The Sniper and the Wolf Read Online Free PDF Page A

running northwest from Baku, Azerbaijan, on the Caspian Sea, to Tbilisi, and then southwest to Ceyhan, Turkey, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It afforded Western powers access to oil fields in the Caspian Sea without having to deal with Russian or Iranian interference, and though operated by British Petroleum, the pipeline was owned by a consortium of eleven different oil companies around the world, including Chevron and ConocoPhillips.
    “Tell me,” Federov said, “did you not find it strange for Umarov to take a meeting so far from the Caucasus?” The North Caucasus was Dokka Umarov’s home territory, a mountainous region of European Russia located between the Caspian and the Black Sea.
    “Well, he was observed boarding a Grecian tanker in Athens, and then again transshipping to a private yacht off the coast of Sicily thirty-six hours later. He landed at Marseille the next day, and from there made his way north to Paris.”
    Federov rested his chin on his fist. “The CIA tracked him?”
    “One of their people in Athens made the initial identification, yes. It was just dumb luck, really. Once he boarded the tanker, it was easy to keep tabs.”
    “I see.” Federov sat back in his chair with a sigh. “Agent Shannon, you did not—”
    “Master chief,” Gil said good-naturedly. “I’m retired navy, not CIA.”
    Federal smiled dryly. “Mr. Shannon, you did not kill Dokka Umarov tonight. You killed a GRU operative named Andrei Yeshevsky.” The GRU was the Chief Intelligence Directorate, Russia’s version of the CIA.
    Gil dominated the nausea that immediately rose up in his gut. “How is that possible?”
    “The GRU sent Yeshevsky into North Ossetia six weeks ago as an imposter to undermine the real Dokka Umarov’s credibility in the Caucasus. He made speeches in small towns where his face was not well known, renouncing Chechen terrorist attacks on Russian military targets and urging Chechen Muslims to accept Russian authority.” Federov smiled blandly. “Now, of course the GRU did notexpect this to stop the attacks. What was hoped was that the real Dokka Umarov would be forced to show himself and create an opportunity for our Spetsnaz to finally eliminate him.” Spetsnaz were Russian Special Forces, basically Russia’s version of the US Navy SEALs.
    Gil was not amused. “So what the hell is this Yeshevsky doing here in France?”
    Federov sat back scratching his chin. “To be honest, we have no idea. We thought he was dead. He disappeared two weeks after he was sent into North Ossetia along with his entire Spetsnaz team. It wasn’t until Robert called me this evening for help with your predicament that we had any idea Yeshevsky might still be alive.”
    “That means it’s possible I killed the real Umarov.”
    Federov shook his head. “Yeshevsky has a tattoo of a woman on his chest. One of our informants with the French police has verified the body to have such a tattoo. What’s more, we believe the sniper who was shooting the French gendarmes to be a Spetsnaz operative named Sasha Kovalenko. Kovalenko was attached to Yeshevsky’s security team, and he has always been somewhat—shall we say—unstable?”
    “An entire Spetsnaz team went off the reservation?”
    There was a knock at the door, and the sergeant stepped into the room, speaking briefly to Federov in Russian and stepping back out again.
    Federov turned back to Gil. “It’s been verified the other two men you killed at the apartment were also members of Yeshevsky’s Spetsnaz team.”
    Gil sucked his teeth. “I don’t suppose one of them was this Kovolenka fella.”
    “Kov a lenk o ,” Federov said, correcting Gil’s pronunciation. “No, his body was not found—and that is very unfortunate.”
    Gil rubbed his face, feeling the fatigue catching up to him. “I’m going to need to fill Pope in on this. There’s a good chance he’ll be able to piece some of it together.”
    “Was it him who tracked Yeshevsky from