Jack poured them a fresh cup of coffee, muttered and settled back in his chair.

Peter sipped from cup and looked at Jack. Jack nodded and Peter picked up his story.

“All this time the KGB was frantically searching for us. As careful as I was, one day in Colorado when you were playing at a neighbor’s house, I left by the back door of our rented house and went shopping. KGB killers entered the house and killed your mother and infant sister, Sarah. The killing team was just leaving from the front, when I walked up through the alley to the back of the house. I recognized one of the killers. Someday I swore I would find him and kill him.” Pounding his fist on the chair arm, Peter said in a hoarse voice, “That time is now. I saw this killer in the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown last week and followed him to his house.”

Peter whispered, “You have no idea how much I have missed your mother.”

Jack hugged his father and asked if he wanted to rest awhile, but Peter said, “No, not yet. But go find Le Dinh and see if he’ll produce something a little stronger than coffee.”

When Jack returned with two bloody marys, Peter said, “I just want to live long enough to see justice done and, yes, vengeance as well. There is no evidence we can turn over to the police or FBI. It is almost as if some higher power has delivered Yuri to me in my last days. I’m sure he won’t be leaving the area soon. We’ll take him within the next few weeks.”

Jack looked over at his father and said, “Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll see to him! Now tell me some more of what happened after my mother and sister were killed.”

Sipping his coffee and clearing his throat, Peter picked up his tale with a weakened voice. “Now there were just the two of us. We ran fast. Before everything was computerized, it was relatively easy to change identities. I chose a very American name and slowly added documentation to support the name of Brandon. Although I was born in Russia, my grandmother told me I had a lot of Celtic ancestors. Since your mother was no longer with us, I didn’t have to worry about explaining her slight accent. My American English was native and so was yours. So with our changed identities, we bought a used car for cash and headed east, looking for a place where we could start a stable, if not a normal life.

“We needed schools and a place where no one was interested in our backgrounds. We had plenty of money. In fact, taking care of the money was almost a full-time job for me. We had to pay some taxes, so the money had to come from someplace. Some of my early high risk investments paid off many times over. I paid taxes on our investment income and stashed the rest in a number of safety deposit boxes.

“Fairfax County in Virginia was exploding with new development and an influx of people pouring in from all over the country. Land was cheap and I bought a lot of it. We settled on a house in a Fairfax County development called Kings Park. You may remember some of this. No one cared where you came from. Everyone was from someplace else. Schools were good. And the chaos of rapid growth provided a good place for us to hide and continue to improve our identities.

“Early on I decided to find a contact in the CIA. For the next year I spent all my free time trying to identify the right place to start the destruction of the KGB network assigned to me. The FBI and other organizations with judicial cultures that are focused on making cases for prosecution in the courts just don’t have the liberty or even the desire to look at solutions beyond the law. At the end of a year of investigation and research, I had a few prospects. I needed an ambitious officer who had served a number of foreign tours. From my KGB training I knew the organization and function of the different components of the CIA.

“Before the KGB could warn my entire network of illegal agents, I contacted each of them and gave them new locations and identities. A few years later the CIA, with my assistance, captured all but one of these illegal agents.

“My first attempt to establish contact worked. I picked Frank Batcher, an officer who had just returned from a posting in Vienna. I found his address and one morning, followed him to work. The rest was easy. I made up a package giving complete details of one of the most dangerous agents in my old network. To improve my credibility I included the small clandestine radio given to me by the KGB. In my note I told Batcher if this worked out, I would give him more leads, but he must make no effort to find or identify me, and there must be no leaks to the media. I put my package in his mailbox at night and then called him from a pay phone. When he asked me how he could contact me, I said he couldn’t. I’d call him occasionally, and he could give me information over the phone. From the beginning, we have completed twenty-five years of working together.

“During those years my contact, moving from one assignment to the next, became quite senior in the Intelligence Community. He trusted me and began giving me things to work on. I’m sure, from time to time, the CIA tried to identify me. I don’t know how hard they tried because my information was always accurate and dependable. I believe they made the decision it was better to have my cooperation, instead of identifying the source and taking a chance of losing the information.

“In intelligence terms I was a very good source who asked for nothing in return. You see if all a source wants to do is provide information, he or she can control all contact. If you are doing this for payment or some other tangible form of reward, you will eventually lose control of the contact arrangements. All I had to do was to conceal my packages of information, and then call my contact and tell him where to pick them up. I assure you after the first package of information, there was no hesitation about picking up my packages. Then, too, since there was no money or the usual paperwork involved, there was no Congressional oversight.

“Three years ago my CIA friend moved into a very senior position as the head of the Counter Terrorism Center (CTC). From his position he could provide some protection for his sources. One time when I called him on the number he had given me, he convinced me to meet with him in person. I was concerned but he agreed to my stringent meeting arrangements. There was no need for my paranoia. We talked for several hours and agreed to regular monthly meetings. His proposal was very attractive. He had been impressed by the information I had provided in the past. He said it was some of the best he had ever received but now we needed to make some changes. He said my knowledge of the workings of Russian Intelligence was dated. He wanted to continue our relationship but in another direction.

“Frank told me his work was being handicapped by the increasing liberalism of government officials, elected and appointed, who failed to realize terrorism is not a law and order problem. It is, instead, a war. And different rules had to be applied. The war cannot be won by trial lawyers and words. The FBI and the lawyers in Justice and on the intelligence staffs on the Hill were culturally wedded to the case method, where evidence collection, an indictment, an arrest are followed by a trial. A long process with a high standard for rules of evidence that is not suited to a battlefield. According to Frank, they act as if their own government is the enemy. When people who are trying to kill us are given the protection of the Constitution and our system of Justice, it is a recipe for national suicide. He feels strongly that the law and order process will never win the battle with terrorism.

“Frank wanted a source of assistance and financial support that would never be exposed to anyone with an oversight role or those looking for political spin. The government is full of people who try to impose their solutions in an area they do not understand. Most of them have never heard a gun fired in anger. But they are full of tactical advice and are willing to apply the protections of our Constitution to people trying their best to destroy our way of life. Partisan politics and intelligence operations just do not mix well. The motive of ninety-odd per cent of all representatives and senators is to get reelected and to increase their power positions. The needs of the nation come in a distant second, and truth is what benefits the office holder.

“Frank gave me his speech, a long one for him, nearly two years ago. Frank is the only name he gave me, but he of course knows that I know his full name and address. His full name is Frank Alan Batcher. He knows me as Paul. In return for my help, he was willing to give me the guarantee neither I nor my family would ever be prosecuted for entering this country illegally or for any of the work done in his behalf. Frank knows I am dying and wants to meet with you to discuss a new direction for our work together.

“He also knows I’m trying to track down the man known to me as Yuri. This is the same man who was part of the KGB team that killed your mother and sister. To help protect our arrangement he wants us to send our information to the FBI but to tell him when we have done so. When we finish up here, I’ll make arrangements for the three of us to meet. No one else knows our story.”