No one seemed to take any notice of theblond man, and moments later he saw the gray Volkswagen parked opposite thecivilian car park. An attractive woman in her early thirties sat behind thewheel smoking a cigarette, and he recognized her dark Russian features. Shewore a blue scarf around her neck, and when she noticed him she tossed hercigarette out of the window.

He waited a full minute before he crossedto the car and put his case on the back seat, his eyes carefully scanning theArrivals area before he moved.

He didn't speak as he climbed in besidethe woman, and a moment later she pulled out quickly from the curb and drovetoward Berlin.

Colonel Grenady Kraskin looked across atthe big, slovenly man seated opposite and smiled. They were in Sergei Enger'soffice on the first of several floors in an underground complex that had oncebeen built by the Germans.

Kraskin smiled. "Well, Sergei, tellme your troubles."

Sergei Enger was a stout, untidy figureof a man with dark, thinning curly hair and a plump stomach. A physics graduatefrom Moscow University, he was head of research in the Luckenwaide undergroundcomplex. Despite his easy-going manner and untidy personal appearance-Engerfrequently wore mismatched socks and carried the remains of breakfast or lunchon his tie-the man had a brain as sharp as a scalpel and a talent fororganizing others.

Enger smiled back weakly. Troubles hecertainly had, but Grenady Kraskia didn't have the look of a man you sharedpersonal problems with.

The colonel's face was sharp and hard andweather-beaten. There were ruts in his leathery skin, deep wrinkles that almostlooked like scars, and combined with a chilling smile, they had a frighteningeffect. And the man's crisply pressed black uniform and immaculately polishedboots always intimidated Enger.

Outwardly a reasonable and intelligentman, Kraskin's external mask hid a dark and savage streak. In one wintercampaign near Zadonsk on the River Don in the Caucasus during the BolshevikRevolution, Kraskin's battalion had engaged a detachment of four hundredWhites, wiping them out in three days of savage hand-to-hand fighting.Promising mercy to the survivors and their families who had surrendered,Kraskin instead had them lined up against a wall and shot, showing no mercy towomen and children.

Enger shrugged and toyed with a pencil onthe desk. "What makes you think I have troubles, Grenady? The project isgoing better than I expected."

Kraskin beamed. "Excellent. I'm gladto hear it."

Enger stood up, as if still bothered bysomething, and crossed to the broad glass window that looked down onto the vastcomplex below.

The place never ceased to amaze Enger,even after spending two years there. The Nazis had started work on theunderground complex ten years before, intending it as a V2 factory, but theRussian advance into eastern Prussia had ended all that. Now it was one of themost secret and advanced research facilities in East Germany, the entireoperation sited underground, doing away with the need for camouflage aboveground Lebel.

Beyond the office, glass lights blazedoverhead. The whole area was swamped in daylight. Metal boilers andair-conditioning conduits ran along the walls for almost half a kilometer. Hereand there men sculked about in white coats.

Enger looked down at the amazing scenefor several moments before turning back.

"I left the details you requested inthe file on the desk, Grenady. I trust they meet with your approval?"

Kraskin picked up the folder. When he hadfinished scrutinizing the progress sheets inside he turned back to Enger.

"You've done well, Sergei. TheGerman scientists, they seem to be outperforming themselves." Kraskingrinned. "It's amazing what the threat of being sent to a Gulag willdo."

He smiled at Enger. "You look like aman who has the weight of the world on his shoulders. If it's not the project,what is it? Come, Sergei, let's hear whatever's on your mind."

Enger hesitated. "But could I befrank, Grenady? Could I really speak freely?"

Kraskin laughed. "If you're askingme are these rooms bugged, the answer is no. I made a point of deeming you aspecial case."

"I'm indebted, Grenady."

Kraskin waved a hand dismissively andhalf smiled. "Nonsense, what are friends for? Say what's on yourmind."

Enger removed a soiled handkerchief fromhis pocket and dabbed his brow. "You've no idea what it's like here. Theconstant hum of the machines, the conditioned air. I don't know bow the Germansstood it. I'm glad my work here is almost at an end."

As he sucked on his cigarette, Kraskinsaid, "So how much longer before your part of the operation iscompleted?"

"The way it's going, a lot earlierthan we thought. Borosky and the other scientists will be arriving in the nextfew weeks to link the various projects together."

"So how much longer?" repeatedKraskin.

Enger shrugged. "A month, maybesooner. Our initial tests have been very promising. And the test site in theCaucasus is nearing completion. I've also read our latest reports of theAmericans' progress sent from Moscow. We're going to be ahead of them. Theirexplosion in the Pacific was small in comparison to the one we intend. Reallyit was only a triggering device the Americans detonated. I can almost guaranteewe'll be the first to explode the actual hydrogen bomb."

"I'm very pleased to hear that,Sergei. I'll make sure to mention your diligence in my report."

Enger paid no heed to Kraskin'sstatement. His voice suddenly softened and he said, "Do you think there'sgoing to be a war, Grenady?"

Kraskin laughed. Enger looked at him inamazement. "What's so funny?"

"is that what's been botheringyou?"

"It had crossed my mind. You have toadmit it's being talked about."

Kraskin grinned. "And what makes youthink there's going to be a war, my friend?"

"Damn it, Grenady, it doesn't take agenius to figure it out."

Enger nodded back toward the undergroundbunker. "I've been living down there for the past two years like a mole,not a scientist. Days go by when I don't see sunlight." He hesitated."The way things are between us and the Americans right now, some kind ofconflict looks inevitable. For almost two years now we've been workingfrantically on our weapons program. And in the past six months since theAmericans exploded their first device the funds have suddenly become unlimited.And then there have been the threats. Veiled, but there. To all of us, not justthe German scientists. Work harder, much harder, or there will berepercussions. There has to be a reason, Grenady. We're racing against time.Why? Is there something Moscow isn't telling us?"

Kraskin stood up slowly. "Therewon't be a war if the Americans see sense."

"What does that mean? I'm ascientist, I deal in facts. Give me facts, Grenady."

Kraskin swung around and his words had asavage ring. "The Americans think they own the fucking world. They thinkthey have some God-given right to control this planet, tell everyone how itshould be run. Well, we're not going to take that shit from them."

Enger shook his head. "You can'timagine what the next war would be like. These bombs we're working on, they arenot like the ones the Americans dropped on Japan. They're much more powerful.Entire cities and their populations can be totally wiped from the map with oneexplosion. In Nagasaki and Hiroshima people survived some ten kilometers fromthe epicenter. With a thermonuclear explosion big enough, that isn't even aremote possibility." Enger hesitated. "Besides, I'm not deaf,Grenady, I may be a thousand miles from Moscow but I still hear therumors."