Goliath

Director Pertic looks Gunnar squarely in the eyes. “Evidence concerning the theft of the Goliath’s schematics had pointed squarely at Captain Wolfe, who headed the project’s weapons department.”

Gunnar starts to say something, but the Bear is quicker, gripping his forearm tightly in one paw, the glare in his hazel eyes warning the ex-Ranger to remain silent.

Pertic continues. “Of course, we now know the operative was not Captain Wolfe but a close friend of his at Keyport. Want to tell us who your friend was, Captain? Or do you prefer I reveal his identity?”

Gunnar’s pulse pounds in his ears. “It’s your party, I’m just an invited guest.”

“But you know who did it, don’t you?”

Gunnar nods. “I have my suspicions.”

“Dammit, man, where were your loyalties?” Secretary of Defense Tapscott says, ripping into him. “We both served in the Gulf. You were one of our best commandos, you risked your life for your country at least a dozen times. If only you had revealed the traitor’s name years ago, none of this might have happened!”

Gunnar feels the knot in his throat tighten. “Sir, at the time, I had no idea Simon had stolen the schematics.”

“Simon Covah?” Rocky groans.

Pertic slides a new disk into the volume display’s control box. A rotating image appears. It is a man’s face, heavily scarred. The head is cleanly shaved, the skin along one side showing evidence of numerous grafts. A thick auburn mustache and goatee cover most of the burn marks located along the mouth.

“Simon Bela Covah. Born in Russia in 1956, the oldest of six children. Covah’s father was a submarine commander who served in the Soviet Navy during World War II. The mother was left to raise six children in a small farming village while her husband was at sea. Young Simon, who possessed an IQ of 182, was enrolled in Moscow State University at the unheard-of age of fourteen. Three years later, he graduated at the top of his class and received a high-ranking position at the Sevmash Naval Yard in Severodvinsk, where he served as an apprentice and aide to Sergey Nikitich Kovalev, the chief designer for the Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarines. Covah’s interest turned to computers, and his eventual expertise helped the Soviets close the technological gap between their submarine force and ours. The Company first took an interest in him several years later, during the design phase of Russia’s new Borey-class missile submarine.”

Secretary Nunziata looks peeved. “Are you saying Covah was recruited by the CIA?”

“CIA tried. Covah disappeared for a while, then showed up working in secret for Toronto’s biggest biotech corporation, Cangen. Dr. Goode eventually recruited him at Keyport.”

Rocky turns to Nunziata. “Without Covah, Dr. Goode could never have completed Sorceress’s biointerfacing silicon microcircuitry, or her genetically engineered computational bacteria. The man really is a genius. Unfortunately, none of us had a clue about the man’s real intentions … with the possible exception of Gunnar Wolfe.”

Pertic nods. “Covah exhibited all the telltale signs of being the perfect defector. The breakup and financial collapse of the Soviet Union brought with it massive chaos in Russia’s naval yards, which were overwhelmed with a logjam of nuclear subs waiting to be decommissioned. Covah became disgusted with the dismantling and disposal procedures and began providing us details regarding the storage and reprocessing of the boomers’ spent nuclear fuel cells as early as 1987. CIA recruited him a short time later. As a precaution, he had his wife, Anna, a Chechen woman, move their family to her parent’s home in Zitinje. Turned out to be a fatal mistake. As preparations were being made to bring the entire family to the States, the Serbs invaded Kosovo. Covah hurried to Zitinje, only to find the village destroyed and his in-laws’ house burned to the ground. Anna had been raped and beaten. Simon was captured and tortured in front of his wife and daughters. The Serbs set him on fire and left him for dead, then murdered the remaining members of his family, burying the bodies in the neighbor’s backyard.”

Rocky stares at the hologram and the hideous facial deformities of the computer expert who had worked under her command for nearly two years. An act of hatred, fueling a thousand more …

Pertic continues. “How Covah actually survived the trauma is a medical wonder in itself. As you can see, the right side of the man’s face was burned clear down to the bone. Doctors had to replace the temporal section of his skull with a steel plate, which runs along his mangled earhole and right cheekbone. Covah refused to cover the plate with a skin graft—”

“He told me he always wanted to be reminded of the butchery,” Gunnar mumbles, a bit too loud.