The October Coup (3)
"You have them? That’s impossible..." Reagan looked puzzled, and Guster simply smiled back at him.
"Do you not remember that the vast majority of the men guarding my granddaughter's husband are former U.S. military?"
"...Ah!" Reagan clapped his hands together. It was true; most of Yoon-gi’s security detail were veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. Furthermore, the personnel monitoring Yoon-gi’s immediate vicinity were all men who had been through the fires of war.
"My granddaughter's husband could have acted unilaterally, but he sought your implicit permission, Mr. President. Because preventing a coup in the Soviet Union is a matter of greater importance than you might imagine."
"Ho-ho..."
"What do you think? If you grant your approval, my granddaughter's husband's security team will receive authorization from the CIA to stop this Soviet coup. However, if permission is not granted..."
"If it isn't granted?"
"Then we will simply watch."
It was a pure bluff. Yoon-gi and Guster knew Reagan would inevitably agree, so they chose to project an image of absolute obedience to the American President. And the effect was spectacular.
"Hahahaha! If you put it that way, I have no choice but to grant it. I, too, am a man who views Gorbachev’s progress positively. I shall authorize it right now."
"Thank you. We will stop this coup and push for a summit between you and Gorbachev. And there, Gorbachev will say a few words."
"What will he say?"
"'I have chosen the path of capitalism thanks to President Reagan’s persuasion for peace.'"
Reagan burst into laughter again. It was a political show, through and through, but the political gains that show would bring were beyond imagination. With that in mind, Reagan asked with a voice full of anticipation.
"Is that really possible?"
"My granddaughter's husband will make it possible."
With Guster’s confident assurance, they secured not only Reagan’s definitive approval but his full-scale support as well.
Mason was appointed the overall commander for the operation to defend against the Soviet coup. While the actual field command would be handled by the branch chief in the Soviet Union, the appointment signaled just how much interest Reagan had in this matter.
"I wanted to tell you first, but there was no time. I apologize."
At Guster’s apology, Mason shook his head.
"It is fine. Looking at the coup schedule, it would have been too late if it had gone through us. In the first place, if we had reported it, we would have had to prove the credibility of the matter from the start."
In reality, one of the reasons Reagan trusted this information immediately was because the person who provided it was Guster. A man with a reputation can make people believe even the most unbelievable things at least once. But for the CIA, even if the information was credible, the situation would be different. If they couldn't prove the credibility of the intelligence, Reagan would have dismissed it with a simple "I don't believe it."
"I am grateful for your understanding. Oh, and this is a message from my granddaughter's husband."
Guster handed Mason a piece of paper folded like a stamp.
"It is not his handwriting, but it is a transcription of his message. At least, there is no lie in it."
After checking the contents following Guster’s words, Mason burst into laughter.
"What does it say?"
"Have you not read it, sir?"
"I didn't read it because it seemed like a personal matter."
At Guster’s words, Mason smiled and opened his mouth to explain.
"It contains the address of a mansion along with a safe deposit box number."
"It seems my granddaughter's husband has decided it is time to provide compensation."
"Yes, and it also says this is just the beginning."
"You can trust him enough. After all, there is a real-world example, isn't there?"
Because of the eyes around them, Mason couldn't even obtain the title to the property. However, as long as he maintained a positive exchange with Yoon-gi, it was certain he would receive significant benefits. Although it was a far cry from Guster’s mansion, he had received a decent house and cash.
"Then, I will deliver the orders to the Soviet branch chief. This mission... it absolutely must not fail."
What if this mission failed? No one knew what would happen to the reward he had just learned about. That was why Mason vowed that no matter what, he would stop the coup in the Soviet Union.
"The time has come. Gentlemen, let us purge Gorbachev, who is trying to plunge the Soviet Union into the clutches of capitalism, and take back 'our Soviet Union'!"
At the Director’s low but disciplined voice, all the KGB agents raised their hands in a salute. Normally, they would have shouted loudly, but now was the time to move in secret. Therefore, everyone except the Director kept their voices to a minimum, and Putin was among them.
There was no need for a liaison anymore. Putin was assigned to the third wave, which would enter last to handle the cleanup. The "cleanup" here meant clearing out any enemies who might still be alive.
Putin finally had to make his last choice.
'Damn it, I thought they’d at least leave a final liaison, but to commit everyone without a single soul left behind... Is the Director that desperate?'
The KGB would vanish the moment the Soviet Union collapsed. Of course, intelligence agencies existed in modern Russia, too. But it was a fact that their political influence would disappear compared to the KGB era. The Director didn't know the future of the Soviet Union, but looking at Gorbachev’s actions, it was clear he had no interest in the "communization of the world," and it was also true that the KGB’s political influence was waning because of it.
'Well, he was a powerful man who could end the career of any high-ranking politician with a single word; it wouldn't be easy to let that go.'
If the KGB’s prestige fell, the Director could be targeted by those he had pressured until now. That was why the Director had made his move quickly. Because right now, he could move the entire KGB force.
However, a coup using power in such a way always created defectors. Just like Putin in the original history. And like others who were not Putin.
Clack!
Suddenly, Putin’s magazine fell to the floor.
"Hey, your magazine fell."
At the words of a colleague next to him, the third wave paused their movement.
