With a slight hangover and a deficit of morning caffeine to rouse me from an evening talking to "Teledyne" Dennis over vodkas and beers, Embassy Joe filled me in on what he'd come up with that night.
"Dima is basically a very low man on our totem pole of interests but he has some heavyweights behind him that he probably doesn't even know about or really understand who they are and what they are doing...or hoping to do. He is who he says he is: an agent for marketing these materials to potential Western buyers. He is competing with a much darker gang of ruthless "sales agents" that don't care who buys their products and they are willing to do anything for the sale. Dima is a bit of a "front" for them so that there is an air of credibility and a bit of a diversion from the sinister work they are trying to do...sell anything that can get them rich."
"What about the scientists? Are they bad guys, too?"
"From what we have now, we think that the pure science folks aren't really involved so much. He is lumping another group into his SCIENTIST category. The general managers, technicians, operators, industrial/administrative staff from some of the nuclear facilities are in this group...because they still have signature power to go against procedures and release materials to whomever they wish. Throw in a handful of former KGB agents and military generals into the mix(some loyal and some resentful of the New Russia) and you have a very unstable situation."
"Israeli, German, British, French, and even Polish intelligence contributes to the state of our understanding of what is going on. German sensitivities to all this are among the strongest since former East German military folks know a hell of a lot of what's going on in these facilities...including missile defense circles. The Israelis, concerned that they are a prime target of whatever could be fabricated from such material, predictably, have more Mosad agents wandering about than we can keep track of. Some will know that you are being courted by Dima and that you are with us. That doesn't mean that they will be friendly to you if your paths cross, though."
"I suppose you have photos or a film of me with Dima yesterday?"
"Yes"
"You're shitting me! That fast?"
"The whole Marriott is bugged and cameras are everywhere. We just don't have a way to know what kind of crazy shit is going to happen or when crazy people like you and Dima are going to show up. You told us you were there and we pulled the camera and recordings to confirm."
"I must have a big file...don't I?"
"Let's say that you have an active file that has gotten rather thick. If you knew who was hovering around you from time to time, you would probably drop everything and go back to Kennewick, WA."
"Meaning?!"
"I wouldn't worry about it. You've been a pain in the ass for the Poles from the beginning. Polish Intelligence is now hyper-Americanized but there are a few former Bloc agents that would have liked to haul you in and scare you a bit."
"Let me guess. A Krakow based agent that is a friend of my wife's ex?"
"No comment. Back to Dima and his Siberian adventure...or yours. We suggest the following general scenario with details to be worked out:
First: You accept Dima's offer conditionally and tell him that there are three very northerly tracked Soyuz rocket remains that your buyer is interested in. We have located them on the maps he gave you but he did not circle them as options for you. We are somewhat interested in photos and whatever you might be able to bring back from any or all of these sites...if anything is left of the debris. You get a big bonus if you can remove anything and pack it with you. We'll also have you do some soil sampling. Easy stuff. Put some dirt in a special bag and seal it up. A word of caution, though. There is an average of 10% of unburned fuel that comes down with a jettisoned stage of a Soyuz rocket. That shit is very toxic. Do not approach the rocket debris if there are a lot of dead animals (or people) around the site.
Second: We'll give you names of people we want you to meet and deliver things to in Nowosibirsk and maybe some other places. I'll know more soon. We should have you build your presence in Nowosibirsk to take the attention away from your "camping" in the wild looking for Soyuz third stage rocket debris.
Third: Tell Dima you will meet him in Nowosibirsk. You will be escorted by train from the Polish border to Nowosibirsk by two or three of our friends. Get to know them a little. They know the dark counterparts to Dima and will have some involvement with this little journey. Trust me on that. Dima is not prepared to safely deal with the lawlessness of where you are going and they are. They also want to see if Dima's competition might show up to assess you and see what you are worth to them."
Fourth: We need to get some tools of the trade to you and make sure you know how to use them. Tracking devices, bugs, cameras, drugs, tools for the rocket dismemberment (just in case), and some light weaponry (no guns, though).
Fifth: The naive businessman shtick can be scrapped for space travel enthusiast and special metals trader. You can use your friend, Dennis, as one of your potential buyers. He has agreed to that.
(Dennis had told me this during our vodka and beer chasing session. He also said that the dumb American thing was a no-go for this trip in his opinion. Instead, he gave me a bunch of sanitized spec sheets - no company names - on titanium, aluminum, and some other rare earth metals needed for achieving super-strengthened alloys. He thought I should bone up on some of the lingo. He also had a good idea suggesting that I promote discussions with the university or other economics institutes in Nowosibirsk for cooperation in starting a joint MBA program there. Dima would get excited about something like that. This would be similar to the early MBA Program where the Krakow Industrial Society and Jagiellonian University in Krakow Poland had negotiated in 1990 with the University of Detroit. I taught General Management and Operations Management courses at this institute for two semesters.)
And finally the Sixth: "Fifi 66" from anyone's mouth at any time means they are with us.
"WHAT!? Fifi 66? Where did you come up with that?"
"Your first pet in 1966 in Guthrie, Oklahoma when you were living on Warner Street in what you have always called, 'The Pink House'".
"Wow! You do know a lot about me."
"You talk a lot and say more things than you realize."
"And you are listening, obviously. By the way, will I have a shoe phone with me?"
"Not exactly a shoe phone. We'll know where you are if our guys lose you in the forest and if the signal goes on and off, we'll know that you're trying to let us know that something is wrong and need help. If it goes off and stays off then something is really wrong...like you've been cremated or buried along with the tracker."
"Thanks Joe. I feel a lot better. How much are you paying me for this?"
"A little more than usual. This is a promotion. But you are on probation."
***
Joe asked me to come back later that afternoon for my "tool kit". Leaving the embassy through the Consular Division door, I met Jane, the former USIA Director, who was still in Warsaw but leaving soon. She saw me, pulled me into a small room and angrily ran me down for taking another job "out of my league".
"Bill, please! This isn't your stuff to do. You aren't trained for it. They don't give a rat's ass if something should happen to you."
"But Jane, this seems like a different kind of job...."
"You're goddamned right it is a different kind of job, you idiot!"
"No, I mean it seems that there are a lot of folks that will be interested in where I am and what I am doing. In fact, I'm getting some tracking devices, bugs, cameras and other tools for this one...."
"Shit...it was a promotion but you carry all the risk here. I'm not sure what you will be doing but I will suggest one thing now. If you get into deep shit and sense that you are in grave danger, then hide and slowly make your way back on your own. Buy an open ended train ticket before you leave that allows you to get on any train anywhere in the former Soviet Union. Take a lot of cash...or at least more than usual. You've obviously won the trust of Joe and his crew enough so that they are bringing you into this anti-terrorism group. But this is the type of work for (she pauses) someone different from you. That's all I'm going to say. I fly out this week. When you get back to Warsaw, they will have my office address in DC. Write to me. By the way, I started out in Joe's crew and couldn't take it. The suggestion I gave you worked in my case when I got into trouble many years ago."
Jane hugged me for a little longer than usual and then walked away.
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