War is Necessary

By Chris Adams

The author introduces this, perhaps surpringly titled novel, with a treatise on the current events taking place at the heart of the world where this and his previous spy novels have taken place. He provides a brief summary on the background of the current president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and the possible coincidences with his lead character

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spyking
• Release date: Jul 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9781961227293

Chris Adams

Chris Adams is IIS Program Manager for Microsoft. Chris spends his time building and reviewing technical content for IIS, working with IIS Most Valuable Professionals (MVP), and spear-heading programs to best reach customers for the IIS team. Chris was formally a Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) engineer, technical lead, and supportability lead for the IIS product and has deep, technical experience in the usage and functionality of IIS 4.0, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, and 7.0. Chris is currently Microsoft certified as a MCP, MCSA, and MCSE.

Book preview

ISBN 978-1-961227-27-9 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-961227-28-6 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-961227-29-3 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Chris Adams

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

SPYKING

10911 Crown Colony,

Austin, Texas 78747

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Prerspective

The Situation

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Epilogue

Glossary

Also by CHRIS ADAMS:

Requiem of a Spy (Fiction)

Out of Darkness: The Last Russian Revolution (Fiction)

Inside the Cold War: A Cold Warrior’s Reflections (Non-fiction)

Red Eagle: A Cold War Espionage Story (Fiction)

Ideologies In Conflict: A Cold War Docu-Story (Non-fiction)

Profiles in Betrayal: The Enemy Within (Fiction)

The Betrayal Mosaic: A Cold War Spy Story (Fiction)

Deterrence: An Enduring Strategy (Fiction)

Texas: A Free Nation Under God (Fiction))

Dallas: Lone Assasin or Pawn (Fiction)

Final Approach: A Flight Through Life (Non-fiction)

Notable Encounters: Create Enduring Memories (Non-fiction)

All Rights Reserved © 2004 by Chris Adams

"War is Necessary,

timely, and the only right solution."

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Victory Day Speech

May 9, 2022

Prerspective

As some of you may recall, the quote in this introduction uttered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 9, 2022, Victory Day, celebrating the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, the year he was born. His later remarks declared that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was his decision to destroy the Nazis who continue to dominate parts of Europe and Ukraine, in particular.

We saw military infrastructure being ramped up, he said. Hundreds of military advisers working and regular deliveries of modern weapons from NATO. The level of danger was increasing every day. Russia preventively rebuffed the aggressor. It was necessary, timely, and right. The decision of a sovereign independent country.

He also claimed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had been necessary because the Westwas also preparing for the invasion of our land, including Crimea, according to comments translated by Reuters.

It’s unclear whether Putin was referring to Russia, or territories that Moscow once owned. In any event, it was clear that he has ingrained hate for the Nazis of old and continue to consider them among the Russian and Ukrainian people or is it perhaps a ploy to support his larger quest to return the former Soviet States back into his fold?

No sooner than World War II ended, within a year, Joseph Stalin declared Russia to be the dominant world power and the Cold War began, suppressing the Russian people and threatening the world with nuclear destruction if they didn’t adhere to his dominance of his own country and Europe as well. His and his successors’ reign lasted 47 years.

Flashback to the famous statement by President Ronald Reagan on June 12, 1987, in front of the Berlin Brandenburg Gate, when he shouted, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Russian communist controlled East Germany on the other side of the Gate. The Cold War standoff lightened up some but persisted until the fall of 1993.

You might wonder why we have entered into this discussion of history in a supposed ‘spy novel.’ This author was prompted once during a dinner chat with the late Tom Clancy, the "King of spy novelists. Clancy said, Chris, every spy novel, or any novel, for that matter, is based on an actual event or series of events. The writer simply changes the names, location, dates, etc. in order to keep himself ‘innocent’." He shared much more about creating novels, but I will retain that for another day. In any event, Clancy was correct, so we’ll continue here to provide you with a backstage for the story to come.

It has been said that spying is the world’s second oldest profession. We won’t spend very much time here discussing the oldest profession, except to acknowledge that spying shares several characteristics with that endeavor—sex, secrecy, money, public interest, and personal reputation. Not necessarily related to these particular characteristics, ideology also claims its share of spy voyeurs. In any event, each of these idiosyncratic motivations has generally had either a singular or combined role in subversive spying activities depending upon the individual and the expected reward.

