Red Rabbit - Tom Clancy [128]
* * *
ZAITZEV TOOK HIS seat after relieving Major Dobrik. The morning traffic was a little lighter than usual, and he began his normal morning routine.
Forty minutes later, that changed again.
"Comrade Major," a newly familiar voice said. Zaitzev turned to see
Colonel Rozhdestvenskiy.
"Good morning, Comrade Colonel. You have something for me?"
"This." Rozhdestvenskiy handed over the message blank. "Please send it out immediately, on the pad."
"By your command. Information copy to you?"
"Correct." Rozhdestvenskiy nodded.
"I presume it's permissible to use an internal messenger to get that to your hand?"
"Yes, it is."
"Very well. I'll have it out in a few minutes."
"Good." Rozhdestvenskiy took his leave.
Zaitzev looked at the dispatch. It was agreeably short. Encryption and transmission took only fifteen minutes.
MOST SECRET
IMMEDIATE AND URGENT
FROM: OFFICE OF CHAIRMAN, Moscow CENTRE
To: REZIDENT SOFIA
REFERENCE: OPERATIONAL DESIGNATOR 15-8-82-666
OPERATIONAL APPROVAL EXPECTED TODAY, VIA CHANNELS DISCUSSED IN OUR MEETING. REPORT WHEN PROPER CONTACTS ESTABLISHED.
And that meant that operation -666 was going forward. The day before, that notice had chilled Zaitzev, but not today. Today he knew he'd be doing something to prevent it. If anything bad happened now, it would be the fault of the Americans. That made a considerable difference. Now he just had to figure how to establish some sort of regular contact with them…
* * *
UPSTAIRS, Andropov had the Foreign Minister in his office.
"So, Andrey, how do we go about this?"
"Ordinarily our Ambassador would meet with their First Secretary, but, in the interests of security, we might want to try another method of approach."
"How much executive authority does their First Secretary have?" the Chairman asked.
"About as much as Koba did thirty years ago. Bulgaria is run in a very tight way. Their Politburo members represent various constituencies, but only their Party First Secretary really has decision-making power."
"Ah." That was good news to Yuriy Vladimiroviclh. He lifted his desk phone. "Send in Colonel Rozhdestvenskiy," he told his secretary.
The colonel appeared through the dresser door in two minutes. "Yes, Comrade Chairman."
"Andrey, this is Colonel Rozhdestvenskiy, my executive assistant. Colonel, does our Sofia rezident talk directly to the Bulgarian head of government?"
"Rarely, comrade, but he has done so occasionally in the past." Rozhdestvenskiy was surprised that the Chairman didn't know that, but he was still learning how field operations worked. At least he had the good sense to ask questions, and he was not embarrassed to do so.
"Very well. For security reasons, we would prefer that the entire Bulgarian Politburo not know the scope of this operation -666. So, do you think we could have Colonel Bubovoy brief in their party chief and get approval by a more direct route?"
"To that end, a signed letter from Comrade Brezhnev would probably be necessary," Rozhdestvenskiy answered.
"Yes, that would be the best way to do it," the Foreign Minister agreed at once. "A good thought, colonel," he added approvingly.
"Very well. We'll get that today. Leonid Ilyich will be in his office, Audrey?"
"Yes, Yuriy. I will call ahead and tell him what is needed. I can have it drafted in my office if you wish, or would you prefer it to be done here?"
"With your permission, Andrey," Andropov said graciously, "better that we should do it. And we'll have it couriered to Sofia for delivery tomorrow or the day after."
"Better to give our Bulgarian comrade a few days, Yuriy. They are our allies, but they remain a sovereign country, after all."
"Quite so, Andrey." Every country in the world had a bureaucracy, whose entire purpose was to delay important things from