Assassin by David Hagberg Read Free Book Online Page A

Alexi Ivanovich?”
    â€œOn the contrary, I strongly recommend that we wait. As you say, when winter comes around and there is not enough power for Moscow the mood in the city will definitely change for the worse. But the blame can be shifted away from you, and back to Tarankov.”
    â€œHow considerate of you,” Kabatov said sarcastically.
    â€œIt is the same advice I gave President Yeltsin,” Yuryn said. “General Mazayev and I happen to agree on this point. But the President insisted that Tarankov be arrested at whatever costs. I believe that order cost him his life.”
    â€œThere was a security leak somewhere,” Kabatov said.
    â€œPresumably. Nor should you believe that there won’t be a leak from this gathering. Such things happen despite our best precautions.”
    â€œThen it will have to come from one of you men,” Kabatov said coldly, his eyes shifting from man to man. “This room was electronically sealed
once I entered. Nothing of a mechanical or an electronic nature can get out of here. The only thing that will leave here this afternoon is what’s in your heads.”
    Again Yuryn shrugged indifferently. “If you mean to actually arrest Tarankov and not simply eliminate him and his followers, then our staffs will have to become involved. The leak will come from there.” The bulky intelligence service chief leaned forward in his chair and tapped the table top with a blunt finger. “If you go after him he will find out, and he will come after you.” Yuryn looked at the others around the table. “He’ll come after all of us.”
    â€œAre we to be held hostage?” Kabatov shouted, thumping his fist on the table. “Should we shut out the lights, crawl under our beds and hand the madman the keys to the Kremlin? Stalin assassinated Lenin in order to gain power. Has that happened again? Are we going to allow our nation to sink to those levels of barbarism? Pogroms. Gulags. Wars?
    â€œWhat do you think the West’s reaction will be when we pack up our tents and abandon the field? Without trade how long will Tarankov or any of us survive? Russian winters have killed more than foreigners. Russian winters have claimed plenty of Russian lives too. He must be taken alive and placed on public trial for all the world to see.”
    â€œIt will tear the nation apart,” Yuryn warned.
    â€œWe will lose the nation if we don’t do it,” Kabatov said wearily. “I didn’t call you here today to argue the point. I called because I wanted you to tell me how to proceed.” He glanced down the long table at Zhigalin. “Where is General Korzhakov?”
    â€œHe sends his apologies, Mr. Prime Minister, but he is busy with the investigation.”
    Kabatov shook his head in disgust. “Has any progress been made since this morning?”
    â€œSome,” Zhigalin said. He opened a report he’d brought with him. “I was given this just before I left the Kremlin. Apparently a man who identified himself as Lieutenant Colonel Boris Sazanov assigned to the presidential security detail, entered the Kremlin last night a few minutes before midnight. He said he was delivering gifts. One of the guards checked the trunk of the man’s car and found several cases of American cigarettes. He got inside the parking garage beneath the Palace of Congresses where he remained for around five minutes. He then left by a different gate.”
    â€œNow we’re getting somewhere,” Kabatov said. “Has this Lieutenant Colonel Sazanov been found?”
    â€œNo such officer exists. Nor do we have much of a description. It was evening, the lighting was imperfect, and the guards said the man parked in such a way that the front seat of the car was mostly in shadow. Their impression was that he was large, under fifty, possibly under forty years old, and he spoke in a cultured, well-educated voice. He was probably a