“Pravdinsk . . . Our command bunker . . . and one of the Iskander batteries. If you’re right, a target well worth a reconnaissance, but not one they’d ever dare attack. More an opportunity not to be missed than a specific threat. Hmm . . . and I suppose there’s nothing they will see there that their satellites have not photographed already.”

“My thoughts entirely, Colonel General. My plan is to bring my Spetsnaz team of fifteen to reinforce the garrison. We’ll either catch them when they go in to do their recce, or we’ll zero in on them and catch them when they send their situation report back to London. Now we know what we’re looking for, we’ll locate them in minutes. Either up against the wire at Pravdinsk, or when they transmit . . . They’ll never know what hit them.”

“Very well, Major. But on your own head be it,” Kirkorov growled, pouring two glasses of vodka before unbuttoning the top button of his tunic.

Following the general’s lead, Vronsky drank the vodka in one gulp and quickly followed it with a piece of salo to line his stomach. Unless he could persuade the general otherwise, it was going to be a long, wasted afternoon and he still had much to do. “Colonel General, my men are hoping you will do them the honor of inspecting them before they depart. And I need to get them to Pravdinsk long before the British arrive. Would you perhaps care to . . . ?”

The general gave him a sharp, suspicious look. He had obviously been looking forward to telling some stories as they drank the vodka. “Go. I will inspect them in fifteen minutes.”

Vronsky drew up his men of the 45th Guards Spetsnaz Regiment in the vehicle hangar adjacent to the headquarters of the Kaliningrad Special Region and quickly explained the situation. An inspection like this was the last thing they needed, but Vronsky calculated that getting the general to inspect his soldiers right now was the best way of getting on his way before he got drunk and, perhaps, changed his mind. Besides, with only fifteen men in the detachment, Kirkorov would soon be finished.

As he stood, ready to greet the general by the door, Vronsky had time to think through his plan once again. Was he making a mistake?