"Then you've ruled out the idea of Striker going in as tourists?" Hood asked.

"Pretty much," said Herbert. "The Russians are still watching tour groups and photographing suspicious individuals in hotels, on buses, and at the museum and other sites. Even if our people never go back, we don't want their photos on file."

Rodgers looked at his watch. "Paul, I'm going to go sit in on the TAS session. I've told Squires he can expect a game plan before he lands at around four P.M., our time."

Hood nodded. "Thanks for everything, Mike."

"Sure," Rodgers said. As he rose, he looked at an antique globe paperweight on the desk. "They never change," he said.

"Who?" asked Hood.

"Tyrants," said Rodgers. "Russia may have been a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma to Winston Churchill, but what I see here is a story as old as history-- a band of power-hungry individuals who think they know better than the electorate what's best for them."

Hood said, "That's why we're here. To tell them they can't do this without a fight."

Rodgers looked down at Hood. "Mr. Director"-- he smiled-- "I like your style. Me and General Gordon."

Rodgers left with Bob Herbert, leaving Hood perplexed and feeling as though he'd bonded with his General-- though if his life depended on it, he couldn't figure out how or why.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Tuesday, 5:51 A.M.,

Sakhalin Island

Sakhalin Island in the Sea of Okhotsk is a rugged, six-hundred-mile-long stretch of fishing villages on the coasts and majestic pine forests and coal mines in the interior, of rutted roads and a few new highways, of ruins of Romanov prison camps and of ancient graves where the most common surname is Nepomnyashchy-- "Unremembered." Situated one time zone west of the International Date Line, it is closer to the Golden Gate Bridge than it is to the Kremlin. When it is noon in Moscow, it is already 8:00 P.M. on Sakhalin. The island has long been a retreat for leaders, many of whom have had dachas, comfortable cottages in the hills, and for eremites who lose themselves in Sakhalin's untouched wilderness to seek God and peace.

The Russians have long maintained a military presence in Korsakov, on the island's southeastern tip near the Kuril Islands, which stretch from the northern tip of Hokkaido to the southern tip of Kamchatka. The islands were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, though Japan still claims the seven-hundred-mile-long string of islands and the nations have argued over them ever since.

The Russian base in Korsakov is spartan, consisting of an airstrip, a small harbor, and four barracks. Five hundred naval troops and two regiments of spetsnaz frogmen and naval soldiers are stationed here, daily air and sea patrols keeping an eye and electronic ear on the activities of Japanese salmon boats.