They knew some things for sure. Someone had sunk the Russian boat. Someone, likely the same bastards, had sent the Miami to the bottom. Someone, again likely the same culprit, had tried to do the same to the Toledo but had been blasted to hell by Glass and his crew. If they knew all this to be true, news of some nefarious plot by a renegade Russian naval commander didn’t seem too far-fetched after all.

There had been rumors coming out of the Kola for several years about secret buildups. Every time someone checked, all they could get were pictures of those rusting hulks bobbing at the pier in Polyarnyy. There had been signs that raised the curiosity of several analysts. Uncharacteristically for post–Cold War Russia, security at all the bases in Kola was tight. So far, they had not been able to get an operative inside any of the bases, and they had been trying for over a year. Why such a freeze-out to protect a fleet of disintegrating hulks?

Donnegan was familiar with Admiral Alexander Durov, Commander of Submarines, Russian Northern Fleet. He was an irascible old Russian sailor. When his name surfaced, Donnegan pulled his file, just to make sure he was refreshed on the man. The photograph showed a tall, white-haired man, a few years older than Donnegan, born and raised in some small town with an unpronounceable name down on the Black Sea. His father had been a hero of the Soviet Union for actions at the siege of Stalingrad during the Great Patriotic War. The younger Durov went through the Soviet Naval Academy and then submarine training at the Leninsky Komsomol Higher Naval School of Submarine Warfare at Leningrad. He had done well, impressed the right people, and had risen rapidly in the ranks while Sergei Gorshkov was building the Great Red Banner Northern Fleet during the sixties and seventies. His attendance at the Grechko Naval Academy in the late seventies marked him for flag rank.

Donnegan shook his head again. No doubt, the fall of the Soviet Union had been hard on Durov and his submariners. Donnegan could identify with that emotion.

He eased down into his chair and sipped from his cup of coffee. This Durov was an interesting man. From what Donnegan could tell from the dossier, he was not a communist at all, but held very strong patriotic views about Russia. He spoke frequently and boldly about the country’s rightful place in the world order. He was strongly opposed to President Gregor Smitrov’s economic reforms and appeasement of the rebels who sought to further splinter the country.

The man was driven, but to what end? Could he be mad enough to destroy his own new boat, go after American subs, and risk World War III in the process? Was there something going on up at the Soviet sub base that threatened world peace?