The third face was middle-aged, with coal-black eyes and a neatly trimmed goatee. He wore an out of style fedora and a poorly-tailored, cheap suit. He was most definitely KGB. The man reached down and pocketed Jeff’s Makarov, and introduced himself. “I am Colonel Vladimir Blagov with state security. Put your hands on your head and slowly stand. You are under arrest.

I apologize for showing up unannounced, son…” the DDO said as he filled and lit his pipe. “But we need you back. You’ve had half a year off. He looked intently at his favorite troubleshooter. “It’s time for Solitary Man to be reactivated.

Life had taken unexpected turns for Jeff, though of course he recognized that the CIA was the natural progression for him. Hell, it’s practically the family business…

Jeff was a bit surprised. Peter, named for the character in the Russian children’s story ‘Peter and the Wolf’, was Fortner’s most reliable Human Intelligence (HUMINT) asset in the Soviet Union. Fortner had recruited him on one of his early forays behind the iron curtain. He had helped to fake the deaths of Peter’s wife and children and then smuggled them to freedom.

Ethan got some books out of an old trunk. They were history books, some passed down from his great-grandfather Tom through his grandfather Jeb and father Andrew. Ethan expected that he’d pass them on to his own child, one day. History and family trees had always been very important to the Fortner family.

Then it seemed that the Colonel was going on about the Space Race and the Cold War. “…Did you really think that your country’s Apollo 1 disaster was an accident? It is Mother Russia that will conquer these new worlds first, not you! It will be a Red Moon that the West sees at night!

The large helicopter circled the site of the borehole before landing. In his briefing he had learned that this place was a scientific drilling project that had begun in May of 1970, using the Uralmash-4E drilling rig, in an attempt to drill as deep as possible into the Earth’s crust. Apparently after losing the race upwards to the moon, the Soviets were now trying for the consolation prize of downwards to the Earth’s core.

Aleksandr’s match with the big Mongolian known only as ‘Genghis’ had been going for over eight minutes. No prior fighter had lasted more than two minutes. They circled each other like two Bengal tigers that had both happened upon the same prey after weeks of starvation.

Lieu squeezed his eyes closed tightly and mumbled “My country’s war will soon be visited upon yours…” and suddenly jerked his hands from his pockets- releasing the striking levers on the two M26 fragmentation grenades. “For the disciples of Saiophong!

Without boring you with the specifics, I will tell you that it is an experimental ‘truth-serum’ formula, many times more powerful than sodium pentothal or SP-17; with properties in common with LSD, which is enjoyed recreationally by many in your country’s ‘counter-culture’. I’m afraid this formula will be decidedly unpleasant. SP-17 had the unfortunate side-effect of leaving the subject somewhat sane afterward. This, which we call ‘Veritas X’, will most likely lead to permanent madness…