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Доступ к книге ограничен фрагменом по требованию правообладателя.
To our grandparents, Ruth & Dewey Bond,
Don, Sr. and Beth Larkin,
L. A. (Pete) and Mildred (Mil) Peterson,
and Lawrence and Irene Thornton
We had a lot of help with this book. We would like to thank:
Chris Carlson, Don Hill, Jason Hunter, Ferdinand Irizarri, Lt. Col. Jerzy Janas, Polish Army, Don and Marilyn Larkin, Duncan and Chris Larkin, Erin Larkin-Foster, Marshall Lee, Gary C. “Mo” Morgan, John Moser, Bill Paley and Bridget Rivoli, Barbara Patrick, Tim Peckinpaugh and Pam McKinney-Peckinpaugh, Laurel Piippo, Steve St. Clair, Pat Slocomb, Thomas T. Thomas and Irene M. Moran, George Thompson and Dr. Tom Thompson (no relation), and Leonard Wong.
They all can take some of the credit, and none of the blame.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Cauldron is the third book that Patrick Larkin and I have written in tandem — working from the faintest flicker of a glimmer of an idea to the final draft of a finished manuscript. Collaborations, especially such close collaborations, are not supposed to be easy. This one was.
Over a period that lasted nearly two years, we plotted out this story, created its characters, and worked together to bring them to life.
Although our styles sometimes differ, and continue to evolve, we both have strengths and skills that complement our work as a team. Each of us has favorite types of action and settings. Each of us has special areas of expertise.
Many people write books by themselves, but I cannot understand why anyone would want to. Pat and I spur each other on, bounce ideas around, and help each other out of tight corners. He has been not only my partner in this enterprise but a good friend as well.
For simplicity, we have used the standard Anglicized spellings and alphabet for Polish and Hungarian place and proper names. For the same reason, we have identified Russian-made military equipment in Polish service with its Russian designation, although the Poles have their own names for them.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
AMERICANS
Corporal Tim Adams, U.S. Army — radiotelephone operator, Alpha Company, 3/187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
Alex Banich, aka Nikolai Ushenko — senior field operative at the CIA’s Moscow Station
Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Colby, U.S. Army — commanding officer, 3/187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
First Sergeant Andy “Steady” Ford, U.S. Army — Alpha Company, 3/187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
General Reid Galloway, U.S. Army — chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Mike Hennessy — CIA field operative assigned to Moscow Station
Joseph Ross Huntington III — advisor to the President
Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand Irizarri, U.S. Army — liaison officer serving with the Polish 11th Mechanized Division
Colonel Gunnar Iverson, U.S. Army — commanding officer, 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
Len Kutner — CIA chief of station, U.S. Embassy in Moscow
John Lucier — Secretary of Defense
Erin McKenna — analyst and investigator for the U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Export Enforcement, assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow
Walter Quinn — director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Captain Michael Reynolds, U.S. Army — commanding officer, Alpha Company, 3/187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
Clinton Scofield — Secretary of Energy
Major General Robert J. “Butch” Thompson, U.S. Army — commanding officer, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
Harris Thurman — Secretary of State
Stuart Vance — intelligence officer assigned to the CIA’s Berlin Station
Vice Admiral Jack Ward, USN — commander, U.S. Second Fleet and later commander of U.S., British, and Norwegian Combined Naval Forces
GERMANS
Colonel Georg Bremer — commanding officer, 19th Panzergrenadier Brigade, 7th Panzer Division
Major Feist — one of the 7th Panzer Division’s staff officers
Major Max Lauer — commanding officer, 7th Panzer Division’s reconnaissance battalion
General Karl Leibnitz — commanding officer, 7th Panzer Division
Jurgen Lettow — Minister of Defense
