“Then there’s the propaganda component. With each attack, the PRF puts out a gratuitous statement, describing NATO as an imperialist organization, propped up by global corporations, committed to war, conquest, and profiteering, among a host of other false charges. Each attack gets them even more news coverage.
“On the Internet, armies of trolls and bots repeat the lies. They attack anyone with a pro-NATO stance. They put out fake news stories to amplify their message, to appear like they are part of a broad international movement. Their goal is to throw NATO into chaos and to cause the citizens of its member countries to question the organization’s ultimate value.”
She was stunned. “But to what end?” she asked.
“To prevent NATO from effectively responding to an invasion.”
“By whom?”
Harvath took a long pause before responding. “Russia.”
Jasinski couldn’t believe it. “You’re telling me Russia is behind the attacks on our diplomats?”
Harvath nodded.
“And the attempted sabotage of American military equipment in Norway?”
He nodded again.
“How can you be so sure?”
He looked at her. “Because I personally put the bag over the head of the Russian embassy official who provided this information.”
CHAPTER 15
* * *
“Wait,” she said. “You kidnapped a Russian embassy official?”
“Technically, he was Russian Military Intelligence.”
“GRU?” she asked, using the popular acronym for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Army, Russia’s largest and most secretive foreign intelligence service.
He nodded once more. “Colonel Viktor Sergun. He was operating as Russia’s military attaché to Germany, out of their embassy in Berlin.”
“And you just snatched him off the street?”
“No. From his apartment.”
“I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”
“Believe it.”
Jasinski shook her head. “There’s no way NATO condoned something like that.”
“I wasn’t working for NATO at the time,” he stated.
“Then whom were you working for?”
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
Jasinski shook her head again. He was exasperating—all the subterfuge, all the double-speak. “I’m going to go out on a limb and assume it was for the United States. I’m going to go even further out on that same limb and assume it probably involved more consulting, right?” She drew the word “consulting” out as if it was some sort of slur.
Harvath let her get it out of her system. He knew what was in her file. He knew she hated the Russians just as much as he did, if not more. She also believed in the rule of law—as did he. But she wasn’t yet at the point where she was willing to bend one to beat the other.
“By the way,” she continued, “what does consulting even mean? That the law doesn’t apply to you? That you can do whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want—all in the name of winning? Is that what consulting is?”
He waited, to make sure she was finished, and then asked, “Do you remember the bombings in Turkey a little while ago—one of which killed the U.S. Secretary of Defense, along with several members of his staff as well as his protection detail? Or the female suicide bomber who hopped the fence and detonated at the entrance to the White House?”
“Of course.”
“Those were Sergun. He trained and dispatched the terrorists responsible. There were other attacks on Americans as well. Suffice it to say, we felt justified in grabbing him.”
“Where is he now?”
“In a very deep, very dark hole.”
“From which, of course, he’s not free to leave,” she commented.
“That’s the problem with holes,” Harvath remarked. “Some are so deep that you can’t get out of them.”
Jasinski paused. Her head was spinning. She didn’t know what to say. He was all but admitting that the United States was still running its rendition program—a program globally condemned and one that the U.S.A. had long since claimed to have shut down.
She had several questions, but she wasn’t sure she wanted the answers. Fuck, she thought. Why had she agreed to this assignment? Harvath could not only tank her career, he could also land her in prison. No one could just flout international laws the way he was.
“I’m not comfortable with this,” she said.
“Well you need to get comfortable,” he replied, “because this is the way it is, Monika. We fight here, on these terms, right now, or the entire continent of Europe becomes a battlefield. Poland, Germany, France, all of it.”
“What are you talking about?”
Harvath reached for the tiny copper kettle Nicholas had brought out at the end of the meal and poured himself a strong cup of Turkish coffee.
The more time he spent with Monika, the more he liked her. She was the next wave. She would help steer her country and NATO going forward. She just didn’t know it yet. Soon, he hoped, she would. He just needed more time to get her there.
“We interrogated Viktor Sergun for months,” said Harvath. “He had been involved in a lot of different things during his career with the GRU. One of the more interesting things we learned was a rumor he had overheard at headquarters in Moscow.”
“A rumor about what?” she asked.
“Russia’s plan to invade the Baltics.”
She was visibly taken aback. He was talking about Poland’s neighbors. “The Baltics?” she replied. “When?”
“We don’t know,” he stated, taking a sip of coffee.
“What about how they plan to invade?”
“We don’t know that either.”
“What the hell do you know, then?” she exclaimed, exasperated.
Harvath focused on what, at the moment, he thought she should know. “According to Sergun, the GRU was charged with paving the way for the invasion. In addition to a full-blown propaganda campaign, they had activated what the old-time Soviets called “useful idiots”—disenfranchised nationals in NATO countries with certain political and worldviews—who were susceptible to influence.
“They based the PRF on the Marxist-Leninist terror groups of the 1970s—similar to the Red Brigades. Once promising individuals were spotted and assessed, they were recruited and indoctrinated. Then they were brought to Russia and trained in paramilitary tactics—weapons, explosives, and guerilla warfare. After that, they were sent home and told to await further instructions.
“Sergun didn’t have all the details, but he warned that once attacks on NATO personnel, equipment, or installations started happening by the so-called PRF, that was our sign that Russia was preparing to move on the Baltics.”
“So we basically know the PRF is a distraction. Is that it? We have no clue where they’ll strike next or when, and no timetable for the Russian invasion of the Baltics?”
Harvath nodded.
Jasinski dropped her napkin down on the table and stood. Pacing, she tried to figure it all out.