“We can’t,” said Rich. “Right now, we have to assume the worst. Our circle of trust just shrank considerably.”
“The Russians will have to assume that we discovered their identities,” said Devin. “What if they go to work digitally altering all of the family histories? Make it impossible to root out the rest.”
“That’s why we have to approach this from multiple angles,” said Rich. “Senator Filmore represents an opportunity. We just don’t know what it is yet. We’re waiting to see how the Russians handle it. For all we know, they’ll arrange some kind of accident that eliminates the entire Filmore family. It wouldn’t surprise me. He represents a loose end.”
“That’s gruesome,” said Marnie.
“But not out of the realm of possibilities,” said Devin. “Nothing is out of the realm at this point. Not with the Russians. They’ll do anything to protect their sleeper network. Speaking of protecting networks—I need to check on my dad and sister.”
“I’ll put you in direct touch with them when we finish up here,” said Rich. “I spoke with the contact who arranged their protection, and everything is going well. Your sister wasn’t exactly pleased with the work interruption, but I’m told she’s making the adjustment. Same with your father. I trust the group watching over them. They’ll keep your family safe for as long as this takes.”
“Do we have any idea how long that might be?” asked Devin. “I understand this isn’t exactly a timeline-driven operation, but what’s your gut feeling?”
“It’s impossible to say,” said Rich. “Graves and Gupta are putting together a video of the drone footage, gun-camera evidence, and proof-of-death stills. We could upload that to the internet and promote it as evidence of some kind of cult that committed a mass homicide-suicide at the camp. Draw conspiracy crazies from all over the country to the Ozarks to see for themselves and to bug the shit out of Senator Filmore. Put some pressure on the system. Force an error, maybe. I don’t know. It’s a work in progress. We could go your route and expose and disrupt the current network. Get the whole country working on finding the sleepers. Whatever they’re up to, they seem to be picking up speed.”
“That could give them the cover they need to continue operating right in the open, until it’s too late. If everyone is a potential sleeper agent, the whole thing devolves into a perverse, hyper-McCarthyism tornado,” said Devin.
Rich shrugged. “Karl is reaching out to some trusted allies to try and get them on board. One of them could get the CIA involved. The other might get us to the source.”
“In Russia?” asked Devin.
“Most likely,” said Rich. “Based on what Karl discovered.”
“What did he discover?” said Marnie.
“I did some research into who owns the land used for the camp,” said Berg, suddenly looming in the doorway.
Marnie flinched, nearly dropping her beer.
“Jesus. You scared me,” she said.
“A little jumpy, are we?” said Berg. “Welcome to the club. It never goes away if you do this kind of work long enough.”
“I don’t feel edgy,” said Rich.
“You don’t count, and I mean that in the friendliest possible way,” said Berg, getting a laugh out of all of them. “Anyway. The Dreery family bought the land encompassing the Mincy Conservation Area in the early eighteen hundreds. I think. The history is unclear. What we do know is that they leased much of the land to the Missouri Conservation Department in the nineteen thirties, withholding a few large parcels for their own use, to include the fifteen hundred or so acres now encompassing the camp. That parcel was sold to a corporation named Firebird Development, owned by the Belsky family, in 1971.
“Long story short, the original Belskys emigrated to the US from Russia in the late eighteen hundreds and accumulated a tidy fortune by American standards. Today’s Belskys renounced their US citizenship in 2001, after selling the company to Concordia Management and Consulting for an undisclosed sum, and emerged as well-connected oligarchs on the Moscow scene. Concordia Management and Consulting is owned by mega-oligarch Yuri Pichugin, one of Vladimir Putin’s closest confidants. Pichugin rose to prominence between 2001 and 2003, after running a very successful Saint Petersburg catering company. He reportedly met Putin, who is a Saint Petersburg native, through catered events.”
“He must have served a mean pierogi,” said Devin, the joke falling flat.