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  Asset

  Jack Kassinger

  Brighton Publishing LLC

  435 N. Harris Drive

  Mesa, AZ 85203

  www.BrightonPublishing.com

  ISBN13: 978-1-62183-495-3

  Copyright © 2018

  eBook

  SMASHWORDS EDITION

  Cover Design: Tom Rodriguez

  All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. The characters in this book are fictitious and the creation of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to characters or persons living or dead is purely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher or copyright owner.

  The Central Intelligence Agency requires all former employees to submit their work for review, before publication, in order to prevent the disclosure of classified information.

  CIA Disclaimer

  All statements of fact, opinion, or analysis expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official positions or views of the CIA or any other U.S. Government agency. Nothing in the contents should be construed as asserting or implying U.S. Government authentication of information or Agency endorsement of the author’s views. This material has been reviewed by the CIA to prevent the disclosure of classified information.

  Chapter One

  The Push for Action

  It was the summer of 2010 when they met in a soundproof box, located in a secure portion of the Moscow embassy, where access was restricted to CIA employees. They were discussing the concept of an operation under consideration by Claire Windstrum, the deputy director of operations, more commonly referred to as the DDO. The chief of station (COS), Bill Brandson, was a savvy old ops officer with years of service and experience under his belt. He was recruited into the agency after working as a navy liaison officer assigned to Project Azorian, an operation conducted by the CIA in 1974 to raise the sunken Soviet submarine K-129.

  Two other officers were with Brandson: his second, a station officer by the name of Randy Johnson, on his first tour in a hard-target country, and Jeff Castellanos, the Russia branch chief within SE, the Soviet East European Division, at CIA headquarters. Jeff had been sent to Moscow by his division chief, at the DDO’s insistence, to make sure that Brandson understood the consequences of a failed operation. Although when Jeff sent a message announcing his intent to visit the station, he simply stated that he wanted to come to review action requirements for the proposed operation. There was no use, he thought at the time, in upsetting Brandson before he got there by stating the true reason for the visit; it would only have made matters worse.

  “She wants to be certain that you guys are fully on board and can provide the requisite support before approving the operation and—”

  “I’ve already told you folks at headquarters that we can support this operation,” Brandson interjected. He knew what the visit was all about. “It was my idea, remember? Is she questioning my sincerity or intent to fully support an operation that I’ve recommended? I’ve stated my position and belief several times in message traffic that we can take this guy and get him out of the country right from under the noses of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the 6th Army. What does she want? My signature in blood?”

  “Of course not, but we couldn’t have conducted this type of dialogue in message traffic. Headquarters needs to be certain that the station can provide everything that will be needed to successfully pull this thing off. It will be a complicated and risky op, in more ways than one. If something goes wrong, it’ll create a real mess regarding our relationship with the FSB—not to mention the diplomatic furor that will surface at a much higher level in the administration.”

  Bill sat for a moment, reflecting on the warning that Jeff had delivered and fidgeting with the handle on his oversized coffee mug. He picked the mug up, took a sip, and then gave Jeff a chilling response.

  “Screw the Federal Security Service. I’m not convinced us having a liaison relationship with them is in our best interest. And you can tell Claire that the message has been received. There’s always risk involved in our line of business, and as is always the case, someone must take the fall if shit hits the fan and an op goes south. I’m an expendable old fart who can be sent out to pasture, you know that as well as I do.”

  Jeff had done his part by delivering the message and wanted to change the tone of their conversation.

  “None of us want to see that happen,” he stated. “You’ve had a very successful career, and one that you can be very proud of. Now, as we see it, success of the op will depend heavily on the station identifying the right asset who can become a member of the insertion team. Have you given that any thought?”

  “No, there’s been no need to, not until I get an outline of the plan from the headquarters perspective.” His tone was a bit sarcastic. “It’s still just a concept, remember? When someone tells me how the team plans to come in, then we can begin to identify available in-country support. Randy will be the station coordinator and the man responsible for developing our portion of the operation. You have anything to say, Randy, or are you just going to sit there on your ass and let me do all the talking?”

  “You’re doing a good job, boss, didn’t want to step on your toes by jumping in with my two cents.” Randy turned to face Jeff.

  “Like Bill said, we need to start putting some meat on the bones of this operation, and so far, there has been little detail provided by headquarters on how and when the operation is to be conducted. Proposed dates will be an important consideration. Also, I think we will need to run another operation to keep the FSB busy here in Moscow—smoke if you will—to keep them focusing on what we are doing here while the insertion team does its thing in Saint Petersburg. Whoever is doing the planning back home needs to know that the 6th Army and border guards have been very busy in the Western Military District. Also, has there been any consideration to our briefing the ambassador at some point?”

  “Regarding the latter, no, not yet. It’s a decision the 7th floor will need to make. We’ll just have to wait and see how the planning goes—”

  “Thanks for coming and giving us some insight into headquarters thinking.” Bill interrupted their conversation; he had heard enough. He looked at Jeff as he got up. “I’ve got to run and attend the ambassador’s country team meeting. See you at dinner. While I’m gone, Randy will fill you in on some other things we’ve been thinking about.”

