"No, but they know something-they probably saw the whole thing," Palcikas said irritably. "A helicopter gun battle, unidentified planes flying low, reports of bomb blasts-they saw something. Hopefully, after their corral is rebuilt, they'll be a bit more helpful."

"At least the follow-up interviews will be a pleasure," Kolginov said with a smile. He looked at Palcikas and saw the trace of a thin smile on his lips. "I see you thought so too. It's funny-when she's on the podiums or on the evening news, she looks like a crackpot. In person, she's quite attractive and-"

"I think you need a dunk in the Salantai River," Palcikas said. "You're overheating."

"And you weren't, General?" Kolginov said with a laugh.

"You're crazy, Alexei."

"You're right, of course, sir. What would a woman like that see in an old war horse like you?"

"Thank God your ritual days are approaching," Palcikas said. "There's nothing like some good old-fashioned debasement and sacrifice to instill discipline in a man."

The Mil-8 swung overhead, translating to the touchdown area, but Palcikas flashed a sign to the pilot. Instead of landing, the crew chief on board threw the rappelling rope out the portside cargo hatch, and the pilot brought the aircraft to a hover about ten meters above ground. "Up you go, Major," Palcikas said.

"What? You want me to climb up, under a hovering helicopter?"

"You are the expert on love, I am the expert in soldiering," Palcikas said with a laugh as the sound of the rotors overhead nearly drowned out his voice. "We'll see who has the greater power. Follow me!" At that, Palcikas gave a loud cry, jumped onto the rope, and began climbing. In less than thirty seconds he was on-board the helicopter and waving for Kolginov to follow.

But as he leaned out the cargo door watching his young aide pull himself up the rope, he caught a glimpse of Anna Kulikauskas watching

them from inside the house. Her hand was upraised, and he thought he saw her wave at him. It was hard to tell if she did, but the thought of her doing so made something stir within him.

The scale aircraft model, ten meters in length and almost the same in width, dominated the conference room on the second floor of the main research center of the sprawling Fisikous Institute. The model, hanging from hydraulic arms a few meters above the conference table, looked nothing like a conventional plane. Its wings were undulating curves tapering to narrow points; its body was blended into the wings, giving it a huge manta-ray appearance. Its cockpit windows were narrow slits on the upper side near the pointed nose. Two sharply angled vertical stabilizers jutted out of the tail section, atop narrow engine exhausts.

The Fisikous Institute of Technology was one of perhaps a dozen government aircraft-design bureaus in the former Soviet Union. Like the High Technology Aerospace Weapons Center (HAWC) the U.S. government had in Nevada, Fisikous was an ultrasecret, highly classified development center that the official Soviet government never officially or publicly acknowledged. Normally, products developed in the compound housing the Fisikous labs in Lithuania went to one of the other major design bureaus-Sukhoi, Mikoyan-Gureyvich, or Tupolev, among others-in Moscow for incorporation in their designs.