“How comparable?”
“Extremely.”
She couldn’t believe it. “You’ve privatized the espionage business.”
“Some things work better away from all the red tape.”
“But what about accountability? Some semblance of oversight?”
“We answer to the client.”
“What does that even mean?” she asked.
“It means we’ve been given a certain amount of flexibility in getting our job done.”
“We’re back to creativity and tossing out the rulebook, aren’t we?”
“My boss likes to say that in every operation there’s above the line and below the line,” he replied. “Above the line is what you do by the book. Below the line is how you get the job done. We do what we need to do to get the job done.”
“Is that what you plan to do here? With Sparrman?”
“We’re going to work our way up the food chain. First we’ll start with Sparrman. Then we’ll go after the person above him. And so on and so on.”
“And what if Sparrman doesn’t want to give up the person above him?” she asked.
“He will.”
“How can you be so sure of yourself?”
Harvath smiled again. “Experience.”
“This isn’t a fact-finding assignment. You’re going to kidnap him, aren’t you? Just like that GRU agent you snatched in Berlin.”
“You don’t have to come along.”
“Look around you,” she said, holding out her arms. “I’m already here.”
“So are the Russians, Monika.”
He was right. She couldn’t argue with that. Taking a sip of her coffee, she looked away. She now understood they were not there to confirm suspicions. They had already decided that Sparrman was working with the Russians.
“You know I read your file,” he continued.
It seemed to her an odd thing to say. “And?” she asked.
“And I know you hate the Russians every bit as much as I do.”
“You read my file and you think you know me?” He had touched a raw nerve and pissed her off. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know you work in the terrorism intelligence cell, but have been instrumental in uncovering multiple Russian spies at SHAPE. That doesn’t happen by accident. That happens because you want to stick it to them. Because you want to cause them as much pain as possible. You’ve got a score to settle.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
But he did know what he was talking about. And he could see it written all over her face.
They sat without speaking for several minutes, before she finally broke the silence. “They killed him,” she said. “It was the Russians. I don’t care what anyone else says.”
CHAPTER 34
* * *
Her eyes were moist as she fought to keep her emotions in check. It was incredibly painful and difficult to discuss.
Harvath didn’t push. Monika was the one who had to decide if she wanted to go into detail. This was completely up to her.
“In April and May of 1940, the Soviet Union committed a series of mass executions of Polish military officers, politicians, and intellectuals. Among the so-called intellectuals were police officers, lawyers, priests, doctors, bakers, and schoolteachers. In all, twenty-two thousand were executed and their bodies were dumped in mass graves in the Katyn Forest outside Smolensk, Russia.
“The murders were carried out by the precursor to the KGB—the Soviet secret police known as the NKVD. It was done with Stalin’s full knowledge and support.
“For years, the Russians lied and dissembled about their involvement. They first blamed the Nazis. Then after the fall of communism, they blamed the no-longer-existent Soviet Union. Finally, they stopped discussing it altogether, saying that because the perpetrators were all dead, there was no point. They refused to fully accept the blame, much less discuss reparations.
“As far as the Polish people were concerned, it should have been classified as a war crime or genocide. Instead, the Soviet-era cover-up was simply swept under the rug and largely ignored. Poland, though, kept pushing.
“Because it refused to give up, Poland forced Russia to finally and officially accept its role. Of course, in its proclamation the Russian Duma blamed Stalin and a collection of party officials, but it was at long last recognition of the evil that had been done.
“That was eight years ago—the seventieth anniversary of the massacre. As a gesture of what was believed to be goodwill, Russia agreed to allow a party of Polish dignitaries to visit the site of the massacre and pay their respects. It was supposed to have served as a commemoration ceremony—a closing of a very painful wound.
“What no one knew, at least not in Poland, was how much deeper and more painful that wound was about to be made.”
Jasinski took a moment and several deep breaths in order to maintain her composure. The worst part, for her, was what came next.
“On April 10, 2010, eighty-nine passengers and seven crew members boarded a Polish Air Force Tupolev TU-154 jet in Warsaw for the flight to Smolensk. On board were the President of Poland and his wife, the last surviving President of Poland in Exile during the Soviet occupation, Chief of the General Staff, as well as the Commanders of the Polish Army, the Polish Navy, the Polish Air Force, and the Polish Special Forces, President of the National Bank of Poland, eighteen members of Parliament, the Deputy Minister for National Defense, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, prominent clergy, and several relatives of victims of the Katyn massacre.”
Once again, she breathed deeply. Her eyes were damp with tears as she said, “In addition to other dignitaries, there were a handful of key aides along to make sure the trip went smoothly. One of them was my husband, Julian.
“According to the Russian reports, the aircraft tried to land in a rapidly deteriorating weather situation. There was a dense fog, which reduced visibility to less than five hundred meters. Allegedly, the plane came in dangerously low, its left wing striking a birch tree, which caused the plane to roll and crash into the woods near the airport, killing everyone on board.
“Despite their claims that it was just an accident, the Russians stonewalled the investigation at every turn, refusing to turn over the flight recorders, refusing access to the site, and refusing to produce key pieces of the wreckage.
“Only through incredible international pressure did Russia finally begin to cooperate. By then, a large portion of the Polish people believed that Russia was complicit in the crash—that it had been a massive political assassination, a decapitation strike.
“The Polish government that came to power in the aftermath of the crash was much more favorable to Russia than its predecessor. That fact is undeniable, and further supports the theory that the Russians caused the crash.
“Many people in Poland would rather close the book on the crash, to not pick at the scab, as it were. To this day, it is still a very hotly contested subject in Poland.
“That said, three years ago a different government came to power—one that does not hold Russia in such high regard. The new government decided to reopen the investigation and has gone so far as to exhume the remains of the deceased President.