Lieutenant Colonel Klaus von Olden — commanding officer, 192nd Panzergrenadier Battalion, 19th Panzergrenadier Brigade
Special Commissioner Werner Rehling — European Confederation liaison officer with the Hungarian National Police
Heinz Schraeder — Chancellor
Lieutenant Colonel Wilhelm “Willi” von Seelow — operations officer, later commanding officer, 19th Panzergrenadier Brigade
Lieutenant Colonel Otto Yorck — commanding officer of the 191st Panzergrenadier Battalion, 19th Panzergrenadier Brigade
FRENCH
Nicolas Desaix — director, General Directorate of External Security, or DGSE, later Minister of Foreign Affairs
Major Paul Duroc — DGSE special operative
Général de Corps d’Armée Claude Fabvier — commanding officer, EurCon IV Corps
Admiral Henri Gibierge — chief of staff, French Navy
Michel Guichy — Minister of Defense
Général de Corps d’Armée Etienne Montagne — commanding officer, EurCon II Corps
Jacques Morin — deputy director, later director, DGSE
Michel Woerner — DGSE special operative
HUNGARIANS
Brigadier General Imre Dozsa — commander, National Police
Colonel Zoltan Hradetsky — police commander, Sopron District, later assigned to headquarters in Budapest
Oskar Kiraly — aide to Vladimir Kusin
Vladimir Kusin — opposition leader
Bela Silvanus — head of administration, National Police Headquarters, Budapest
POLES
Major Marek Malanowski — commanding officer, 411th Mechanized Battalion, 4th Mechanized Division
Major General Jerzy Novachik — commanding officer, 5th Mechanized Division
Major Miroslaw Prazmo — commanding officer, remnants of the 314th Mechanized Battalion, 11th Mechanized Division
General Wieslaw Staron — Minister of Defense
First Lieutenant Tadeusz “Tad” Wojcik — American-born F-15 pilot, assigned to the 11th Fighter Regiment, at Wroclaw
Lieutenant General Ignacy Zdanski — chief of staff, Polish Army
RUSSIANS
Marshal Yuri Kaminov — chief of staff, Russian Army
Colonel Valentin Soloviev — senior aide to Marshal Kaminov
Pavel Sorokin — purchasing agent for the Ministry of Defense
PROLOGUE
......NOVEMBER 1993 — ”EUROPE MIRED IN NEW FINANCIAL MESS,”
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Torn by wildly variable interest rates and renewed pessimism about the world economy, the turmoil in Europe’s financial markets intensified yesterday. Despite frantic interventions by their central banks, the British pound and the Italian lira continued their free fall against the German mark and the French franc. Angry exchanges between government officials in London, Rome, Paris, and Berlin seemed likely to doom any hope for an early end to the chaos.…
...JANUARY 1994 — ”RACE RIOTS FLARE IN MAJOR EUROPEAN CITIES,”
WASHINGTON POST
Angered by a new surge of economic refugees from poverty-stricken Eastern Europe and North Africa, neo-Nazis, skinheads, and radical leftists went on a bloody rampage through industrial towns and cities across western Europe. In day-long rioting that left dozens dead or seriously injured…
...JULY 1994 — ”‘TRADE CRISIS LOOMING,’ U.S. WARNS,”
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Recent French and German moves to protect their industries against fair international competition raise the specter of a devastating global trade war, key U.S. officials warned. On Capitol Hill, congressional leaders are already considering legislation to impose retaliatory tariffs and restrictions on goods imported from the two European countries.…
...DECEMBER 1994 — ”EASTERN EUROPE ON THE AUCTION BLOCK,”
THE ECONOMIST
Desperate for the foreign monetary and food aid they need to stay afloat through the winter, several of Eastern Europe’s newly installed military regimes have signed pacts that give French- and German-owned corporations a stranglehold over their trade and economic development. So-called Governments of National Salvation in Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, and Romania were among the first to mortgage their future to Paris and Berlin.…
FEBRUARY 1995 — ”NATO ALLIANCE DISSOLVES,”
BALTIMORE SUN
An era of unprecedented international defense cooperation came to an end today in rancor, bitterness, and suspicion. Outraged by French and German policies they blame for the continuing world recession, the United States, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Norway formally withdrew from the NATO Alliance.…
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