The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

'Fowler is vain, he is far weaker as a man than he would like people to know, he
is personally insecure but he is not a fool, and only a fool would believe this,
particularly after meeting me and talking with me.' Narmonov handed the
translation back to Golovko.
'My analysts believe otherwise. We think it possible that the Americans really
believe this.'
'Thank them for their opinion. I disagree.'
'If the Americans are getting a report saying this, it means that they have a
spy within our government.'
'I have no doubt that they have such people – after all, we do also, do we not?
– but I do not believe it in this case. The reason is simple, no spy could have
reported something which I did not say, correct? I have not said this to anyone.
It is not true. What do you do to a spy who lies to us?'
'My President, it is not something we look upon kindly,' Golovko assured him.
'That is doubtless true of the Americans also.' Narmonov paused for a moment,
then smiled. 'Do you know what this could be?'
'We are always open to ideas.'
'Think like a politician. This could easily be a sign of some sort of power-play
within their government. Our involvement would then be merely incidental.'
Golovko thought about that. 'We have heard that there is – that Ryan, their
deputy director, is unloved by Fowler . . .'
'Ryan, ah, yes, I remember him. A worthy adversary, Sergey Nikolay'ch?'
'He is that.'
Definitely something a politician would remember,
Golovko thought.
'Why are they unhappy with him?' Narmonov asked.
'Reportedly a clash of personalities.'
'That I can believe. Fowler and his vanity.' Narmonov held up his hands. 'There
you have it. Perhaps I might have made a good intelligence analyst?'
'The finest,' Golovko agreed. He had to agree, of course. Moreover, his
President had said something that his own people had not examined fully. He left
the august presence of his chief of state with a troubled expression. The
defection of KGB Chairman Gerasimov a few years ago – an event that Ryan had
himself engineered, if Golovko read the signs correctly – had inevitably
crippled KGB's overseas operations. Six complete networks in America had
collapsed, along with eight more in Western Europe. Replacement networks were
only now beginning to take their place. That left major holes in KGB's ability
to penetrate American government operations. The only good news was that they
were starting to read a noteworthy fraction of American diplomatic and military
communications – as much as four or five percent in a good month. But
code-breaking was no substitute for penetration agents. There was something very
strange going on here. Golovko didn't know what it was. Perhaps his President
was right. Perhaps this was merely the ripples from an internal power-play. But
it could also have been something else. The fact that Golovko didn't know what
it was did not help matters.
***
'Just made it back in time,' Clark said. 'Did they sweep the wheels today?'