This brief description leads us to the subject of the current President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. When the Cold War finally closed, many of the Russian military and other segments scurried to find other positions. Putin had been serving as a KGB recruiter at the University of St. Petersburg where he befriended a professor, Anatoly Sobchak, who, in turn, moved on to become the Mayor of St. Petersburg. Recognizing the bright talents of Putin, he brought him to become his vice mayor.

I might also inject another coincidental event that occurred in the Spring of 1994 when this author was working in the former Soviet States, with a U.S. company, directing the recovery of the basic communications that had either been destroyed or deteriorated throughout the Russian territories during the Cold War. I visited each of the major cities’ mayors and briefed them on the benevolence of the United States to come and recover their all but destroyed civil communications systems. When I briefed Mayor Sobchak, little did I know that among the half-dozen business-suited gentlemen standing behind him while he remained seated at his desk was likely the Vice Mayor, Putin. Much later in time as I reflected on that visit, it sank in. Of course, one can’t brag about the actuality of such events unless the facts are accurate but fun to recall.

Vladimir Putin rapidly impressed the Russian leadership over the next few years with his skill and cunning attributes, both natural and learned via his military/KGB service. Boris Yeltsen brought him to Moscow to begin service in several positions until Yeltsen stepped down and Putin slipped into the Presidency of Russia in 2000.

With that factual lead into the gist of this novel, you can now begin perhaps to have a better understanding of the present leadership in Russia today and over its sordid history. Perhaps to also recognize how devious some national leaders can become, drawing from their experiences as well as their natural intelligence deep-seated feelings, training, and exposure. With regard to buried feelings, Vladimir Putin likely employs his GRU training and experience to embellish his concern for "existing Nazism within Russia and Ukraine, but most political scholars believe that his principal desire and objective is to restore the Soviet Union" to its Stalin Days of ‘world dominance.’ This is supported by his taking back Crimea from its independence in 2013 and attempting to do the same with Ukraine in 2014, losing the latter attempt then by Ukrainian nationalists defending their homeland and independence.

The Soviet KGB’s and GRU’s 70-year history was one of endless bloody orgies and reflected its modus operandi. Responsible for internal police control and intelligence-gathering against adversaries, the secret agencies exercised every imaginable option and tactic to achieve their objectives, including intimidation, extortion, kidnapping, torture, and murder.

The tactics employed were without limits in repressing its own citizens and vulnerable governments throughout the world to suit the purposes of the Soviet regime’s quest. Within the Soviet Union, the KGB ruled supreme over virtually all activities and lives of people. Outside of Russia, KGB agents generally outnumbered diplomatic staff members within their embassies and directed virtually all operations therein while conducting elaborate spy operations within host countries.

In special contrast to the KGB mission, the GRU was charged principally with collecting and exploiting foreign scientific technology. The operating modus of the GRU included the insertion of skilled agents, scientists, and engineers into targeted countries to observe and collect data, equipment, and whatever else of interest they could surreptitiously extract. Using such benign covers as trade commission activities, cultural exchange missions, and consulates, the GRU imported thousands of agents into western countries. The GRU was also prone to employ similar severe tactics as those of the KGB where necessity dictated to collect intelligence information. Undercover penetration of U.S. and western military organizations, laboratories, and industries with their highly trained agents was the normal practice. If blackmail, kidnapping, and torture became necessary to secure desired information, then that was the modus employed.

By design, from the outset of the creation of the GRU under the direction of Leon Trotsky, it was pitted against and became a natural enemy of the KGB. This unique adversarial relationship fitted the purposes of Lenin at the time and persisted through the Stalin era and beyond to maintain a balance of influence and power.

However astute the Soviet espionage agencies were thought to be, they were also badly flawed. Within the KGB, there had always been an underground layer of entrenched unsavory characters. This unacknowledged element consisted of many holding senior military ranks and descended to the petty agent level. It was this element that did the dirty work of the agency, frequently without the approval or the knowledge of the agency administrators.

