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"Sorry, Steve," said the President. "I agree with you in principle. God, how I do. But I've got to give this monster what he wants. Put him back on the line."

With a jab of his finger, Burkow unmuted the telephone.

"Are you there?" the President asked.

"I am."

"If we accept your terms, there will be no blast?"

"Only if you do so at once," said Ekdol. "You have less than a minute."

"Then we agree," said the President. "Damn you, we agree."

"Very well," said Ekdol.

The phone was silent for a moment.

"Where are the explosives?" Burkow asked.

"They are in the back of just another truck crossing just another bridge," said Ekdol. "I just phoned the driver not to deliver them. Now, as I promised, you can come and get me. I'll say nothing of our agreement. But go back on your word, Mr. President, and you will be unable to stop my people in other cities and towns. Do you understand?"

"I understand," said the President.

And then the line went dead.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Monday, 6:45 A.M., St. Petersburg

Orlov touched the button on the speaker outside Rossky's door.

"Yes?" said the Colonel in a strident voice.

"Colonel, it's General Orlov."

The door buzzed and Orlov entered. Rossky sat behind a small desk to the left. There were a computer, telephone, coffee mug, fax machine, and flag on its gunmetal surface. To the right was the cluttered desk of his assistant and secretary, Corporal Valentina Belyev. Both of them stood and saluted when the General entered, Belyev smartly, Rossky more slowly.

Orlov returned the salute and asked Valentina to excuse them. When the door clicked shut Orlov regarded the Colonel.

"Has anything happened in the last day that I should know about?" Orlov asked.

Rossky sat slowly. "A great deal has happened. As to whether you should know-- General, our nation's satellites, field agents, cryptography, and radio surveillance all become our responsibility later today. You have a lot to attend to."

"I'm a general," Orlov said. "My subordinates do all the work. What I'm asking, Colonel, is whether you've been doing more work than you should."

"Specifically what, sir?"

"What business had you with the coroner?" Orlov asked.

"We had a body to dispose of," Rossky said. "A British agent. Brave fellow-- we'd been watching him for days. He took his life when our operative closed in."

"When was this?" Orlov asked.

"Yesterday."

"Why didn't you log it?"

"I did," Rossky said. "With Minister Dogin."

Orlov's features darkened. "All reports are supposed to go to the computer file with a copy to my office--"

"That's true, sir," Rossky said, "in an operational facility. But we are not that yet. We won't be securing the link from your office to the Minister's desk for another four hours. Mine has been checked and secured, and I used it."

"And the link from your office to mine?" Orlov demanded. "Is that secure?"

"You did not receive a report?"

"You know I didn't--"

"An oversight," Rossky smiled. "I'll discipline Corporal Belyev. You'll have a full report-- if I may call Belyev back-- in just a few minutes."

Orlov regarded the Colonel for a long moment. "You joined the Society for Cooperation with Army, Air Force, and Fleet when you were just fourteen, didn't you?" Orlov asked.

"That's right," Rossky said.

"You were an expert sniper at sixteen, and while other young men chose to leap Devil's Ditch from a running jump with a track suit and running shoes, you elected to leap the spikes at the widest point with heavy boots and a rucksack on your back. Colonel General Odinstev personally trained you and a select group in the art of terrorism and assassination, As I recall, you once executed a spy in Afghanistan with a spade thrown from fifty meters away."

"It was fifty-two." Rossky's eyes shifted toward his superior. "A record for a kill in the spetsnaz."

Orlov came around the desk and sat on the edge. "You spent three years in Afghanistan, until a member of your group was wounded on