Black Flagged Redux

Chapter 44





6:25 PM

Sveavägen

Stockholm, Sweden





Major Stepan Eristov studied the city map of Stockholm with their local contact, Dmitry Solomin. Solomin worked for Gazprom's Stockholm branch and had been chosen to provide the assembled Zaslon team with a suitable city location and detailed information about traffic patterns and city routing. He had been recruited by Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service in 1993 and had lived in Stockholm as a Gazprom executive for the past eight years, facilitating SVR operations in Scandinavia with the help of several other Gazprom "employees."

Captain Georgy Rusnak and Master Sergeant Ivan Zhukov joined them standing around the dining room table. The rest of the team, consisting of seven additional "illegals" from northern Europe, sat around watching television or reading magazines. Their weapons and gear had already been checked, double checked, and stuffed into small individual backpacks that sat with each man. They were ready to leave the apartment within seconds.

"I assume major traffic through the downtown area is limited to the typical morning and afternoon hours?" Eristov said.

"If you need to travel south of the downtown area at any time of the day, make sure you link up with the Klarastrand well north of the lower Stockholm interchanges. Any other direction from this location will carry the typical traffic patterns. Morning is always crowded, but unless the target location is south, you should move along nicely. The afternoon could be slower as everyone heads to the suburbs," Solomin said.

"The traffic won't matter getting to the target location. I'm more concerned with extraction. We have orders to try and remove the target, if feasible. Either way, we won't be returning to this apartment. Control has given us a location north of the city in a rural location," Eristov said.

"I know it well," Solomin said.

"Then you should try your best to forget about it," Captain Rusnak said.

"Understood," Solomin said.

Eristov regarded Solomin with caution. The fact that Directorate S trusted him to be in the same room with Zaslon operatives had spoken volumes about the operative, but his participation would go no further than helping them with the last second routing and staying behind to sanitize the apartment. He had already fielded a few questions about Solomin's fate from members of the team, none of whom would have been surprised if Eristov had told them he would be killed and stuffed into the bathtub. Zaslon operatives didn't exist according to Moscow.

Most of them had ceased to exist on the active SVR rosters within the past ten years, and despite the fact that they were assigned military ranks, the ranks were meaningless in the traditional military sense. For the Zaslon operatives, ranks were determined by time in service and operational experience, which translated into a meritocracy-based leadership structure.

They had all served with various military and SVR Spetznaz units prior to their assignment to Zaslon, but Major Eristov didn't hold a university degree or family connections over Sergeant Arkady Greshnev, who sat on the couch sharpening a small knife. Seven years of operational experience separated the two men, which signified a world of difference as an "illegal" operative living abroad.

"We'll sleep in shifts determined by vehicle assignment. The call could come at any time. From what I understand, they're close to making a connection," Eristov said.

"I'll keep the coffee going all night," Solomin said.

"No sleep for the wicked," Zhukov added.

Wicked indeed, Eristov thought. The men gathered in this apartment had been chosen carefully for Zaslon. Life abroad as an "illegal" required a unique psychological profile that would leave most behavioral health professionals stunned. Unlike the KGB "illegals" of the Cold War era, who melted into their surroundings and remained inactive for decades, Moscow had higher expectations for the newer breed. Candidates were carefully screened for the mental resilience required to live under a false identity and the moral flexibility necessary to carry out Moscow's orders.

Eristov had operated in Poland for fourteen years and had spent most of his time tracking and watching industrial sector contacts, both Russian and foreign. A considerable amount of time was spent on the surveillance of Russian business contacts. Several times a year, he participated in an operation similar to this one, but never with this many operatives.

He never received any specifics regarding the target’s background, and like every mission prior to this, he wasn't told why the target needed to disappear. He suspected that Reznikov was significantly more important to Moscow than the rest of the targets Eristov had been assigned in the past. Reznikov had been assigned "capture/kill" status, which was rare. Most of them were designated "kill," but for some reason, Moscow wanted them to try and bring this one back. This made Eristov feel better about their mission. Lately, he had grown weary of assassinating businessmen that had somehow aggravated the wrong billionaire crony in Moscow.

"Make sure the drivers are familiar with the major routes and have their GPS systems programmed with several waypoints. Solomin will help them determine points within several neighborhoods, along multiple routes. We'll fine tune the routes on the way to the target," he said and slapped Captain Rusnak on the back.

"Ruslan, Greshnev, let's take another look at this map, eh?" Captain Rusnak said.

Greshnev slid his knife back into a small sheath along his ankle, hidden under his brown corduroy pants, and stood up from the couch with Sergeant Ruslan Ekel. Ekel would drive the Mercedes Benz Sprinter van that would transport Reznikov north of the city. He would also provide over watch support during the assault team's breach of the residence. Greshnev would drive the Volkswagen Passat that carried the assault team.

The van would arrive first and deposit the support team at various locations along the street. Once the van was parked, the Passat would bring the assault team as close to the residence's primary entrance as possible. They would all attempt to park legally if possible, double parking only if necessary. They wanted to avoid drawing any law enforcement attention to the location, though the support team was equipped with non-lethal means to deal with limited police interference. Ultimately, it would be Rusnak's call regarding how the support team responded on the street, to either civilian or police interference. Moscow had made one thing clear. They should let nothing stand in the way of success on this mission.