CHAPTER 1

Sed'maya Ognevka, Russia

Konstantin Chernenko, newly appointed General Secretary ofthe Communist Party of the Soviet Union, stood high on the cliffsoverlooking the point where a part of the Volga River empties into the Caspian Sea. He and other high ranking Communist Partyofficials, as well as several other persons of the KGB and those inpolitical power within the Soviet Union, were gathered together toattempt to formalize a plan whereby the Soviet Union could takeover the United States and several over countries of the world. Itwas an extremely ambitious plan, but many of those gathered therewith him had said it could be done. He wasn't entirely sure aboutthat. He was more skeptical than convinced.

He stood gazing at the Volga and out across the Caspian Sea.Since he had taken over the Communist Party and was running theSoviet Union, he had already had to make many difficult decisions.But in his mind, he felt the decision he was trying to make now wasperhaps the toughest of all and undoubtedly the most far ranging. Ifsuccessful, the Soviet Union would rule most of the world and beable to take advantage of all the resources of the world.

It was March, 1984, just a month after his taking over power.And now he was being called upon to make a decision that couldpossibly rock the world if it succeeded, or could possible bringdown the Soviet Union and all who had participated, if it failed.Deep within himself he felt the chances of failure were far greaterthat those of success. He stood there thinking deeply whilecontinuously running his fingers through his thick shock of snowwhite hair. He wondered why he was being forced into makingdecisions about the operation that had been proposed. It was anoperation that was almost incomprehensible to him. It was so farranging and complex that he did not see how it could succeed.

Three days later, after much discussion and haggling, as wellas much consternation on the part of Chernenko, the groupunanimously voted to authorize the First Chief Directorate of theKGB to proceed with plans they called Hayaro. Translated intoEnglish it meant Surcease. Surcease, the operation that was intendedto give the Soviet Union power over practically all the world. TheEnd of the old order and the Beginning of a new order of theworld. Could it be done?

Adolph Hitler had had visions of Germany ruling a largeportion of the world and look what it got him. Chernenko still hadmany doubts about the success of it, but he had no doubt aboutthe consequences if it failed. He thought they ought to take somelessons from history. If it failed, the Soviet Union would likelyno longer exist as it was now. Being a hard line Communist, heshuddered to think what might happen if the Communist Partylost control of the people of the countries around the world thatit controlled. Would there be chaos in those countries? Maybe, ormaybe not! Time would tell.

Chernenko would give the Director of the KGB, the wordallowing the First Chief Directorate head to proceed, even thoughhe felt it was a long shot. Chernenko did not know at the time,but he would not see the ending of the plan. His tenure in officewould be short, brought on by his death a year later. It would bethe chore of his successor to see to it that the plan continued on.Mikhail Gorbachev would have it fall into his lap.

* * *

Langley, VA-CIA The Headquarters of theNational Clandestine Service-Office of SpecialOperations-Directorate of Intelligence

Three years later:

He sat looking at the message which had just been handedto him. Charles Minter, Deputy Director and Head of SpecialOperations, a part of the Division of the National Clandestinepart of the CIA, the section of the Central Intelligence Agencythat carried out many clandestine or covert operations around theworld. Charles was the head of the division of Special Operations.This was the most secret of the secret, only known to exist by a fewindividuals within the CIA headquarters. He was often referred toby those who worked for him, or with him, as 'Number One.'

He was mystified by the message he held in his hand. It wasfrom Bellnikov, alias Tom, French, and probably a few others alias'along the way. General Genada Bellnikov, Chief of the FSB's(formerly called the KGB under the old Soviet regime) mostfeared Directorate, the First Chief Directorate, the one which wasin constant struggle and combat with the U. S. Russian FederationBlock section of the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence. Therewas only one person in the FSB with a higher ranking. That wasthe Director. Bellnikov's rank of General assured him of all theamenities and the good things the old Soviet Union, now theRussian Federation, could provide. Most would say he had it made,a good bet to become the next head of the FSB.

It had taken the message five days to get to Minter. This toldhim the message was extremely important. Bellnikov had takenextra precautions in getting it out. He had avoided the normalchannels and the high speed radio transmissions that could originatefrom several different countries. The air waves were constantlymonitored so it could be intercepted, and possibly decipheredbecause of the recent defection of the man from the US NationalSecurity Agency. The Soviets were keeping the defection quiet forthe time being. But the CIA and most of the intelligence worldknew. The US public was also being kept in the dark for the timebeing. At least they wouldn't admit the defection until such time asit began to leak to the news media.

But word of the defection had leaked to Minter and he'd beguntaking precautions, advising everyone to be extremely cautiousin what they sent out the normal ways. He didn't want any of his"illegals" being compromised if he could help it.

He was especially proud of his network of illegals, those whogave their lives to live in dread and fear, possible exposure, andalmost friendless. The illegal operatives were subject to prosecutionby the government they worked against, while legal spies were notsubject to prosecution. The legal spies, if uncovered, would simplybe sent home following a lot of negative rhetoric by the discoveringcountry.

It had taken him years to get his band of illegals to the pointthey were today. He had painstakingly selected and trained thosewho would be out there stealing or gathering the secrets needed bythe CIA to help keep the enemy at bay. These people had a lonelyexistence in a foreign country, just trying to make a contributionto hold the other side in check until the US could get a strongerhandle on them, perhaps breaking their economy.

That could be done if the people and Congress would just giveus a little more time and more money, he thought. And especially ifthey would just keep their noses out of the business and let us doit the way we need to. That would be the best thing they could do,he thought. Those in Congress who thought they knew everythingabout how intelligence should be gathered and how to go about thedaily actions needed to gather it, had their heads up their own rearends, Minter thought. The hang-up was that Minter had no way todecode the message. He had put the boys in analysis on it, but thatdidn't assure success. They might never figure it out. Even with allthe acres and acres of computers, reportedly in the neighborhoodof ninety acres, the NSA hadn't been able to break it as of yet.

Too many keys in the cipher machine it seemed. If it went abovesixty keys, it would be...