“I’m sorry, I seem to have missed something here. You two are acting like this is all perfectly normal. That an agent of a foreign power was sent—without my knowledge—to accompany me on a top secret mission.” He almost asked if Angel had known—but maybe Nadia still didn’t know about Angel. Maybe that one fact had been kept from her.
On the boat she had known his name. She had known how deep he was diving, and she had known how important the one-time pad was. It seemed she’d been better informed than he was.
“Son,” Hollingshead said, his eyes flashing a warning, “please sit down.”
Chapel went to his chair, but he didn’t sit. He rested his hands on the back of the chair because he felt like he might fall down. “This is not how we do things—”
“It is today,” Hollingshead said, and the warning in his eyes was very close to turning into flinty anger. “Agent Asimova has vital intelligence to share with us. And that mission you were on—I wasn’t the one who planned it.”
Chapel was definitely about to fall down. He sat before that could happen.
“It was Agent Asimova who told us where to find that one-time pad. And why we would want to recover it.”
“Nadia, please,” she said. “Call me Nadia.”
Hollingshead was silent for a second. Then he turned to face Nadia and gave her his warmest, most grandfatherly look. It was a good one—he’d cultivated it for years. “Nadia, thank you. I believe you’re here today to brief us on the Dead Hand system. If Captain Chapel is done with his outburst, maybe you could begin.”
“Of course,” she said. “Jim?”
Chapel rested his head on one hand. “I’m listening,” he said.
THE PENTAGON: JUNE 14, 08:37
Nadia fidgeted as she spoke. Chapel couldn’t really blame her for being nervous—how would he feel, after all, if he were invited to give a speech at the Kremlin? He could sense from her body language that it was more than that, however. She was excited to give this presentation. Clearly it was something she’d been involved with for a long time.
“There are three principal components of the Perimeter system. That is, what you call the Dead Hand. The Russian name for it is ‘Perimetr,’ because it guards the entire border of what was the Soviet Union.”
She got up from her chair and paced behind the table. “I was hoping I would have a whiteboard, or perhaps I could give you a PowerPoint slideshow . . .”
Hollingshead gave her an apologetic smile. “For security reasons we need to keep this as an oral briefing,” he said.
“ Konyechno . I mean—of course,” she said. She took a deep breath and launched in.
“As I said, three parts. The first is a shortwave radio station located just outside of Moscow. Station UVB-76, or MDZhB, as it is called now. You may have heard of this station, I believe it is called ‘the Russian Buzzer’ in amateur radio circles. It broadcasts a continuous buzz tone, at a rate of twenty-five tones per minute, and it does so twenty-four hours a day, every day, as it has since the 1980s. This is in effect an ‘all-clear’ signal. Its meaning is simple: Moscow still stands. As long as this signal is broadcast, Perimeter remains dormant and is completely safe.
“The second component is an array of sensors buried throughout Russian territory. There are approximately one hundred and fifty acoustic pickups, seventy-five air pressure monitoring scoops, and fifty electric eye sensors spread across the various republics that formerly comprised the Union. They are all dedicated to one function, which is to register the particular signature of a nuclear explosion anywhere inside the former borders.”
“That sounds like some pretty delicate equipment,” Hollingshead asked. “If it was installed thirty years ago, are you sure it’s still functional?”
“The numbers I listed,” Nadia explained, “are our best estimate of how many of the sensors remain intact. Approximately ten
On the boat she had known his name. She had known how deep he was diving, and she had known how important the one-time pad was. It seemed she’d been better informed than he was.
“Son,” Hollingshead said, his eyes flashing a warning, “please sit down.”
Chapel went to his chair, but he didn’t sit. He rested his hands on the back of the chair because he felt like he might fall down. “This is not how we do things—”
“It is today,” Hollingshead said, and the warning in his eyes was very close to turning into flinty anger. “Agent Asimova has vital intelligence to share with us. And that mission you were on—I wasn’t the one who planned it.”
Chapel was definitely about to fall down. He sat before that could happen.
“It was Agent Asimova who told us where to find that one-time pad. And why we would want to recover it.”
“Nadia, please,” she said. “Call me Nadia.”
Hollingshead was silent for a second. Then he turned to face Nadia and gave her his warmest, most grandfatherly look. It was a good one—he’d cultivated it for years. “Nadia, thank you. I believe you’re here today to brief us on the Dead Hand system. If Captain Chapel is done with his outburst, maybe you could begin.”
“Of course,” she said. “Jim?”
Chapel rested his head on one hand. “I’m listening,” he said.
THE PENTAGON: JUNE 14, 08:37
Nadia fidgeted as she spoke. Chapel couldn’t really blame her for being nervous—how would he feel, after all, if he were invited to give a speech at the Kremlin? He could sense from her body language that it was more than that, however. She was excited to give this presentation. Clearly it was something she’d been involved with for a long time.
“There are three principal components of the Perimeter system. That is, what you call the Dead Hand. The Russian name for it is ‘Perimetr,’ because it guards the entire border of what was the Soviet Union.”
She got up from her chair and paced behind the table. “I was hoping I would have a whiteboard, or perhaps I could give you a PowerPoint slideshow . . .”
Hollingshead gave her an apologetic smile. “For security reasons we need to keep this as an oral briefing,” he said.
“ Konyechno . I mean—of course,” she said. She took a deep breath and launched in.
“As I said, three parts. The first is a shortwave radio station located just outside of Moscow. Station UVB-76, or MDZhB, as it is called now. You may have heard of this station, I believe it is called ‘the Russian Buzzer’ in amateur radio circles. It broadcasts a continuous buzz tone, at a rate of twenty-five tones per minute, and it does so twenty-four hours a day, every day, as it has since the 1980s. This is in effect an ‘all-clear’ signal. Its meaning is simple: Moscow still stands. As long as this signal is broadcast, Perimeter remains dormant and is completely safe.
“The second component is an array of sensors buried throughout Russian territory. There are approximately one hundred and fifty acoustic pickups, seventy-five air pressure monitoring scoops, and fifty electric eye sensors spread across the various republics that formerly comprised the Union. They are all dedicated to one function, which is to register the particular signature of a nuclear explosion anywhere inside the former borders.”
“That sounds like some pretty delicate equipment,” Hollingshead asked. “If it was installed thirty years ago, are you sure it’s still functional?”
“The numbers I listed,” Nadia explained, “are our best estimate of how many of the sensors remain intact. Approximately ten
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