The Soviets were not alone in the market of traitors. The United States and its Allies had their share of zealous espionage voyeurs. They came from all segments, including the government, the military, industry, and contractors. Information peddling was and is today an attractive and sometimes lucrative enterprise of betrayal against one’s country.

Fiction and nonfiction work alike abound with the vagaries of spy, counterspy, betrayal, and traitorous activities during the Cold War, yet the glare of many of the more sensational events obscure the less famous but nonetheless important incidents. Acts of betrayal followed an irregular but persistent path where the pieces of the puzzle almost always fell into place.

Vladimir Putin served twenty years in the KGB/GRU in preparation for his now having served twenty years as President of Russia.

But perhaps, he hasn’t learned everything necessary about war being necessary. War, like other life-or-death crises, has a way of clearing things up. Ukraine has responded to the Russian invasion much like other nations have. In the face of necessity, they’re doing what’s necessary. And part of what’s necessary is dumping the progressive nonsense: Women and children to the rear. Men to the front! For Ukrainian men, it may well be, as Mark Twain would have said, their proud privilege to die for their families, their freedom, and their country.

Now, to the novel you thought you were going to read at the outset: it engages the main character of two of my previous Cold War spy stories, Viktor Alexandrovich Katsanov, a GRU espionage agent. Sasha Katsanov, the son of a Soviet general, had been selected out of his military academy class in his early twenties and trained by the GRU to become an espionage agent. The young Russian possessed natural physical attributes: fitly proportioned, six feet tall, and muscular. His features reflected his father’s Eastern European and Mid-East Asian bloodlines, light olive complexion, and piercing brown eyes. His countenance and demeanor were generally quiet and placid. Stemming from the age-old harsh Russian environment, sameness can best describe the typical emotions and expressions of the average Soviet male. As Sasha grew older and exposed to extraordinary experiences including life-threatening challenges, he became even more reserved and quietly serious. Wisdom, judgment, and prudence were this young Soviet spy’s predominant traits. But when his attention became excited, he reacted with an unusual spirit passed on to him by his mother; it kindled quickly and beamed with managed animation and intuitive intelligence.

Following intensive preparation and planning, the exceptionally bright young agent was successfully inserted into the United States as an illegal—the assumption of the identity of a deceased U.S. citizen—a commonly used ruse to employ agents in foreign countries.

The newly Americanized Alexandrovich Katsanov thus assumed the identity of Alexander Kelly, and with combined KGB/GRU finesse, he entered the U.S. Air Force where he became an officer and an accomplished pilot. Eventually, he attempted to single-handedly hijack a B-52 bomber during the Cuban Crisis operations. The extraordinary plot was foiled by errant KGB operatives and the mission ended in disaster when the bomber was shot down by an equal despot MiG pilot. Sasha barely escaped the doomed bomber before it crashed, killing his American crew members all of whom he had rendered unconscious by putting a strong drug in their coffee and water.

Prompted by natural suspicions, the Director General of the GRU sent Sasha back to the United States just one year later to investigate the possibility of KGB’s subversive involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy. As a GRU agent, his intrusion into the black world of the GRU’s competitive and intensely jealous KGB eventually resulted in the tragic murder of his wife, Katiya, and the assassination of his mentor and confidant, the GRU Director General.

Following the death of Sasha’s wife, the new head of the GRU reassigned him once again back to the United States to get him out of Moscow where his own life was at risk, and utilize his knowledge of the U.S. and his language skills to further the Soviet cause. You will encounter numerous back-story references and accounts of earlier episodes to fill in previous situations experienced by the characters in the story, leading up to the present.

This manufactured sequel within several plots and subplots will closely parallel similar events and character resemblances that existed during the Cold War period. I hope that the story will once again keep you gripped by the exceptional realism and historical significance of the events and provide a clear recognition that the Soviets of the past and present-day potential enemies have taken great advantage of the open society of the United States to infiltrate and undermine our national security. Accordingly, as with my two previous novels, I have merged many factual revelations about Soviet culture, secret police operations, and their tactics with the fictional characters and situations to create a realistic story.

