Karl. More than anyone had a right to expect. For that I thank you.”

      Federov nodded. “Drink your coffee, then we can get out of this place. We have a long drive back to the city.”

      “Plenty of time to talk, eh?”

      “Yes.”

      “Good. Then you can tell me who I have to kill for you first.”

      For the first time since he had entered the office Viktor Kirov’s eyes glistened with enthusiasm. Seeing the expression on his friend’s face, Karl Federov smiled.

      He had his man, the one individual who would help his cause and who would do exactly what Federov wanted without argument, or regret.

      Kirov was thirty-two years old. The last three had been spent in a bleak, isolated prison run by the FSB and overseen by guards who were little better than some of the inmates. These were political dissidents, men, and some women, who posed a threat to the regime, as well as recidivists and terrorists, or possible terrorists. The government played no favors. If someone was an embarrassment, dangerous, with agendas that might create an outcry, then the isolationist regime in the prison would either kill or cure. Once the subject was out of the public eye, it became easier to handle.

      Viktor Kirov was a special case. He had been trained by the very people who finally locked him away. Kirov was a natural-born killer, a man who had no conscience when he was given his orders. It didn’t matter who the victim was. Man. Woman. Child. Kirov handled them all with the same cold detachment. His training had come from the best, and Kirov surpassed every one of his instructors. His supreme test came when he was given the order to kill one of the other applicants on the training course. The man had failed to reach anything like the required standard. His dissatisfaction turned him sour, and he began blaming everyone at the training academy for his poor achievements. His grievances were looked on with disapproval. He managed to alienate everyone around him. His vehement lack of control drew the attention of the academy director, a man who despised those who showed weakness. The director solved his problem easily. He chose the best pupil from the course to carry out his order.

      He chose Viktor Kirov.

      He was confident he had picked the right man. Kirov’s performance during the course had been exceptional. The director, who prided himself on his ability to know his trainees, had reached the conclusion that Viktor Kirov was head and shoulders above the rest. Kirov was an individual. Something of a loner. A borderline sociopath. And his instructors had reported that Kirov had that rare quality capable of making him an excellent assassin. There was a cold streak within him, a propensity for violence that he kept close to the surface, contained and controlled until it was needed.

      Three days after the failed trainee had quit the academy, the director asked Kirov into his office. He told Kirov what he wanted in no uncertain terms, explaining that he would not allow the man to spread malicious rumors about the academy. An example had to be made. Kirov understood what was being asked of him and accepted the mission without hesitation. The director offered assistance, but Kirov declined.

      Two days later there was a small report in the press that a young man had been found dead in a back ally. His neck had been broken during an attempted robbery. No one had seen or heard a thing. The case was never solved and became just another statistic.

      The director found the man’s wallet on his desk a day later.

      Kirov was immediately recruited into a special section of the FSB and over the next few years his particular talents were well used. He became his section’s chief assassin, traveling extensively to carry out wet work for his employers. Europe, Africa, even the U.S.A. played host to Viktor Kirov. He was never caught. He was that good. Perhaps too good. He began to enjoy his work too much. His masters tried to rein him in, but all that achieved was to make him strike out at them. He began to kill off the books. He turned rogue, killing anyone sent to bring him in.

      In the end he was caught. His secret trial was swift, and the verdict all too obvious. He was sentenced to thirty years in one of the department prisons located in the bleak extremes of eastern Russia, a dark, harsh place where the worst of the worst were confined. Not executed, but placed in solitary exile in case the long-term needs of the state might one day require their dubious talents.

      Kirov was one of those instances. He had been created and trained by the state as a killer. There was always the need for such skills. So Kirov was hidden away so he might reflect on his aberrations and consider his future.

      Karl Federov had been Kirov’s only true friend. Over a number of years an unspoken bond had developed between the two men. Neither could explain it, nor ever tried. During Kirov’s good years in the section, he and Federov spent social times together. Drinking. The occasional female. It was an odd matching, but it worked for them both. Each accepted the other without question.

      When Kirov was detained after his rogue episode, Karl Federov was the only one who spoke in his defense. He used his influence in attempts to have Kirov freed. Nothing came of it. In the end even Kirov advised his friend to give up, realizing he was going to be locked up. The day he was taken away Kirov’s last request was to be allowed to speak to Federov, thanking him for his loyalty. For his part Federov said he would get Kirov out of his cell one day.

      And now he had.

      Kirov would be the ace up his sleeve, Federov’s own secret weapon to be aimed and guided and allowed to use his unique talents against those who stood in Federov’s path as he homed in on Black Judas.

      A few nights after Kirov had come on board, Federov drove them around the city while he explained his intentions. Kirov listened in silence until Federov completed his announcement about Black Judas. He had smiled, then actually laughed out loud.

      “Karl, you have become even more devious than before I went to prison.”

      “Does that mean you are in?” Federov asked.

      “Of course. Did you think I would pass up the opportunity to screw the bastards who locked me away? I owe my loyalty to you, Karl, and no one else. In the whole of Russia there was only one man on my side. Karl Federov. My friend.” Kirov peered through the sleet-covered windshield of the car, pointing to neon-lit signs that indicated a bar. “We can use this Black Judas to take back what those bastards owe us. Karl, let’s go and celebrate. Then in the morning we can start to fuck the Kremlin.”

      Federov parked the car outside a nightclub. As he led the way inside he laid a hand on Kirov’s shoulder.

      “By the way, Viktor, I have a passport and visa for you.”

      “Am I going somewhere again?”

      “Yes. This time your trip will be much more comfortable and pleasant. The U.S.A. You will go as a member of the Russian diplomatic service. Using the information we have from the Black Judas files, I want you to start tracking down the sleeper teams and eliminating them.”

      “Didn’t you explain that these men carry the codes needed to operate the system?”

      “Three teams of two men. Only one pair is actually required to activate the project. Now that we know where they are located, we can dispense with four out of the six. It reduces the chances of Krushen gaining control. If we take charge of the surviving team, we have the upper hand.”

      “It sounds good when you say it, Karl. Let’s hope it works that way.”

      “Have I ever let you down, Viktor? Given you reason to doubt me?”

      “I have to admit that has never happened. In fact you are the only person I know who can be trusted.”

      Federov nodded. “Let’s drink to that, my friend. To you and me and Black Judas.”

      CHAPTER