MiG Pilot: the Final Escape of Lt. Belenko

Belenko wanted to know if the chaplains additionally functioned as political officers, and the captain did not at first understand what he meant.

«Who tells your men how they must vote?» He realized that the laughter the question caused was real and spontaneous. If nobody can even tell the soldiers [enlisted men] how to vote, then they do have some freedom here.

The carrier was the flagship of an admiral who presented Belenko with a fleece-lined leather jacket worn by Navy pilots. He said he hoped Belenko would wear and regard it as a symbol of the appreciation and comradeship U.S. Navy fliers felt toward him. The gift and words so affected him that he spoke with difficulty. «I will be very proud of this jacket»

He was so proud of the jacket that throughout the day he carried it with him wherever he went. All life had taught him that left unguarded, such valuable apparel certainly would be stolen.

«Viktor, leave the damn jacket here,» Gregg said as they started from the cabin to see the evening movie.

«No, someone will steal it.»

«Nobody will steal it. This is not a pirate ship.»

«No, I know somebody will steal it.»

After much argument, against all good judgment and under vehement protest, Belenko reluctantly obeyed and left the jacket on his bunk. During the movie he fidgeted and worried. «I think I'll go back and see about my jacket»

«Sit still. Your jacket is all right.» Later Gregg slipped away to the cabin and hid the jacket in a closet

Returning from the movie, Belenko saw that the worst had happened. «You see! I told you! I told you! They stole it!» Gregg opened the closet, and Belenko grabbed the jacket, clutched, hugged it, and did not let it out of his sight again.

The excellence, abundance, and variety of food in the enlisted men's mess did not bespeak exploitation of a lower class or reflect a national scarcity of food The provision of such food — and nowhere except aboard the 747 had he tasted better — was consistent with the Air Force officer's remark at the Air Force base about the importance of caring for people.

The admiral in his cabin opened a refrigerator and apologized that he could offer only a soft drink or fruit juice. Surely an admiral can have a drink in his own quarters if he wants? «No, I'm afraid we all have to abide by the rules.» The reply was consistent with what Father Peter had told him about the law.

Everything I've seen is consistent. Every time I have been able to check what the Party said it has turned out to be a lie. Every time I have been able to check what Father Peter and Anna and Gregg say it has turned out to be true. Something is very right in this country. I don't understand what it is, how it works. But I think the Americans are much farther along toward building True Communism than the Soviet Union ever will be.

A couple of days after they flew back from the carrier, Peter recounted to Belenko all the Soviet Union had been saying about him and all it was doing to recapture him. «They realize that we will not give you up and that their only chance is to persuade you to return voluntarily. So, almost daily, they demand from us another opportunity to talk to you. They're being rather clever, if brutal, about it. They know they can't do anything to us directly. Therefore, they are trying to pressure us indirectly through the Japanese. They're seizing Japanese fishing boats, threatening and harassing the Japanese in every way they can. And I'm afraid they won't stop until we let them see you once more.»

«What do they say?»

«Oh, it's all bullshit. They say they're not sure the man they saw in Tokyo was you and that, in any case, they did not have long enough to determine whether you were acting voluntarily or under duress.»

«What do you want me to do?»

«Only you can decide. You do not have to meet them. But the Japanese have been valiant and steadfast throughout, and it would be a big service to them if you would.»

«All right Let's get it over. But I tell you, and you can tell them, this is the last time.»

Peter and several other CIA officers, including a couple of unfamiliar, tough-looking characters who comported with his original concept of CIA men, led Belenko to the anteroom of a conference hall at the State Department. «We will be waiting right here and will come immediately if there is trouble. We have made sure that they are in no way armed. You will be safe. Just be yourself.»

Waiting in the conference chamber were MinisterCounselor Vorontsov, the chief Soviet representative at the Belgrade conference on human rights, a Soviet physician, and a KGB officer, who posed as a diplomat at the Soviet Embassy in Washington.