Summary

One Week Later, USSR, Sheremetyevo Airport, Twenty-nine Kilometers Northwest of Moscow, August 4, 1965 – Frol Panin watches as the plane carrying the returning students touches down in the rain. Panin reflects on how news of Jesse Austin’s assassination has become worldwide. At home in the Soviet Union, the papers cast doubt on the official version of events in New York. The students will need careful debriefing and meetings with KGB agents, officials, psychologists, and propaganda officers, all of whom have flooded the airport. Panin is 61, is trim, and is well-accomplished, having most recently helped Chairman Brezhnev oust the aged Khrushchev to lead the Soviet Union. Panin awaits the plane out of loyalty to Leo, with whom Panin has worked in the past, even having managed to become something of friends with Leo.

Mikael Ivanov is the first person off the plane. Panin informs Mikael he...