“How long did you expect me to keep doing this?”

“Didn’t you read the fine print? Until you died. Like you almost did tonight.”

“Tonight? Not even close. This was about as dangerous as taking on a nun in a ruler smackdown.”

“Well, if you do ever get around to dying, don’t let it be on my watch. I don’t need the hassle.”

“Thanks for caring.”

“Where to now?”

“Dublin.”

Frank said curiously, “Why?”

“Vacation. Maybe you don’t think I deserve one after tonight.”

“Oh, you can go, but you’ll be back,” Frank said confidently.

Shaw rose, let the blanket slide off his shoulders, and handed his empty cup to Frank. His skin was itchy as hell and it felt like his hair was falling out.

“Just as soon as you send me a picture of you swimming in the canal. Naked, of course.”

“Right. Still glad you came over to our side?”

“I really didn’t have a choice, now did I?”

“Have a nice time in Dublin, Shaw.”

“You can see for yourself, can’t you? Your boys will be right on my ass.”

Frank lit up a Dutch cigar and gave Shaw a smirk through the curtain of smoke. “You think you’re important enough for us to chase all over the world? My God, what an ego.”

“May you never grow old, Frank.”

CHAPTER 8

“REMEMBER KONSTANTIN” HAD REACHED fever pitch. There were rallies against the Russians in fifty countries and the United Nations had formally asked a furious President Gorshkov for a more thorough response. And yet calmer, or at least more skeptical, minds were establishing a wall against this groundswell of anti-Russian sentiment.

A good number of political leaders, journalists, commentators, and think-tank types, stung in the past by rushes to judgment, urged caution and restraint in the wake of the “Remember Konstantin” outrage. More questions had been raised about the authenticity of the man and the video, particularly in the wake of detailed denials and unprecedented access to classified records provided by the Russian government to outside media. Soon after this measure of cooperation by Moscow, the worldwide sentiment that Russia was evil incarnate had begun to ebb a bit. And leaders around the globe began to breathe a little easier. However, this was merely the calm before the real eruption.