Price of Duty Read online

  Dedication

  Price of Duty is dedicated to the people who are truly on the edge, both geographically and emotionally: the citizens of the former Soviet Baltic and Eastern European states that are on Russia’s western periphery. They are no strangers to being under the control of the resurgent and aggressive Russian bear, and they naturally seek help from the West to avoid being swallowed up once again. But if the West is unable, indecisive, or simply refuses to help, they have little choice but to band together and fight until help comes.

  This story is also dedicated to those who fight on the world’s newest, most vital, and least understood battlefield: the world of computers and networks. It will take a new generation of cyber warriors to fight on this battlefield, and we as a nation need to do much more to prepare our young people to fight and win in cyberspace.

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Cast of Characters

  PROLOGUE

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY-FIVE

  TWENTY-SIX

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  TWENTY-NINE

  THIRTY

  THIRTY-ONE

  THIRTY-TWO

  THIRTY-THREE

  THIRTY-FOUR

  THIRTY-FIVE

  THIRTY-SIX

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  THIRTY-NINE

  FORTY

  EPILOGUE

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Dale Brown

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Cast of Characters

  AMERICANS

  STACY ANNE BARBEAU, president of the United States of America

  EDWARD RAUCH, president’s national security adviser

  KAREN GRAYSON, secretary of state

  LUKE COHEN, White House chief of staff

  JAMES BUCHANAN NASH, CIA director

  SCOTT FIRESTONE, admiral, U.S. Navy, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  RAYMOND SATTLER, special agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation

  KRISTIN VOORHEES, intelligence analyst, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency

  IRON WOLF SQUADRON AND SCION

  KEVIN MARTINDALE, president of Scion, former president of the United States of America

  BRAD MCLANAHAN, Cybernetic Infantry Device (CID) pilot and XCV-62 Ranger pilot, Iron Wolf Squadron

  PATRICK MCLANAHAN, Cybernetic Infantry Device (CID) pilot, Iron Wolf Squadron ground operations unit, former lieutenant general, U.S. Air Force (ret.)

  WAYNE “WHACK” MACOMBER, commander, Iron Wolf Squadron CID operations, former major, U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (ret.)

  IAN SCHOFIELD, commander, Iron Wolf deep-penetration unit, former captain in Canada’s Special Operations Regiment

  SAMANTHA KERR, operative, Scion Intelligence

  MARCUS CARTWRIGHT, operative, Scion Intelligence

  DAVID JONES, operative, Scion Intelligence

  ANDREW DAVIS, Iron Wolf deep-penetration unit, former sergeant, U.S. Army Special Forces

  MIKE KNAPP, Iron Wolf deep-penetration unit, former sergeant, U.S. Army Special Forces

  CHRIS WALKER, Iron Wolf deep-penetration unit, former sergeant, U.S. Army Special Forces

  SKY MASTERS AEROSPACE INC.

  HUNTER “BOOMER” NOBLE, Ph.D., chief of aerospace engineering, Sky Masters Aerospace Inc.

  CHARLIE TURLOCK, Cybernetic Infantry Device (CID) specialist, former captain, U.S. Army National Guard

  JASON RICHTER, colonel, U.S. Army (ret.), Ph.D., chief executive officer

  TOM ROGERS, remote piloting specialist

  RUSSIANS

  GENNADIY ANATOLIYVICH GRYZLOV, president of the Russian Federation

  SERGEI TARZAROV, president’s chief of staff

  GREGOR SOKOLOV, minister of defense

  VIKTOR KAZYANOV, minister of state security

  DARIA TITENEVA, foreign minister

  IVAN ULANOV, president’s private secretary

  COLONEL GENERAL VALENTIN MAKSIMOV, commander of the Aerospace Defense Forces

  IGOR TRUZNYEV, former president of the Russian Federation and former head for the Federal Security Service (FSB), currently chief of Zatmeniye (“Eclipse”) Consulting Group, a private espionage firm

  MAJOR GENERAL ARKADY KOSHKIN, chief of FSB’s Q Directorate

  COLONEL VLADIMIR BALAKIN, chief of security for Perun’s Aerie cyberwar complex

  MAJOR LEONID USENKO, Special Surveillance Unit, Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU)