  Chapter Two

  The Assignment

  It was during his attendance at the Naval Warfare College in Newport Rhode Island that Mike Shocklee was approached about joining the CIA. He was a “gung ho” Marine officer attending a thirteen-month maritime warfighting course—a prerequisite for assuming additional Marine Corps leadership responsibilities. While at the college, he met a CIA veteran, a student who never seemed to have time for a drink after class. He would frequently disappear, not to be seen again until the next day, and then he’d show up looking like he hadn’t had much sleep. The man had a sharp mind, was articulate, and could explain things about real-world politics that Shocklee never thought about. His name was Scott Sandowski. At the end of the course, the operative gave Shocklee his telephone number and told the young captain to call if he ever got tired of just being a grunt in the Marine Corps. The idea of becoming a spy was intriguing, and six months later, Shocklee called the number.

  Twenty years later, Mike Shocklee had become one of the most experienced field operatives of the clandestine service at CIA. He had spent years running covert operations on the ground, mainly in Africa, but also in other areas of the world where the need for an operative with his type of exper
ience was needed. He had worked with Jonas Savimbi, who became one of the founding members of UNITA, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola and fought the communist-backed government, the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola, Labor Party.

  Mike was on the ground in Monrovia, Liberia, when the US Embassy had to be evacuated due to civil war that broke out in December 1989 and on the ground in Mogadishu, Somalia, two years later in January 1991 when civil discord necessitated another embassy evacuation. This time, he was instrumental in preparing members of the embassy for the evacuation that eventually took place when a sixty-person Marine and Navy SEAL security detail flew in to begin the evacuation.

  One year later, he was back in Somalia as part of the CIA’s effort to provide actionable intelligence to a unit of special military operators that had been sent to track down and apprehend a leading warlord who opposed the ongoing United Nations humanitarian relief effort.

  More recently, he was the second in command of an operation to overthrow the ruthless dictator and president of Zimbabwe where he and two other men under his command were captured and tortured before being rescued. Later, he was sent back to Somalia to track down and eliminate the leader of Al-Shabaab, Africa’s most notorious terrorist organization. To say that Mike was an operative well-suited for just about any assignment would be an understatement, but he wasn’t prepared, mentally, for the assignment about to be given to him.

  He sat alone in the briefing room adjacent to the DDO’s office. He had been there many times in the past when his friend and mentor, Scott Sandowski, was the deputy director of operations. He missed Scotty and his leadership. He was concerned, due to events that had transpired on his last assignment, about the new DDO and her ability to effectively manage clandestine operations on a global basis. He picked up a folder laying on the table and looked at the classification markings. He wondered, before opening it, which African dictator had become a thorn in the administration’s side. He flipped it open and began to read.

  TOP SECRET

  SENSITIVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION

  OPERATION NEEDFUL QUEST

  BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The Saint Petersburg Psychiatric Hospital of Specialized Type with Intense Observation (SAPHSTIN) is one of eight Russian psychiatric hospitals under federal control for the treatment and rehabilitation of mentally ill persons who have committed socially dangerous acts in a state of insanity and have been released from criminal responsibility under court decision. In the Soviet era, the hospital was called the Leningrad Special Psychiatric Hospital of Prison Type of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. Today, SAPHSTIN is more of an institution than a hospital.

  TARGET INFORMATION: Dimitry Mauldin is a Ministry of Defense (MINOBORONY ROSSII) scientist. He is a brilliant man with impressive credentials and previously worked at a naval research facility in Saint Petersburg before he became ill. He was admitted to SAPHSTIN in August 2009. Prior to his admission, Mauldin collapsed at work due to mental fatigue from being overworked. He was given time off to rest and left to the care of his wife, but he was seen a week later at Palace Square, in Saint Petersburg, rambling about something that most people, mainly tourists, couldn’t understand. A naval officer happened to walk by as Mauldin’s ramblings became louder and louder. He recognized the scientist and managed to quiet him and then led him away. Mauldin’s wife later reported that he had wandered away from their apartment while she was out shopping. Program officials at MINOBORONY committed Mauldin to the institute for care and observation with hopes that doctors would be successful in rehabilitating one of their best scientists, but he’s still there after a year of treatment.

  TARGET BACKGROUND AND PHYSICAL CONDITION: Dr. Maudlin is a natural-born Russian. He and his wife have no children. He has doctorate degrees in chemical and metallurgical engineering and speaks English. Dr. Mauldin was the principal scientist in charge of developing stealth technology to enhance operating capabilities of Russia’s submarine fleet. He is sixty years old, ambulatory, and should not be left alone.

