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is up?”
    â€œYou tell me, Dimitri.”
    â€œYou know how foolish I feel telling you American secrets that you may not know yet.”
    â€œI’il keep it to myself.”
    Outside, the white snow sparkled on hillsides where patches of tall fir trees had been removed to clear fire breaks in the dense forest.
    â€œUnder your hat, right?” The Russian chuckled. “I would say—let me think—I would say your people have been caught holding up the bag, yes?”
    The Russian’s red, round face hardened as he studied the American’s face, youthful compared to his own.
    â€œDimitri, you invited me, remember?”
    â€œSo I did. About the midnight meeting, your time, of your laser specialists with Admiral Hauch. Our Ninth Department is most with interest. Don’t you know?”
    The American sighed as he raised an eyebrow.
    â€œSurprised? That’s our job. Besides,” the Russian showed his teeth with a knowing smile, “you can probably tell me what color necktie Marshall Kubosov wore at my meeting this morning.”
    The gleaming car rolled to a stop, turned around at Wiener Neustadt’s outskirts, and then retraced its route northward toward Vienna.
    â€œYou people have a little trouble with a satellite. Yes? LACE is its name, is it not?”
    â€œAn accident, Dimitri. You would not have sent for me if your people thought otherwise.”
    The American cracked his window to the chilly, clean air. The weight of his diplomatic ballet made the roomy limousine close and warm.
    â€œWe would rather call it piracy.” The Russian stated his last word carefully.
    â€œI know the law, Dimitri. I helped write the space treaty between our governments.” The American sounded tired.
    â€œOur intelligence people tell us that your people cannot disable LACE. Is that correct?” The Russian’s face was intense.
    The American watched the sun-bleached snow pass beyond his fogged window.
    â€œWell, my friend?”
    The American’s mind was awash with fatigue. He turned a weary face toward the Russian.
    â€œWe cannot disable LACE.”
    â€œAn encryptor failure?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWhat about LACE’s optics, Alpha Project. Tell me about its mirror.”
    â€œDimitri, please!”
    â€œThe word is ‘piracy’. ”
    â€œIt is built by United Technologies Research Center. But you know that.”
    â€œOf course. Go on.”
    â€œGraphite fiber, reinforced glass. Matrix composite mirror. The mirror surface is vaporized silicon.” The American’s face showed physical pain.
    â€œGraphite? Most impressive. Very clever indeed.”
    â€œDimitri, what about your betatron at Saryshagan? Can you hit LACE from there?”
    â€œOf course, my friend.”
    â€œAnd your anti-satellite homing spacecraft, Dimitri? You began operational tests in April 1981 when Cosmos 1,267 automatically docked in space with Salyut Six. It carried anti-satellite, mini-missiles did it not?”
    â€œIt did. Your people in Denver are quite good.”
    â€œAnd your anti-satellite, rendezvous-and-destroy missiles first flown with Cosmos 1,243 and 1,258 in February and March 1981? Is this system operational, Dimitri?”
    â€œPerhaps.”
    â€œWhat about your latest air-to-air anti-missile interceptors, Dimitri?”
    â€œNot likely, I am afraid. As you know, our SH-04 is designed to destroy incoming missiles before they enter the Earth’s atmosphere. Our SH-08 missile gets to its target inside the atmosphere. Unfortunately, both Soviet missiles have nuclear warheads. Not very clean, to say the least. We are working on the SA-12 anti-missile weapon, which is not nuclear. But the SA-12 missile’s maximum effective altitude is not more than meters. These devices are of no help to Washington.”
    â€œBut your betatron or your hunter-killer Cosmos vehicles could knock down LACE, couldn’t they?” The