  CAPTAIN KONSTANTIN RUSANOV, GRU Special Surveillance Unit

  CAPTAIN ARTEM MIKHEYEV, GRU special technical officer

  COLONEL YEVGENY PERMINOV, GRU liaison officer

  AHMAD USMAEV, warlord, Chechen Republic

  MAJOR PAVEL BEREZIN, detachment commander, Vympel (“Pennant”) Spetsnaz unit

  CAPTAIN ANDREI CHIRKASH, detachment second in command, Vympel Spetsnaz unit

  TIMUR SAITIEV, Chechen fighter

  YURI AKULOV, former FSB officer, currently an operative for Zatmeniye Consulting Group

  IVAN BUDANOV, senior nuclear supervisor, Atomflot

  DR. NIKOLAI OBOLENSKY, software lab directory, Nizhny Novgorod Research Institute of Radio Engineering (NNIIRT)

  MAJOR GENERAL VIKTOR POLICHEV, Aerospace Defense Forces, senior military aide to Colonel General Maksimov

  TARAS IVCHENKO, former FSB officer, currently an operative for Zatmeniye Consulting Group

  MAJOR GENERAL KIRILL GLAZKOV, commander of the FSB’s V Directorate

  LIEUTENANT MIKHAIL KURITSYN, Vympel Spetsnaz unit

  MAJOR ALEXEI RYKOV, Su-27 fighter pilot

  SERGEANT IVAN ANANKO, Vympel Spetsnaz unit

  SERGEANT DMITRY SAVICHEV, Vympel Spetsnaz unit

  LEONID PEROV, former FSB officer, bodyguard for Igor Truznyev

  CAPTAIN FYODOR GOLOVKIN, commander, Kipiyevo radar outpost

  COLONEL RUSLAN BARYSHEV, Su-50 fighter pilot

  CAPTAIN OLEG IMREKOV, Su-50 fighter pilot

  MAJOR GENERAL ANATOLIY KAVERIN, commander, 2nd Aerospace Defense Brigade

  POLES

  PIOTR WILK, president of Poland; former general in the Polish Air Force and commander of the 1st Air Defense Wing

  KLAUDIA RYBAK, prime minister

  JANUSZ GIEREK, minister of national defense and deputy prime minister

  MAJOR NADIA ROZEK, military aide to President Piotr Wilk, attached to Iron Wolf Squadron as copilot and systems operator for XCV-62 Ranger

  MAJOR GENERAL MILOSZ DOMANSKI, Polish Land Forces

  COLONEL PAWEŁ KASPEREK, F-16 fighter pilot and commander of the Polish Air Force’s 3rd Tactical Squadron

  MAJOR DARIUSZ STEPNIAK, head of presidential security detail, Bureau of Government Protection (BOR)

  JAROSŁAW ROGOSKI, senior vice president, PKO Bank Polski

  MARTA STACHOWSKA, chief technology officer, PKO Bank Polski

  CAPTAIN TOMASZ JAGIELSKI, F-16 fighter pilot, 3rd Tactical Squadron

  GENERAL INSPECTOR MAREK BRZEZIŃSKI, commander, Polish National Police Force

  MAJOR GENERAL CZESŁAW MADEJSKI, deputy command, Al
liance of Free Nations (AFN) Northern Air Operations Center

  CAPTAIN JERZY KONARSKI, Northern Air Operations Center

  MARIUSZ BRODSKI, senior investigator for PKBWL, Poland’s aircraft accident investigative agency

  KAROL SIKORA, sergeant, Polish Special Forces, attached to Iron Wolf Squadron deep-penetration unit

  ROMANIANS

  ALEXE DUMITRU, president of Romania

  MARKU PROCA, control room supervisor, Cernavodă Nuclear Power Station, Unit Two

  NICOLAE DIACONU, senior plant operator, Cernavodă Unit Two

  ION MORAR, senior plant operator, Cernavodă Unit Two

  VASILE ENESCU, emergency coordinator, Cernavodă Unit Two

  BALTIC STATES

  SERGEANT EDVARDAS NOREIKA, State Border Guard of Lithuania

  COLONEL REINIS ZARINŠ, Latvian Air Force intelligence officer attached to AFN’s Northern Air Operations Center