Lastly, you will come across an occasional Russian word, term, or phrase, expressed phonetically, integrated into the text in hopes that it will make for additional interesting reading and understanding. English transliterations of these as well as common acronyms are found in the Glossary herein. Enjoy!

CSA

The Situation

The events of the past weeks continued to cycle back and forth through his thoughts in an endless series of doubts, questions, and despair. All of it had happened so quickly. He was suddenly back in the United States, settled into a suite at the Soviet Trade Commission. Anger, dread, frustration, and hostility merged in and out of his conscious feelings. He was at the lowest point of any time in his life and helpless to do anything about it.

He could vividly remember the night that he and Katiya had left the security of their apartment at Khodinka Centre, the GRU Headquarters compound, to enjoy a night away from their virtual confinement. It was a chilly but unusually pleasant Moscow December evening. They had casually strolled across the river bridge to a newly opened restaurant owned by Afghani émigrés. He vividly remembered the colorful décor and the strong spicy aroma of goat and beef cooking over a grated open pit in the center of the main room. It remained in his sensory canals just as it was when they first entered the restaurant. Seldom was there anything beyond their daily drab existence to excite Muscovites, so anything new, especially a restaurant, always drew throngs of curious, eager, and mostly young people.

Sasha! This is wonderful! Katiya exclaimed. "I didn’t know that such a pleasant restaurant existed in Moscow. It is so cheerful and un-Moscow! How did you know about this place?"

He had teased her with confidence, It is my business to know about such new adventures in our city, Katiya.

She smiled, feeling good and refreshed with this small change in their routine.

He had insisted that Katiya and he needed to leave the protective shelter of the GRU Centre and breathe some fresh air outside their virtual confinement. He also had what he hoped would be some exciting news to share with her and to seek her approval of a surprising proposition that had been handed to him that day by the Director General. It had been almost six weeks since Katiya’s release from KGB custody following her bizarre kidnapping arrest.

She had been snatched off the street, drugged, and placed in custody on trumped-up charges. The charade was ostensibly to coerce or at least get even with Sasha for his investigation of potential KGB involvement with the assassination of U.S. President, Kennedy. He had crossed KGB lines.

Sergiy Sokolov, the GRU Director General, had negotiated Katiya’s release with the head of the KGB, General Kashevarov. In return for her freedom, it was understood that Sasha would amend any references in his report of suspected Soviet involvement in the assassination of the U.S. president or the interference of the KGB during his investigation. He did not abide by his instructions; instead, he developed a comprehensive and scathing report of KGB interference, including torture and murder which their agents committed in their attempts to sabotage his investigation.

Sasha…Comrade! Sokolov had severely admonished. You must understand that if I should present such a report as you have written with the allegations you have made to the Chairman, all hell will break loose. General Kashevarov and his KGB henchmen would hunt you down and seek the worst possible vengeance against you and even Katiya. We must let this go for now. Trust me, eventually, the truth will surface and those animals will reap their just rewards.

General Sokolov proceeded to edit out of the report the most severe of Sasha’s allegations, but that didn’t eliminate the fact that he retained strong evidence of the KGB’s evil deeds. He was emotionally disturbed, but he listened as his superior lectured him.

Sasha, I am amending your report for your own protection. However, I will retain your original paper for use when, and if, it becomes essential for me to use it.

Disappointed, Sasha tried to remain confident that the whole of the KGB’s treacherous activities against Soviet citizens during his investigation would eventually be revealed and the accused henchman would be dealt with. He realized just how dark and deep the tentacles of the KGB extended, especially against its own people. His own recent experience with them and the victimization of Katiya with her false arrest attested to that. It was secretly rumored and whispered quietly amongst trusted colleagues that the leader of the KGB’s treacherous underground element was an untouchable and old Bolshevik renegade, General Oleg Petrov. Sasha felt sure that he was on Petrov’s list.

After weeks of leaving him to his regular duties and Katiya to her work on the GRU staff, Sokolov had hoped that Sasha would come to understand his position and that they could begin to return to normal lives. Finally, he conceived a plan to get them out of Moscow and out of the country for their own good. Summoning Sasha to his office, Sokolov outlined his thoughts.

