“Not enough.” Yusoff leant so close that Stroyev could smell beer and onions on the man’s breath. “He must be prepared to go to hell and back, and bring that pig to me, alive. We need to ensure we have the right levers to pull to make this submariner dance to our tune.”

Stroyev nodded, and rubbed his chin. “He has a family… poor. Perhaps we could tell him that when he has completed his mission, his record will be wiped clean, and his family will be well looked after – a new house, medical care?”

“If he thought there’d be a happy ending, then anything is possible.” Yusoff sat back in his chair, his fingers steepled on his stomach. “But of course, once he has given us Mironov, then he is a risk. No one can be left alive – no loose ends.”

Stroyev held his hands open. “Of course.”

Yusoff grinned. “I don’t care what it costs – make it happen.”

*   *   *

Uli Stroyev typed his plans on his computer. He made lists: what skills he would need, from where, and how much it would cost to procure his assets. He also had to factor in which government officials and other bureaucrats he would need to bribe… or threaten. Yusoff had said he didn’t care what it cost. That made success the only factor to consider.

He sat back, thinking through the logistics. One difficulty was getting his man inserted onto Mironov’s crew list without being detected. But once that was achieved, then he could take control and steer the vessel to wherever was required. The other challenge was extracting Valery Mironov from a submersible in an underground sea.

Stroyev knew people could be transferred safely from a submersible even at extreme depths. They had docking tubes, and the larger models even had facilities built in to jettison a lifeboat pod.

But how would you extract someone from below the water that was also below the earth? He rubbed his chin, his mind whirring furiously now.

Yusoff owned a petroleum company that had a small fleet of oil exploration ships. They needed to bore into the seabed all the time, and then extract oil from the depths. The technology was already there; it just needed to be adapted.

He would call an emergency meeting with the mining engineers. It might be possible – no – it would be. If Mironov could be extracted alive, then good. And if he died, well, Yusoff would be pissed but at least he would have the pleasure of knowing his old foe died while being crushed in a pipe miles below the ocean.

Stroyev reached for the phone; it was time these overpaid technocrats pushed some technological boundaries.

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4

Two Months Later

“All right, I’ll bite, so, other than me, who made the cut for the Fantastic Voyage team?” Greg asked.