"What is this? It was perfectly fine just a moment ago..."
At Putin’s words, the colleague frowned.
"Go back quickly and swap your gun. What are you doing on a day as important as today?"
"Ugh..."
When Putin looked at the person in charge of the third wave, the leader nodded as if he had no choice.
"Go and return as quickly as possible."
"Understood."
As Putin turned his back and began to move quickly, the agent who had pointed out the missing magazine said to the leader.
"Just in case, I will follow him."
"Hmm... do that."
And so, another defector. Then, another person spoke to the leader.
"Don't you think it's a series of coincidences? I will follow quietly to monitor him in case he causes any trouble."
Thinking it sounded reasonable, the leader gave permission again, and thus three people, including Putin, were able to break away from the third wave.
Five minutes later. They met not at the KGB building, but at a pre-arranged hideout. It was the basement of an ordinary civilian house. Since Russia had only recently experienced war, it was common for houses to have basements. They checked each other’s faces in the basement, lit by a single small candle.
"Vladimir, this is essentially a gamble. Are you really sure about this?"
The two agents Putin had painstakingly recruited while avoiding the Director’s eyes. They, too, were skeptical of the Director’s coup, but like Putin, they were people who had been forced to follow along.
"But we can't just follow the Director, can we? Do you think there’s a future in a Soviet Union ruled by him?"
Hearing Putin’s answer, the colleague on the left sighed and nodded.
"True... there is no future in the current Soviet Union. Communism has no progress. Even the Slavs-men that YK produces are things that could never be made in the Soviet Union."
Then, the colleague on the right nodded.
"Even if we could make them, we wouldn't have been able to distribute them properly."
It was a matter they all agreed on. The communism they had experienced could mobilize all the people, but it was not a system that produced optimal or maximum output.
"Still, it’s not a complete gamble. The frequencies being used lately have increased."
"What?"
At Putin’s words, the face of the colleague on the left brightened.
"They were clearly secret channels, and while I detected them, I couldn't analyze or report them. Because the moment I analyzed them, the Director would suspect me. But a few days after I made contact with Chairman Choi, I was able to confirm that several frequencies were moving actively. Is this really a coincidence?"
"Couldn't it be the radio of other groups participating besides the KGB?"
Putin shook his head.
"No, that’s impossible. I was told about all the frequencies. So, this means these are the frequencies of people completely different from us."
"Then..."
"It’s just my guess, but could it be the CIA? Perhaps information reached them?"
"That’s a very optimistic guess."
"But this is all we can rely on. And let’s get ready, too. Since we’ve decided on this path, we only have one choice."
At Putin’s words, the other two nodded, and they all left the basement. Their destination was the YK factory in Chernobyl. If things failed, Putin was planning to defect to the United States through YK. Since the Soviet Union and the United States had not yet established diplomatic relations, YK was a place that could effectively act as a U.S. embassy. Because these three knew so much about the KGB, they were worth protecting if they defected to the U.S.
"Let’s go. We need to get as far away as possible, as quickly as possible. We’ve said all we need to say here, so from now on, we keep our words to a minimum."
On a night where the crescent moon provided no reflection on the snow, the three, led by Putin, quietly set out into the snowy fields of the Soviet Union.
The Politburo meeting scheduled for 8 o'clock. The meeting was actually underway. The only person who knew that a coup was taking place today was Gorbachev. Of course, if anyone among the Politburo members was involved in this coup, they would know, too. Therefore, the Politburo meeting was proceeding in a normal atmosphere, just like any other day.
However...
Bang! Rat-tat-tat-tat-bang! Bang!
Along with the sound of guns spitting fire, the sound of an engagement suddenly began to echo around the Politburo meeting room. But that was only for a moment. Because they hadn't set up any additional defenses compared to usual, the area in front of the Politburo meeting room was breached helplessly.
However.
Crash! Clatter! Clang!
Along with the sound of building glass being shattered, hundreds of personnel in different uniforms infiltrated the interior and fired their guns without question at the coup forces led by the KGB. It was a one-sided massacre. Faced with the appearance of an opponent they hadn't expected at all, the coup side lost more than 70 percent of their combat power in an instant.
"Wh-what is this!"
The KGB Director was absolutely horrified. He had thought that suppressing the Politburo meeting room would be enough, but the sudden appearance of the enemy forces had completely reversed the tide of the battle. Even the remaining 30 percent were effectively like candles in the wind. They had been focused entirely on the Politburo meeting room, and the hallways had no barricades. On top of that, the gunfire was being unleashed without hesitation. In an instant, only a few of the coup forces remained.
The Director had even taken off his mask because he intended to taunt Gorbachev to his heart's content. Because of that, the enemy’s hail of bullets paused for a moment. The Director was also bleeding profusely from his hand, having been shot.
"D-damn it... H-how..."
As the Director, unable to believe reality, stood there, one of the figures defending the Politburo began to walk toward him slowly. And when he took off his mask, the face of Bill, Yoon-gi’s bodyguard, was revealed.
"What a shame, isn't it?"
Bill, grinning, aimed his pistol at the Director.
"I heard this somewhere, politics is..."
Bang!
"...something you do on a grand scale."
With Bill’s smile, the KGB’s coup failed.