Read Someone Else's War: A Novel of Russia and America Page 60

CHAPTER NINETEEN, MOSCOW, CHRISTMAS 1996: AN AMERICAN GUEST

  The problem with offering to spy for a foreign nation is that, once you start, it’s very hard to stop. Short of death, there are only three real ways out. One is to get caught or let yourself get caught. Another is to go to your own government and confess. You risk prosecution and worse, but there’s always a chance your government might find some use for you, at least temporarily. You might be doubled back, used to provide false information to your foreign masters. This carries obvious risks of its own, since foreign masters tend to expect such reversals. A final way is to vanish.

  Richard Hahn, an eighteen-year counter-intelligence officer of the Central Intelligence Agency, was now considering option three. He’d begun working for the Russians just after Gorbachev withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan, to garner a little extra money to cover child support and a girlfriend’s occasional extravagances. So far, he’d pocketed about $150,000, earned by providing the name of an occasional Russian working for the CIA, or in process of recruitment by same. Of late, however, Hahn hadn’t been giving the Russians much of anything. Unfortunately, this meant that the Russians hadn’t been paying him much, either.

  He needed to start sending them more. During one of his computer-gleaning sessions, he came across a short memo written by an officer in Vienna. He skimmed it briefly. It concerned some hung-over, drug-addicted slut, former Los Alamos engineer, who claimed she was on her way to Russia to develop tactical ground sensors for their Army. She had pestered the embassy to set up a meeting so she could offer her services. She wanted to be some sort of “bridge” between Russia and the United States. Apparently, Lyons at first dismissed her out of hand. A few hours later, he’d changed his mind and had tried to locate and detain her, but she’d vanished, presumably to Russia.

  Jay Lyons’ recommendation: No further action required.

  Richard Hahn smiled briefly. The world was certainly full of strange people. But Christmas was coming up. He needed cash. At least, it would be something to give the Russians.