May 17, 1998, 4 a.m., Moscow, Lubyanka Square.
Vice Admiral Korosov stood by the window, watching the pigeons in the square.
The sky had yet to lighten, the pigeons huddled together on the streetlights, a dull gray, like a row of drowsy balls of fluff.
He had stood at this window all night, not due to insomnia, but because he dared not sleep.
The situation in Syria was escalating.
General Hassan was dead, buried beneath that olive grove alongside those whom he personally unearthed. The gravestone was carved by his own hand, bearing his own name.
President Hafez Assad did not send anyone to take command of the 5th Division, and the soldiers of the 5th Division did not come down from the mountain. They stayed in that grove, alongside their general, alongside those gravestones.
Dmitry entered, holding intelligence that had just come back from Damascus, his face pale.