  OPERATIONAL OPPORTUNITY: Once a week, usually on Fridays, accompanied by an attendant, Maudlin is taken for a walk in the large garden that encircles the backside of the SAPHSTIN Institute. At some point, the attendant and Mauldin will sit on a garden bench that is out of sight from the main building. The attendant will cuff one of Mauldin’s hands to the bench and then get up and leave him sitting there alone. The attendant has the key to a gate situated nearby. He keeps a car parked across the street and will use it to leave the area. He normally returns within fifteen to twenty minutes, uncuffs Mauldin, and takes him back inside the institute. The station has confirmed that the attendant is involved in illegal drug activity. He meets a contact when he leaves and passes habituates and other drugs that the station believes he’s pilfered from the institute or its patients, perhaps even Mauldin.

  ASSIGNMENT: Abduct Dr. Mauldin from SAPHSTIN and bring him to the United States. CIA doctors believe there is a good chance they can rehabilitate Mauldin and learn the secret details of Russia’s stealth technology program.

  LEAD OPERATIVE: Michael Shocklee.

  EXIGENCY: This is a “Level IV” assignment with very high national security implications.

  Another Level IV op, Mike thought while looking at the folder. It must be damn important for her to invoke that level of operational classification.

  He closed the file, thinking about what he had just read and the risks a team would have to take to execute the operation. The assignment was going to take him to an area of the world where he had never worked: Russia. Why me? he thought. The door opened, and he looked up to see Windstrum as she entered the room. She stopped at the head of the table.

  “For your information, Michael, the secretary of the navy is extremely interested in the operation and has been pushing me, via the director, for action to go after Maudlin,” she said, while seating herself.

  “That’s interesting, how did the navy find out about Mauldin?” He knew the obvious answer but had to ask the question anyway.

  “Intel disseminated from Moscow Station. As for Mauldin, he’s been on the COS’s radar for some time now.”

  “This will be a tough assignment, regardless of who takes it on. Success rate about seventy percent, I’d say, maybe eighty, with a lot of field support. Taking and controlling a mentally disturbed person who has been known to have bouts of uncontrollable ramblings, clandestinely, from the institute in Saint Petersburg to an extraction point some place miles away and who knows where yet, will be damn difficult.”

  “That’s not how Bill Brandson, sees it, Michael.”

  “How in the shit can he know, Claire? And stop calling me Michael. I believe we’ve known each other long enough that we can dispense with the formalities—can’t we?”

  “Yes, we can. I thought you preferred to be called Michael.”

  “Only Miss Betsy gets away with calling me Michael and Marcie, when she’s upset with me at home. Minor point, anyway, Brandson’s never run an op like this that I’m aware of. Am I missing something?”

  She gave him a weak smile and answered. “It’s possible. There’s more information that wasn’t put in the assignment folder and for a good reason. I saw Dr. Peters last week. He’s going to provide you with a drug that can be used to sedate Mauldin during the trip back home.”

  Her comment led him to believe that Dr. Peters had been colluding with Brandson to support the operation.

  “Back home to where? The DEPOT?”

  He knew all about the CIA’s covert medical facility located in Southern Virginia. He had been there before, once to rehabilitate from gunshot wounds he had received while on assignment to Zimbabwe and, more recently, to visit a colleague, Jim Graybill. Jim had been with him in Zimbabwe when the op went from being a success story to a headache for the administration. Mike, Jim, and another colleague had been kidnapped and held hostage in neighboring Mozambique by a renegade colonel. The Chinese were supportive of and backing bo
th regional governments. They were extremely upset with US involvement in the coup that ousted their puppet dictator in Zimbabwe and threatened to intervene, militarily, if the CIA crossed the border into Mozambique to rescue the hostages. Some in the administration felt it was more than just an idle threat. During the hiatus, the three of them were severely tortured, and Graybill had gotten the worst of it before they were rescued by a retired CIA colleague. Jim had become a basket case and mentally deranged as the result of the beatings he’d received. He remained hospitalized at the DEPOT pending improvement in his mental condition, which many feared would never happen.

  “Yes, back to the DEPOT,” Claire replied. “How long will it take you to get ready?”

  “Six to eight weeks. Why now? Why not later, say in the spring, when the weather will be better? A Level IV op like this means we’ll need military support, and it’ll be close to winter in Russia and possibly snowing by the time we put boots on the ground.”

  “Yes, I know that and never mind about the weather. Dr. Peters says that Mauldin could get worse, a lot worse, even beyond his ability to restore his senses if he doesn’t get the right treatment sometime very soon.”

  Shocklee was confused.

  “How does he know that? He hasn’t seen Mauldin. Has he developed some new drug that works miracles on people with mental disorders?”

  “Something like that,” she said. “I don’t know the details, but he thinks it can be effective in treating Dr. Mauldin, and that’s the reason, as well as being pushed by Brandson and the navy, that I’ve decided to go forward with the operation. Also, Dr. Peters has seen a couple of videos: one showing Dimitry in his current state and another of an interview with an institute doctor who has treated him.”

  “Sounds to me like Peters and Brandson have been working you pretty hard and each probably for a different reason. It’s obvious that Peters wants Mauldin as a guinea pig to test his new drug, but what’s Brandson’s motivation? I mean, this will be a very difficult and risky operation, and one completely outside the station’s normal operating directive.”