wouldn’t do any good. He could look like a spy easily, and be shot on sight.
They led him into a cinder-block room and handcuffed one of his wrists to a radiator. It was hot, and he knew his wrist would burn soon.
“My hand,” Alec said. “It will scald.”
“Then it would be best if you answer the commandant’s questions.”
The two men left and Alec stood up, looking everywhere for the pressure-relief valve. It was on the far side.
He picked up his metal folding chair in one hand and swung it down against the valve. He missed. He tried again. A blister was already beginning to form on his cuffed hand. This time the chair hit the valve, but the little brass fitting held.
He swung and swung again, the pain in his hand excruciating. Finally, on his seventh attempt, the valve broke, blasting steam like a geyser into the room.
Alec set the chair back where it belonged, and sat down. There were four large blisters just below his wristband that declared him “healthy.”
The door opened, and a tall man strode in.
“It’s like a sauna in here,” the commandant said.
“Broken radiator.”
The commandant took a seat across from Alec. “Alexi Petrovich.”
Alec had never been called that, not even by his fake parents. His surprise must have shown on his face.
“New name for you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s set out some ground rules. You don’t play with my mind, and I tell you the truth.”
“It’s a deal,” Alec said.
The commandant began reading through the file. “You were assigned to Denver with Maria Proponov and Peter Ivanovich. Raised there since you were five. You have the power to implant memories in people’s heads. Most impressive.”
“We all do what we can for the motherland,” Alec said.
“Your last mission didn’t go as planned.”
“My last mission? Oh, you mean with Dan and Laura. I considered the fires I started at the Bremerton oil reserves as my last mission.”
“Tell me about Dan and Laura.”
Alec frowned. “Betrayal. The American military was moving in. Dan created an avalanche and Laura was supposed to pick me up and run. She never did. I was caught in the quarantine.”
“How long did you wait for them?”
“I pulled myself loose from the rubble after an hour or two, but there was no sign of either of them.”
“You’ll be pleased to know that they both—independent of each other—infiltrated a Green Beret team. Sabotaged the groups from the inside.”
“Are they alive?” Alec asked. If they were alive, he’d kill them himself. You don’t abandon your leader.
“They’re either dead or on the run. They tried to fill the entrance to a naval base with another avalanche. That was the plan, at least. According to highly placed sources we’ve been able to gather, they were fighting each other, and Dan created the avalanche to bury Laura. The Americans don’t have the manpower to clean up that landslide yet—every piece of work equipment is being used elsewhere. No one wants to dig through a few hundred feet of dirt to see if they survived.”
Alec had tried to kill Laura, had blamed her for leaving him in the first avalanche. The fact that she had been trying to take down a naval base didn’t make him forgive her. He was her commanding officer.
His eyes met the commandant’s. “What do you want me to do? Send me out there. Give me a job.”
“You can implant memories, eh?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Find a car. I want you to join the exodus of people who are leaving Seattle. I especially want trouble caused at the mouth of Snowqualmie Pass. As long as that road is packed with civilians, the Americans won’t bomb it. Put roadblocks on alert. Tell them there’s a spy among them; tell them we—those damned Russians—have broken through in the south and are heading over to flank them.”
“Is that true, sir?”
“Of course not.” He unwrapped a stick of Rolaids and ate half of them.
“Yes, sir.”
TWELVE
AUBREY DIDN’T THROW UP ON
They led him into a cinder-block room and handcuffed one of his wrists to a radiator. It was hot, and he knew his wrist would burn soon.
“My hand,” Alec said. “It will scald.”
“Then it would be best if you answer the commandant’s questions.”
The two men left and Alec stood up, looking everywhere for the pressure-relief valve. It was on the far side.
He picked up his metal folding chair in one hand and swung it down against the valve. He missed. He tried again. A blister was already beginning to form on his cuffed hand. This time the chair hit the valve, but the little brass fitting held.
He swung and swung again, the pain in his hand excruciating. Finally, on his seventh attempt, the valve broke, blasting steam like a geyser into the room.
Alec set the chair back where it belonged, and sat down. There were four large blisters just below his wristband that declared him “healthy.”
The door opened, and a tall man strode in.
“It’s like a sauna in here,” the commandant said.
“Broken radiator.”
The commandant took a seat across from Alec. “Alexi Petrovich.”
Alec had never been called that, not even by his fake parents. His surprise must have shown on his face.
“New name for you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s set out some ground rules. You don’t play with my mind, and I tell you the truth.”
“It’s a deal,” Alec said.
The commandant began reading through the file. “You were assigned to Denver with Maria Proponov and Peter Ivanovich. Raised there since you were five. You have the power to implant memories in people’s heads. Most impressive.”
“We all do what we can for the motherland,” Alec said.
“Your last mission didn’t go as planned.”
“My last mission? Oh, you mean with Dan and Laura. I considered the fires I started at the Bremerton oil reserves as my last mission.”
“Tell me about Dan and Laura.”
Alec frowned. “Betrayal. The American military was moving in. Dan created an avalanche and Laura was supposed to pick me up and run. She never did. I was caught in the quarantine.”
“How long did you wait for them?”
“I pulled myself loose from the rubble after an hour or two, but there was no sign of either of them.”
“You’ll be pleased to know that they both—independent of each other—infiltrated a Green Beret team. Sabotaged the groups from the inside.”
“Are they alive?” Alec asked. If they were alive, he’d kill them himself. You don’t abandon your leader.
“They’re either dead or on the run. They tried to fill the entrance to a naval base with another avalanche. That was the plan, at least. According to highly placed sources we’ve been able to gather, they were fighting each other, and Dan created the avalanche to bury Laura. The Americans don’t have the manpower to clean up that landslide yet—every piece of work equipment is being used elsewhere. No one wants to dig through a few hundred feet of dirt to see if they survived.”
Alec had tried to kill Laura, had blamed her for leaving him in the first avalanche. The fact that she had been trying to take down a naval base didn’t make him forgive her. He was her commanding officer.
His eyes met the commandant’s. “What do you want me to do? Send me out there. Give me a job.”
“You can implant memories, eh?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Find a car. I want you to join the exodus of people who are leaving Seattle. I especially want trouble caused at the mouth of Snowqualmie Pass. As long as that road is packed with civilians, the Americans won’t bomb it. Put roadblocks on alert. Tell them there’s a spy among them; tell them we—those damned Russians—have broken through in the south and are heading over to flank them.”
“Is that true, sir?”
“Of course not.” He unwrapped a stick of Rolaids and ate half of them.
“Yes, sir.”
TWELVE
AUBREY DIDN’T THROW UP ON
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