the remote in her hand and a picture of a young woman filled the center screen.
“This is Hanna Hastings. American citizen. She was kidnapped in Romania by what is suspected to be a rogue element of Russian intelligence. We believe she was moved overland through Moldova and into Ukraine, where her captors crossed into Russian-held territory. An unscheduled flight of an An-26 transport departed Zavodska airfield in Crimea less than twenty-four hours later. The flight made two brief stops for fuel and terminated at Sharomy Naval Air Station, a remote base in Kamchatka, Russia.”
A map detailing the flight appeared on the screen along with satellite imagery of the isolated but paved three-thousand-meter runway.
“This is Aleksandr Zharkov,” Nicole continued, advancing the slide to a file photo of the alleged perpetrator. “He is the deputy director of Directorate S in Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service. In layman’s terms, he manages their illegals program, running agents without cover status; sometimes deep penetration programs and other times simply sleeper agents. His father is this man, Ivan Zharkov.” A black-and-white photo of the mafia boss replaced that of his son.
Andy nodded curtly and pointed to the screen. “Ivan Zharkov. He’s the Pakhan, or head, of the Tambov Gang in the bratva, also known as the Russian mafia. When the Iron Curtain fell in 1991 it was chaos, but a select few saw opportunity, hence the rise of Russian organized crime. Ivan was more adept than most. He thought ahead and pushed one of his sons, Aleksandr, into the Foreign Intelligence Service. He wanted his own mole. We believe it was information from Aleksandr that allowed Ivan to crush his competition and consolidate power under the St. Petersburg Tambov Gang. He used his son to orchestrate the arrest of rival gangs through INTERPOL. You may remember, the arrests made headlines in Spain back in 2008. Dismantling a criminal network made Russia look strong in the eyes of the international community. They elevated Ivan Zharkov to the undisputed position of Vor v Zakon, a top authority for the bratva, eliminating his rivals, and making him the second-richest man in Russia behind their president. Point being, Ivan is a long-term thinker and not someone to be trifled with. There are uncorroborated reports of a rift growing between Ivan and his son. Aleksandr was recalled from a posting in Belarus after he was tied to the murder of a prostitute. It was covered up, presumably through hush money from the elder, possibly by intimidation of the investigators by bratva thugs. With newly acquired intelligence”—Andy’s eyes moved to Reece—“I correlated the information we have on Aleksandr’s postings with unsolved murders and, although the information is incomplete, the timing certainly suggests that Aleksandr Zharkov may be responsible for a series of murders around the globe.”
A series of crime scene photos moved across the screen, each one showing a young female.
“Why not just turn all this over to INTERPOL?” an operator built like a tank asked through a thick southern drawl.
“INTERPOL has a surprisingly strong presence in Russia but all that would do is tip Aleksandr off. If, and I say if, this mission gets the green light, you are her only chance.”
“Thank you, Andy,” Nicole said. “Aleksandr Zharkov left Moscow thirty-six hours ago on an An-26 and landed at Sharomy air station earlier today. An hour later, an Mi-8 took off for Medny Island, just east of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Medny is the smaller of two islands known as the Commander Islands and was all but abandoned in 2001. It’s small, only about seventy-one square miles, but over the past two years we have seen increased signs of military activity there.”
Satellite imagery was projected of the island.
“There is a bunkerlike structure in addition to a larger metal building that houses vehicles. This summer, an array of structures was erected on various points of the island. Our theory, based on its proximity to Alaska, is that it is some type of radar or early warning site, but we can’t be sure. We believe that Ms. Hastings was taken to the island and that she’s still there. For how long, we don’t know. We also believe that Aleksandr Zharkov is on the island with her.”
A three-dimensional terrain model image of the island showed up on the screens.
“To the best of our knowledge, this is the target structure. The Seabees are almost finished with a mock-up for rehearsals but remember, we have no intel on the interior layout.”