When his hand curled into a fist, the SEALs and Kalinin stepped from both sides of the helicopter at one-second intervals, splashing into the Moskva River twenty feet below. Harrison swam underwater toward the west bank, where the tributary emptied into the river. He spotted the tunnel ahead, along with two dozen dark shapes moving through the water toward the opening.
Moments earlier, from his top-floor perch overlooking the Moskva River, Major Leonid Egorov held binoculars to his eyes, scanning the river in both directions. Egorov was a member of Russia’s GRU, the military intelligence agency of the general staff of the armed forces. When most people thought of Russian spies, the SVR came to mind. But the GRU deployed six times as many spies and had informants embedded in every critical domestic organization. One of their informants, high up in the FSB leadership, had provided a crucial tip. Tonight, President Kalinin would accompany an American SEAL assault on the National Defense Command Center.
Major Egorov lowered his binoculars. He’d seen enough. The two helicopters had been difficult to spot, since the sound of their stealthy rotors blended in with the city’s night sounds and their radar signatures were hard to detect. But knowing the Americans would need air transport to Moscow and that Navy SEALs were involved had focused the GRU’s surveillance.
Egorov raised the radio to his mouth. “They have arrived.”
“Understood,” the voice said over the radio. “Primary units, remain in place until they reach the control center.”
The plan had been hastily hatched, since the GRU learned late this evening of the pending assault. Two GRU Spetsnaz companies, each with 120 men, had been prepositioned: one inside the Ministry of Defense building and one outside, within the perimeter that the SVR and FSB Spetsnaz units would establish. To prevent tipping off the Americans, the GRU troops had moved into position using Moscow’s underground tunnel system. Above ground, in view of spying American satellites, there had been no indication that their mission had been compromised.
85
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
The SEALs moved in single file in the darkness, up a narrow, arched-brick tunnel, with Harrison in the lead and President Kalinin in the middle. Each man had removed his rebreather, replacing the facemask with a helmet, which had a communication headset built in and night vision goggles attached and lowered into place. The water from the paved-over tributary river was waist-high and fast-running, and the dank smell of centuries-old stone walls hung in the air.
Harrison checked the map on occasion with a green flashlight, examining the labyrinth of subterranean river and drainage tunnels, abandoned Soviet bunkers, and Metro-2, a secret four-line underground rail system linking the Kremlin with strategic sites. He guided the SEAL formation through the network of concrete and brick-clad tunnels, through several junctions and past numerous sluices dumping rainwater into the tunnel. After several turns, they reached the first obstacle in their journey: an arched entryway on the left, sealed off with concrete.
McNeil called two of the SEAL breachers — demolition experts — forward, to attach explosives to the concrete barrier. They were still a fair distance away from the Ministry of Defense building, so this operation wouldn’t be as delicate as the next one. Explosives were put in place and the concrete barrier was reduced to rubble. Just enough explosives had been used to crack through the one-foot-thick wall, so significant tremors weren’t sent underground, warning others of their approach. The SEALs removed the concrete chunks by hand, clearing the entrance.
Leaving one fire team behind, led by Lieutenant Acor, guarding the entrance, the SEAL column entered a dark and musty corridor — a drainage duct that had been sealed off when the Ministry of Defense building was constructed. The new tunnel ran straight, but was smaller, forcing the SEALs and Kalinin to duck their heads. After a few hundred yards, they arrived at a dead end. The tunnel was sealed with another layer of concrete. This barrier, four feet thick according to the drawings, was part of the outer wall of the Ministry of Defense building.
Harrison checked his watch. They had thirty minutes to break through. The two breachers stepped forward again, attaching a prefabricated web of detonating cord and small C-4 charges to the concrete. Everyone moved back and the contraption was detonated. The sound was deafening in the small tunnel, but Harrison knew the explosion was small in comparison to most.
When the dust cleared, the breachers examined the result; they’d penetrated three inches into the concrete wall, exposing the first layer of metal bars reinforcing the concrete. The breachers repeated the process, demolishing another three-inch layer, fully exposing the metal bars. Two other SEALs stepped forward with hydraulic bolt cutters, snipping the bars away.
The process was repeated, with the SEALs eating their way through the wall in three-inch increments, cutting away each layer of reinforcing metal bars as they were exposed. After the fifteenth detonation, gaps appeared in the concrete wall. The SEALs pulled the remaining concrete apart with their hands, cutting away the last layer of bars.
The opening provided access to a storage room, with light leaking under a closed door in the far wall. One of the breachers pushed aside a stack of storage containers partially blocking the opening, then entered the room, followed by Harrison and McNeil. Harrison checked his watch. It was 2:58 a.m. The storage room supposedly opened to a corridor, with the nearest camera fifty feet to the left, mounted above a security door. McNeil waited until 3:01 a.m., then opened the door.
The SEALs entered a well-lit hallway, with closed gray-metal doors along both sides. According to the map provided by the Zaslon operator, they’d entered the Ministry of Defense building on the second floor underground. They had to go much farther down. The control center was three hundred yards below ground, almost one-fifth of a mile. The only access to the facility was via several elevators and emergency stairways.
Harrison led the way to the security door, glancing up at the camera. He swiped his badge on the door access panel. The small red light on the panel turned green and he heard a click as the door unlocked. They passed through, and after another fifty-foot journey down the corridor, they reached a stairway. It was unlocked from the outside, as was every stairway door. Once inside, however, the only unsecured exit was on the main floor, just above ground.
They descended the stairway, passing exit doors on the next few levels, then continued their descent level after level finding no exits whatsoever. Peering over the railing, Harrison watched the bottom of the stairway rise toward them, and they eventually reached the first of three doors opening to the tri-level command center. The door was secured and Harrison swiped his badge.
The door opened to another well-lit hallway that turned right after a short distance. McNeil left a second fire team behind at the corner. They continued on, reaching a set of four elevators facing a pair of sealed metal doors with a seam down the middle. The SEALs took station on both sides of the control center entrance, with President Kalinin behind the SEALs on one side. McNeil swiped his badge on the door panel.
Nothing happened.
He tried again. It still wouldn’t open.
McNeil stepped aside and let Harrison try with his security card, but the result was the same. Senior Chief Stone also tried. The doors remained sealed.
“We got company.”
Mendelson peered through his night vision goggles, looking around the corner into the tributary tunnel, watching a column of Russian soldiers, their weapons drawn, moving toward them. Mendelson waited for a response from Lieutenant Acor as he stood at the edge of the arched opening, with Robert Lee crouching near Mendelson’s legs. Both men aimed their MP7s at the approaching Russians.