HAWK's life. She knew that. Dvornikov had all he needed to know to find out about the American officer in Fisikous himself, and then he could just walk away. But Dvornikov had called this meeting, not she. Dvornikov wanted something.

Maybe he was willing to trade for it. His government contacts would pay big money for this information, especially if it meant destroying a political foe or helping set up a new political friend. The power struggles in the new regimes created from the shattered Soviet Union were endless.

"What else might you put in my novel?" he finally asked.

"Here's where the story could start getting interesting," Greenfield said. "This could be the first novel where the good guys and the bad guys actually help one another."

"Now this certainly is fiction."

"Fine. Then make up your own story, Boris," Greenfield said irritably. "Listen, I'm very busy.

Can we-?"

"Not just yet. I asked you here not to discuss novels, but the situation in the Baltic." He motioned to an insulated pot and two cups, and poured very rich, dark coffee into two china cups. "You see? I've even prepared a small libation for us." He withdrew a silver flask from his coat pocket and offered some to Greenfield, who declined. It was an interesting gesture, since Sharon knew that Dvornikov disliked alcohol except as a policy-making tool directed against others. This had to be part of the act. Of course he knew that she would refuse a drink, so Dvornikov could have just plain water in that hip flask. Or maybe things here in Moscow were driving him to drink..

"As you know, Sharon, my country imports much food, dairy products, eggs, and other such necessities from our former Baltic republics as well as from other former Soviet states. We would like to keep this arrangement in operation, as distasteful as it is to many former Soviet bureaucrats who dislike paying huge sums of hard currency to a former republic. But there appears to be a move afoot to perhaps reunite one or more of the Baltic republics with its parent republic."

"Reunite? You mean one of the Commonwealth states might invade the Baltic states?"

"There appears to be strong historical precedent for a. . . reunion to take place between certain Commonwealth and Baltic states," Dvornikov Said warily. "All of the Baltic states once belonged to Russia, even before

the advent of the Soviet Union; and other states, such as Byelorussia and the Ukraine, were closely allied to the Baltics. But history lesson aside, what might be the American response?"

"You know damned well what the response would be, Dvornikov," Greenfield replied, dropping all politeness despite herself. "The United States has always stood in defense of any country whose government is freely elected by the people and that operates under a set legal standard."

"But, dear, you have also propped up dictatorships and oppressive governments: Marcos, Noriega, Pinochet, the Shah; shall I go on?"