Deep Sleep (Devin Gray #1)(104)

“Have we confirmed it was Farrington?”

“No. But this has his team’s fingerprints all over it,” said the general. “From Baltimore to the torture job on the two morons in Indianapolis—and now this mess. Given Berg’s involvement, it has to be Farrington.”

“And they brought the helicopter pilot along, obviously.”

“Nobody anticipated that. Sanderson and Farrington have never operated in the field with outsiders,” said the general.

He supposed it could have been worse, though he wasn’t sure how. The camp had been operating at its new full capacity when it was attacked. Thirty-nine sets of siblings representing the third generation, along with one of their parents, had been on site. Not only did this represent a sizable blow to the currently active network, but it also potentially endangered the network by further exposing it to Devin Gray and Karl Berg, who would undoubtedly be combing the news and law enforcement bulletins for missing person reports or deadly accidents involving teens and adults, or, in some cases, child and parent. You couldn’t just hide the fact that someone was missing in the United States.

“Where are the survivors?”

“The team that had been watching over Orlov’s gear at the airport scrambled to arrange transportation out of there. Everyone has been evacuated to a friendly site just off the lake, about a mile south of the Missouri-Arkansas border. That includes the bodies. We’re going to keep them there until things settle down, then start smuggling people out in small groups. They managed to retrieve all of the files from the buildings before the fires got out of control, so that’s one less thing to worry about.”

“Big consolation,” said Pichugin, sensing that Kuznetzov was building up to something.

“There’s one thing that’s going to be a significant problem,” said the general.

“Just one? What is it?”

“Senator Filmore’s wife and son were killed during the attack. They were found along the trail between the boat landing and the camp. Both of them shot twice in the chest.”

That was how it could be worse. They’d just lost one of the highest-placed sleepers in the entire network.

“We have to assume that Farrington’s people have identified them. They probably documented the entire raid with video cameras. They’ll go after the senator at some point, if only to fuck with us,” said Pichugin. “Has Senator Filmore been notified?”

“None of the families have been notified,” said the general. “And strict communications protocols have been activated at the evacuation site.”

“I see,” said Pichugin. “Hold off on any notifications, and under no circumstances are any of the sleepers to make contact with anyone. I need to think about how we’re going to deal with this, particularly the senator’s situation.”

“Understood,” said the general. “May I make a suggestion?”

“Of course.”

“I think we need to strongly consider eliminating Senator Filmore and his daughter,” said the general. “Put all of their bodies on a private jet and crash it.”

“Was the daughter at the camp?” asked Pichugin.

“Yes. She survived.”

He didn’t see any way to salvage the situation with Senator Filmore at this point. If Farrington’s people started circulating pictures of the wife and son, the media and federal law enforcement would start asking questions that nobody could adequately answer. They needed to get ahead of that. A tidy plane crash with all four of them on board would snuff out the fire generated by the pictures.

“Make it happen. Quickly,” said Pichugin. “And have Alexei prepare a list of the entire network. I want the sleepers broken down into three categories: critical, essential, and nonessential to FIREBIRD. Then break each of those categories down into public sector or private sector. Any operative that can be easily identified represents a risk to FIREBIRD and an opportunity for Farrington and Berg. I expect them to sharpen their sleeper-hunting skills in the upcoming days. The fewer liabilities we have out there—the better.”

“As in permanently retire?” said the general.

“I mean recall them. Give them twenty-four hours to get on a plane and leave the United States behind,” said Pichugin. “Why? What did you think I meant?”

“I was just making sure,” said the general.

“Don’t get me wrong, Grigory,” said Pichugin. “If we activate a recall of noncritical sleepers, anyone that doesn’t comply with the order will experience the other type of recall.”

“Understood,” said the general.

“I’ll need to speak with the big man regarding a recall. He may not want to dismantle that much of FIREBIRD yet,” said Pichugin.

“Will you be coming to Moscow, then?” asked the general.

“No. He’s in Saint Petersburg. I’ll arrange a meeting this afternoon,” said Pichugin. “And Grigory? A few more things.”

“Yes?”

“First. Have we made any progress toward finding Gray, Berg, or any of their suspected associates?” asked Pichugin.

“Kazakhstan filed a Red Notice for Karl Berg and Richard Farrington yesterday. Russia will file one today, citing the same charges related to their alleged involvement in terrorist attacks against state facilities. Both of them are actually suspected to have been involved with the attack on the Vector Institute in Novosibirsk and the downing of two Russian helicopters in Kazakhstan,” said the general.