Kokorin nodded somberly. “Very true, General.” He shook his head. “Since Petrov hasn’t yet turned the aircraft over to a foreign government, he’s almost certainly in league with a powerful criminal cabal.” He rubbed a weary hand across his bald scalp. “Probably the Mafiya or some other organized crime group.”

Zhdanov noticed that some of his advisers looked even more worried by that possibility. That was no surprise, he supposed. Many of Moscow’s political and military elites had at least an arm’s-length relationship with the capital’s wealthier crime bosses. Like was attracted to like, he thought cynically. Now, no doubt, some of them were nervously considering the prospect that those ties might suddenly land them in very hot water, at least if any of their Mafiya “friends” turned out to be involved in Petrov’s scheme. He made a note to himself to consult with Yumashev after this meeting. Many of the FSB’s agents were probably on the take, too, but an investigation might still bear fruit—especially if it became a choice between a firing squad on the one hand or losing a little extra under-the-table income on the other.

“We’ll worry about who’s helping the traitor later,” he said impatiently. “Right now, I want your best guesses as to where the PAK-DA could be.”

In answer, Rogozin tapped a control on the computer keyboard at his place. The wall screen lit up again, this time showing a digital map of the entire world. “Determining its hiding place will be very difficult,” he warned. “Fully fueled, the stealth bomber prototype had a maximum range of eleven thousand kilometers.” On the screen, a bright red circle centered on the bomber’s last-known position, the refueling rendezvous point over the Yenisei River in central Russia, rapidly expanded outward until it reached a radius of eleven thousand kilometers. “And, as you can see, that means almost all of the world’s landmasses and major islands were within its reach.”

Zhdanov nodded grimly, astonished despite himself at what he saw. Petrov could theoretically have flown anywhere in all of Russia, North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and most of Australia. It was an enormous area, containing dozens of separate countries and close to two hundred million square kilometers, much of it sparsely populated forests, jungles, steppes, deserts, and mountains.

“Fortunately,” Rogozin continued, “we can rule out certain major areas immediately.” He touched another key. Europe blanked off the large digital map. “Given Europe’s population density, high level of law enforcement, and the sheer numbers of other civilian and military aircraft operating inside its tightly monitored airspace last night, there is virtually no chance that Petrov could have flown anywhere there without being detected. Nor could he have hoped to land unobserved.”

Another swipe by Rogozin’s fingers eliminated a second large swath of the globe, this time the Middle East and Africa.

“How can you eliminate those regions as possible hiding places? Especially so quickly?” Zhdanov objected. “Huge portions of Africa and the Middle East are only thinly peopled. And in many of those same areas, there are almost no functioning governments, only warring tribes and rival religious and political factions.”