Assassin by David Hagberg Read Free Book Online Page B

professional.”

    â€œA professional what?”
    â€œAssassin, Mr. Prime Minister,” Zhigalin said. “He drove a new Mercedes sedan, so it’s possible he worked for the mafia.”
    â€œMaybe it wasn’t Tarankov’s people,” Mazayev said sharply .
    â€œTarankov has friends among the mafia,” Zhigalin shot back. “The bastard has friends everywhere.”
    â€œWhat else?” Kabatov asked.
    â€œThe guard at the Palace of Congresses got a partial license plate number, and the city is being searched for the car, as of noon without success.”
    â€œWhy wasn’t I told of this?” Militia General Mazayev demanded. The Militia were the police.
    â€œThe alert was issued routinely for a stolen vehicle,” Zhigalin replied. “General Korzhakov felt that the initial stages of the investigation should be as low key as possible so as to lull the assassin into a false sense of security.”
    â€œSpare me,” the Militia director said. He turned to Kabatov. “I’ll put my people on it. All my people. We’ll find this car and this colonel.”
    â€œHow was the bomb detonated?” Kabatov asked. “If it was set on a timer, it would mean that the assassin knew President Yeltsin’s schedule. That in itself might give us a clue.”
    â€œThe bomb was probably fired from a radio-controlled detonator,” Zhigalin said. “At least that’s the preliminary finding. It means that the assassin stationed himself someplace so that he could see the presidential motorcade show up at the Kremlin. He pushed the button, the President’s automobile exploded, and he calmly walked off.”
    â€œSomeone in Red Square?”
    â€œThere was the usual line in front of Lenin’s Tomb, some early tourists at St. Basil’s and a few people just exiting the Rossyia Hotel, plus normal pedestrian traffic. Witnesses are being rounded up and questioned.” Zhigalin glanced at Mazayev. “Again simply a routine investigation for the moment.”
    â€œIf the man was a professional, as you suggest, then he is long gone by now,” Mazayev said bitterly. “The city should have been shut up tight immediately after the bombing. We would have found the assassin.”
    â€œHe’s back aboard Tarankov’s train,” Zhigalin said. “If you want to find him you needn’t look anywhere else.”
    â€œWhoever this assassin is, there is little doubt that his action was directed by Tarankov,” Kabatov said. “On that there can be no argument. Which brings us back to arresting the sonofabitch. Are there any more suggestions as to how we should proceed?”
    â€œPresident Yeltsin wanted him arrested when he showed up in Nizhny Novgorod,” Zhigalin said. “We can go ahead with that plan.”
    â€œHe won’t show up there,” Yuryn said.
    â€œWhy not?” Kabatov asked.
    â€œTarankov found out that preparations were being made in Nizhny Novgorod for his arrest, so he retaliated by staging the raid on the Riga facility, and then assassinating President Yeltsin.”

    â€œDo you know this for a fact?” Zhigalin demanded.
    Yuryn shook his head. “If, as the Prime Minister suggests, Tarankov did order President Yeltsin’s assassination, that would be the reason. He knew about Nizhny Novgorod.”
    â€œAssuming this is in fact true, how do we proceed?” Kabatov asked.
    â€œBesides plugging the leaks so that Tarankov does not learn of our plans, we have to deal with two problems,” the FSK director said. “The first is the western media. They want to know what happened this morning on Red Square.”
    â€œThat’s already being taken care of,” Viktor Yemlin interjected from the end of the conference table. He was chief of the North American Division of the SVR, which was the foreign intelligence branch of the old KGB. Previously he’d worked