The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Ghost War and The Faithful Spy returns with a novel of international intrigue and catastrophic terrorism that "keeps the reader caring, and guessing, until the end." ( Booklist ) For CIA operative John Wells, the underworld has become more real than the real world. He's spent years in the close company of evil men. And he's paid the price in every possible way. Now, he's on the ragged edge of burnout. His nights are plagued by twisted dreams. He's beginning to doubt if he can ever live a normal life. He is right to think so. For revenge ... As a reporter for The New York Times , Alex Berenson has covered topics ranging from the occupation of Iraq to the flooding of New Orleans to the financial crimes of Bernie Madoff. His previous novels include The Faithful Spy , winner of the 2007 Edgar Award, and The Ghost War . He lives in New York City. Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Dedication   PART ONE Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8   PART TWO Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14   PART THREE Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26   PART FOUR Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36   EPILOGUE Acknowledgements ALSO BY ALEX BERENSON The Ghost War   The Faithful Spy   The Number (nonfiction) G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS Publishers Since 1838 Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA • Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) • Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa   Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England   Copyright © 2009 by Alex Berenson All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions. Published simultaneously in Canada   Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication Data   Berenson, Alex. The silent man / Alex Berenson. p. cm. ISBN: 9781101015810 1. United States. Central Intelligence Agency—Fiction. 2. Intelligence officers—Fiction. I. Title. PS3602.E75146S 813’6—dc22       This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.   While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content. For Jackie There rose from the bowels of the earth a light not of this world, the light of many suns in one.     — The New York Times , September 26, 1945, describing the first nuclear test     A small group of people, none of whom have ever had access to the classified literature, could possibly design and build a crude nuclear explosive device. They would not necessarily require a great deal of technological equipment or have to undertake any experiments. Only modest machine-shop facilities that could be contracted for without arousing suspicion would be required. . . . The group would have to include, at a minimum, a person capable of searching and understanding the technical literature in several fields, and a jack-of-all-trades technician. Again, it is assumed that sufficient quantities of fissile material have been provided.   —United States Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1977 PART ONE 1 CHELYABINSK PROVINCE, RUSSIA A weaker man would have found Shamir Taghi’s pain unbearable. The average American, used to popping Tylenol and Advil for every ache, would have found Shamir Taghi’s pain unbearable. But Shamir wasn’t American. He was a Kazakh who lived in Russia, and he was f