Sentinel (36 page)

Authors: Matthew Dunn

GRU—
Glavnoye Razvedyvatel’noye Upravleniye. The foreign military intelligence directorate of the general staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

98th Guards Airborne Division—
An airborne division of Russian airborne troops, stationed in Ivanovo.

217th Guards Airborne Regiment—
Part of Russia’s 98th Guards Airborne Division stationed in Ivanovo.

Heckler & Koch USP Compact Tactical pistol—
A semiautomatic pistol developed in Germany by Heckler & Koch; fires 9 mm rounds and is favored by many countries’ special forces and special police units.

Household Cavalry—
The term used to describe the Commonwealth of Nations’ (formerly British Commonwealth’s) cavalry of the Household Divisions.

HS 2000 handgun—
A semiautomatic handgun manufactured in Croatia. There are several variants of the weapon, each firing different-caliber rounds.

Il-76M transport aircraft—
A Russian multipurpose strategic airlifter airplane.

Increment—
The term for the unit within MI6 comprising handpicked elite British special forces soldiers.

60th Independent Motor Rifle Brigade—
A unit under the command of Russia’s Fifth Army within the Far Eastern Military District.

IR/TG-7 thermal goggles—
A rugged, lightweight, and powerful infrared optical device that can be handheld or mounted on a helmet or headgear.

KGB—
Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, or Committee for State Security. It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991 and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.

MI5—
The British domestic intelligence agency, equivalent to the United States’ FBI.

MI6—
Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Britain’s overseas intelligence agency, tasked primarily with gathering intelligence from foreign human sources as well as conducting special operations.

MiG-29K—
Russian all-weather, carrier-based, multirole fighter aircraft.

MIT—
Milli I·stihbarat Tes¸kilatı, or National Intelligence Organization. Turkey’s governmental intelligence organization.

MR-445 Varjag pistol—
A Russian semiautomatic pistol; fires 10 mm rounds.

MZKT-79221 transporter-erector-launcher—
A sixteen-wheel Russian military mobile missile launcher that carries the Topol-M, an intercontinental ballistic missile.

OCP—
Operational cover premise. Typically, a domestic or business property that is used to support the alias identity of an intelligence officer.

Ohio
-class submarine—
A nuclear-powered submarine used by the U.S. Navy.
Ohio
-class submarines are deployed with either conventional or nuclear cruise missiles.

Oscar II submarine—
A Russian cruise missile submarine capable of firing conventional and nuclear weapons.

104th Parachute Regiment—
Part of the 76th Air Assault Division; the first Russian ground forces regiment to be fully made up of professional soldiers rather than conscripts.

QBZ-95G assault rifle—
A Chinese assault rifle; fires 5.8 mm rounds.

QSZ-92 handgun—
A Chinese semiautomatic pistol; fires 9 mm Parabellum rounds or 5.8 mm armor-piercing ammunition.

RT-2UTTKh intercontinental missile—
A Russian missile with a single 800-kiloton-yield warhead. Capable of flying up to 7,000 miles.

SAS—
Special Air Service. The world’s oldest, most experienced, and arguably most effective Special Operations unit, the British SAS is regarded as the benchmark for all tier-1 units and special forces around the world.

SBS—
Special Boat Service. A U.K. special forces unit, directly comparable to the United States’ DEVGRU (SEAL Team 6), though the SBS is older and more experienced. Recruitment and selection into the SBS are considered even tougher than entry into the renowned SAS.

SBU—
Sluzhba Bezpeky Ukrayiny. Ukraine’s security agency, comparable in duties to Britain’s MI5 and the United States’ FBI.

SEALs—
Sea, Air, Land teams. U.S. special operations personnel who can operate in any combat environment. Highly trained and very effective.

Sig Sauer P226 handgun—
A popular weapon among special forces and law enforcement around the world. Various round calibers.

Sig Sauer P229 handgun—
A variant of the P226 handgun, though more compact and therefore favored for operations requiring weapon concealment or close quarter combat.

Slava
-class cruiser—
A large, conventionally powered Russian warship.

SOG—
Special Operations Group. The paramilitary wing of the CIA’s Special Activities Division. Many members are drawn from Delta Force and DEVGRU.

Sovremenny
-class destroyer—
An antisurface Russian warship.

Spartan Program—
The twelve-month-long selection program for premier MI6 officers in which they attempt to attain the code name “Spartan.” Only one officer at a time is allowed to endure the program, and only one successful trainee is allowed to carry the code name until his death or retirement.

Spartan Section—
The highly secretive unit within MI6 that supports the Spartan MI6 officer.

Spetsnaz—
The generic term for Russian special forces. The Russian army, navy, GRU, and SVR all have Spetsnaz units attached to them and under their control. They are wholly separate units. For example, Spetsnaz Alpha (SVR) is a completely different unit from Spetsnaz Vympel (GRU), and recruitment, selection, and training follow different paths.

SPS Serdyukov self-loading pistol—
A short-recoil, 9-mm-firing Russian handgun.

Su-33s—
Sukhoi Su-33; a Russian all-weather carrier-based air-defense fighter.

SVR—
Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki. Russia’s primary overseas intelligence agency, comparable to Britain’s MI6 and the United States’ CIA.

Udalay I destroyer—
Russian antisubmarine destroyer.

WTO—
World Trade Organization. An organization whose remit is to supervise and liberalize international trade. Formed in 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, the WTO currently has 153 member states (at time of print).

Acknowledgments

T
o Jon Wood and the team at Orion (U.K.), David Highfill and the team at William Morrow/HarperCollins (U.S.), Luigi Bonomi and Alison and the rest of the team at LBA, Rowland White, Judith, and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).

About the Author

As an MI6 field officer, MATTHEW DUNN recruited and ran agents, coordinated and participated in special operations, and acted in deep-cover roles throughout the world. He operated in highly hostile environments, where, if compromised and captured, he would have been executed. Dunn was trained in all aspects of intelligence collection, deep-cover deployments, small arms, explosives, military unarmed combat, surveillance, and infiltration.

Medals are never awarded to modern MI6 officers, but Dunn was the recipient of a very rare personal commendation from the secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs for work he did on one mission, which was deemed so significant that it directly influenced the successful conclusion of a major international incident.

During his time in MI6, Dunn conducted approximately seventy missions. All of them were successful. He lives in England, where he is at work on the third
Spycatcher
novel.

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Also by Matthew Dunn

Spycatcher

Credits

^{Cover design by James Iacobelli}

^{Cover photographs: bear statue © by Dave Glover; Saint Basil’s Cathedral © by Igorsinitsyn / Age Fotostock}

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

SENTINEL.
Copyright © 2012 by Matthew Dunn. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-203792-3

EPub Edition © AUGUST 2012 ISBN: 9780062037961

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