Red Ice

“Your thinking changes when the single driving purpose of life is the avoidance of pain. You begin to doubt everything and abandon all you once valued. You decide that you were a fool. Your whole spectrum was off center. If this is the depths of man’s depravity toward man then you must shift your moral spectrum a good deal lower. You were aiming too high when you sought the center. You expected too much. Obviously if men permit such a system, this is the system they deserve. I had hit, I believe the American expression is, ‘rock bottom.’

“Then, during one particularly savage beating, Yuri’s words came to me. Yes, there was a higher calling than physics—not the caduceus, nor the scales, nor the sword, but—the pen. A reason for living now separated me from the doomed. Eventually I was to see thousands die who had no cause but personal survival. My cause was survival, but more, to destroy the system that established and maintained the camps.

“Yuri cared for my wife and daughter until they, too, were imprisoned. He smuggled us all food and notes of encouragement. Yuri’s words kept me alive and gave me a mission. I endured knowing someday I would fight back. All this I owe Yuri and can never pay back.

“I have never mentioned Yuri by name, but he appears as a character in many of my books. The KGB wasn’t able to establish his identity until recently. They seized him on as flimsy a pretext as they ever need and have transported him to a camp somewhere near the Sea of Okhotsk. Yuri was never a strong man physically. As a special prisoner—a status his association with me will rate him—he can’t last six months.”

Kurganov brought his trembling, gnarled hands before him and stared straight at me through those mournful hound-dog eyes.

“That is why I need your help. You must rescue Yuri from that corrective labor camp in eastern Siberia.”

CHAPTER 3

I whistled two long notes. Q. Frazer Enterprises; the extremely difficult we accomplish immediately, the impossible takes a little longer.

“Lieutenant Commander Frazer, I have never done anything by part measures. You are a top man in your field. I am confident if anyone can effect this rescue, it must be a man of your experience. You must tell me you will do it for me. Yes, you must tell me that.”

His confidence was flattering but was it well founded? Admittedly I had done several prisoner rescues and agent exfiltrations while on active duty. Recently, I’d smuggled families out of East Germany and Iran. This was well beyond all that—by contrast those operations were wading-pool exercises. This was a Channel swim.

I rubbed my right shoulder.

But where else could Kurganov go? The Central Intelligence Agency wouldn’t touch a bombshell like this in its present emasculated form. Moreover, there was nothing in it for the Company. Bluntly, Yuri had only sentimental value.

Had anyone else asked, I would have politely declined. Access to Siberia was too limited, the number of risks from man and weather too high, the probability of success too low. But this giant had six decades of Russian suffering etched on his face and it was a heavier burden than any man deserved.

“Mr. Kurganov, I’ll look into it. There are many reasons why such an operation may not be feasible. I must know all you know about camp life, where Yuri is held, as well as what intelligence I can gather on the region before I can give you a conclusive answer. If it can be done, I will find and train the men to do it. I assure you. One other thing, this is going to call for considerable resources.”

Sato translated and Kurganov smiled. It seemed such a shock to see a face like that distorted into a smile. I had the urge to hug him, it must have been the Russian influence.

“Lieutenant Commander, I am a rich man… a best-selling author with much, too much money. You will receive…” he named a sensible number “…plus expenses. I will cover the invoices for anything that needs to be done.”

He clearly was not overpaying me personally. I liked his emphasis on the job rather than the rewards. Professionalism in this business did not equate with big dollars. Kurganov had done his homework; he knew Frazer.

I don’t know who had convinced him he was employing a genuine professional and not some useless driftwood. What would I do with the money? Hell, I’d only spend it. For Kurganov, I’d have agreed to try it for a good bottle of vodka. Well, nearly.

But perhaps he was right and I was the genuine professional he thought my record indicated. Already I was weighing different plans. A thousand questions were caroming about within the inner armor of my brain. Most were about the rescue… some were about Kurganov.

CHAPTER 4

Through Sato I explained, “The project contains three basic problem areas. They are, one, determining Vyshinsky’s location; two, arranging transportation to and from a point within striking distance of that location; and three, recruiting and training a raiding party.”