  SVEN KALDA, prime minister of Estonia

  LIEUTENANT COLONEL INAR TAMM, Estonian Air Force

  KALMAR AIRLINES

  KAARLE MARKKULA, captain, Flight 851

  TUOMAS SAARELA, first officer, Flight 851

  PROLOGUE

  PERUN’S AERIE CYBERWAR COMPLEX, IN THE URAL MOUNTAINS, EAST OF PECHORA, RUSSIA

  LATE SUMMER 2018

  Wrapped in stillness and silence for over three hundred million years, the mountain’s vast inner recesses now echoed with the measured clatter of boots and echoing voices. Construction units, laboring around the clock for months in brutal conditions, had carved out an intricate network of tunnels and connected chambers—piercing layers of solid rock already ancient when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

  Surrounded by heavily armed bodyguards, Gennadiy Gryzlov strode briskly along a brightly lit passage, heading deeper into the warren called Perun’s Aerie by its makers. He found the word choice entirely apt. Perun was the old Slavic god of war, fire, and mountains, famed for hurling lightning from clouds like those that so often shrouded the jagged, icy peak soaring two thousand meters above their heads.

  Sentries in thick overcoats and fur hats snapped to attention as Gryzlov passed, presenting arms with a flourish and the click of highly polished boots. With thinly veiled amusement, the forty-two-year-old president of the Russian Federation glanced at the shorter man stolidly keeping pace with him. “Colonel Balakin’s soldiers appear disciplined and alert, Koshkin. I trust you can say the same about your Q Directorate people?”

  Major General Arkady Koshkin nodded. “Yes, Mr. President, I can,” he said confidently. His mouth twisted in a slight smile. “While I admit that the dress and mannerisms of my komp’yutershchiks, my tech geeks, are sometimes a bit eccentric, their expertise and ingenuity are remarkable. The weapons they are forging for us prove this beyond question.”

  Like most senior officers in Russia’s Federal Security Service (the FSB), Koshkin wore civilian clothing rather than a service uniform. Eyes bright with intelligence and ambition gleamed behind thick spectacles. Long ago, he had concluded that cyberwarfare—the use of computer technology as a means to attack and disrupt the vital infrastructure of an enemy power—was the next true revolution in military affairs. Facing skepticism and hostility from slower-witted and more conventionally minded superiors, he had worked for years to win converts among the ranks of his nation’s rising political leaders.

  Now those tireless efforts were coming to fruition. He had been given command of a new and highly secret unit within the FSB. Organized at Gryzlov’s personal orders, Q Directorate was responsible for all covert cyberwar action conducted beyond Russia’s borders.

  They came to an intersection and turned right, ending up at a solid steel door. Koshkin pressed his palm against a biometric panel. The door swung open, revealing an enormous room crowded with racks of computers and other electronic equipment.

  Flat-panel displays dominated the chamber’s walls. Power conduits and fiber-optic cables snaked their way toward a large bare patch in the middle of the tiled floor.

  Gryzlov swung around, taking it all in. He nodded toward the open space. “That’s where your supercomputer will go?”

  “Yes, Mr. President,” Koshkin said. “It’s a new T-Platforms machine, faster and more powerful than any of their previous designs. The unit will be installed, tested, and fully operational in a matter of weeks.”

  “Very good,” Gryzlov said. “What about the rest of your infrastructure?”

  “Mostly complete,” Koshkin assured him. He took out a tablet computer and tapped its small screen. One of the large wall displays flickered to life, showing a detailed, three-dimensional schematic of the Perun’s Aerie complex. A chamber deep in the heart of the facility glowed green. “All internal and external power needs are met by a compact 171-megawatt KLT-40M naval nuclear reactor. As a result, this complex is, effectively, entirely off the grid, connected to the outside world only by deeply buried and highly secure communications links.”

  The Russian president nodded. He moved closer to the display, studying it intently. “And your primary defenses?”

  “Virtually impregnable,” Koshkin replied. He tapped his tablet again, bringing up a new map, this one depicting the narrow valleys and steep slopes surrounding Perun’s Aerie. “An interlocking web of sensors—IR-capable cameras, radars, motion detectors, and the like—ensures that no enemy can approach undetected, either by air or on the ground.” More areas glowed red on the big display. “Behind the sensor network, Colonel Balakin’s engineers have sown dense, carefully camouflaged, minefields. These barriers will channel any attackers into kill zones covered by antitank, machine-gun, and mortar fire from concealed bunkers.”

