Vektor by Steven Konkoly Read Free Book Online Page A

Greshnev plucked Baranov out of the MVD on his meteoric rise up the FSB hierarchy ladder, placing him as the assistant deputy director of Greshnev’s newly formed Center of Special Operations. By 1995, Baranov had consolidated control of CSN, showing little motivation or ambition to rise any further, which suited Greshnev fine. He had little doubt that Baranov could easily outmaneuver him on the way to the top. Fortunately for him, Baranov was Spetsnaz to the core and couldn’t step away from the action to be bothered with politics.
    “We have a problem,” Greshnev grumbled.
    Baranov cocked his head slightly and waited for Greshnev to continue.
    “I just got off the phone with the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, and he’s not happy—”
    “He’s never happy,” Baranov interrupted, drawing a critical stare from Greshnev.
    “Apparently, they have confirmed that Reznikov’s address in Stockholm was leaked to the CIA.”
    Baranov shook his head. “Let me guess. They think it came from my division.”
    “This was the first joint operation with SVR in years, and it ended in disaster. It’s only natural for them to react this way.”
    “Joint operation? We had a grand total of four people in the Ops Room for that fiasco. Myself, two others that I trust explicitly, and one of the senior techs,” Baranov said.
    “Then our investigation shouldn’t take too long,” Greshnev said.
    “That won’t satisfy our friends in the SVR,” Baranov said.
    “No. It probably won’t. We can expect them to start surveillance on your entire department,” Greshnev said.
    “Maybe we should put Directorate S under surveillance. How many fucking people did they have involved in the operation?”
    “Given the unit involved, not as many as you might think. Ardankin won’t ignore the possibility that the leak came from his side, and neither will his boss,” Greshnev said.
    “It’s the Security Service’s job to investigate issues like this,” Baranov said.
    “Not when Zaslon is involved. I can’t hand this over to the Counterintelligence Service and let them swarm CSN. I’ll handpick a team from Internal Affairs’ (IA) special investigative unit. We’ll keep this low profile for now, and I’ll actively liaison with Ardankin’s SVR goons. Give them what they want, and get them out of our business,” Greshnev said.
    “I’ll tolerate surveillance by our SVR comrades, but that’s all. If they make a move against any of my people, they’ll have a war on their hands…and I’m good at fighting wars,” Baranov said.
    “I know you are, and so do they. I’ll make sure they understand the ground rules. Do you have any ideas beyond the four agents present in the Operations Room during the raid?” Greshnev asked.
    “Our weakest link is technology. In the old days, we had telephones and status boards marked by grease pencil. Throw in a few TVs hooked to video players. Now we have twenty widescreen monitors, hundreds of computers, videoconferencing equipment, visual data boards…all controlled by a network of servers and optics cables that I couldn’t dream of comprehending. The whole setup requires an army of technicians, many of whom I’ve never personally met. The whole fucking place is a liability, which is why I kept the number of people involved in that operation to an absolute minimum. Those fucking idiots at SVR could have updated me over the phone, instead of insisting on a live joint feed. All we needed to know is whether the mission succeeded or failed…and even that didn’t really matter. Unless Reznikov steps foot on Russian soil, we’re on the sideline.”
    “The joint involvement was my idea,” Greshnev said.
    Baranov cracked a smile before responding. “I know.”
    “You haven’t changed since I met you. Always a ball breaker,” Greshnev said.
    “That’s my job these days.”
    Greshnev smiled in return. “That’s why I keep you around. Promoting you out of here would catapult