Sasha, I have a proposal for you. I would like to take full advantage of your extraordinary experience in the West and assign you to work with General Yurasov at our Trade Commission in Washington. Katiya can accompany you and make excellent use of her skills while you are there. That will give you both an opportunity to get away from Moscow and the bad feelings of your recent experiences. Pleased with his plan, smiling, he looked at Sasha. What are your thoughts, Comrade?

Sasha was caught off guard by the Director General’s proposal. He knew, of course, that the Trade Commission was a cover operation for the GRU and that their duties would be much more than developing trade relations. He had stayed at the Trade Commission facility, which also served as a GRU rezidentura, while he was in Washington on his recent investigative work into possible KGB involvement in the Kennedy assassination. He had also developed a trusted friendship with the Trade Commission director and Washington GRU chief, General Boris Yurasov.

His mind raced as the general’s proposal settled on him. He instinctively knew that he had no choice but to accept the assignment, but he couched his reply carefully.

General, I am very surprised by your generous proposal, he responded. "But may I discuss this with Katiya? I am sure that she will agree, but I would like to get her opinion. And, Sir, permit me to apologize for my conduct regarding my report to you. I am afraid that the lingering emotion of my and Katiya’s experiences with our friends at Lubiyanka exceeded my good judgment and discipline."

Sokolov smiled and patted his young protégé on the shoulder. Sasha, I have known you since you were an aviation cadet and when you first came here to Khodinka for training. I am fully aware of your extraordinary talents and skills notwithstanding your experience and knowledge of the U.S. which exceeds anyone else in our agency. Comrade, your sound judgment is not in question with me.

This was the surprising news that he was anxious to share with Katiya on the night they left the Khodinka compound and strolled to the restaurant. They had enjoyed an exceptionally pleasant evening, more so than they could remember in their recent turbulent past.

Sasha, I think the Director General’s offer is very generous, Katiya responded as he described their potential new assignment. You have spent so much time in the United States, and you are very comfortable there, so I am sure that I will also grow to share your feelings. And we will continue to serve the important purposes of our government.

Sasha was mildly shocked by her prompt acceptance. Katiya, he smiled, taking her hand. I was so concerned about how you would react. The more I think about it, the more I believe that this will be a wonderful opportunity for us—to get away from Moscow for a while and to restore our emotions.

He was delighted and considerably relieved with her response. He had been deeply concerned that she might reject the proposal out of hand. She had always felt secure in her native Moscow. She had worked for the KGB for years, earned her doctorate in economics, and fully trusted her government until her recent arrest experience. She also possessed a deeply indoctrinated disdain for the Soviet archenemy, the United States. But now she was willing to go almost anywhere with Sasha in hopes of diminishing the memory of her bad experience and restoring her faith in her government.

I’m truly excited, Sasha, she reassured him as they departed the restaurant for the short walk back across the Moscow River to the safety of Khodinka Centre.

I think the change in our lives will be refreshing and you can teach me so much about the Americans, she continued, warmly slipping her arm through his as they strolled along the damp sidewalk.

Those were the last words he could clearly recall that Katiya had spoken. The remainder of that fateful evening continued to be a blur in his mind as he subconsciously tried to block out the details—the blinding glare of the bright headlights that suddenly illuminated the darkness, the crushing blow of the huge tractor-trailer truck that bore down on them, and the screams of the pedestrians who had been casually moving along the narrow bridge walkway with him and Katiya. He had lost touch and sight of her as she was wrenched away from his side and pulled down among the others crushed against the bridge railing by the behemoth vehicle. Just as quickly, the truck had backed up from the carnage and sped away, disappearing into the night.

Chapter 1

Sokolov had moved quickly to get him out of Moscow after Katiya’s tragic death. He instinctively knew that Sasha, not Katiya, was the prime target of the tractor-truck massacre.

Instead, the bastards killed Katiya along with six innocent Muscovites, Sasha had lashed out in the Director General’s office. When will this end, General? When will this government get control of this Mafioso element that systematically kills its own people to cover up its misdeeds, if not for its own pleasure?

"Sasha, I am at