  “And if the enemy attacks from the air?” Gryzlov asked with deceptive mildness. Before taking over his family’s highly profitable oil, gas, and petrochemical companies and then going into politics, he had been a serving officer in Russia’s air force. And he knew from bitter personal experience the kind of horrific damage precision-guided bombs and missiles could inflict.

  “Our close-in air defenses include hidden SAM and antiaircraft batteries in pop-up emplacements sited high on the mountain above us,” Koshkin replied. “In addition, Colonel General Maksimov has obeyed your orders to station interceptors at Syktyvkar, including his first operational Su-50 stealth fighters. We have a direct secure link to those air units, and fighter jets can be overhead in twenty minutes.”

  Gryzlov stepped back from the display. He clapped the shorter man on the shoulder. “Otlichnaya rabota! Excellent work!”

  “Thank you, Mr. President,” Koshkin said, striving to conceal his sense of relief. In public appearances, Russia’s youthful, good-looking leader radiated charm, confidence, and calm. Those closest to him knew the fierce temper and manic, often uncontrolled, rage that lurked behind the façade. Failing Gennadiy Gryzlov always carried a high and painful price.

  “And the other defensive measures I ordered?” Gryzlov asked. “Are they operational yet?” Koshkin hesitated, and Gryzlov’s eyes narrowed in suspicion—he did not like having to draw out bad news from his subordinates. “Well?” the taller man demanded.

  “Colonel Balakin informs me that work on them is running somewhat behind schedule,” Koshkin admitted. “But since the need for such backup defenses seemed so remote, neither of us felt it was wise to divert the necessary manpower and resources just now.”

  Gryzlov’s mouth tightened, and his gaze turned cold. “That was a decision well above your pay grade, General.” He watched the FSB officer’s round face turn pale and then went on. “Whether or not you believe my orders are wise is irrelevant. Understand?”

  Koshkin nodded.

  “Then you will obey me,” Gryzlov snapped. “I want those troops and weapons and explosives in place as soon as possible. No more delays! No more bitching and whining about money and resources. You and Balakin are soldiers in the service of Mother Russia, not pissant junior accountants! Is that clear?”

  “Yes, sir.”


  “Good.” The Russian president’s angry expression softened slightly. “So far, you have done reasonably well, Arkady. Don’t screw up at the end, eh?” His smile grew warmer and more genuine. “After all, you want the chance to test these shiny new cyberweapons of yours, yes?”

  Koshkin snapped to attention. “Yes, Mr. President.”

  “Then keep me informed of your progress,” Gryzlov said. “And tell Colonel Balakin to pull his thumb out of his ass and obey my orders . . . all of my orders.”

  ABOARD THE PRESIDENTIAL SUKHOI SUPERJET 100, OVER RUSSIA

  A SHORT TIME LATER

  Powered by two massive turbofan jet engines, the sleek, modern passenger airliner climbed smoothly through clear blue skies over northern Russia—bound westward toward Moscow at just under five hundred knots. While most Superjet 100s carried around a hundred passengers, this one was different. The plane had been purchased as a transport aircraft for Russia’s leader, so its main cabin was almost empty, occupied only by a few luxurious leather chairs reserved for VIPs, a couple of rows of business-class-style seats for the president’s military and civilian aides and bodyguards, and a well-stocked bar and galley.

  Gennadiy Gryzlov swiveled his seat to face Sergei Tarzarov, his chief of staff. “So, what did you think of Koshkin’s new Q Directorate playground?”

  Tarzarov, a thin, plain-looking man, was cautious. “The facility is impressive enough,” he allowed. His mouth turned down. “As it should be at the cost of several hundred billion rubles.”

  Gryzlov grinned to himself. Tarzarov was renowned for his shrewdness and cunning. For decades, the ruthless old man had survived and prospered as the ultimate Kremlin insider—as the man who made and unmade heads of state, cabinet ministers, generals, and intelligence chiefs. One by one, his rivals vanished. If they were lucky, they were merely driven into political oblivion. Those who were not so fortunate, or who were perhaps more dangerous, ended their days in a gulag or an unmarked grave.