“What information do we have on these studies?”
“There’s nothing to know about them. As far as the scientific community is concerned they don’t exist. And it gets worse. None of the treatments are being done at local hospitals. The patients have been transported to an unknown location, supposedly for sterility issues and radiation danger.”
“They must have contact with their families, though. I agree that sick people are attached to their doctors but they’re even more attached to spouses, children, and parents.”
“No physical contact and no phone contact. Only email.”
“Do we have those emails?”
“Some. Personal accounts with minimal security.”
“Did you find anything of interest?”
McCormick nodded. “The correspondence coming from the patients is fairly nonspecific with regard to family history. Also, when you run it through the computers, it’s pretty clear that the writing styles have changed when compared to older emails.”
“That doesn’t seem surprising,” Azarov said. “Certainly a severe illness—particularly relating to the brain—could explain that.”
“If the writing got worse, yes. But one guy jumped up three grade levels based on our software.”
“So someone else is writing their correspondence,” Kennedy said.
“We’re one hundred percent sure of that.”
“It’s possible that they’re so sick from the therapy that they’re having someone else type. Or even using voice recognition that could produce stylistic changes.”
“Sure, but all of them? From day one? And finally, one of the patients has been returned to her family dead. Her body was accompanied by a nice letter that the docs had done everything they could and no one seemed inclined to ask questions beyond that.”
“I appreciate what you’ve done here,” Kennedy said. “But where does it lead?”
“We’re working on that. The connections are kind of tenuous and we—”
“You Americans are so blinded by your sense of morality,” Azarov said, causing McCormick to fall silent. “Your passion for individual rights, your democracy. Even here at the Central Intelligence Agency, there are dark places you can’t see into.”
“But as a Russian you can?” Kennedy asked.
“There are many therapies for terminal patients, some well supported, some untested or experimental, and some completely rejected by mainstream science. Each has its own risks and each can leave a patient incapacitated for different lengths of time and to different degrees.”
“He’s experimenting on them,” Kennedy said.
“Of course. It would be completely natural for him. And even more so for Sokolov. They’re men who leave nothing to chance and are completely devoid of any sense of compassion. Women, children. It wouldn’t matter to them. They’d want to test the effectiveness and side effects of every possible therapy.”
Kennedy leaned back in her chair and turned her attention to McCormick. “What was the condition of the woman who died and was sent back to her family?”
“A more or less inoperable brain tumor.”
“And now not only is she gone, but so is one of Russia’s top brain surgeons. This suggests to me that Krupin has a similar tumor and that the surgeon attempted to remove it. Perhaps using some technique that’s still experimental. When he failed, he became nothing more than a security risk.”
“If that’s true, then we’ve just rearranged the European chessboard in a big way,” McCormick said. “We’ve been working under the assumption that Krupin’s just saber rattling in Ukraine. But if he’s facing serious health issues with long-term ramifications, he’s going to need a diversion. If I were him, I’d order my army to invade tomorrow.”
“I strongly agree,” Azarov said. “Krupin won’t care about the human toll or the long-term cost to Russia. His only concern will be creating a nationalist wave through the country and ensuring that everyone is too distracted to notice his decline.”
Kennedy turned her attention to a blank section of wall near the door, trying to sort through what she’d just heard.
“So war,” she said finally.
“And not just war,” McCormick said. “Victory. The Ukrainian military isn’t going to be able to stand against Russian forces and NATO isn’t going to get involved to protect a nonmember country.”
“Then I’m afraid we’re back to the question Mitch asked in our last meeting. Can we find him?”
“Unlikely,” Azarov said. “Krupin is very much the master of Russia. If he wants to hide, I doubt either you or his enemies in the Kremlin will ever find him.”
“Anton?” Kennedy said.
“I hate to admit it, but Grisha’s right. Krupin doesn’t just know how to operate the Russian machine, he designed and built it.”
“Then we’ll shift our focus. Anton, you said that only most of the people contacted about taking part in Krupin’s fake medical trials agreed. Right?”
“Yeah. Some are terminal and have had it with treatments. Some are responding to other therapies. Others don’t want to leave their homes and families. What are you thinking?”
“We need to set up surveillance on them. If Krupin’s already killed one of his guinea pigs, he’s likely to kill more. Eventually he may need to replenish his supply.”
“I like it,” McCormick said, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “If we can’t track Krupin, we track the people he’s victimizing. It plays right into his psychology. They’re meaningless. Why would he be as thorough obscuring their movements as he is his own?”
“There’s no guarantee they’re experimenting on these people in the same place as they’re treating Krupin,” Azarov said.
“No guarantee, but a good bet,” Kennedy countered. “The simpler a situation is, the easier it is to control. There’d be no reason to spread facilities and medical personnel across the country. All right. We have a plan. Keep me apprised of your progress.”
Understanding he’d been dismissed, McCormick rose. “We’ll be able to prioritize the patients within a few hours. Getting physical surveillance on them will be a lot harder. I’ll let you know where we’re at before you leave tonight.”
They watched him go and Azarov spoke just as the door clicked shut.
“He has to die, Dr. Kennedy.”
“I understand your position, but—”
“This isn’t just about what he did to Cara. The level of destruction he’ll be willing to unleash in order to maintain his power has no limit. I know him as well as anyone, and I can tell you that he won’t think twice about firing nuclear missiles at Europe or even the United States if he believes that it could help him maintain power for one more day.”
Kennedy examined the man, but there was nothing to see that she didn’t already know. In the context of his home country, he was the best operator in the world. Was that enough to risk directly involving him?
“Would you be willing to go to Russia for me, Grisha?”
His tone was guarded. “To do what?”
“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “The goal of the United States is to act in a way that minimizes chaos around the world. That may mean taking extreme action or it may mean taking none at all.”
“It occurs to me that if you decide Krupin has to die, I would be a convenient instrument. A Russian with no real connection to America and a clear reason to want him dead.”
She smiled. “I’d be lying if I said that hadn’t crossed my mind. But something else that’s crossed my mind is the possibility that with Krupin gone Sokolov could take over. And that wouldn’t serve my purposes. So my second question is can I trust you to wait for a green light that may never come?”
“Yes.”
The chance that he was telling the truth was probably less than fifty percent, but with Rapp in Ukraine, Azarov was the best weapon she had.
CHAPTER 28
SOUTHERN UKRAINE