Page 18 of Dead Fall

“That’s all they can part with. And believe me, it took some work. But these are good soldiers. They’re tough, they’re committed, and they know what they’re doing.”

“Have you seen their jackets?”

“I have. In a SCIF at the Pentagon,” said Nicholas, referring to a sensitive compartmented information facility. “Operational security for the Ukrainians is paramount and they’re beyond protective when it comes to the identities and backgrounds of their fighters. They don’t want the Russians being able to track down and harass their families.”

“Understandable. But if I agree to do this, when do I get to see their files?” Harvath asked.

“Presumably, when we get to Ukraine.”

“We?I thought I was going in alone.”

“I’ll be lending my expertise to their Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Intelligence, the GUR, in Kyiv.”

“In a personal or professional capacity?”

“Technically, personal. But let’s be clear, the U.S. and its allies want to see that Ukraine continues to be given every possible advantage. Devastating Russia’s military, without a single drop of NATO blood being spilled, is a win-win for the West.”

Harvath couldn’t have agreed more. His only wish was that he was being offered a greater role in hastening Russia’s defeat.

The entire time he had been in Bucharest, it had felt like sitting on the bench during the Super Bowl. Just over the border in Ukraine, the largest land war since World War II was taking place. A valiant population was fighting for its very survival against one of America’s oldest and most despised adversaries.

While Harvath enjoyed, and was quite skilled at, eliminating Islamic terrorists, there was nothing he took greater pleasure in than killing Russian operatives, whether they be spies, soldiers, or Wagner mercenaries. The Russians had, after all, been behind the brutal murder of his mentor, one of his closest colleagues, and most importantly, the love of his life before Sølvi, his deceased wife, Lara.

There was no length he wouldn’t go to in order to further exact revenge and inflict as much pain as possible on Moscow and its goons. Throw in innocent Americans who had been executed at the hands of Russian forces, as well as one who might have been kidnapped and could currently be in need of rescue, and it made for an assignment that Harvath would have great difficulty turning down—no matter how poorly staffed, supplied, or supported it was.

The only problem was that he hadn’t come to Warsaw for a mission briefing. He had come to spend a long-overdue weekend with Sølvi. That said, he knew that if Anna Royko was still alive, time was of the essence.

“When do we leave?” he asked.

“It’s a forty-five-minute hop from here to the airport in Rzeszów. Then it’s a long, slow grind by overnight train. A detachment from the GUR has been assigned to accompany us. The sooner we get going, the better.”

Harvath looked at his watch. Sølvi would be boarding her flight any minute. “I need to make a call.”

CHAPTER 5

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Special Agent Jennifer Fields poked her boss when she saw that the valet for the Commodore Yacht Club had come on duty.

“We’re on,” she said, watching as the young man opened his stand.

Carolan looked up from his phone and replied, “Let’s give it a few minutes. We don’t want to be the first ones in.”

Fields readjusted her sidearm and settled back in her seat. “Just so we’re clear,” she stated, watching the valet, “I think everything you told me about this place is next-level lunatic.”

“Too bad your opinion doesn’t matter. Which goes double for mine.”

“Are people that stupid?”

Carolan shrugged. He was in a mood.

“So, you’re telling me,” she continued, “that I could start a conspiracy tomorrow, in which Martin Luther King, Coolio, and Flip Wilson weren’t dead, but had been put into suspended animation, just waiting for the right moment to be brought back in order to convince the Black community to support something crazy, like the U.S. government going back on the gold standard?”

“I think you’d have better luck with Tupac and Bernie Mac over Coolio and Flip Wilson, but yes, with the right resources, that’s what I’m telling you.”

Fields shook her head. “That’s insane.”

“Life is complicated. People want a sense of control over the uncontrollable. They want easy answers, and conspiracy theories fill that need.”