"Possible that he's been turned?" Elliot asked.

"Possible but not likely. We have ways of dealing with that. There are pre-arranged code-phrases which warn us of trouble. Good-news phrases accompany each report, and did in this case also."

"What about confirming the report through other sources?"

"Sorry, Dr Elliot, but we have nothing to confirm this."

"You came down here with an unconfirmed report?" Elliot asked.

"That is correct." Ryan admitted, not knowing how tired he looked. "There aren't too many agents who could make me do that, but this is one of them."

"What can you do to confirm that?" Fowler asked.

"We can make discreet inquiries through our own networks, and with your permission we can have careful discussions with some foreign services. The Brits have someone in the Kremlin who's giving them some really good stuff. I know Sir Basil Charleston, and I can make approaches, but that means revealing something of what we know. You don't do something like this on the old-boy net. At this level you have to make a real quid pro quo. We never do that without getting executive approval."

"I can understand that. Give me a day to think about it. Does Marcus know about this?"

"No, Mr President. He has the flu. Ordinarily, I would not have come here without consulting with the Director first, but I figured you would want to know about this quickly."

"You've said previously that the Soviet military was more politically reliable than this," Elliot observed.

"Also correct, Dr Elliot. Action such as Kadishev reports is completely unprecedented. Historically, our worries about political ambition within the Soviet military have been as groundless as they've been continuous. It would seem that this may have changed. The possibility of a de facto alliance between the military and the KGB is most disturbing."

"So, you were wrong before?" Elliot pressed.

"That is a possibility," Ryan admitted.

"And now?" Fowler asked.

"Mr President, what do you want me to say? Might I be wrong on this also? Yes, I may. Am I sure this report is accurate? No, I am not, but the import of the information compels me to bring it to your attention."

"I'm less concerned with the missile issue than with the missing warheads." Elliot said. "If Narmonov is facing real blackmail wow."

"Kadishev is a potential political rival to Narmonov." Fowler noted speculatively. "Why confide in him?"

"You meet regularly with the congressional leadership, sir. So does he. The political dynamic in the Congress of People's Deputies is more confused than on The Hill. Moreover, there's genuine respect between the two. Kadishev has supported Narmonov more often than he's opposed the man. They may be rivals, but there is also a commonality of views on many key issues."

"Okay, I want this information confirmed any way you can, and as quickly as you can."

"Yes, Mr President."

"How's Goodley working out?" Elliot asked.

"He's a bright kid. He's got a good feel for the Eastern Bloc. I read over a paper he did up at the Kennedy School a while back, and it was better than our people did at the time."