Moscow, March 5, 1975

 

General Vassili was enjoying his first cup of strong black tea at his desk. Nothing that he knew about should make this a difficult day for the KGB’s Chief of the First Directorate. Still, he would have to cut back on his drinking. Even the best vodka could leave a pounding headache the next morning. Maybe I should also give up cigarettes and spend more time getting back into shape. How hard could it be to also lose 20 kilos if I put my mind to it?

The door opened. He had told his very attractive and sexy office manager to give him 30 minutes of peace and quiet.

He scowled at Maria. “What is it that you didn’t understand about giving me a bit of quiet?”

“General, forgive me, but you must see this right away. The Director will be calling in the next few minutes.”

Stepping forward, she handed him a brief cable from the KGB Residency in Washington. After reading the cable, he slammed his fist on the desk. “Get my operations staff in here immediately.”

As the door closed behind her, he thought, I could lose my job over this. Four KGB senior officers shot dead in front of a bank they were staking out to catch the defector who is stealing from our safety deposit boxes. The men weren’t found until the next day. They were all heavily armed and none of them fired a single shot. The safety deposit box was looted right under our noses. The people who want my job will use this to try and destroy me. My own people are helping them with such stupidity.

He opened his top drawer and took out the file on the defector. An officer on the fast track. Great training record, impeccable family. Father and mother were awarded Hero of the Soviet Union Awards for fighting in Stalingrad against the best units of the German Army. This defector is very, very good, or he is being helped by the CIA. We need to find him in a hurry.

When his team of operational officers were settled in his office, General Vassili stared at them and read the cable from Washington. Then he said, “This defector, Ivan Kalin, must be found and quickly. I want an operational plan on my desk in five hours. Maria, contact our Resident in Iraq. Tell him I’m sending a plane for Yuri Kolenko. No delays are permitted. Yuri must be at the airport when my plane lands. Absolutely no excuses. I don’t care what he is doing or what he has planned. He is to come directly to my office as soon as he lands.”

Turning again to his staff, the General said, “Kolenko and a four-person team will be flying commercial to Minneapolis within 24 hours. All will be flying with business cover aliases and supporting documentation. Get them all the cash and equipment they ask for. Two of the alias sets of documents must include private detective licenses and permits to carry weapons. Yuri can meet with our man in Minneapolis but no one else. Tell our Resident in Washington to cooperate fully with all requests from Yuri. The code name will be Revenge. Yuri will have the authority to cooperate with U.S. authorities only with my case-by-case permission.

“Along with the operational plan that you will finish in five hours will be a plan to get American law and order forces searching for a renegade officer turned bank robber and killer. Also prepare a file for Yuri on both Kalin and his Polish wife, whatever her name is. Take all relatives living in the USSR or Eastern Europe into custody. The charge is crime against the State and treason. Now get out of here and go to work.”